- The Man of the Sky - Chapter one - Part One - By Maggie Franklin - That's Me - Warning: Very long!

The Man of the Sky



Chapter 1:


Gone

Jason rode his graviboard along the now vacant road, bobbing his head to musical sound waves emmanting from a small, rectangular device in his coat pocket that only his brain could pick up. A device more commonly known as telotunes. It was dark out, almost pitch black, but his vision had adapted pretty well over the years. What do you expect when living on the dark side of the moon?
Jason rode on, flying about three inches off the ground, his overgrown dark hair being whipped passed his face, which was pale due to the fact that there was never any sunlight on this pathetic rock. He had tried countless times to convince his dad to move someplace else, someplace safer, someplace with a great view of the sun, like Venus or Mars. The side of the Moon never got any sunlight and was way to close to Earth. Humans have actually walked here, seen their city! Scientists had to rewrite their memories, so they only thought they saw a wasteland of craters, instead of a huge city stretching on for hundreds of miles. They even had to put that image into the pictures they took.
"Ah, Jason, son," his dad would say. "We're running a little short on cash at the moment. Maybe when I get my next invention going, we could go someplace nice, like Mars. But for now, this moon will do fine." Jason's dad was an inventor, and was experiencing some... well, inventor's block.
Jason rode along faster, about 25 miles per hour, and about a foot in the air. Technically, he wasn't supposed to be up this late, but he loved the feeling of cutting through the air, and was too angry at his dad to even care.
His board made a sudden squealing noise, almost making him fall. What was gong on? Then it jerked a couple times, and Jason bent onto his knees, hugging the board for safety.
It continued at a steady pace, about ten miles an hour, so Jason slowly stood. He picked up the speed, going at at an average 25 again. Slowly, he elevated up another foot, thinking that it was perfectly safe. Wrong.
The world around him was suddenly a confusing blur, as Jason realized that there was no longer a ground beneath his feet. Then, he felt pain seep into his senses, and his teeth knocked together forcefully, sending painful vibrations through his brain.
"Ow..." he moaned, as he found his face an inch from the ground. He was lying on his stomach, and felt blood trickling down his arms and legs where they were scrapped on the gravelly road. Jason could hear his board making more screeching sounds. After a moment, he got up onto his elbows, turned to sit on the road, and rubbed his sore, bleeding legs. The screeching noises of the graviboard got even louder, and, as he examined his dark surroundings for it, he realized exactly where the noise was coming from.
He quickly scrambled forward, but not before the graviboard dropped out of the sky and onto his back, knocking the breath out of him as he was forced back onto his stomach.
"Darn!" he cursed, shoving the heavy board from his back before he stood. He rubbed his head, squinting in the blackness. The music was gone, he realized, and when he dug into his coat pocket, he found his telotunes in pieces.
He swore again, then rubbed his temples. Dad was gonna kill him.
After a minute or two, he examined his surroundings: Black. Well, that much was obvious. He squinted closer, and could barely make out that he was standing in the middle of an empty road. This part of the city was pretty vacant, and Jason saw that this was because he was right by the very Border of the World. Well, Border of the Moon, anyway. Past that point, they would be completely exposed to the humans. Obviously, this side of the moon was completely vacant. No one ever crossed to it.
Jason stared at the Border for a while. He was tempted to peek over the edge, just to sneak a peek at the Earth, that beautiful blue marble he'd heard so much about. Maybe, if he was lucky, the Sun would be out as well.
But no. That action would be extremely illegal; the humans are gazing at the Moon every day, through their huge telescopes, and the humans discovering new life on the Moon is the last thing anyone needs.
Sighing, Jason turned back around to his graviboard, sinking to his knees to get a better look. He probably just forgot to recharge it or something. But when he turned it onto its side, he saw wires missing, and a gapping hole where a couple gravitational circuits should've been. Or... at least he thought. It was hard to tell in the pitch blackness. Well... maybe his dad had borrowed a few parts for a new invention or whatever. The main point was, this board was not getting him anywhere anytime soon.
He clambered to his feet, feeling upset with himself. How could this happen? The board had never just died like this before, and now it just happens to completely go out in the middle of nowhere. Just his luck! In a fit of rage, he brought his leg back and forcefully swung it forward, grunting as he kicked the board off the ground. It flew back a ways, then smashed onto the road, making loud clanking noises that disturbed the silent atmosphere.
