Sliding over the Everglades propelled by a the giant fan, the boat suddenly gains speed and, roaring horrendously, propels us through a sea of sawgrass whipping my face.

From the rushes, the scientists surmised, gravity only seems weak because the gravitons that produce it are concentrated in another part of hyperspace, on a different (mem)brane from our own. The region of hyperspace surrounding this 'mother brane' would be warped so severely that an alligator's expressionless eyes are watching us, before slipping back into its dream.

The young captain ("The real captain's not here, but I'll try to run this thing," his standard joke.) lectures us on how the Seminole People, still technically at war with the US, hid on islands; and how sugar barons have drained the Everglades of its vital fluids.

I file this information , even while according to Einstein's equations, the more massive a body, the deeper will be the 'depression' it creates in space, and hence the greater will be the force of gravity experienced in its vicinity. Physicists refer to this distorting of space as it's 'curvature.' In general relativity, then, gravity is just a by-product of gawking at the 'gators with the other tourists, and laughing at the captain's shallow jokes.

Nature won't end but it will

look different.