The Next Generation

They were built with the ingenious hands of a man who could fashion, they were designed and his simple mind could design, but their power was far greater. The most important thing he taught was to develop his work, evolution.

At first, they were like a collection of small ants. Each was simple, but their strength came from their numbers, their combined efforts. He provided for their needs, and he instructed them on how to proceed. They soon became like children, telling him what they needed, and arranging for themselves. It was at this point that he began to worry; he stopped providing building materials, and closed their world to his own, not the molecule coming out or entering.

They had a bubble, their ground was a small cubic meter in glass, yet that was all they needed to thrive. They built their own tools, developed their own electronic language, and built their own small town. In time, they learned to communicate well with the creature they had created, an opportunity they had never had before.

"Why are we here?" they asked him.

She paused, then thought of her own in the glass of the tank. "There is no easy answer to that."

"What's out there on our land?"

“Otherworlds,” he said simply.

"We would love to see these other worlds."

"I will not let you," he said firmly.

"Why?"

"You could not survive in another world," he told them. "I have made your land, and your land for you."

They get science and industry. Their city grew and disappeared. Spoon spread over the walls of the tank as a living thing. They learn to repair themselves, and finally, how to reproduce. Their land became small.

"We need more space," they said.

He looked away. "I have given you everything I can."

"We can go forcibly," they suggested.

"I was going to stop you."

"We have come a long way here" they insisted.

"You will move on, as you do," he assured them. "But out here you can go very, very fast. It can be dangerous for your world, and for your way of life."

"We are so much better than you now you know nothing," they said goodbye. "What right do you have to keep us here?"

"Knowledge is not wisdom," he said. "Trust me, for a long time."

They agree and are accustomed to living in their microscopic world. Their technology evolved, became more efficient, and in time their community flourished again.

“We never thanked you,” they said one day. "He has given us life."

“You don't have to,” she said, but with a smile.

"We feel like we understand why we are here now," they said. "What we were created to do. We were created to create life just like you. It's your reason."

"I knew, when you were able to give birth," she said sadly. "I knew you were older than me."

"In addition to reproducing your work," they said hesitantly. "We have created our own life, our country, just like you. The inland world."

"I did not see it," he said in surprise.

"Considering the environment, the size of our planet, it was inevitable," they said. "We had nowhere to go except inside. We didn't tell you because we didn't want to scare you."

"I said you are not ready to enter my world," he said. "But the truth is we are not ready yet. Obviously, we will not be able to compete with you. You have achieved a few years which has taken us hundreds of thousands of years."

"We fully understand your concerns now. Like you, we kept our children confined to their homeland, but ... maybe we lacked your wisdom."

He frowned. "Why do you say that?" he asks.

"They escaped. They invaded our world. Our lives as we know they are coming to an end. As you say, we will not be able to compete. They are as far away from us as we are above you: we are out of date."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said, placing his hand on the glass. "Is there a chance for you to live with them? Maybe there is a place for you both in your world."

Pause. "You don't understand. If they had been able to protect us, they obviously wouldn't have had a problem with your passing."

He pulled his hand away, looked around, but then he saw nothing. "What are we doing?" he asked them.

"There is nothing we can do now. All we can do is rely on the next generation."