The first lesson

Altin was daydreaming. He watched his watch. The class had gone on for 55 minutes, he counted. Since he had left the 5th Force association meeting place, the "Hub," as the other members called it, he had been looking forward to his first training with Juliette. They had agreed on a date, and naturally, he had chosen to meet her as soon he could.

That was today, Monday.

In 5 minutes, Altin would pack his things, leave the classroom, and head to Marie Bellard's luxurious apartment, referred to as "Hub" because it was where their members would meet from all over France.

"I can't wait to go to the Hub." He thought.

France was a very centralized country: only one city connected to every other big city: Paris. So if you had to go from southwest to southeast, you would still have to go through Paris, significantly north!

Rinnnnngg!

The bell rang while Altin was still thinking of the geography. This signaled the end of the class.

Altin packed his things noticeably faster than anyone else and was among the first to leave the classroom. It was 5 pm; he had to meet Juliette at the Hub in 30 minutes!

Altin considered taking the subway, but he gave up.

It was rush hour, and he would undoubtedly become a little French sandwich if he decided to push his luck.

Instead, he chose to ride a bike using the one-time rental system. There were bikes available for a ride anywhere these days.

Half an hour later, he arrived at the Hub.

"Welcome back, Altin." The senior Ph.D. in Physics, Marie Bellard, dressed in dignified clothes, welcomed Altin.

"Hello Ms. Bellard, how are you.?" Altin politely asked.

"Very well, thank you. Juliette is in the living room; go ahead and talk to her". Marie replied.

Altin executed.

He walked into the bright and stunning living room.

On the front-most sofa sat a young lady 165cm tall. It was Juliette, who was as beautiful and looked as confident as the last time Altin saw her.

"Hi... Juliette". Altin nervously approached Juliette.

His plan was simple: letting her do all the talk. He would listen and react accordingly.

"Hi Altin, you're on time. Have you been looking forward to this?" Juliette grinned. She could see the boy was nervous. She interpreted that for eagerness.

"Yes!" Altin replied.

"Just right. Come sit here." Juliette nodded towards a small chair in front of her.

A small round table about 60cm tall and 40cm wide stood between them.

Altin came and sat on the chair. He was intrigued by the objects laid on the table. They were all very tiny.

Juliette could guess what he was thinking without any effort. Like him, she had been extremely curious about the fifth force. On her 8th birthday, when her father decided to teach her, she had played with the orb for 15 hours straight before collapsing into sleep. Later on, her father, Pascal, had decided to limit training to 3 hours a day.

She explained the objects: "There, on the table, you have a bottle cap, an iron wire, and a glass. Your goal is, before 2027, next year, to accomplish one of the three objectives:

One, have the bottle cap levitate on your palm.

Two, to have the iron wire heat up.

Three, to fill the glass with darkness.

Th..."

Juliette paused. Altin had nearly spoken. Realizing he was about to assault her with questions not even waiting for her to finish, she said:

"I will explain everything. So relax and listen."

Altin shut his mouth.

She continued:

"The fifth force is hard to feel, but it is even harder to manifest outside of a unique object, like the orb, or inside a particular field, like an anomaly. It is so hard that people who have never felt it strongly before are unlikely to touch the feeling ever in their life. That's why it has remained a secret, except for us who can come in contact with the orb."

"However, it's, in fact, EVEN harder to control it. To understand, ask yourself: you can feel the wind, but can you fly? No, because you don't have developed the muscles for that. Can you swim? Maybe. Your body can learn it by training inside water. Using the fifth force is something between flying and swimming: nobody can use it at first, but very slowly, it's possible to teach your body how. We'll come back to that later."

Altin understood that he could influence the force since he had felt it and had "focused" it on his hand. With training, could he do more? He swore inwardly to train hard.

Juliette saw Altin much in thought. Congratulating herself for being such an inspiring teacher, she continued her lecture:

"I reckon you probably don't feel it in normal circumstances, so your goal should be to first attune your brain to it so that you can feel it everywhere. It took me three years in contact with the orb to come to that point."

"However, since you are so gifted, you will probably take less." There was a hint of challenge in her eyes.

"If you succeed, you should then attempt to master one of the three goals. Each goal represents using the fifth force in a particular direction. For example, by levitating the bottle cap, you cancel gravity. Next, by heating the iron wire, you trigger an electric current in the wire. Finally, by filling the glass with darkness, you block the propagation of light. Questions?" Juliette asked.

"Questions? Questions? Of course, I have! I've had questions since Friday!" Altin thought loudly to himself...

... but he didn't say that.

Instead, he said shyly: "Yes. But, um, if I may ask, what does heating a wire have anything to do with controlling the 5th force?" Altin was the most interested in that goal since he had manifested the most affinity for electricity and darkness the other day. Among the two, he naturally chose electricity; he would rather do light than darkness!

Juliette dutifully replied: "Do you know what electricity is?" She stared at Altin.

The question puzzled him, but he had heard of something called "electrons."

