Larry the Retinal Ganglion Cell

         Once upon a time there lived a little retinal ganglion cell. This particular retinal ganglion cell’s name was Larry, and just like all of his friends Larry lived in the retina of a rather dapper young man named Tim. It was a cozy home and he had grown quite fond of it, it was somewhat secluded of course but the view was to die for! As a retinal ganglion cell Larry’s job was rather simple as well, this suited him just fine. His job, in fact, his sole purpose for existing was to transform photons, light, into neural activity.  How Larry did this was rather complicated but suffice it to say he enjoyed seeing light, or photons if you will, a lot. Larry was rather picky though, he could only truly enjoy light if it had a specific orientation, a certain angle and a particular shape. In Larry’s case nothing made him happier than seeing a horizontal line through the lens of Tim’s eye. When he happened to spot one Larry couldn’t help but get excited, his skin would get prickly, his stomach would feel all smooshed up and soon enough he’d feel so positive about that horizontal line that he couldn’t help but shout for joy. He’d even call his boss and tell him all about it!

         One would think the ruckus whenever Larry saw a horizontal line would polarize his neighbours; thankfully they all had the same job. Each retinal ganglion cell had particular tastes of course. Some preferred vertical lines and some loved lines at a slight angle. What they all had in common though was that when they saw their favourite mix of photons they’d all call and tell their bosses about it. Because of this there was a great potential for action at any given time in Tim’s retina. For some reason however neither Larry nor any of his friends could actually speak to each other, their cries of joy blocked by the thick walls that separated their apartments. Because of this each cell was unaware what the others were seeing, leaving each to bask in the brilliance of their own orientation-lines while remaining oblivious to what the rest of the cells had seen. The only ones who knew what Larry saw were his bosses on the other end of that phone line. Despite this, Larry was happy. Soon though even his favourite horizontal lines were simply not enough to get him truly excited and it was then that he started to notice his mind wandering; forming questions about what else there was out there.

         This feeling didn’t rush in all at once, nor did it make Larry change his behaviours that quickly. It was a gradual process, slow yet inevitable as it tracked its way through him, shaking him like a needy child seeking the attention of their mother. Soon the feeling had become him, filled him. He desired more. He wanted to know what else was out there. It was this feeling that finally drove Larry to do something he had never done before, he stood up. His legs were weak and as he tore his attention away from the view out of Tim’s eye Larry looked around his own surroundings. How had he allowed himself to remain locked in this small room for so long? Curiosity had finally grabbed him and he wanted to know it all. The couch he had sat on for so long seemed smaller already, somehow less important.          
“Hello?” Larry’s voice echoed in the room as he walked towards the beige wall of his plastered cell. “Is there anybody out there?” his voice growing steadier, more confident as he neared that wall. He imagined from here anyone on the other side could hear him even if they hadn’t been able to from the couch. “Hello?” he repeated, knocking on the thick plaster.
         Larry continued like this for several hours. Every ounce of interest he’d once held for his horizontal lines was now directed at this wall, demanding he continue to try to reach someone on the other side of it. While it was customary in such situations for a response to come only when one was ready to give up, this time it came long before that point. A soft scuffle greeted his persistent attempts to make contact with his unseen neighbour.
“Is someone there?” the voice from the other side of the wall sounded unsure.
“Yes! I’m Larry!” he responded, eager to learn what this new friend knew.
“Larry?”
“Yes?” Larry’s own voice grew somewhat strained; nervousness claimed him as he waited to hear what his fellow ganglion cell had to say.
“Don’t you LOVE lines? I LOVE lines! They’re always standing up so straight, as if they’re just as happy to see you as you are to see them. I can’t get enough of them. How about you, Larry?” hidden behind the likewise hidden ganglion cell’s words Larry could hear eagerness creeping into that voice as his neighbour thought about his beloved lines. Larry however couldn’t help but feel dejected by the answer.
“They’re ok, I guess. What’s it like over there? What’s your name? Is there a way out of here?” Larry’s own questions coming as quickly as his new friend’s.
         His dejection at the other cell's answer however soon gave way to a deep-seated desperation as he heard that voice grow weaker, as if his new friend was moving away from the wall.
         "Hold on, Larry! I need to tell someone about this absolutely fantastic line I just saw!" the voice falling silent after that. Larry could all but imagine the owner of that voice once more sitting on a couch similar to his, picking up the phone to call his boss and pass on the wonders of whatever it was he'd seen. Larry knew he wouldn't catch the other's attention again, not for awhile at least.
         "Goodbye." Larry said to no-one in particular, the other voice gone.
         Larry wasn't sure what to do now. That need to know still burned deep inside him even as the coolness of the plaster seeped into his forehead while he laid it against the wall. He was back where he'd started and panic began to grip him. What if he never found out? What if he was doomed to live the rest of his life trapped in this room, ignorant of what lay outside and what he may be missing?
         "Why can't I get out?" anger prompting poor Larry to cry out into the silence of his room, "I'm tired of seeing only lines! There must be more than lines!" the plaster walls only stared at Larry as he railed against them. It was then that Larry realized something. A thought so simple yet so unique in his life that Larry couldn't help but jump for joy. "Of course!" he exclaimed, looking to the phone that sat beside his couch, the only thing in the room save for the couch, Larry, and the phone cord that vanished into the wall behind it.

