"Return the Favor" by Scott Mosher

“Return the favor”

Scott Mosher

The year is 2200 and Paul Moller had just released his much anticipated Skycar. The Skycar, however, is not important in the story at this point. The world, as we know it now, has changed dramatically. One way is that heavy duty lockdown prisons of today have ceased to exist. Since space travel has become less expensive, we can actually take people into space for less money than holding them in a lifetime facility. Humans, in a strange way, have colonized Mars. Humans, though, fear this planet. This is where the world governments have decided to place their hard-core prisoners. The living conditions are very extreme, and the prisoners are provided with very few resources. This Mars is about as close to hell as anyone can imagine. No one ever hoped that they would earn the opportunity to travel to Mars.

New York City’s biggest crime family, the Sergios, had just been arrested and sentenced to life on Mars. The family had made everyone’s life in New York miserable because it controlled the police and had been allowed free reign to do anything it pleased. It wasn’t until a WPF (World Police Force) officer by the name of Geoffrey Minor was sent in to watch over the Sergio family that some justice finally happened. He created a surveillance organization of other WPF officers to oversee the Sergio family. Geoffrey was top of his class at the WPF Academy. He had grown up in New York City and had to put up with the Sergio family his entire life. Actually, when Geoffrey was seven, Peter Sergio, the head of the Sergio family came to Geoffrey’s house and viciously murdered Geoffrey’s father. It was said that Geoffrey’s father had been talking about all the evil things the Sergio family had done in New York, and Peter Sergio took it personally.

New York’s policemen were unable to find any leads, even though Geoffrey had witnessed the murder. New York’s finest didn’t listen to him. Even at this young age, Geoffrey understood that the police force was being paid off by the Sergio family, and that nothing could be done. Geoffrey promised his father over his grave that he would bring the entire Sergio family down, and would himself murder Peter Sergio.

Following the arrest of the Sergio family, Geoffrey nominated himself to help assist the guards in taking the Sergio family to Mars. The round trip would take three weeks, but Geoffrey didn’t care. He wanted to personally see Peter Sergio’s face when he realized the government had just split up one of the highest crime families in the world.

On the day of arrival, Geoffrey was face to face with Peter. Geoffrey commented, “Hope you enjoy an eternity in hell. That’s where you’re headed after a few weeks of being here anyway. No one lasts much longer than a few weeks here on Mars.”

“Hey Geoffrey, guess what? I killed your father and never got caught, so as far as I’m concerned I lasted twenty years longer than I should have,” sneered Peter.

With that comment, Geoffrey was unable to hold in his aggression, and punched Peter in the face.

“If you were a third the man my father was,” started Geoffrey.

“I’d be dead if I was your father, though, wouldn’t I?” snapped Peter.

Unable to return the smart remark, Geoffrey shut the door to the shuttle. The shuttle lifted off, and he prepared for the week and a half journey home. Why couldn’t he think of a smart remark? Was Peter smarter than he was? Geoffrey worried about this. Since it would be the last time he saw Peter, it angered him that Peter had actually gotten the best of him.

While Geoffrey worried about Peter getting the best of him, Peter Sergio’s wife was making a deal with Paul Moller. This deal is where the Skycar comes into the story. Moller had developed a Skycar that had extremely great capabilities. Sergio’s wife was going to pay him one and a half billion dollars for his services. This service could very well send Moller to Mar’s prison with no way to return to earth. This service was to go to Mars, rescue Peter Sergio and bring him back to Earth.

Geoffrey certainly had no idea that Moller and his Skycar were going to travel into space and rescue Peter. Moller’s Skycar had the ability to travel in space because of its high tech engines. He had created an engine with the ability to maneuver, and thrust even in a vacuum, which was basically what space was. The sleek and highly modified Skycar had been tested several times, and was finally ready to take its first flight into space. With the helpful one and a half billion dollars, Moller finally was ready to rescue Peter.

