"What do you mean alive?" Adam asked with an ominous sounding undertone.
"I mean exactly that!" Grace announced fervently. "They're alive! Whatever this microorganism is, it was frozen in that ice! This is incredible!" Grace finished and looked into the microscope again, unable to believe her miraculous find.
"Okay, so we know it's alive, but what is it?" Adam questioned as he began working on his first hypothesis.
"I don't know for sure," Grace admitted. "It appears to be some sort of bacteria from what I can tell." Grace said while still peering down the microscope tube.
"Are you sure you just didn't contaminate the sample?" This question was Adam's first and most likely hypothesis in his mind. "I mean, come on. I've read about people discovering bacteria frozen in permafrost and even a microorganism from Siberia that was thirty thousand years old, but there aren't many reports about that. I doubt we made the next big scientific discovery." Adam explained logically.
"But what if we did?" Grace didn't allow Adam's skepticism to stifle her excitement and repudiated his disbelief. "In fact, I believe we did exactly that! And I'll prove it! I'll take more samples and inspect them under the microscope. If the organisms were present in this first sample, they're bound to be in others. If I'm right, you owe me dinner when we get to Kentucky. How's that sound?" Adam pondered her request briefly before replying.
"Well, first off, if you're right, this will definitely make it into my journal, and best of all, we'll have an epic climax for our paper and our thesis next year!" Although Adam hadn't finished, Grace cut in, expanding the horizon of Adam's more grounded expectations.
"Forget the papers! This find could be an avenue for us into amazing job opportunities, and think of all the media coverage of a discovery like this! This could make us famous in the scientific realm and provide us with notoriety before we even reach the job market! This find could be huge for us." Grace's eyes began darting wildly, envisioning all the possibilities of this potentially historical find.
"Whoa, slow down there, Leeuwenhoek. First, let's confirm if you're right, and if you are, I will absolutely take you to dinner!" Adam finished with a smile. Grace hid her face in her shoulder for a second while she smiled as well, feeling giddy envisioning a date with Adam.
Grace got right to collecting more samples and carefully inspecting each one, taking every possible measure to ensure she hadn't contaminated any of the virgin specimens. Grace mumbled to herself umpteen times throughout the tests while rapidly jotting down notes on the first blank page in Adam's journal he donated to her for this occasion. Adam only sat and observed Grace in her natural habitat of scientific testing. There was no doubt in his mind she was born for this, and the scientific field would benefit greatly from her presence within it.
Grace took nearly a dozen samples from the oldest ice cores to pinpoint the location of the microorganisms hibernating in the frozen cylinders. With all of the necessary samples examined, she finished her microscopic investigation by filling half a dozen skinny, sterile vials and packed them into a small, unassuming protective case the size of a pack of cigars.
"So, it would seem we just got lucky with our finding." Grace had concluded.
"Lucky how? What did you figure out about them?" Adam inquired while waiting patiently.
"So, as far as I can tell, the bacteria, which I'm almost positive that's what they are, was only in our very last ice core, and not just that, but the lowest half meter. The concentration seems to vary in that distance and doesn't seem to follow any real pattern, just that it was higher and lower throughout the very bottom of the last core. Who knows how far down in the ice it went. We just hit the tip of the iceberg! Pun intended." Grace let out a half giggle from her quip.
"We have to tell Mr. Collins about this! I'm still not fully convinced, but I have to admit, I'm pretty taken aback by all of this. We have to tell him; we have to be sure." Before Grace had a chance to agree or disagree, Paul popped in to interrupt them.
"Hey, kids, come on! It's my favorite time of the day; dinnertime! Go wake up the Professor and—" Grace interrupted Paul, boiling with excitement.
"Forget dinner, Paul!" Grace yelled. "You won't believe what we found in this water!" Grace held up the concoction of melted samples that halfway filled a plain unmarked glass beaker. Paul looked overly disgusted with Grace and only commented on one thing.
