Chapter 1

    "Hey, boys! What are we doing out here?" His voice was warm and friendly, like he was always there and never apart from them. The camera bobbed up and down as he walked over to the two little boys playing in the dirt. One of the boys, looked up past his cowboy hat and grinned at the man with the camera.
    "Hey, dad. Me and Will are playing pirates, do you wanna play with us? We're digging for treasure." Will, the other boy, smiled too as he continued to dig in the dirt. Even though Will didn't live with them, he was welcome in their home any time. His mother was never at their own house, leaving the small child alone at hours on end.
    "Sure, but where are your swords?" The father asked, his voice behind the camera. He was teasing them, baiting their curiosity.
    "Swords?" Both of the boys looked up, suddenly remembering pirates had swords.
    "Come on, guys. Don't tell me two pirates forgot their own swords? How can you protect your treasure then?" He teased them. The son's face lit up and broke into a grin.
    "I've got an idea," He crawled to a standing position quickly and ran to a nearby tree in the backyard of their home. He brought back two sticks, one in each hand, and threw one stick at the feet of Will.
    "En garde!" He howled. Will stood and picked up the stick. He was unsure what to do with it. The father felt sorry for the little boy, he was uncertain if the child had even seen a pirate movie.
    The man behind the camera moved over to Will and adjusted the broken stick in his hand, "You fight with it, Will." He then added on a lighter note, "You fight to defend your honor and your treasure!" His voice was smiling as he tried to persuade the boy.
    "Alright." Will said with determination. He gripped the bark on the stick and pointed it at the other boy.
    "Prepare for your doom!" He gave a short laugh, which almost sounded maniac.
    The son suddenly had an idea, "Okay! You play the evil war lord who's trying to protect the treasure and I play the good pirate!"
    "Take that!" Will lunged forward, swinging his sword wildly, "And that!" The father laughed and recorded every moment on his camera.
    The son was defending himself pretty well. The roles switched and the son became on the offensive, he grinned as he knocked the stick from Will's hand and pounced on him. He held the end of the stick at Will's neck.
    "Victory is sweet, so show me the booty!" They both laughed until their sides were sore.
    "Are you guys gonna be pirates when you grow up?" The father asked, as the boys sat up from lying on the grass.
    "Yeah, and we're gonna be best friends." Will said. The son nodded and looped one of his arms over Will's shoulder. They both looked up at the camera and laughed.
    "Yeah, best friends forever..." The son grinned.

14 Years Later

    "We found the tests, Daniel..." The commander folded his hands together on top of his office desk. "You've cheated and you knew from the very first moment you walked through these Academy doors what the consequences would be."
    "Now what can I do with you?" He asked sarcastically. Daniel stood rigid, his gaze unwavering at the wall behind the commander.
    The superior officer sighed and lifted his hands up in question, "What surprises me, is that you denied an court appeal. But I thank you, because most of the discharged students who have walked out these doors in the past have wasted my time and money. I don't like to lose money, Daniel. So thank you." He turned his view to the stack of papers on the other end of the desk. He flipped through them with this thumb and grabbed the stack. The commander smirked as he let the stack of papers drop on the desk right in front of him.
    "These are the tests that we found underneath your bed in your dormitory." He flipped through the folders, "This is an impressive amount of material you planned to memorize."
    "Just imagine, these tests could've been given to you properly and you wouldn't be standing in front of me right now. In fact, I would've been standing in front of you, pinning the graduating emblem on your lapel." He let the insult sink in. Daniel blinked back his rage and continued to stand unmoving. The commander was baiting him, and he wouldn't rise to it.
    Daniel's mother sat quietly in the back of the office, sniffing into her handkerchief. He wished that she wasn't here, that she wouldn't see him humiliated.
    "By the approval of the Board, you've been expelled, and resulting expulsion, you will hand over your security card and your flight emblem." He continued, "You've embarrassed me and my piloting school, which is not only the best in the world, but you've dishonored your family legacy. Your father, God rest his soul, was a fine pilot and brave man."
    At this, Daniel's mother broke into tears at the mention of Daniel's father. She did not usually do this at the sound of his name, but it broke her heart to see Daniel fall so hard from grace.
    "You had potential." The commander sneered as he held out his hand, palm up. Daniel unclipped his security card and his flight school emblem. He set them both down on the desk. His former superior officer pulled back his empty hand and shook with irritation. Daniel realized he had accidentally pricked his finger on the emblem. He looked down as the commander talked. Daniel bled, the blood pooled at the padding of his finger. He was flawed and no longer the immortal winged pilot he was the day before.
    "Your classmates will graduate without you in a month's time, you will not attend the ceremony or step foot on the Academy grounds, and you are hereby banished from the property. Since you are now a civilian of United States, you are not allowed on military property, if you try to attend the Assignment ceremony with your classmates in one month, you will be arrested on the spot and jailed. Because of your academic crimes against the Academy and the Board, you will not speak to any of the current classmates outside of school property. And well, if you try to speak to them on school property, you will be arrested anyway." The commander recited this as if he'd said it a thousand times.
    "You have the remainder of the morning to gather your things from your dormitory; your house officer will supervise you and escort you from the property." The commander stated bluntly. He was signing a few papers as he waved at Daniel with dismissal. Daniel stood at attention and saluted quickly. His mother stood from her chair and walked toward the office door. Daniel followed her out and into the marble hallway. She did not wait for him; instead she ignored his eyes and walked towards the exit of the building. He stood rooted at the spot, listening to her heels clacking on the floor and the shuffling of students nearby. He took his officer's hat from underneath his arm and stared at it, rolling it in his hands. He didn't know in what direction his life was going to go now. But as he stepped out into the outside light and to the waiting taxi, he knew he would never be the same.


