A Breath Too Clean

II

"And you haven't told anyone about this project?" Officer Miles questioned the scientists with a droning voice.

As Asterix shook her head, the professor spoke. "Just my wife; and she promised to keep it confidential."

After contacting the authorities, Officer Miles and her partner, Officer Kim, headed over to the laboratory to investigate the break-in. They began with asking the scientists a few questions while standing in front of the doorway. The morning breeze blew across their faces and the songs of birds filled the air as they spoke.

"Would you permit us to take a look around?" Officer Kim asked. He wore a pair of large oblong glasses that made him appear like a strange character from a fantasy movie.

"Of course", Professor Drayton replied, allowing the officers into the laboratory.

While the police officers were observing the lab, Asterix stood by the lab's Environmental Sensors. She squinted in confusion as she noticed something odd about the Environmental Sensors. Its readings were strange. Under normal circumstances, the Residual Energy was supposed to be constant but at that moment, it was fluctuating rapidly.

"That can only mean that energy is being created", Asterix whispered, her eyes widening in astonishment. "But that disobeys the first law of thermodynamics! How is this possible?" She spoke louder than she intended, causing three heads to turn in her direction.

"Did you say something, Miss May?" Professor Drayton asked, his left eyebrow going skyward.

Asterix took a deep breath. "The Environmental Sensors might be broken", she said. "It is either that, or energy is being created."

The professor's eyes darted to the wall-infused device. Truly enough, its readings were erratic. He opened his mouth to speak but the next thing that happened shocked all of them. In the next second, Asterix was floating in the air.

"What are you...?"

"Ahh, why did all the gravity disappear?" Asterix's breathing became rapid and short. She tried to stretch her legs to reach the floor but it did not work. "Wait, why is this happening only to me?"

Then the professor noticed something else. As Asterix floated away from the Environmental Sensors, the readings fluctuated slightly less, going closer to the constant. At that moment, a thought occurred to him.

"Asterix, I believe you are the one creating an excessive amount of energy. It is this energy that gives you enough force to oppose gravity", Professor Drayton reasoned as he stroked his almost-gray beard. "But the question is how are you creating energy? It's not scientifically possible."

Asterix put her hand on the ceiling, struggling to stop the unusual thing that was happening to her. Her breathing was gradually returning to normal as the older scientist spoke. She felt like a large helium-filled bubble was placed in her chest allowing her to float. But the problem was figuring out how to get rid of the 'helium bubble'.

Wow, I'm literally high, she laughed at her dry humour.

"Do you think it has anything to do with the burglary?" Asterix's voice sounded a little higher than usual.

"Maybe..." Officer Kim uttered slowly.

"I've found something!" Officer Miles exclaimed, kneeling on one knee. "One of the burglars must have broken a fingernail", she wore a glove then removed a plastic bag from her pocket. She slowly picked up the fingernail with her gloved hand then placed the fingernail into the plastic bag. "This would be useful. It's a good thing we have the DNA of everyone in the city. We'll let you know when the results are ready", she stood up to her feet.

The officers briskly walked out of the laboratory but stopped in their tracks before they could even take five steps away from the door. A gasp escaped from one of the police officer's lips causing the scientists to look in their direction.

They looked out of the door. Just like Asterix, there were people floating around in the air. It was like the Earth suddenly became devoid of gravity. Some of them were screaming for help but some of them did not seem to care. Asterix could see a young boy that was wearing a pair of headphones and playing a game on his phone. The whole occurrence caused Asterix to stroke her eyebrow in thought as she observed.

"Professor, I have reason to believe that this is related to the burglary. In fact, I know how to catch the burglar"; Asterix's voice was much higher than it had been before. She sounded like a child.

An amused expression fell on Professor Drayton's face. "And why do you think so, Miss May?"

Asterix smiled. "About seven hours ago, I finished working on the Air Purifier; hence, I was the first person in its vicinity after it was completed. The burglars must have come into the lab a short while later then stolen the Air Purifier", Asterix's voice was so high she could have been a talking bird but the professor listened attentively.

She continued. "My educated guess is that this 'floating' must be an after-effect of inhaling the purified air. It probably took some hours to circulate in my system. For that reason, I'll assume the same for the burglars. And for the floating people, it must be a result of diffusion. The burglars did not switch off the machine—also a mistake on my part—so the air around them was continually purified. That affected the people around them without even knowing it.

"Finally, to reach the burglar, we need to follow the left street and follow the trail of floating people."

"That's genius, Miss May!" Professor Drayton exclaimed.

Asterix grinned. "Thank you, Professor. Although, I honestly believe anyone who works as your assistant must also be a great scientist or close enough at least."

Professor Drayton chuckled.

"That's a nice theory", a mumble reached their ears.

Asterix and Professor Drayton turned their heads towards the door. The police officers had not left. Officer Miles seemed deep in thought but Officer Kim was eating a doughnut. The scene of floating people behind then did not seem so outrageous anymore.

"So finding the burglar shouldn't be difficult", Officer Kim said, holding the half-eaten doughnut like a trophy. "Officer Miles and I can do that very easily."

Officer Miles disagreed. "No, Officer Kim, you should go back to the station to give them the fingernail while I follow the trail."

"If you don't mind, I'll also want to go too", Asterix squealed like a squirrel.