saxicoline
[sak-sik-uh-lin, -lahyn]
1. living or growing among rocks.
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Frank wished he was somewhere
else. He didn't particularly care where
as long as it was somewhere else. He was
a respected educator; a molder of young minds.
He should not be a judge of a high school science fair.
To be fair, he probably wouldn't
have minded if the projects were any good.
Unfortunately, they were sub-par at best, and elementary at worst. If he had to look at one more papier-mâché volcano or weather model, he
would burst.
He wasn't looking for any genius,
national champion level projects. That
was asking too much from such a small school.
He just wanted something that was actual high school level. Where were all the robots? The chemical reactions? The projects with actual merit? So far there had been nothing but store
bought, cookie cutter projects. It
seemed so pointless.
Frank stopped at the next
project. It belonged to James Deloy, one
of his more promising students. At the
very least his project looked different than all the others. It consisted of a group of rocks with what
looked to be some kind of moss/grass hybrid on them. The stuff looked like normal moss, but had
short grass like blades growing among the rocks as well. There was a TV set up behind him, but it
wasn't displaying anything at that moment.
The student himself was fiddling with the display, obviously trying to
get it to work.
Frank cleared his throat. James stiffened for a moment, but turned
around.
"Oh, hey Mr. Pommer." he
said.
"Yes, hello James. What've you got for me today?"
"Oh yeah, it's pretty cool. See, it's a new kind of mps that I
made."
"That you made?" Frank asked.
At least it sounded promising.
That is, if it was true.
"Yup. Made it from scratch. It's a brand new type of moss that grows on
rocks, Even in more arid places. It's
gonna do a lot of cool stuff once it really takes off."
The teen certainly seemed
confident. That was for sure. And the
moss did look like no other types. Frank
thought James may have intended it to be a method of turning unusable, rocky
land into viable pasture land. After
all, it did look like it had some grass like qualities.
Frank looked at it closer, and saw something odd
about the sample though. He felt one of
the blades and sighed. It had a very
distinct feeling.
"James, this is plastic."
Frank said.
"Yeah, I know. Pretty cool, huh?"
"James, you can't go making
plastic models and pass it off as something new."
"It's not a model. It's moss that has plastic like
properties. Basically, it's organic,
growable plastic. Once this stuff really
gets out there, it'll revolutionize everything.
Think about it, anyone with enough rocks will be able to grow their own
plastic. Okay, so only big industries
will be able to make it in any significant amounts, but still.
"I mean, it’s not perfect or
anything. Since it’s still technically a
plant, it only comes it green, so it won’t completely replace manufactured
plastics or anything. Okay, yeah, I
tried growing it in other colors, but it didn’t last long. The yellow held out for a few days longer,
but only this green kind can last for any decent amount of time.”
“Yes, James, I’m sure this must all
seem very nice to you. A biological,
growable plastic would change quite a bit.
Unfortunately, there’s just no way that can be done.”
“Sure it can. I did it, and it’s right here.” James said, pointing to his display.
“I’m afraid I can’t see any
evidence that it is, in fact, moss.”
“That’s what the video is for. I filmed the entire thing as it grew. I’ll
show you once I get this thing to work.”
James immediately went back to work
trying to set up the video. Frank
decided to humor the boy and waited.
When he finally did get the slightly outdated equipment to work, he let
out a triumphant cheer and set up his video.
“See? Here I am, getting the seeds of the various
colors ready on their rocks.” James
narrated as the film started. On the
screen was a large amount or rocks set up in an outdoor area. James came on and did just what the teen
said.
James continued narrating as Frank
watched what appeared to be sped up footage of multi-colored moss growing among
a large spread of rocks. Just as James
said, most of the more colorful varieties died out fairly soon, with the colors
closer to green lasting longer, and the green moss that was now in front of him
lasting until the end of the video.
“See? It’s all there.” James said.
“That was filmed constantly over a month. I could’ve grown more, but that was all the
time I had before the fair.”
“Yes, I see.” Frank said.
He still wasn’t a hundred percent certain. Although the moss grown on the video did look
like the live version, things like that were fairly easy to fake for someone
who knew how. “Although I still need to
see more proof that what you have here is, in fact, moss and not a model. If you can provide that right now, then I
would feel quite confident giving you the first place. If you can’t do that, I’m afraid that I can’t
do anything.”
“Uh, oh, yeah, right, sure.” James said.
He pulled out a notebook and began flipping through it, growing more frustrated
as he went. “Okay, yeah, I don’t have
anything else on me right now. But I do
have stuff. And I can leave the moss
here for a few days until you can tell it’s grown. That should do, right?”
“The science fair won’t be on for a
few more days. Now, while I would be
curious on a personal level to see if what you’ve made is real, I’m afraid it
won’t be any good for this.” James
looked more than a little disappointed by that. “But, if it’s real, I will help you after the
fair ends to get it out to the public. You were right; something like what you
claim will help a lot of people.”
“Really?” James asked, perking up immediately. “Thanks, Mr. Pommer.”
“Of course, James. Now, unless you have something else to add, I’ll
see you in class tomorrow.”
As Frank went on to the next
project, he couldn’t help but wonder if James was telling the truth. He wasn’t very confident, but either way he
would find out in a few days.
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A kind of plastic that grows like a plant would be pretty cool. It might cause some problems for the oil industry, but somehow I think they'd survive.
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