1

The bombing started on a warm sunny afternoon on the 6th of June.  Spencer Giphero had just returned home from his last day of 11th grade to his house where he lived alone as an orphan.  He heard the sound of explosions everywhere as his roof collapsed onto him and he was knocked unconscious.

“Come on!” He heard voices shouting but he was regaining consciousness.  There was another blast and everything went black once again.

When Spencer woke up his house was on fire.  He coughed from the thick smoke and began to get up but was unable.  A rafter had pinned him down.  His eyes were teary and everything was blurry.  He tried to lift the bar off of his chest but it weighed too much.  He was beginning to lose consciousness.  He saw a dark figure coming towards him and tried to look up.  As the figure got closer he could hear a voice,  “Spencer! help me lift this rafter,  Spencer! it’s me Jensen.”  Spencer, hearing his best friends voice used his last bit of strength to lift the bar off his chest.  Jensen then grabbed Spencer and half-carried, half-dragged him out of the building.  

Outside was madness.  There were people everywhere, running and screaming.  He could see other houses leveled to the ground and craters and several bodies in the road.  Spencer struggled to get to his feet but was coughing too much.  Jensen had left him outside to get some water.

When Jensen returned he pulled up in a small red pickup truck and jumped out of the door.  He gave Spencer the water.  After gulping down about half the water he got to his feet.  “Thanks” Spencer said.  “No Problem”  Jensen replied.  Spencer looked at his reflection in a puddle of water.  His short black hair was covered in ash and his green eyes looked tired.  He was average height and fairly strong for his age.  He turned back to look at his house and Jensen looked too.  “Dang” said Jensen.  “Looks like you had a bad morning.”

“No kidding” said Spencer “How did you know to find me.”

“I’ll tell you on the way” said Jensen

“Where are we going?” asked Spencer

“To the Florida Space Station, it’s only about a two hour drive.” Said Jensen

“Okay” said Spencer

Jensen helped Spencer into the car and took off towards the space station.  It was a bumpy ride as there were potholes all over the road..  “Tell me how you found me” Spencer said to Jensen  “Ok, Ok, I was walking down the street when I met this dude named Arthur.  He looked like he was in his mid 50’s.  He had gray hair and was about 6 feet tall.  He’s also African American.  He told me about the war that was coming and about a spacecraft that would take some people out to the stars.  He told me to find Spencer and get here as fast as possible.”  Spencer looked at Jensen and asked “He knew who I was?”  “Yeah” said Jensen.  

How could he have possibly known? thought Spencer.  It didn’t matter, if what Jensen said was true they had to go.

Jensen and Spencer had grown up in an orphanage together and always had each others backs.  Today they were going to get off this planet.  

The smoke was thickening around them as they drove and they had to slow down to make sure they didn't crash the car, although they could see the rocket that would take them off this planet in the distance.  From what Spencer could tell the world was in anarchy.

About 15 minutes from the space station a roadblock forced them to get out of the car and run the rest of the way.  Five minutes later a man jumped out of an alley with a revolver and pointed the gun at the two boys.  

“Do anything stupid and I will shoot!” the man said  “Now give me anything valuable you have and then come with me.”

Spencer looked at Jensen quickly then back at the man.  He then dove at the man twisting his arm in the air.  The man fired his gun and missed.  Jensen went behind the man and took him out at the knees.  The man fell over and dropped his gun, and Jensen kicked it away.  Spencer then punched him hard in the throat and the man fell over and didn’t get up.

Spencer suddenly felt sick and asked “Is he dead?”

Jensen checked for a pulse and replied “I don’t think so.”

“Good” Said Spencer.  

“He deserved that”  Said Jensen  “He was a wise crack.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”  Asked Spencer laughing

“Nothing”  Said Jensen “Come on we got to go.”

The boys finally reached the gates and looked up at the rocket.  It looked like something out of a science fiction movie.  It was white and silver with a twin engine on the back and the words Alpha One printed on the side.

Spencer looked in awe at the craft until Jensen grabbed his arm and said “Come on!”  

At the gate Spencer saw a tall African-American man who he assumed was Arthur.  

“Ah, Jensen” Said Arthur, “We have been waiting for you and Spencer to arrive.” He looked at Spencer then turned back to Jensen “Follow me to the entry of the ship.”

“Wait!” Spencer said, “How did you know who I was?” He asked arthur

“I will answer all your questions once we have put some distance between us and this planet” Arthur replied  “For now just come with me.”

Arthur led Jensen and Spencer to an elevator which would take them to the entry point of the Alpha One.  Once they were in Arthur led them to the back or the ship where there were lots of chairs all next to each other with lots of restraints.

“What happened?” Spencer asked Arthur motioning to the city that was burning.

“We’re not sure actually” Arthur replied.  “  Bombs seemed to stars falling from the sky.  It's probably best not to think of it too much though.”

Arthur led them into the ship before Spencer could ask any more questions.  Spencer could see that there were only about forty or fifty people on the ship.  They had all strapped themselves to the chairs for take off so he realized they had been waiting on him and Jensen.  

Arthur led the to two chairs near the back “Sit down” he said to Spencer and Jensen.   They both sat down and Arthur strapped them to the chairs.

“We will begin take off soon.” said Arthur  “You are strapped down for the obvious reasons of not killing yourself as the ship takes off.  Once we reach a certain distance the gravity generators will turn on and you restraints will be released.  Try to stay conscious during take off.  It is possible to lose consciousness.  It won’t hurt you to go unconscious but it can be a pain when you wake up.”

Arthur then strapped himself to a chair and Spencer could hear the engines running.  Spencer then realized something quite peculiar.  There were very few adults on this ship.  a little less than a fourth were adults.  Most were teenagers about his age.  He wondered why this was but before he had time to think a loud noise came from the back of the ship and he began to feel the ship rise.  

The ship started going faster and faster and Spencer saw the edges of his vision began to go black.  He tried to  concentrate and stay conscious but the sheer force was too much.  The edges of his vision were getting blacker and blacker and then he saw nothing.