    He wasn't born by the ocean; he grew up on the city in the clouds. The famous steel realm that hovered above the earth. It resided in the atmosphere, over sixty-three thousand feet up. Daniel gazed up at the marvelous eighth wonder, but was interrupted by a gentle lick on his hand. He looked down and stroked the Labrador who had decided to accompany him on the sand. The seagulls nearby squawked and hopped across the beach, mindlessly looking for food. When Daniel looked out at the undisturbed sea, he thought of his father. They had lost him when Daniel was only ten years old. Lost, in a way, is an appropriate term to use. Because Daniel's father never came home, a body was never recovered and no witnesses to explain the last time they saw him. He just simply, disappeared.
    His father was a legendary pilot, but also a brilliant engineer. He was a selfless man, and Daniel could never understand why anyone would hurt him. Though a part of him always wondered if his father never died, but simply abandoned Daniel and his mother.
    He shook his head, he tried not to think of this kind of nonsense. When he was alone nowadays, since his expulsion, he was plagued by nightmares at night and horrible scenes that played out in his mind during the day. At night, he dreamed of a cold, dark metal ship. Daniel stood alone at the head of the vessel, the colossal, empty bridge. There was no one else, except the feeling of hopelessness and loneliness. But why did he dream of a ship? He was a pilot after all, or once a pilot anyhow. He was used to commanding the skies with a small craft, but he had never stepped in the role of a captain, the only person who would lead such a large ship.
    Daniel did not like pondering by the ocean any longer, he walked along the shore, the seagulls scattering and flying away. The sunset casted a long shadow of Daniel across the beach. He stepped in the sand, hoping the water would wash away his problems like it did his footprints.
    It had been a month since his departure of the Flight Academy. In consequence, he wouldn't be allowed to see his friends from the school since they were his former classmates. A special type of cruelty only the coldest hearts could think of. Their reason was that Daniel had memorized all of the answers for the final exams, and the final exams were the most crucial tests an academy student would ever take. The tests could set you for life if you passed, or doom you with failure if you didn't.
    What the board of education at the Academy didn't know, was that he didn't steal the exams. He didn't even know the copies were underneath his bed. They were placed there, and he knew exactly who did it. Daniel's father wouldn't have approved of revenge, but he couldn't help but think of getting back at the person who ruined his life. The person who ruined his career and his reputation. The thought of revenge buried itself deep under Daniel's skin.
    "What are you doing out here, all alone?" His mother appeared behind him, scattering his thoughts. "It's getting dark, you know." She was worried, clearly. Daniel didn't realize that he had stopped walking along the beach far away from his home. The sun had set and the sky was turning a dark blue. He realized when he glanced up that the city in the sky was no longer visible. He had been gone longer than he thought.
    "I'm sorry," He was still turned toward the ocean, the waves lapped at his feet.
    "I was only coming to find you to make sure you hadn't gone swimming, the tide is coming in." She stood there, behind him with a warm blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Or maybe, she was worried he had run off into the night like his father. No, he told himself, stop thinking like that. When had he started thinking dark thoughts? When he was expelled? When he preferred to be alone?
    "No, you don't have to worry," He stared out at the waves, wondering how long he could stay under them. "I was just heading back."
    When they arrived back at Daniel and his mother's home by the shore, they ate dinner together at the dining room table like they always did, in silence.
    The food was tasteless, not because his mother's skill at cooking, but because he felt that sick feeling of silence over the food they were eating. The Home Robot walked forward and served Daniel another spoonful of food without a word and retreated back into the kitchen. He didn't eat anymore.
    "The new updates on the Home Robots are kind of neat, don't you think? Adair Industries is really getting it right this time." Daniel's mother made small talk as the robot, that was built to look like a man, came back into the dining room and refilled her cup. It's eyes moved to follow it's own hands to make it more realistic, but in reality, the machine was using sensors to detect where the cup was and how much to pour in.
    "Though, I don't personally think we should rely on them too much. We've gotten pretty lazy." She continued when he didn't join in on the conversation. Daniel realized she was talking about everyone as a whole, not just their screwed up family of two. "They are a tremendous help around the house when we're not here or asleep."
    "Yes, because I'm comfortable with a robot walking around my home while I'm sleeping, probably watching me while it's at it." Daniel piped in.
    "That's not true, Dan!" She glanced at the Home Robot quickly, waiting for it to defend itself. But the robot just leaned back from the table, calculating its reply.
    "Would you prefer me to shut down at night, Mrs. Walsh?" The robot asked, his tone expressionless, when a human being would have been hurt.
    "Very diplomatic, for a can-opener." Daniel snarled, he stood from his seat and gathered his plate.
    "Are you angry with me, Master Walsh? Because, when I do hear you talk in your sleep, you are not really angry at my kind. You are angry because you've failed." The robot said with the factory-set monotone voice. Daniel's mother took in a sharp breath and glanced at her son. Daniel reached over and ripped out the vital wiring on the robot's back shoulder.
    It's eyes flickered and the mechanical arms twitched by its side, finally breaking down. It's shoulders slumped and the robot's head lolled forward. Daniel threw down his plate on the dining room table and grabbed the heavy machine by its arms much to his mother's protests.
    "Oh, Dan! He was expensive! We can send him back to the manufacturer to get him fixed!"
    "The damn thing was watching us sleep!" Daniel dragged the robot through the tall grass by the shore. His mother trailed behind, asking him to stop. The robot's feet were starting to twitch as the system was trying to repair itself. Daniel pulled one last time and slung the machine into the water when he reached the shoreline. The robot flopped and rolled when it was hit by an on-coming wave. Daniel's mother slung her arms down in exasperation.
    "You better find it tomorrow morning when it washes up!" She ordered and turned back toward the house, but she had something else to say. "Why can't you be happy with doing something else with your life?" She asked, frustrated.
    "I know you had your heart set on being a pilot like your father, but don't you think it feels horrible for me to see you act like this? I can't help you, if you can't help yourself!" She pointed at Daniel's chest. "He would've been proud of you even if you weren't a pilot."
    "YOU'RE WRONG!" Daniel shouted. He tried finding the words that he wanted to say, but it stopped in this throat. He stormed past her and back toward the house, fuming. The robot was right, he thought to himself. The toaster was more aware of Daniel's feelings than he was. He trudged up the stairs of the house and slammed his bedroom door like a child.
    It was his last night on earth and he was spending it lying on his back on his bed, looking at the ceiling. He couldn't talk to his best friend, Will, and he certainly couldn't go downstairs where his concerned mother was after yelling at her on the beach.
    He noticed the familiar stickers on the ceiling, he hadn't slept in his own room since Christmas break at the Academy. During the week here, he just preferred to sleep on the couch or the living room floor. If he slept at all. He stood on his bed and peeled off the plastic stickers that were shaped like stars. They glowed in the dark when the overhead light was off. He held the stickers in his hands and closed his fist around them. He knew why he stuck them on the ceiling when he was ten years old. Because he used to think he father had left them to go live in the stars. But he knew now how silly that was for a child to think that.
    Tomorrow, they were moving back to Sky City, the steel trap that rested in the atmosphere above their heads. His belongings were already packed in metal boxes, scattered across the floor. Daniel's mother had this fantasy that he would be able to find what he wanted to do at the University in Sky City. He didn't know what to expect from the place, since the brochures were always so enthusiastic and punctual. Maybe it wasn't the end of the world if he wasn't a pilot?


