Hyrum walked past the apartment complexes for Hydrogens. The apartments stood tall and lined the landscape for as far as the eye could see. He wandered around for a time looking for Lithium rank atoms.

‘Why is it so hard to find a Lithium. It is like they actively avoid me. I can’t stay out forever, or Henry will get mad at me, and I can’t have that be. Maybe I should just ask for directions.’

“Hey, can you tell me where to find a Lithium?”

“Weirdo,” the person he grabbed said before brushing him off and moving on.

He tried asking a few more people before someone got him a different answer.

“They won’t want anything to do with you, but you can find them in their place near section 3AG67N2.”

“Thanks for your help,” said Hyrum as he shook the other Hydrogen atom’s hands vigorously.

The other atom gave him another strange look and got away from him quickly. Now with a location in mind, Hyrum changed his course and no longer wandered quite as much. He stopped at a few points and checked his directions, so he did not get lost.

He eventually came up to a large building that stood above the rest. The building had a tall spire at the top and was labeled with Gravity Factory iconography. Most people walked right past the building ignoring it entirely. At the front of the doors stood a Lithium security guard. From Hyrum’s looks at the atom, he seemed to glare at everyone who walked past. He decided to approach the guard.

“Get out of here runt. You aren’t allowed here,” said the tall lanky guard in a raspy voice.

“What do you mean. I don’t know who you are talking about,” said Hyrum as he looked behind him. “There ain’t no runt here. Was there someone annoying you here earlier? Maybe I can help. I love helping.”

“The only thing you can do to help is to get out of here. You aren’t authorized to be here.”

“But I need to find someone in there. You got to help me. Pleeease?”

“No can do. Have the lithium in contact with you leave the building and speak with them then.”

“But…”

“No buts. Now leave before I throw you into the void,” said the guard raising his voice.

“Fine.” Hyrum turned around sulking off.

‘I guess I should be surprised that that didn’t work. He did give me a good suggestion though. I first need to identify a face to the voice I heard of course but after that, I need to force them out of the building. Now back to my sneaking skills I go. I didn’t think I would get to use them twice in one day. What will I encounter next? I already got into a chase with the guards and broke out of a jail cell.’

Hyrum started his entry by casing the place as any decent thief or trespasser would. He avoided the side where the guard stood. He eventually found his entryway on the back left side of the building. A few feet above him a vent just barely large enough for him to fit blew steam out the holes in it. After examining the vent, he found that it was secured using four screws.

Hyrum stood up on some boxes after he stacked them up and started working on the screws. He tried working quietly as not to be noticed. With a rock from the alley in hand, he started hammering at the screw in an attempt to break them off. That only lasted as long as the boxes were stable at which point he collapsed and landed in the middle of broken wood and splinters. The crash caused a set of loud noises as the wood broke, and the rock bounced off the metal grate.

Hyrum lay in a daze for a minute when someone above shouted at him. They started yelling at him about stealing food and being a rat through their open window. It was then that he got a new idea. He lay there waiting for the atom to stop yelling. He brushed himself off and got up.

‘I should have realized. The atoms will have at least a few windows that I could possibly sneak through. Now I just need to find a new way up.’

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Hyrum moved the broken boxes out of the way and started testing other items to stand on. He ended up moving one of the few unbroken boxes next to the vent. Once he was in position he jumped up a few times until he could fit his foot on top of the vent and start climbing up the pipe that followed it.

With Hyrum’s small size and weight, his arms just barely fit around the pipe. He used what little strength he could to start shimmying up it. He made his way up to the third-floor level where he then jumped over to the windowsill to his left. He tried the first window, but it was locked. He tried the one next to it, but it was locked as well.

Hyrum then shimmied up the pipe further until he got to the fourth-floor windows. He checked another three before he got a window to open. Opening it slowly he checked inside before walking in. The room was a kitchen and contained no one within.

