Mosquito FEar
Nineteen years ago, little Moe Skeeter sat with his grandmother,
Judith, on the dock of the bay. Yep, they
were sitting on the dock of the bay feeling fine. But, some pesky, miniscule beasts were
ruining their lovely moment. It was
those bloody mosquitoes. Annoyed, the
little five year old continuously bugged his grandmother about why the mosquitoes
kept buzzing in his ear. So, she read
him the magnificent tale Why Mosquitoes
Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aardema.
Moe found the story fascinating…unfortunately.
Nineteen years later, Skeeter had
graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in
entomological robotic engineering. The
United States Government immediately recruited him for counterterrorism for the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI.
The FBI had determined the exact location of where the al-Qaeda
headquarters were, and they planned on using Moe’s skills to create robotic
mosquitoes that behaved exactly like real ones.
Once created, the bugs would buzz with high frequency ultra-receptive
base milliliter microbe echoes into the terrorists’ ears causing them to fall
into a deep trance. The US agents would
then swoop in, capture the members, and all would be well once again in the
world. Seemed simple enough, well, not
so much.
The mosquitoes got loose and
wreaked havoc all over the globe. The
whole continent of South America fell in the early 2020s. Currently, only two ways for protection
against the micro robots exist, and Moe’s own relatives, his other grandmother,
Margarita, and his brother, Grant, founded them both. Since the mosquitoes hypnotize through
humans’ ears, the two relatives thought that that was where the protection
needed to begin. They started to tell
the world about their ears, and how they have been able to survive just by
their ears’ characteristics. Margarita
and Grant may be related, but genetics don’t always dictate behavior and
problem solving methodologies.
The way the two have survived for decades is through their highly
developed defense mechanisms. Margarita,
code name Marg, devised the elegant protection technique of weapon class
jewelry for defending her three by six and a half centimeter ears. She adorns each ear with five strategically
placed spikes visible to all. Each
razor-sharp diamond stud is ready to kill any and all intruders by virtue of a
whopping eight-millimeter protruding barb. Any attacking mosquitoes get instantly stabbed
to death by the sword-like earrings. The robots cower in pure horror. Like Marg, Grant, code name Kilmo Skito, has
the ability to make his flying enemies cringe with fear. However, he uses no outward adornments;
rather, he produces his own interior weaponry for shielding his also three by
six and a half centimeter ears.
Wax. Viscous, green, sticky, and
revolting wax lies in his ear, waiting like a lion for a naïve gazelle. Grant, with no class whatsoever, generates
the wax inside his ear, invisible to all intruders. If any mosquito dares to attack, the gluey
semi-solid traps the creature. Then, if
it tries to use its hypnotic capabilities, the sound waves reverberate back off
the wax and kill it. Grant then leaves
the mosquito in his ear as a sign to all others what fate awaits them, a slow,
disgusting, nauseating death. Overall,
don’t mess with this talented family.
Another talent this family possesses is their capability to
manipulate their smells. Marg has the
aroma of perfume, which she gracefully and generously pats under her ears,
smelling of beautiful meadows crowded with lavender and vanilla. But, her sanctimonious attitude and need to
always smell oh-so-pretty has fashioned this one flaw. It attracts the mosquitoes to her ears like
Jacob Kind is attracted to food. Thus,
it appears as almost magnetism. She is
lucky to still be alive, while Kilmo has used his nausea-inducing odor to
increase his chance of survival. It once
again is due to his tactful wax. It
smells of molding goo and sour sour cream and repels the mosquitoes like a force
field. It creates an invisible barrier
that no mosquito can nor would want to penetrate. Isn’t the art of protective smell just so
wonderful?
Smell isn’t the only powerful art of protection; there also is camouflage - the art of invisibility. Margarita has
highly developed and become a connoisseur in this art. Marg has been able to use this power to her
full potential. With her hair covering
the top part of her ear, Marg has “made” the color of her ear the exact same
color as the rest of her skin. How
ingenious! There is no tint of red, no
tint of brown, no tint of peach, just her beautiful, extremely well cared for
and moisturized chestnut tan colored skin.
The android-like bugs can barely tell the difference between the skin on
the side of her face, and the skin of her ear.
It is deception, and Skito has participated in it just as much as Marg. Using the exact same strategy, Skito has
covered the top of his ear and has “taken out” all extraneous tints; the only
color that remains is his similar deep olive, tan skin. It is a skill only the best of camouflage
magicians can master. Thus, camouflage may have been able to hide
Marg and Skito’s ears, but it has not concealed the fact that desperate times
call for desperate measures, even if it means copying strategies.
Many followers of Marg and Kilmo Skito may never know that the two
are related. Except for sharing the drive
to survive the chaotic, mosquito-overridden world, some strategies, and ear
characteristics, the two are nothing alike…Marg is the definition of class, and
Skito is what it says under repulsive in the dictionary. But, even though Marg may have exquisite
taste in jewelry, while Skito focuses on his wax production, the two still are
related. They share and always will
share genetic traits. So, here and now
in 2029, blood may not be thicker than water, but it is most definitely thicker
than the parasites that take it away.
- J. A. Kind
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