When I was a kid, I was bitten by a bat. My mother can tell the whole story of how she drove away the bat from my bloody hand.When the story about Brian the Spacebat came about, I can't help but remember that fateful day.
When you get bitten by a bat, or any animal for that matter, Rabies is of prime concern. Reflecting upon the fact that i am still alive, it meant that the bat who bit me was not rabid. Or was it?
Reflecting upon the fact that I too am drawn to outer space, I can't help but think that perhaps Brian might have had rabies of some kind.
How can you tell if a bat has rabies? Well, although CDC says that rabies can be confirmed only in a laboratory, any bat that is active by day, is found in a place where bats are not usually seen (for example, on a space shuttle), or is unable to fly (like Brian)--might be rabid.
I asked @DiscoveryBat--the ghost of Brian the Bat--to confirm whether he had rabies, but he has not answered (yet).
Hence, i took the time to write this article while I waited. But the pieces of the puzzle seemed to come together as time went by.
A wildlife expert said that Brian might have had a broken wing. That's no expert! He's a poet! "Broken wings" are the stuff of poems, songs and melodramatic overtones. How did Brian get up there in the first place?
And if Brian had some problem with his shoulders, he wouldn't be able to hang on. The vibrations would be too much. If you've seen a footage of astronauts during lift-off, you'll see that they are being shaken like crazy.
Brian did not have a broken wing. Neither did he have any problems with his shoulders. He just didn't fly off, because he was rabid.
But what kind of rabies? It's called Space Rabies - the unsatiable and maniacal desire to reach outer space.
At this point, after it has taken so long for Brian to answer, I do not expect him to think straight and even answer my question. Any rabid mammal would deny having rabies (just watch the movie 'Quarantine' and you'll know what I mean), but the tell-tale signs of space rabies is obvious (look at the hair of some astronauts in the ISS). Just like Brian and all those infected with space rabies, they have only one thing in mind: to reach Outer Space.A twitter friend, @XiNeutrino rightfully observed a sure sign that Brian was infected with Rabies because he had fever. I couldn't agree more (Brian was hot on the infrared images). Brian surely had the symptom of Space Rabies--the fever for Space Travel, and he infected the world with it.
Brian the Bat is the first case of Space Rabies, and there will be more. So Brian Bat Foundation was set up by @astroengine (the man who named "Brian the Bat") to track the spread of this infection called Space Rabies in the animal kingdom. Only time will tell when the disease that Brian started will spread to the public. Be prepared for Space Travel. Fasten your seat belts for Outer Space!
