Planet Heldon D - 9 Feet Tall
by Brooks

The others here have shown me their plan to get off this planet. A tunnel boring through the entire world. Once complete, the insane gravitational force will slingshot something (or someone) through the tunnel, generating enough velocity to escape.

Days I slave with them to elongate the tunnel. I outwork them easily; gravity hasn't had time to crush me yet. Towering over them at nine feet tall, I still have hope. Nights are spent staring into the bottomless darkness, wondering how much work can be squeezed out of me before I'm like them? How far left to go?

Written 8 months ago
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3 Notes

mattliadan 8 months ago

I like the concept - the insanity of their plan helps paint a picture of the narrator (and his friends') desperation.

Derrick 7 months ago

So, I know this is a writing forum, but I can't resist correcting the physics.

Any object dropped into your hole will exchange it's gravitational potential energy for kinetic energy as it approaches the center of the planet (it will accelerate). However, once the object passes the center, it will begin to slow down as the energies exchange in the opposite directions (it isn't falling anymore, it is now ascending). If we ignore air resistance, the object will come to a stop at the other end of the planet when it emerges from the hole. If there is nothing to catch it, it will drop back into the hole and come back to the other side. With air resistance though, the object wouldn't make it out of the hole in the first place and would bounce back and forth through the planet's center, losing altitude with each oscillation.

Brooks responded 7 months ago

True. But you could be here all day correcting the science in this series. It's not actually about a deformed giant trapped on a gravitational freak of a planet - it's a metaphor for my last five years earning my P(lanet) H(eldon) D.

Derrick 7 months ago

I see, congratulations!

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