Fighting Gravity Read Online Free PDF Page A

your fly, though,” he said over his shoulder with a laugh as he rushed ahead to join the other boys. I zipped up and hurried after them.
    -
    The dining hall was as impressive as the great hall, in its way. There were long, dark tables set in parallel lines across the width of the room, enough to accommodate the more than 350 members of the IIC, from the youngest student (me, actually) to the oldest fellow, a centenarian from twenty Selections ago.
    As with everything, there was a system of seating based on rank and seniority, the two roughly equivalent at the IIC. The seating wasn’t so much assigned as enforced with the weight of tradition. There was a head table with seating for twenty set up on a small rise on the far side of the room. Spreading out from there were the oldest of us down to the youngest.
    For the forty of us who were still full-time students, there were four tables, two for the previous group Selected and two for us. We were directed there and instructed to stand in place as the director entered.
    He said the blessing, the same as on the transport. There was food in quantities and varieties that still surprised me. And succeeded in distracting me, at least for the rest of the evening, from the cold fear that had settled in my stomach the moment I realized Director Kagawa meant to be rid of me, and the humiliation of the medical exam.
    Back in my room, I took Carrie’s drawing out of my pocket and smoothed it onto the adhesive surface above my desk, careful not to tear or wrinkle it. I sat down to record a message. When I entered Ma’s citID I got an error:
    Access denied.
    I stared at it in disbelief. I tried again.
    Access denied.
    I entered Carrie’s.
    Access denied.
    I dashed out of my room and over to Chuck’s. He came to the door in pajamas, his head cocked to the side.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I got access denied! For Carrie too.”
    He made out the meaning of that breathless jumble and gave me a sad little smile, patting my arm.
    “You didn’t know?”
    “Know what?”
    “We don’t have families anymore,” he said, with a calm matter-of-factness.
    “ What ?”
    “We’ve got an important job here, gotta have focus and dedication. No distractions. Once we’re adults we can contact them if we want.”
    “But I didn’t even get to say goodbye!”
    His mouth twisted in good-natured sympathy.
    “Yeah. That’s rough.”
    I stumbled back to my room without another word, too stunned for anything else.

fg 4
    I was awakened in the morning by the bell, and rolled out of my bed and into the shower. Having my own bathroom was a heady luxury, and later as I made my way to the dining hall with the other children I found myself feeling light and carefree in a way I didn’t expect. I found Kirti and, though I didn’t ask her about it, I could see that she’d had a better night.
    In the school building, we were grouped by age: the eight, nine, and ten-year-olds in one class, the older children in the other. I would have a lot of catching up to do. Not only because I was the youngest, but because my education so far had been marginal at best.
    Dr. Hammond made it clear I was to catch up and keep up in the expected time frame. To do otherwise would result in serious repercussions. I bit my tongue and said nothing.
    In truth, I didn’t need to be told to apply myself; it was my enthusiasm that got me into trouble. For the first time in my life, I had teachers who knew more than I did, teachers who could answer any question I could ask. And ask I did. For my trouble, the teachers labeled me disruptive, undisciplined, and hopelessly behind. Some managed to take insult, as if I were questioning their ability to teach.
    Some of those things were true, of course. I was undisciplined. My questions were disruptive in their frequency and their tendency to wander off on tangents. I wasn’t as far behind the other children as they believed. Oh, I was very behind, but more than once my questions were