Chapter 4: Lift off


	The small garage was a symphony of metallic sounds. Metal clanking against
metal filled the air, and heat rising from various tools made the room hot as
well. In the cacophony of noise, the opening of the door could barely be heard.
“Hope?” Kayin asked, still groggy eyed and bushy haired, “what are you doing?”
	“Oh, good morning daddy,” she said with a smile as she slipped a welding mask
off of her head, “I’m finishing up my project.”
	“Huh? What project? It’s 5 AM,” Kayin groaned, still trying to wake up fully.
Hope, meanwhile, was already bustling about the front of the machine that Kayin
still could not fully see through his sleep heavy vision.
	“Yep! It’s a very important project,” Hope said cheerfully as she finished some
adjustments, “I didn’t realize that people thought it was so weird for me to be
flying, so I built something I can fly with!” With a flair, Hope revealed her
work, a small scooter looking device, though it looked like it could fly at Mach
2. She continued ecstatically, “almost as fast, and it only needs a few minor
tests to make it perfect, can you help me?”
	“Huh? Oh yeah, sure *YAWN* no problem,” he groaned, “what do you want me to
do?”
	“Here,” she said, taking his hand and leading him to a small control panel,
“see this button?” she asked, pointing to one of about fifty buttons. “When I
say so, just push that, and that’s all.” Kayin nodded and stood by the panel as
Hope sat down on a small, rolling platform and slid underneath the scooter. “Ok
dad! Push it!”
	“Right, push it…” he said and trailed off, immediately forgetting which button
he had to press. “Uhh…hmm…” he said as he moved his finger over the complicated
array of controls. Kayin bit his lip as he tried to figure it out. “Push the
button on the right hand side!” Hope cried out from under the scooter.
	“Oh yeah, right hand side, you mean this one?” he asked as he pressed the
button down. In response, the scooter kicked and flared to a start, sending
gouts of blue flame from the engines underneath it before it settled and shut
down again. There was a long silence until a quiet noise of the cart rolling out
from under the scooter was heard. Hope approached Kayin, burnt and singed and
liberally blackened around the face. “No…” she coughed, “not that one…now, I
think I need a shower,” she said as she staggered out of the room, smoke still
wafting off of her face and ears. Several minutes later, Hope had re-emerged
into the main room of the house, this time to an apologetic Kayin. “Oh it’s
alright,” he chirped, “now you know better.” Hope continued to gather her things
are she got ready for school, “you know today is the day the Center lifts off
right?”
	“Yep, that’s why I am coming with you so I can watch.” Hope blinked, then
squealed in delight, throwing her arms around his neck, “you’re really going to
come?!”
	“Of course I am, I have to see my little girl off you know.” Hope smiled and
hugged her father again, “thank you daddy. I just wish mom could be here for it
too.” Kayin smiled  a bit, in the back of his mind, he could feel the little
piece of Grace’s infused soul beaming in pride and joy, “oh, she knows what’s
going on, she’s very proud of you.”


	Meanwhile in Prism, Vixy was also preparing to leave. “Well, I need to do one
more thing before I leave here,” she said to an inattentive Shin, “and that is
shop!” A knock on the door punctuated her plans while Shin rose to answer it,
Vixy right behind him. “Hi Shin!” a female voice cried out, “hey Vixy, you ready
to go?”
	“Oh yeah, Deli, let’s get out of here,” she said as she made for the door.
	“What about Shin? Aren’t you taking him along?” Deli asked gleefully. The
response, from both Vixy and Shin, was a somewhat blank stare. “Oh come on! You
two will look so cute together!” she demanded, reaching over to pull Shin, who
was too stunned to protest, over into the group. Deli giggled as she led both of
them out onto the street, “aw come on you two, we’ll have fun I promise!
Besides, people will want to see you together!”
	“Deli,” Vixy said, “we are not going out or anything!” Vixy’s eye twitched a
bit as Deli forced them to walk together. Shin too, was not having a great time,
struggling to find some kind of excuse to escape with. However, he soon came to
the realization that he was stuck, and he sighed in defeat. “Maybe I can just
keep out of sight,” he thought to himself, “and hope they forget about me.”
Minutes later, Shin was anything but forgotten, though if one looked at him,
they would only see a moving, vaguely Shin-shaped pile of bags and boxes as the
girls went on a full scale assault of the shopping centers. “Uh, Vixy?” Shin
asked.
	“What is it?”
	“Do you really need all of these shoes? I mean, we are going to be away for a
few months.”
	“Of course! Don’t you know anything?”
	“Well, I mean…six pairs-“
	“That’s right. You have casual shoes, workout shoes, formal shoes, formal
sandals, regular sandals and then slippers!” Vixy retorted, wondering how Shin
could really be so clueless and piled a few more boxes on him, silencing his
protests.

