And here's my first draft of most of the first chapter........... uh... still under construction. Bear with me! =o
His feet slapping against the metal floor was the only thing drowning out his pounding heart. Then the other prisoners started making a commotion. The alarms began wailing. It doesn't matter, he thought, I have to get out of here. They would probably kill him for this, literally. "It doesn't matter anymore," the words scattered behind him. The wide expanse was coming to an end and he started searching for an escape route. The guards' heavy footfalls were quickly thudding behind him, making his own steps accelerate along with his heartbeat. His momentum almost swept him into a wall as he swung down a corridor and tried to get his bearings. The dimly lit hallway stretched long in front of him and didn't seem to offer any way out, but he kept running, seeing that there was a light at the end. As he broke out into the wide, brightly lit area, he realized what he'd stumbled on. This was a ship hanger. The huge floor was littered with all varieties of spacecraft. He'd never seen anything like it, and stood in speechless awe before the scene for a few seconds, then the metallic clang of the guards got him moving again. Huge bodies of metal passed him by in rows on each side as he searched for a hiding place. He finally huddled underneath a particularly small, sleek craft and held his breath. His eyes wandered to the opened hatch and his mind churned with the possibilities. Throwing all caution to the wind, he leapt through the opening and found himself seated in front of the controls. Uh oh, he eyed the hundreds of complicated-looking buttons and switches and gauges lined up in front of him. He pulled on a promising lever, and nothing seemed to happen, but guards had begun pouring into the warehouse, searching the ships. Frantically he started flipping switches one by one and jabbing at buttons until he came across the large, shiny one that had "ON" boldy printed on it in glowing letters. He pushed the button. The engines gasped and started warming up whirringly, drawing all attention to his location suddenly.
A bead of sweat rolled down his face as their yellow eyes bore into him. A moment of awkward silence passed, then the pin dropped and they began clunking towards him. He urgently slammed his foot into the pedal on the floor and yanked another lever back as far as he could and instantly the ship bucked to life. About a dozen of them were taken out quite dramatically as he careened past. He gripped the steering handles tightly and tried to gain control, but the ship would not be tamed, slamming into walls, ships, and other guards. He almost flew out of his seat, but he clung to the wheel and groped for the restraining harness as the ship turned more somersaults. When he righted himself again he was a little surprised to see the red-orange sky of his planet draped over him. He turned in his seat to see a gaping, jagged hole in the roof below, and he stared into the lifeless eyes of the guards. He didn't need a second thought, but set his foot into the pedal and steered away from that building. Gaining altitude every second, he sped across the desert he called home. He allowed a moment to breathe, and tried to make his hands stop shaking. Was he really that insane? What had just happened? His right hand closed lightly around the stone hanging from his neck. "Well, what do I do now?" His thoughts were interrupted when he caught sight of probably 20 battle ships streaking after him. Wincing, he pulled even harder on the handles and took another deep breath. Might as well go out with a band. He was getting higher and higher, and they were close behind, getting steadily closer. The intercom crackled to life and the metallic voice of a guard grated through. "Captive 0172, land now and we will not destroy you." His lip twitched, but he kept silent. In his mind he fumed, don't want to hurt your precious ship, do you? 'will not destroy me'? If I'm fortunate, maybe I'll be taken back and 'made an example of.' I don't think so. He angled the ship even higher and kept the pedal to the metal floor. The radio squawked again and the emotionless voice continued. "If you do not stop, we will have no other option. You have been warned." Just then his eye caught sight of a pulsing button a few rows away from the "ON" one. It wanted to be pushed desperately. Keeping an eye on the ships on his tail, he pressed the button gently. The ships quickly disappeared from his sights and in turn he was pressed, less than gently, back into his seat. It appeared that the rocket engines had been activated. Suddenly he noticed how dark it was getting outside. The horizon outside looked strange, too curved. As he pondered this, his followers sped up as well and started playing catch-up again. He looked back and saw the dark spots getting larger, the suns glinting off their polished surfaces. Then he let out a gasp. He was almost far enough away to see the entire planet in his window. Nothing but browns and yellows and black. His home. Not his home, it belonged to the Invaders. He was part of the bargain, in fact, same as every living thing down there. Way down there. He was starting to get dizzy, but a fast glance at the quickly approaching death ships got him to focus again. His eyes widened. In front of him was nothing. And everything. His mind didn't seem big enough to comprehend the vastness layed out before him. Where did it end? How was this possible? His mouth seemed to be unhinged. It was so huge, and dark, and empty, but twinkling gently, as if filled with precious jewels. There were shining streaks here, sparkling clouds there. The beauty had him mesmerized. The planet was quickly diminishing in size behind him, ready to take its place on the canvas. The ships were in range of his radio again, so they phoned in. "There will be no mercy for you now. You will be destroyed." It brought him back to reality for a second, then his attention was taken up otherwise. A huge boulder was suspended in the nothing and everything, getting larger and larger in his vision. "Maybe I should get out of the way..." He turned the handles to one side, but the ship kept heading on its deadly path. His heart beat accelerated and he glanced again at the ships closing in behind him and the enormous rock directly ahead. He jerked the handles savagely again. Absolutely nothing. The rock filled his vision completely, he saw his ship smashed up against it like an insect. He gripped the handles tightly in frusteration and then let go in shock as the ship swerved slightly.
He had missed death by mere inches. The sound of the boulder gently scratching the ship on its way past brought him chills. He needed to get a grip on this driving thing, literally. It seemed that in this place you needed to squeeze the handles to get the energy needed to angle the ship. The rocket thrusters weren't enough. Though he had escaped that fate, though, there wasn't time to relax. There was another boulder in front of him. At first he thougth that maybe he'd gone in a circle, but another glance revealed that there were far more of them suspended all around him, spinning slowly, hanging from nothing. He had to slow down to avoid disaster, but he had to speed up to escape the ships quickly approaching behind him. As the ship moved forward a little more slowly, the boulders clustered around him, leaving little breathing room. Here goes everything, he thought.
Too loooong, hold on, next part:
