Aaron Cyrus February 13th,20XX
Today was testing day.
The overall goals of today were to test both my effect on gravity and how well I could control it. Ever since their suggestion a few days ago, I’d been playing about with my abilities and had shocked myself when I’d found out how flexible this ability was.
It was almost terrifying, but knowing that I had a group of people that were well aware of these abilities and still willing to help me out was more reassuring than I’d thought they would be.
I even had regular meetings with a therapist to handle it all.
“Okay! Begin!”
Nagi’s voice rang out of the state-of-the-art speakers and pushed me to begin.
They had placed an empty soda can onto a giant scale and asked me to apply as much pressure on it as I could from my spot ten feet away. It fed information into their computers in real-time so they could see any progress I made represented in exact numbers.
I was willing to participate in the test since it was for my benefit, but I barely knew where to start. It wasn’t like I consciously thought about applying or reducing gravity when I rose and sank in the air and into the ground, it just kind of happened.
My first attempt was quite lame, but it was pretty difficult to feel embarrassed in front of people that saw you as a charming lab rat.
They held no malice towards me and had nothing but innocent curiosity, but like what had happened last time with Ivette, they just got a little carried away sometimes.
I held out my arms toward the can and tried to imagine crushing it by making a fist, but it stayed as circular and round as ever. When that didn’t work, I switched to an open hand and tried to imagine flattening it from the top instead of squashing it from the sides. That was a bit more effective, or well, a bit too effective.
The thin aluminum can crumpled under the invisible weight into a flat circle, and the scale that the scientists had wheeled out of the back did the same.
It wasn’t a durable machine, being made mostly of plastic and wires, but it had a metal core that made an obnoxious sound as the wires ripped out of their place and turned into a mangled mess. The soda that had been in the can flowed freely around the exposed electricity and sparked a reaction.
A small flame roared out of the remains of the scale, and the scientists looked at me with reproachful eyes that were hard to meet.
Scorda ran out with a fire hydrant and sprayed the carcass of the scale down with a mournful look. It wasn’t like this was the first thing I’d broken, but they seemed to feel the loss of this one the most.
They quickly replaced the scale with a sturdier version and switched out the can for a metal cylinder.
“Okay, current weight at 20 pounds! Sir Cyrus, could you attempt to increase its weight to 60 pounds?”
I extended my hand once again and tried to imagine pressing down on the metal block with my palm like I had with the can. Since the aim wasn’t to squash it but was to make it heavier, I tried to lighten the weight as much as I could, but it looked like I hadn’t tried enough.
The metal container cracked near its base and split into two unequal pieces. It was unsuccessful, but at least I hadn’t broken the scale this time.
“Weighing in at 200 pounds!”
Maybe it was because I had effortlessly passed all the other tests, but failing this one made me unhappy. I retracted my hand into myself and tried to take apart the process of making things heavier.
For the can, I’d simply imagined an invisible wall squashing it flat, and that had worked. But this new test was a bit more complex.
It wasn’t just about destroying it, but about making it heavier. I could probably use the same method I’d used for the can, but it needed refinement.
“Hey! Can you guys get me something that’s 40 pounds? Preferably something flat and wide like a plank. I think I have an idea”
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They looked a bit thrown off by my request but didn’t reject it. Marsha eventually entered the field holding a thick wooden tray with two hands and handed it over to me with a grunt. I grabbed it with both hands, determined not to use my powers to make it lighter than it was, and tried to get a handle on its actual weight.
It was heavy, but not so much that I couldn’t handle it with ease. I transferred its weight to my left hand and extended my right toward the new metal block. I hovered the ‘invisible wall’ over the block again, but this time I methodically shaved it down until it was about the same size and weight as the tray I held.
I waited a few seconds to double-check the weight and then gently placed it onto the metal block.
“Current weight! 70 pounds”
Tch.
It wasn’t the goal, but it was a lot better than before.
I privately made it a personal goal to get better at guessing weights. It seemed integral to using these abilities of mine.
“Can we try one more time?”
Nagi, who had come out to the field, looked surprised and stared at me to double check if he had heard me correctly. It was an excessive reaction, but we had been doing this for the past 5 hours. The other scientists looked surprised as well, but pleasantly so, and ignored the heavy bags underneath their eyes.
