interlard
[in-ter-lahrd]
verb (used with object)
to diversify by adding or interjecting something unique, striking, or contrasting (usually followed by with ).
to interlard one's speech with oaths.
(of things) to be intermixed in.
Obsolete., to mix, as fat with lean meat.
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The experiment was so close to working. He could feel it deep inside. The two cultures were pressed up against each other, a clear demarcation between them. But that was not enough. He needed them to mix. If he could only get them to do that, then so many great things would be unlocked.
The problem was how to get them to do what he needed them to. Simple mechanical mixing did nothing. All that caused was the two cultures to spin around each other. It made some nice patterns, but that was it. Temperature control likewise did nothing. No, he needed something else. Some third substance that would play well with both and coax them into intermingling.
Finding that substance was easier said than done though. He poured over the data his work had provided. The computer ran thousands of simulations a minute, each with a different substance as a catalyst. None of them were promising though. He was not sure if that was due to a limit of the computer, or because nothing would do what he needed it to. There was only one thing he could do. Get in the lab and find out for himself.
Getting to the lab was easy enough for him, and he was soon looking down at the lone Petri dish that housed his latest work. Behind him was a slew of chemicals, lined up in well labelled flasks. He spoke into a recording device and began. His first test proved fruitless. The two cultures ignored the added chemical completely. Undaunted, he kept going.
He removed the chemical and added another. That proved just as effective as the first. As did every single other chemical and material he tried. The two cultures remained both inert and separate. He racked his brain, trying to figure out what to do. He tried adding several chemicals at once to no effect. He tried using a variety of methods. Mechanical, thermal and chemical methods were all attempted in different combinations. Nothing.
His heart raced. His stomach clenched. Panic set in. Was this it? Had he come so far, only to fail? No, there was no way that was true. But nothing was working. Maybe they were just never meant to combine. Maybe they were fated to be forever separated. But he could not bring himself to believe that. Not fully.
He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, not caring about the normal lab safety practices. A few seconds later, something caught his eye. Motion in the dish. It wasn’t much, but something was happening. At the lower edge of the dividing line between the two cultures, it seemed like there was something new. A third culture was forming. They were mixing. It was not a lot, only at the very edge. But it was something.
But what was causing it? Nothing he had tried previously had worked. He rushed to find a magnifier and trained it on the area. There, at the boarder between the two was a hair. A single hair from his own head. It was a shorter hair, but it was there. And something about it was causing the reaction. Tentatively, he plucked another hair and dropped it in. It took a moment to start, but the reaction was there, and undeniable.
He let out a whoop of triumph. He had no idea what substance in the hair had caused the desired reaction, but that did not matter. At least, not right now. That could be determined in later tests. Right now, all that mattered was that he had succeeded. And no, so much more could be done. His work was just getting started.
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