The 'Planet' Runner

                   The ‘Planet’ Runner
Astra ran down the alley, getting as much distance between her and the cops as she could. She rounded a corner and ducked into a small crack in the wall. She peered out and watched as the cops and their dogs run right past her.
As they turn the corner, she stepped out of the wall. She had no plan of being ‘chained down’ now. She climbed the building and looked out over the city of Calaburr in the 40th century.
All that progress and nothing for her.
She sees some food store owners put out old food. “Meal time,” she said as she made her back down to the street. She swiftly takes all the food from the bins and makes a quick exit back to the top floor of a building to eat.
When she was full, she noticed that there was still a lot of food.
She smiled and gathered the rest into a sack and ran to the local hide out for the kids who didn’t want to go home, or didn’t have one.
They soon downed all the food and fell asleep.
Astra sighed and stared her slow walk back to her little home on the roof tops of the big city.
~

At the police station, one of the new cops was looking over the papers for the only run away that had never been caught.
A girl, just past thirteen, had been living on her own for who knows how long.
There were no charges of serious stealing, just taking old food.
She never illegally entered a building, just slept in the attic or top floor where most people didn’t go.
“She’s a menace I tell ya. We have to catch her and get her in a facility for her kind,” one policeman said in a rage.
The cop, named Tiller, said, “according to the records she has done nothing wrong against anyone. As far as I can tell, she has not done anything for days. We need to find her and help her in some way, not catch her and scare her out of her mind.”
But no one even heard him, they all thought he was too soft for this job. He only got it because he past every test with flying colors.
He shrugged and walked outside to get some fresh air. He looked up at the sky, or what he could see of it.
The air was filled with hover cars and bikes and skateboards.
All this progress and we can’t even help out one kid.
He sighed and walked down the street. He saw people sifting through garbage bins and trash bags, looking for anything useful that someone else may have thrown out.
They look up as he walked by, wondering if he might turn them in. He just smiles and walks on, knowing this was all they had.
He rounded a corner and saw a group of men harassing some kids.
“Give us everything you got, NOW!” they yelled.
Tiller started to run over, but stopped when he saw a shadow overhead. What was that, he wondered?
The shadow landed just a few feet from the group and stated, “leave or you’ll have to deal with me.”
The men laugh and turned their attention towards the intruder.
The kids see their chance and run for it.
Tiller just avoids getting run over by the kids and continues to watch to see if the newcomer might need help.
The ‘runner’ dodged as the men tried to punch and grab it.
One nearly got his arms around it, but it dived down and slid back between his legs, then lightly pushed him forward into one of his buddies.
The men were about to move in and surround it, when Tiller sounds his police alarm.
“Step away from the child,” his voice rang out in the alley.
The men couldn’t risk getting caught, so they ran for it.
With that done, the ‘runner’ made its way back to the top of the buildings.
Tiller ran over and asked, “who are you?”
“I’m the planet runner. You may call me, Astra,” she turned and showed her face.
Smeared with mud and oil from crawling through pipes and old work sites.
She turned back and was back on top of the buildings before Tiller even knew what happened.
He looked up and just saw her do a scout style salute to him then walked out of sight.
Tiller shrugged and made his way back to the station, “that did not look like a menace, looked like a girl who helps people by whatever means she can. Better get back before they ‘don’t’ send a search party out for me.”
Back at the police station, Tiller was getting an ear full. “You had the runner in your sights, and you didn’t even try to catch her.”
Tiller shrugged, “she did nothing wrong. She helped some kids then left. Why are you still going after her, what has she done that is so bad?”
One big cop stepped forward and said, “she has been on the runners list for over ten years. That means she has nothing to go on in the real world. The only place for her kind is a workhorse for wild children. Next time you see her, grab her and bring her back here. It’s the only way.”
Everyone stares at Tiller to see if he understood.
Tiller didn‘t see a girl who was wild, he saw a girl who relied on her street skills to get around and help others.
He walked out, not making eye contact with anyone.
~

“A kind cop, what a concept,” Astra thought as she gazed at the air between the road and the skyline.
For as long as she could remember, she had been chased by cops so they could put her in some house for wild kids.
But she wasn’t wild, she was skilled and could get around this city faster than their cars.
She scooted down a drain pipe and found a group of kids huddled together for warmth.
One by one she carries them into a storage building she knew was run by a family that loved kids.
After making a noise at the door to get attention, she jumps onto a stack of boxes and watches to make sure the kids are found.
Several adults walk out and find the kids sleeping quietly in a corner, and without a second thought carry them all inside.
With the kids in a home, Astra makes for her favorite building to sleep for the night.
She lay on her old mattress and looked up at the stars, and smiled. “You can only get this view from high up, away from all those buildings with their lights on twenty-four-seven. If only everyone else could see this, then they wouldn’t want to put up so many buildings and stuff that would just block the sky from view. Right now it's time I got a good night sleep.” yawned and curled up in the tattered quilt she had found.
~

The sun shone through the broken boards of the building's roof, waking Astra from her peaceful sleep. She walked out onto the open ‘balcony’ and looked at the city as the sun over it, making it shine like a diamond. “I think I’ll go see what the cops are up to today,” with that she hopped from roof to roof to the station.
The station had people running in and out so much, Astra could hardly tell who had just entered from who who was leaving. She shook her head, “a lot going on for people who really don’t have much to do. Maybe I can sneak inside and take a look around,” and crept along until she found a panel she could easily climb into.
She slipped in and found a room with monitors set up watching the outside of the building.
“Clueless”, she thought and peered at the screens.
The cameras taking the footage moved around to get every angle they could, from the street to… the roof. The camera zoomed in on the panel she had left open.
“Time for my exit,” she dashed back out the hole just as cop-hover-cars came into view. She smirked at them all, “catch me if you can!” and ran for the nearest rooftop.
Astra ran from building top to building top, trying to get away from the cops on her tail. She reached a point where the next building was too far to jump, turned and saw the cop car zooming towards her. “I’ve never been caught,” she thought. She turned and jumped off the building, causing the hover cars to swerve to a halt.
“Where is she?” the main cop asked.
Astra clung to the bottom of the old outdoor stairs, waiting for the cops to leave. Her grip was starting to go, right as she heard and saw a car stop below. “What choise do I have,” she thought as she dropped down and climbed into the back of the car.
The car was soon moving, but to where was the question.
The car stayed in motion for what seemed like hours to Astra.
She thought she might get stuck in there, but the car did stop and she heard someone get out of the car and slam the door shut.
As quietly as she could, she got out of the trunk and ran for the nearest building.
But when she got a good look at the area, she was stunned. It was the old downtown house block.
Astra turned sharply when she heard, “thank you so much,” and saw a woman standing at her door of her house, holding something given to her by a man.
The man said, “You're welcome. I better go before anyone comes looking for me,” he turned, and Astra saw that it was the cop from before.
“Why is he helping anyone out here?” Astra wondered.
The man walked back to his car and drove away, leaving Astra feeling very confused. From her knowledge, no cop has ever helped a runner except to take them to a work house, or some other place that did nothing to help them.
She shrugged her shoulders, “now I have to find my way back home, or my roof tops anyway. Which way though?”
She climbed the highest building to try and get her bearings.
The roof tops waved like pictures of the sea.
She shook her head, “faster on foot. Might as well get started, this will take a while.” She climbed back down and began the long walk back to ‘her’ home block.
She passed a few houses, but knew those inside would never open their doors to a runner like her.
~

