ice-nine is described as an example of a wampeter in the fictional Bokononism religion, the pivot around which a karass, or a group of randomly interrelated people, revolves. Calling it both the cause of the apocalypse and one of the book's main sources of humor, the book argues that ice-nine sets the entire tone for the novel, which is "rendered inert" by its fragmentary structure and fundamental tension. The book also states that ice-nine reverses the normal hierarchy in which living organisms use water as a resource, becoming the "successor of organic life on planet Earth".[[8]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice-nine#cite_note-8)
They need to make sure the ice-nine is contained.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice-nine#Critical_analysis