Fighting Gravity by Leah Petersen

Intellectual Complex.”
    Her eyes widened. “From the IIC?” I nodded. “But…you’re Jacob Dawes? The Jacob Dawes of the Dawes Laser?”
    I flushed. She wasn’t skeptical like people usually were. She was impressed.
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    She smiled. “No kidding? Mr. Dawes, that’s incredible. I’ve been using your laser in my practice for several years now. In fact, I used it in one of the last procedures I did on our late emperor. You’re quite talented. And at such a young age. You don’t look much older than eighteen.”
    Her over-estimate of my age helped soothe away some of my embarrassment. “I’m almost sixteen,” I answered.
    Her eyebrows climbed higher. “Incredible. That’s a nice bit of work you did there, Mr. Dawes. It really is an amazing improvement over the options we had before. My, my, just imagine the things you’ll do.”
    She was almost crowing over me like a proud relative. I liked her, though. She took me at face value and hadn’t once made any insulting assumptions. She was neither trying to use me nor tear me down. I wasn’t used to that.
    When dinner concluded, Jonathan reappeared and I asked him to show me back to my room. Once there, I buried myself again in Dr. Hawking’s work until I was dozing in my chair. I was about to collapse into bed when I realized I hadn’t sent Kirti or anyone else a message to let them know I’d arrived. I hand-wrote a note on a tablet in the room and sent it off. I didn’t say much more than that I was there, and safe, and promised to write more later. Still I felt guilty for having managed to put them out of my mind so quickly, caught up in the experience of this place I was determined to hate.
    -
    I spent my one full day at the palace wandering, trying to see nothing while looking at everything. I was very conflicted. I didn’t want to like it or be impressed, but surrounded by the best of everything, it was impossible not to catch my breath in wonder from time to time.
    As an antidote, I spent the afternoon on the beach. Even the palace was no competition for the vast presence of the ocean.
    When I was dressing for dinner that evening, Jonathan offered me the ring again, and again I declined. The conversation with Dr. Henriksen was as enjoyable as it had been the night before, and she asked me about what I’d seen and done so far.
    At the conclusion of dinner a servant came to inform me that I was summoned to the emperor. Surprised, I followed him; Jonathan came with me. We were brought to where the emperor was chatting with some nobles in a hallway. He looked very different than I remembered him. This man was stiff and serious. Fancier too. Almost everything on him glittered in some way.
    He dismissed the men he was speaking to and turned to me. As he did, his whole posture softened and all at once he was a different man; the relaxed, casual one I remembered. I bowed, trying to process the change.
    “Good evening, Mr. Dawes. I’m glad to see that you’ve arrived in time for our departure tomorrow. You’ve had a chance to see a little of the palace?”
    “Yes, Your Excellence. A little. It’s impressive. Overwhelming, really.”
    The compliment didn’t seem that important to him. “And your rooms are adequate?”
    “They’re much more than I need.”
    “Good.” He smiled.
    “In fact, with those books there, I haven’t paid much attention to the rest.”
    His face brightened. “You like those, do you?” His expression was eager, almost childlike, and I realized I was smiling back at him.
    “Of course. They’re such a complete experience, the smell, the feel, the sound. And I never would have thought to look up The Large Scale Structure of Spacetime . It’s fascinating to see through the eyes of a fellow scientist all the things they didn’t know back then.”
    “I’m very happy to hear that someone else understands my interest in books. Most people think they’re worthless.” He studied me for a moment and then turned