2074

(This is a story written by me and LN.)

Frank Butler zoomed by on his motorcycle, the tall spires of the city rising up in front of him as his cycle skimmed a foot above the ground. The package he was taking to the Hyper-Mail was tucked safely inside his backpack, his jacket was securely fastened against the heat of the summer day, and he had his new favorite band blasting in the speakers of his helmet. He passed the familiar processing plants, growing stations and summer homes on his route without a second glance.
Then, without any warning, an explosion tore through the building to his left. Kaboom-boom-boom. Almost immediately, he heard a sound to his right, and felt the shock as a laser-powered arrow hit the side of his cycle, just six inches from his leg. He looked to his left just in time to see a man with a crossbow driving speedily toward him up a side road in a Hoverjeep, then he hit the throttle and sped toward the city at full speed.
His speed made it hard to control the cycle, but he fought with the controls and kept it on the road. Then out of nowhere, a transport truck headed off a side street and straight toward his careening cycle. A lucky swerve, and the transport passed so close he could have touched it. That’s when the beeping started, a red light flashing from the arrow still embedded in the side of the cycle. Frank sped towards the bridge and the river that marked the boundary of the city. As he crossed the high bridge, he threw himself off the cycle and over the railing down the long drop toward the water.
The cycle exploded just before he hit the anti-gravity field over the water. It had been put in place a decade before, to prevent accidents and pollution. Some brave teens made a sport of jumping off the bridges, but their height meant that the jumper was in for a nasty shock at the bottom, even without touching the water. Frank was no different. The abrupt stop knocked the wind out of him and he choked and gasped as the field carried him towards the shore. He landed on the bank determined to open the package and to find out what it was his father had given him and why someone wanted him dead.

To be continued. . .