         It took only moments for Larry to move his couch, unused muscles flexing for the first time in his life. Even that was enough to make Larry pause. "What a strange feeling this is." he mused as he looked over the small room, couch shoved to the side and the wall that had stared at the back of his head for so long left bare. Change it seemed was a novel concept to the little retinal ganglion cell and he wanted even more. With this in mind Larry began to pound at the wall. Almost immediately flakes of plaster fell to the floor, a pile of beige dust growing as the fists of the excited ganglion cell continued to try to break through. The cord was his answer, surely wherever it led would lead him to whoever had been on the other end; his boss.
         "Let me through!" demanded by Larry as he fought for his right for freedom. It was not easy, nor was it quick but as time passed the hole he was putting in the wall grew larger. Beyond it lay only darkness and as that hole grew so did Larry's worry about what else besides darkness may be beyond the wall. Perhaps he was safer on his couch; perhaps he was simply being silly. This feeling passed quickly as he realized that anything worth knowing was worth risking everything to know and only through risk could he ever hope to escape the prison of blissful ignorance he had built within himself.

         Soon the time came when that hole was large enough for Larry to pass through. The phone cord trailed off into darkness like the cable of an elevator plunging into the depths of the shaft. Somewhere down there Larry knew he would find his answer. The little retinal cell felt his worry resurface as he stared into the darkened, dangerous world beyond his little room. It was this worry however that gave Larry the push he needed to act.
         "Goodbye room." said almost sadly as Larry leapt into the unknown. He grasped the phone cord, his only lifeline to the safety of the room yet his only way to reach whatever was at the other end. Larry let himself slide down it, using the cord like a pole as darkness whipped around him in a frenzy. He could see hints of things passing him as he sped downwards, halves of conversations drifting in the darkness.
         "You stupid Amacri---"
         "At least I'm not a lazy hori--- cell---"
         "I'm telling Rod!"
         All around him words drifted through the darkness, sometimes little more than a whisper in the depths of the sightless world little Larry had found himself in.
         