Mars was a very rough looking planet. There were few building around, and people had to fight for anything they wanted. We (Earth) had created green algae to produce Oxygen, and brought up a device to give the prisoners water whenever they needed it. There was very little to eat, so basically most prisoners died within a few months of being on Mars. Earth had produced some vegetables to grow on Mars, but the number of people on Mars outweighed the food supply. There were no guards on Mars because it was basically a cheaper way of the death penalty, and no one ever figured there would be a way to escape.

Although Peter had only been on Mars for three weeks, Moller was scared of what he may find. Moller had expected to have a difficult time finding Peter on Mars. He actually found Peter hiding in a little rock cave about seven hundred kilometers where he had entered Mars’ atmosphere. It hadn’t been overly difficult to find Peter, but to say the least it wasn’t an easy task. Moller had actually just been lucky because he had had no idea where to start, so he just flew around as fast as he could looking for anyone. When he found Peter, he looked very weak. Moller had prepared for this, ran over to him, got him into the Skycar, and gave him some food. They then took off and prepared for a two week trip home.

Geoffrey had gone back to his daily routine because it had been about a month and a half since he had last seen Peter Sergio. He figured that Peter was probably dead by now. He certainly hadn’t counted on Moller rescuing Peter, so had no idea that they were about to enter Earth’s atmosphere. Since Moller had been an employee of NASA, he knew about the windows to enter Earth’s atmosphere. He calculated the data, flew into Earth’s atmosphere, and began to prepare to land the Skycar. The destination was Miami, FL. This is where Moller wanted to land because it was where his home was. Before they even landed, Peter was thinking of ways to kill Geoffrey. The fury in his eyes resembled those of a demon on the hunt for the first time.

After they landed, Moller gave Peter a Skycar, which Peter’s wife had purchased for him. Moller explained about the self navigation system.

“The self navigation system works on a GPS system, so when I mass produce the car, they will avoid hitting one another in the air. It also allows them to avoid airliners as well,” stated Moller.

“Well I flew an airplane in my younger days, and with the self navigation device, it should be a piece of cake,” explained Peter.

“The Skycar cruises at about three-hundred miles per hour, so have a safe trip back to New York City,” said Moller.

With that, Peter got in his Skycar, and flew back to New York City. When he arrived, he rounded up his most trusted family members, and began making a secret plan to kill Geoffrey. Peter told his brother Steven that he planned to kill Geoffrey. He wanted it to be the most gruesome death imaginable. He wasn’t taking it lightly that Geoffrey had sent him to Mars.

The day after Peter arrived in New York, Geoffrey woke up and prepared for his day at work. He hopped into his Buick Skylark and headed to the office. What seemed to be a normal day soon turned into anything but normal. Steven, Peter’s brother had turned on him, and went straight to the police. What Peter was unaware of was that Steven had been the one who turned him in the first time, to send him to Mars. Steven, just as he had done before, told the police the whole story. This time the story involved Geoffrey, and the planning of his death.

Geoffrey immediately phoned the World Government, and asked for surveillance privileges of Moller Skycar Corporation. He was granted this right. He wanted surveillance privileges because he figured Peter would try to contact Moller. The task took merely five days, because on the fifth day, Peter contacted Moller asking for five Skycars.

“I need five Skycars by tomorrow. Can I send down five guys to pick them up?” asked Peter?

“Yeah, I’ll be here and I’ll train your men myself,” stated Moller.

“Alright, I’ll send them down pretty early. I want the Skycars by evening,” Peter said.

“That’s fine. Just send your guys with a check, and I’ll send the cars up after the training,” Moller said.

“Alright I’ll talk to you later then,” exclaimed Peter.

Following this conversation, Moller was arrested for helping a convicted felon escape. The WPF placed a Moller look alike to help train the men Peter was sending the next day. The Moller impersonator trained the men, and they were sent back to New York, so Peter wouldn’t suspect anything.

Steven told Geoffrey that Peter was getting more irrational because he wasn’t taking his adderol. Peter had a severe case of irrationality, and adderol was the only drug that could calm him, and now he was getting more and more out of hand. Because of this, Peter secretly decided to kill Geoffrey himself without letting anyone know. He devised the masterful plan of crashing into Geoffrey’s house and destroying it. He could parachute out of the Skycar prior to the crash and be safe.

