5
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Lupianne’s ChoresLUPIANNE EDGED HER WAY, a diminutive ant inching her path between tanks 179 and 180. She stepped over tubes bringing nutritive fluids to the tanks, while other tubes carrying the harvested dissolved oxygen to the towers.
It was almost dark outside, but the bioluminescent bacteria lining the tubes’ outer surface gave a bluish light.
Dead algae fell on the bottom, before being drained and transferred to serve as nourishment to the luminescent bacteria. Lupianne checked the gauge, noted the water flow rate and the concentrations of the glucose and phosphate consumed by the two populations of micro-workers. Nothing out of the expected returns.
For six days now, she had been inspecting the tanks instead of taking the lectures from the diagnostic monitor
