Prologue
Never take what you have for granted,
Things can change in an instant.
Location: Nita’s capital city.
Time: 20:15 PM
The accident that would change their lives would happen in less than five minutes.
“Mom?” Eight-year-old Kevin says from the backseat.
“Yes, what is it darling?” Lilica asks. She turns to look at him.
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise,” Lilica smiles at her son’s dismayed look “we’ll be there soon.”
“Okay,” Kevin looks out the window for a moment. “Now can you tell me?”
Lilica laughs. She has a beautiful laugh, soft and sweet. It could make anyone around her feel happy.
Tyrus glances over from where he’s driving. Lilica has stunning, straight blond hair and the deepest blue eyes he had ever seen in his life.
She is beautiful. But that wasn’t why Tyrus had fallen in love with her; she is the sweetest person on the planet in his opinion. They had met in college and never drifted apart. Now they were married and had a wonderful son, who matched Lilica’s hair and eyes.
Tyrus looks back out the windshield. Life was good; he had an amazing family and was looking forward to the upcoming years.
Lilica leans over to Tyrus.
“He’s going to be so excited,” She says quietly, excitement edges her voice.
Tyrus nods. He had been a little reluctant at first about getting a dog. Keeping a pet is different in outer space. He hoped Kevin would be responsible with it.
He begins to turn the hover car off the main speedway. The back road was the quickest way to get to the pet store. The hover car settles in to a steady hum and Tyrus leans back in his seat. Driving was relaxing for him. It was one of the few things he was good at.
Below them, the city’s night-time lights blur softly. It had been dark like this all day, but that was because of planet Nita’s size. It was a few times bigger than Earth so each day was twenty-four hours. Humans need sleep about every twelve hours, so that was why every other day was a night-day. Once you got used to it, it felt no different than a day on Earth. Unfortunately, the way Tyrus lived his days was about to change.
Up ahead a small craft sits on top of a building. Two men wait inside. The dash has radar on it and it is bleeping a small dot- the car that Lilica, Tyrus, and Kevin are in.
One of the men, whose name is Scrape, is holding a pair of binoculars, the other, Talon, has his hand on the craft’s trigger.
“Here it comes.” Scrape says.
Talon’s thumb hovered over the button.
“Steady . . .” Scrape holds his hand up.
The hover car comes around the corner.
“Steady . . .”
Now it’s right under them.
“Fire!” Scrape drops his hand like a flagman at a race track.
Talon’s thumb slams into the button and the craft jerks as it fires a powerful laser shot. It hit’s the target perfectly; right up the engine’s exhaust.
They watch as the ship careens and spins right into the corner of a building. It lands on the ledge and slides to a stop.
Scrape picks up the radio transmitter. “Got ‘em” He says.
Talon can’t take his eyes off the wreck he just caused. This is his first mission and he feels both exhilarated and sickened at this.
Scrape starts the craft and they lift off. They fly over to the hover car lays on its roof, and set down next to it.
Scrape opens the door and steps out. His boots crunch on the broken glass as he makes his way over.
Talon grabs the jack from their trunk and follows.
“The boy is here,” Scrape stands in front of what used to be the left back window.
Talon places the device under the roof and starts jacking the vehicle up.
When it is up enough, Scrape grabs Kevin’s arm and carefully slides him out. The boy is unconscious; his head has a nasty cut on it. The hover car is smoking, now flames begin to spark up in the engine.
Scrape begins to haul Tyrus out too.
“What are you doing?” Talon asks. He’s holding Kevin’s head off the ground.
“The parents must live, that was our orders,” Scrape replies, one last heave and Tyrus is out and away from the burning vehicle.
“Why? I thought we were just here for the boy,” Talon says.
“I do not question orders, you should be more . . .” Scrape’s voice trails off. Sirens can be heard in the distance. “We have to go. Get the jack.” Scrape jumps up and, being the stronger of the two, scoops up Kevin. Talon quickly yanks the jack out and runs after him.
Scrape sets Kevin in the back out of sight and jumps into his seat in the cockpit.
Talon leaps in and closes the back doors of the craft.
“Go! Go! Go!” He shouts.
Scrape throttles the gas and the ship lurches into the air. They disappear around a building just as the police cars come into sight.
Once the two are certain they’re clear, Talon radios headquarters again.
“Got him, the boy is in the vehicle,”
“Good,” A voice crackles from the other end. “We’ll begin the experiment immediately.”
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*Edit: how was that? I tried to use your advice, is this a little better?*
*Edit 2: Came up with title. You'll see why later.*
