Rick paused for quite a while.

“That’s the damndest thing I ever saw,” he exclaimed. “Do it again.”

He adjusted his sunglasses, as did I.

I filled a flask with distilled water. With a clean pipette, I drew up a drop or two of the translucent blue solution from the test tube. Rick seemed transfixed as I released the blue solution, his nose almost touching the flask. The entire flask lit up to a bright white as the first drop mixed with the water.

“And you say that that solution is made from inexpensive, easily obtained chemicals?”

“Yes.”

“Is it brighter if you add more of the solution?”

“No, it isn’t. It’s the same. And I haven’t yet found a minimum concentration at which the effect won’t occur. Watch this.”

I drew up a small amount of glowing fluid from the flask and released it into a clean beaker filled with clear water.

“Dripping sunshine,” Rick said. “Wow.”

The beaker shone as brightly as the flask.

“That’s impressive.” He paused. “Um… what happens if this stuff gets into the ocean?”