Zero 'g' by Srujanjoshi4 Page A

start to get scary.
    As they made their way up to the floor where Linus’s
bedroom was, Linus explained a
bit of his plan to the group. Carly was shocked at how in-depth he
was about it all; he had definitely put some thought into things.
Most boys his age would be on the football team and chasing girls.
They would be dealing with pregnancy scares and where the next big
party was, not dealing with the end of the world. Not too many of
them would have any idea how to solve a real-world problem,
especially one that was causing deaths all over the world. The sad
truth was; he probably knew more about what was going on than she
did. Henry at least had been in the office with his dad on numerous
times while she was pushing a mop bucket around. She blushed. She
had no reason to be embarrassed about her position at NASA; it was
still a really good job.
    “ My father has been a great
influence on my life. He’s trying to get me into the best schools
in the country. I have been working on a few projects myself. But
Linus here really did something extraordinary. He seems to care
less about academics and more about what he can sneak into through
hacking.”
    Linus beamed with pride . “I have been working for the last year on creating a
moonlike environment in a small space. I never thought I would get
the chance to use it. But it works, and it has gravity in it, so we
got lucky. It’s probably the only place in the world that has
gravity at this point. We can sit in there and rest, if we have
to.”
    Henry nodded . “Well,
my father never mentioned that losing gravity was even a risk. I’m
surprised that he wouldn’t have known something like this would
happen. I would think all the scientists at NASA would see
something like this coming a mile away. But he never said anything
to me about it.”
    Carly turned and looked at Henry with interest. He was
clearly a smart kid. “Is that right? He m ight not have had any idea.” Though she really didn’t
believe that, she actually found it hard to believe that a
scientist wouldn’t have known that losing gravity was a risk. She
wondered if it was a conscious choice to continue research, knowing
that disaster could strike. She had heard enough from Karina to
know that there was something going on behind the scenes at NASA
that could have some serious consequences for everyone. Was this
it? Had something finally happened that the scientists could no
longer control? She would give anything to have Karina by her side
to discuss these issues. She hoped that her friend was
OK.
    “ Yeah, I’m not sure if
that’s true. But anyway, yes. The same idea can be applied here. It
would help us to live as if there was gravity in the
room.”
    “ How so?” Carly asked. She wondered why Henry thought his
father might be involved in what was going on around them. She
wanted to question him further about it , but they were almost at Linus’s room, and they had
bigger problems at the moment.
    They continued down the hall until they reached the
stairs . Thankfully, it wasn’t
a long flight of stairs they had to climb. They all started up the
stairs, bracing themselves against the wall to avoid floating. They
looked uncomfortable, and Linus had to use extra effort to ensure
that David didn’t get hurt. She still wasn’t sure what they were
going to do with him. What if they never found the kid’s parents?
What would she do with him? She could take him home with her and
Rose. But then what? She certainly wasn’t prepared to raise another
child, but she had also thought the same thing when Rose came
along. She wasn’t about to abandon the child. He would stay with
her as long as he had to, and they would just keep looking for his
parents.
    Henry piped up. “This is getting exhausting. You really
don’t realize how much you take the simple act of walking around
for granted. Who thinks of using gravity ? It’s just there. But now, it’s all we can think
about because we are helpless without