Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Unexpected Discovery

Little Chisel was the only one left in the kitchen, and he said to himself, "I can take a little rest while Little Screw is looking for the pot." He settled into a chair comfortably and crossed one leg over the other to rest.But that was all talk, for only Chisel's body rested, while his energetic mind did not stop working for a single minute.His quick-witted eyes kept rolling around.Every object that caught his eye suggested to him some ingenious thought. The little chisel glanced at the shoes with the little screws nailed to the floor and thought: "It's a pity to go out of the kitchen barefoot. You can't take the shoes off the floor every time. But if you nail the galoshes to the floor Come on, then you can wear shoes on your feet. You come to the kitchen. Put your feet in the overshoes and work--it will connect well. It's a very clever idea!"

The little chisel admired the ingenious idea that came into his head, and then said: "However, there is a more sensible use of galoshes. We have sixteen dwarfs in the building, and each has a pair of galoshes; There were thirty-two galoshes. If these galoshes were nailed at every other step in the room and corridor, it would be easy to walk; put one foot in one galoshe. Take a step and put the other Put your foot in the other overshoe and take another step... What a brilliant idea!" Little Chisel wanted to run to tell Know-it-all about his new invention, but immediately forgot about it, because another new idea came to him.

"Now that there's weightlessness, you can't do anything the same," he continued. "Take the most common chair. You have to nail your shoes to the floor to sit on the chair. That's not very smart! There will be a new chair with stirrups in the future. You can ride on it and stretch your feet out." Stirrups, so you can work quietly—you can't fly. What a brilliant idea! Besides, the chair can be swivel..." In this way, various ideas came one after another in the little chisel's mind.His eyes sparkled with excitement, and there was a happy smile on his face.

At this time, Know-it-all appeared in the kitchen again. "What's the matter?" he exclaimed angrily. "Where's breakfast?" "What breakfast?" Little Chisel asked after waking up from his fantasy. "Look at him!" exclaimed Passkick indignantly. "He forgot to make breakfast! Where's the little screw?" "Small screw?...he went to get that...to get that sealed pot." "He has been gone for an hour! Is it so difficult to get a pot?" "I'll go find him right away," said the little chisel, and swam to the door.

However, Master of Everything felt that it was strange for the little screw to delay for so long.When he saw that the chisel was almost at the door, he cried out in terror, "Stop! Don't go outside!" "Why?" asked the little chisel. "Be careful, I tell you!" MasterChamber groaned. "Now you have to be very careful when you move. We are in a state of weightlessness. Once you go outside, you don't know where you will be taken. Just push it a little, and you will fly directly into outer space." Know-it-all swam to the door, grabbed the handle, stuck his head out and shouted, "Screw! Screw!"

The little screw didn't respond. "Could it be that the little screw was blown into space?" Little Chisel asked in panic. At this time, Quan, who was peeping into the corridor, heard the words of the little chisel. "Look! The little screw has been scraped into the outer space!" Quan Zhi murmured in a low voice, and then immediately shouted: "Brothers, that's bad! The little screw has been blown into the outer space! " Everyone rushed to the door in panic. "Come back!" shouted the Know-it-all. "Don't go near the door! It's dangerous!"

"Where's the little screw? What's the matter with the little screw?" asked the dwarfs anxiously. "I don't know anything yet," replied the know-it-all. "I just know that he went to the workshop and never came back." "Somebody needs to go to the workshop, he might still be there," said the little tin tube. "Now that I'm weightless, how can I get there," said Little Nagging. "Well, get a longer rope," said Passepartout. Everyone carried out his order immediately.Know-it-all tied one end of the rope around his waist and the other end to the doorknob, and said sternly, "Attention, no one is allowed to go out of the building. If we lose a small screw, that's enough!"

Wanshitong bent down, kicked hard on the threshold with his feet, and flew towards the workshop not far from the tall building.He pushed harder, so he flew higher than needed.As he flew over the workshop, he grabbed the weather vane indicating the direction of the wind with his hand.The flight stopped.Know-it-all climbed down the rain pipe, opened the door of the workshop and walked in.The little ones watched him nervously.After a while, Know-it-all poked his head out of the workshop. "He's not here!" he cried. "It seems that he never came at all. I'll go to the pavilion and have a look."

Wanshitong jumped to the side of the pavilion and looked inside.There are no small screws there either. "Looks like it's best to climb up to the top of the building and look around. You can always see better from a higher place. Come on, and drag me back upstairs with the rope!" cried Passkate. The dwarfs pulled the rope with their hands and dragged the know-it-all back to the building.Know-it-all climbed up the roof of the building along the rain pipe in the blink of an eye, and was about to look around when a sudden gust of wind blew him aside.Know-it-all was not afraid, for he knew that the dwarfs could pull him back by the rope at any moment.

