Stone Story Current

Your story begins with a vast ocean full of living creatures. Sea creatures live. Sea creatures die. Their bones fall to the bottom of the ocean and compress for millions of years, eventually forming (text-colour:blue)[[you, limestone.]]

(text-colour:#c9c9c9) [Hello, lime. Humans love you. You are going to do amazing things out there in the world. Will you...] (text-colour:#f3b8f4)[[help make steel?]] (text-colour:#f3b8f4)[[be added to asphalt?]] (text-colour:#f3b8f4)[[stabilize soils?]] (text-colour:#f3b8f4)[[be used in concrete?]]

In the landfill you are surrounded by other types of materials that humans don't have a use for anymore. There are many mineral-based materials like you, and metals too, but even more plastics. It's actually kind of a party in here. You all exchange crazy life stories about where you came from and how you were used, but the one thing you all agree on is that your time with the humans was short-lived. You rest in the landfill for a while and feel yourself sinking back into (text-colour:#c7c7c7)[[the place from which you came.]]

(text-colour:#c9c9c9)[You are taken to a workshop, where a sculptor gently carves you until you are shaped like a giant stone human. He, and you, become extremely famous. As an object that humans find beautiful, you are treasured and put on display for millions of visitors in piazzas, cathedrals, and galleries. It's nice to] (text-colour:#ffffa8) [[be admired.]]

You are split off from the side of the earth with a loud, whirring sawblade and harvested as a block of limestone. (text-colour:#ffffa8) [[Your surface is lustrous with the promise of a polished gleam.]] (text-colour:#ffffa8) [[Your qualities are subtle and evade the human eye.]]

After a few decades of carrying cars across a river, it's decided that a bigger, stronger bridge is needed to get cars across faster. You are exploded into tiny pieces and taken to [[a landfill.]]

After a few decades of holding water back to generate energy for humans, you need to be demolished because you block the migration of fish and disturb natural ecosystems. You are exploded into tiny pieces and taken to [[a landfill.]]

After a few decades of holding up the building, the owner moves out and sells you to another owner who wants to tear you down to make room for a bigger, better building. You are destroyed by a bulldozer and your pieces are taken to [[a landfill.]]

After a few decades of storing cars, the humans decide they would make more money if there was a skyscraper in your place instead. You are destroyed by a wrecking ball and your pieces are taken to [[a landfill.]]

You are added to agricultural fields to neutralize the acidity in the soil. You help crops grow, which the humans like, but are quickly forgotten after that. You don't mind. You rest in the ground, slowly sinking back into (text-colour:#e67300)[[the place from which you came.]]

You are used in the steel manufacturing process because of your ability to fuse with impurities in the metal such as phosphorus, sulfur, and silica. The steel goes on to be a very useful construction material for the humans. But you, as a contaminated substance now, don't have many options. You go to [[a landfill.]]

You are mixed with mineral granules and a viscous black substance, then spread thin over the surface of the earth. Maybe after your millions of years of existence, you can spend the rest of your life as (text-colour:#828282)[[a surface for human transportation.]]

You are mixed with water, aggregate, and a few other ingredients. This is a millenias-old magic recipe that transforms your entire being, permanently bonding you with the other ingredients. You get very hot at first as chemical reactions are taking place, then you cool off. (text-colour:#ffff42)[[You feel stronger.]]

(text-style:"rumble")[You sense the earth around you shaking with explosions and feel them coming closer and closer. The explosions finally reach you and in one blast, you and 30,000 tons of stone are dislodged from the earth. You are harvested as (text-colour:#ff5638)[[tiny limestone fragments.]]]

You are brought to a processing plant. Here, you are crushed into even smaller fragments, then heated up to an excrutiating 1500 degrees Fahrenheit. It is so unbearably hot that you feel your very being splitting into two. Do rocks believe in a hell? If they do, this is it. The CO(text-style:"subscript")[2 ]separates from your body and escapes into the air. When you finally re-emerge, you have been reborn as (text-colour:#ffdf3d)[[lime.]]

Actually, after a few decades of cars and trucks driving over you, you are worn down and no longer useful. You are torn up into pieces and transported to [[a landfill.]]

Actually, after one thousand years, you are destroyed in a war. It has nothing to do with you, don't take it personally. You are marble rubble now, mixing with all the other rubble of the war. No one knows you were once admired by millions, but at least you are back with your own kind again, in the ground. You are sinking back into [[the place from which you came.]]

You are transported to [[a landfill.]] [[a road that's being built.]]

You lie dormant under the ground for hundreds of millions of years. (text-colour:#e02d00)[[You undergo heat and pressure.]] (text-colour:#e02d00)[[You remain as you are and keep sleeping.]]

Actually, after seven years, your new owners want to update their kitchen too. You are [[shattered into pieces and taken away.]]

(text-colour:#c9c9c9) [At the store, some humans decide they find you charming and decide to take you home. You are reinstalled as a kitchen counter and] (text-colour:#5cadff)[[happily continue to collect coffee stains.]]

Actually, after ten years your owners decide to renovate their kitchen and replace you. Don't take it personally, it's just that white kitchen counters are so yesterday. You are... [[shattered into pieces and taken away.]] [[donated to a material reuse store.]]

Actually, after a few decades, the humans decide to demolish you to make room for an even bigger, stronger house. You are [[shattered into pieces and taken away.]]

After a few decades of cars and trucks driving over you at high speed, your surface wears down and you need to be replaced. You are torn up and your pieces are taken to [[a landfill.]]

After another few million years of sleep, you are disturbed by a tapping sound coming from above you. Suddenly, you are exposed to sunlight for the first time. Humans chisel away at you until you break off from the side of the earth as (text-colour:#add6ff)[[a marble slab.]]

You lie under the ground, being compressed for millions of years, until you return to the core of the earth. It's goodbye for now.

All of that heat and pressure has transformed your properties. (text-colour:blue)[[You are marble now.]]

After another few million years of sleep, you are woken by... (text-colour:#ffffa8) [[violent vibrations.]] (text-colour:#ffffa8) [[a sawing sensation.]]

Your purpose will be more utilitarian, but no matter, you are still very useful. You are transported to a warehouse where you are cut into a block, then transported once again to a construction site. You are cemented to others like you (text-colour:grey)[[to make a big strong house.]]

When the process is over, you are one of the most common human-made substances on earth: concrete. As a weatherproof, versatile, and practically indestructible material, you are a beloved construction material for the humans. You join the other 549 gigatons of concrete that exist out in the world as... (text-colour:blue)[[a bridge.]] (text-colour:blue)[[the foundations of a building.]] (text-colour:blue)[[an interstate highway.]] (text-colour:blue)[[a dam.]] (text-colour:blue)[[a parking structure.]]

(text-colour:#c9c9c9) [You are transported to a factory where you are shaped and polished into a slab, then transported to a big store where some humans decide they like your luster and take you home. You are] (text-colour:#5cadff)[[installed as a kitchen counter.]]