Balance of Power Shifted by Victor Karl Page B

me which must have broken off.  Placing the bag in the sink so not to spill anything, I unzipped the bag and started to reach in to retrieve the piece.  The next thing I knew, there was a major jolt that went from my fingers to my shoulder causing me to jump back but not without first hitting my head on the wooden shelf above the sink and sending the shelf, laundry detergent and other cleaning aids flying all over the place.
    For the next 30 seconds I shook my right arm to get the numbness out while forcibly yelling shit, damn, shit damn.  Peering back into the sink , the unobtrusive bag and contents looked harmless.  By now intrigue had set in, I remembered that Bill had had a similar experience when he first touched it.  With some determination, I searched the workbench for something with an insulated handle to pick up the plant with.  Finding a pair of channel locks with blue rubber sleeves over the handles, I retrieved the piece from the bag and carried over to the table we used yesterday to package up the largest piece.  With the light shining down on it, there was really nothing to see.  The plant was the same color as yesterday, which was interesting since the fluid in the bag seemed a much darker green shade.  Making those stupid decisions, which are all too common for me, I decided to reach out and touch it, however, I would do it with a quick flick of my hand.  Taking a deep breath, I quickly touched it with my right hand and immediately withdrew it.  With my adrenalin pumping, it took a second to realize that nothing had happened.  Touching it a second time, but with a slower motion, resulted in the same.
    I sat down on a rolling stool to think about it a moment, and thought that maybe it was something that charged over time and discharged in a second.  I thought this was plausible and decided to put the piece back in the bag and wait until after mass to try it again.  Walking back to the sink I reached down for the bag that was still open.  As I reached down to pick it up, my pinky encountered the fluid. Zinnnggg went my arm.  My finger and arm had that now familiar feeling of painful vibrations which was as best as I can describe it.   Cursing again, I waited until my arm got back to normal and carefully zipped the bag up and carried it to the workbench and placed it under the bright light.  Mmmmm I muttered to myself, the fluid is certainly a more noticeable shade of green today and not so brown.  Looking at my watch, I saw I had ten minutes to walk to church, which was just enough time.  Finishing off my forgotten soda and eating my bagel as I walked, I was there in eight minutes.
    I was so distracted at church that a little kid had to tap me on the shoulder to remind me to get up so they could head to communion.  After communion, I decided to walk out the door without going back to the pew, which was actually a pet peeve I had regarding those who did that every Sunday not staying for the entire mass.  In my excited state, I must have fast walked, since I got back home in less than six minutes.  Putting the pieces together in my head, I had concluded that the liquid was the key and held some kind of organism that reacted to sunlight.  When we had messed around with the specimen yesterday, it had come right out of Bill’s duffle bag and from what he told me, it been stored in his dark locker onboard ship.  So how to be sure…
    Walking back in to the downstairs shop area , the first thing I thought I should do was to move the liquid from the zip lock bag to something more reliable.  I was operating under the idea that I needed to preserve this stuff so that Bill could claim a second major discovery.  My thinking was that I thought the second discovery would be more significant than the first since it had characteristics of electricity associated with it.  To my amateur mind, it was much more interesting than a plant that did nothing such as the one he sent off to his