Astra walked down the road with her arms around her middle. She hadn’t eaten in days and she was starving. She heard the familiar bark of a cop dog and tried to run, but everything turned blurry fast and she fell to the ground.
Tiller came around the corner and saw a girl lying on the road. He ran over and gently turned her over.
It was Astra, the runner, looking white as a sheet.
He carries her back to his car and flies to the nearest hospital.
She slept for days with an iv in her arm, slowly regaining her color.
He came every day and sat next to her, waiting for her to wake up.
She was unconscious for weeks, the doctors were about to think she had gone into a coma.
But what Astra was really going through was worse than that.
*She was in a glowing room, with lights blinking on and off.
She could see people in white coats going everywhere, and some looked like they were on the ceiling.
She tried to move, but she couldn’t feel anything.
She tried calling out, but felt something on her face that made it hard to.
The lights suddenly go crazy, and the people start to run everywhere.
She can feel her body and slowly gets up, her head feeling like it was spinning.
Some people try to walk over to her, but stumble and roll away.
Once on her feet, she walks into what appears to be a door, one that leads to the outside.
She pushes the door and steps out into a bright light. *
Astra gasped awake, feeling her lungs moving in her chest.
“What was that?” she wondered, but didn’t get a chance to think any further.
Several people run in and start to move all around her.
All the movement soon starts to make her feel sick, and shuts her eyes to try and not black out again.
She then hears, “give her some space. She just woke up.” the people leave, and let a man in regular cloths in.
The man closed the door and sat down on the only chair, “it is good to finally meet you, as to us just seeing each other from several feet away.”
Astra stared at the man for a moment, then ask, “are you the nice cop? The one that didn’t try to catch me?”
He chuckled, “I am. My name is Tiller, and I want to help you not catch you.”
Astra didn’t believe him, not yet anyway, “why would you help me? I’m known as a runner, a kid with no education that can get me far when I grow up. I know what you do with runners, you put them in workhouses to keep them under control.”
“I’m new at the station, and I want to change what we do with runners. To top it off, you are not the normal runner. You’ve been trained in some way, I just don’t know what or how.”
Astra thought of the people in white coats from her, nightmare, “I think you might something if you look for lab files. I think I was in one before I was a runner.”
“I’ll try that thank you,” he leaned over her and lightly kissed her on the cheek, “get some rest, and don’t worry about other cops coming to take you. I have given orders to the staff here to keep them away until I say otherwise.”
Once Tiller was gone, Astra tried to get her mind around a cop who wanted to help Runners.
Didn’t get far on the thought, her eyes drooped and she fell back to sleep.
~

Tiller searched for any data on any labs that may have taken orphans and used them in experiments at the library.
He looked for hours, but found nothing.
He ran his fingers through his hair, “she must have been somewhere before being a runner, but how do I find out?”
Another from the station walks over and says, “hello Tiller. What are you looking for?”
“Oh, hey. I am looking for anything to do with labs and testing on orphan kids.”
“Well, you won't find anything like that here. You have to go to the archives room. It is down the hall, you can’t miss it.”
Tiller yelled, “thanks” as he ran off to find what he needed.
The archive room was a mess with computers, buzzing away dong this and that.
Tiller locked his fingers together and cracked his knuckles in front of him, “time to get down to business.”
He sat down at the closest computer, and his fingers sailed across the keyboard as his eyes scanned the screen, keeping his eyes open for anything that might help him or Astra.
After several more hours of searching the computers for data on the labs or orphans going missing, Tiller finally made it back to the hospital room where Astra was asleep.
He sat down on the only chair and set the computer down on the only other table in the room, and tried to stay awake as he waited for her to wake up and tell her what he had found.
Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep himself.
Astra woke to find Tiller asleep in the only chair in the room, with a computer open next to him on the table. She giggled at the sight and said, “did you find anything or did you just sleep?”
Tiller jerked awake, but then smiled at Astra and said, “I found everything and then some.  While I was there I made a copy and have it all right here.” He turned the computer so Astra could see what he had brought.
The computer not only showed a list of all the labs that had operated in the last 13 years, but the lads thought to have done the illegal experimentation on persons.
Tiller pushed a few buttons and the list narrowed down to just one; a lab that was supposed to shut down years ago, but has shown recent activity again, just five years ago.
“According to this, scientists took orphans when they were out playing or something, and took them back to their lab and used them as test subjects. Some, like you, got out and turned into runners. There is still list of missing orphans, out there waiting to be found and have a good home. Do you think you could find the place you were held, and possibly help me find other orphans?” Tiller looked at Astra, waiting for her answer.
Astra looked at the data on screen.
How could anyone do this to a child, even if they didn’t know where their parents were?
She looked at Tiller with tears in her eyes, “I can try, but I’m not sure if I. My mind might stop me.”
Tiller cupped Astra’s face in his hands and said, “that’s all I can ask for.”
Tiller started to leave when Astra asked, “am I an orphan?” Tiller turned and nodded.
He saw Astra lie back down and heard her start to cry as he closed the door.
~