It wasn’t surprising that they weren’t sleeping much. I couldn’t imagine it would be easy to sleep after one discovers an individual that broke almost every law of gravity they had ever learned.
“Of course, we can! But aren’t you tired?”
I shook my head and waited for him to return to the safety of ‘the box’ before trying again.
“I have enough energy to go one more time.”
While replacing the hard metal floors with dirt and grass, Joyce had also knocked out a stone wall adjunct to the new field and had instated a bullet-proof glass wall. She had moved the scientists and their technology in there after seeing how much damage I could cause. We’d all taken to calling that room ‘the box’ since from the field it looked like they were all inside a small box.
Controlling gravity wasn’t particularly difficult, but it took a lot of concentration and energy depending on how much weight I was dealing with. Going against gravity took a bit more energy than increasing it so I could go longer than I could when they tested how much I could carry while ‘flying’.
I was sweating badly and probably smelled awful, but that didn’t matter to me right now. My heart was pumping even though I wasn’t in any danger, and although using these abilities made me tired, they thrilled me in the truest sense of the word.
This time instead of manipulating the ‘invisible wall’ I took another route. I went over to the scale and touched the metal block. I lifted it and tried to get a good grasp of it and its overall weight.
I couldn’t control wind or air or anything of the sort. I could just make things heavier and lighter. Rather than focusing on influencing it from the outside, it might be better to focus on making the material itself heavier.
“Starting weight, 20 pounds!”
I gently stretched out my hand from my position, ten feet away from the scale, and focused on making the block itself heavier. The board in my left hand was forty pounds and strained my arm as I’d been carrying it for so long. I remembered the weight of the block before and gently imagined it becoming heavier and heavier.
“Current weight! 40 pounds!”
“Wait!”
I tossed the board to the side and focused as much as I could. I just needed twenty more pounds. Gently I pictured it getting heavier and heavier and strained my eyes to see the numbers change on the scale.
45……51…..69….62…..37…..59…..62…..58……61
No matter how much I tried, it bounced around the number sixty but never quite stuck.
“Final weight! 61 pounds!”
They all clapped as encouragement, but I couldn’t feel happy about it. I gave them a thankful smile as they packed up and tried to hide my disappointment as I left the field.
I flexed my hand into a fist and then back open as I walked and fought off the feelings of frustration that I felt.
A month ago I couldn’t have imagined ever getting used to having these abilities, and yet here I was, frustrated that I couldn’t control them as best I could.
“Aaron!”
Joyce’s voice broke through the muted buzz of activity the building had recently taken on, and she ran over to me with a phone in hand. Specifically, my phone.
“Didn’t I tell you to update your Squire?! What are you going to do if your crazy fans crash my site again?”
I could only offer a weak defence in the face of her excitement.
“They’re not crazy.”
She rolled her eyes and stopped a few feet away from me. The camera’s light flashed and temporarily blinded me.
“Aah.”
“Don’t be a baby, I know you’ve withstood brighter lights. Now take a pose, you’re still in work out gear so this should be enough to abate their hunger.”
I didn’t like how she talked about the few people that liked me as if they were sharks or hyenas, but I was too tired to argue with her. She took a few pictures, then pulled out a branded water bottle from her bag and asked me to drink it.
“What? Something has to pay for all the scales you broke.”
Well, I couldn’t say much in defence, so I could only crack open the lid and take a big gulp of the less than great tasting liquid.
“Ugh. What is this?”
“Money. Just think of it like that and drink it like it’s gold. After that go get dressed and get ready to go out.”
I finally noticed how nice she looked and tried to remember if there was anywhere I had to be today. It was still within the month I’d taken off, so I didn’t think I had any official schedules, but there might have been somewhere Joyce wanted me to come to.
“Anywhere we’re going?”
She looked at me like I was crazy and shook her head in disappointment. Her curls bounced around violently and her annoyed expression only deepened as they hit her face.
“Of course! It’s already been a month since our last date! Cherry even asked me if we’d broken up already! That brat. Now shoo! Meet me back here in twenty, I’m taking you out!”