Inactive, suspended in the near freezing water. Even the vibrations from above didn't disturb their slumber. The sleeping ones remained silent. There were many of them. Tiny they were. But all sleeping, oblivious to the probe melting through the ice above them. The probe was too hot. It heated the water it touched, killing thousands of the sleepy ones. There came no outburst, no cries of distress. Still they slept. A small oblong object dropped into the water. It lit up suddenly. More of them died without knowing, killed by the brightness they were not accustomed to. Still no outcry from the others. The object moved about them. It was taking in water, and some of them.

"Boris?" Lilith called to him from the lab.
"Yeah?" He finished taking off his warm, outdoor clothing. It was below freezing outside, but it was always 27.9 degrees inside.
Lilith smiled at him hopefully. "Did they get it?"
He smiled back, reached into his pocket and held up five vials of fluid.
Lilith clapped her hand to her chest in excitement. "There is a God."
Boris quickly changed into protective clothing, while Lilith ran to the other building to get Ambrose. Boris smiled at them as they burst through the door.
Ambrose looked at him, grinning. "They really got it?" His French accent was strong despite the fact he had been an American for six years.
Boris nodded.
Ambrose's smile broadened. "Where's my suit?"

Sleeping still. Others began to stir around them though. Bacteria shared this water with them. Soon there was movement in the water Bacterium propelled themselves through the water with their flagella. Suddenly a bacterium collided with one of the sleepy ones. The sleepy one woke. It automatically attached it's coupling plate to the bacterium, injecting it's own genetic material into it. It began to disintegrate; it's work complete. The bacterium stopped moving, it's genetic information changed. It began to produce more of the virus.

Ambrose placed a drop of the water on a slide, carefully dropping a cover slip above it. It was hard to do such delicate work when you are wearing three pairs of gloves.
Lilith stood excitedly beside him. "What do you see?!"
"I've got to focus, hang on." He fiddled with the knobs on the side on the microscope.
Boris experimented with various indicators and chemicals in the corner.
"Wow!" Ambrose caught his breath.
"What?" Lilith struggled to contain herself.
"This is literally riddled with bacteria, but they're all dead."
"It must have been the temperature change. Let me look."
She scanned the drop of water slowly. She spotted some movement. A small group of bacteria remained. "Wait there's some alive."
Ambrose looked at them quickly, comparing them to the others. "I wonder what killed the other ones?"

The virus was thriving in this environment. It was multiplying every second. The bright light from above had killed some of them, but the ones it left behind were stronger than ever. Suddenly one changed. It's coupling plate became warped. It could no longer join with the bacteria. The mutant virus became sleepy, inactive. The dead bacteria lay around it, just as still. It was like a battleground.

Ambrose slipped the slide out from the microscope. It snapped. Glass slid through his gloves, through his flesh. The water entered. Lilith looked at him in dumb amazement. She shook her head. "Tell me it didn't go through the gloves."
Ambrose looked at the blood welling up on his fingertip. "Where's the disinfectant?"
She grabbed the bottle from the cupboard and followed him to the sink. It stung slightly as it entered the wound.
"Ambrose are you alright?"
"Just shaky. What the hell am I going to do?"
"I calling Amecia down from Canberra, okay?"
"Yeah, fine." He hated himself for this. Usually he was so careful. God only knows what was in that water.

The virus was pumped around the body, carried in the rich, warm stream of blood. All the bacteria was gone, it was sleepy again. It collided with cells of all kinds, but the coupling plate didn't attach. It waited, inactive for it's new host, new battleground, new war. For victory.