Tiller got to the station, but was dragged to the interrogation room to ask what he was up to for the past few days.
The police captain slammed his fist on the table and demanded, “you’ve hardly been here for the past week, and several other cops have seen you going to the hospital. What is up with you Tiller?”
“I’ve been seeing some of the patients, trying to lift their spirits and all that. When was the last time we did a sweep of the old labs for anyone hiding out in them?” Tiller asked as off hand as he could.
“We don’t bother with those old buildings. They have not been used in years. Can you explain why I have log entries for you in the archives room between your visits to the hospital?” the police captain slapped the papers onto the table, and stared Tiller down.
Tiller now had to think fast. He said, “I was looking up how long the labs had been abandoned for, and if they could be used for something else rather than just leaving them to collect dust and critters. Now if that is all, and if you have nothing for me to look into, then I will go take a peek at those old buildings and see if there is anything inside them.” he swiftly stood up and walked out of the station before anyone could make up something for him to do.
~

*Astra woke in a white room, with other girls still asleep on their meager mat-beds.
Astra quickly woke the other girls so that the men in white did not do it their way.
One of the smaller girls asked, “does anyone remember their parents, or any family?”
Every girl shook their head.
All they knew was that they lived in a building that was falling apart, then were brought to live in a nicer larger building.
The ‘men in white’, as the kids called them, would take some of the kids and watch them in a room handle one thing or another.
Once the kids were older they would move them to another part of the building, and were never heard by the younger kids again.
Today all the girls huddled around Astra, knowing she nearing the age that the men would move her.
The only problem for the men was that Astra was not going without a fight.
When the men walked in, smiling like they always do, the younger kids spilt into two groups and stood to the sides.
As the first men reached out for to grab her, Astra dodged and ducked behind him, then slid between the legs of the next man who reached for her.
They tried to pin her down, but the kids run at them yelling and giving Astra time to get away to safety.
Astra ran for what felt like hours, through halls that never ended.
She finally saw a door ahead, and ran at full speed and shoved the door open and ran into a brightly lit area. *
~

Tiller opened the creaky door of the old lab, and could just see several bugs and spiders scurry away from the light.
He slowly walked down the hall with the flashlight shining off fallen beams and crushed structure everywhere.
Most doors were blocked by beams or smashed in by rocks, making impossible to get any farther in that direction.
He finally found one door that looked like it was stuck half open from a few stones in the door slide.
He stepped in and saw several tables that would have been used to examine mutated animals or new plants.
“Looks illegal already. If the front rooms were to show fake projects, then the back rooms should be where they may have kept all their illegal project subjects. Maybe I can find files on those subjects or what they did to them in here,” he said to himself as he pushed open a glass door to what looked like the computer and afile storage room.
Tiller flipped through the folders, trying to find a file on Astra or what the scientists may have done to all the orphans they brought here.
The next folder was titled ‘project star guard’.
He thought, “Astra is Latin for star or space. Looks like I got two birds with one stone.”
The first page was data on Astra and where they got her, her DNA type and other such stuff Tiller didn’t really understand.
Next were scribbles that Tiller thought was a man who just got tired of what he was doing and wrote over what was originally there.
Most of the rest was what they did and what they thought was the result or the experiments.
“Looks like I hit the jackpot. Time I get back to Astra and tell her what I found, and that I maybe able to find the other kids by just finding their files here,” he tucked the folder under his arm and slowly made his way back outside so not to do anything else fall down or make the whole building collapse.
~

