A Day in the Cornfield

by Glenn Gray

part 22

One day, Karl and Stew discover strange “turd”-like things appearing in their cornfield. The things have a strange power of mimicry, and their intentions are far from clear. Karl and Stew elicit the help of Sheriff Maynard and his daughter Roxy. Consternation ensues, and the once quiet farm becomes the epicenter of national attention.

Dr. Taylor was astounded. And incredibly intrigued, from a scientific standpoint, of course. She had just witnessed this “stuff,” whatever it was, turn into a miniature person right before her eyes and then revert back to a blob of gel. And she now realized that this was what must’ve happened to Pierre.

She stared at the container, tapped the side with the tip of her finger. Nothing.

She got up and stepped around the lab, making sure to keep the container in sight. She had to think. Think think think. Pierre had said that the little man resembled the guy at the farm. And Captain Polowski had confirmed this on the phone based on description. Hmmm. All she knew at this point was that the stuff was loaded with zillions of ribosomes. But what DNA was guiding the whole process?

She had a thought.

No way.

Does it somehow absorb the DNA from whoever touched it and replicate that being? She started to bubble with excitement. Could that be it? She needed to conduct an experiment. First, she wanted more info from the people at the cornfield.

She picked up her cell. Called Polowski.

“You sure?” Polowski said. “Listen, you better work fast. This meteor thing here underground just exploded, sent a mountain of gel onto the cornfield.”

“Meteor?”

“That’s what the big boys told us. Had the air and ground testing performed. They determined there’s a structure underground, shaped like an egg, ‘bout a few hunnerd feet in length. Two hunnerd feet deep.”

Dr. Taylor’s mind was spinning now. A meteor? Outer space? Alien stuff?

“Can I speak with one of the people that saw what happened with this stuff from the beginning?”

“Alright.” There was some shuffling and then Sheriff Maynard got on the line. “Yep? Maynard here.”

“Hello, Sheriff. This is Dr. Kristine Taylor from the lab. I’m analyzing the stuff from the cornfield. I have some questions.”

Sheriff Maynard proceeded to tell her everything he had witnessed that day. And relayed what the boys had told him before he got to the farm. He told her Ida’s story as well, best he could.

“So let me get this straight. You’ve seen multiple little men that looked like both Stew and Karl?”

“Yup. Then I seen them turn into a big pile, not nearly as big as the pile here now, but a pretty good pile. We saw a bird fly into it and then come out. When it turned into that big thing, it sprouted wings. Then flew away.”

“Like the bird?”

“Guess so, yeah. Yup.”

“And it looked like Karl and Stew and then the bird.”

“And the dog too. Bongo. They said Bongo had sniffed the stuff. Had Bongo’s head once. And when it came back from Ida’s place it was wearing her shirt. Or a shirt just like hers. Said: “Born to Ride.” Had her face too, she says. But wings and a tail and stuff.”

“Okay okay okay.” Dr. Taylor could hardly contain her enthusiasm. She knew what she had to do now, check her theory. “Okay Sheriff. Thank you very much. I need to do a few more tests. Tell Captain Polowski I’ll be calling shortly.”

She punched off her mobile, put it on the counter and looked at the blob in the container.

She pulled out the instrument drawer. Rummaged about. Found a small scalpel. Sat in front of the container. Lifted off the top. Peered inside.

She contacted the gel with the scalpel, prodded it, and there was a soft PFFFFTT. And a tiny bit of smoke. She nudged the gel around with the blade. The gel glowed.

She then straightened out the blade and with a quick motion, sliced the blob in two equal parts. Another sound like SSSSSTT and there was a subtle colorful shine.

She carefully lifted one of the blobs out of the container and put it on the counter.

She put the lid back on the container. Waited.

Watched.

She stood. Scratched her neck. Stretched her legs. Walked back and forth a couple of times.

Then it started.

A more intense glow, some vibration. Both blobs, simultaneously.

Then undulation and movement. The blobs elongated, upright. Arms sprung out, legs formed. Heads. Bodies.

Two people. One in the container, one on the counter.

Dr. Taylor smiled radiantly. Inhaled with satisfaction. She was right.

The little women were half the size of the little man she saw earlier, which made sense, given it was half the amount of stuff.

And this time they were female. The faces were spitting images of herself. The bodies looked feminine, but they were still wearing the overalls.

Dr. Taylor said, “Hi there, little gel-blob girls.”

They turned their heads to look at her. Were those smiles? Dr. Taylor was ready to explode with joy. She had stuff here, stuff from some meteor underground, possibly composed of some type of alien ribosomal structures, and apparently, able to absorb DNA through touch, assimilate it, then construct the being in moments.

And it seemed that the more living things that touched it, the more DNA it absorbed, and it was able to mix and match and create combinations of the DNA, hence, combined beings.

And the more stuff, the bigger the being.

And then she remembered the mountain of stuff in the cornfield.

She grabbed her mobile, called Polowski.

To be continued...