Free Zero 'g' by Srujanjoshi4 Page B

everything
they had taken over the years.
    “ OK , so one quick
question to you guys: what is the gravity of the moon and
Jupiter?”
    Linus spoke up . “The
moon has 16.6 percent of Earth’s actual gravity, while Jupiter has
2.4 times the Earth’s actual gravity. Why do you ask?”
    “ Hmm. OK , but according
to Newton’s law of universal gravitation, the larger an object’s
mass, the more gravity it has, right? Maybe that’s the key right
there. The main problem is that Earth isn’t as heavy as it once
was.”
    “ OK , Carly, so what are
you saying here?” Linus asked.
    She was nodding , still
lost in thought. “Well, I think I may know why Earth lost its
gravity.”
    “ We’re all ears,” Henry
said. They watched her intently.
    “ So , my theory is
simple. It’s been right in front of our eyes the whole time. It
happened due to the mining of our natural resources over several
centuries; the continuation of global warming, which made the polar
ice caps melt; and dumping all resources into space. We overdid it,
basically. Because of this, Earth has lost a large amount of its
mass, and that is why Earth has almost zero gravity. As civilians,
we were stupid, and we took more than Earth could afford to give
us. It was pure and simple greed. And now, we are going to pay the
price for it.”
    Henry and Linus both nodded their
heads in agreement. There wasn’t much else to be said. They were
all in a lot of trouble.

Chapter Thirteen
     
    Carly and the boys sat cramped in the moon room that Linus
had built. It was truly a marvel , and it was just another reason why Carly loved science so
much. Where else could you discover such marvelous things? In no
other profession was there the opportunity to be around great minds
and discover new possibilities. To truly search Earth and beyond
for more discoveries…It was enough to make Carly catch her breath.
She loved every aspect about it. Linus’s invention was no less
miraculous. He would go far, especially considering he was only a
kid. How much further would he go in life with such talents? That
is, if they all lived to see their futures. At the rate the world
was falling apart, there were no guarantees that any of them would
even see the next day. She looked around the small room, hoping
that the boys would in fact have a future.
    The room was tight and painted blue like a deep night sky.
It had the illusion of stars all around , which made her smile. There was still a kid in that
young mind, after all. She was still amazed that they were all
sitting instead of floating around. Her body ached all over from
the excessive use of muscles throughout the day. They needed rest
more than anything, but she didn’t think they had time for such
luxuries.
    There was enough room for only two of them due to the gravity exchange. Adding one
more would have offset the balance and had them all floating again
in no time. David had still been asleep on the ceiling, so she had
left him there. He was probably better off there not having to hear
the horrifying things they had to discuss in order to figure out
what to do next. She checked on him often, though; she didn’t want
him to wake and believe he was all alone. She couldn’t imagine what
it was like for a child to be separated from his family at a time
like this. She was thankful that Rose was at least with her mother,
someone she knew would protect her. The day had been traumatic
enough without the boy having to believe he was alone in the world.
She would protect him for as long as she could. She would make sure
that nothing happened to him. That was the most that she could
offer in such a crisis.
    “ So , how do we fix
this?” Linus asked. Carly looked to him for a moment, trying to
gather her thoughts. She was so thankful that she could catch her
breath for a moment and just think.
    “ Well , we know why.
Earth has lost its gravity, right? At least, we think so. So, I’m
thinking the only way to restore Earth’s