Lightyear

Prologue and Chapter 1

Prologue

My mother flipped another pancake onto the hot griddle. It sizzled when it hit the bottom. She patted it down before, letting it sit and then flipping it onto her towering stack. She the turned off the burners and placed a square chunk of butter on top of her pancakes before placing the plate in the center off the table, right in front of me. My mouth watered at the sight. I'm so hungry.

"Nova, you realize that this is a bribe, right?" My mom asked. I nodded in the way of the pancakes, my eyes the size of saucers. I licked my lips at the sight. My mother gave me the look.

"Yes, mom I understand. Can we please eat, already?" I begged. My nostrils flared taking in every delicious smell, every light, fluffy, delicious smell. " I'll clean the stupid room. I'm hungry. Lets eat."

My mom smiled. Her smile was warm but her eyes looked tired, as always. She joined me at the kitchen table. "Nova, your fourteen. It' s about time you did more. It's a requirement to clean today and you know I don't get many chances to get off work at the Sanatorium. Cleaning Day is important to the country. It's the day that the whole world came together to clean up the damage the Great Havoc left. It's an international holiday. It's a day when parents bestow cleaning duties on their children to show how responsible they think you are. It's almost a coming of age tradition, like a right of passage. I am giving you a whole room to clean. you should be proud of yourself."

"Please, Mom. You just found a decorated way to tell me your forcing me to clean up some back room you've been too lazy to do yourself. Now, let's eat." I was basically whining now. My stomach growled.

" I work very hard. You can hardly call me lazy."

"Fine, a room you were to busy to clean. Can we eat now?"

My mom sighed. She said a quick blessing before snagging a few pancakes and passing the plate to me. I greedily heaped pancake on pancake before drowning them in maple syrup. For a while we ate in silence because there really was nothing to say.

" You know, Nova, the space station is building a new space craft, the Mach 5. It's supposed to leave a year from today. Not on the very day but...close to it. You'll be fifteen by the time it leaves." Mom said.

"Oh." I gave as an answer. My mouth was full of food.

"It's heading to the same quadrant as the Explorer." My mom continued. " It will be delivering supplies. I saw it on the morning newscast and on the Holographic." The Holographic Newsletter often shortened to just the 'holographic' was like what used to be a daily newspaper. It arrived every morning in the microchip slot. You could plug it into any outlet and the holographic image would appear. When it first came out it was a virtual phenomenon but now it's an ordinary part of day to day life.

I shoveled an entire pancake into my mouth. " So..." I started. " Why should I care?" At least that's what I tried to say. My mouth was so full of what used to be pancakes, was now mush, I could barely talk. I think my mom understood.

She smiled at me. " You shouldn't eat with your mouth full." She scolded. " You know the Explorer is your dad's ship, right?"

"My dad took off years ago, still not seeing why I should care." I said nonchalantly.

"You shouldn't be so stubborn." My mom said . " I know you're trying to act like it doesn't bother you,but you can talk to me."

I shrugged taking another bite of breakfast. I jabbed my fork into a piece of a pancake. Then I stabbed another and another and another until I couldn't fit another bit on the tongs of my forks. I hated my Father with every depth of my being. Every time I stabbed pancake I thought of it being his arm, his hand, his face, his heart( if he had one).