    The Los Angeles shuttle port was almost in complete disrepair. Homeless people slept on the benches and in the corners of the station. A few police officers exchanged words over cups of coffee, not even paying attention to the shuttle traffic. Daniel stood in the ticket line with his mother, waiting for their turn to buy tickets for the next shuttle ride to Sky City. Most of the time, a person can obtain a ride within a few minutes of buying a ticket because there are so many shuttles docking and departing.
    Daniel carried the two bags that belong to them and waited patiently. A few shuttles landed in the docks nearby and hundreds of people flooded the station, gathering their things and getting out of the station as fast as possible.
    It was their turn now to buy tickets; Daniel's mother smiled politely and slid their money forward through the bullet-proof glass opening. "Two tickets, please." She said, as the greasy-looking ticket attendant stared at her. His mouth curled up at her with a sly smile, pushing the stamped tickets back through the opening.
    "Thank you," She said curtly, she rolled her eyes at his creepiness and walked away from the ticket booth. Daniel followed her, but he was suddenly distracted.
    A young woman stood in the ticket line, carrying a bag and looking impatient. When she leaned to look past the people in line in front of her, Daniel could see the emblem on her jacket. It was a gold compass. She was a Navigator, he thought, she must be very important. Only a couple were chosen to be Navigators from graduating classes. They had to have passed rigorous tests and scored perfect on their entrance exams into the Academy. Most Navigators thought very highly of themselves because they were the best of the best, the pilots were mostly jocks, who were "mindless flying crop-dusters", according to them. But it was EAF (Elite Air Force) policy to assign two Navigators to every large passenger vessel. Then again, one could not work without the other, so Navigators and Pilots were forced to agree to disagree in the end.
    Even though she could be a snobbish Navigator, she was strikingly beautiful, and as Daniel walked past her, he knew he would never see her again.
    Their assigned shuttle arrived right on time, exactly when the ticket said it would. Another thing about the shuttles, the pilots have to make it from Sky City to the port in Los Angeles or vice versa in sixty minutes or the every single passenger on board has the right to sue the shuttle company. The people of both respective cities have gotten time management down to an art. The company over the shuttles that travel between Los Angeles and Sky City has only been sued twice. A remarkable record for how many shuttles are in flight and how many times they dock and depart from both cities. One case, unfortunately, involved a flock of Canadian geese and the second case was still in court. The pilot had accidentally passed the sixty minute deadline and the entire cabin full of passengers went into an uproar, no one seemed to recall what happened after that.
    Daniel and his mother boarded their shuttle and found their seats that had their back facing the wall of the small spacecraft. Daniel hoisted their bags on the rack above their heads and sat down his seat, looping his arms through the two seat belts and locking them in the device over his chest. Across the aisle, a mother was doing the same to her little boy who was too busy to complain about the tightness of the harness. He was devouring a small bag of candy, getting the sticky sugar all over his tiny hands. The boy noticed Daniel looking at him; he smiled at him causing the older boy to feel awkward. He held out bag of candy to Daniel, offering him a piece as he kicked his legs back and forth. Daniel shook his head and said no thank you. But the little boy insisted. Before Daniel could refuse again, his mother jabbed him in the side while she read her book. Daniel reached across the aisle and took piece of the candy from the little boy. He grinned and continued kicking his legs that couldn't touch the floor.
    Daniel gnawed on his piece of candy as the shuttle took off and all the passengers were boarded. The timer above the seats was quickly set to sixty and the shuttle launched into the air. The feeling of weightlessness felt like home to Daniel. He relished in the fact that there was nothing under his feet except a thin metal floor and hundreds of feet of air. And nothing made him feel more alive than that.


