By João Ventura
Donald tightened the screw that fastened the last leg of the table to the wall and stepped back to observe his work. Everything was ready for the gravity shift.
No one knows when these periodic changes began to occur, or why. Some fundamentalists even claim it’s always been this way since the dawn of time. The fact is that, at intervals of twenty-five years, the vector of gravity rotates 90 degrees, which means all the furniture has to be removed from the floor and fixed to the wall that will become the new floor.
It was the first time in his life that Donald was performing the gravity change ritual. At twenty-three years old, he hadn't been born the last time it happened. According to older folks, moments before midnight everyone would lose consciousness, and when they awoke in the first seconds of the next day, gravity would already have shifted.
Donald watched the approach of midnight with a bit of anxiety. With one minute to go, he passed out. And when, moments later, he regained consciousness, he couldn't believe what he saw: the furniture he had worked so hard to attach to the wall was now all fastened to the ceiling!
He realised the mistake he had made: the axis of rotation did run North-South — that part was true — but the gravity vector had rotated not clockwise, but counterclockwise! And what should have been on the floor was now on the ceiling!
Thinking about the enormous effort it would take to move all the furniture to the correct position, Donald regretted not having paid more attention in his Gravitology classes. The professor had always told the students that one day that knowledge would come in handy…
About the Author
João Ventura writes short fiction, which has appeared in several websites (AntipodeanSF and Bewildering Stories among them), and also in printed form: Somnium, in Brazil; Dragão Quântico, Hyperdrivezine, Phantastes (Portuguese fanzines); Universe Pathways (in both the English and the Greek versions).
He had short stories in several Portuguese and Brazilian antologies: A Sombra sobre Lisboa (2006), VaporPunk (2010), Antologia de Ficção Científica Fantasporto (2012), Lisboa no ano 2000 (2013), Lisboa Oculta - Guia Turístico (2018), O resto é paisagem (2018), Almanaque SteamPunk (2019), Winepunk (2019), Regiana Magna (2020), Uma Década de Divergência (2023), Winepunk 2 (2025).
In 2018, a collection of his short stories (in Portuguese) came to light, with the title Tudo Isto Existe. This year, a new one will be borne, entitled O Cidadão sem Sombra.
He is a retired engineering professor, and he finished recently a science communication book which was submitted to a Portuguese publisher.
Those who read Portuguese can have a glance at some of his stuff in Das palavras o espaço (fiction) and Ciência de todos os dias (science communication).
He lives in Lisbon, Portugal.
Geraldine Borella writes fiction for children, young adults and adults. Her work has been published by Deadset Press, IFWG Publishing, Wombat Books/Rhiza Edge, AHWA/Midnight Echo, Antipodean SF, Shacklebound Books, Black Ink Fiction, Paramour Ink Fiction, House of Loki and Raven & Drake
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