What Happens When the Impossible Shows Up at Work?
Most of us know the personalities in a workplace.
There’s the curious person who wants to know how everything works.
The skeptic who needs evidence before believing anything.
The cautious one who immediately starts thinking about what could go wrong.
The comedian who somehow finds a joke even when nobody else is laughing.
And the person who sees trouble coming and would rather be anywhere else.
Now imagine putting all of those people in the same room with something none of them can explain.
Not a difficult customer.
Not a broken computer.
Not another meeting.
Something genuinely impossible.
That collision between ordinary personalities and extraordinary circumstances is one of the ideas that makes science fiction so much fun — and it plays an important role in The Artifact: Secrets of the Halcyon Galleria — Book 1.
Would We Really Become Heroes?
Science fiction often gives us highly trained people confronting extraordinary situations.
Scientists know what to analyze.
Soldiers know how to respond.
Government officials have protocols.
But what happens when the extraordinary reaches ordinary people first?
There is no manual titled:
What to Do When You Discover Technology Nobody Can Explain.
There is no company policy for first contact.
Nobody from human resources is going to solve the problem.
And the IT department probably isn’t going to be much help either.
That’s when personality takes over.
One person moves closer.
Another moves away.
Someone asks questions.
Someone becomes suspicious.
And somebody will almost certainly say something inappropriate at precisely the wrong moment.
That feels much closer to how human beings actually behave.
Humor Doesn’t Disappear When Things Get Serious
We often think suspense and humor are opposites.
I don’t think they have to be.
In real life, people use humor during stressful situations all the time.
Sometimes we joke because something is funny.
Sometimes we joke because we’re nervous.
Sometimes it’s how we make an overwhelming situation feel manageable.
And sometimes there is simply that one person who cannot resist making a comment.
That’s why putting humor inside a science-fiction mystery can make extraordinary events feel surprisingly human.
In The Artifact, the characters can be dealing with questions surrounding technology beyond their understanding while still disagreeing, teasing, questioning one another, and behaving like people who have known each other longer than the crisis has existed.
The mystery changes the situation.
It doesn’t erase their personalities.
The Curious Coworker
Every group seems to have one.
Put an unknown object on a table and, while everyone else is still asking where it came from, this person is already leaning closer.
“What’s this?”
“How does it work?”
“What happens if I press this?”
Curiosity is responsible for an enormous amount of human discovery.
But in a science-fiction mystery, curiosity creates a particularly interesting problem.
What if touching the unknown object changes everything?
Would you still do it?
Some readers will immediately say yes.
Others are probably shouting “DON’T TOUCH IT!” at this article already.
Both reactions make sense.
The Skeptic
Then there’s the person who isn’t impressed.
Extraordinary technology?
Prove it.
Something unexplained?
There must be a rational explanation.
Possible first contact?
Let’s not get carried away.
The skeptic can be frustrating — but skepticism also matters.
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When nobody understands what is happening, the person asking uncomfortable questions may be exactly the person the group needs.
Of course, there’s a difference between healthy skepticism and refusing to believe what is directly in front of you.
That line becomes much harder to maintain when the evidence starts behaving in ways you didn’t expect.
The Cautious One
This person has one very reasonable question:
“Why are we touching this?”
While everyone else is fascinated by possibilities, the cautious person is already thinking about consequences.
Who made it?
Is it dangerous?
Does somebody know we have it?
Should we tell anyone?
And perhaps most importantly:
What if whatever created this technology wants it back?
Suddenly, curiosity isn’t the only issue.
Trust enters the equation.
So does secrecy.
And once that happens, an extraordinary discovery can become a dangerous one.
The Comedian
Then we have my favorite survival mechanism:
Humor.
Imagine everyone staring at something that could fundamentally change what they understand about technology, intelligence, or humanity’s place in the universe.
The room is silent.
Nobody knows what to say.
And one person makes a joke.
Completely inappropriate?
Probably.
Completely human?
Absolutely.
That tension between danger and humor is part of the world of The Artifact.
Because people don’t automatically transform into grim science-fiction heroes when something incredible happens.
Sometimes they’re still coworkers trying to figure out what on Earth — or perhaps beyond Earth — is happening.
And Then There’s the Person Heading for the Door
We shouldn’t forget this person.
While everyone else debates the scientific significance of the discovery, they’re already thinking:
“This seems like somebody else’s problem.”
And perhaps they’re the smartest person in the room.
Science fiction tends to reward curiosity because curiosity moves stories forward.
Real life might reward the person who sees an unexplained object and decides not to poke it.
But then again, if everyone walked away from the unknown, how much would humanity ever discover?
That’s the dilemma.
Ordinary People Make Extraordinary Stories Interesting
For me, extraordinary technology alone isn’t enough to make a story interesting.
The human response matters just as much.
Give five people the same impossible discovery and you may get five completely different reactions.
Curiosity.
Fear.
Excitement.
Suspicion.
Humor.
That is when an object stops being merely an object and becomes the beginning of a story.
It’s also part of what readers encounter in The Artifact: Secrets of the Halcyon Galleria — Book 1 by Dennis Mustard, where strange technology, mystery, intelligence, secrecy, humor, and first-contact questions begin colliding with very human personalities.
But before you enter that mystery, I have a question for you.
Which Coworker Would You Be?
Something completely unexplained has just appeared at your workplace.
Nobody knows where it came from.
Nobody knows what it does.
And everyone is looking at everyone else to decide what happens next.
Who are you?
A) The Curious One — You’re already moving closer.
B) The Skeptic — You’re not believing anything without evidence.
C) The Cautious One — “Nobody touch it!”
D) The Comedian — If the world is ending, you’re at least getting one good joke in.
E) The Escape Artist — You’re already halfway to the parking lot.
Tell me your answer in the comments.
And if you enjoy science-fiction mysteries where extraordinary discoveries collide with ordinary people, you can enter the mystery in:
The Artifact: Secrets of the Halcyon Galleria — Book 1
Dennis Mustard
https://www.amazon.com/Artifact-Secrets-Halcyon-Galleria/dp/B0FXY8SBBC/
Because discovering something impossible is one problem.
Figuring out what your coworkers are going to do with it may be another.