         What seemed like hours passed. Larry was unused to not seeing, as seeing was what he was programmed to do, found himself disoriented in the writhing emptiness of his new surroundings. Determination alone kept him from crying out, from forsaking his quest for knowledge and allowed him to look downwards in anticipation rather then dread. It was this anticipation that kept him vigilant enough to see the end of his ride before it was too late to slow his descent. When his feet touched the floor the errant ganglion cell couldn't believe what he had discovered. All around him were large tower-like cells, each easily larger than ten Larrys combined. There seemed to be two types, one rounded and tall while the other was slightly shorter with a pointed tip.
         "Hello?" his voice quiet yet still echoing within the forest-like maze of larger cells. "Is there anyone here?"
         "What?" the answer booming. It shook Larry to his very nucleus and prompted him to grab the phone cord that still dangled behind him, the reassurance of the connection to his safe little room giving Larry the courage to answer.
         "My name is Larry. I'm sorry to interrupt you but I... I escaped from my room. I want to know what's out here!"
         "Out here!?" the speaker still unseen though their voice reverberated heavily. "And what makes you think you can be out here? Your job is to be in there! Not out here!" the words growing faster, heavier, angrier.
         "Oh hush you, don't listen to him Larry." a second voice joining in, a much friendlier one.
         "Ok... but, who are you?" the terrified ganglion cell cowering amidst all those towering cells, looking frantically for a sign of who might be speaking. Behind him one of those cells, a pointed one, swayed in the dim light that resided at the bottom of the darkened gulf.
         "My name's Connie, the sourpuss over there is Rod." Was the reply from that swaying cell. Larry turned to look up at her. "You shouldn't take Rod too seriously mind you, he's a little over-sensitive."
         "Don't talk about me like I'm not here, Connie!" Rod's attention turned away from Larry to chide the other photoreceptor. Connie continued, disregarding the rod cell's demand.
         "He's usually upset about something or other no matter what. It's like he only sees in black and white, no appreciation for the finer details of a situation."
         "Connie!"
         Larry couldn't help but feel himself relax as the two towering cells bickered between themselves, imagining it was about as busy down here as it was back up in his room. It was amazing anything got done around here it seemed.
         "Um, excuse me?" Larry piped up after several moments
         "Yes? What is it you layabout?" Rod snapped back, forgetting about Connie for the moment and instead focusing on the pint sized Ganglion Cell.
         "I don't mean to interrupt but I'm hoping you could help---"
         "Help?" Rod snorted, "I don't help layabouts. You should be doing your job, not gallivanting around like some no-good free radical!"
         "Rod, hush!" hissed Connie, "What do you need, Larry?"
         "Well. I want to see what else there is besides lines. Lines are nice, but there must be more!" Larry admitted, his tone hopeful. "All day long I sit on my couch by myself, seeing Tim go about HIS day. It was all a blur to me though, all of it except the horizontal lines of course. I couldn't help myself, they made me just want to shout! Now I want to see the rest of it. So I escaped my room and... well, found you." the little cell tugging on the phone cord he still held, just one of many dangling from the darkness above. "This cord led me right to you."
         Connie was silent for a moment after Larry had stopped talking, even Rod didn't break that silence.
         "Well Larry, I'm afraid we can't really help you with that." was the eventual reply, Connie's words dripping with remorse as she continued. "Between Rod and I we see a lot but we don't really know what it means either. Actually, you probably know more than we do." her answer leaving Larry as speechless as the two larger cells had been a moment before. "Our job is to simply tell you guys what's out there, and then it's up to you to start to piece it together. Rod here is pretty good at seeing the big picture and I kind of fill in the blanks, spice it up a little with some color. I’ve always thought of myself as the artistic type so I guess it works out but we have less of an idea what's out there than you do."
         Larry was heartbroken as the cone cell continued to speak, Rod murmuring quietly under his breath. No doubt he was upset about how Connie was downplaying his role in the whole process. Larry had come all the way down here and he was no closer to an answer, in fact, it seemed he was even further from it! If everything he saw was just a message relayed by Connie, Rod and their friends, how did he know what he was seeing was really what was out there in the first place? Perhaps coming out here had been a bad idea after all.
         "However, I know someone who might know." Connie said.
         "Don't encourage him, Connie. He needs to go back to work!" the stark reply from Rod. Larry however had already grabbed onto the cone cell's words, clearly not as ready to give up as he'd thought he was.
         "Really? Who!?"
         "His name is Ned; I've only met him once. He works in the optic nerve and seemed to think he was a pretty big deal when I talked to him. Everyone's information ends up going through him sooner or later so if anyone's going to have answers for you Larry, it's him."
         Larry was ecstatic, barely able to contain himself as Connie spoke.
         "Thank you, Connie! And you too Rod! I'll go right away, he MUST know!" the little cell almost babbling as words continued to pour from him, eagerness and excitement almost causing him to miss Connie’s words as she spoke.
         "Just follow the phone cords, Larry. That should take you right to him."
         Larry was already running, the cords hanging from the darkness collecting together on the floor of the retina before heading onwards in the dim glow that surrounded him. Connie's words rang in his ears. Finally Larry would learn what else existed besides his lines. As Larry ran Connie and Rod simply watched.
         "Well now, what a nice boy. I hope he finds what he's looking for."
         "And then you call ME sensitive. That boy has no work ethic! Running around like everything is a big adventure. He should be happy he has a job! Why, back in---" Rod began, only to be cut off.
         "Oh hush. You're rambling again! And he's a lot nicer than those bipolar cells. I swear I never know what they're up to. Talking to---" and so they went, talking between themselves long after Larry had gone.

