Starting fires and cleaning messes
As I walked into the lab the strong smell of ammonia filled my nose. I pulled up the collar of my blouse to block the lethal smell. What the fuck were they trying to make?
I coughed as I looked at the black combusted material on the tan walls and floor. Shattered beakers and chemistry sets littered the long lab tables and floor. I chuckled. They must have put too many moles of ammonium in hopes of forming ammonia. Rookie mistake. The small lab had a mop, broom and sink in the corner. Several burners were on the top of the lab tables along with piles of books. Beakers and materials hid behind glass cabinets next to the door. The room was simple but for a chemistry lover such as I it was a gold mine. I smiled as I walked over and rolled my sleeves up to my elbows. I then took off my coat and hat. My shoes and socks came off next as I started pouring water over the ground as I begun to mop the floor and walls. My team members looked at me in shock. I turned to look at them and said with a glare.
"What are you all standing there for? Clean yourselves up and come help me clean this mess!"
My team members mumbled as they crowded around the sink washing their faces and dusting off the powder from their lab coats. I chuckled as I watched Dr. McKinnon walk over to a desk next to the cabinet and pull out a pair of glasses. This man was prepared for the case of an explosion like this.
After an hour of us cleaning the lab room we sat on the floor in exhaustion. A beaker filled with water was passed around as we all drank. I then stood up and undid my ribbon as I re-tied my ginger hair.
"Okay team let us begin the extraction of ethanol today. But before that can someone tell me what you guys were trying to do?"
Artemis cleared his throat before saying.
"Dr. McKinnon has found a study regarding the chemical reaction responsible for stabilizing ammonia. It consists of adding hydrogen to ammonia in order to form a new compound with the name of ammonium. Once done it could form a stable and ionized weak alcohol in the form of NH4 instead of the base NH3. As we tried to do so using hydrogen crystals the lab went kaboom!"
I nodded. The experiment is very primitive and simple yet it will be the backbone to the World War 2 research for making explosives. I stopped pacing the room. If I make them stabilize NH4 will I be able to prevent the making of atomic bombs? I waved my hand dismissively. Nothing good ever comes out of messing with the past. I'm not even sure if I will stay in this place until that time anyways. With how things are looking I'm not sure if I'm going to survive trying to escape the Yakuza. Whatever. Let me focus on the ethanol experiment. I will let them figure out the ammonium thing but I'll provide them with a little bit of guidance.
"Dr. McKinnon, the reason why it blew up was because the hydrogen crystals that you had formed have a slight concentration of oxygen. You did not iodize the water well enough to separate the hydrogen and oxygen well. When ammonia comes in contact with oxygen an ionic reaction occurs. As the ions clash this allows for the explosion. Iodize your water to separate the oxygen and hydrogen better."
Suddenly I felt my team members hold my legs as they knelt in front of me. Quincy and Tariq bowed to me multiple times as Quincy said.
"All hail the chemistry goddess. All hail."
Dr. McKinnon hugged my leg as he said.
"Astrid do you want to become my apprentice? I'm willing to take you in even if you are a woman. Please don't leave us idiots here alone."
A second later my team members sat in front of me with bumps on their heads as my knuckles burned from the five punches I gave.
Despite my anger I started to laugh. These team members were quite a hoot to be with. A feeling of happiness filled me as I looked at them. For the first time in my two lives, I felt like I had something that resembled a family. And it felt good.
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Thank you for reading and supporting this story my luvs❤️Do you enjoy these interactions between the team members? Stay safe😷😍