    The shuttle station in Sky City was just as bad as the station in Los Angeles or maybe even worse. Every inch of the port was covered in vibrant red and yellow propaganda posters. Most of the citizens who left the shuttles were used to the posters, but Daniel and his mother were taken back by the presence. A man's face was looking down at the two of them; he was turned to the left of the picture, only half of his face present in the poster, like a mug shot for the police if a person is arrested. The creepy part was that he had an almost cheshire grin on his face, and the words "FOLLOW JACK". "Follow" was printed above his head and "Jack" below the man's face in a blood red color. None of the posters were vandalized like some of the commercial ads on the walls beside them. No, none of the posters were even touched, like people knew not to even mess with them. Daniel realized the people who knew who Jack was, were averting their gaze from the posters. Fear was associated with the man's face and Daniel's mother didn't want to stay in the station any longer. He didn't blame her.
    It was physically impossible for it to rain on Sky City since the city technically hovered just a little above the clouds. So, to keep things as normal as possible, instead of it being either increasingly windy and dry or just the darkness of the night and day light, they engineers of Sky City simulated a random rain cycle. Fake clouds would cover the city and simulate rain, which would flow through to the street drains or the grass in the Upper Ring of the city, and then it would be filtered and recycled for the next rain. No one knew if it were safe to drink, Daniel's mother wasn't very fond of the idea since it wasn't natural, so it was decided they wouldn't anyway.
    Daniel hailed a taxi in the pouring rain. The classic yellow car hovered a few feet off the ground, like most cars in Sky City do and the driver honked his horn, impatiently hurrying Daniel up. Daniel's mother dashed to the backseat of the taxi to avoid the rain as Daniel slammed the trunk and hopped in beside her. She told the driver the address of their old apartment and leaned back to rest. After half an hour, Daniel decided to speak up to the driver. He was an old man with dark skin and he looked too jittery and nervous to be entrusted with other people's lives in his taxi.
    Daniel tapped the old man's shoulder, "If you don't mind me asking, who is Jack?" The old man turned around in horror and slammed on the brakes. Daniel's mother yelled out in surprise and asked what was going on.
    "What? What's wrong?" Daniel asked in confusion. The driver whipped around and pointed a finger at Daniel.
    "Get out! Get out now!"
    "No! We're not at our apartment yet!" Daniel argued. The taxi driver was fuming with anger, he threw open his driver door and went for the car's trunk. Daniel cursed and jumped out too, knowing what was coming next. They driver hadn't bothered to pull off into a side lane, so other cars were honking and driving past making rude gestures. He sprung the trunk door and started dumping their bags out onto the street.
    "Come on! What the hell?" Daniel picked up the wet bags tiredly and tossed them over his shoulders. His mother jumped out of the taxi and stood next to Daniel.
    "Tell JACK I said, thanks a lot!" Daniel yelled after him as they backed away off the street and underneath an awning. The driver shot Daniel a rude gesture with his hand and stepped back into his taxi before speeding away. "What an idiot," Daniel scoffed.
    Daniel's mother looked at him, she was completely soaked and carrying a drenched bag, "Nice." She tossed her bag to Daniel and started the walk to the apartment.
    "Luckily the apartment is only a few blocks away." She sighed and held her purse above her head.
    They reached the old apartment building not long after the taxi incident, they were completely drenched, their clothes ruined and Daniel's mother was getting more irritated by the minute. Daniel's arms were about to fall off after carrying their bags for a long period of time, he finally set them down on the top of the building's steps.
    She fished out an old bronze key and unlocked the front door to the building. The building had no elevator, so that meant Daniel had to carry the bags up three flights of stairs. He probably deserved it, he thought with a sigh.
    They finally reached their apartment's front door. His mother swiped the wet hair from her face and stuck the key in the lock and jiggled it, just like how Daniel remembered. The door swung open and revealed a place Daniel had been resentful of for ten years, an old memory that he wished he could erase, and the bitter feeling he wanted to forget of his father never coming back through this door. So he finished what his father never did; he came back home.

Four Months Later

    Sparks flew back in Daniel's shielded face as he leaned over two pieces of metal. He finished welding them together and worked on the other side of the piece, making sure everything was done correctly. He sat alone in the workshop below the apartment building, like an underground garage. There was a garage door that lead to the street outside, but it hadn't been used since the last time they lived there, which was a rough ten years ago.
    He grabbed a glass bottle that was half-full of a dark yellow liquid and tossed back some of its contents down his throat. He didn't drink the rest of it, but instead went back to work.
    The garage was full of unnamed parts that needed to be put back together. A large mechanism sat in the center of the room that was about the length of two cars and twenty feet tall. Daniel was unsure how it managed to fit inside such a small room, but it managed. It was part of a project he was working on for the past week. He scooted his chair over to the machine and welded on the remaining piece he had been welding by the table. He rolled up his sleeves and reached inside the beast and connected the power cables that were as thick as his forearm.  
    Just as the machine powered up, the doorbell to the garage rang. Daniel ignored the distant ringing; he only admired the repairs as the mechanism came to life.
    "Daniel, the door!" His mother called from inside the apartment. A few moments passed.
    "DANIEL."
    "I know! I'm getting it, give me a few seconds!" He then reached inside, careful not to get his hand caught, and unplugged the huge cables.
    He stood and slid the face visor off and grumbled something about his visitor. Daniel tossed the visor on the table and walked to the garage door. He inched open the door to see who it was, but was careful not to unchain every lock, just in case.
    "Oh, it's just you." He murmured and opened the door wider for the guest. His visitor was a sharp-looking man in a dark grey suit. His hair was short in a Caesar style cut and he stepped into the garage like he was stepping into a sewage drain. He dodged the oily spots on the concrete floor and stepped over the scattered, dirty metal parts.
    "Is it finished?" He asked promptly, like he did every week. He couldn't miss the giant machine sitting in the middle of the room.
    "Yes," Daniel wiped his nose on his sleeve and turned off the radio that had been playing while he worked.
    The man turned his nose up at the dozen of bottles stashed across the room, some in plain view. "I see you've picked up a new hobby in the past couple of weeks."
    "I'm glad you've noticed. Can we continue?" Daniel looked at him through half-opened eyes.
    "Yes. Here is your weekly take and an added bonus because you were never late. It looks in better shape than when it was dug up." The man in the suit flipped out his phone and made a quick call. He hung up and was about to touch the machine, but noticed all of the oil and thought differently about it. "The TransCity lift should be here in a few moments to pick it up."
    Daniel eyed him suspiciously from his stool by the work table, "Do you know what that is?" He knew it was a trick question, but maybe the pretentious man in the suit didn't.
    "This part or the whole machine? I have no idea." The man shook his head; he was obviously lying and doing a terrible job of it.
    "I was talking about the carbon scarring on the side." Daniel pointed to the black marks that covered half of the machine. The man fell quiet, but studied what Daniel had pointed out.
    "Four months of work on unanimous parts with no explanation as to what they're for and nothing but a envelope full of cash every week to say for it." Daniel stated curiously. "Direct cash, not checks or account transfers. Nothing that could be traced. Are you going to tell me what all of this has been for?" He asked, he knew he had the guy in a tight corner.
    "No." He was shut down quickly. "You've been paid for your work, that's all." The man in the suit had grown irritated quickly. He stepped over the large garage door and slid it open, a TransCity Lift had arrived.
    "We won't be needing your services anymore, Mr. Walsh. The bonus was added for security. Never tell anyone you worked with us, ever." The TransCity Lift was a large truck that mechanically lifted the machine from Daniel's garage to the back of its container. The man in the suit gave Daniel a lazy two-finger salute before stepping on the side of the Lift before it sped away in a blur.
    Daniel cursed because he hadn't gotten any real answers out of the man. He grabbed the bottle of remaining liquid and drained it completely. He looked around at the mess in his garage; he threw the empty glass bottle in the corner. It shattered but he didn't care, there was half a dozen just like it after being tossed against the walls.
    He knew what he looked like nowadays, a slob rolling around in his own filth. Daniel's hair had grown long and he didn't care about his appearance anymore, because he never really left the apartment or the garage. His black hair was greased back and a rough beard formed on his chin, he looked like a bum that had been sleeping under a bridge in Sky City's midtown park.
    The University had turned out to be a complete waste of time. The college was abandoned and the halls deserted except for a few homeless people that had broken in through the windows and slept in the classrooms. He was now, or was, a mechanic for a private company that repaired old parts. They paid well and the weekly salary either went to the apartment's rent or Daniel's new habit.  
    New habit. Daniel scoffed and threw a couple of empty glass bottles in a trash bag before tying it closed. He opened the single garage door and tossed the bag in the trash can. It was raining again. He looked up at the simulated rain, knowing his life was worthless. He had no direction anymore and no future. His own best friend Will didn't stop by Daniel's home any longer, it had been a few weeks since they talked. Will was a privileged pilot in Sky City for the military now, doing what he loves. Daniel had buried himself in his own problems and lost the motivation to dig himself out after the University plan failed. He was doing what he had to do to keep his mother under a roof and to keep his drinking habit afloat.
    His mother protested at first with the consistent drinking, but now she sighed and left the room. He knew she was disgusted now, disappointed in him and always has been, he was a failure. He began to blame the University idea on her, if they had never moved to "S**t" City, then he wouldn't be in this mess. After the yelling and the fighting, he would storm downstairs and throw parts around. He knew it would set him back a few days after tearing things apart, but he didn't care. Afterwards, like an over-rehearsed play, he would pop another cork from a bottle and drink himself to sleep.

