"Harry Adam Knight - Fungus" - читать интересную книгу автора (Knight Harry Adam)

тАЬaccidentally on purpose-like,тАЭ as he told his friends. They knew he was just having some harmless fun,
that there was nothing more to it.

Tonight, however, he didnтАЩt feel like rubbing his painfully distended belly against anyone, no matter how
young, soft and female they might be . In fact he didnтАЩt even feel up to helping the staff, he just wanted to
collapse. And so, after a brief clear-up in the Lounge, which consisted mainly of wiping the table where
the attractive blonde had been sitting

and picking up her glass, which still contained several mouthfuls of wine, he said goodnight to his staff
and headed upstairs to bed.

As he climbed the stairs his belly rumbled and he let out a tremendous fart. He was already regretting not
being able to resist swallowing the remains of the blondeтАЩs red wine before washing the glass. On top of
the dozen or so pints of Bottom Draught heтАЩd consumed that evening the small amount of wine could turn
out to be the alcoholic straw that broke the camelтАЩs back.

He sat down heavily on the big, sagging double-bed, tugged off his shoes then collapsed backward, not
bothering to undress. As he drifted quickly off to sleep he thought briefly of Marianne, as he always did at
this time, even though it had been eight years since his late wife had shared the double-bed with him.
There had been no one else since then.

During the night, as he slept, the live yeasts in the beer that filled his stomach and intestine underwent a
remarkable molecular change. . . .

Yeast, the only fungus that grows by budding rather than by producing the long tendrils called hyphae, is
also the fastest growing fungus with the theoretical ability to increase a thousand fold in 24 hours. The
transformed yeasts in EricтАЩs stomach, however, were now capable of growing at a hundred times that rate.

Which is what they were proceeding to do.

Feeding first on the sugar in the contents of EricтАЩs stomach the yeasts budded and grew at a phenomenal
speed, producing more alcohol as a waste product as well as a considerable amount of carbon dioxide gas.

Then, when the transformed yeast fungi had exhausted the supply of sugar within his stomach they began
to break down the cells of the stomach wall and the intestinal linings. If Eric had been awake it would
have felt as if his internal organs were on fire but, mercifully for him, the large amount of extra alcohol
created by the yeast had already put him into deep unconsciousness.

Then, slowly at first but then much more quickly, Eric Gifford began to ferment.

And as he fermented his body expanded . . .

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Just after 4 a.m. EricтАЩs staff were woken by a muffled but powerful explosion which seemed to come
from their employer's bedroom. All five of them gathered in the passageway outside his room. They