I don’t know if I can take it… the apprentice realized dejectedly. For all her bravado in being certain humans could fix themselves, they continued to control each other using the same thinking patterns she operated on. Thinking like hers was the reason the world was doomed. At least there are people like the scientist in this world. And perhaps, the apprentice herself could change her thinking in his company. “I can take it.” She perched back onto the Machine’s chair and slipped the headset back on.
“I’ll set up another short one.”
There was a gentle clink of wine glasses as the sun glimmered behind the horizon, but the sterile white lights of the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week convention were bright, illuminating the wide arched hall.
Professor Nora Kristiansen decided to enjoy the world while she still could. It was only a matter of time before they would die from bacteria. Countless new antibiotics were constantly being developed but it was becoming increasingly obvious that humans were the inferior species. The bacteria were smarter, more efficient, hardier, and could kill off competition far easier than any human militia. The convention was a cover-up for this fact, pretending to celebrate the world’s progress to fight antibiotic resistance. The success would only last so long.
She yawned, as someone ventured up to her.
“Nora! You’re looking ever gorgeous like usual. I just wanted to use this opportunity to thank you for giving the Pacific Islands the antibiotic supplies we need. Our islands are ravaged with infections, but most of the wealthy countries are prioritized.” It was tanned and muscular man, wearing a threadbare suit, bowing deeply in thanks. Nora hid her scoff, glancing down at him. His country was insignificant in the grand scheme of the world. Yet his countries were also likely to increase the resistance of antibiotics the most. It was also likely that the large corporations that housed themselves on the various islands, or, in fact, on any discreet land, were hogging such resources. The Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance would never have enough resources to track shipments of antibiotics after they were distributed. Trans-Nation shipments constantly went missing and could reach black markets—or anywhere—and be unmonitored. They would have unregulated use, allowing any bacteria to access it and transfer the resistance plasmids to each other. Nora envied the bacteria’s simplicity in life. They were all oriented to one goal, survival as a species. They would transfer their DNA to whatever colony required it, because they all wanted to survive. Humans on the other hand were constantly divided, prioritizing some of them over others, conserving resources for their own selfish desires. Perhaps the bacteria WERE the higher power. The ideal creation. Peak evolution. And they were meant to wipe out the pestilence called Homo Sapien.
Regardless of what the result of the world would be after her insignificant thinking, she was only allocated a small time on the planet so she might as well be civil with it. She smiled warmly at the islander man. “You’re very welcome. I know firsthand the horrors of bacterial infections. My own mother was victim to a horrible infection caused by biological warfare in the Russian war thirty years ago. And I know how hopeless it can feel to have no idea how to fix it.”
The man bowed in thanks again, and the grin immediately dropped off Nora’s face when he was out of sight. It was an ironic paradox, Antibiotics were meant to be used to save people, by killing bacteria that infected them and hijacked their resources. Yet antibiotic use still had to be exclusive because then the bacteria would learn to fight it and the cure would be obsolete. Either way people would die. The Islands received minimal official supplies because they lacked the regulations on antibiotics and the institutions to properly educate doctors and distributers of antibiotics. Humans were inferior, controlled like puppets by their greed. Her mother had been a victim of it all, and so would the rest of the world. The chuckled, sipping her glass of sparkling cider. It might all happen in her own lifetime. A great honor, granted she one insignificant speck in the wide expanse of space and time. She had been gifted with the chance to watch it all burn.
The event ended.
The apprentice rose from her seat, shook. Fifty years ago the first antibiotic had been discovered, penicillin. Only fifty years ago. Thousands more lives were saved by the invention, and even still, before the thing was invented, the world didn’t perish because of bacteria. “Is it all meant to end up that way? If it wasn’t a problem before, why is it a problem now?”
“I warned you. You probably can’t take it. In the future, thousands more live. Life expectancy is longer. November 18th, 2045. Scientist dedicate their lives to increasing life through killing bacteria. But the bacteria is just superior.” Something almost imperceptibly shifted on the scientists face, it almost softened. The apprentice wouldn’t have noticed if she didn’t spend too much time with him. “But sometimes loss can create something wonderful. I’ll set it up.”
“How come everyone is so depressed—”
“The burden of knowledge. ‘Ignorance is bliss’, they say. It’s true. Once you’ve seen the worst of the world, and once you know about it all, there’s no going back. You are stuck with the knowledge, and you can do nothing to do to fix it because you are but an insignificant speck on the timeline.”
The apprentice was tugged to another event.
