It was a dark and gloomy day. The clouds were dark and stormy cutting off the rays of light the sun brought. The atmosphere in the laboratory was bleak and depressing. Still, I persevered. It had to be done. The elusive 400mM media was the key to the success of continuing the dying line and breed of calli that were begin to exhibit signs of rapid deterioration. I wasn't sure if it would work this time. It was proving a sneaky media to make indeed.
I recall the first time I made the media not too long ago. It was just last week and yet it stays fresh in my mind like it happened less than 2 hours ago. I had collaborated with my colleague, an esteemed scientist with the highest calibre. Together, we made several treatments for our cultured crop. The treatments ranged from "Control" to the deadly "400mM" stress treatments. We had started the day with high spirits as my colleague had done this before. It was no problem calculating the volumes and amount of chemicals to add due to the presence of existing recipes left behind by the past scientists that had started this experiment.
After making all the media, we sent it up the people on level 5. Level 5, it is the place of steam and high pressure sterilisation. No bacteria can go into those huge machines and come out alive. Our treasure autoclave machines sat there in their thrones on level 5. My dear friend, Fernando, the appointed operator of the machines stared at the number of bottles I had brought up with me to sterilised and uttered several lines of "Hou guai FAN ar!" before lamenting on the fact the it would probably take him all day to sterilize our things. A little cajoling and promises of free ice tea made the bespectacled man relent and slowly load the jars of life into the huge mouth of the machine.
That was when disaster struck. The machines wouldn't work. Sometime between 10.00am and slightly before lunch, someone had tripped the autoclave machine's live-giving force. We were stranded on the proverbial island staring out into the sea hoping for the boat that would take our media and germinating jars to the land of sterility and cleanliness. Our beloved jars sat there, mocking us in their silence. Turning to my esteemed colleague, I asked him for advice. We pondered the possibilities with Fernando, feeling that three heads would be better than one. Finally, we came to an agreement to place the treasured bottles of life-giving media into the cold room where the cold would seal the goodness of the media in.
The next morning, I anxiously carried my treasured media to level 5 yet again, hoping and praying all would be fine. Sadly, the autoclave machine Gods were unkind and still refused to give the zap of life to their subjects. Alas, Fernando was on leave on that day and I had to depend on the master of autoclave machines, Sam-Pak. The man was a sturdy man who raved on and on about things (to be honest, I can't remember what he raved about) but would never turn down a few bottles of media. He promised me that my media would be safely deposited in my arms by the end of the day. My heart was full of uneasiness and I carried the sterile jars that I had sent up much earlier in the week back to my cave on level 4.
In my dungeon, I worked on the sterile bottles, sealing them to prevent monsters and contaminants from entering them and causing my precious callus to die bacterial infestations and fungal overgrowths. Finally, just as I was about to pass out from anxiety for my media, the master of level 5 summoned me. With a rapidly beating heart (from running up the stairs) I reached the sacred room itself. Accepting the hot bottles of media, I rushed down to my dank and cold dungeon where I proceeded to place the precious bottles into a pre-heated oven of 65˚C to maintain the media's liquid composition. Patting myself on the back for such swift work, I got ready to close the dungeon for the day.
The next morning, I was greeted by a horrifying sight. Although all the other media bottles were fine, the 400mM media was a horrible murky colour. I was destroyed. My heart shattered into a million pieces. Rescuing my other media, I began to pour them into their jars, hoping and praying to the media Gods that 400mM would somehow be redeemed. When my esteemed colleague walked through the bars of my dungeon, I showed him the horror. His eyes widened as he shook his head sadly. "It can't be saved" was all he said. At that moment, my heart fell and my world came crashing down. The 400mM treatment calli would be doomed unless I made another batch. Not willing to give up so easily, I told my colleague that I would make it the next day. True enough, I kept to my world. This time, I came in early and started early, hoping to get the early session of the autoclave room. I sent up my media and waited.
In the afternoon, I sent up my colleague to get the elusive 400mM media. I was busy sealing my other jars when he walked through the door. A look of sadness in his eyes with the media in his hands, he called out my name.
"It didn't make it. We did everything we could. I'm sorry. It solidified in the machine. It doesn't make sense,"
Letting out a wail, I cradled the remains of the media in my arms. Finally, when the heat was too much to bear, I passed it to my colleague who helpfully poured the remains away. Something happened to me that day though. The sight of the strangely solidified media stirred a beast in my soul. I would conquer it. I ran through the recipe hoping to find answers, but finding none, I resorted to reading manga for inspiration. Deciding enough was enough, I began preparing myself for the next batch of 400mM media to make. This time, I would succeed.
It was a happy and cheerful Tuesday morning when I sent the bottle up again. The sun was bright and I was in good spirits. Something told me everything would be alright this time. By noon, I collected my media which was warm and toasty. With a skill only attained through hours of practising, I poured out the media quickly to avoid the dreaded solidification of the liquids before I was done. Sure enough, I managed to achieve that I had set out to do. I had conquered the 400mM media. All that was left was to leave it to harden. Carefully spacing out the jars to allow maximum airflow, I left it to mature in the laminar flow as I went to hunt for pork noodles.
I returned to my lair later, around 2.00 pm. The hunt was good and my spirits were up. Sure enough, my jars were sitting there like they should, all nice and cool. The media had hardened as it should and all was good once again in the world of the Genetics Prep room.