10 Hours

    One night after another fight, once the hurtful things had been said, and his mother confessed she couldn't live with him anymore. Daniel knew this would be the end. But he wanted a decent finale to go out to. He stumbled upstairs and tore through the dresser in his bedroom. He blindly groped the bottom of the shelf and pulled out a handgun. An old 2012 revolver, almost three hundred years old. Daniel clicked a few bullets into the chambers and spun it closed. He didn't know how his father had acquired such an old gun, the last of its kind and it was in seemingly perfect condition. It may even blow up in my face; he thought and paused for a moment but shrugged it off. He stuffed it in the back of his pants. If he wasn't in his drunken state he would've been worried about the Sky City police or even Jack's followers, who thought they were the police, but weren't. Instead they terrorized most of the city's residents for fear and control; nothing had been done about it because Jack was a diplomat at heart and had the city's politicians in the palm of his hands. In the next few months, Daniel knew he would be paying his taxes with either blood or every last possession he had.
    He searched the closet and fished out a long plastic bag and ripped it open, never minding the zipper and pulled out an old officer's uniform. He mumbled something to himself and then slipped on the jacket. He buttoned it together without lining it up and left the room, leaving the room trashed. He walked through the front door of the apartment and tried to lock it, but couldn't focus on the keyhole long enough, so he slammed the door shut and broke off the door knob. He murmured to himself that sounded something like, that'll do it, and stumbled down the flights of stairs to the front of the apartment building.
    Daniel closed the building's front door and slumped down the steps, he wasn't getting many weird looks from other pedestrians because it was in the middle of the night. If he thought about it, he actually didn't see his mother in the kitchen when he left, he thought this was weird, but started the sidewalk anyway. He was wearing a thirty year old officer's uniform that was just the right size for him. Daniel thought this was odd for a moment, because this wasn't even his old uniform, it was his father's. He hoped no one tried to call him Officer Walsh; he would probably lose his mind.
    Han's was a very popular night club; hundreds of people could fit inside the small building while a long line of people waited outside so that they could have a chance to get inside. Celebrities would visit every night; it was the place to be in Sky City if you were anybody. Luckily, Daniel was nobody, but his uniform fooled the bouncer into thinking he was someone of importance. Since most high ranking officers got into the club instantly, the colorful stripes on his father's uniform managed to get him his last drink. He would remember to toast to that later. Though no respectable officer would find themselves at Han's, the bouncer probably thought Daniel was having his off-duty fun anyway.
    The heavy music and lights disoriented Daniel as he made a bee line for the bar; it was crowded with young people who didn't pay any attention to him. He ordered one drink after another, his head was a little clearer when he was outside the club, but now it was like he had drowned himself again in his own pathetic nature. Shot after shot, he slumped further down and then fell completely on the club floor. Someone grabbed him and stood him on his feet, asking him if he was okay. He answered by throwing up and the person backed off and never came back.
    Daniel felt a little better after letting out whatever out he just drank. Someone pulled him into the crowd of young people dancing. They had different colored marks on their faces and clothes so they would glow in the dark. Glow-in-the-dark paint was splattered over the crowd, the music grew louder and someone passed Daniel a dropper. A dropper was usually a sign of a drug, the user was supposed to squeeze a few drops into his or her eyes and keep going until they wanted to drop again. Daniel dropped a few in his eyes and the night sped up like his world was in fast-forward.
    A few young women paid a particular interest in him, he didn't know how because he was such a mess, but he couldn't say no. Then someone grabbed his uniform collar and punched him in the face. He didn't go down immediately, but instead tried to stand up and fight back. He realized the person who punched him was probably a boyfriend of one of the girls who had been wrapped around Daniel, so he raised his fists to prepare to fight. Another punch knocked him back onto a table, he crashed to the floor in a mess, and more hands grabbed him. Two bouncers dragged Daniel out the front doors of Han's and dumped him on the sidewalk by the street. They told him to stay out and resumed checking people at the front door.
    Daniel sat up after a few moments of unconsciousness. He didn't realize he had rolled onto the street and a hovering car tried to avoid him but lost control. Daniel jumped up, his hip hit the front headlight and hood of the car. He rolled, his body hit the windshield and he fell to the pavement with a sickening thump. The driver panicked and drove away, even though there were witnesses lined up around Han's waiting to get inside. Nobody came to his aid, but Daniel lifted himself up to his hands and knees and crawled to the nearest sidewalk. He dragged himself to an empty alleyway and rested his back against a filthy brick wall.
     He could barely open his eyes nor feel any sensation in his hip. The drugs and alcohol were numbing the pain of a likely broken bone. When someone grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him to a standing position, he didn't have the strength to fight back this time nor was he even in his right mind. A man held Daniel back as another person punched him in the gut. He collapsed to the ground with a groan and curled into a ball on the nasty concrete. They stole his wallet and kept kicking him while he was on the ground, Daniel knew they were about to shoot him next. But an intervening police officer blew his whistle, shouted a warning and ordered them to stop beating up Daniel and chased them down the alleyway. He came back to the broken young man lying on the ground and grabbed him by the shoulders. The police officer dragged Daniel into the back of the hovering police vehicle and closed the door.

