The micro world is all around us. We may not think about it or see it but it does exist. The book was partly written by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston. They both are Science Fiction writers. The book is split into three parts; Tensor, A Band of Humans, and Tantalus. I read it from December 14-31, 2012. It has 529 pages. This was an adventurous book. The micro-world is an ever growing, ever expanding world.
The main characters were graduate students from Cambridge University. Rick Hunter who was an ethnobotonist who studies medicines used by indigenous people. Karen King who was an arachnologist who is an expert in spiders, scorpions and mites. She was also skilled in martial arts. Peter Jansen who was an expert in venoms and envenomations. Erika Moll an entomoligist and coleopterist which is a beetle expert. Amar Singh was a botanist studying plant hormones. Jenny Linn who was a biochemest studying phermones the signaling scents used by animils and plants. Danny Minor was a doctorial student writing a thesis on scientific linguistic codes and paradigm transformation. I liked all the characters, since they all studied a different branch of science. Eric Jenson was the founder of Nanogen and the brother of Rick. This book reminded me of The Andromeda Strain.
Eric comes to Cambridge to ask Rick and his colleagues to come to Hawaii and work for him at Nanogen. He comes in three red convertables, which get everyone's attention. Nanogen is located near the Hawaiian rainforest, so it would be easier to get resources for making drugs.
Nanogen appeared to the public as a regular forty square foot warehouse. The company worked on the creation and improvement of nanotechnology. The smallest were about the size of a thumbtack. The only security the company has is a lock and key.
Marcus Rodriguez was a private investigator hired by Willy Fong for an unknown client. Rodriguez found the client bleeding from a gash which origins were not known. Three men were found dead of similar causes. The police were baffled.
Everyone in Peters family, except Eric, died in a plane crash. Eric struck it rich off a startup. Drug companies were the major backer.of Nanogen.Peter found a tiny model of an airplane in Erics car. After Eric left Cambridge, Peter called him up about this, and was told to bring it to Hawaii when he came. Peter was playing with it. Amar saw it, and asked Peter to see it. Peter gave it to Amar. Under magnification they saw it was very detailed.
Everyone thought Eric was bullshitting them, but that didn't stop them from going to Hawaii. Before they went to Hawaii, Eric sent Peter a text warning him not to come, however Peter never didn't get it until he landed in Hawaii. They learned Eric had a boating accident and went missing presumed dead. Ethenol was the probable cause of the accident. To add to this Eric had no life jacket and made no distress call, however he was an exceptionally strong swimmer.
Alyson Bender, VP and CFO of Nanogen, was standing on the hill overlooking the gulf, where Eric was lost. When questioned by the police, Peter denied knowing her.
When Peter went to the shipyard to look at Erics boat, a man yelled at him saying he needed to register in the office before he could be in the shipyard. Alyson identified him and he was let in.
The grad students met Vin Drake and he gave them a tour of the facility. He caused an alarm to go off and took the students to a room and shrank them. Drake dropped them into a bag and gave them to Alyson, who he told to drop them in the ocean. She was angry at him, because this whole thing was getting out of hand, so she dropped them in the grass not killing them as he wanted.
Vin Drake couldn't trust Alyson, because she carried Peter and his team out of the crate. He had to get rid of her, but couldn't now because all of the police there since Erics disappearance. She entertained the idea of dropping the bag in the surf, but decided against it. Drake was going to blame their disappearance on alcohol.
A Band of Humans
The group wanted to go to the other Nanogen site for a better chance of becoming their normal size. It was only fifteen miles away, however to them it was a hundred times further.
They had to be very careful in the world they were in now. One thing they had to look out for were big headed ants, which are the most ferocious ant in the world. They found out they were a lot stronger in the Micro World. This helped with the perils they faced. They found a supply tent, which was put in place just in case of emergency. They were debating whether to call for help, however they decided against this, for fear of Drake overhearing. They found weapons in the tent which would help them survive the unexpected perils of this world.
Dan Makele, chief of Security, was taking care of the micro-tents, which were set up for micro teams. He was shaking the bunker which the students were in.
Jenny hurt herself bad, they were using a leaf as a stretcher. It started to rain, so they ran under leaves and somehow lost Jenny. They survived the rain, but with heavy losses.
They scared a mosqueto away with a harpoon. After that they got poison from a millipede. Then they took turn standing guard, while the others slept. They heard a Daddy Long Legs pass. They were awakened by Earthworms then heard bats.
