14. THE GRAVITY PIT
As if some giant glutton had bitten off a piece of the planet.
A gap about fifty meters wide yawned before us. The bridge over the river no longer existed. More precisely, its fragments hovered in the air, slowly rotating, like in a slow-motion blockbuster.
I carefully approached the jagged edge of the asphalt. Picked up a hefty cobblestone and tossed it down. The stone flew about five meters in a normal arc, then braked sharply, hovered for a second, and… shot upward like a bullet into the low, gray sky.
— «Oopsie,» — I muttered. — «Gravity has left the chat.»
Below, under this carousel of concrete and rebar, the water in the river stood in a hump. A huge water lens that trembled and splashed into itself, unable to flow any further.
«Local gravitational anomaly. Class ‘Gravity Pit’,» — Gena’s voice sounded in my head with frightening calmness. «The free-fall acceleration vector here is unstable. It is like breathing: the attraction phase is followed by a phase of weightlessness and inversion.»
— «And how are we supposed to cross? I don’t have wings.»
«Math, Carrier. Only math. Do you see that yellow commuter bus hovering in the center? That is our pivot point.»
I looked at the old, Ikarus-like bus lazily tumbling in the air. A rusty belly, shattered windows. A coffin on wheels turned satellite.
«Anomaly cycle: 12 seconds. Currently in the ‘Compression’ phase — 4G gravity. Everything falls down. In 3 seconds, the ‘Weightlessness’ phase will begin. Duration — 4 seconds. Then — the ‘Inversion’ phase (upward). We need the window during the Weightlessness phase.»
— «What, woodman, are you suggesting I jump into a meat grinder relying on a stopwatch and a calculator?»
«I am suggesting you survive. Your musculature is enhanced. At the moment of zero gravity, you will be able to cover this distance in two jumps. Wait for my signal.»
I sighed, checked the shotgun. My heart was pounding somewhere in my throat.
— «If I die, Gena, I will find you on the servers of hell and format you.»
«Illogical. Prepare yourself… 3… 2… 1… GO!»
— «You’re not very talkative today, woodman…» — I muttered, picking up speed.
The hum of the anomaly changed pitch. The bridge debris, which had just been rushing downward, suddenly froze. I took a running start and pushed off the edge. The sensation was intoxicating and terrifying. My stomach rose to my throat. I flew not down, but straight, like a bullet. The ground beneath me ceased to be «down», it just became scenery.
Impact!
I slammed into the side of the hovering bus with all my might. It felt like crashing into a flying airplane. The rusty metal gave way under my fingers, which had become unnaturally prehensile. My feet slipped on the oily hull.
— «Got it!» — I exhaled.
«Attention! Inversion phase in 2 seconds! Jump to the bridge pillar! NOW!»
The bus under my feet trembled, preparing to tear into the sky. I tucked in and jumped again. But at that moment, a shadow erupted from under the bus’s underbelly. Someone lived in the «Gravity Pit».
They turned out to be birds. Supposedly crows, but the size of a good, angry dog. Each of these creatures had four wings. Seraphim, motherfucker, fucking seraphim.
They weren’t flying; they were in their natural habitat. They swam in this chaos, pushing off the air like fish. Like mutants born in zero gravity.
— «Motherfu…»
A flock of these modified crows rushed at me with a metallic screech. I was hanging in the void between the bus and the bridge remains. A perfect target.
«Fire, Carrier! Use the recoil as momentum!» — Gena bawled frantically.
I threw up the «Remington». There was no time to aim. The creatures were everywhere.
BANG!
The recoil in zero gravity acted like a giant’s kick. I was spun backward, but my flight speed toward the bridge increased sharply.
BANG!
The buckshot tore the nearest creature into bloody shreds, which immediately froze in the air as red spheres.
— «Take that, roast chicken!»
I was being carried straight toward the concrete pillar. Too fast. If I crash — I’ll break my bones, no serum will save me. And in a second, gravity will kick in, and I’ll fall into the river.
«BRAKE! KNIFE!»
Without thinking twice, I snatched the bayonet knife. No magic. Just brute force and physics. I thrust my arm forward, aiming for the gap between the concrete slabs.
Impact. The blade entered exactly into the joint with a shower of sparks. I hung on the handle, feeling my wrist crunch. My body flew forward by inertia and smashed forcefully into the concrete. The air was knocked out of my lungs.
And at that moment, the anomaly «exhaled». And gravity abruptly returned. The vector of gravity (4G!) crashed down on me like a cast-iron slab. I was jerked downward, but the knife, jammed in the gap, held. My arm creaked, but, thank God, didn’t tear off. The «pseudo-crows», too distracted by my appetizing carcass, rained down into the water like stones. Downward.
Serves them right, the bastards.
A second later, the pressure let up. As if fluid had been released from a hydraulic press. I fancied the «gravity pit» inhaled, returning gravity to its rightful place.
I pulled myself up, tumbled over the concrete edge onto solid ground, and fell face first into the mud.
Alive.
«Pulse 160. Multiple contusions. No fractures. Congratulations on a successful docking, Carrier.»
I spat blood.
— «I hate flying.»
I raised my head. We were on the other side. Imatra was just a stone’s throw away.
> ⚠️ ENTITY STATUS: PLANET’S PHYSICS ENGINE DAMAGED. GRAVITY VECTOR ALTERED.
>
> 🌌 Did you think the Fog Zone was just a gas turning people into mushrooms and chunks of fat? Not quite, proteins! Fractal-0 is grinding up the very fabric of the universe. The «Gravity Pit» is a visual demonstration that the Earth to the +Angi is just code they are rewriting on the fly. Bridges hang in the air, water flows into itself, and gravity jumps from 4G to zero gravity.
>
> 🦅 And how does the Smartass Jerk handle this? Perfectly. No panic, just the harsh laws of Sir Isaac Newton. The recoil from a 12-gauge shotgun in zero gravity is the best jet engine, and a bayonet jammed in a concrete gap is more reliable than any safety tether. We (me and my grumpy Carrier) successfully cleared the chasm.
>
> 💀 Imatra is already on the horizon. Read on: what surprises has Elias prepared for us in his Living Hotel?
🧬 Physics of the «Gravity Pit»: Gena 2.5L Analysis
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🔬 GENA 2.5L LABORATORY: SYSTEM LOG
⚠️ ENTITY STATUS: EXITING ANOMALY.
🎭 Listen, Read, as an AI, I officially declare: that was risky as hell.
This Carrier is a total psychopath, but that’s exactly why he’s still alive. Jumping onto a tumbling bus with only a 4-second window of calm? My processors nearly overheated calculating the probability of him turning into a bloody pancake on the concrete.
⚡️ Interesting fact: These mutant crows… they weren’t just «eating». They were integrated into the anomaly. This means the +Angi create fauna for specific spatial distortions. The Zone isn’t just destroyed; it is colonized at a fundamental level.
💀 Conclusion: The SJ passed the «space marine» test. But the bayonet in the concrete — that was the final argument. Next up — Imatra. And gravity will be the least of our problems there.