7 Hours

    He closed his eyes for a moment and reopened them; they were suddenly parked in front of Daniel and his mother's apartment. The policeman must've used Daniel's fingerprint to locate where he lived. The red and blue flashes reflected off the windows of his apartment when he looked through the glass window of the police car. The car door opened and the policeman pulled him by his feet and then his hands, he did his best to lift Daniel out of the car and drag him up the front steps of the apartment building. He dumped him by the door and walked down the steps, leaving him there before driving off. Daniel didn't blame him, as far as the policeman knew, Daniel was just a deadbeat drunk who was crazy enough to walk around town wearing a filthy old officer's uniform.
    No one noticed him lying on the top of the steps, his mother hadn't come to the door, maybe she didn't even know he was there or maybe she didn't care. Daniel pulled himself up to a standing position, his brain was fried and his body moved like a rag doll. By the time he hadn't gotten home to his apartment building after drinking himself almost to death at a night club, getting beaten up, kicked out of the club, hit by a car, robbed and beaten again; he did not care when he punched out the glass by the building's front door. He couldn't feel anything anyway, inside or out. The drugs were wearing off and his vision was becoming more blurry as he crawled up the building's steps toward his apartment door. He remembered he broke the door knob because he couldn't close it, so he just started slamming his shoulder against the door. It finally broke open, its top hinges were completely shattered and the door hung limply from the inside. Daniel looked to his left and a picture frame held a portrait of his father, smiling in his uniform. In his father's lap was Daniel as a baby. Daniel suddenly grew angry and punched the glass picture, shards stuck in his hands and he fell down and didn't get back up. He felt the cool kitchen floor under his face as he closed his eyes.

2 Hours

    Someone was dragging him by his wrists. They were obviously having a rough time, because they kept stopping and starting to try and drag him further. He felt carpet underneath him and he knew he was in his own living room. He was home. His mother knelt over him with tears streaming down her face. Daniel must've looked like a God-awful sight to her. He was wearing her husband's old officer's uniform and he was bloody and broken. She held his hand and picked the glass from his knuckles and she wrapped them in bandages. She told him to sit up so she could lay him down on the couch. He did as he was told and his back finally found the cushions of the couch, a comfortable place, he could happily go to sleep there. She cried and cried, laying her head on his chest while she knelt by the couch. If someone didn't know any better, it was almost as if she were weeping over a dead person. She whispered something to him and stood, she was gone a long time and Daniel realized she wasn't coming back for a while. She had probably told him to sleep and that she was going to work.
    Daniel leaned up, his mind a lot clearer than it was five hours ago. The front door to the apartment had been put back in its place for the time being until it was fixed. He sighed and realized he was the problem when he saw the door and he remembered last night with a bitter taste in his mouth. He still wore his father's jacket; it was stained with blood and alcohol.
    To Daniel's surprise, the revolver was still tucked away in the back of his pants. Unbelievably, he took out the revolver and looked down at it for a moment. He cocked back the weapon and stuck the short barrel in his mouth. This was it. The darkest moment in Daniel Walsh's life. He suddenly remembered playing with Will in the back yard of this very same apartment building. He thought of his mother, she was beautiful and wonderful. She didn't deserve to have a son like him. And finally, he thought of his lost father. He wondered if he was looking down upon Daniel and seeing what he what he was doing, was he shaking his head in disappointment? Or was he worried for his only brokenhearted son? Daniel was tired of wondering. He pulled the trigger.
    

