Children of the Sun

Chapter One

The feeling of air rushing passed her felt familiar, even though she had never experienced falling before. Above her, the sun roared brightly. Below, a mass of green as far as the eyes could see. She wasn't sure what the green was, but it covered everything on the surface. All she hoped for is that it wouldn't hurt when she finally reached it.

Across the city, Jake sat on his parents' roof. The morning sun was shining over the city. The ritual was something he did every day. The sky slowly began to change colors as the sun rose from the east. The sunlight pierced the darkness away as it reached over the horizon. Jake watched as the panels on the roofs of buildings all turned in unison to face the incoming light. It was one of his favorite things to watch.

Almost as if on cue, a breeze rolled in. Jake's brown hair swayed behind his ears. The turbines in the distance were going to get a good use out of the on coming wind.

"Jake, are you up there?" a stern voice asked from below him, muffled by the plant insulation. Jake looked over to the hatch nearby. A light was shining through. That meant his parents were finally awake. He crawled over to the hatch and opened it.

"Yes, I was watching the solar farms move together," Jake answered to his father who stood at the bottom of a ladder.

His father smiled. "As much as it makes me happy that you like seeing some of my work in motion, it can be pretty dangerous up there on that roof."

Jake looked around the roof. There was a rather large flat area of the roof where he usually sat. Bamboo shelves held potted plants of many different variety. It was all contained within a fence-high edge surrounding the entire roof. Jake then turned back to his father. "I'm not playing up here, just observing."

"Always a watcher and a thinker, just like your mother. Well, anyways, come on down so you can have breakfast."

Jake looked out to the sun once again. The warmth began to radiate over him. He let out a sigh of relief and then began to descend the ladder into the house.

The sweet smell of freshly cut fruit greeted Jake. It was a quick breakfast for his parents to prepare while they prepared for their early jobs. Coffee beans soon overtook the sweet smell as his father began to crush the beans into a dust.

"Another dawn on the roof, hun?" Jake's mother asked.

"It's always fascinating seeing the things you both work on," he explained.

"You should see the hydro-mills when everyone gets there. Seeing all the water come in from the rivers," she replied.

Jake nodded. The hydro-mills were a lot further away to reach. His mother wasn't allowed to bring her 13 year-old-son to her work, so he wouldn't be able to watch it for a few more years. "Someday I will, I'm sure."

His mother smiled. Jake's father chuckled and added, "Then you might also be old enough to see a solar panel repaired or upgraded at mine too."

All three ate their breakfasts. It wasn't long before both Jake's parents were getting ready to leave. "What are your plans for today Jake? You have another week or so before school starts again right?" his father asked as he checked his watch for the date.

"Yeah, not long until summer break is over. I'll probably go to Evan's house for a bit."

"Just be careful when you go over!" Jake's mother called out from her bedroom.

"I will!"

Both his parents gathered their things for work and began to head out of the front door. Jake followed them out to see them off.

"You be good today," his mother told him and kissed his forehead.

Jake nodded and watched his parents unplug their vehicles from the house. They entered the cars, waving goodbye to Jake. Jake watched them begin to drive away towards the rising sun, that was well into the sky. The sun seemed brighter than it had been the day before.

Before the morning escaped him, Jake gathered a bag of things to bring along to Evan's house. Within minutes, he was on his way out the door once again. In the bright light of the day, his yard was a vibrant green with clovers. Vines crawled all over the walls of the front of the house. His parents called it "Old District Chic." Jake had never been to the Old District, but he had seen pictures of it. The buildings were designed to keep plants of just about any kind along the walls of the buildings, making it all look like nature had reclaimed it. Jake couldn't imagine how it looked now that it wasn't occupied.

Jake walked through his neighborhood over to Evan's house. Evan was already outside in his own yard.

"You're early," Evan said, his face illuminating with a smile.

"I wanted to have as much time with you today, since our summer is ending soon."

Evan nodded in agreement. "Well we should go up to the roof. I think there are some undocumented solar flares happening today. The sun seems brighter, and the day seems warmer."

"I thought something was different," Jake replied. Evan was already into studying the sun and space. Jake didn't understand much of it, because his interests were in plants.

Evan led Jake through his house and up a similar ladder to the roof. Instead of bamboo shelves filled with plants, there were small desks and workstations with telescopes nearby. Evan was already taking notes on different activity and interesting sights he saw at night.

"So how often are solar flares anyways? Are they bad for us down here?" Jake asked.

"They seem pretty rare. Maybe one every 13 years?" Evan questioned as he referred to his notes. "But as far as danger goes, they never throw off enough energy to hurt our planet, or the people on it for a matter of fact. These flares just make the sun a bit brighter, us a tad bit warmer, and then suddenly a flare is released."

Jake was fascinated by Evan's knowledge on the subject. Though they had been friends for quite a while, they still found ways to surprise one another. "Sounds amazing. When do you think this flare will happen?"

Evan shielded his eyes while he looked up at the massive light source. "Could be any second now, or it could be hours or even days."

The telescopes that lined the roof were separated into different categories. Evan had his night time telescopes on one side, and two different day time telescopes on the other. One daytime one was used for looking at the sky, clouds, and things of that nature. The other was a specialized one to look near the sun. Jake knew he could not use it to look directly at the sun, especially now that it was even brighter today.

Evan walked over to his sun telescope and began to aim it to look below the sun. Jake looked into it after Evan stopped adjusting it. There in the sky, Jake could see the sun begin to throw energy out from it's surface. A bright flash of light seemed to boom across the sky. Jake watched as a flaming object fell from the surface of the sun and began to descend directly toward the Old District.

"What in the world?" Evan questioned. He tapped for Jake to move aside so he could take a look.

Jake watched the object continue to fall without the telescope. Together they watched the object land in the Old District with a loud explosion.

A few seconds of silence followed as the two stood looking out towards a small pillar of smoke. They both looked at each other. Jake could tell exactly what Evan was thinking.

Before Evan could say the words on his own, Jake replied, "We should go check that out."

Evan laughed and cheered. "Exactly! What a discovery that could be! Was it a meteor? Was it a solidified solar flare? Who knows?!"

Jake was glad he could be there for his friend for something like this. An adventure into the Old District might be a great way to end his summer.