datn

jtgyk

  • he

peripatetic reclusive


Laney’s red air machine struggled up into the sky on an engine that coughed and wings that creaked. With every meter of altitude she gained, her oil-streaked smile grew broader.

She had won. It had taken every last spare part in the barn, and she had to admit her relationship with her mother would never be the same, but now Dad would have to acknowledge that she had been the first of all the children to leave the nest and take to the air.

Before her, the morning fog was parting to reveal a warm spring sunrise rimmed by cottony fluff; the light hit her face and glinted off her tears of relief.

Then she heard a juddering, sputtering sound behind her. She looked into the bike mirror she’d pressed into service as a rear-view and saw a sooty line arcing up from the barn – the line her brother’s black air jalopy was spray-painting over her wobbly but clean water vapor trail.

“Caleb! What are you playing at?” Laney shouted, smile gone, lips pursed, eyes narrowed.

“I went and used the coalite anyway!” Caleb shouted as he approached. “Just look how I soar!”

Caleb’s monstrous jalopy streaked past her machine and left her coughing in a black haze of exhaust.

“Damn you Caleb!”

“Whatever works! See ya, sis!” He soared towards the sun.

As her air machine swept through the black, Laney saw nothing but red. She punched the big silver button in the center of her dash, activating the first system she’d built, the one she’d had to cut corners to accommodate.

The seeker missile popped silently from the chassis below her and arced through the soot directly at her brother’s jalopy. The missile closed the short distance between them in half a breath.

A very short distance.

A large explosion shattered the silence of the morning sky. Terrified birds scattered, reversed paths. Tiny pieces of metal showered the ground below, some black, some red.

All that remained in the sky was smoke, and the clouds.


You must log in to comment.