"It's better," said the know-it-all to himself. "Flying above the ground like a helicopter, I can see my surroundings more carefully. " but.But he didn't see anything clearly, because something happened that no one expected.Haven't flown over the fence yet.Jack-of-all-trades suddenly began to fall sharply, as if a force suddenly pulled him toward the ground.He fell to the ground with a thud, and lay there flat, not even figuring out what had happened.He felt extremely heavy all over his body, stood up with difficulty, and looked around.He was surprised that he was able to stand firmly on the ground again.

"Look at this! I seem to gain weight again!" whispered the know-it-all. He tried to raise one hand, then the other, tried to take one step, and then another... He moved his hands and feet with difficulty, as if filled with lead. "Maybe this sense of a huge load is the result of the sudden transition from weightlessness to weight?" the know-it-all thought. Seeing the dwarfs looking at him in panic through the doors, he called out, "Look, brothers! There is no weightlessness here!" "What's there?" someone asked. "There is a state of gravity. Gravity acts on me as before. You see, I'm standing... I'm walking... I'm jumping!..." Know-it-all took a few steps and tried to jump-jump.He didn't jump, though: Jack-of-all-trades couldn't get his feet off the ground. At this moment, there was a painful groan from outside the wall.Know-it-all listened carefully, feeling as if someone was calling him to help.After a moment's thought, the passer-by ran to the wall, trying to climb up it, but he couldn't.Gravity still affected him with terrifying force.Passenger clearly heard someone calling for help from outside the fence. He removed a wooden board from the fence and looked through the gap.He saw the little screw lying on the ground not far from the wall.The little screw saw him too. "Know everything, my dear, please help, I seem to have broken my leg!" cried Little Screw. "How did you come here?" Asked Passepartout as he ran towards him. "I, you know, I wanted to open the door, and the door opened, but I flew up all of a sudden, you know..." "Why don't you agree? I'm calling you, shouting and shouting!" "I didn't hear anything. Probably lost consciousness." Wanshitong held Little Screw under his arm, carried him on his back, and walked towards the front of the house through the gap in the fence.After a few steps, Passenger felt that the gravity seemed to have weakened; after another step, he suddenly left the ground and flew into the air together with the small screw. "What a strange thing! It's weightless again!" Thinks Master of Everything. He was a little flustered at first, but then he realized that there was a rope tied to him, so he shouted: "Brothers, quickly pull us back!" Seeing that the jack-of-all-trades and the little screw were rising higher and higher, the dwarfs grabbed the rope and pulled it towards the front of the building.Know-it-all held on to the collar of the little screw to keep him from slipping out of his hands.After a while, they had arrived in the building.Everyone wanted to see the little screw as soon as possible, but the doctor, the little pill, said: "Hey, spread out, that is to say, fly away from here! Put the patient on the bed immediately, and I want to examine him." The runts dragged the little screw away along the corridor. "Oh, brothers, take it easy!" Little Screw pleaded. "My leg hurts." They finally dragged him into the room, put him on the bed, and tied him to the bed with ropes. Little Pill began to check him.He tapped his fingers on the patient's arms, legs, chest, and even the head for a long time, listening to the sounds as he tapped.He said at last: "My dear friend, well... well... you'll have to lie down in bed... But don't be afraid, it's nothing special. You've only twisted your foot a little." "How did this foot twist a little?" asked Little Screw. Ah, so, um... that is, you bumped your foot hard and it happened... um... sprained the tendons a little bit, um... the joints a little bruised... um, yes!The pain in the joints will subside after a while, and you'll be able to walk a little...if you have to, of course. " "Why do you need to walk?" Little Screw became alert. "Well, because if we are still weightless, there is no need for us to walk at all. We still have to fly a little bit." "All right," replied the little screw. "May I have a little something? I haven't had anything since morning." "I said, how is your breakfast?" Little Yaowan asked Little Chisel. "Because of the weightlessness. Breakfast is not ready yet," reported Little Chisel. "However, now that Jack of All Trades has found a place where there is no weightlessness, we can go there and build a campfire and make breakfast quickly." "You, dear, so be it," said the doctor, Little Pill. "There's no need to make breakfast. Because it's time for lunch. It's best to make lunch at once. As for the sick man, I'll give him some bread and jam first." Little Yaowan went to get the bread with jam, Little Chisel tied a rope around himself, and came to the end of the yard.When he felt himself gaining weight again, he tied the rope to the wall and called out to the little ones: "Hey, bring firewood, matches, cooking pots, kettles, frying pans, and vegetables!" Holding on to the rope stretched across the middle of the yard, the dwarfs brought all the things needed for cooking to the little chisel.Everyone worked very actively because they were all hungry.The only things that didn't work were the sick screw, and the bun that was still dangling under the ceiling of the dining