Chapter One: "Midnight"

    As a child, Nolan Anders always wondered what it would be like to travel the stars, visit other worlds and see things one can only imagine. He dreamed of being a flight captain or a ship commander, flying off to explore the unknowns and facing the greats of whatever the universe had to offer. He would pretend to be a space pirate other days, just waiting for his next helpless ship to pass through to plunder in the fringes of the Trade Zone. Those were the days.

 

       Lying on his back in his bed, Nolan stared at the ceiling of his room. Adorned with all kinds of glow-in-the-dark stars and planets, his walls were illuminated by the eerie green light, casting deep shadows in the recesses of the room. This would had made any other eleven year old boy happy, but Nolan wished he could be outside looking at the real night sky. It was always clearest this time of the year in late autumn and he abhorred the idea of missing yet another meteor shower.

       He rolled onto his side, eyes wide now, his gaze piercing through his bedroom door. A small sliver of light from the hallway crept under the door, telling him some of his family was still awake, scurrying around the house. He wondered how long it would be until his mother would be in bed, content with the evening. Raising his head up, he glanced at the clock resting on his night stand.

       11:59pm.

       Jesus! No wonder she’s always tired, she never sleeps!

       Nolan rolled his eyes and returned to his resting position. After what seemed like hours, the light in the hall finally went out, signaling his chance to make his move.

       Yes! Time to go!

       He threw back his covers and sat upright, sliding his feet into his boots waiting next to his bed. As he stood up, he heard a floor board creek from beyond his door in the hall and he froze!

       Don't blow it now, Nolan, he thought to himself as he held his breath, hoping his adventure wouldn’t be cut short before it began. His mother was very strict about curfew, and he knew all too well the perils of being caught. As he stood like an iron statue affixed to his bed, he heard the soft click of a door down the hall in the distance.

       Whew!

       He quickly leapt to his window, sliding the glass pane up ever so slightly. With one last check, he turned his ear to the bedroom door and waited for a moment to ensure he was in the clear. Satisfied, he tossed one leg up through the opening, grabbed the handle on the outside for support and hoisted himself up and out onto the roof of the kitchen. He crouched in the shadows being sure to remain silent.

       Nolan's tall, slender frame made this exit his easiest and personal favorite. An even greater treat was the easy access off the roof via an old dogwood tree planted a few feet from the house. He hit the ground with a slight thud and crouched in the corner again to check his surroundings. The symphonic cadence of the bullfrogs and other creatures of the night was almost hypnotic.

       Slowly standing, Nolan headed toward the back of the house and toward the only gate in the old privacy fence separating the back yard from the front. The wood, one could easily tell, was salvaged from items whose times had long since passed. Careful to avoid the horrible screech he knew would wail from the rusted latch, he pulled up and the slide and with a firm push from his shoulder, the gate opened without a sound.

       Yes! I still got it!

       Pleased with his sneak skill, he continued through the gate, diligently closing it behind him. The moon was nearing half crescent so it was darker than Nolan was used to. Living this far out in the middle of nowhere, he had grown accustomed to the sometimes overbearing light the sky emitted at night. Here, it seemed, the moon was brighter than anywhere else on earth! But tonight was different, however, and moving in the darkness was easier than ever.

       Nevertheless, this only made tonight even better. Nolan would finally get to see another meteor shower, an event he had missed the last time around nearly a year ago. The sky was so full of color and lights it almost looked like a painting, but not even Da Vinci himself could capture its true beauty. He turned the corner and grabbed hold of a ladder that was leaned up against the wall waiting for him.

       In just a few short leaps, he was on the roof again, but this time he was on the main roof over the living area of the house. He moved across the tilted surface so swiftly as if the memory alone guided him, and lifted himself up to the next level with a quick jump.

       Here at last!

 This was Nolan's favorite place to be. From here he could see the whole galaxy if he wanted to. He walked over to the middle of the platform and sat down softly. Lying on his back, he once again let his gaze draw upwards to the stars and the wonders that filled his imaginations. His thoughts drifted to his many fond memories of the adventures he had shared here in this very spot with his father many times before.

       Dad.

       Nolan often thought of his father; of his adventures in space. He admired him for his bravery and envied him for his travels. Nolan would beg for days to convince his father to take him along on his next voyage, every time he was home. But like always, the answer was the same.

       "You know I can’t, Nol." His father said playfully.

       "But it's no fair!" Nolan would contend.

       Smiling at his son, the weary captain knelt to eye level, taking hold of Nolan's shoulder. "Nothing would make me happier than to have you by my side out there, son." He paused for a moment and looked into his son's longing eyes. "It's just too dangerous right now. I need you here protecting your mother, okay?"

       Defeated, Nolan surrendered in protest. He looked back at his father's rugged but comforting face in disappointment. With another big smile, the large man wrapped Nolan up in a hug and squeezed him tight. After exchanging their goodbyes, he returned Nolan to the ground, patted his head and turned to his mother who was waiting for him by the taxi shuttle.

       As he stood there watching his parents say goodbye, he was lost in his own mind, thinking ahead to yet another birthday spent without his dad. But he noticed something in their faces off in the distance. He could see his mother's emotions flare as she fought to hold back tears. Something was different this time, off in a way. He was too young to know back then, but his father was off to fight a war.

