Science — It is impossible for any natural rock formation to have sufficient strength to support a structure 40 miles high on a world with a surface gravity of 0.81 gee. On Mars, for example, with a surface gravity of 0.37 gee, the highest feature is Olympus Mons, about 17 miles high. Plateau, with higher gravity, would have an even lower height limit.

Fanfixses: Two different fanfixes are offered for the structure of Mt. Lookitthat:

(a) The molecular bonds may have been artificially strengthened in the rock of Mt. Lookitthat and part of the bedrock surrounding its base. This technique would be similar to that which produced scrith and GP hulls, but since it would have been applied to natural materials, the product would be much weaker. Perhaps repeated expansion and contraction due to natural surface heating and cooling degrades and ultimately destroys this form of artificial strengthening. This would explain why rock at or near the surface of Mt. Lookitthat lacks the abnormal strength and hardness of the interior, so it is no harder to dig a basement on Plateau than in normal bedrock. This artificial strengthening might also have been applied to Jinx (see "The Origin of Jinx" in the Articles section). However, Mt. Lookitthat is of relatively recent geological origin (as indicated by the lack of erosion of its features), while the strengthening of Jinx must have occurred billions of years ago.

(b) An enormous single-crystal diamond may have been formed in a supernova explosion. Such a crystal could have been hurled through space and crashed on the planet of Plateau, breaking through its planetary crust; its inertia would have carried it down into the magma. As the magma welled up, a protrusion of the crystal might have been pushed back out and up. The magma may have fused to inclusions in the diamond, and cooled to form a rocky crust around it. Even a diamond much weakened by large inclusions and a large amount of impurities would have the strength required for a 40 mile high Mt. Lookitthat. If this is the explanation for the existence of such a high mountain, then we suggest the diamond has a high level of impurities, and therefore is of poor quality even for industrial grade diamond. Otherwise mining the diamond would be a major industry on Plateau. ↵