April 7th, 1804. Palace of Versailles.
Francis was walking down the hallway leading to his father's office. He clutched the latest book published by the French Academy of Sciences, the Atomic Theory of John Dalton.
He had been studying it since he got the book last week where Dalton stated that atoms were the fundamental building blocks of matter and that chemical reactions occurred when atoms combined in fixed ratios. Francis had always been fascinated by science and had a natural curiosity about the world around him. It was all thanks to his father, Napoleon Bonaparte, who had encouraged his scholarly pursuits.
But he had a problem with the theory, a nagging doubt that he couldn't quite shake off.
