Critical Factor is a science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by Hal Clement

Hal Clement

Harry Clement Stubbs better known by the pen name Hal Clement, was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre.-Biography:...

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Plot introduction

The story describes the existence and scientific discoveries of a race of sentient rock-dwelling liquid organisms. These creatures literally live within certain types of rock and travel "as ink travels through a blotter". In the course of the plot, the creatures study the nature of air (which they call "the void"), liquids, and gravity from their limited perspective. The creatures can only eat rock that has not been exposed to oxygen. They consider melting the polar ice caps to increase the level of the ocean water, and protecting their edible rock by covering each continent with magma. They ultimately postpone the plan (which would destroy all human life) since they cannot be certain that the ocean levels will rise uniformly due to their limited understanding of non-solid states of matter.