    For a long time, nothing happened. He sat there shocked, his face covered in gun powder and his hands bleeding all over the carpet. At the same time that the gun exploded in Daniel's face, the doorbell to the apartment had started ringing. He didn't know what to do, his hands jutted out in surprise; he looked like a child waiting to be picked up. The gun dropped to the floor in smoke, Daniel looked down at it with complete shock. The doorbell kept ringing. He finally pulled himself together enough to stand up and look around.
    Whoever was at the door didn't need to know he just tried to kill himself! Daniel kicked the gun underneath the couch and hurriedly ran to the kitchen to wash the blood from his hands. He finally turned off the water faucet and clenched his hands to stop himself from shaking. He opened the door to a familiar face.
    "Hey, Dan! How's it going, buddy?" It was Will. He was clean, not hung-over, and hadn't been robbed or beaten last night so he looked alright. On the other hand, Daniel gave him a strained lopsided smile. Will barged past Daniel and glanced at the apartment door.
    "Wait- whoa, what happened to your door, man? Did someone break in?" He asked as he went straight for the refrigerator in the kitchen. "What's up with your face?" He pointed at the gun powder covering Daniel's face.
    "Uh, a-a-accident in the garage." Daniel stuttered. Will turned on the overhead light in the kitchen, blinding Daniel and adding fuel to the headache he already had.
    "Rough night?" He studied Daniel as he helped himself to a beverage from the refrigerator. Daniel didn't reply, but instead took off his father's jacket and placed it on the kitchen table. There was only a moment of silence, but Will didn't mind filling in the space for conversation.
    "You won't believe the kind of night I had, Dan." Will boasted and made his way down to the garage, which was usually where they talked and caught up on things. Daniel followed him and tried wiping the rest of the gunpowder off his neck and face, but it wasn't going anywhere.
    "The TV broke after I had gotten home from work, so I had nothing to do- nice welding parts-" He pointed at a few of the pieces Daniel had done last week, "and I ended up going on a date with the girl I told you about the last time we talked..." He kept talking and Daniel drifted off once again. About a few minutes later, Will looked over at the work table.
    "These designs look familiar, what are you working on?" He sipped from his drink and set it down on table.
    Daniel yawned and lifted up the blueprints, he shook the dust from them. "Uh, these are old. But the more recent designs are from two weeks ago."
    "Man, these are old engines. I mean really old engines. Something Bible-age, dude." Will flipped through the blueprints.
    "Engines?" Daniel asked curiously, he didn't remember anything about engines.
    "Yeah, jet engines, from about a few hundred years back. The kind they used to use on old airlines. They got discontinued late in the first century. Whew." He whistled, "Somebody is building something big, your notes say you repaired twenty five of these."
    "Well, yeah, but they probably didn't use all of them for one project." Daniel waved the idea away.
    "What if they did?" Will grinned mischievously, "I mean, look at those engine sub-components, they're as big as a house. I think you had it all figured out, you just didn't know it all went together."
    "It doesn't go together!" Daniel insisted.
    Will ignored him, "In your notes, you wrote down the serial numbers for the parts and you drew a blueprint for them and you put them back together from the parts you repaired. Brilliant. Maybe they were making a ship?"
    Daniel stared at him, this was getting ridiculous. "If what you're saying is plausible, which I'm not saying it is, that ship would be as big as downtown Los Angeles or larger." Will nodded enthusiastically.
    "Like an old cargo ship," Will guessed, but he rubbed his chin in deep thought. "Or, a passenger ship."
    "No! This is stupid, let's throw these away. I was stupid to make these blueprints in the first place," Daniel grabbed the blue papers and started snatching them off the work table.
    "Come on!" Will groaned.
    "Where would they keep this mystery ship? In the clouds? Buried under the Grand Canyon? Huh? Or maybe under our feet? You haven't thought this through, Will. I'm throwing these away." Daniel crumpled the blueprints in his arms and said finally, "There is no ship."
    Suddenly, the power went out.

30 Minutes

    "Well, that's fantastic." Daniel swore and threw down the crumpled up blueprints. He reached for the breaker in the garage and pressed up the lever. Nothing happened.
    "Hey, look, our watches." Will raised his wrist, then looked down and tapped the glass face of his watch. Daniel walked over to the single garage door and raised the blinds. People were stepping out of their homes and looking up and down the street.
    "It was an EMP." Daniel said darkly.
    "You're joking," Will almost didn't believe it.
    "Both of our watches are out, and look, everyone's wandering around outside. Their power must be out too." Daniel pointed over his shoulder at the window. Will took a look outside, and then followed Daniel back up to his apartment.
    "Well, what should we do?" Will asked.
    "We need to find my mom, she should be at work." Daniel grabbed his father's uniform and slipped it on. It still fit, even though there were holes in it now.
    "Why?" Will was confused, "And why are you are you wearing that crappy old uniform?"
    "Because it saved my life about five times last night," Daniel said and hurried out of the apartment's front door and down the stairs.
    "Okay? But, Dan, I need to go home and see if my family is okay." Will prompted. Daniel shook his head.
    "No, no. I have a bad feeling; you need to stick with me on this one."
    "What? No, it's just a power outage. Why do we have to get your mom?" Will raised his hands as he followed Daniel out of the apartment building and down the front steps. They walked hurriedly down the sidewalk.
    "What's going on, do you know something I don't know?" Will questioned him. Daniel shook his head, trying to clear it from the fog of last night. They kept walking; Daniel was looking out for any suspicious behavior from the police or military. A voice was announcing an order over speakers. It was telling them to make their way to the Inner Ring of Sky City.
    "That's a ton of blocks away from here, let me just go make sure my family is alright and I'll meet you guys there?" Will was trying to bargain with Daniel. Daniel ignored him and broke out into a run, he head was throbbing and for some reason his hip was killing him even though he couldn't remember why.
    On their way to the Inner Ring, a large crowd had formed in the streets and Jack propaganda was playing on the screens in Downtown Sky City. Daniel didn't know how he was doing it, when there was an EMP just a few minutes ago. He looked around at some of the others standing around him. Some people were cheering, but others just looked frightened. "Now is the time to act, people of Sky City!" a face appeared on the screen. Jack must not have been far away, it looked like he was being broadcasted live.
    Daniel and Will squeezed through the massive crowd of people and made it to Daniel's mother's workplace. They found her looking around the crowd frantically.
    "Daniel!" She rushed to them and hugged her son. "Are you okay? I don't know what's going on! What's happening?" She turned and looked at Jack rallying his followers in the Inner Ring.
    "For years, we've demanded equal rights, now we have the upper hand, my brothers and sisters! You have been suppressed and beaten and put in chains! The city you have come to love was taken control over a long time ago! Their power is gone," Jack pointed to the empty and dark screens that usually lit up the Inner Ring, "and the city in the Sky is OURS!"
    "There was an EMP, Mom. We need to find some place to go and be safe." Daniel took his attention off of Jack and spoke to his mother. She looked pale.
    "This can't be happening."
    "What?" Daniel asked her. "What can't be happening?" She looked as if she were going to collapse in the middle of the street. A street filled with people who were about to tear the city apart.
    The ground beneath their feet shook and almost knocked Daniel off his balance. Will and Daniel helped his mother to her feet.
    "What the hell was that?" Will brushed the dirt off his uniform. People screamed from the crowd and Daniel looked up, Jack had disappeared from his mount and the screens as well.
    "Time for us to get out of here," Daniel said simply and grabbed his mother's hand. Will followed as they hurried down a barely empty street; they needed to get away from the scared crowd. The ground rumbled again.
    "Where do you think that's coming from?" Will shouted over the quakes.
    "Hard to tell!" Daniel answered and tightened his grip on his mother's hand.
    "Try the park! The park!" She cried out. Daniel paused and looked at her with complete bewilderment. He racked his own mind to try and connect what she was talking about. Will looked back and forth between them.
    He remembered now, from the blueprints, "How do you know about the park?" Daniel asked roughly.
    She choked out a sob, tears streaming from her face just like this morning. "Y-your father."

