So here goes, this is my novel that I've been working on for a while. It's a huge project, and took two or three years of endless thinking before the plot was satisfying enough.
Prologue
March – 23rd - 2157 AD
The sound of a space station leaving the Earth’s atmosphere was deafening. Even now, when the ship's huge structure had been in orbit for over half an hour, Paul Corner could still hear a faint ringing in his ears. The rest of the crew looked fairly sick, and one person had already thrown up. Space travel wasn’t something they were used to. There were two hundred of them at least.
“So that’s it then…here we are.” A voice came from behind Paul Corner’s back. He turned around, catching sight of the woman behind him. Paul grinned.
They were standing in the barracks, a place that was so overused it was impossible to get any sleep, because of the constant bustling of people nearby. Not only that, but nobody could have slept even if it was completely silent. Everybody was restless.
“Yes. Space, after all this time. Our plan worked…” There was a sense of disbelief in Paul’s voice, but also a sense of complete joy - of achievement.
“You should be happy! This is your life’s work Paul, your dream! And it’s going to be a success. I can asure you!” The woman beamed at him. From the side, another figure approached. He was younger than the others, with dark brown hair and a small beard growing from underneath his chin. He was carrying three glasses, and a bottle of champagne.
“Ah, there you two are. Ready for some celebration?” The man grinned, holding up the glasses. Before opening them, he planted a kiss on the woman’s cheek, who smiled.
TheJoe and Jean had been staring at each other for a while, and Paul was growing slightly impatient. He tried to be polite about it however. “Pass me a glass then, Joe! We haven’t got all eternity!” He suddenly burst out after a few seconds of silence.
“Ah, sorry Paul. Got lost in Jean’s eyes…” They giggled. Paul rolled his eyes suspiciously.
“You two seem awfully happy for a married couple…something you’re not telling me?” Paul asked, holding his glass out as Joe began pouring champagne into it.
“Ah… well, we saw the doctor a few days before we took off. I’m pregnant, Paul.” Jean explained ecstatically. There was a pause. For a moment, there was a glare of what seemed like anger in Paul’s eyes. But in the short space of time that they were silent, it had disappeared.
“That’s great news, you two! Then let’s drink to the child’s health!”
They clinked their glasses together.
“And to Eagle’s Claw!” Joe added.
They clapped their glasses together again.
“And to the Lunar Medical Station!” Jean almost shouted.
They clinked their glasses, once again.
“And…to the government, because they fell for the plan in the first place!” Paul added finally, followed by three sets of laughter, and another clink of glasses. As soon as the three of them let the glass touch their lips, Jean suddenly squealed, and spit her drink back into the glass.
“I forgot! No more drinking for me!” She rolled her eyes in disappointment. Joe grinned sympathetically, and then leaned on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry hon. It’ll all be worth it, in nine months…” He reassured her, and Paul nodded in agreement.
“Indeed, it will. This whole project will be worth it. In the many years that come. I can promise you two that.”
Jean shrugged. “I’m sure it will. I just feel a little
guilty sometimes…” she mumbled, causing Joe to raise his eyebrows.
“Guilty about what?” He asked.
“Two things… Doing this operation in the first place for a start… I mean it will hurt a lot of people. And I feel bad about raising a child on a space station… It’s hardly safe, is it? What if they… hurt themselves, or damage the ship?” Jean explained. Paul and Joe looked at each other, lost for words. Eventually, Paul spoke up.
“Don’t worry Jean. What we’re doing is for the greater good, I assure you. And as for raising the child, I’m sure it will be able to look after itself. And what harm could it possibly do to the ship that could harm the organisation.” He grinned at them both, and took another sip of his drink.
“Your unborn child will be fine. Nothing to worry about.”
<*>
Fourteen Years Later
Despite its size, it was moving extremely fast. As it cut through the Earth’s atmosphere its outer shell turned into a raging inferno, rocketing towards the planets surface at over ten thousand miles per hour. If somebody on the planet looked up they would clearly see an orange streak racing across the sky, getting closer and closer to the Earth’s surface.
The clouds scattered as the metal object shot through their delicate formation. Below, a forest was looming ever so close now, its green leaves heavily contrasted in the baking sunlight. As the object soured over this forest it came to an urban city, and now people were looking up, pointing fingers at the metallic object as it raced across the sky.
The metal sphere clipped the top of a tall branch, sending it into an unstoppable spinning motion, which caused it to collide into the trunk of another tree. As splinters and bark were thrown in random directions something on the object seemed to explode, and part of its perfect form erupted with the force of a small bomb. Finally reaching the end of its decent, the object carved an incredible crater in the ground, its outer shell smashing open.
The escape pod’s occupant was thrown over twenty metres before he stopped moving, his entire form crippled and his face warm with his own blood. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.
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