Monument

Dr. Charles King has built a career on happy accidents, earning the tongue‑in‑cheek nickname “Side Effect Charlie.” His unintended breakthroughs—first a method that dissolved metal bonds to reshape ore, then a way to reverse the process—upended the metallurgy industry and made powerful enemies among traditional metalheads. Yet his methodical habits keep him reproducing those very “mistakes,” turning serendipity into reproducible science.

Now King’s attention has turned to a curious crystal he stumbled upon while cleaning his lab bench. Experiments with its piezo‑electric punch inadvertently lifted a mountain peak into orbit, a spectacle caught by observatories worldwide. The incident hints at a propulsion principle that could power faster‑than‑light starships, promising a leap that would reshape humanity’s reach among the stars. If the device can be tamed, it may finally let humanity travel beyond the limits of conventional physics.