Interesting borders

"K.O.!" Valerie woke up from her peaceful sleeping on the car seats. The back wasn't folded down, the girls was just covered by a blanket.

"Good morning!" The old man greeted her from the outside.

"Good morning! Where are we?" The girls asked, opened the door and jumped to the ground from the car seat.

"In the Kingdom of Iridium. You fell asleep in the middle of the way yesterday."

"I don't remember." Valerie shook her head. "I just remember watching the lights under us. It was amazing! Like the fireworks two days ago."

"It sure looked good, but while you were watching them, you fell asleep. Suddenly I noticed that you were sleeping soundly." K.O. smiled at her. " So I landed as soon as I found a good parking place. It is the Iridium Kingdom, but we are far from the car service. Could we continue our way?"

Valerie nodded, and turned back to fold the blanket.

"Aren't we flying?" Valerie asked in frustration, when she noticed the empty balloon. She really loved flying.

"No. I have already stored the Hydrogen molecules in the hand device, and folded the balloon neatly. The balloon will be removed in the service anyway, to reach the claws, so there's no meaning to fly there. It is not far from here either. Fasten your belt!"

Valerie stored the blanket in her hand device, and fastened her belt. K.O. pushed the accelerator pedal. The noise of the engine was extremely loud in the silence of the morning.

"It is very early." Valerie noted. "A very few people are awake."

"The service opens early. I want to get the caravan back as soon as I can, so it is better to hurry."

"Do we need to leave a car there in the garage?" Valerie asked, surprised.

"The claws need to be covered with Iridium steam, so the car will be left in the service." K.O. nodded.

"Where are we going to sleep tonight?"

"At the seaside." The old man replied mysteriously. "The beach of these kingdoms are awesome!"

"Will we rent a tent?" Valerie got excited.

"No."

"Then where are we going to sleep? Is it a suprise? A big one? Tell me, please!" She moaned to her old friend.

"Elie and Conrad will arrive in the evening." He said simply. "So we will use your tent."

Valerie cheered up. They arrived to the garage, and they left the caravan there.

"We have big luck." K.O. said, when they left the service company. "The car will be ready for tomorrow morning. So tomorrow we will fly anywhere we want!"

"But at least we will spend a day here." Valerie nodded, and caressing her hand device. "This kingdom has a very long seashore! Could we go there for a bit of swimming?"

"Yes, of course! Although the one who will be swimming will be you. I somehow don't like the seawater. But we have to do something else, before we go to the beach."

"What should we do?" Valerie asked in surprise.

"To make your earrings ready." K.O. said, and the girl cried. "Did you forget?"

"Yes." She nodded.

K.O. was surprised too. Valerie insisted so much that she wanted earrings that the old man would not have thought she would forget about it.

"Is this jewelry shop suitable?" K.O. pointed to the store, beside them.

Valerie nodded. She didn't know any jewelry shop here, so one is like the other. But she watched around, not to avoid unpleasant meetings.

"I hardly believe, that we would stumble upon acquaintances at this time and place." K.O. noted. "Diamonds tend to buy gold sockets, but I think platinum matches the color of your earrings much better."

"It is okay, but aren't we in the Kingdom of Iridium?" Valerie asked surprised. "Could we buy platinum here?"

"Of course! Check the map on your hand device!"

"It is interesting! There's no border between the Kingdoms of Osmium, Iridium, and Platinum. They have the same sign of VIII.B! Why?"

"These three kingdoms are forming a triad. Do you remember how the nature of the elements' are similar?"

"They have similar nature by column."

"This is generally true. But in the subgroup VIII.B, their nature is more similar in row, than in the column. So we call them a triad. Do you want to see the border?" K.O. smiled mysteriously.

"Is it interesting?" Valerie asked smirking.

"Of course!"

"Let's go and see! Now!"

"What about your earrings?"

"This store hasn't opened yet. I am sure we will find stores at border!"

"Okay, let's catch a train!"

Elie and Conrad were sitting on the viewing area of the Noble Race's arena, when Elie's hand device started beeping. Elie opened the letter, and started laughing.

"What was that?" Conrad asked. "Is it a good news?"

