DN - Gravity Manipulation

Charlie must have heard some of that subtext in my voice. He smiles like he knows something I don’t. “So what can you do?”

“Um, here.” I pull a marble out of my pocket. Nervous butterflies tickle my stomach. This is something I haven’t shown anyone before, and even with all the extra practice I’ve put in, I’m suddenly afraid of screwing it up and looking stupid. When I close my eyes to get a good look at the lattice, I’m taken aback by what I see. Things seem somehow more distinct in this corner of the shop, distinct and yet looser. I open my eyes in surprise. Charlie’s got a look on his face like I’ve suddenly caught his interest.

“Go on,” he says.

“Am I missing something?” asks Sarah.

“Yes.” He waves at her to pipe down. “Go on, Danny.”

You practiced this, I remind myself. The lattice is searingly bright in the darkness. The marble rolls out of my hand, and as it rolls I see the first trails of its momentum. Quickly I seize them, twine them about my mind, and…pulling? Pull? Push? Pull them through my own pattern in the lattice. A strange sensation, like thread running through the flesh of my fingers, mirrored somewhere deep in my chest, a strange rustling, almost cold and buzzing. The marble stops falling, then goes up. Its momentum expended, it pauses at the top of its “fall” and then gravity reasserts itself. It begins to fall again, and again I use the energy of its fall to send it upwards. The marble is now moving smoothly, up and down, up and down, never falling and yet always falling.

I open my eyes, and am almost surprised to see the marble bouncing in the air. It’s difficult to focus my gaze while I’m concentrating on the lattice, and the world keeps splitting in two. Prickles of sweat break out on my forehead. “See?” I say, and that’s enough to push me over the edge. The threads slip through my mind and the marble plummets to the floor.

“That’s uh, hm. That’s…really neat,” says Charlie.

“I can also bench press a school bus,” I mutter, cheeks hot.

- Dreadnought, Chapter 22