"Electrons?" He said.

Juliette explained. "Yes, it's made of electrons. Electricity can be understood as the flow of electrons. Imagine that people are electrons. What happens when people rush through the subway and pass by a narrow corridor ?"

Altin thought for a moment, but he could only come with the best ordinary answer: "They push each other? Like how people push each other when they try to go through the same narrow corridor ?" He pictured the scene akin to the one Français and Julien described when the school fire alarm rang.

"Yes," Juliette said. "They push each other, which creates heat. Electricity is the same; when it goes through a narrow iron wire, the wire heats up. When the wire is scorching, it generates light."

Altin noted: "So if you make electricity flow through a wire, it heats the wire. Okay. But how to have the 5th force do that?"

The question satisfied Juliette; the kid was following her. "Do you know why electrons move?"

Her question was rhetorical. She immediately replied:

"Because one area has fewer electrons than another, which creates which we call electric voltage. Like people, electrons like to go from busy areas to less busy areas to have more space for themselves. So when people -- electrons -- move, they create an electric current."

"Your goal is to feel and use the fifth force to nullify the electrons at one side of the wire so that the electrons on the other side immediately rush to the depleted side. In this way, you would have created electricity.

Take a moment to consider this."

Silence.

Altin had listened to Juliette very closely, and everything had been very logical and appeared simple. However, when put together, he was mystified.

He closed his eyes. He knew he had to understand the mechanics, or else feeling, and using the 5th force would be much much more difficult.

He summed up in his head;

"The fifth force can neglect or nullify other forces.

If you cancel out electromagnetism in a small area, it creates electricity because electrons rush from another area to fill the gap.

When electrons rush through the iron wire, they heat it.

By heating the wire, I prove that I control electricity by the 5th force."

"I think I understand." Altin declared.

Juliette didn't believe him one bit, but she didn't insist.

"We'll see in one year, she said."

Altin saw the look of disbelief of Juliette; he felt challenged. "I'll definitively succeed soon!" He promised to himself.

Juliette felt amused by the situation. The kid was cute in some ways.

"Alright," She said, "have you wondered how the fifth force affects the other forces and how we can control it?" Finally, she had chosen to explain the crucial point.

"Umm, yes, but nothing seems to make sense." Altin had no idea. He had felt it, but he didn't know why or how.

Juliette explained:" Forces all obey the law of reciprocal interaction, alias the third Newton law, the law of reciprocal forces: if something applies a force to something, then it receives the opposite amount of power. For instance, if you push somebody around your weight without solid footing, you will also find yourself pushed back. If you push a wall, instead, the wall will push you. One last example: the sun pulls Earth by gravity, but Earth also pulls the sun; it is only that the sun is so much heavier than Earth that Earth's pull toward the sun is negligible. It's okay if you don't understand."

She paused, then continued: "However, keep in mind this: the fifth force has the power to pull and push all other forces in a way that cancels them. However, it doesn't go one way. Because of that, we, with our body, but mostly with our brain, can in turn influence the fifth force.

We can use the power of our body, linked by the strong force, and the bioelectricity in our neurons in our brain to influence the fifth force, even having it flow according to an useful pattern and affect our environment."

"At least that's the theory we have." A soft voice interrupted Juliette. Marie had chosen to intervene in the discussion.

Juliette stepped away to let Altin rest for a moment. He looked overwhelmed.

A pensive look was all over Altin's face.

A minute later, Altin was still lost in thought. Finally, he said: "Sorry, but can we go over it one more time?"

Juliette was forced to re-explain the basics of the nature and usage of the 5th force using different words and analogies. She had the patience of a hungry cat waiting for food, so she naturally became more and more annoyed as she repeated herself. However, she knew it was expected of a kid to not immediately understand the intricacies of many years of observation, even if she kept to the basics.

Soon, it was 7 pm, time for dinner.

Altin stayed at Marie's home for dinner. To the surprise of Marie and Juliette, he did not seem too tired. Instead, as if two hours of teachings had not been enough, he was asking questions about what he had just learned. It seemed as if the boy's curiosity was as deep as the ocean. Juliette, however, was weary, so she kindly requested Marie to take over the teaching for the rest of the day.

To Marie, Altin was a cute little kid full of vigor and curiosity for life, the same interest she had felt when she was younger and the same that drove her to pursue a Ph.D. in her youth.

At 8 pm, Altin, Juliette, and Marie finished dinner; the lecture ended. Altin thanked Juliette and Marie sincerely for their patience and left riding a bike back to his dormitory.

He was immediately assaulted by questions by Julien, Français, and Paul as soon as he came back. The three were very eager to know what had transpired in the Hub. Unfortunately, their own lesson would have to wait the weekend since they didn't have tutors assigned to them personally as Altin had. They felt a hint of jealousy towards Altin's preferential treatment, but several years of living together had forged their friendship. It was sturdier than iron, and so they felt happy for Altin. To them, all four were family.

The first day of the lesson ended.

It was the beginning of an extraordinary training.