They were attacked by a Centipede which trapped Amar on the roof, Karen distracted him, and Amar got down. They saw a butterfly feed off nectar and they did so as well.
They decided to go to Tantelis Base, another Biogen site, to hopefully find people to help them.
Danny woke up to.find himself in a wasps clutches. Karen and Erika jumped off a tree and went through a spiderweb. Amar wanted the group to leave him, he had the Bends and would slow the group down. Amar and Peter died of a sniper shot.
Tantalus
There was an unknown man who was shooting.
Rick didn't know if anyone was still alive. Karen was about to be shot. However, Rick saved her by killing him. A spider saved Karen.She hit it with a rock to make it madder, and he ate the gunman.
Rick, Erika, Karen and Danny were the only survivors. Terrible emptyness fell over them for their lost friends. The fact that Peter was dead really saddened them, because he was their leader. They took the Hexapod, and Rick stated the were driving to Tantalus.
Eric Jenson was at the gate of Nanogen. He couldn't get in to Biogen. He was listening for electronic chatter.
The police found Alyson Bender body. Alyson had Jennys wallet. The hunters who were hired to kill the students were presumed to be dead, so Drake was happy because at least he didn't have to pay them.Drake found out the Hexapod was going to Tantelis base. Amar wanted the group to leave him, he had the Bends and would slow the group up.
Rick was.dissecting a beetle for its poisonous pouch. Dorothy and Wanabe found a minature vacuum. Erika took a swim nude, Rick and Karen joined
Erika was eaten saving Karen, but she was ok in the birds digestive track. Erika lost consiousness when the bird landed. She was formulating a plan to get out. Rick recognized the bird when it came back looking for more food. Rick lodged a harpoon within the birds neck causing the bird to commit, and Karen came out
Dan Wanabe went to Nanogen other location.Makele was talking with Dan. Makele was the head of security at the other.office. Karen was looking for a spider to help Rick. Karen used Wasp venom to incapacitied a spider she needed for Rick. They finally got to Tantalus base.
Ben Rourke welcomed them. Ben was planning to chop Ricks arm off to prevent further infection.Rourke was one of the founders of Nanogen.
The biggest mysterious thing that came from the shrinking was lack of forming blood clots.
Karen was thinking about staying small
They were going to fly to Nanogen. They are going to be so small the shields are not going to register them. Everyone, except Danny, slept within a magnetic chamber.Daniel was outside.
His arm started coming off, a grub was transforming, he called Karen but the magnet she was in was sealed. So he called Drake through a computer but it was giving him trouble because it was after hours. Daniel told Drake all about the base as well as Rouke.
Danny went to the Tantelis branch of Nanogen. He flew between two people kissing by mistake. Then he almost collided with a moth.
Drake burned down the Tantalus site, just as Karen and Rick left. Rouke, unfortunately died. Eric came back looking for people; but couldn't find anyone so he left. Karen got his attention by blinking the lights on her plane and then landed in his hands. She communicated with him by use of her planes radio. She told him what happened to his brother. He took her back to Nangen. Then he was going to speak with Drake.
Drake sent bots after Rick and Karen. The bots cut through both their wings, making them both eject. A bot killed Rick by cutting through his forehead to his eye. Then the police arrived and were told what to expect by Eric. They asked Drake to come out immediately.
Eric and Drake fell in the generator. Drake landing on top of Eric. Eric got the controller and smashed it. They both lunged for the gun. Drake shot Eric in the thigh. Drake lied to Eric saying he did everything to save his brother.
Karen and Rick went in the Hexagon and became normal sized and the bot was the size of a refrigerator. Drake was locked in the generator with hundreds of Micro bots and big bot. The police called and he begged them to get him, however the gigantic bot killed Drake. They brought an industrial size magnet to get the bots out after they went through Decon. The big bot, however, drilled through the floor of the generator. Edward Catel was still in Nanogen. He took the data from Nanogen.
Karen saw a humpback from here camp on the beach with Rick. Karen was intent on finding a way back to the micro-world. Once something was invented it was out there. Karen saw a reflecting in the air and it could of been a plane.
The micro world has its own logic and adventures that appear to be much different then our own. They are just the same as ours in the normal sized world. However, that you are tiny, so they seem very magnified. This is only a perception.
