Newton's Broken Law

A Story by Katie Rose

Earth broke. Or at least the law of gravity did.

Okay, let’s pretend that gravity does not exist. That there is no up. No down. You can’t fall. It’s like space but you can breath without a suit. No gravity. No direction. And life goes on like it did exist. Kids go to school. Adults go to work. There are skyscrapers and farms. Dogs still bark at your pet cat. Life is normal. Except with no gravity.

Now stop pretending. Because this is all real. Earth broke. Or at least the law of gravity did. This happened fifteen years ago. We have gotten use to it by now. The first few years were hard. We had to build a dome around the Earth so we wouldn’t float off into space.

I don’t remember gravity very well. I was only two when it broke. Only thing I remember was that back then I didn’t have to keep a lid on my fish bowl or be careful about drinking orange juice in the morning. Now the only thing I know is the life where Newton’s Law of Gravity doesn’t matter. It’s a broken law from a broken world. And this is the story of how I fixed it.

I pushed away from home. Today I was going to find out what happened. Nobody else cared. They liked it without gravity. And scientists have found ways for people to stay healthy in a zero gravity Earth. They don’t care. I do.

People speculate that it started in a lab in Illinois. Strange place for the cracks to begin. You’d think it would’ve started near Area 51. But no. It broke near Chicago. Made a huge mess. Then it spread.

I headed towards Illinois. Straight south. I flew through the air. Between the trees that awkwardly stuck to the ground. They looked so weird, being in nice rows like they were. All stuck to the grassy floor. My house was built on the side of a cliff, which is handy. If it had been built mid air like some houses then I’d have to worry about it floating off to Canada. Anyways, sideways is down to me. Guess it doesn’t matter though. There is no down. That’s what we’re all told in school. I disagree.

It didn’t take long to get to Illinois. I live near the Wisconsin Illinois border but even if I didn’t it wouldn’t take long. The harder I push off of something the faster I’ll go. If I had used a launching device I could’ve made it to the Mexican border before supper.

It took me no time at all to locate the town that the websites say the cracks started. Hopefully the websites are right. I really don’t want to go home without accomplishing anything.

The town is called Newton. Kinda ironic. Newton’s law was broke in Newton, Illinois.

It was lunch hour. People were pushing away from work to go get a bite to eat. As I floated down Main Street several people ran into me. Rather easy to do. It’s hard to turn without gravity. That’s why I needed to make it come it come back.

“Excuse me,” I passed an elderly couple.

I made it to the other side of town and started searching for the farm. Pushing off of trees, I searched the forest. I saw no government soldiers. No men with guns patrolling. You’d think that the place where this all started would have guards and an electric dome.

I located an abandoned barn. This was it. Hopefully.

I pushed off an evergreen and towards the grassy floor. A rabbit scurried away. Floating up towards the trees. Must be hard being a rabbit when there’s no gravity. He can’t hop around like his great, great, great, great, great grandparents did.

I pushed off another tree. I floated into the barn and caught a hold of a rope before I could go out the other side. Now I just had to find whatever did this.

I glanced around the barn. Old rusty farm tools floated mid air. The remains of a tractor floated along with them. The hay sat on the floor and… wait a sec. Why is the hay stuck to the floor? It should be floating like everything else.

I pushed down and hit the floor hard. I didn’t bounce off it. There was gravity.

The floor was rough and the hay tasted awful.

I pushed myself to my knees. Gravity outside the exercise centers. So strange. So heavy.

Carefully, I stood up. Still had gravity. I jumped. The ceiling came closer. I pushed back down to the floor.

Once back on the floor I looked for the source of the gravity. Throwing hay into the air in order to find a trap door or maybe a machine hidden under the piles. Finally, I found something. A latch. I snapped it open.

A stairway into darkness.

I took a step down. Then another. Gravity felt heavy against my body. I ignored it.

The darkness that surrounded me retreated. A light at the end of the tunnel.

A smile spread across my face. Maybe my adventure is coming to an end. I’ll be home for dinner.

A figure stepped between me and the light. A man. Tall and strong with broad shoulders. Like how guys were before the accident.

“Why have you come?” the man asked.

“To fix everything,” I said.

“I cannot allow that,” the man said.

“We are growing weak!” I said. “Despite the technology people have created our bones will begin to grow brittle. If we don’t do something now gravity will never be able to come back because we wouldn’t be able to stand on our own two legs!”

The man stood there staring at me. Then he stepped aside.

I walked into the light.

A lab. A very white lab. Various pieces of technology was spread across tables. The largest piece was a generator type thing that glowed green.

“Is that it?” I asked.

He nodded.

“Is that what is keeping the gravity working on the floor?” I asked.

He nodded.

“Can you turn the gravity back on?”

There was a pause before he nodded again.

“Than do so,” I said.

“If I just turn on Earth’s gravity all at once people will fall to their deaths,” the man said.

“So do what you did in the barn,” I said. “Make the ground have gravity. Then over time add more and more gravity to the Earth. That way people know to get back down to Earth.”

The man looked at his machine. “I guess I could…”

“You need to!” I said. “Everyone out there won’t admit it but Earth needs gravity. Humans need gravity. That rabbit outside needs gravity. So give it back!”

The man’s hand hovered above the controls. “I hope this works.” He flipped a switch.

“Wait, you hope?!” Maybe gravity couldn’t be turned back on. That would be bad.

“Breaking gravity. That was an accident,” the man said. “I’ve been trying to build something to reverse the effect ever since then.”

The TV flickered on to show the town. People floating near the ground hit it. They’ve regained gravity.

“Thank you,” I said.

“No, thank you,” the man said. “I was hoping someone would show up to see this. Do you want a fig newton?” He handed me a package of the strawberry treat.

“‘Show up to see this’?” I pushed away the package.

“You’re, like, the hundredth person to show up,” the man said. “Everyone else showed up before I was finished.”

“Oh…” I guess I wasn’t the only person to try and fix Earth.

“Go home,” the man said. “I’ll make sure that the gravity will be back to normal.”

I nodded. “Awesome! Thanks!” I went back to the barn.

Outside a squirrel was trying to figure out what had happen. It was moving rather slowly towards a tree.

I smiled and jumped. Gravity left me a few inches above the ground. I pushed off a nearby tree and headed back home. Gravity was coming back. Earth would soon be right again. There would be an up. There would be a down. I’ll be able to fall and I won’t have to worry about my pet fish floating away. Gravity has been fixed. Newton’s Law is followed once again.