Jason remained where he stood, panting slightly. Well... What now? He was stranded out here, with no transportation, in complete darkness. Great.
Clank, clank, clatter! The noise made him jump as he let out a sudden shout. Where had that come from? The echoing sounds of his graviboard had long since died away. Was he being followed somehow?
Probably not, but you could never be too sure in this part of town. He looked around. There was nothing to be seen. What had happened? Could he possibly have imagined the noise?
Then he saw a shadow race from behind a small building to another one that Jason hadn't even noticed before. So, he definitely didn't imagine it.
"Hello?" he called. His voice startled himself, echoing around the small area. Maybe this person could help get back home.
He stared at the shabby building that the man had run behind. Suddenly, Jason wondered what he was so scared of.
Jason took a few steps toward the building, trying to be silent. He quickened his pace as the dark building got closer, the gravelly road making little crunching sounds beneath his feet.
Finally, he reached it. He slowed to a stop by the front The place didn't look too welcoming: The walls and doors were made of steel that had cracked over the years, and a big, rusting lock kept anyone from entering.
Since he obviously wasn't getting in, Jason moved on. He walked to the left side where the person had hidden, silently creeping along the wall. Once he reached the end, he placed a hand around the edge of the walls, poking his head around the corner very slowly, not wanting to scare this person, whoever he was.
Weight on his shoulders forced Jason to turn around. Startled, he let out a yelp. He saw nothing but a huge, black thing, that was slowly getting bigger and smaller, as though it were breathing.
Then, he raised his head, and saw a man's face. The huge black thing was his stomach! The face wore several old scars, and a grim look. It was really difficult to make out any other details in the dark night, but he could tell, this man was definitely not happy to see him!
"Who are you?" Jason asked, trying to keep his voice confident despite the slow, sinking feeling in his gut.
"I was about to ask you the same question," he grunted. The man flung his arms forward, sending Jason backward, the breath being knocked out of him as he hit the ground. Again.
He saw the guy walking to him, pulling... something, from his coat. He noticed for the first time exactly how huge this fellow was. Frightened, Jason scrambled to his feet, running forward before he was fully standing upright.
Air rushed into his face as he continued onward. Behind him, he heard sudden, loud blasts. Gunfire! he realized. Jason picked up the pace, panting, only to—that's right—tumble onto the ground after tripping over his feet.
This time, he hardly even noticed the pain. He furiously attempted to crawl back to his feet, but a block of solid pushed him back down, then continued to press him into the ground. He struggled under it, but it was just too much. He found it very difficult to breath with his lungs being crushed under this... thing.
Then, very suddenly, the force was gone, and he was flipped onto his back. He needed to get out of here, but decided he would after a few, quick breaths of air. He could actually feel beads of sweat forming on his face.
He decided to get up, lifting himself up onto his elbows, but was knocked back down by that same force as before. Opening his eyes, he realized that the scarred face of the man was starring down at him, and the "force" was the guy's foot.
His breaths came short under his massive foot, and he stopped breathing altogether when the gun was in sight. Jason wanted to shut his eyes, but couldn't bring himself to do it. So he watched.
The man strangely uncocked the gun, and put it back into his jacket. Jason released the breath he was holding, and went back to the short little ones that he could just manage under the humungous foot. The guy shuffled around in his jacket for a while, until revealing a much different-looking gun. But... why?
No time for questions. The guy cocked the gun and fired it straight into Jason's chest. There was no huge blast, but a tiny whooshing sound. And instead of feeling the horrible pain of being shot and killed, Jason only felt a prick in his chest. Strange. Then, a strong numbness spread around the point where he had been hit, and Jason realized that he had only been shot when a tranquilizing dart. He tried to think further into it, but his thoughts were just too cloudy. Suddenly, the foot was removed from his chest. A chance to escape! Jason struggled to stand, but couldn't even manage to lift his up head. Blackness clouded his vision, and seemed to swallow him. But before his senses completely vanished, Jason thought he saw the strange man give a smug smile, as though he was thoroughly pleased with this job well done.
Then it was gone. Everything was gone.


I told you it was long! XDDD There's more to this chapter, but the computer says it's too long to post. XD. Whatever. XDDD Comments?

If it says it's too long, I don't mind you double posting the story.

Anyways, great story!

i cant believe you typed that whole thing!

I copied and pasted it from Microsoft Word, if that's what you mean. If not... Yeah, it's pretty looooong. XD