Sarah Breedlove dropped her mug of tea. It splintered, the teabag set free. She’d done it. The simulation worked perfectly.

Using her knowledge of lifting tackle, pulleys specifically, she invented rapid space travel. Her force diagrams were simple. Her pulleys and lines were weightless, and no energy loss. No friction. And her lines didn’t stretch. Equilibrium summed to zero. The tension in her line, equal.

All of this was basic. It was the parts that weren’t. She tried many forms; single end drive pulleys, double end drive pulleys, non drive turbo diaphragms. All of it. Then she realized she had to invent parts, not new math.

Her pulleys were spheres, lifting lines ran through their middles, like an axis. Over and under, back and forth, like clock workings in space. The sun was her engine. Her line made of braided liquid mercury mixed with a nuclear bonding agent.

The simulation proved that a piece of space could be lifted, like a curtain. All one had to do was crawl through and stand on another stage.