room.Know-it-all said that Little Bread obviously lost the ability to distinguish directions in the air and could not adapt to weightlessness.Bun actually adapted well to the weightlessness, but he was slippery and decided to hide it.While the other dwarfs were at work, he was flitting slowly about the room, eating clumps of gruel that fluttered from the pot.In a short while, he ate up the whole pot of porridge, and there was nothing left. "Now I'm full, and I don't need anything anymore!" Little Bread said contentedly. "If someone else likes to work, let him do it." While the dwarfs were making their lunch, Passepartout tied a rope and observed gravity in the yard.It turned out that only within a distance of 20 to 30 meters around the building is there a state of weightlessness.According to know-it-alls, this is the zero-gravity zone.Outside the zero-gravity zone, according to the know-it-all, is the gravity zone, or the gravity zone.After walking out of the zero-gravity zone with the help of a rope, you can enter the heavy zone, and you can go anywhere on the street without worrying about it when you get out of the gate. After confirming these scientific facts, Know-it-all said to Xiaoyaowan: "Now we need to find out whether weightlessness is only here in our city, or it is also in other parts of the city. You should go around the whole city right away. Ask the residents Has anyone ever felt the symptoms of weightlessness, has anyone ever felt dizzy, has anyone ever had the feeling of being hung upside down. These materials can help us understand the cause of this mysterious phenomenon. I think, about our weightlessness here , please don't tell anyone for now. As soon as the town knows this, people will run to us, so it's hard to say what will happen. Fortunately, things are generally going well for the little screw, and I Fortunately, I didn't break my leg. We should be extremely cautious about this natural phenomenon that has not been fully studied." While the little pills were going about the town, the little boys made their lunch, and immediately ate it in the open air.This is especially comfortable, because the appetite is always strong outdoors.Of course, they first fed food to the sick screwworm.It was not an easy task, as he had to be fed in zero gravity.The little chisel came up with an idea and made a slurry soup specially for sick patients.But the most wonderful thing is that the small chisel cooks this kind of soup with a kettle that usually cooks tea, and the lid is tightly closed on the top of the kettle, so the soup in the weightless state will not spill out of the pot.The patient only needs to put the spout into his mouth to suck.In this way, the soup feeding went smoothly and there was no waste. The rice cooked by the little chisel for the little screw is neither very thin nor very thick.This kind of rice sticks to the plate very well, so it can be served around at will, or you can use a spoon to scoop it up without worrying about it falling out of the plate and flying all over the sky.The third dish is sour fruit soup, which is also served to the small screw from the kettle. After feeding the little screw, the dwarf fed the little bread in the same way.As I said before, buns don't just lose weight.At the same time, he lost the rest of his conscience, but he didn't lose his appetite. Soon, the small pill tour returned.Reported to Passepartout that no weightlessness was found anywhere else in the city.He said the dwarfs went about their business as usual.No one found any abnormalities, nor did they feel any pain. What Little Pill learned made Know-it-all ponder.It struck him as odd that the zero-gravity zone was confined to their yard. "Perhaps, the reason is here. But what is the reason?" Master of Things racked his brains. Know-it-all ordered the dwarfs to be careful, and he retired to his room in order to have a rest after lunch, and to think quietly.He wanted to lie down on the sofa according to his own habits, but he remembered that the only way to do it in weightlessness was to tie himself to the sofa with a rope, which was troublesome and unnecessary.He straightened his body above the sofa, maintaining a strictly horizontal posture, allowing the entire room to look like it always did to him, and not letting anything distract him from his thoughts.Know-it-all thought about it. "Strange, this zero-gravity zone seems to be a circle with our building as the center point," Passepartout said to himself. "In this way, we seem to be at the center of weightlessness. Perhaps, just where I am, or somewhere next to us, is this center? Could it be that the cause of weightlessness lies in this center?" point?" Know-it-all felt for a moment that he was close to solving the problem, but his thoughts suddenly jumped to the side. "How does weightlessness begin? From what? Let's think about it," said Know-it-all, as if conversing with an invisible interlocutor. "It started in the morning. At first, everything was as usual...I tidied up the room, then I put the moonstone in the cupboard, then...then...what happened after that? It was at this time that the weightlessness occurred! " The know-it-all's mind froze wildly. "Maybe the secret of weightlessness is related to the moonstone?" Such a question arose spontaneously in his mind. "That's right, such a conjecture can be established," Master Tong replied inwardly. "What is a moonstone? No one knows. It's just a substance with some strange properties... Maybe it also has the property of eliminating weight among its properties... But moonstones have been with me for a long time Ah. Why didn’t this feature show up before?