Chapter 1

The man lay below the motorway in contented slumber. Above him, the ‘planes’ flew noiselessly past, carrying in each and every one of them, their share of spacesuit clad passengers hurrying to work. Perhaps it is a serious mistake to put these silent fliers in the same category as “planes”. Their creator had specifically designed them not to create any sound in flight, and therefore had effectively reduced or even eliminated traffic sound pollution.

                Their creator was not only the maker of these ear-friendly transport systems, but was also the founder of the whole landscape the new world had become. Doctor Sky had many discoveries, including alternative sources of energy, and even developed a way to lift and levitate entire buildings off the ground, keeping them that way. Thus, he had solved two of the world’s most pressing problems- energy deficiency and lack of space. These levitating buildings housed most of the world’s population. The world is growing upwards into the sky.

                What is that, you say? Trees? A thousand apologies, personally, I have not seen anything like that since a century ago. There was a legend though, that these fragile, delicate things once used to cover the entire Earth. According to Doctor Sky’s ebook they were weak enough to topple over with the slightest push of a bulldozer, and therefore the past generation had them uprooted already, every one and all. They seemed to have a function though, but the Doctor had substituted their function with the Air Purifier 3000. There are two of these gigantic machines, one at the North Pole, and another at the South.

                A majority of the world’s population lived in these hovering buildings, between the sky and the Earth. Till the farthest corner of the atmosphere where one could breathe without difficulty, there would be a few private homes scattered here and there. The only people who lived on land were the criminals. Among the floating community, there was little or even no crime. Everybody knew that the punishment for even the slightest misdeed was exile for the wrongdoer and their entire family. Nobody dared to even think of looking at another’s belongings, for fear of being ostracized from the community and sent to live on the ground with the criminals. This was the rule of Doctor Sky.

                Chance was awakened by a loud roar from a silent flier that zipped past. The sound wave almost blasted his eardrums to pieces. He sat bolt upright in an instant, overstraining a hurt muscle in his back. With a curse and a raised fist, he yelled at the flier whose engine silencer had blown off, blaming it for his re-torn back muscle and the fright it gave him.

Chance was his name. It was no doubt, a little queer, but he liked both its meaning and the way it sounded when it was pronounced.  Chance was no hardcore criminal, but he did not end up on the ground by chance. In fact, he was a son of a wealthy space lord, who owned several levitating buildings up above his head. He himself had lived in that Upper Class society for the first year or more of his life before his father gained the disfavor of Doctor Sky and was exiled from the Upper Class. His father was convicted of opposing the regime of Sky the Great by claiming publicly that people should fight the “Invasion of Technology” or become slaves to it. Making subtle references to the imposing Doctor Sky was all it took to get him arrested. In the end, the family descended upon the Earth with their belongings using parachutes and resigned themselves to live at the underbelly of the floating community for the rest of their lives. “We are never going to go back to live in those prisons,” his father pointed to the floating square blocks above them, “even if there was the unlikely event that they offer you, beg you, or plead with you to go live there, you must refuse. We stand on solid ground.”

Lying back upon an antiquated folding chair whose wood had managed to stand the test of time, Chance stared up at the society which had shunned him. He saw the people living in absolute luxury and getting to where they wanted easily as anything. As for him, his mode of transport was his own two legs and an antique mountain bike he found on land. It was all so unfair. Looking at the blocks in mid air, Chance was suddenly seized with emotion. Jumping up in anger, he shouted “We are meant to be land creatures, not swimming in air. One day, I shall render all of you grounded and destroy your floating ships!”

                The levitating buildings still hovered, unmoved. Nobody heard the Lower Classed person’s shout. The echoes of his voice sounded a little before they were drowned out by the outburst of another silent flier with a malfunctioning silencer.

Reviews

[ArchAngeL009]

Good one, very creative and intriguing, keep it up, I'm looking forward to your next chapter.

[Manmannikuman]

I'm at loss of words... It's nice! now I'm itching for the next chapter
CONTINUEE!!!

[Undying Glory]

good continuation, and very interesting chapter. you're right, "chance" is a little queer for a name, but that doesn't bring the story down one bit. good job