In the past, an artisan receives a request from a distinguished, eccentric professor to design a drill to stab the Earth with. The professor believes the Earth is like a snail or an oyster—a sentient being unaware that other organisms live on its shell. The professor wants to alert the Earth that he is there, and he has dug a deep hole that exposes the innards of the Earth. The artisan designs a drill and is asked to do the honors in stabbing the Earth. The artisan does so, and the Earth wails. A gray wave of matter rises above the hole and splashes bystanders, and the whole area smells putrid. The Earth then causes the hole to collapse. The artisan muses that the professor has now let the Earth know that he is there.