I am writing the end of a scene, but I have some trouble making the set up believable.
My character is looking for a way to stop a machine that will explode to destroy life on (the) earth. She is helped by a scientist that study the plans of the machine in order to defuse it. He discovers that this machine uses a chain reaction, that can trigger [a gamma-ray burst] that will destroy all life on earth. One solution to stop the reaction is to [heat it], in order to [change the phase state of the water (one of the components of the reaction) from liquid to gas]. She only has the possibility to produce [heat] with her weapon. When trying to [heat] the component in the machine, she is stopped by the antagonist, then uses another piece of technology to teleport the machine instantly into orbit (little beyond the orbit of the ISS). Once into space, the water presented to the temperature and pressure of space [change its state from liquid to gas] instantly
All the parts in [ ] can be changed to improve the quality of the resolution of the scene. My problem is that water is not exotic enough (I mean, for a chemical reaction capable of such destruction), and when put straight into space, some of the water turn into gas and the rest turn into ice, which might seem a little odd for a non scientific spectator. Maybe with another liquid, that would go from liquid in [ambient] temperature, to solid into space, that might be a better fit.