"Forget dinner? Have you lost your mind? Forget your science! We need food to live! We don't need science!" Paul burst out laughing and began cradling his abdominals with one arm, a side effect of his latest joke. Adam just rolled his eyes at this repetitive song and dance that endlessly flowed from Paul.
"No, Paul, you don't understand! We found—" This time Paul impeded Grace's declarations and instead took it upon himself to hijack the discussion.
"I found something in a glass jar as well!" He announced before raising his arm, which clasped a fresh mug of steaming coffee. "There's fresh coffee in the galley! I left some for you college folks for dinner! Now let's go, dinner and coffee will be getting cold!" Before turning to begin his march of hunger, Paul clanked his coffee mug on the beaker, which resonated with a sharp clink, as a toast with Grace and raised his ceramic mug to take a large swig of his caffeine-laced tree bean juice.
"YYYOOW!" Paul screeched before his face contorted in undeniable pain. In one pivoting motion, Paul twisted and deposited his scorching coffee on a small shelf with one hand, while the other snatched the glass beaker away from Grace.
"Paul, wait! Don't drink that!" Grace demanded, but Paul failed to heed her warning. He downed the scientific evidence in one gulp, neglecting Grace.
"Wow, that sure was a fresh batch of coffee, if I do say so myself!" Paul began in his usual tone, but Grace didn't give him the chance to start another round of laughter.
"Paul, you shouldn't have drank that! It's full of bacteria! It could make you sick!" She explained, sounding distressed.
"Oh, come on, Grace, it's only water! I've drank worse things throughout my life!" Paul said, pretending to throw Grace's worries aside by tossing an imaginary object in his hand to his left. "Now, let's get some grub!" Paul said, rubbing the palms of his hands together.
"NO! You're going to stay right here while I go get Mr. Collins!" Grace yelled insistently. Grace bounded around Paul like a feline and took off down the short, cramped hallway to the sleeping quarters.
In less than a minute, Grace had nearly drug her teacher into the small research room, which was beginning to feel cramped as four people piled in.
"What is going on, Grace? What's so important?" Mr. Collins begged, rubbing his droopy eyelids.
"Okay, really quick, long story short, Adam and I found what I'm pretty sure is bacteria frozen in the ice cores, and Paul just drank a beaker full of it." Grace informed him with a short, hurried breath. Mr. Collins' eyes opened wide and focused on Paul and then to Adam to see if he would affirm Grace's claim.
"I didn't really help all that much. I mostly got the coffee to get her going." Adam said while pointing toward Grace, further confusing his teacher.
"Wait, where did this bacterium come from, and why did Paul drink it?" The Professor asked to make sure he had heard Grace clearly. Grace gave Mr. Collins another brief synopsis of the latest events, which Mr. Collins met with pure skepticism.
"Grace, I highly doubt that's where the bacteria originated. You most likely contaminated the slide, or they weren't cleaned properly when they were packed with the microscope. You're rather meticulous while experimenting, so the culprit is likely the latter." Mr. Collins brushed aside Grace's monumental reveal, disregarding it based solely upon the nigh impossibility of her suggestion.
"Can I go now then?" Paul implored. "I just want to eat. I'm starving here!" He groaned, feeling disinterested in the talk of bacteria and drawn by the thought of food.
"Good idea, Paul!" Collins bellowed. "I think we could all use a little food!" he turned toward Grace before reassuring her. "Grace, let's eat some food and clear our heads for a bit. I promise when we've finished, I'll look at what you discovered, and we'll even check the other blank slides. I bet that's where we'll find our answers."
"Huh, I thought of the accidental contamination, but not the dirty slides. Good thought, Professor!" Adam admired, butting into the conversation.
"Years of practice, Adam! You two will get there one day yourselves. Now let's get a hot meal. I'm sure you two have worked up an appetite after today's undertaking!" Collins turned around toward the door, which Paul interpreted as his approval to let himself out. Collins followed behind him and was tailed by his two college students, Grace farthest back rerunning her memories, assured that she had kept everything sterile and wasn't mistaken about her presumptions.