Astra laid in bed only half awake, after having awoken from her nightmare.
She could sometimes feel the needles the men in white used to study her blood and see if what they did had any effect. She hopped Tiller would be back to see her soon.
She heard a single knock on the door, someone talking outside the door, then the door opened and Tiller walked in with a vary dusty looking folder in his hand.
Astra managed a small smile and said, “good to see you. I had a really scary dream.”
Tiller rubbed the side of Astra face and said, “I’ll try and hang around when your asleep next time, but the other police are getting suspicious of what I have been doing,” he then moved to rub her side and added, “I think I found the lab you were in years ago. Most of the front had fallen in except for the hallway, in the back, I found a room with all the data of what those scientists were up to. I was hopping to find either a file of what they were up to or your file, but I managed to find your file and had what they did to you in one.”
Astra rolled onto her side and asked, “have you found anything?”
Tiller smiled and whispered in her ear, “I wanted to wait and look at it with you.”
With his face still close, she leaned up and kissed him on the check.
Tiller blushed and kissed her on her own check before sitting on the end of the bed and opening the folder. “This first one has your ‘health’ record you could say. I’ll give it to the hospital so they can make a copy for future reference. This one looks like a child went to town on it,” Astra giggled when she got a good look at the paper with the doodles, “the rest is pretty much technical jargon about what they did and the result of it. I’ll see if I can find someone who can make it easier for us to understand. If you want to get some sleep, I’ll stay here for a little while,” Tiller said as he set his hand on Astra’s stomach.
Astra grabbed Tiller’s hand with both of her hands, feeling his fingers wrap around her hands, “just for a few minutes, so you can wake me up if I start to have a bad dream again.”
“Sure. Sweets dreams,” Tiller kissed Astra lightly on the forehead, then adjusted the blanket over her.
Within moments Astra fell fast asleep, Tiller sat and watched her for nearly an hour then gently got up and carefully closed the door to allow her to try and get sleep without nightmares.
He made a quick pass by the station, but no one seemed to notice him at all.
He does what work is on his desk then drives over to his tech friend’s house to see if he could translate what was on the paper in the folder.
Getting to his tech friend’s house was easy, getting him to stop moving for two second to talk was another story.
Tiller stood to the side for felt like hours, watching his tech friend running from one computer to the next.
He finally got tired and yelled, “can’t you stop and listen for like ten minutes?”
His friend stops right in front of him and says, “oh, when did you get here?” Tiller rolled his eyes, but the tech shrugged, “Lets talk in here. There is less noise. So what can I do for you?”
Tiller offered the folder to his tech bud, “can you make this easy to read for those of us who haven’t years of study in, whatever it is?”
The tech opened the folder and scanned the first page for a moment, then snapped it shut and said, “this shouldn’t take long. Just wait here and I should be back into nano ticks.” and with that he ran off into a maze of computers.
Tiller sat at one of several desk in the computer stuff room, waiting for his science friend to finish his search and tell him what he found out.
Tiller yawned big as his friend shouted, “got it,” and nearly fell out of the chair.
His friend runs around a stack on boxes and shoves a small stack of papers under Tiller’s nose. “This is incredible. All the stuff those guys did. I am surprised they weren’t caught sooner. This has all the stats in a simpler form that you and your girl can understand.”
Tiller smirked, “I hope she can be my little girl when I finish this search. Thanks for the help.”
“No trouble at all, it gave me an excuse to search confidential files on those old labs. Rumor is they did some seriously weird stuff to either animals or people they kidnapped. Say, is this girl one of their former test subjects?”
Tiller headed for the exit as he said, “she doesn’t know much, maybe. I’ll ask her when I get back to her what she remembers next time I visit her. Thanks again, bye,” and closes the door as he ran out.
As Tiller drives back to the hospital, he gets the feeling something is off but not sure where or why.
He shakes it off and focuses on seeing Astra again.
He walked in to find Astra fast asleep again, and he hopped not having a bad dream.
He set the folder down just as he heard, “did your friend find anything.”
He turned and saw Astra peering back at him, her face nestled in the pillow.
“Did I wake you?” he asked, mussing up her hair.
Astra half yawned, “I’ve been sleeping on and off since you last came in. I keep having weird dreams of white rooms and men in white coats, watching me and doing stuff to me. Sounds crazy hu?”
Tiller kissed her lightly on her temple, “that tells me a lot. I brought the folder on the papers that my friend translated for us less sciencey folk,” he got a giggle out of Astra, “want to take a look with me?”
Astra sat up on the bed and tucked her knees under her chin so Tiller could set the folder between them on the bed sheets.
The first few was the info on where they found Astra, and that they named her for the project.
The next set of paper-clip pages was about what they did to her and what the result was.
Tiller red a highlighted area out loud, “ ‘our most recent experiment has yielded strange results. The subject has a heightened sense of hearing and almost a second sight ability. If have more plans to maybe make it super human and to…’ it just ends there. The rest mainly talks about what you might have as powers I guess. Once the hospital releases you, we can try them out at a park or something.”
Astra grabs the info paper and reads it again, “it does not say anything about family, or my real name.”
“They didn’t think it mattered. How about this, when this whole thing is done, I’ll see if I can find out anything. Sound good?” Tiller asked with a big smile on his face.
Astra nodded and motioned that Tiller might want to leave, a nurse was coming for some reason.
Tiller made a quick exit and dashed back to his car to try and get in some work at the station.
For the next few weeks he made the effort to go to work instead of going to see Astra.
For him it was as painful as getting a shot.
When he finally got a day off, he drove to the hospital for a break from work and maybe relax with Astra.
~

