Aliens Reverse the Activity Series
Last Bastion for Mankind
"There was only one rule: don’t open the door.”
Alien bastards turned our activity series upside down. Must be what fits their life forms. In 48 hours all the gold, lead, steel, and just about every other metal alloy disintegrated. Hydrogen too. So much for water. Lithium is stable. Only safe place is this battery factory. More than twenty thousand of us packed in like sardines. Lots of pure oxygen because the hydrogen fizzes away. Safe if the door stays shut. Open it and everything evaporates. Every element on earth turns against us. They beat us without firing a shot.
I'm a cop. I'm also a claustrophobe. Big time. Asked a psychiatrist, said "Stay away from closed-in spaces and it shouldn't be a problem." Thanks! I'm standing right against the lithium wall, right by the door. Gave my taser to the gal beside me, said "If I touch the knob tase me!" She said can't you control yourself? I said once the panic starts it's too late. Tase me. Save what's left of mankind. I'll be okay. I weigh 280 pounds. She's a good gal. She said okay show her how to use it. I did.
It's not just me. Others are restless. Every time the crowd shifts I'm pressed against the wall. Did you see the pictures of the soccer fans crushed against a fence when there was a goal? It's like that. And now the thoughts...
If I open the door maybe I can take my chances... Stop it. I can't stop it. I'll die here in this crowd, pressed against the wall. My head, my head.... can't stop the thoughts...
I'm watching my hand reach for the knob--good she's fired the taser. Bad! She missed. A spark in pure oxygen. Fire! Out the door! Eighty-six...
About the Creator
Paul A. Merkley
Mental traveller. Idealist. Try to be low-key but sometimes hothead. Curious George. "Ardent desire is the squire of the heart." Love Tolkien, Cinephile. Awards ASCAP, Royal Society. Music as Brain Fitness: www.musicandmemoryjunction.com
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Comments (1)
The chemical Activity Series is the order in which elements react. It is the reason our world has elements in this proportion. The reactions have stabilized to what we have, gold being the most stable metal, lithium the least. If the Series were inverted ...