Island of stability

Hello, Stopgamers! I decided to post separately one of the chapters of my story “Symphony of My Soul”, since this excerpt itself is perceived independently of the full story. It turns out to be such a small miniature. Although in the story “Island” is in its place. The reason for my doing this is that I really like the way this piece is built, the thoughts and ideas contained in it. To put it bluntly, I’m very proud of him. Unfortunately, the story “Symphony of My Soul” is a very large and long story (56k characters), and not everyone can get to this passage. Moreover, as it turned out, the Symphony has an unsuccessful and not catchy beginning. I hope you will forgive me for this outrage.
Happy reading!

"Island of Stability"

Evening. It was raining. A young man approached the entrance to the studio of synergetic artist Lucretia Kiseleva. It was closed, but for the young man this was not a hindrance. Sensors scanned him.

— Identity confirmed. Welcome, Jean-Baptiste! – said the machine gun with a Belarusian accent, and the door swung open.
Jean went inside. Sighing heavily, he slowly rubbed the top of his head. Under the hair there were thousands of microscopic skin burns – the consequences of the procedure. In fact, it shouldn’t have been this way: I just shorted one contact. Fortunately, Josef realized it in time, just a little more, and all that would have been left of Jean would have been a roast. The old man did not talk about it, he said that everything went well, but he let the young man go on all four sides. Now, probably, he is celebrating his success in the tender embrace of the dear green serpent..

The first floor of the studio was https://sportingbet-casino.uk/mobile-app/ given over to the artist’s gallery. Several dozen paintings decorated the room. Some of them reached enormous sizes, almost a third of the wall. They luminescent under the light of ultraviolet lamps built into the frame – this is a standard procedure for “recharging” paintings at night. Absolutely all works were originals; Lucrezia never sold her originals. However, thanks to Monsieur Octopus (as Lucretia affectionately calls her robot artist), anyone could order an absolute copy of the paintings. This machine reproduces each stroke with an error of tens of nanometers, while maintaining the complete chemical consistency of the paints. The difference between the original and the copy can only be established using isotopic analysis, and even then from the canvas. Surprisingly, even such accuracy is not enough for buyers! Oh, how many expensive offers were made to Lucretia for the originals! And she’s still adamant! After all, these paintings are part of herself: a reflection of her vision of the world and a manifestation of her soul. And besides, Lucrezia herself madly loves her work, and will never give it to anyone! Even for a hundred million tons of toffees, madly adored by her!

Jean was never particularly interested in Lucretia’s work; he was more concerned with Lucretia herself. But today everything was different: he slowly walked through the gallery, looking at each canvas, noticing new details that he had simply ignored before. Jean first noticed all the beauty, the fullness of thoughts and feelings put into these works.
The young man lingered near the landscape “Island of Stability”; memories came flooding back to Jean.

“Island of Stability” was one of Lucretia’s early works, written in high school. Jean first visited the workshop just when Lucretia began to create it.

That day, Jean sat on the windowsill, watching in amazement as Lucretia “cooked” the paints. She perceived this as a kind of magic, imagining herself as a witch preparing a magic potion. To enhance the ambience, Lucrezia always wore a witch’s hat! What’s there!? And now he puts it on..

The witch poured colorful liquids into a small ceramic vat, stirred with a glass rod, saying a poem:
— More methanol, propanol, butanol is needed so that the propyl radical methylhexane forms! – and with the last words she poured nickel shavings into the solution.
A chemical reaction has begun..
– Jean, go look! – called the witch.
The young man ran up to the vat, in which something amazing was happening: the solution began to change colors: it was yellow, then white, then blue, yellow again, and then everything was repeated in a circle.

– Great! There are no words! – Jean was sincerely amazed.
– Otherwise! – Lucrezia answered with enthusiasm.
The color change has sped up a bit.
– Yes, how so?? — Jean was perplexed.
– It’s chemistry, baby! – the witch answered with a grin and pride, maintaining the intrigue, and then she couldn’t resist and still told what the trick was:
– This is a normal self-oscillatory reaction. There are fluctuations in the concentrations of intermediate substances and reaction products. Each of them has its own color. Gradually the reaction will go slower and slower until it dies out and the solution turns yellow.

“So all the magic is gone…” the young man became a little upset, scratched his head and asked:
– Listen, how do you even understand this chemistry so well??
– Why understand her?? You take and merge the reagents in a stoichiometric ratio… – the girl raised her head and sarcastically continued: – Nothing complicated!
– Well, I don’t know, physics is even more or less clear. But chemistry is darkness!
– Eh, you! – the girl said derogatoryly, taking away the solution with a pipette.
– Come on. But everyone knows that chemistry is a branch of physics! – Jean answered a little offended.
— Ha! Funny! This is physics – a branch of chemistry! – the witch laughed. She poured the sample into the oily substance, stirred it with a glass shelf, and the paint was prepared!
– Well, you give! – the young man laughed. And Lucretia is quite serious:
– And what? Physical properties are impossible without substance. And substances exist thanks to chemistry! – the witch poured paint into the palette, blotted the brush and began to paint.
– So not all substances are chemicals! – Jean noted.
– Just think, the most important ones are chemical ones! – the girl stuck out her tongue and made a couple of strokes.

Jean continued to laugh, and the girl decided not to pay attention. Some time later the young man asked:
— What are you drawing??
— Island of stability, fractal graphics.
– It’s clear.
– Yes, you don’t understand anything! – Lucrezia smiled.
– In terms of? – Jean didn’t understand.
– I bet you don’t know what it is? – the girl looked at him slyly.
— With fractals, it’s clear, self-similar figures… And about the island… It’s probably just an island? – the young man suggested.
– Well, almost… Okay, I’ll tell you the plan, you, ignoramus, will never guess!
– Be-be-be! – Jean grumbled.
– You see, there’s a schedule hanging over there? This is an isotope map. There is an island on it, separate from the others. Stable superheavy chemical elements are located there, such as Lomonosovium and Teslium. And in front of him is a sea of ​​Instability. So I want to draw him.
— Lomonosovia? – the ignoramus sneered.
— Island! – the witch exclaimed, continuing to draw.

On the canvas, strokes of paint still changed color, with their help Lucretia animated the paintings. For example, the paint she prepared with Jean used to show the surf. Other colors were used to create rain clouds, lightning strikes, and the raging storm of the Sea of ​​Instability. Only the island did not have animation, this was the idea – to show its immutability, stability in the face of an all-distributing storm.
– Great, you’re just a sorceress! – Jean admired when he saw the completed picture. It only took Lucretia a couple of hours to draw it.
– I’m still just learning! – Lucrezia was modest.
-Where did these colors come from?? Who invented them?
— My great-grandfather Sasha. He was a chemist and an artist.
– Sasha? What an unusual name..
– Yes, it’s common, it’s just that when he was born, there wasn’t this stupid fashion for foreign names..
– Yes, we’re lucky… If we were born now, if only we had names like the Bushmen.
– Don’t tell me! Try this clicking sound and pronounce it with a clicking sound – you’ll break your tongue!
– Look! The colors of the painting stopped changing! – Jean noticed.
– Well, I told you it would happen like this. It’s OK. Now let’s turn on the ultraviolet, it will, as it were, “recharge” the paint, return it to its original state,” Lucretia turned on the backlight, the picture lit up.
– Wow! The drawing has become an incomprehensible abstraction,” Jean remarked cheerfully.
— It is not intended for viewing while “charging”. This glow is a side effect. Okay, let’s go eat some toffee! I’m so hungry!
“Let’s go,” Jean answered with a smile.
That day Jean fell in love with Lucretia.