36: Chloe – Trust & Understanding

After James left, I stayed in the boardroom on my own, in the dark, running everything he’d told me in circles until my head hurt. How dare he put that kind of pressure on me. On us. If the world, or the ArkRing around it, knew what he expected from us, trust in his leadership would plummet.

So why did he tell me? He knew I’d have to publish it. It put me in the worst position a journalist could face. Integrity raging against indignation. How dare he put that kind of pressure on me. On…

Shake it off, Chloe.

I left the boardroom and marched out, kicked off the floor and walls and supports and shot straight towards his broom closet. I sailed past the kids and crew still transfixed at the sight of a frozen Earth and pounded on his door until the bounce from each blow sent me flying backwards.

“James Kinsley, you sumbitch, you answer this door right now before I break it in and ram it up your ass!”

Maybe swearing behind a class of kids wasn’t the brightest idea. Nina and Charlene flew over to clamp a hand across my mouth and hiss “Quiet!” in my face.

“Control your language.” Nina said. “There are children present.”

“James isn’t in.” Charlene said. “He started crying again and took the TurboLift.”

“Now either calm yourself or leave. We’re here to educate these children in science, not…colorful language.”

She let go of my lips.

“Sorry.” Was all I could say.

Charlene stuck with me and we trailed behind Nina. The kids in her class had pressed their noses to the glass, enthralled by the various particles colliding with the ice shell around the planet. Each hit sent sparkles of frost plumes into space and across the shell in an iridescent coating. The earth was slowly becoming a giant mirror ball.

“You’d think the world would just explode when gravity was cancelled.” Charlene said.

“It is.” Nina said. “It’s almost twelve percent larger and centrifugal forces are pulling it apart. The continents must be tiny islands floating on its surface by now.”

“But why they are floating on its surface instead of away into space?”

“They are, miss.” A familiar voice said. Kim Yao waved to me before answering Charlene. “But for an object the size of the Earth, it’ll take time. The other universal forces are still at work, after all.”

“Magnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces?” I said. “See, I listen.”

“That’s right,” Nina said. “And they all have their roles to play. After all, gravity is the weakest of all those forces.”

“Wait,” Charlene said. “Gravity’s the weakest?”

Kim raised her hand. “It takes the entire planet to pull down one crumb of iron but a tiny, cheap fridge magnet can pluck it off the earth’s surface. The only advantage gravity has is range. Magnets are stronger, but they only work up close.”

“Hey, little lady Yao?” I said. “You know, I got this real gut feeling you’re going to be running this place in the next ten years.”

Kim beamed and jumped to tell her daddy, who’d taken his crew to one side so the children would have a better view through the hull. While he and Nina tried to convince her to get back to her class, Charlene pulled me back to her desk.

“What’d you say to the boss?” She said. “I haven’t seen a man cry like that since my dad watched the smelting scene in the third Toy Story.”

“James wants us to take on the responsibility for what he did. All of us. Actually had a pretty convincing argument, too, if you think about it. Which is why I’m not.”

She sat me down in her spare chair and leaned in close. “I learned a long time ago to go with whatever he says. Trust me on this.”

I leaned even closer, almost touching her forehead with my own. “You could form your own thoughts.”

Charlene dismissed the notion with a wave. “Something he told me a long time ago. The best piece of advice I ever heard. Everyone thinks they understand what life is about, but if they really do, then why aren’t they rich or successful?”

“That’s not advice, that’s a philosophical question. And not everyone wants to improve their station. Some of us were happy where we were.”

“But nobody wants to live in poverty. Even if it’s as small a territory as a household, people want to feel secure, like they’re in charge. That’s the advice. Those who actually understand the world are the ones who rule it.”

“And those who don’t?”

“You get left behind.”