One day, the red-hot core of
Mars spewed a little lava that cooled and solidified and
was hit by a meteorite. Water filled the cracks and then
an angelfish darted about, looking twice its size in its
own reflection, until another meteorite catapulted the rock
and the angelfish into deep space.
“Character building,” thought
the angelfish as it sailed through weightless eternity.
Five hundred million miles
and several orbits of Earth later, NASA’s Dr. Finzi
Battenberg was searching the Orinoco basin after meteorite
ALH10878 had been found to contain a tiny fish tank, a sofa
and a satellite TV. There was even a half-completed Sudoku
on the coffee table.
The doctor kneeled, attracted
by reflections on overhanging tree branches. He’d seen
many angelfish staring out of empty fish tanks in out-of-town
pet superstores, and he felt sorry for the angelfish. He
picked it up and lowered it into the Orinoco.
“Go swim,” he
said.
It was just what the little
fish needed.