It had been about two months since Peter had been sent to Mars, and the WPF thought it was about time to take action. The WPF was beginning to worry about the protection of one of their best officers. They decided to give Geoffrey his own Skycar for his own protection. They even thought about placing him into protective custody, but decided against it because he was one of the leading officers on the case. They could tell he was nervous though because he began staying late at work.

Three days after Geoffrey had been given the Skycar, Peter decided his plan should take action. Peter, unaware of Geoffrey’s staying late at work headed over to Geoffrey’s house. He was thinking through the entire trip about how satisfying it would be to see Geoffrey dead. With his face full of joy, Peter scooted across the sky, nearing ever so close to Geoffrey’s home.

Peter was thinking of the bloody massacre that was about to take place at Geoffrey’s. What he didn’t realize was that Geoffrey was just leaving work, and was only about an hour from home. Geoffrey, now getting used to his evolutionary Skycar was anxious to see how fast it went, so zoomed across the sky at three hundred seventy-five miles per hour. He thought about how fast he was going, and decided that maybe he could reach home in about fifty minutes.

“Wow” he thought to himself, that car goes fast as he stepped out of the car and onto the ground at his house. He stood there for a minute and marveled at the car he had just driven home. What a piece of machine he thought to himself. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes of looking at the car, when Geoffrey heard what seemed to be another Skycar. He thought to himself, it couldn’t be because no one else has the Skycar except…? except Peter’s men. As he looked frantically around the sky, he could see nothing. Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red. The Skycar couldn’t have been more than a few hundred yards away from where he was standing.

At that moment, Peter pushed his eject button and went flying out of the car into the sky. His parachute opened and he began to float down to earth.

Geoffrey’s face was horrified, his life was about to come to a halt, and it had barely just begun. His happy childhood flashed before his eyes; he knew the end was near. As the Skycar came closer, Geoffrey’s face looked even more terrified. He thought to himself; maybe his lifetime grudge had been overbearing, and now it was going to get the best of him. Just as the car was about to strike him, he closed his eyes and hoped for the best. When he opened them, the car was speeding off into the air like a runaway jet plane. Looking very relieved, Geoffrey started heading for the man who was floating down in a parachute.

Peter’s face was horrified when Geoffrey arrived. Peter had been unable to see the car abandon its target, which was Geoffrey. Taking no chances, Geoffrey pulled out his pistol, and aimed it right at Peter’s face.

“Stay on the ground,” ordered Geoffrey.

“Where am I supposed to go,” stated Peter. “It’s not like I can go anywhere anyway.”

“You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law,” replied Geoffrey.

“I’ve been arrested before, I know my rights,” snapped Peter.

“You forfeited your rights when you were sentenced to life on Mars Peter,” stated Geoffrey. “Someone forfeits the rights they were given when they were brought into this world, when they are sent out of this world. You were sent to Mars, on a one way trip, never to return. Since you have returned, being an officer, I have no other choice but to extinguish you from this world. I’m sorry Peter but the law is the law, and you must be punished to the maximum, even if that involves your death.”

Geoffrey, not giving Peter time to reply shot him. It didn’t feel like he thought it would, killing the man who murdered his father. Some would say that it should be the greatest feeling in the world, but Geoffrey knew his father would have done things differently. He wasn’t sure what he would have done differently but things from that day were different to Geoffrey. He didn’t look at life as something he was given. He looked at life as something he earned, and needed to keep earning his right to live.

He thought about the Skycar not hitting him. Was this his father’s message telling him to keep living life. No, that would be silly. It is unknown because Moller killed himself, but some believe that Moller knew what Peter would do, so personally put in a new design for Peter’s Skycars. The Skycar had been designed to fly off into the air if the ejection seat was missing. Geoffrey didn’t care much either way, he wanted to believe it was his father protecting him, so continues to believe that his father is watching over him protecting him from harm.