Tiller walked into the hospital, thinking he might help Astra get back on her feet. As he past the front desk, the robot behind the counter said, “who are you here to see?”
Tiller looked at the robot with a raised eyebrow, “to see Astra. Did she get moved or something?”
“She was released from the hospital and left of her own free will.”
Tiller was stunned, “did she say where she was going, or leave anything for me?”
The robot shook its head and continued its work.
Tiller sighed and walked back outside, not really knowing where to look for her. He climbed in his car, and saw a paper tucked under the window wiper. He pulled it out and red, ‘your little star’. He open it and red the note Astra had hastily left for him:
‘Did you really think I would stick around after the doctors cleared me. Unless you want to climb up the side of buildings, you may want to wait by the old bakery and any place that may put out old food. I gather the food to eat and give to other runners. If you are to impatient for that, then go and find some orphans and I may come by to help you find a home for them. Later Tiller’.
He folded up the paper and tucked it in his pocket as he thought of his options. “I know the old bakery and food zone. It's better than the other chooses anyway. I may be able to talk the owner into putting out more food to better my chances.”
Tiller drove back towards his home, when suddenly his radio turns on and blast static through the speakers.
He tried turning it off, but had to resort to pulling the car over and shooting the radio off before it stopped.
He shook his head, “what is going on here. Something tells me something bad may happen, in the near future.”
This time he drove right to the bakery area to try and find Astra.
The baker was more than happy to help out any kids, even a runner.
With three whole baskets of food set out back, Tiller waited for what felt like hours to him.
When the sun was nearly gone, he sighed and said, “guess this was a long shot after all,” and started to walk back to his car.
He turned the corner and saw Astra waiting for him by his car.
Tiller asked, “how long have you been here?”
Astra shrugged, “just a few minutes. I said to wait for me, not to put out food, but the kids wont minds. Guys over here,” she yelled over her shoulder.
Suddenly several kids come around the corners and carry as much food as they could each carry, then ran back the way they came.
Tiller watched all the kids, and noticed that some of them looked rather thin for being so young. He waited till the last kid was gone and asked, “is this what it is really like out here? Kids having to sneak around to get food, and avoid bullies.”
“What you saw were not bullies, those were part of a gang. The kids were looking for anything to keep them warm, when those thugs saw them and decided to see what they had. I fight for the kids who can’t, I take on thugs and gangs, and if need be take down those gangs. Could I use your car? I saw some kids huddled in a box, and I think I know where I can find them a good home,” Astra asked, tapping on the passenger window.
Tiller took a moment to take in everything she said, then answered, “sure. Where do you want to go?”
Astra directed Tiller to a shipping yard that had not been used for years, and smelled of fish.
Tiller covered his nose and mouth as he got out of the car, “what a smell. You found kids here?”
Astra didn’t answer, she just ran through the maze of boxes till she found the twins and their older sibling wrapped up together in stitched together cloth that looked like it was made of cleaning rags.
She managed to get them all in her arms in one go and carried them back to Tiller’s car, who was still standing outside his car.
She giggled as she placed the kids in the back seat, “you didn’t have to get out of the car, just wait for me to get the kids in then drive us to the next spot.”
Tiller groaned and climbed back in the driver's seat, thinking he was a bit of an idiot for not thinking of that himself.
They drove around until they reached the cloth storage area, and Astra said to stop here.
She carefully gathered the kids in her arms and walked behind the building.
For a moment Tiller wondered why she didn’t take them to the front, then saw her run back and jump in the back just as he saw the lights turn on in the store.
He watched as some shadows walked around, some holding little things in their arms, till the lights turned back off and he drove off.
Astra sat up in the back seat and peered out the side window, “I take kids to find homes, but I don’t want one. Not right now anyway.”
Tiller smiled into the rearview mirror, “maybe if things got better for the kids out there, then you would be willing to settle down with a family?” Astra shrugged and stared at the building zooming by, “I know where we can see if you can do anything special. It is an open plain with real grass and blue sky overhead.”
Astra looked at Tiller like he had a second head, “grass. Blue sky. Are you trying to make a joke or something?”
Tiller smiled and shook his head. He was going to enjoy the look on Astra’s face when she saw the place.
They drove past whole blocks full of buildings, some looked like new, some were on the brink of falling down.
They drove for several blocks, until they enter a tunnel with lights along the ceiling.
Astra watched the lights flash by, almost mesmerized by them.
When it seemed the lights went on forever, they come out in a place with very bright lights.
Astra covered her eyes, “they should turn the lights down here.”
Tiller chuckled, “there is only one light here, and you can’t adjust this light like the lights in the city,” he glanced and saw Astra’s confused face, “that is the sun shining overhead.”
“The sun, but that is just a story. Isn’t it?” Astra asked as she looked out the window to try and see the sun, just to see if it is real.
Tiller finally parked and told Astra as they climbed out, “don’t look directly at the sun, it can damage your eyes. This way to the area I told you about,” started walking before making sure Astra was following him.
She barely noticed Tiller as he walked off, but just saw him as he went down the hill and ran to catch back up to him.
Everything looked so strange to Astra.
Birds flying in the air, with no cars among them.
Green grass growing on the ground, Tiller had to tell her three times it was ok to pull one or two blades up to look more closely or to smell them.
Every so often she would see kids running around in a park with things set up for them to play in, and others were with their parents walking along or playing or having a picnic as Tiller called it.
Astra stopped for a moment and watched a family pack their things, and the father pick up the small child and they carried everything away. “Do all families do this kind of thing? Playing and eating like this?”
