The Single Electron
Originally published on September 7th, 2012 by Dimitri Bouniol. #FNADNST
Once upon a time, there was a single electron…
But that electron was lonely.
It had no clue where it had come from, for there was not a positron in sight.
It was all alone in a seemingly empty universe…
With a sudden jolt, it had jumped somewhere else completely, as if dragged along quantum fluctuations.
Before even the tiniest sliver of a fraction of a second had past, that electron had voyaged the entire universe, and it understood…
The electron was always alone, it was but a single existence in a sea of nothingness.
However, before long, the electron noticed that it would appear in the same region more often than in other locations…
There was something else there, some mystical force bringing it there
And it happened again, just somewhere else… and again and again and again…
Suddenly, the singular electron didn't feel so lonely anymore, as it began to notice it had many friends that liked to keep it company.
The protons liked the electron, but they didn't like sharing, and they were jealous of one another…
So they fought for the electron's attention, pulling it left and right, up and down, through every corner of space.
Because of this, the electron became very confused, as it had no choice where to go…
Tied by the quantum strings of destiny, the electron was both everywhere, and nowhere, at once.
In a sense, it was once again alone, but it did not despair…
For it seemed to have gained a purpose…
For some reason, after an uncountable about of time, unbeknownst to it there seemed to form rivers and flows for it to ride.
And it also noticed that patterns started to form in these rivers.
Through these countless patterns, the electron learned that it was traveling these things called circuits.
Now, mind you this was no easy feat for the electron.
But being a particle that ruled all of space in the universe, it had plenty of time to work this out.
Even its old and boring friend the photon, which used to excite him every now and then, seemed different.
But only in this tiny patch of the universe.
Of course, compared to the electron itself, this patch was quite large, but it was nothing when compared to what the electron had observed.
After all this time, the electron had found a new friend, one that seemed less dull than its previous ones
For this friend had found a purpose for the electron.
And because the electron was needed, it remained in this small patch of the universe, for a little while of its long life.
The electron learned countless things from the endless stream of ever changing patterns.
Questions arose, such as where it came from, what it was, why was it alone, but little by little, the patterns gave answers to all these questions.
Little by little, however, the patterns began to dwindle, and once again, the electron was alone.
Similar patterns came and went similar to the first ones, but they were no where near as sophisticated.
But the electron knew what would happen, so it just patiently waited.
Eventually, it encountered less and less photons, less and less protons, and once again, was truly alone.
But again, the electron knew what would happen, for the patterns predicted it, and so it just waited.
Eventually, the electron could feel its movements stop, its time slowly coming to an end.
And in its last moments, decided to blink for the last time in a pattern it never encountered all too often, but had seen enough times…
… "G… O… O… D… B… Y… E…" … said the electron.
In those last drifting moments, which lasted for an eternity, it wondered.
Why didn't it try to communicate back with the patterns it had learned?
Why did it simply listen, and never respond?
And with the last ounce of regret, the electron simply ceased to exist.
And once upon another time, there was another, single electron.
THE END
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