So, here it is:
Chapter 1
Gerald hated the fact that in a few hours, he'd be forced to leave. It was always the same, and it was getting more and more difficult. He breathed in deeply, feeling the cool air fill his lungs satisfyingly, and gazed at his surroundings. The old spaceport was full of old machinery with a worrying amount of rust, with floors that hadn't been polished in decades.His lip curled as he observed the way weary travellers trudged over the exposed concrete floor. This place was hardly the most exclusive of ports, but it was also in a great position for him. Him, who had spent his life running away from people he had never met.
Tensing his legs in dissatisfaction, he began to walk briskly, even though he had nowhere to go as of yet. He could very easily have launched into a tirade about the unfairness of it all, so he attempted to distract himself by observing his surroundings; every bolt, every scratch. He could see everything, but as it turned out, none of it was sufficiently interesting.
In an instant, he had come to a conclusion. If he didn't leave immediately, then he would surely go mad, even though at first he thought he'd walk around to calm himself down. The rusty steel walls, however, were no company at all to a mind in turmoil.
The way towards the private bays was short, and just as rusty as the rest of the port. How it stayed, floating in mid-space, was anybody's guess, but it was good enough for him, and had always been. Still, it wouldn't take him long to forget the stale bread and metallic-tasting water that were the hallmarks of any of the old spaceports dotted around the galaxy. Next time he would choose a planet or something, not a piece of old space-junk.
By the time he had reached his small craft, he had thought of the smelly off-white toliets, sub-par healthcare and complete lack of entertainment services to leave while thinking 'good riddance'. In fact, it had been surprisingly easy to turn a mind he had been conditioning to just be happy to be alive. The reality was, living was not enough.
Walking into the cramped cockpit of his spaceplane was like a breath of fresh air; it was outfitted with the newest technology he could get his hands on, using any and every spare cent he had. It was always clean, and the green and red screens fed information from the advanced sensors the craft was covered in. All of it was real-time, accurate down to a hundreth of a second. Gerald sank down into his soft red chair, relaxing for the first time that day.
He wasted no time flicking all the switches to get the craft going, eagerness replacing all other emotions. Sometimes his mood variation surprised even himself, but he didn't let it bother him. He could very easily hide those emotions whenever he had to; other people never suspected.
It was two minutes before he was away, hurtling through the universe. The force pushed him back into his chair, but he loved the sensation. The stars seemed to be almost stationary in the blackness of the sky, but he could feel the motion pulling him through the neverending night. The reason for his love of it, he knew, was the fact that it made him realise the sheer scale of the universe, and how many places were left to explore.
Grinning in glee, he fixed his gaze on a far-off star, deciding in that instant that it was his target. Neuroscanners picked this up and instantly adjusted his course, while feeding him information. Dark blue writing projected across his vision, telling him the star was called Palao. It held three spaceports and an inhabited planet. In other words, it was perfect.
Behind him, the old spaceport was already far behind; a speck in the distance. His craft was a silver streak through the night sky, silent in the void. The overwhelming silence and Palao were all that was left. But his world was complete.
No comments:
Post a Comment