Stuck in the Air
I closed the door to my house slowly behind me, absorbing the sight before me. They sat very leisurely, one leg folded over the other, but they were also definitely floating off the ground. Very likely their own fault.
“What did you want to talk about?” I asked once I’d locked the door.
They looked down at the massive, rumbling machine below them billowing smoke. It creaked and groaned as it operated and shook the very ground I stood on. It was pretty loud, so it was likely they didn’t hear my original question. They raised an eyebrow at me and tilted their head to it pointedly.
“What did this do to me?” they asked, sitting forward.
“The Anti-Gravity Machine?” I asked.
“The — Did you say Anti-G — “
“It probably turned off your gravity,” I suggested.
They looked nonplussed, determining whether I was joking or not. Then they looked at the four feet of air below them and understood I was telling the truth.
“Why were you messing with it?” I almost yelled. The machine was whining pretty loudly now.
“I was trying to turn it off! I have a shift to cover tonight and this thing was annoying me to no end! I climbed through the window out there and hit the off switch, but it just set me flying!” they explained.
“Ah, the ‘off’ switch turns your gravity off, not the machine. You probably should have waited to hear my instructions,” I replied, going to my kitchen to get some water.
“Hey! Don’t leave me! How do I get down? Turn it off or something!” they called after me.
They continued yelling as I got out a cup and filled it up. I got another cup too, in case they were thirsty as well. The machine sputtered and I heard something break in the other room. Probably another floorboard. Maybe if I turned the Anti-Grav machine on itself, it would float in place and stop breaking everything I set it on. But how would I turn the —
“HEY!! I’M NOT GONNA STOP YELLING UNTIL YOU HELP ME!!” they screamed.
Oh, right, my guest. I returned to the living room and offered them the cup of water. They snatched it as soon as it was within reach.
“What’s this? Is it some serum to bring me back down?” they asked, excitedly smelling it.
“What? No, it’s water. I thought you might be thirsty having been without gravity for a while,” I said, walking over to the machine.
“I don’t want water! I want gravity back!!” they said, throwing my cup to the floor. I frowned.
“You may want gravity, but you need water.”
“Just — AHHH” they dropped to the floor as I hit the ‘on’ switch. They took a moment to caress my floor before shooting up. The machine billowed more smoke, but calmed down a bit, not having to hold anyone outside of the laws of physics any longer.
“Sorry about all the yelling,” they said, looking at my machine with fascination. “Ah, I see what I should have pressed. This one says ‘deactivate,’” they said, confidently pressing the button. They yelped as their body was once again thrown in the air again. I shook my head and went to the kitchen for more water. Dealing with them made me thirsty.
“Hey! What happened! Where are you going?” they yelled after me.
“The ‘deactivate’ button deactivates your gravity. You should really listen to the instructions for it before messing with this thing!”