“Hime, you lazy roat! Get up. You sleep like a hog. It’s noon already,” Mevin said as he ripped Lex’s blanket off.

“Five more minutes,” Lex groaned as he waved Mevin off.

“Nope, not going to happen. Now get up before I dump this bucket of ice water on your head.” Lex bolted up. He glared at the bucket in Mevin’s hands.

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would. I still haven’t gotten my revenge on you threatening my pay yesterday.” He held the bucket aloft in a position to launch its contents.

“Stop! I’m up. I’m up. Why are you attacking me this morning?”

“Two things. We’re in sight of the boarder wall, and, well it’d be better if you just see it. Seven’s having a bit of a problem. And I’m not attacking you.”

“Where is he?” Lex said as he stood up. He grabbed a shirt and combed his hair with his hand. Then, he headed out of the bedroom.

“In the engine room,” Mevin said, following Lex.

“Why is he in there?”

“Sven was giving him the grand tour.”

“Did something happen? Is everything alright?”

“Well, he’s sort of stuck at the moment.”

“Stuck?” Lex sped up his pace. “Stuck how? He better not be hurt.”

“He’s fine. It’s just, well, he got stuck on the ceiling?”

“Mevin, what the jeck are you talking about?”

“That’s just it. He’s stuck on the ceiling. There’s no other way to describe it.”

They turned the corner and opened the door to the engine room. Several Cakemen stood staring confused up at the tall ceiling. Lex pushed his way into the room and then looked up. It was just as Mevin said. Seven was standing upside-down on the ceiling. His position defied gravity.

“Lex!” the boy called, “Lex, I can’t get down!”

“Seven! What? Are you alright? How did you get up there?”

“Hime, we’ve been trying to get him down, but there isn’t a good way to get up there. He’s too high, and there’s not spot to reach him,” Rowan said.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“What exactly happened?”

“We’re not really sure.”

“I was showing him around in here. He was fine one moment, but I turned around the next minute, and he had disappeared. I look up and he’s floating high up to the roof,” Sven said.

“Lex! I accidentally touched that thing. Sven called it the generator. I got shocked,” Seven shuddered.

“You touched the generator? Are you alright? You’re not burnt are you?” Lex said, slightly panicking.

“I’m alright. I’m not hurt at all. Just can’t get down right now.”

“Are you sure? The generator has a lot of electricity going through it.”

“What does that have to do with why you’re on the ceiling?” Blick frowned.

“It’s my other ability. I can float. Well not exactly that, but something like that. I didn’t want to say anything ’cause Jo… Anyway, normally I can control it, but on occasion it’ll glitch and go haywire. It’ll only happen when my body’s stored up too much electricity.”

The whole room was quiet for a few seconds trying to process the absurdity of what he said, but the fact that he was standing on the ceiling made it hard to dispute his words.

“That’s so cool!” Sven broke the silence. “How do you do that? I wish I could!”

“How long does it usually last?” Josem asked.

“Usually four or five hours. Three at the shortest. I’ve had it go on for as long as ten hours once before I got back in control. Depends on how much excess electricity I have in my body. I can build up a lot before I glitch,” Seven said.

Lex sighed. “Alright Seven, we’ll find a way to get you down, so just hand tight. But we’re talking about this later.”

“Lex, it looks like he completely switched his gravity around. Look, his hair isn’t even hanging. I think Tegan might have a grappling gun that he picked up from somewhere,” said Basalt.

“No way, José! You are not putting a hole in my ship! Find some other way, but don’t you dare make a dent in anything, you hear, or I’ll smash your face so hard that you won’t even see Pluto with how fast you’re shooting out of the solar system,” Juleka said.

“Seven!” Mevin suddenly said, “Can you reach that air duct over there? If you can climb along it over to the wall and down a little, you might be able to grab onto the cooling unit. Rowan could climb the access ladder, and with a little work, he could reach you.

“Ah, that might work. I think I can do it!” Seven made his way over to the air duct. With difficulty, he climbed up it using the slight ridges and bolts along it’s side. Occasionally he slipped and slid back to the bottom, tearing up his hands. Those on the ground flinched every time it happened. After those few failed attempts, he made it to the top.

Seven looked at the cooling unit. It was a bit disorienting looking up at it, considering his world was flipped. It was several feet above him and off to the left. It would be a hard jump to grab a hold of the railing, he missed, it was a thirteen foot drop back to the ceiling. He didn’t fancy that drop.

He looked over at Rowan who was climbing the access ladder. His stomach flipped. Rowan looked like he was climbing head down first. It didn’t feel right watching him. Seven swallowed. He was afraid he would fall. Even if he made it, he would have to climb the cooling unit dangling only by his hands.

He decided to wait until Rowan climbed as far as he was able. Only, Rowan had already reached that point. He really couldn’t stall anymore. He gulped, then made himself back up to get a running start. Seven hesitated.

“Can’t I just wait up here until it wears off?”

“Do you really want to wait up there for five hours?” Blick said.

“How good’s your control when it does?” Lex asked.

Seven thought for a moment, then admitted, “Not very good.”

“So, you’ll fall then?”

“Probably.”

“Then, no. I’m not having you fall thirty feet.”

“You can do it, Seven!” Sven yelled.

Seven gritted his teeth, then jumped.