Silas: The STEAM Team Scientist

If you've been to Wolfe Stew before, you likely already met Silas.  But, in the process of remodeling, we needed  a special post dedicated just to him and his story to feature in the Reading Nook.  Have you seen it yet?  In this corner of Wolfe Stew, you'll find a quiet place to browse all our original literary creations.  Intrigued?  Head over and get cozy in the reading nook now.

But, maybe you're only here because you want to meet this person named Silas.  Welcome!  You're in the right place!  His story lives here.  The Mr. created Silas and the STEAM Team for the purpose of making STEAM content accessible to daily life; to help learners visualize how the STEAM skills become essential in a post-apocalyptic world.  Each character in the STEAM Team possesses a different STEAM skillset.

Silas is our scientist, and this is his story:

         Silas was possibly the youngest doctor alive.  Since the average age of living humans was about 12 years old, that was logical.  For many years the kids who found each other started to make cities, well villages at least.  They read books, any they could get their hands on.  Kids were now the adults, since they needed to be.  Silas was nine.  He had found himself in a library cellar in an old city. It was in a cold part of the U.S., or what the U.S. once was.  He knew the bots would be trying to find him.  He hid and he read.  He read about hiding, finding things, and he read about the human body.  Every kid he found he helped to get better.  The medicine and the library’s warmth would help most of them.  

  He would make medicine out of different plants he found around the city.  The books helped him with pictures and descriptions of the plants.  Other books told him how to change the plant into a medicine.  His understanding of the human body came from books too.  He understood what and why the body reacted to different things.  He carried that knowledge with him like a tool.  Many of the children that had found him had gotten better and then moved into one of the many human villages being rebuilt. 

  Silas carried a satchel of medicines and bandages, and some other created chemicals that might save him from the bots.  Might was a big word.  He still hid from them as best as he could.  They were scary after all.  No one really understood them.  It was said their programming was messed up.  For some reason their protection changed to attack.  The adults had been the only ones attacked that day.  Every kid was confused by why they had been left alone.   The older teenagers were frightened, since the closer they got to being adults might attract the bots.

  Silas was young enough right now to make a difference.  The bots mostly overlooked him, but he couldn’t take the chance that they would stay that way.  Every kid he saved, he made take a backpack of books out into the villages.  His hope was that the knowledge being spread from this one library might restart civilization.  It was after most of the library had been cleared of usable books that he decided to make his own move.  

  That is what put him in the predicament that he was in now.  He was lying under an old, junky car feeling the oil coat his hands as he held himself in place.  The bot had seemed to almost smell him.  It had reacted quickly and was now in search mode.  The clanking of its huge limbs made Silas’ heart thump inside his chest.  He knew that his chances were low.  He needed to make it away from here and fast.  

  A huge metal-clawed hand reached under the car and lifted the body of the car suddenly.  Silas was exposed in a matter of seconds, and the bot was glaring down at him.  The gel-like eyes seemed almost human with their watery texture.  An idea popped into Silas’ head at that moment.  He grabbed quickly for one of his chemicals.  The glass bottle was thrown with all the strength he could muster.  The glass bottle broke apart and the fluid inside sprayed all over those angry eyes.  A purplish smoke erupted from the eye sockets, the bot started clawing at its face and staggered backwards.  If a bot could scream, that is what Silas would have called it.  The screeching of metal and digital noise almost broke his eardrums.  

  Silas made a quick decision to get up and run down the other side of the street.  He kept his eyes on the most direct path out of the city.  He never looked back.  The echoing of the bot screeches could be heard for miles, even as he made it onto the first of several country roads.  The village he was headed for would need to know the strategy he had used with the bot.  It just might save several lives in the future.  Silas smiled and kept moving forward. 

Academic Resources

Interested in Silas academic tie-ins?  Check out these resources we've cooked up for you:

Silas Comprehension Activities

Before, during and after reading activities engage your learners in Silas' story.  Enhance vocabulary, comprehension, writing and discussion skills with this Wolfe Byte.   

Distinguished Apothecaries

Working on research skills?  Consider this Wolfe Pack.  Cadets develop a list of "must-read" resources for Silas.

Bot Bedlam

Why not try musical composition?  In this lesson, learners compose sounds that mirror story details and evoke probable emotions of story characters.  

Silas City Run

You know you've always wanted to put your learners through an obstacle course.  Now is your chance!  Have them design, create and participate in the Silas City Run.

Orphaned World Citizens

Or, perhaps you want to stew on the social ramifications of a post-apocalyptic era.  This resource does that.  Your learners become leaders as they join the Orphaned World Citizens.

See You Next Time!

We sincerely hope you (and your learners) enjoyed Silas' story!

If you're ready, Victoria, the STEAM Team technologist, is ready to meet you next.

At Your Service,

Looking for a place to kick back and relax while you read?  Then you want to stop by our Reading Nook where you'll find original Wolfe Stew literary works.