In a town not too far away lived a superhero that the citizens could always count on to help in any situation. This superhero went by the name Captain Gravity.

She was called this because she could change the effect of gravity on himself and float upwards in a manner similar to flying. Gravity is the force that keeps people on the Earth instead of flying off into space, and forces are a push or pull on an object. That means that gravity pulls on people to keep them on the Earth, like the string of a balloon.

However, Captain Gravity had a problem. she was only able to control the effects of gravity when she was moving vertically. Whenever she tried to move horizontally while controlling gravity, she would immediately fall back to Earth.

*riiing riiiing*

One day, Captain Gravity got a call from one of the citizens. The family cat had gotten stuck in a tree and would not come down! This was a perfect job for Captain Gravity, who did not like fighting bad guys and prefers to help the people around her.

Captain Gravity exited her house and got in her car. She started her car and accelerated towards the tree with the cat. In this case, acceleration means that the speed of the car was changing as she drove.

As Captain Gravity parked her car, she saw the family standing below a tree, and as she looked up, she saw a black cat perched on a branch about halfway up the tree. The youngest of the family, a little boy who was around 5 years old, was calling up into the tree “Shadow, please come down!” Shadow, captain Gravity thought, That’s the cat’s name.

Shadow, please come down!

Captain Gravity approached the family and the tree to get a better look at Shadow and the tree. Suddenly, the job looked more complicated. There was no straight path upwards from the ground to where Shadow was. To rescue him, Captain Gravity would have to dodge branches, which would mean horizontal motion. If she tried to use horizontal motion to move even an inch in any direction except straight up or straight down, she would fall down. But she had to try.

Captain Gravity stepped up to the tree and slowly altered gravity so that she was ascending upwards at a constant velocity. That means that her speed was the same and it took her the same amount of time to move from both feet on the ground to a foot off the ground as it did for her to move from a foot off the ground to two feet off the ground.

    As she moved upwards, she knew that she would have to do something before she hit her head on a branch, but she could not come up with anything in time.

When she hit her head, her concentration was broken, and she fell to the ground. Slightly dazed, Captain Gravity stood up and considered her other options.

She could try to move horizontally, but that would end in the same way. She could try and climb the tree, but all of the branches were too high, and there was no way she could climb up the trunk. Finally, inspiration struck. She would try grabbing each branch and pulling herself up without using her powers whenever a branch was in her way. That would allow her a direct route to Shadow, and she could gently land on each branch on her way down to the ground.

Captain Gravity once more stepped up to the tree. Nervously, she began accelerating upwards, hoping that her plan would work. As the first branch was within reach, she grabbed it and did a pullup to swing her leg over the branch, and was successfully on top of the first branch. There would only be one other branch in her way to reaching Shadow. After a few seconds of rest, she continued upwards, successfully clearing the second branch as well. She floated upwards for a final time to reach Shadow. As she reached the branch where he was perched, she grabbed the branch to prevent her from continuing upwards and with her other hand grabbed the cat. Below, the family cheered in celebration.

Slowly, Captain Gravity lowered herself and Shadow down to the ground and handed Shadow to the boy. He hugged the cat and the family thanked Captain Gravity for once again helping in times of need.

The End