Convergence II: Ella's Mystery

Chapter Seven: The PFC Experiment

On the beach of Norton City, Nick and Jackie's science institution was once again in full swing.

Normally, they'd be using Nick's office for experiments like this, but this warranted a bigger testing area, so they got clearance to use a closed-off laboratory. This made both Nick and Jackie extremely excited, since their institution was normally full of old, stingy people who kept the best stuff for themselves.

Today, the two got everything they needed for a ground-breaking experiment—a giant flush capsule with vents at the bottom, bags of perfluorocarbon and wires stretching all around the room. Nick had never done anything like this before, so they wanted the first try.

"Okay, Nick!" Jackie called from inside the room, behind a three-screen monitor. "Are you ready?"

Nick waddled out from behind a wall, wearing a tight wetsuit and a swim cap. Their arms were up, being extremely careful when walking, almost uncomfortable. "Ehhh."

Jackie tried to hide their laugh at first, and then just let it out. "You look ridiculous!"

Nick laughed as well. "Shut up! This is important to the world of science!"

"You'd be a great comedian in another universe," giggled Jackie. "So, you're ready now?"

"Yes!" Nick smiled, seeming genuinely excited. "How much PFC do we have?"

"Maybe, like..." Jackie looked at the bags on the floor, connected to tubes leading right to the capsule. They eyeballed the amount. "160 gallons? It's good enough for that thing."

"How much is that, then?" Nick asked.

"At least one can of Coke. In my professional opinion."

"Okay."

"It's a little more than 600 liters." Jackie chuckled to themselves.

"Is that a lot for that thing to handle?" Nick squinted at the capsule, trying to imagine the liquid in there with their mind. "Are we sure this won't break?"

"Pretty sure. That's, like, plexiglass."

"Ohhh." Nick blinked. "Oh."

"I wouldn't worry about it. If anything goes wrong, I'll just drain it. The vent under the grate opens like a camera lens, so the PFC should just drop out."

"Okiedoke," Nick replied, grabbing a paper and pen from the desk beside Jackie. "Okay, before we get started, we have to fill this out to give to the big government people."

"You could just say Nation Science," noted Jackie, laughing shortly.

"Big. Government. People." Nick was scribbling on the paper. "Oh, shit, my handwriting is so bad. Jackie, take over please."

Jackie walked closer, taking the pen and writing Nation Science in the box instead. "The people running this are...?"

"Me and you." Nick pointed at the box next to the last one.

"And the volunteer for the results is...?"

"Me!"

"Awesome. Sign here."

Nick gave a small, scribbled signature (where you could just barely make out the two capital letters in their name) and set the pen down. "Okay. I'm ready."

Jackie started to joke around a bit. "Nick, you are about to embark on an amazing journey of breathing water! Even though it's not actually water. Don't think about it too much."