The Rising-1

Kunduz,

Afghanistan

36.73°N, 68.86°E

October 17th, 2009 A.D

Between 6:00 am and 7:00 am

"Sunshine, sunshine, looks like morning in your eyes, but the clock's held at...", cried Wiki Banes. At 22,000 feet in the swiftest, cruelest war machine, F-22 raptors, Wiki felt at the top of the world.

" Norah Jones is smoozy, you know smoozy? you don't know! Smoozy is smooth and easy.I told you before man. You ought'a pay attention. I say she sucks in the soul, cleans it, dries it, and breathes it out. She is ma' type of girl, man. Nice and smoozy. I gotta tell you, when i go back to the US of A, I will get myself one dude, my own soul cleaner, my soul laundry. You hearing me bro, Hey Routh!, C'mmon man, Routhy! ", blabbered Wiki.

Routh Steeler was higher than the skies he was flying in. His mind had wandered to the green fields of Great Bend, Kansas. Though he was born as a son of a wheat farmer, destiny had pushed him into the Air Force. Now thousands of miles from home, Routh was tired, tired of protecting a land he did not love.

" Yea man, you 'il look good in a Ferrari", said Routh absent mindedly.

" I ain't talking about no Ferrari. Bro, one of these days, you gotta start listenin... Whoa...What was that!!" crackled Wiki on the radio.

Ahead, a glistening white rectangular object was clearly visible, angling down to make a turn. It had no wings, no engine fumes, was not more than 10ft long and flew with calm rapidity. The rays of sun hit its white surface and made it look like a knife.

" What the f..", exclaimed Routh.

" Is it....is it a flying iPod?", rambled Wiki in disbelief.

"Falcon One to base, Unidentified Flying Object visible, proximity 1000 meters approx, no bounce on radar, permission to verify", radioed Routh hurriedly and felt shocked in accidentally using the cliche' phrase of UFO.

No response.

" Falcon One to Base, do you copy?"

"Base to Falcon One, repeat transfer, please repeat transfer", said the operator incredulously.

To be continued.......

The Legend

2323 A.D. United Moon Federation, Indix District:





"Gra'ma", stuttered Rivi, tugging at the long robe made of polymer derivatives, stringy, grayed and ragged, commonly known as polyrags.

"Yes, my child", sighed Stila, her voice resonating with pain and hopelessness.

It has been three years, since the dreaded day when two orphans clung to her frail body searching for warmth and protection. She could not even grieve for her son and daughter-in-law who were snatched by the cruel hands of death. What choice she had, it was not a time for weakness. Destiny had forced two little orphan souls in her hands. She must be strong.

" I must be strong", muttered Stila under her breath. Rivi was looking up in her creased face with his wide beautiful eyes.

"Just like his mother", she thought.

"Gra'ma , te'me the story of, ...of the Ingi,...Ingir...."

" The Ingener", whispered Stila.

" No Granma, No, not that story again, I am sick and tired of it and I have to check the air ventilation database or the Intellengi will cut our credit again, and then you will have to work in the polyrag hivetory and you will get sick", rumbled Tiah in a single breath.

Though only of eleven, Tiah was already a woman. Difficult circumstances had forced her child mind to take on the responsibilities of her three member family. Her four year old brother looked up to her and Stila found her supporting the income to feed them.

"Please Gra'ma, I like Ingir", pleaded Rivi.

"No, You have to go to bed.It's late", said Tiah with a stern voice.

The bed was a rack protruding out of the wall with two more racks stacked one upon one another with a two feet space between them. It was a small house, called "hive" constructed exactly like the hundred thousands other hives which comprised the Indix district. Out of the 102 districts which formed the United Moon Federation, Indix was one of the largest but one of the poorest. The hives opened in minor air shafts which where a kilometer deep. The district itself was below 2 kilometers from the moon surface. The minor shafts were connected to the central shaft which was surrounded by the Monitor Sector. This sector had the largest hives and housed the computers and control rooms which worked around the clock to maintain the habitability of the district.

"But, Gra'ma...", pleaded Rivi and stared accusingly at her elder sister.

Stila was still looking at the three dimensional map which emanated from the tiny projector. The "dustplay" was a very old invention which projected images by scattering light on the invisible dust always present in air, using it as a screen. The map showed the E-Wide-0001 segment of the space. The segment was designated one, because it showed the most important object in the space, Earth.

" The Promised Land", sighed Stila. Her reverie of thought was broken again by the tugging.

"But, Gra'ma you promised yesterday." said Rivi in a small voice.

Rivi put his little arms around Stila and made a sad face at her sister. Tiah did not hate stories but her ahead of the time maturity made her dislike things which were childish. But, she too melted by the request made by her cute little brother.

"Okay, but only for a while, after that you get to bed", said an exasperated Tiah. Stila smiled at her little grand-daughter who was perhaps more commanding than her. She too snuggled close to Stila with a haughty expression.


"More than three hundred years ago, there lived a hero....".

"How much is three hundred, is it big?", interrupted Rivi.

"Yes sweetheart, its big" said Stila amusingly.

"Okay, Once upon a time... Is that better?"

"Yes", chuckled Rivi.

" So, Once upon a time, on the great lands of Earth, there lived a hero. His name was Ingener...."



The next part is in the post, "The Rising-1"