Allyn's Crackpot Theory: Why Zak Kebron Wears a Gravity Belt

It’s stated in one of the earlier New Frontier books that Zak Kebron needs to wear a gravity belt to function in the lower-than-Brikar-normal gravity (i.e., Earth gravity) environment of the USS Excalibur. That doesn’t make a lot of sense; humans can function tolerably well in the zero-gee environment of low Earth orbit, and the Apollo astronauts did quite well on the Moon even wearing bulky spacesuits. So, Kebron should actually find the lower gravity aboard the Excalibur rather refreshing, with a greater freedom of movement, easier breathing, etc.

Wearing a gravity belt, then, doesn’t seem to make sense.

But puberty, though. Let’s ponder for a moment.

Suppose that Brikar’s gravity is two and a half times Earth normal. Suppose that for a Brikar puberty means a growth spurt like we see in the human puberty.

Kebron’s genes would be programmed for the growth plates on his bones to expand in a very high gravity. In the much lower gravity of Earth and the Excalibur, where Kebron spent his puberty, those growth plates would grow the bones two times (or more) than they would have done in Brikar’s gravity; with the lower gravitational pull there would be less resistance to bone growth. Kebron, instead of growing to eight-odd feet, might suddenly sprout to twenty feet or more.

Hence, his need to wear the gravity belt. In simulating a higher gravity field around him, the belt would retard his bone growth to prevent him from growing to Titan-like heights. And with puberty past, he may now be able to dispense with the gravity belt.

This has been another Crackpot Allyn Theory. 🙂

Published by Allyn

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

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