Earthbound

Chapter Six

        Maggie waved to the people that shrunk as the ship rose. Soon enough, Ares bit his lip as the people turned the size of ants and the Earth became further and further away. He walked across the ship's cabin to Maggie's swiveling chair and leaned over it. 

        "So where to, now?" Maggie punched a few buttons and keys and clicks sounded from under the floor. She shrugged. 

        "Somewhere cool. We both have nothing to lose, so let's explore!" Ares smiled, mixed feelings in his gut. Maybe he had something to hold on to, something to lose, but as he searched his memories, he found that he didn't. It sat like a great black stone on top of him, like a hold in his chest. But then it dawned on him as he drew the slenderly folded peice of paper out of his pocket. 

        "CP, the initials of the man who freed me." He unfolded the paper and let Maggie read. She held her breath. 

        "Ares, I think you're not just someone put in space for no reason. Red hair, this note, no family. It all points to one thing." 

        "What?" She drew in another quick breath. 

        "Years ago, the fourth world war led to the decision that we needed on supreme ruler. Someone who hold council with the countries and decides the fate of the world. The first, Camden Leod, was a rare red head. His son, Darik Leod, was his heir. He was assasinated, along with his wife. But there were rumors that he had a son."  Ares's head swam.

        "It all points toward it! You were sent out into space so you couldn't claim it back! You are intitled to it, you know. When you turn sixteen. So, we could just lay low until then, then pop out like, hey guess what! We rule the world!"  Ares bit his lip again. 

        "You know, I don't know if I want that." Maggie looked confused.

        "Why?"

        "Pressure." She smirked.

        "Oh, come on. Let's at least try!" Ares smiled weakly. 

        "Alright, but the first step towards this is to find this CP person. Now, he must have had close contact to the ship in order to place this note in the workings. Maybe, and electrician? A soldier?" 

        "Alright, but the thing is, they may have been found out and killed. That happens all the time since the fifth world war that took your father's life. People rising up, asking questions, defying the current leader."

        "Who is the current leader?" 

        "Targen Nyles. He's old, and many people think someone else is giving him his ideas, namely his advisor, Rictor Krane. He was never the brightest anyway." Ares nodded. The atmosphere was shining beneath them, a globe of clouds and sky. The sun sank over the side of the Earth as they rode the gravity around the globe. Olly rode in from the storage room where he had been stacking boxes and chirped. Maggie smiled.

        "What now?" He chirped again and remotly switched on the news screen on the side of the ship.

        "If anyone has information on this person, contact the government on its website. Thank you." A sketched photo of a red haired person appeared on screen. The message then repeated in a variation of different languages.

        "Oh crap!" Maggie yelled. Olly chirped and rolled into the table. The picture on screen was noticably a young boy, but it looked nothing like Ares. But, then again, red heads were extremely rare amoung humans now. He ran his fingers through his hair.

        "We need to find CP soon."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

        The boss sneered at the sight of the sketch they had made of Darik Leon's spawn. He had always hated him. Mostly because of the fact he was the runner up, the "almost king". He was almost there. And his weak and unpropelled compeditor beat him. It made him feel sick.

        "Sir, the Stargazer was set so that it would never come back to Earth. there must be sabatoge involved. A former soldier. A technitian. Even a manufactuer. The list goes on and on. The problem is, that it would be extremely difficult and time consuming to research this."

              "Then you better get to work." The thin man ran down the hall to a glass door and yanked it open. He jumped into the helivator and spoke his destination.

        "Floor 392." Social research room. Or as he liked to call it, the hunting room. He walked up to the keypad and typed in a recognition code. Then his last name.

        Palkin