"Your sister sent pictures." She replied, and gave her device to the boy.

On the pictures Valerie and K.O. was standing by and on the two sides of a red line in a town. On the last picture Only Valerie was standing one leg on the one side of the line, the other leg on the other side. She was smiling triumphantly.

"Why are these pictures so special?" Conrad asked puzzled.

"They are in the Triad kingdoms."

"And?"

"The triad kingdoms have got no special borders, and because they are so similar, the boundaries between them are only symbolic. Valerie is standing above one of the borders. One leg in the Kingdom of Iridium, and the other is in the Kingdom of Platinum. That's why these pictures are so special."

"Ours is coming!" Conrad jumped on his feet.

Elie put away her hand device, and she clenched her fists because of the tension of excitement.

"Is that store okay, to buy the socket of my earrings?" Valerie asked, and pointed to a small jewelry store on the other side of the street.

"Wouldn't you like to go back to the store that was close to the service?"

"At least let's take a look!" The girl begged, so K.O. agreed.

A young woman greeted them at the store, and listened to their request.

"Are you sure to use Iridium-Platinum socket for your earrings?" She asked, looking at the little girl in surprise.

"Why? Is it not possible? I really like to a mixed Iridium-Platinum socket."

"It is possible, but your request is very unique." She said. "And very expensive." The shop assistant looked at the old man.

But K.O. was serious to help Valerie. He discussed with the young lady the options and the prices, and finally opened up Valerie's holdings to pay the sockets.

"Then now you have no pocket money for a while until you earn!" He warned the girl, who nodded in agreement.

"I want this socket, so I will earn money to cover the other expenses!" She promised, and K.O. signed the bill.

"Piercing the earlobes will be free." The woman offered, after she promised, that the earrings will be ready in the afternoon.

"What about going to the beach to kill the time until your earrings will be ready?" K.O. asked, and Valerie cheerfully nodded.

The beach of the Kingdoms very sandy, and very beautiful. The sea was warm, Valerie really enjoyed swimming in the water. But there were an island, not too far from the beach.

"Look, K.O.!" Valerie pointed to the small island. "That island is boiling, or breathing? I can't decide! The hand device says, that is a Dukedom of Darmstadtium. Why is that a Dukedom?"

"Because the element itself is not stable. That's why you are seeing the island boiling."

"What do you mean on not stable? Are they split by nuclear fission like the Francium?"

"Exactly." K.O. nodded. "The island itself is an artificial one, because you can't find Darmstadtium in the nature, so it couldn't belong to the main Island. That's why Darmstadtium is just a Dukedom, not a Kingdom."

"I suppose, we couldn't go there."

"It wouldn't make any sense. You will see several such islands, but on the one hand they are dangerous, because they usually blow themselves up, then they rise out of the sea, and on the other hand, there is nothing interesting on them, apart from the research base."

Valerie didn't say a word, she was just staring on the small island.

"Are you interested in the nuclear fission?"

"No. Not at all." Valerie shook her head. "It was somewhat sad, when the Francium atoms turned into Radium atoms, so I think, I am not interested in nuclear fission at all. I like the little ones, as they are. They are cute, even if they bite sometimes."

"Okay. The little ones give you enough interesting things, even if you don't tear them apart."

"Then why do those researchers enjoy cutting them?" Valerie nodded toward the bubbling land.

"In fact, they don't want to cut them apart, they want to put them together. Like in the Noble Race. You put two Deuteriums together, and they are forming a Helium atom."

"Or not."

"It is based on luck. Therefore, the reaction resembles to the lottery. It either comes in or it doesn't. Those scientists do the same, but with bigger atoms."

"And why is the island bubbling and exploding? If the fusion of the Deuteriums fails, they simply remain as they were, and do not explode."

"In the dukedoms, a lot of energy is given to the atoms to merge, and when the resulting atoms disintegrate, a portion of their island explodes from the lot of energy. Do you see?" K.O. pointed to a falling part of the island.

"So what's the point of doing it? It is dangerous, it costs a lot, it is not stable, and even the island below them is falling apart. Why are those researchers doing it?"

"Everyone has their own areas of interest. They are interested in this."