Aerial

In the future there will be a war so great that the entirety of the planet’s surface will become irradiated.  Now many people fled underground but several ingenious people with the aid of wind and solar power took to the sky.

Max awoke in the air tram listening to the same damn hydroponics farm commercial blaring as usual “We grow your food so you don’t have to.”  Although work in the hydroponics’ labs was rewarding growing plants he wanted something much more in life.  The tram made low whirring noises as it came to a stop near the labs.  

“About time you came in you’re late man,” exclaimed Brian a security guard who works outside the gate of the lab.

“Yes, yes I know,” replied Max.  Max looked up at the dome covering the city; he still found it amazing that just outside the dome was nothing but air about a mile in the sky plenty safe from the radiation down below.  Outside the dome were many styles of aircraft ranging from early conversions of fifty year old automobiles to fancy more recent airships that could only be described as elegant as the zeppelins of old.  The city oh the city was marvelous not a place to be stuck in a lab all day checking on soil samples and examining nitrates or making sure the water gathering machines were working away gathering moisture from clouds.  It also didn’t help much that our recent acquaintance Mr. Max was stuck in a rut as it were, bored of pretty much his job and day to day goings on.

“You are late!  I need to have the moisture readouts in my inbox ten minutes ago,” a fairly bald elderly man squeaked wearing the standard lab coat and uniform.

“Oh of course, right away Dr. Morrison…” Max snapped out of his daydream and began typing “…give me about five minutes and you will have the readings, I guess I was just distracted is all this morning.”

“See that you are less distracted from now on, I don’t think I need to remind you how important the work is we do here, ever since the War it was farms like these that kept us alive.”

“But don’t you get tired of it?  I mean look around, I just feel as if there’s more here than growing plants.”

“If this is so boring to you Max Taylor then why don’t you leave?”

“Are you asking or telling me?”

“I’m telling you.  Get out.  I’ll have no use for people like you that can’t come to work on time or do their jobs!”

And that was how Mr. Taylor decided that it was time to pursue more “exciting” endeavors.  

Fortunately, Max had saved up what little money he had to make the first down payment on his own racer airship, not an extremely fancy model mind you but perhaps fast enough for him to make third or possibly second and gain some prize money.  To tell the truth, he had thought about racing ever since he was a boy when the floating city was perhaps not so large, but his father would have nothing of it and put him through botany to work in the lab.  “It’s a guaranteed career in this new age why would you waste your time flying?”  his father would tell him, but Max would always pine for a more exciting life of an air racer.  That leads us to the racer he bought on a loan with just enough money to make the down payment, the racer itself wasn’t too old, but it also wasn’t that new, but what was important is that it was passable.  With the papers signed, the dealer handed the keys to it and Max was off.

He placed fifteenth in his first race, without any money he begged Dr. Morrison for his job back and has been paying on the vehicle ever since, always hoping to keep it and try again maybe with a bit more practice someday.