Hyrum looked around the kitchen and grabbed some additional food to snack on. He ate a few bites of the grapes on the table before stuffing them in his already comically oversized jacket. Satisfied with his work he opened up the door to the hallway. He peeked his head out and found no one walking around. He stepped out and the door locked behind him.

‘I guess there is no turning back. But where is everyone? I know there are fewer Lithium’s, but these always should be at least somewhat busy.’

As if to answer his question he saw a sign directing him exactly where to go. Along the wall a banner read ‘Congratulatory Dinner Party – Mandatory Attendance Required unless excuses are provided beforehand’.

“Perfect. They will all be gathered for me.”

Hyrum skipped down the hall until he saw the doors to the event. He tried to open the doors and found them to be locked. He jumped up trying to see through the door’s window but couldn’t see anything.

‘Damn. I am so close. There must be some way in. Maybe I can use the vents from earlier. They surely lead inside and go above this room.’

Hyrum walked the hall again this time looking for the vents. He found one at the end of the hall sticking out from the floor. He was able to get the grate off easily enough because it was not bolted on. Because the apartment was built to house Lithium atoms he was able to squeeze right in the vent and crawl around (Random Fact Lithium IRL is seven times as large as Hydrogen).

Hyrum followed the paths of the vents back towards the dinner party room until he found one going straight up. He pushed on both walls and started following it up. This pathway dumped him above the dinner party, and he followed it until he could hear the voices. Now he just had to wait and listen.

“Will everyone stand, please. I hope you all enjoyed the food. Will Linda and Lincoln please come up,” said a voice.

Hyrum heard where the voice was coming from and started moving closer to hear them better.

“Thank you Lionel for giving this award,” said Linda. “We are so honored to be given this award…”

Hyrum started falling asleep immediately. It wasn’t his fault usually. He just hated speeches their voices didn’t help either. Resorting himself to stay awake by eating the food he had stored up. He listened for a little while longer through the grate but gave up quickly.

‘This is going to take forever if I can’t identify anyone else’s voices. I only have three down but there are at least two others in here.’ He double-checked through the grate. ‘These holes are large enough for me to drop things through. If I could cause enough mayhem.’ Smiling with an evil grin he took out more food from his clothes.

The first food item to drop was two pieces of ham from the half of a sandwich he had yet to finish. With a thwomp, the two pieces hit two of the guests sitting in the front row of seating. Hyrum listened to the glorious uproar carefully as he laughed inside.

“What the fuck is this,” said the first man hit as he felt the ham slide off his head and down his neck.

A few guests laughed and looked on with surprise as the projectiles hit. The other unfortunate atom was in a similar outrage. The speakers at the front tried to calm them but disaster struck when another three further back in the seats were hit. Unsuspecting because of the distance they didn’t see it coming. Hyrum had already moved positions and dropped a handful of mashed grapes on their heads.

Hyrum laughed inside but karma came back to bite him. As he scurried through the vent his weight didn’t hold, and he fell through the vent directly onto another guest.

“Hey. It is a Hydrogen. You are in so much trouble,” said the Lithium as she threw Hyrum.

Hyrum spun in the air and another guest got some more of Hyrum to the face.

“Watch it Lisa!” shouted the other Lithium as Hyrum and himself dropped to the ground.

“Hey, I recognize your voice!” shouted Hyrum. “You were in the bathroom with me yesterday when I had barely any clothes on.”

“What are you talking about I did no such thing with you,” said the Lithium.

“So is that what you were doing Liam,” said a Lithium woman who had been sitting next to him. “Whoring yourself out to a hydrogen no less. You couldn’t even do it with an Oxygen.”

She started crying and ran to the door. She hit her head on the door before realizing it was locked. She opened it and slammed it closed as she started crying again. Liam looked at Hyrum and glared at him.

“Oops. Maybe it was destined not to be,” said Hyrum. “Just like it was destiny for me to meet you and help you. I know everything.”

“I think you are just going to ruin everything, but I need a Hydrogen anyways,” said Liam.

“What?”

Liam grabbed Hyrum by the collar with one hand and followed his now ex-partner out the door.