… Maybe this feature didn’t show up because it wasn’t placed in the current place. Maybe, the moonstone’s ability to remove weight depends on its position!” Know-it-all was a little out of breath with excitement.He felt that he had grasped a very important idea, so he concentrated all his energy on not letting this idea slip out of his mind. "If that's the case..." he said, trying to drive away other lingering thoughts, "if the zero-gravity state depends on the position of the moonstone, then we take the moonstone out of the cupboard and the zero-gravity state should disappear." Know-it-all was so excited that he felt that he was on the threshold of a great discovery. "Well then," he muttered, "let's do an experiment!" He pushed the wall lightly, swimming with his hands and feet, and approached the cabinet where the ore specimens were stored. "Okay, let's do an experiment, let's do an experiment..." He repeated, as if afraid of forgetting what he wanted to do. But because of his agitation, his movements were not very precise, so he made a "travel around the world" in the room before he got where he was supposed to go.Finally, he leaned over to the cupboard, grabbed the cupboard door with both hands, and hung his legs in a horizontal posture in front of the cupboard, swinging in the air. "Okay, let's do an experiment!" he said firmly. At this moment, another thought flashed through his mind, "What if this experiment goes nowhere? What if the weightlessness doesn't disappear?" The thought poured cold water on the know-it-all.There was a chill down his spine, and his heart was beating violently in his chest. He subconsciously opened the cabinet door and took out the moonstone from the bottom compartment. What followed made it abundantly clear that Jack of All Trades' scientific estimates were correct.As soon as the moonstone was in his hands, Wanshitong felt a hard push on his back.He fell to the floor, fell heavily, and his knees hurt so badly, as if something had pushed them off.At this moment, there was a rumbling sound.Objects that had been floating around in weightlessness were scattered on the floor.The building also shook like an earthquake.Know-it-all narrowed his eyes in horror.He felt as if the ceiling was about to collapse on him, and when he opened his eyes he saw that the room was exactly as it had been before, except that his books were scattered here and there. Wan Shitong stood up, feeling the usual weight returning to his body, he looked at the moonstone in his hand. "Here is the reason!" he exclaimed happily. "However, why does the weightlessness only occur when the moonstone is in the cabinet? Perhaps the weightlessness occurs because the energy emitted by the moonstone interacts with something contained in the mineral specimen. But how can we understand this? What substance is it?" Know-it-all frowned again in thought.At first, there were completely shapeless thoughts running through his head.Each thought is like a cloud or a big blurred blotch on the wall, no matter how you look at it, you can't see what it looks like.Suddenly, a clear and certain idea brightened in his mind: "The mineral specimens in the cupboard should be taken out one by one. Once the substances that the moonstone interacts with are taken out, the weightlessness will disappear, and we can I know what it is." Know-it-all put the moonstone back into the cupboard, and felt that the state of weightlessness appeared again. Then, he began to take out the mineral specimens in the cupboard one by one, while paying attention to whether there was gravity.He first took out the specimen placed in the lower grid.There are crystals, feldspar, mica, limonite, chalcopyrite, sulfur.Followed by pyrenite, chalcocite, sphalerite, galena and others.Know-it-all took out all the mineral specimens in the lower box, and then started to take the upper box again.All the ore specimens were finally taken out, but the weightlessness did not disappear.The know-it-all was absolutely disappointed and deflated.He was about to close the cabinet door, but at this moment, he saw a small stone that he hadn't noticed before in the corner of the lower compartment.This is a small magnet.Know-it-all, having given up hope of success in the experiment, reached for the magnet from the cupboard.At that moment, he felt gravity pulling him toward the ground again, and he dropped to the floor again. "Then the state of weightlessness is due to the interaction of magnetic energy with the energy of the moonstone," said Passepartout. He got up from the floor and took out a sliding slide rule from a drawer.He fastened the moonstone to one end of the slide rule and the magnet to the other, and carefully pushed the ends.When the moonstone was at the same distance from the magnet as it was in the cupboard, weightlessness reappeared. "We have seen..." the know-it-all said, as if lecturing to an invisible audience, "we have seen that when the moonstone and the lodestone are separated by a certain distance, a state of weightlessness occurs. This distance can be called the critical distance. The two minerals As soon as the distance between them is greater than the critical distance, the state of weightlessness disappears immediately, and gravity acts on us again." As if to prove his point, Jack-of-all-trades pulled the ends of the slide rule apart when he felt a pull of gravity pulling him downward.His knees bent, and he sat down on the floor.Jack-of-all-trades, however, is not shy about it.Instead, he smiled triumphantly and said, "This is the weightlessness instrument! The weightlessness is now in our hands, and we will control it!"