         On his own once more Larry did his best to follow Connie's directions, the number of cords running along the ground growing larger. There must have been thousands of them and the retina stretched into darkness in any direction Larry looked. Larry could only imagine just how many phone cords there must have been hidden in the vastness of the retina. Forests of rod and cone cells were the only thing to break up the tedium of his view. None of them spoke to the ganglion cell as he passed but he could feel them watching him, wondering what he was doing down here.
         "I hope I'm close." Larry muttered to himself, careful not to stray from the cord-lined path that lay before him. Soon Larry began to notice other cords feeding into the ones he was following. Ahead he could see a break in the towering cells that surrounded the path, he was there!
         Entering a small clearing Larry marvelled at the sheer scale of what lay before him. Millions of phone cords ran along the ground, leading from the dense forest of rod and cone cells before bundling together into one massive stream of cords that vanished into the ground. Larry had never seen anything like it before. Beside it sat a rather bulbous looking cell, his body crammed behind a desk that was far too small for him and overflowed with paperwork. He didn't seem to notice Larry at first, absorbed in a pile of papers that sat in a rather large box marked 'In'.
         "Excuse me." Larry said boldly as he strode up to the desk. "Are you Ned?" assuming it was. Beside him lay the main bundle of cords, millions of them creating a massive bulky log of data transmission that left Larry not only nervous but dwarfed by the cable bundle.
         "What? Yes. Ned? I'm Ned. Who're you? You'd better not be another Ned. I don't need another Ned making this any more complicated than it already is!" the answer catching Larry off guard. Had he said something wrong?
         "N-No. I'm Larry, not Ned--"
         "I'M Ned."
         Larry was at a loss.
         "Alright, you're Ned." the admission on Larry's part bringing a smug grin to the bulbous cell's lips as Larry continued. "You look very important, Ned. Do you think you can help me?"
         Ned gave the errant ganglion cell a small nod, whether this was to Larry's admission that Ned was no doubt important, or his request for help however was unclear.
         "I can help you! I'm Ned, and Ned knows everything!"
         Larry could feel that familar excitement creep up his membrane as Ned spoke. Finally, he could learn the truth!
         "I want to know what else there is in the world besides horizontal lines, Ned. I want to see it all! I've escaped from my room, wandered the cell and rod forests and came all the way here just to find out the truth. Please Ned, tell me what else is out there." the words streaming from Larry, expecting his journey to be reaching its climax.
         Ned fell silent as he considered Larry's question. After a few moments he began to search through the papers that were piled on his desk, sheets flying as the bulbous cell dug into the mountain of paperwork.
         "Hold on, Hold on! Ned knows this. Ned will find the answer!"
         It became clear to Larry, much to his dismay, that Ned didn't know the answer. With each passing moment the hope of a swift end to his quest grew dimmer and dimmer. Finally Ned stopped, head remaining buried in the paperwork as if afraid to show his face after such an intense but fruitless search.
         "Ned doesn't know." admitted at last, Larry wasn't surprised.
         "How can you not know? Don't you handle all the information from the retina!? Surely you must be able to put it together and tell me!"
         For the first time in his life Larry felt anger spread through him, frustration at the uselessness of the arrogant cell sitting before him. He wanted to hit Ned, he wanted to toss that paper all over the ground and he wanted to rail against the lack of easy answers. This simply wasn't fair.
         "Look at all of this! Ned can't put it together by himself." Ned said as he nodded towards the paper. "Ned is only a gatekeeper. Ned collects the paper and when he has enough Ned sends it along to his boss in the brain." as if to demonstrate Ned yanked a box marked 'Out' and simply dropped it down a hole beside his desk. "See? Ned doesn't put anything together, he just fills boxes and sends them down the hole! Then more information comes for Ned and Ned does it all over again."
         "But you said you knew everything!" despair replacing Larry's anger.
         "Well... Ned exaggerates. Ned knows lots though. Ned knows that lots of lines come together to make bigger things, but he doesn't know what the bigger things are. Ned only knows that they're there... the rest is the boss' job. If you want to know what they are, you'll have to go in the hole and talk to the boss.”
         Larry stared at the hole which sat beside Ned’s desk, a yawning pit leading to a dim shaft that seemed to run parallel to the optic nerve itself. He knew that the hole was his own choice should he wish to know the truth, but as Larry stared at it he wondered just how deep he was willing to go to reach that truth.

                   TO BE CONTINUED… sooner rather than later.