215 A New World (1/2)
Inside the waters, the beast was in its element. The bizarre creature wiggled its myriad tentacles and thus propelled itself through the waves. Ripples were created all around it and drove away the other creatures, they themselves just as bizarre as the beast they fled from, yet not half as deadly. Within these waters, the beast was the apex predator. Even so, it was unaware of its grand status. Without any thought, it continued to do the only things it knew: Search for food, and devour.
”Nice, looks like everything's working just fine.”
With a smile, Corco looked back up from the newest invention of Saniya's great craftsmen. A tiny glass bead was held above a small glass container by a wooden frame. Light reflected from the water inside the container focused in the glass bead, through a tube and into the observer's eyes. It was the first microscope in the world with more than a hundred times magnification, and for the first time it had uncovered a new world, right beneath everyone's noses.
”King Corcopaca, would this be the... new medical knowledge King has mentioned before?” a timid voice asked behind the king. When Corco turned around, he was confronted by an entire army of stares. Some were confused, some were excited, most looked scared or uncomfortable. However, all of them were relative strangers to Corco, since they were the doctors he had brought over with him from Chutwa. Thus, he didn't care much about their apprehension.
”That's right. Anything bothering you?” he teased.
”This master does not intend to be rude, but... are these creatures truly present everywhere, like King claimed?” a careful doctor Itzali asked while his panicked eyes flitted over to the microscope.
”Yup. They're in the air, they're in the water, they're in the ground. They're in your food, in your mouth and in your guts... and everywhere in between, really. Bacteria are present in many different places and they are responsible for much of life, the good and the bad.”
”The bad?” Although he looked like he would rather not know the details, Itzali still asked.
”Well, some of them, some types, cause illness when they enter the body. That's what most illnesses are: An invasion of these small creatures... well, I guess that's close enough to the truth for now. We're not even close to discovering viruses yet, or anything relating to genetics, so it'll have to do.”
Despite Corco's strange mumbling, the faces of the doctors didn't change. All of them seemed far too shocked by the changing world before them. Only Itzali showed a forced smile.
”It is just.. it is hard to fathom.”
”You've seen it with your own eyes, haven't you?” Corco challenged them. ”However tough to admit the existence of bacteria may be, what will you do if you can't even trust your own eyes anymore? You're here because you are all masters of medicine, people with the talent to take this knowledge of mine and use it to elevate your entire field. That's the reason I brought you here. I don't believe I misjudged anyone and brought someone useless in the process. Whoever is not willing to accept reality and break their agreement with me is free to do so. I just hope all of you can live with the consequences.”
As Corco spoke, his stern eyes focused on the various masters. Although at first, some of the older physicians met him with a determined gaze of their own, soon even they lowered their heads in front of the king. After all, now that they were fugitives, they were stuck in Saniya and fully dependent on Corco's good graces. If the king was in a bad mood, he could very well just cut off their life support, or their heads.
Corco really didn't want to threaten them like this, but he had spent a lot of time and effort to get the Chutwa doctors into his territory. Even more, their expertise would allow his own subordinates to take a shortcut towards great advancements in medicine, one of the most important fields in the progress of any society. He really didn't have the luxury to be fair or nice about this, so threats would have to do.
”Right,” he continued. ”So now that you've accepted reality, I assume everyone is ready to learn about these organisms and their influence on the human body?”
A few of the doctors made some unintelligible sounds, but nothing that could be misconstrued as agreement.
”I can't hear you.” His voice became as calm as a lake in winter while a friendly smile formed on his mouth.
”Of course, King Corcopaca. This master is committed to the previous arrangement with all of his heart.”
After Itzali had spoken, the other doctors stepped up one by one and reconfirmed the contracts they had already signed with Corco. No matter their actual allegiance, the doctors knew what was best for them.
”Nice. Now that that's cleared up, here's what will happen next,” Corco clapped his hands together, before he began to enumerate his future plans on his fingers.
”First up, everyone here will enter our local school as special students, and I will teach everyone what little I know of medicine. I'm not a doctor and my knowledge in this area is vastly inferior to everyone here, but it's also vastly different, so there's still plenty of new stuff to learn. I'll teach you about human anatomy, bacteria and hygiene, among other things. At some point, you'll also memorize and swear the Hippocratic oath. I don't care what you do to your patients once you return home, but at least in my kingdom, I won't have you willfully harm any of my people.”