Fix the Gravity- Part 1

Michael found his studio apartment in the same state he had left it two days ago. His coffee mug and unwashed cereal bowl were still in the kitchen sink. The bed was unmade, and the hamper was full of dirty clothes. He sighed before walking over to his couch and fell on it like Newton's apple fell from the tree.

The piercing female voice pulled Michael out from his dreamless slumber. His hands fumbled around for the tablet but without success. He, then, mustered all his strength and forced his eyes open.

Michael found the tablet lying on his coffee table. He pressed the green button, and a holographic form of Master Ishu materialized in his living room.

"Turn on the television." Master Ishu did not waste time in small talks, and Michael did exactly that.

[Physicists around the world are astonished by this unprecedented event, offering different theories on what could have caused nine of the world's longest bridges to crack. We have here with us Dr. Ne******. So, doctor, please explain to us what happened and what could have caused this extraordinary phenomenon.

Thank you, Laura. Extraordinary indeed….]

"Wow," was all Michael could manage.

"Fortunately, we are one step ahead. We have already identified the cause behind these phenomena."

Michael snapped his head back at Ishu. Master Ishu's holographic form came and sat beside him on the couch. "We have located a great surge of energy in a distant galaxy, Cirius, and we suspect it is a supermassive black hole whose gravitational pull is growing in leaps and bounds with every passing millisecond."

"If you are suggesting I go to that galaxy and fix the black hole to keep everything from being pulled apart…" Michael scoffed. "You will have more success sending a monkey there."

"I am sure we will if we were sending rockets. No, what we do is much simpler; we control and manipulate systems, find a possible solution to every impossible problem."

"What could be a possible solution to this?" Michael switched off the tv and turned fully towards Ishu. He could barely hide the sour look on his face. He had received one bad news after another in the last twenty-four hours and was ready to accept that the world was coming to an end after all.

"You are the solution, or should I say you will find a solution, now that you know the problem. You do not have to land on the sun, do you, if you can control the solar system?" Ishu's image began to turn blurry.

"Wait one second," Michael threw his hand out to prevent Ishu from blurring away, "where is my phone?"

Ishu's fading image smiled enigmatically. "You would not need one. Use the tablet." And then, he entirely disappeared.

Michael sighed with exasperation and then picked up the tablet. To his surprise, there was an unread notification, the first of its kind, despite there being no apps installed in the tablet other than the informational document he had browsed through earlier. He clicked on the icon.

[Welcome to the Physics System

To read the coded message, enter the number of laws of motion in physics:____]

Michael entered three and a video popped up on the screen.

It was daytime, and a man, dressed in colonial clothes complete with a jabot, sat under an apple tree. His face was scrunched as he intently stared at a paper he held in his hand. Michael found the volume key of the tablet and turned it to maximum, yet he could barely hear what the man, who looked like Sir Isaac Newton, was faintly murmuring under his breath. Michael's gaze fell on his gadget that was beeping, and it took him mere seconds to realize what the device was indicating. He quickly pressed the green button, and lo and behold, a portal appeared right in the middle of his living room. Unlike his dark ill-lit room, the other side looked bright and sunny with a clear sky. He started to towards the portal but remembered the tablet and glanced at it. A new messaged was on display.

[Physics System

System Issue: Energy Asymmetry from Supermassive Black Hole

System Engineer – in charge: Mikael De Besches/Michael Best, Level II Systems Engineer

Target World: Earth, Year 1666

Overall Goal: Restore Universal Gravitational Field

Objective 1: Re-establish system connection to law of universal gravitation

Skills attributed: Speech, Teleportation, Strength, Luck

Speech: *****

Teleportation: *****

Strength: *****

Luck: *****

Wealth: ******

Equipment: LSI Table U89MDB; USV Portation Band]

Michael grabbed the tablet from the table before fully crossing over to the other side of the open portal. He glanced one more time at the different metrics displayed on his tablet. But, with a time sensitive mission like that, all he focused now was the objective of this trip to the past.

Michael found Sir Newton still sitting under the tree. He approached the man in light steps. Upclose, he looked exactly like the illustrations in physics books, a plump round face with rosy cheeks framed by curly long platinum blonde hair. But, before he addressed the physicist, Michael kneeled and plucked a grass blade from the ground to ensure that he was indeed teleported to a real-world and not to one of Ishu's hocus pocus virtual world.

Michael sniffed the grass blade and then cleared his throat. The celebrated physicist turned his head and found Michael.

"Yes, may I help you?"

"Hi, I am…" Michael gulped to wet his throat. "I am Michael. I am wondering….I am wondering…"

"Yes, young man," Sir Newton said encouragingly as he continued to sit under the tree.

"Well, you see…" Suddenly, something hit Michael's head, and he looked around to find a red apple lying on the grass.

"Ah, what is that?" Sir Newton, at last, rose from where he was sitting and moved towards Michael.

"Oh, an apple, I believe." Michael looked up at the tree to check if he was in the path of any other projectile.

"No, no." Sir Newton pointed at his tablet this time. "That queer little object you are holding in your hand."

"Oh, that is nothing, Sir, just a… just a…" Michael's eyes fell on the tea cup and saucer laying beside a small pile of papers, right where Sir Newton was sitting earlier. "A new type of saucer they are manufacturing in Italy."

"Ah, Italy you say. Those men across the sea are always inventing, creating, showing the path and look at us." Sir Newton threw his hand out in frustration. "I sat here for hours, and I have not made one ounce of progress in the equation."

Michael nodded, deciding the best way not to give away his cover would be to speak the bare minimum.

"So, you said gentlemen's club sent you? I was expecting you earlier this morning."

"Yes, Sir. I am …um I beg your pardon for my delay."

"Ah, no apologies. There is much work to be done, young man. Follow me."

Sir Newton collected the paper that were laying to the ground and his journal, while Michael carried the tea cup with the saucer. The two walked towards a sprawling two-storied manor that looked new but empty, with slanting tiled roof and brick walls. Only a man servant greeting them as the two entered through the door.