State Capital, also known as A Chemical Solution, is a mystery short story by Isaac Asimov.
Part.of the Union Club series, it was first published in the February 1983 issue of Gallery magazine.
Summary[]
At the Union Club, Griswold recounts a peculiar mystery involving his acquaintance, Harvey Lambert. Lambert owned a small chemical company specializing in substances for medical and biochemical research. He once hired Chester Baines, a true chemical genius, but the young man had a terrible temper and did not get along with anyone.
The situation escalated when Baines abruptly ran away from the company, taking all his important work with him. He then demanded considerable preferential treatment from Lambert as a condition for its return. The two men agreed to meet to negotiate a new contract.
However, on his way to the meeting, Baines was involved in a car accident and was taken to the hospital alive. Before he died, he made some seemingly insignificant comments to Lambert about the whereabouts of the documents. These comments were a series of cryptic chemical terms and formulas.
After Baines' death, Lambert was left with these notes and could not decipher them. He brought the puzzle to Griswold. Griswold, applying both chemical knowledge and lateral thinking, recognized that the symbols corresponded not to chemical reactions but to abbreviations. When combined, they formed the name of a single state capital, the location where Baines had hidden the documents.
Realizing the cleverness of Baines' "chemical solution," Griswold identified the city. His listeners at the club praised the elegance of the deduction—a perfect blend of logic and chemistry that recovered the stolen work.
Characters[]
- Griswold
- Club Member (the narrator)
- Jennings
- Baranov
- Harvey Lambert
- Chester Baines
See Also[]
List of short stories by Isaac Asimov