Chapter 2: Simon Seville, Genius

In his dream, Simon was in a tower laboratory where his scientific intellect could run wild with his imagination. His lab was designed with sections for specific science experiments and topics: one for chemistry, biology and microbiology, botany, anatomy, robotics, physics, geology, meteorology, oceanography, and one of his absolute favorites; astronomy.

At the moment, the brainy chipmunk was engaging in an experiment that he hoped would be the first step to treating patients with inoperable afflictions. This was a combination of robotics and microbiology, in which he was designing surgical microscopic robots that could detect and eliminate problems in the body without causing harm to healthy tissue. Simon had just finished the welding and wiring and had tested the mobility of his machines.

"Now to see if the idea for the treatment pays dividends," he mused.

With that, Simon put on a hazmat suit and fetched a few Petri dishes containing diseased cells that could not be treated with conventional medical procedures. He opened the dishes and gently placed his surgeon-bots in each dish with a pair of tweezers, saying, "Okay, my microscopic marvels of medical science, do your stuff!"

Simon watched his surgeon-bots through a neutron microscope as they each released a strain of white blood cells enhanced to their full potential. The diseased cells in the dishes were successfully marked with modified antibodies, but then the greater test came. As he watched, he saw that the cells in three of the five dishes slowly began to improve. First the diseased cells were attacked and eliminated, then the modified cells carried them off, and then the stem cells began to repair the damage.

"Fascinating!" mused Simon as he marked down the data. "It seems that my calculations on the stem cell repair factor were on the mark! But I still have a ways to go before my surgical micro-robots can unlock their full potential."

He carefully discarded the contents of his Petri dishes in the laboratory sink and decontaminated both his hazmat suit and himself before moving on to his meteorology station. After charting the wind conditions, barometric pressure, and humidity levels outside the lab, Simon went over to work at his oceanography station, where he watched raptly as clownfish, parrotfish, pufferfish, groupers, sea horses, and more moved between each coral polyp searching for food and a suitable home.

"It appears that the amount of phytoplankton in the tank is decreased due more to the activity of the fish inside rather than the filters," Simon observed. "I wonder if a larger amount of plankton within the pond would enable larger quantities of fish to consume them in a short period of time."

He finished writing down this information and then moved on to his favorite station of science: astronomy. Simon activated his Quantum Macro-Telescope and peered into the night sky. He charted the location of each planet in the solar system alone and then charted the stars of various constellations from Orion to Gemini. He would have done some more experiments that evening if his lab computer, the Diatomic Analytical Vocalizing Examiner, had not interrupted his train of thought.

"It is thirty minutes and forty-five seconds past the hour of twenty-hundred, Simon," the machine said in its mechanized voice. "Should you not be taking a rest from your science experiments?"

Simon chuckled and cleaned his glasses before he replied, "As you say, D.A.V.E. I suppose I could do with a little relaxation for now. I trust you can keep the fish fed and the lab clean until my experiments resume?"

Absolutely, sir," the computer replied.

With that, Simon headed over to his bed-couch and had a robotic waiter bring him a glass of cold root beer while he enjoyed some of his favorite science cartoons. After spending a good thirty minutes, he felt the yawns coming and activated his alpha-rhythm machine. Simon admitted to himself that he loved his intellectual advancements, but if he could take the time to keep himself healthy and happy, it was worth waiting to continue them another time.