GRAVITY'S END

by

Sandy Ackers

One day the Head Engineer changed his mind about the whole gravity thing. It had been a good idea for a while. It had enabled his workers to stick to the ground while they learned to make fire and build skyscrapers. But now he felt the workers needed new challenges. They'd accomplished about all they could with the resources he'd given them, and they'd obviously grown bored. They seemed to spend a lot of time fighting each other and viewing Internet pornography. The Head Engineer reflected on this problem for a week before he came up with the idea of eliminating gravity.

He decided to start slow. First, he reduced gravity slightly, so only small animals became airborne. The human workers and elephants were pleased with the new bounce in their step. They spent a lot of time wondering where all the flying mice and frogs had come from.

After a week, the Head Engineer turned gravity a little lower. Now humans could jump as high as their heads with no trouble. There were a couple of amazing professional basketball games that week.

The next week, the Head Engineer turned the gravity crank all the way down. He watched as people and buses and everything else that wasn't tied down floated up and bounced around the edges of the atmosphere. It was a beautiful sight from his perch at the top of the plant. Like a giant crazy Calder mobile.

Now the humans would have to figure out new ways to feed themselves and clothe themselves and find love. He watched as they struggled through the atmosphere, kicking and jerking like drowning puppies. He began to wonder if turning off gravity had been too much for them. Perhaps he should have come up with a more subtle solution to their dilemma.

Then he noticed one woman who had mastered air swimming. She moved like a seal in water, cutting a sleek path through the atmosphere, her long hair flying behind her. Soon she was joined by a man who'd also learned to move fluidly. They arced and dove and soared past all the struggling humans, who looked at the couple with interest.

The Head Engineer continued to watch as a second woman tried to join the soaring couple. She matched their movements for a moment, then fell back, rolling a comical hundred feet into a heap. The next time the couple came near, she managed to keep up with them for twice as long before doing a header into a passing giraffe.

The Head Engineer relaxed. His workers would be okay. It should take them a couple hundred years, he thought, to settle into their new environment. He leaned back and lit a cigar. He'd always loved a good show.

§ § §

Sandy Ackers lives in San Francisco. In addition to writing, she spends too much time conversing with odd characters who come to her in dreams and insist on having their stories told.

She is the recipient of the University of Virginia Literary Society Annual Fiction Award. You can contact her at :sla107@hotmail.com.

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