[ WP ] The artificial gravity on a generational colony ship is on the fritz , prone to randomly switching directions . It 's been like this for at least 200 years , and society has adapted .

I woke up with my desk on the wall again. I unzipped the cocoon-like hammock that was standard on the *Heart of Gold III* and stepped carefully down to the front wall of my room. Of course, this was all relative to the direction that the ship had decided to orient itself in, but the front wall, to me, was the one with the door. 
 
 I dropped out of the hatch to the hallway two meters below. The walls had all be padded since the gravitational systems had stopped working in 2305. New materials had been developed in the zero-g lab at the center of the ship, and now any impact on board the ship from under ten meters away felt like just a short drop onto that surface. 
 
 I walked inward around the wall of the ship. For the moment, gravity seemed to be pointing inwards, but that was likely to change at any moment. A gentle pulse from my wrist reminded me that I had to be to my work detail in 15 minutes. I headed to the communal hygiene room in my block. 
 
 As I climbed the ladders mounted on the ceiling of the hallway, a few beeps sounded. Gravity was about to be changed. The programmers had given up on trying to fix the system, but they had built a warning system for the gravitational swaps. I braced myself, and then found myself laying on the ceiling. Gravity was now up. 
 
 After I finished showering and getting dressed, I headed to the labor room. My assignment for the day was interior repair of the ship. That job was always tricky, as the fine work we did on the ship's electrical system could be wrecked by the gravity swaps if we were n't careful. I pushed the floating cart down the hallway to the access panel I needed for the day. Unfortunately, it was opposite the wall I was standing on, so on the ground relative to the ship. 
 
 Fortunately, the triple beeps sounded, and I fell backwards down the hallway. The cart stayed where it was, supported by a magnetic drive. I rolled down the curved inner wall of the station for a few meters, then grabbed a handle. The new swirling pattern of gravity seemed to be aligned with the hallways now, traveling parallel to them such that you could perpetually fall through the circular paths. I also realized it was much weaker than usual. I smiled. This was going to be fun. 
 
 I carefully pushed off the wall and started falling around the corridor. The radius of this hallway was around 50 meters, so I knew it would take me some time to make it back around to my cart. I relaxed a little, and decided to enjoy the ride around. 
 
 I got up to around a jogging pace by the time I made it back around to the cart. I snagged the cart's handle, and pushed the stay button so that it would n't travel with me around the halls. I grabbed my tools and got to work on the wiring in the panel. 
 
 After finishing, I turned off the staying function of the cart, and fell slowly around to my next assignment. I saw several children also falling around the hallways, laughing at the fun new direction the ship had chosen. As I fell past a window, I looked out to the stars and wondered about the new planet I might never see. 
 
 I bet the gravity there wo n't be nearly as fun.