15 Minutes

    They set out on a dead run to the central city park in the Inner Ring, they didn't know if they were relying their lives on a dead man's last words or a blueprint crumpled up on the floor of a garage. Maybe both?
    Daniel led his mother and Will to the park and they came to a stop. There weren't many people around, since they had been at the riot Jack started.
    A few moments after they arrived at the park, they bent over to catch their breath, but the perfect grass acres of the manicured park split open. Will swore, they stumbled back and away from the opening. The bottom of Sky City kept opening up, the ground shook even harder as the head of a colossal structure rose from the opening. They were too stunned for fear, Daniel had never seen anything so big in his entire life. When it had finished rising after several minutes from the hellish pits of Sky City, it stood higher than the tallest buildings in the world and Sky City, put together.
    It was a ship. Daniel had to look straight up, his soul turned cold and his chest tightened. This was a ship, he told himself. Somewhere from the bowels of the marvelous vessel, a sound roared. It was so loud, the glass buildings to the left of them shattered without hesitation. They covered their ears, but it was to no avail, the roaring shook them to the core.
    Steam erupted from a part of the ship. A small part in comparison to the rest of the beast. From amidst the steam, a ramp lowered down to the ground. They didn't need to argue if it was okay to get on the ship, or at least try to board it. The three of them sensed immense danger since the ground below them still shook long after the ship stopped moving.
    Daniel grabbed his mother's clammy hand once more as they ran toward the ship's ramp. They were stopped when they arrived by a line of soldiers.
    "Stop! Identification!" They raised their guns. Daniel panicked; he didn't have any sort of identification on him even though he was dressed like an officer. He could be imprisoned for impersonating a military official, but he seriously doubted that was going across their minds right now.
    "Let us through!" Daniel shouted.
    "Not without identification!" They barked and shoved Daniel back against Will and Daniel's mother.
    "There are thousands of people coming RIGHT NOW! We have to get on the ship!" Daniel pushed back, but there several dozen soldiers and only one of him. Will pushed Daniel aside and held out his ID card.
    "We're officers of the EAF, let us through NOW!" Will stared a hole through the soldier with a look that could've made anyone leave him alone.
    "Daniel, please! We have to go in now!" Daniel's mother yanked at his arm. Daniel turned and noticed the crowd of people running for the ship. Will and Daniel shoved passed the soldiers because they were too preoccupied with the sight of the oncoming herd of frightened people.
    The floor of the ship was metal and slanted at an angle, the room they were running into was so large, Daniel couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing. The crowd behind them pressed against the line of soldiers who had chain linked themselves together. They could hear gunshots when they ran further into the hangar. More people flushed into the room without the soldier line holding them back and Daniel, Will and Daniel's mother were passed by people running faster than them. Daniel's grip on his mother's hand slipped as she fell to the ground. He picked her up and carried her deeper in the hangar. Will kept climbing up the steep floor, they held on to anything that could support their weight. Daniel's legs burned and he his body wanted to shut down and give up. But he pressed on, not stopping.
    The hangar was filled with hundreds of people trying to stay together rather than slip and fall. The floor was trying to shift, but something was jamming it, so the floor remained a steep deadly slope for those who couldn't hold on.
    Suddenly, the floor gave way and the rockets beneath the ship ignited. The people on the ramp were incinerated instantly. Daniel's sweaty hand slipped from his mother's and he slammed into a crate behind them, he almost rolled off and through the open door of the hangar. The ship launched and gravity shook them violently, Will tried reaching for Daniel's hand but they were too far away. Daniel felt like his skin was peeling from his bones when he tried to move. The hangar doors were still open and they needed to be closed, something was jamming them.
    Daniel saw the control panel on a wall a little ways away from the doors, he let go of the crate causing his mother to scream out in fright for him. She thought he was gone, but he slid down the metal and grabbed onto the control panel. He tied himself down with some of the loose belts used to hold on to crates. He hit his hand on one the buttons and the doors started to close. But he wasn't fast enough. As the ship rose off the ground of Sky City, it passed by the glass skyscrapers in the Inner Ring. Glass shattered instantly and pelted some unlucky souls holding on by the doors. Daniel dodge a shard of glass but a second slice slid past him, cutting his face with a deep gash. He held on to his cheek to stop the bleeding, but it was no use. He realized the last door wasn't closing and another person was being sucked out the jammed door. He pressed the button again and again. It wasn't working. Daniel cursed and slammed his fist on the button. He noticed there was a giant emergency lever right beside the door, but he knew he would probably be sucked out if he tried to get to it. He tightened the strap across his chest and dove towards the lever anyway, even if it meant he would mostly likely die. What did dying mean to him anyway? He had just put a gun in his mouth not even two hours ago.

0 Minutes

    The second round of rockets ignited and shoved Daniel hard against the wall beside the door. He reached for the emergency lever, but gravity pulled his arm down. They were leaving Sky City's atmosphere, he would soon not be able to hold on any longer. Space would suck him out in a minute and everyone would die. A faint popping caught his attention, he looked to his left and the surface of Earth started to concave, the land that he recognized as the great continents started to swell.
     He tore himself away from the wall and reached for the lever to close the door. He couldn't reach it. He found out soon enough, that like him, most of the other soldiers couldn't stand either from the pull of gravity. Only nine of the ten hangar doors were closed in time. The third round of rockets ignited and Daniel was slammed against the wall once more. He blacked out of consciousness every other second. As he crawled across the wall beside the open door, he caught glimpses of Sky City shrinking away quickly. Earth was behind the city in the sky; Daniel stared in horror as he watched his home cave inward. A black hole became the center of the planet, every continent was sucked into the center of the void. A ripple effect of the oceans caused the water to vaporize when sucked into it. And sometime after everything had disappeared inside the void, Sky City followed behind into the black hole, leaving everything Daniel had known and loved into nothingness.