The Floating City

My legs rest over the edge of the city, hanging loose over the clouds that pass beneath.  I look down, attempting to find a stretch of land or even ocean, but as always, the city floats above the clouds hiding the earth from view. I take in a deep breath and drop my head back giving in to my hopeless emotions.

I want to let out a scream of impatience and anger. I feel trapped. The only world I've ever known isn't even natural, it's artificially made because of human idiocy in my opinion. Scientists were forced to create a way of making more space for human life once the population began to become too much for the earth to sustain. Apparently we were using up too much of the world's resources due to our high population and the world leaders decided the best way to solve this was to take some humans to the sky... Now we are trapped up here and told it's for the better.

I feel as though I'm the only one who finds a problem with that rule... 

I lift myself up and carefully make my way back to the safe zone of the city.   I'm not supposed to be out on the edge in construction zones, but I know where the flaws in the walls are, so whenever I want to get away I escape to the outer edge I'm able to. This zone is under construction to be made into another district, but currently all building has been halted for no known reason. So the edges of this district are all wood panels and are the bare bones of how the city is set up.

Finally I make my way back to the wall that keeps the citizens within the actual city that is complete. I shake loose one of the control panels to the gate and I pull a wire out and the gates unlatch. I slide in quickly and replace the wire and continue down the street  as swiftly as I can in  hopes of not being noticed. In the actual city, the ground seems to be solid, the stone paths that line the streets are decorated by the colorful plants growing. The city may be made by human, but it resembles exactly how life was on earth from what I've seen in old photos. I start to walk down the street trying not to make much noise in my heavy boots. I just need to make it a street over to avoid suspicion.

Unfortunately a lot of people know who I am because of my Grandfather. The man who engineered the city and it's mechanical workings. I'm next to become the Head engineer of the city.

Right as I try and slip down a narrow city alley I hear it.

"Charlie!" My name is shouted out by a male voice. I turn slowly to face whoever it is trying to confront me about my secret getaway.

Standing not even a few feet away is a young man by the name of Tray Marco. He is a tall skinny man who appears rather rugged, but in truth is just a nerd with a tough build. He pushes his wire framed  glasses up his nose.

"Hey Charlie" he smiles adding an awkward wave to the end of his greeting. Tray was my grandfather's apprentice, he was training alongside me to learn the ropes of the city's inner workings. The way the city was able to maintain it's stable altitude and weight capacity.

I wanted to go into medicine, the increasing field of work that seems to be part of the longevity of our people. I hoped to make a difference by helping people, not contributing to the encasing of people on a ginormous floating platform...

 I allowed my mind to wonder again because I noticed Tray's shift in stance waiting for a reply.

"Hi." I chirp. "What's up?" I just remembered that he probably saw me entering the city. Panic returned to me even though I know I can trust Tray.

"Nothing, I just saw you walking and wanted to remind you about our meeting today with the board, they have an announcement for us." He leaned in and whispered, "Don't tell, but I think it has to do with our assignment career."