	“Ok, this is downright weird,” Meyshsiam muttered to himself as he paged
through the old book. The text contained all manners of strange charts and
symbols, but there were notes scrawled in the margins where he could decipher
what the meanings were. “To channel…creation…what this doesn’t make any sense at
all!” he exclaimed, “it’s probably just a big joke. But, I wonder if…” he said
as he laid the book open on a table and began to follow the instructions.
Slowly, but in a strong and definite pattern, he began to move his arms, his
fingers tracing an intricate pattern in the air. His lips twitched and mouth
stammered as he began to repeat the pronunciations of the runes on the book. A
faint purple glow began to emanate from his hands, and flickering lines of
energy began to draw in the air. Despite his fear at what he was doing,
Meyshsiam continued to press on. Soon the drawing in the air began to solidify,
and move on its own. Stepping away, he watched, amazed. “Oh man…this is for
real!” he thought, “jeez, I don’t even know what the hell this thing does, I am
in it deep now.” The image began to twist about, spreading and ripping the air
around it, punching a hole in reality. “I get it now! This is some kind of
summoning…thing…but what did I just summon?” he thought again as a shape began
to appear on the other side of the gateway. “It must be some kind of monster!
Jumpin’ jiminy, I am REALLY in it deep now!” he thought suddenly, a bead of
sweat sliding down his face. With a crackle and a thunderous crash, the gate
opened, popped the creature out, and flickered back to nothingness, leaving the
creation behind. “Ahhh! Don’t hurt me I didn’t mean it!” Meyshsiam pleaded,
closing his eyes and huddling in the corner.
	“Mew?”
	“Huh?” he stammered as he felt something small and fluffy land on his shoulder.
Opening one eye, he saw no monster, but a gray tabby kitten which was now
mewling and batting at Meyshsiam’s shirt. “What in the world?” he asked to
nobody in particular as he sat down to pet the kitten, “this is what it makes?
Hmmm, well if I am gonna get anything cool out of this, I will have to
practice,” he muttered, then punctuated it with a yelp as the cat playfully dug
a claw into his arm.

	As the day drew to a close, a party atmosphere was arising near the Prime
Center. Large gates and temporary walls were being erected as preparations for
the lifting off began. Throngs of students and parents flooded near the
openings, saying their goodbyes and preparing for the journey. Cutting through
the crowd like a shark’s fin was a large, Shin-shaped stack of boxes being led
along by Vixy. “Come on!” she hissed, “the party is already starting and I need
to get changed!” Shin grumbled a reply as he was led past one of the gates
towards the apartments. At the same gate, a father and daughter were saying
their goodbyes. “Have fun, Hope, make sure you slip out and visit the house at
least a few times ok?” Kayin asked.
	“Oh of course! I will come every day if you want me to daddy.”
	“No need to lose that much time, just a few times, and you just keep focused on
your studies and things here.” Hope quickly nodded as a loud bell sounded,
indicating that parents and those not wanting to go were to leave the area.
“Goodbye daddy!” she cried, throwing her arms around his neck tightly. Kayin
replied quickly by hugging back, lifting his daughter into the air as she
laughed in delight. As he let Hope go and she began to run back towards the
Center, Kayin could hear Grace’s voice in the back of his mind. “She’s such a
good girl, and strong just like her dad.” Kayin laughed, and closed his eyes,
mentally replying, “of course she is just as sweet and perfect as her mother
too.” The sounds of massive generators powering up was the last warning before
the entire Prime Center area, nearly the size of two or three city blocks,
shuddered, and lifted itself out of the ground. Slowly, it rose into the sky,
hovering over the rooftops of the metropolis of Prism. Deep inside the control
room, the two men in charge began to throw the massive machine into motion.
“Alright, Prime Center students,” one said over into a microphone, throwing his
voice into every nook and cranny of the school, “we hope you enjoy your trip,
don’t fall off the side and relax until we reach our first destination, the
prairies of North America!”