My Work

Hard Science Fiction Short Story

This short story is based on an intense dream that occupied me for days before I decided to write it down. During the writing process, some aspects of the story took on a life of their own. Finally i realised where the discovery of Ice XXIX would inevitably lead. This is how the dystopian ending and the prospect of a new beginning came about.

It’s hard science fiction: change one little thing in the laws of nature and see what happens …

Ice XXIX

Blurb:

A nearly invisible change in the structure of the universe and a nightmare raises for Kain and Elaine. It starts almost imperceptibly but then rapidly develops with the elemental force of an avalanche and puts them down into a maelstrom finally. Will the world – as we know it – end or is there a future for their romantic love?

Reading:

Why is it that just unlucky circumstances unlock human’s full potential for self-destruction?

(Mike Gorden)

Kain Waters paid a high price for his PhD. Never would he have thought that a dissertation about water could be as dry as a desert. 

It’s all about different crystal types of ice. Like carbon exists in different forms, for example as the frequent available and cheap graphite or like the rare and costly diamond, there exist different states of solid water. There are more than the lightweight Ice I, which covers the surfaces of water bodies in winter or flurries swirling from the sky.

It’s possible to create several different modifications of ice if you apply high pressure. Like graphite and diamond these are a lot different from each other. There even are forms which stayed solid until +50 degrees Celsius. But they all have in common that under normal pressure they quickly turn back to normal ice or water. 

So far so interesting. 

Kain spent most of his day taking notes about different ice forms while repeatedly applying different variations of temperatures and pressures to water in a coolable hydraulic press. 

It was tiring and overall, he did not find anything new.

Today was one of the less boring days. The lab was full of people and there is a smell of metal shavings, deodorant, sweat and machine oil everywhere. The old press was discarded and replaced by a brand-new model. It was only there because his professor had organised a corporate donation.

Doctor Mark Smith used to be an eminent authority and the donors lined up for him, but those times have passed and now he needs to go the extra mile to secure such a donation which made him especially proud of his achievement.

The new model was quite experimental and allowed through new techniques, the creation of even higher pressures. To realise this the piston was not only mechanically moved but also accelerated by small explosives. This allowed it to achieve pressures which the machine was not built for in a very short timeframe. This nifty bypass of nature’s laws might allow it to study more modifications than the currently known seventeen. 

So far, the thoughts of Doctor Mark Smith while he was standing proud in front of Kain, watching over every step of the workers, not withholding a sharp comment if something was not right in his opinion. Kain was used to that and purposely held himself in the background knowing otherwise he would suffer from the workers wrath later on.

»How can a person be so narrow minded? « Smith just muttered again. »Even a child can see these parts do not fit together … oh, seems they fit. «

Luckily, his enthusiasm to help was diminished a little from now on. However, Kain’s suggestion to wait until the workers completed calibrating the press, was harshly turned down.

»You cannot judge things like that Waters. This is just too important as to leave it to amateurs. «

For Doctor Smith everybody was an amateur. Except him of course. If back, then Kain would have had a choice he would have preferred to go to a different professor. But because of his mediocre marks he could feel lucky he got a place at all.

His problem was not his work ethics or enthusiasm. He had more than enough of that. His problem was a lack of inspiration, which prohibits him from recognising the hidden shortcuts or to determine how to creatively solve a problem, which would allow him to be remembered by a teacher. 

Finally, even this day passed, and he could go back to his shared flat. Because of his limited income while working on his PhD he was glad to be able to have an affordable accommodation especially because the rents in downtown Chicago were steep. The other people in his flat were all considerably younger and still studying. PhD students usually get a better scholarship and other benefits and move out of shared student dorms as soon as they can effort it. He again was forced to take multiple part time jobs to be able to somehow get by.

