by katyd » Fri May 11, 2012 6:44 am
With his pity party finally over, Calvin decided to check out the edge of his new world and scout out some good places for his first geocache as he made his way back to look for Melody again. He got up, hefted his backpack onto his back, and walked the sixty or so feet to the edge. As he approached it, he could see the Earth so far below that you could no longer make out people or cars. It was scary. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. An innately human response foreboding danger, that was probably wise to listen to, Calvin! he warned himself. Yet his curiousity won out over his wisdom, and slowly, he crept closer and closer. Now it was only three or so feet away. A gust of wind could blow him right over the edge and into a gravity driven freefall that would NOT end up well. He wondered, not for the first time today, how long it would take for someone to even miss him. He wondered if anyone had ever fallen off, or ever just ran off the edge in mindless pursuit of a frisbee or something. That'd be a rude surprise, he chuckled. Maybe some flying superhero had used this paricular ledge for his takeoffs, soaring up and up, into the icy black depths of space from here.
Calvin looked down again. He could see roads and mountains and rivers. This was pretty cool actually. But it was also making him dizzy, so he looked away, back to his little piece of earth in the sky. It struck him then, just how precarious their living situation was up here, with only a few anti-grav machines keeping them all from plummeting to the Earth. Wow! He reached out, thinking there might be some sort of unseen barrier surrounding the campus. And sure enough, there was. His fingers hit something that felt like a soft plastic, like a gym mat, but he couldn't see anything. This is soo cool! Wait 'til I tell the girls!
He was actually missing them now. He was ready for more angst and more tears now, it was worth having their company and their warmth, so he turned from the edge, dragging his hand across the invisible barrier, and headed back into campus, to look for Melody.

Nurture Your Inner Crazy!