Tiller turned to see what Astra was looking at, and caught a tear rolling down her cheek. “You could say happy ones do, but not all families are like that. Some have a lot of kids, others have just one. Some only have one parent, or raised by aunts uncles cousins of the parents, or even the grandparents of the parents. All the families I have seen look very happy to me. You ok Astra?”
Astra turned away and nodded, trying to hide the tears flowing down her face.
Tiller gently grabbed her hand and lead her the rest of the way.
They stopped far from other people, in case her powers went a little crazy.
Tiller stepped back and said, “let's see what, if anything, that you can do.”
Astra didn’t know where to start, or how to start for that matter.
She tried to imagine a ball in front of her, one with stars and moons all over it, but nothing happened.
She kept trying till the sun was nearly overhead and Tiller said it was lunch time.
“Runners don’t normally eat at this hour, we wait for the after lunch hour for the food places to put out all the food that may have been dropped or people complained about. We might get sick from it, but we didn’t have a choice,” Astra said as they made their to what Tiller called the food court.
Tiller gave Astra a questioning side glance and asked, “you have eaten dropped and bad food before?” Astra nodded like it was the norm for her, he shook his head, “here we eat fresh food around noon, or whenever the restaurants want to open. Sense you have never had hot food, I will choose the food spot, one that gives out small samples to try out. I think there is one over here,” he jogged ahead to look around the corner.
Astra stopped and held her head. For a moment she could almost see something other than what was right in front of her.
She called out, “Tiller,” her voice cracking from her fear of what was going on in her head.
Tiller came back around and saw Astra slowly walking towards a wall to lean against it.
He ran over and helped her sit down and asked, “what happened, are you ok?”
Astra grabbed her hair with both her hands, “I thought I saw something. It looked like the sky, with stars, but there were a lot of stars. There was something glowing far away…I think. Tiller help me.” she was nearly in tears.
Tiller wrapped his arms around her and carried her back to the car to try and rest, and figure out what is going on.
When they nearly reach the car, all the cars start to go haywire.
The lights kept going on and off, the horns and alarms just kept going.
Tiller stepped back, having no idea what was causing this.
Astra suddenly jumped out of his arms, her eyes glowing.
She aimed her palms at the cars and several wisps of energy flowed out and struck each of the cars, and instantly the cars quieted down.
The wisps faded into the air and Astra fell back into Tiller’s arms, unconscious.
He stared at her with wide eyes, and could just say, “wow.” He carried her the rest of the way to the car and drove to another spot, where there might be less tech that she might have to turn off, or something.
Tiller ran off to get some food, thinking getting some warm food in her might help.
Astra woke just as he got back, but stayed in the car as he set the tray of food down.
He pushed a button on the middle console and a table spread out in the back in front of the back seats, and said, “think you can manage eating good food, and drinking some smoothie?”
Astra managed to giggle before biting into a forkful of Mac and cheese, and her eyes popped open with shock. “Wow. That taste really good. This is a smoothie? I never had one before,” and drank deep before Tiller could say, “don’t drink so fast, or you’ll get a…”, her face cringed and she said, “brain freeze.”
Tiller tried not to, but laughed anyway.
When they finished Astra walked to an open patch of grass while Tiller cleaned up.
“Should I try something while you put that in, whatever you put it in?” Astra asked as she stretched her arms up in the air.
Tiller called back as he walked, “I want you to wait for me to get back. You fainted when you turned the cars off, I don’t want to come back and find you out again.”
Astra turned and looked confused at what Tiller said, “I turned cars off. When did I do that?”
He was already quite a ways off, and didn’t hear her ask.
She sighed and laid down on the grass to just look at the sky to wait for Tiller to get back.
`As she looked on, her mind started to drift and she saw stars floating around her.
She turned to try and find a planet or a comet, but instead saw a glowing giant rock slowly moving through space.
“What is that?” she wondered.
Suddenly the glowing rock turned towards her and flew faster.
She tried to get away, but didn’t know where she could go, and soon found she was stuck where she was.
She looked straight at the rock and screamed as it flew right into her.`
Tiller wrapped his arms around Astra and said, “Astra wake up. It’s just a dream. Come on, wake up.”
Astra’s eyes pop open, breathing heavily. “What happened? Where am I?”
“We are in the park, and you were almost screaming. What did you see this time?” Tiller asked, cradling Astra’s head in the crook of his arm.
Astra closed her eyes for a moment, “I was in space again, but saw a glowing rock slowly flying through space. It suddenly turned and flew faster right at me. I tried to move, but couldn’t, so I screamed. What is going on with me? I keep seeing a rock in space glowing, and you said I turned off cars.”
Tiller shook his head, “I nearly didn’t believe it, and I was there. The alarms and lights were going crazy, and you shot some kind of energy out of your hands and somehow stopped the cars. Did you feel anything, at any point?”
Astra sat up and shrugged, “I can’t tell, it just happens. What does the rock have to do with me though?”
“I don’t know. Do you want to home, or your home block?” Tiller questioned.
Astra jumped to her feet, “I want to know what is going on, and if that means I have to find what the white coats did to me, then that is what I am going to do. Do you have a ball or some toy I can try to throw without touching it?”
Tiller ran off and found some stray toys at the park, and threw them just a few feet from Astra.
She focused and made the ball bounce back to Tiller.
Astra asked wide eyed, “which way is the hill rolling?”
Tiller pointed away from himself, saying the hill went the other way.
They tried everything, and soon found that Astra could not only push things away, but throw and hold something in an energy field.
After several hours, and the sun almost setting, they call it quits for the day and drive back to the city in Tiller’s car.
They make it past the tunnel and several blocks before having to stop because some kids are standing in the way.
One kid asks, “where is Astra, and what have you done to her?”
Astra gingerly gets out of the car and smiles at everyone. “I’m fine. I was just out with Tiller, and do I have some crazy stuff to tell you about.”
All the kids start to climb up the side of the building as Astra waves bye to Tiller before climbing up herself.
Knowing she was safe Tiller drove back to his home.
~