When he arrived home, a bucket and a mop was leaning on his door. Right, it was his turn to clean this week. Mumbling and pouting he slowly started to wipe the hallway. When he was done, he slipped on a jacket and stepped outside. It was a mild spring evening, and he had no desire to spend that rotting on his couch. He wandered randomly through the green spaces for nearly an hour. The rays of the low-setting sun reached like golden fingers through the treetops and ended in luminous flecks on the pathways. Sparrows hopped off when he approached, and pigeons fluttered in love one after another. After a while he felt the anger of the day fall away from him, and he got into a mellow mood recalling his professor’s remarks. Today he would not take his stress to sleep.

So, he remembered the empty fridge again and bought some groceries in the supermarket around the corner. Later that day when he went home, he sent out some mails to his family.

A knock came to his room door. It was Elaine who lived with him in the shared flat. »Hey Kain, I just saw you bought one of these amazing cranberry yoghurts. Would you mind if I would borrow one for breakfast tomorrow? «

»No problem be my guest«, Kain replied. »Oh, by the way, do you want to join me for breakfast? I have to get up early too. «

Elaine agreed so quick, one could have thought she has been looking for a reason herself.

The next morning, they were sitting together in their kitchen and talked about the deeper sense of their studies. Elaine was having a hard time too. Not because of her marks though, those were remarkable. But chemistry was dominated by men. Professors starting their lessons with »Good morning gentlemen«, were just the least of her problems but when she needs to team up with someone to solve a task, she was always the last one who gets asked.

On the other hand, there was a positive discrimination when it came to her marks because she always seemed to be getting the better ones because she had managed to work in a scientific manner even while being a woman.

»Oh, I would have loved to slap the Professor that moment.« Her voice was angry. If you listened carefully, there was also some frustration involved.

»Hold your thumbs for me please. This new press must work today. ‘Experimental prototype’ always sounds to me as if it got delivered with an IKEA allen key to creatively fix things as they approach.«

»And this stickman drawing with the question mark over his head«, Elaine chuckled. »I hope you got a good hotline you can call.«

Kain hoped that this was the case, and he felt a bit uncomfortable as he entered the laboratory today. But to his surprise the new press was standing there, sparkling clean, the technicians seemed to have cleaned it spotlessly. Doctor Smith already was on site and played with the controls as if he would have put it up himself.

»The detonations make a crazy noise, but it seems like I would finally get to get some new results this week«, Smith explained with a big smile. »The pressure we are able to archive now is far beyond everything which was possible to reach until today.«

Kain was sceptical whenever he heard promises like that. Usually, it only meant that one could hardly reach the former results and even that only after getting used and fiddling with the machine for quite a while.

He should be positively disappointed. The press easily managed to get into the pressure range he used to work in and all that even without using the additional power of the explosives. He was able to create most of the 17 known modifications of ice and noted down their characteristics of temperature and pressure during the next weeks to test out the press and calibrate it. 

Then finally the day came.

His professor was standing beside him. Both were wearing ear mufflers as he pushed the button to activate the explosives for the first time. The bang was deafening, even through the protective mufflers. After a fraction of a second everything was over, and they looked at the recording of the procedure. The pressure gage showed a pressure of 45 Megabar for a brief moment before it dropped back to its natural state.

»Wow, we are stepping into unknown territory.« Doctor Smith shouted excited after they took off the mufflers. »Look at these measurements! That is no modification of ice that we have ever monitored before. I think I just discovered Ice XVIII. «

Kain was feeling a never felt before excitement rising in him. Now finally all of his former work was gaining some purpose. Now he was part of the elite scientists he always wanted to join.

»I will leave this to you«, his professor said. »Note down everything you can find. I already anticipate my next publication will get quite some attention. «

Kain who hoped to at least be mentioned in them started his work and systematically completed the charts of measurements in the diagrams for the areas of pressure which prior to the new machine were technically impossible.

After he got the idea to even wear earplugs in addition to the mufflers he slowly got used to the sound of the detonations and he truly started to enjoy his work. Each day he started earlier and stayed for longer. Elaine who became more than a friend in the meantime hardly ever saw him anymore.

Once or twice a week he discovered a new modification of water in its solid form. Soon he started to get past the number of 25. Kain was dazzled to find out that some crystal forms even stayed solid where normal water already would have been boiling.

Then came the day he discovered Ice XXIX.