Beneath Our Feet

Enjoy this short story by Mace Styx.

Feems explained, with the use of a tiny bowl, what the whole thing was about and the science behind how it worked. He never quite got to the point where he explained how in God’s name he had convinced them to let him do it, but we didn’t care.

“So, the swimming pool is going to be emptied in the next fortnight, all the pumps replaced to get ready for the big swim meet. So, before they replace everything I’ve convinced them to let me have a go with the swimming pool to do an experiment.” He then produced a small perspex casserole dish, and a jug full of yellow liquid which instantly filled the room with the smell of vanilla.

“This” he said as he poured the thick, gloopy liquid into the dish “Is custard. Beautiful delicious tasting stuff it is too, but we’re not eating it today.” Once he had filled the rectangular dish with three or four jugs of this liquid he held it up for us to see.

“Now imagine that this is the swimming pool and instead of being a few inches deep, the entire thing, six feet deep and twenty five meters long of it, is filled with this liquid. Now watch.” From the pocket of his lab coat he produced a baseball and laid it on top of the custard. Naturally it sank to the bottom of the casserole dish and we looked at each other confused. As we were about to question, he raised one finger to gesture for silence and grinned broadly.

“Sunk. Just as you might expect. But....”