       His mind brought him back to the present. Nolan sighed heavily. That was the last time he saw his father. He often wondered if he was still alive, out there fighting to survive somehow. Or had the argument he had with his mother so long ago driven him away once and for all? He couldn’t help but wonder at all the reasons his father wouldn’t have returned home as he always did. His mother, Ophelia, had never opened up to him about it, fearing him too young to bear the truth.

       As he pondered on his family, he thought of the never ending war that engulfed the world. Infighting between the Mars Colonies and the Phobos installations had led to an all-out intersystem war, eventually dragging Earth into the fray as well. Eventually, the independent militaries of the colonized worlds of Sol system space came together under one banner to form the S.O.L.I.S. Alliance. The Sol-Independent Systems Alliance, or most commonly known as SOLIS, became the defacto government of our home solar system along with the four other star systems humans had colonized in the local cluster: Sirius, Alpha Centauri, Theaban, and Tandom.

       The United Systems Alliance headed the SOLIS government, headquartered in Vancouver City, capital of the North American Union. By 2130, the merge was complete and the war efforts were doubled to end the separatist movement on Mars. However, the fighting only escalated when the economy of the newly formed empire was shaken by a crippling depression a few short years later. The battlefield was brought to Earth shortly after when an attack on the Earth Embassy left relations between the two worlds scarred.

       Nolan was born during the sixth year of the official campaign on Mars. By then, the war was waning but the worst was still yet to come. This senseless war would continue until shortly after Nolan’s sixteenth birthday, or so it was thought. Peace was declared and an all-out Sol systems civil war was averted. But conflict is ever present in the galaxy and even though the official war was over, his father still never returned home. Why there was so much mystery around his father was perplexing to Nolan; even more so was his mother's reluctance to speak on the matter.

       At that moment, a flash of light burst into view in the sky to the north.

       Finally, he thought, coming back to reality.

       Within a moment's notice, the sky was filled with a shower of fire streaming across the blackness above in a brilliant storm of light. Nolan's eyes widened in excitement and delight. He had missed the last one due to a storm that blew in the night before, but this year, Nolan vowed, he would see the next one come hell or high water. Luckily enough, the sky had never been clearer.

       "Told you I'd make it to the next one, Dad," he whispered softly to himself.

       "I was beginning to wonder!" A stern but familiar voice said from behind him.

Nolan jumped up, swinging his head to see who had snuck up in the darkness. When his eyes met the familiar voice's identity, Nolan’s jaw nearly came unhinged. Was he seeing what he really thought he was?

       Hesitantly, he asked, "...Dad?"

       "Who else knows about our spot, Nol?!" his father answered with a smile.

       "Dad!" Nolan yelped, ignoring the fact that it was well past midnight now. "It is you!"

       His father smiled and embraced him warmly as Nolan flung himself into his arms. Nolan squeezed him tight as if to check to see if he was real. Tears were already streaming down Nolan's face as he pulled himself away from his father and looked him dead in the eyes.

       "Why now? H-how did get to come home?"

       His father offered no response.

       Nolan tried again. "I thought you were gone for good this time! How could you go so long without coming home!?"

       Bust still he received no reply. Frustrated, Nolan lashed out.

       "Answer me!"

       With no emotion whatsoever in his voice, his father simply replied:

       "Don't follow me, Nol. You can never follow me."

       "What?" Nolan asked confused. "What are you talking about?"

       He repeated. "Don't follow me, Nolan." He tried to turn his back to him and begin to walk away, but Nolan grabbed his father's shoulders and held him tight.

       "What does that mean, dad? Follow you to where?"

       The now ghostly looking captain began to fade out of his reach. Nolan screamed for him as he slipped away, but his voice seemed to go mute. The shower of shooting stars above them began to grow in intensity and tremors now shook the house he was standing on. He continued to try to get an answer from his dad but to no success. His words now inaudible, he could still be seen mouthing the same words over and over.

       You can’t follow me, Nolan. Never follow me.

       The sky grew brighter by the second with night now turning into day. Off in the distance of the horizon, a great white flash erupted with tremendous force, knocking Nolan off his feet and slamming him against the hard brick chimney. The entire earth was shaking now as the light in the sky became so blindingly bright he had to shut his eyes. The shockwave had passed but the winds were still pounding the house. A feeling of falling hit Nolan all at once as the searing hot light devoured the landscape, consuming all in its path.

 

       Sweat poured off Nolan's nose as he abruptly sat up in his bunk, waking from his hellish nightmare. His heart pounding out of his chest, he ran his hands through his near shoulder length, jet black hair, pulling it back out of his face. He looked over his right shoulder at the next bunk over, its occupant still sound asleep.

       Just a dream, he thought out loud in a faint whisper. But he knew this nightmare all too well. This was far from the first time it had haunted him. It reoccurred every so often, but these days it seemed to be almost every night now. Only now, it seemed to be so much more real, practically second nature. But no matter how many times he lived through it, he never came any closer to understanding his father's cryptic message.

       Nolan plopped back down onto his pillow and closed his eyes yet again, letting out an exhausted sigh. No sense in overthinking it for the millionth time. He knew nothing productive would come from rerunning it his head as he often did. And so, after a few moments, he was well off to sleep again. For now anyway.

       Either way, it’s hard to follow a dead man.

 

Author's Note

This is a work in progress so please let me know of any errors of any kind, and feel free to submit ideas to make the story better, or to just tell me i suck. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!