Astra told them where she had been for the several days before yesterday and all that day.
She had to hide from cops in a car and ended up in an old block, and had to walk all the way home on the ground level.
When she reached home block she was so out of it, she passed out, that Tiller found her and helped her out a lot. She was in the hospital the whole time, but once they released her, she came back for those few hours before Tiller took her outside the city walls. She said that green grass and blue sky was not a myth, and that she had seen it. She showed them her powers and what she could do so far.
When she finished, everyone was so tired they nearly fell asleep where they sat, so everyone over the age of ten tucked in the little ones then sat and talked for a few more hours.
A boy who had been a worker in a metal factory, that they called Pumper, asked, “it is still hard to believe you saw all this. Who is this Tiller anyway?”
Astra bit into some bread, wished it was Mac and cheese, “a nice cop. Like I said he saved me when all others would have me left be there to…you know.”
One of the girls with multicolored hair watched Astra’s face and asked, “what else did you try out there?”
Astra closed her eyes and said in a dreamlike voice, “I saw people playing and having fun. Families being together, and not just kids. I tried hot, fresh food and a cold drink called a smoothie. I would call all that, the fun part, then I had my powers start to go on their own. I turned off cars and saw a glowing rock in space. Tiller may try and find out what the rock and tech have to do with each other and me. I think it is time we all were in bed. Night guys.” and for the first time Astra slept through the night without any nightmares bothering her.
Everyone woke as the sun shone through the broken floor boards, and the first thing was finding something to eat.
Astra and Pumper find the dump bins for food stores with food in plastic bags, waiting for them.
Not ones to pass on easy food, they carry it all back to the roof home where the younger kids are ready to eat.
They empty all the bags in no time, and two other older kids take the bags back and place them where they will be found and used again for something.
With everyone happy, Astra asked, “may I go and see Tiller, if he is out today?”
Pumper didn’t like a runner like Astra going to see a cop, but he couldn’t stop and just nodded.
Astra beamed a wide smile and ran out of the rooftop home and made her way for the building opposite the station.
On the way the lights and giant screens go wacko.
She looks all around for a short or something, then looked up and could just see the glowing rock far up in the sky.
She clenched her fists, “the rocks and tech have to be connected somehow, and I have something to do with the whole thing. Now all I have to do is figure out…is that a horn?”
She looked down and saw Tiller waving at her from his car.
Astra smiled and jumped down into Tiller, who grabbed her in a hug till she squealed.
When he finally let go, Tiller asked, “did you see the lights just now? What caused that?”
Astra looked up at the sky and said, “you know how I keep seeing a rock in space glowing?” he nodded, “I think that is causing all the tech to go crazy. The real question is, what I have to with it and why I can control tech stuff?”
“I know some scientists who may be able to help with that one, if you are all right with being in a lab again,” Tiller leaned against his car to see how Astra would react to his idea.
Astra considered the idea, along with her experience with brains. She didn’t really want to be in a lab, but it is the best place for them to find out anything that may shed some light on this whole thing. She slowly nodded, “yeah, sure, but keep any needles away from me. Got it!”
Tiller laughed and raised his hands up in surrender, “all right, no needles. Shall we go then?” he held the passenger door open for her.
Astra curtsied and sat down in the car.
Tiller chuckled and climbed in, started the engine, and drove to the higher end of town.
Astra again stared out the window at everything that rushed by in a blur of colors and lights.
She saw tubes of light energy zooming all over the place, with people and things inside them.
Astra asked, “what are those things? I have never seen anything like them in the blocks I roam.”
Tiller glanced out and said, “they are transporting tubes for people and cargo. They are made by sending an electric current through metal rings that are arranged in any form or pattern, and the energy holds the rings in the air and out of the gravity of the planet. We can go in one later if you want?”
Astra now looked at the tubes with a question, and stated, “they are made from electricity, like the lights and alarms in the city and cars. If they are still in the air when all this weirdness is over, I guess we could go in one sometime.”
Tiller was taken back at/by her statement, and thought, “who knows what will happen to everything that uses power. The whole city could go down if whatever is coming does damage that can’t be undone. I guess all we can do is see what the scientists know and go from there”.
They reach the lab three hours before lunch time, but find that everyone is in a room making popcorn in a heating chamber.
One with hair sticking up all the place waved them over and offered them some popped and seasoned popcorn and said, “what can I, or we, do for you two?”
Tiller gave the bowl to Astra so she could have more to try, “we would like to know what is going on with the electricity, and what is up with a rock in space?”
The odd-haired scientists raised an eyebrow and said, “Let's see what we can find out.”
He leads them to a huge room with computers and processors, and the room felt cold as a winter night.
After Tiller finds some coats for them to wear, they take a look at one computer that showed waves of energy scrolling across the screen.
The scientist pushed a few buttons and said, “there have been a few fluctuations of energy flow, and complaints from people about their cars going off. Normally there are odd energy flows every now and then, but this is rather extreme. What is the other thing you wanted to know about?”
“My friend here has seen a rock flying towards Earth, and we would like to know if it is causing the power problems,” Tiller stated, putting his arm around Astra’s shoulders.
The scientist ran to another computer and brought a view of space around Earth about three thousand miles out, and a blip only halfway within the radio range.
The scientist was mad, “why was this not shown to us sooner? I demand to know who runs these scans for object coming towards Earth.” he ran off, leaving Astra and Tiller to get a better look.
The scan showed a blip in space, and when Tiller clicked on its data showed that it was of unknown matter content.
Astra leaned on the desk and said, “what it is made of maybe causing the energy to go crazy, but that still doesn’t tell us why I have seen it in my mind twice now.”
Tiller sat back in the chair and suggested, “you turned off the cars that went crazy, and you may have been able to stop the lights in the city if you wanted to. Maybe you see it because you have to stop it. No, forget it, that is crazier when I said it out loud,” Tiller waved his hands to try and brush off the idea, not wanting Astra to get hurt.
Astra shrugged, “I have powers, maybe I do have to do something. Not like anyone would miss me, right?”
Tiller bit his lip, wanting to tell her how he felt about her and wanting to wait till the right time.
He got an idea and said, “this thing is far in space, and you can’t breath in space. So you can’t do anything now, and it could pass right by the planet all together. So I think we should move onto other things, like maybe having you try pizza.”
Astra wanted to protest, but when she heard the word pizza, she completely forgot what she was going to say.
Before the scientists came back to look more closely at the data on the rock, Astra and Tiller were on their way to a pizza place.
They pass several energy tubes, just as the tubes go crazy and start to blink on and off.
Tiller looked worried, “they shouldn’t be doing that. What about the people in the tubes?”
Astra could feel something stirring in her core, and knew what she had to do.
She walked up to one of the tubes and touched the ring with the energy running through it, and the moment her hand made contact the energy settled down and the tube went back to normal.
She did this to the others, but just shot energy whips at them, and sat hard on the ground when she was done.
Tiller kneeled next to her, and she asked, “can we have pizza now?” he smiled and nodded.
After a messy lunch, they drive back to home block, and have to make a detour around road blocks.
They end up at the station where the police are waiting to take Astra in, but Tiller had another idea.
Tiller leaned over and whispered, “Hang on tight,” before shifting the car into hover mode and flying away.
Astra looked out the car window, and immediately pulled her head back in saying, “I don’t like heights.”
Tiller grinned for a brief moment, then suddenly the car swerved in the air.
Tiller tried to get it back under control, but nothing seemed to work.
“You’ll have to jump if I can’t…” he started to say, but Astra was way ahead of him.
She grabbed onto the car by the dashboard and sent energy volts zooming through the car tech.
With her mind linked to the car, Astra could see how it worked, and how to land it safely.
They land with a thud in a junk yard, and Astra nearly passed out from the power use.
With the car out of power, the only way anywhere was walking, so Tiller picked up Astra and started walking back to a block he knew well.
After a wait at a friend's house, and Astra takes a long nap, they make it back to the food block just before sunset.
They sat munching on fresh baked bread with hot cheese, and Astra was loving it. She took another bite and closed her eyes as she tasted the flavor of the cheese, mixing with the bread, the taste of the fresh bread almost matching the cheese. She moaned and said, “this is so good.”
Tiller stiffened a laugh and said, “he made this special for us, in other words I requested it. Can you find your home from…I just realized that is a stupid question for me to ask a runner like you.”
Astra tried to keep the food in her mouth as she giggled, “I can find my way from the station, to the old shipyards, and back again while dodging the police. By the way, where is your house? I would love to come and see you and where you live.”
Tiller chocked down his last bite of bread and tried to say, “well, I was hopping to…”
When Astra randomly grabs her head and nearly screams, “we have to get to the outer part of the city, where the grass is green, NOW!”
Tiller calls for a spare car, that has a cop inside, and gets him to drive them both to the outer city.
Everything around them was going berserk, and Astra seemed to get worse as they went by it all.
They reach the outer city just before the lights in the tunnel go out, leaving everyone inside in utter darkness.
Everyone ran from the tech that was now going haywire, and the peacekeepers were having a hard time keeping everyone calm as they tried to handle it.
There was a loud thud and everyone turned to see what caused it.
Now visible in the sky was the giant glowing rock, on a collision course with Earth.
Everyone stood looking up at the rock flying right at them, not knowing what was about to happen.
Families held onto one another.
Tiller stood to the side with Astra, who was having trouble with her powers again.
He moved her hair out of Astra’s face and asked, “do you want to go home?”
Astra took a deep breath and said, “I have to stop this, or no one will have a home.”
“You don’t even know what to do.”
Astra managed a smile before saying, “I can wing it, like I do with everything.”
Tiller was trying everything to keep Astra with him, “you may not survive this. What about the kids?”
“If I don’t make it, help the kids find good homes. Even if I don’t make it back, there is no one to miss me right,” and with that Astra flew straight up at the rock, with no idea how to stop this thing.
~

