thunderstone
or thun·der-stone
[thuhn-der-stohn]
- any of various stones or fossils formerly thought to be fallen thunderbolts.
- Archaic. a thunderbolt or flash of lightning.
***********************
Ted ran into
the room with a long, thin package clutched in his hand and a wide-eyed smile
on his face. He spotted his three friends
sitting around the table and dashed over to them.
“Guys,
guys, guess what I found?” He asked hurriedly.
“Your
sanity?” Carl asked, looking at his friend’s excited expression with boredom.
“The
ability to think?” Leon asked.
“Common curtesy?”
Jim finished. His voice was tinged with
annoyance. Ted had interrupted a
perfectly good meal where nobody was talking to each other, and Jim, in particular,
loved such meals.
“Even
better.” Ted said. He knew better than to
respond to such base insults.
He slammed
the package down on the table, making the various plates on it jump. He quickly unwrapped the bundle of cloth to
reveal its contents. It was a pink
speckled, cylindrical rock that was quite unremarkable.
“Pretty
neat, huh?” Ted asked proudly. The
others were less impressed.
“It’s a
rock.” Leon pointed out. “What’s so
great about a rock?”
“It’s
not just any rock. This particular type
of rock is called a thunderstone. I
looked it up.” Ted added in quickly before any of the others could say
anything. “Normally, they’re just rocks with
a cool name. But this one? This one’s a bit different. Check it out.”
Ted ran further
into the apartment and rummaged through a small storage closet. He came back with a lightbulb. He held the bulb in one hand and the stone in
the other, presenting them for his less than impressed friends. Then he brought them together. The lightbulb lit up.
“So, you’ve
hidden a battery in there. Good job.”
Jim said.
“I didn’t. You can see it’s solid.” Ted presented the
flat ends of the stone to show that no battery was present. “It’s the stone. It generates electricity.”
Carl
motioned to hand the stone over. When he
handled it, he touched the ends experimentally.
He winced and pulled his finger back quickly.
“Okay,
yeah, that’s a pretty good shock.” He said, placing the stone down.
“I know,
right? It got me pretty good when I
found it. Touching the side is
fine. Only the ends will shock you.”
Leon
picked it up next and examined it closely.
He could see no obvious openings or pieces of metal anywhere. It looked like any other rock, save for the
shape and color. It was even the right
weight for a stone of its size. And
there was definitely no way for it to generate a current.
“How do
you think it works?” He asked.
“No idea. But it’s pretty cool, right?”
“I’d say
mildly interesting.” Jim said, casting his gaze towards the stone.
“Are you
kidding?” Ted replied. “This is life
changing. World changing even. If we can figure out how this works, then
just imagine the possibilities. We might
even be able to make unlimited energy.”
“What
makes you think this is unlimited?” Carl pointed out. “You only found it today, right? Plus, even if it is unlimited, it’s not very
strong.”
“Yeah,
but that’s only this one stone. We’d
have to figure out how it works first.
Then, sky’s the limit.”
The
other three looked at each other in thought.
“There’s
just one problem with that.” Jim said.
The others turned to look at him.
“None of us know anything about this kind of thing, so how are we
supposed to figure this out?”
Ted
opened his mouth to reply, but closed it.
He could not deny that.
“Well,
it’s still damn amazing.”
*************************
Just so you know, this is what a thunderstone looks like.
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