*****
The beads of sweat on the oversized, bulbous head sparkled in the nauseating aquamarine glow of the laboratory. The vertebrae of the long, skinny spine poked through the cotton fabric of his lab coat as the gaunt figure stooped, peering through the microscope.
Prodding and poking inside the enlarged view of the single cell through the glass lens he was astonished that nothing appeared out of the ordinary with the physical makeup. He’d injected the once-animated lab rat with the mysterious nuclear material no less than six weeks previous. He’d expected to see some sort of mutation that might be expected after contamination of tissue with radioactive material. But no; no sickness in the body, no tumour growth, and no mutation in the RNA.
There was, however, one striking effect that the radioactive material had had on the animal. The innocent rodent had developed an insatiable appetite that could only be quelled with more than three times the rat's body weight in food. The rodent had consumed anything, and everything, that had been presented to it until its untimely death of obesity. This scientist had estimated that just a slender coating of material had resulted in the underlying foodstuff becoming approximately fifty times more potent than that of the most addictive known to science.
Dr. Nel Ker arose from the view of his microscope and furrowed his brow. He slid off his lab coat, ambled over to a metal aperture, and thumped a nearby button on the wall. As the door hummed open, Dr. Ker massaged his chin and peered back at his workbench. Curious, he thought to himself before stepping over the threshold as the door made its monotonous hum as it slid shut behind him.
A siren-like sound buzzed out from Ker’s pocket as he walked through the open doorway of his kitchen. He took out the Android mobile phone from his breast pocket and peered at the screen. Oh, what now? thought Ker as he viewed the name on the screen and pushed the button to answer the call.
“Morning, Nel!”, said a shrill voice from the phone which was on hands-free mode.
“Morning? It was just after 7 am last time I checked.”, said Ker.
“Listen Nel, your brother is up in the living room. He says he needs to talk. Urgently.”
“Urgently, ey? Very well, tell him I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Ker let out a deep sigh as I clambered the stairs from his basement laboratory.
Maddie Ker poured coffee into two cups as Nel ambled across the living room towards two lounge chairs that faced a roaring fireplace at the apex of the room. Joe, Nel’s brother, drummed his fingers over the arm as he sat in one of the seats, anxiously waiting for Nel.
“What’s amiss this time, Joe? Are the treats not selling well at Pluto Sweets?”, asked Nel.
“We'll, yes, you could say that.”, replied Juan. “As it happens, the accountant says we either need to reduce costs or increase sales to make ends meet.”
“Can’t you beat the competition?”, Nel suggested as he reached for a cup.
“We were doing so well going up against Origami Candy. At least until they introduced a new flavour enhancer that made their sales skyrocket. If only we could make something equally as addictive.”
“Enhancer? More addictive, you say”? Ker said, scratching his temple.
*****
Dr. Nel Ker has introduced a seemingly harmless ingredient to his brother's popcorn recipe. All seemed well until Nel began to manufacture large quantities of the radioactive popcorn. The batches of popcorn became unstable and began to spontaneously ignite.
Nel realised what a terrible idea he'd made to enhance the addictive nature of the sweet treat. He discovered that if he brought 3 or more batches of individually colored popcorn buckets in close-proximity, the popcorn would annihilate each other.
Can you help Nel match three more of the same color buckets of popcorn together and save not just his lab, but his entire city?
The beads of sweat on the oversized, bulbous head sparkled in the nauseating aquamarine glow of the laboratory. The vertebrae of the long, skinny spine poked through the cotton fabric of his lab coat as the gaunt figure stooped, peering through the microscope.
Prodding and poking inside the enlarged view of the single cell through the glass lens he was astonished that nothing appeared out of the ordinary with the physical makeup. He’d injected the once-animated lab rat with the mysterious nuclear material no less than six weeks previous. He’d expected to see some sort of mutation that might be expected after contamination of tissue with radioactive material. But no; no sickness in the body, no tumour growth, and no mutation in the RNA.
There was, however, one striking effect that the radioactive material had had on the animal. The innocent rodent had developed an insatiable appetite that could only be quelled with more than three times the rat's body weight in food. The rodent had consumed anything, and everything, that had been presented to it until its untimely death of obesity. This scientist had estimated that just a slender coating of material had resulted in the underlying foodstuff becoming approximately fifty times more potent than that of the most addictive known to science.
Dr. Nel Ker arose from the view of his microscope and furrowed his brow. He slid off his lab coat, ambled over to a metal aperture, and thumped a nearby button on the wall. As the door hummed open, Dr. Ker massaged his chin and peered back at his workbench. Curious, he thought to himself before stepping over the threshold as the door made its monotonous hum as it slid shut behind him.
A siren-like sound buzzed out from Ker’s pocket as he walked through the open doorway of his kitchen. He took out the Android mobile phone from his breast pocket and peered at the screen. Oh, what now? thought Ker as he viewed the name on the screen and pushed the button to answer the call.
“Morning, Nel!”, said a shrill voice from the phone which was on hands-free mode.
“Morning? It was just after 7 am last time I checked.”, said Ker.
“Listen Nel, your brother is up in the living room. He says he needs to talk. Urgently.”
“Urgently, ey? Very well, tell him I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Ker let out a deep sigh as I clambered the stairs from his basement laboratory.
Maddie Ker poured coffee into two cups as Nel ambled across the living room towards two lounge chairs that faced a roaring fireplace at the apex of the room. Joe, Nel’s brother, drummed his fingers over the arm as he sat in one of the seats, anxiously waiting for Nel.
“What’s amiss this time, Joe? Are the treats not selling well at Pluto Sweets?”, asked Nel.
“We'll, yes, you could say that.”, replied Juan. “As it happens, the accountant says we either need to reduce costs or increase sales to make ends meet.”
“Can’t you beat the competition?”, Nel suggested as he reached for a cup.
“We were doing so well going up against Origami Candy. At least until they introduced a new flavour enhancer that made their sales skyrocket. If only we could make something equally as addictive.”
“Enhancer? More addictive, you say”? Ker said, scratching his temple.
*****
Dr. Nel Ker has introduced a seemingly harmless ingredient to his brother's popcorn recipe. All seemed well until Nel began to manufacture large quantities of the radioactive popcorn. The batches of popcorn became unstable and began to spontaneously ignite.
Nel realised what a terrible idea he'd made to enhance the addictive nature of the sweet treat. He discovered that if he brought 3 or more batches of individually colored popcorn buckets in close-proximity, the popcorn would annihilate each other.
Can you help Nel match three more of the same color buckets of popcorn together and save not just his lab, but his entire city?
Open up