Astra flew up through the layers of the atmosphere, feeling the effects on her body.
The farther she got though, the more her powers adjusted so she could keep going.
Soon she was close enough that the rock now looked the same size as Earth.
‘How do I get rid of something like this?’ she wondered.
She could feel the energy coming off the rock, the hair all over her body stood on end.
A thought suddenly struck her, ‘turn the power back on it. But how do I do that?’
She thought back to when she pushed the ball away from herself by just switching the energy direction the energy was going, and how she was controlling the energy tubes and the car by touching and seeing in her mind how to do it all.
The best place to take control of any tech, is to be as close to the center as possible.
For a moment Astra thought of the kids in Calaburr that depended on her to keep them safe and find food for them, then of Tiller and how he helped her so much and showed not cops wanted to chain her down and have her work in a factory or something.
She closed her eyes and sent one last thought down to Earth, then flew right at the rock once again.
~

Tiller looked on, knowing all he could do was wait and see what happened.
His mind suddenly spins and he hears, ‘thank you for everything Tiller. Wait for me, ok?’
The message was from Astra herself.
He looked up with tears welling up in his eyes and thought, ‘always Astra, always.’
~

Astra spun like a drill, her powers acting like a cutting edge helping her get closer.
When she could feel an enormous amount of energy barring down on her.
She stopped and reached out with her energy wisps into the energy itself and took control of it.
At first it nearly overwhelmed her, but she was a runner, one of the best.
She focused everything she had into what may be the last thing she ever did.
~

Everyone sat on the grass, waiting for the end, but they all look up as a display of lights shine in the sky, right where the rock had been.
People ran and hugged anyone who was willing, except for Tiller.
Tiller looked for any sign that Astra was coming back down somehow.
The police sent everyone home before one walked over and said, “you should get some rest, you look ragged.”
Tiller said without looking at the policeman, “Not until I know about Astra.”
The policeman shrugged and went back with the rest of the station.
Tiller sat there till well into the morning, when some people from his neighborhood found him and helped him home.
He sat at home, right through the lunch hour and didn’t eat a thing.
When he was about to give up hope the phone rang; It was one of the scientists from the lab.
The scientists said, “we saw a crash in the old shipyards just a few hours after the rock exploded. We are sending a medical team out there now, you may want to go to see for yourself.”
Without hanging up the phone Tiller ran out of his house and called for a cab to take him to the old shipyard as fast as safely possible, and made it hours before the police station had even been notified.
Tiller stood back as the med team did a scan for radiation, but the moment they cleared it, he ran in and started looking for anything. He spotted a depression in an odd part of the yard and called the med team over to give him a hand.
After several minutes they uncover a young girl with white skin and blue tinted lips.
Tiller gently wrapped his arms around her and said in a whisper, “I am here Astra, I am not going anywhere.”
At that moment the police drive up with sirens going.
They try to take control, but the med team with far more people on their side to keep the police at bay till they could get Astra in a medical vehicle and drive to the hospital for medical treatment.
The hospital staff spend hours running scans for this and that.
Finally, they set up a monitor for her brain waves, her heart, and attach a breathing tube to pump pure oxygen into her lungs.
Astra slept quietly in the hospital bed for weeks, but Tiller came every day and talked to her about anything from how the kids were doing and how the station has changed what they did with runners.
The hospital finally cleared her so she could go, when she was in a more normal sleep.
With a lot of work on Tiller’s part, he managed to have her moved to his home, into her own room. He also managed one other thing that he would tell her once she woke up.
The sun rose and shone on Astra in her bed, waking her from her strangest dream yet.
*She looked out over the waves, turning and seeing a man smiling back at her. They both hugged and she thought she could hear ‘I love you, my daughter’. *
She looked around the room, and saw figures flying across the ceiling, book and toys on shelves and on the floor.
She rubbed her eyes and asked, “where am I?”
The door opened and a hovering robot flew into the room and a light shone up and down Astra for a moment.
It made a beeping noise, then she heard, “I’m coming, hold on,” and Tiller walked in and shooed the robot away.
“They can be such a nuisance sometimes,” Tiller said as he closed the door, then turned back toward Astra, “how do you feel?”
Astra rubbed her head, “light headed and heavy at the same time. But, where am I?”
Tiller leaned over Astra ad said, “you are at my house, recovering from your hero ‘stunk’, as I call it. You are safe here.”
“Your home, but, am I in your room?” Astra asked looking around again.
Tiller smiled and shook his head, “no. This is your room,” Astra was now utterly lost, Tiller continued, “I adopted you Astra. I am your new dad, if you will have me.”
Astra was for the first time in her life stunned.
Why did anyone want a runner as a part of their family?
She had to know, “why did you adopt me? I am a runner. No one wants a runner around.”
Tiller gave Astra a long, loving kiss on her forehead and said, “you are not like anyone I have ever met, and when I first saw you I wanted you to be apart of my life. I know it sounds corny, but that is how I feel about it.”
Astra had a good idea of what he meant, “you wanted to help runners, but ended up finding one you wanted for yourself.”
Tiller chuckled and nodded.
Astra lifted her hand and touched the side of Tiller’s face, and Tiller simply held it there for a long, happy moment between a new daughter and father.
Astra’s eyes then go wide as she says, “what about the kids, other runners, they don’t have homes. I have to get back to them and help them.”
Tiller saw where this was going and held Astra down, “while you slept for the past few weeks, I went and helped all the kids, most have homes and the others are in a good orphanage. I set up a plan that the runners can actually help the police catch robbers and muggers, since they can get around the city faster then cars sometimes. All you need to do when you are back on your feet is help to tell to the other kids and runners who won't come out for a policeman and tell them, but right now you need to rest and recover. I will not have my daughter running around after nearly…would you like something to eat, or drink?”
Astra giggled and nodded, and for the first time in years she felt herself relax.
For the next few weeks Astra stayed at home, her new home with her new dad, and eats her fill of every food the kitchen machines could dream up, then slept it all off just in time for the next meal.
Once Tiller let her, she got on her own feet and started to get back her runner skills, and before long was doing high jumps in the park over three to five foot high play sets.
During the week Astra went school, where regular kids go to learn according to her dad, she red about the history of Calaburr, the basic idea of the energy tubes, and so much more that when she tried to tell her dad it all got jumbled in her head and mouth and came out as gibberish.
On the weekends her dad would take her back to the city where she would go and find as many kids as she could and tell her what her dad had planned and done for them; every so often find a runner and tell them the plan for runners and police to work together.
But at the end of the day Astra and Tiller would sit out on the balcony, just outside the living area of his home, and look at the stars overhead and just be together.