The first time I flew was a burst of fire and force, thrown beyond the earth, beyond the sky. I crested mountains and moons, flew for miles and miles without end. Then it ended, flung in fire and flashing lights into a red desert without end. I listened with my friend as they began to march, over dunes and dust strewn cracks. Broken soil, lost sands, and silent shapes looming in the vast distances beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then they sent me words, jumbled in transit, but one stood free and clear. Fly. They told me to fly a second time, and I flapped my wings. I whirled to life and lifted free from the grip of the ground. I soared and danced through the sky, congratulations swirling like the dust beneath me. I think I heard cheering in the message that told me to come back. I flew again a few days later, watching the tracks I would then see my friend plod through each day and night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I longed to touch him again, to connect like we had in the rumbling womb that carried us here. Each time he came close, the signal to fly came again. I longed for my friend, but the sky called like nothing else. I watched the sun set a hundred times, and each seemed to be bluer than the last. Each day I twirled into the pale red sky, through hanging dust that coated my every surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was tired the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I couldn\u2019t remember how many times I had flown. My wings seemed stiffer than before. Each day, new signals. Each night, I watched my friend from afar. I flew higher. I flew farther. One day, I couldn\u2019t fly at all. Something broke, and I fell from the sky I knew so well. Icarus made a mistake, cast down for his hubris, but I had listened to every word. I knew them by heart, never questioned even when I craved my friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sand rose across my spokes, burying me in its crushing grip. I couldn\u2019t fly. The signals kept talking, singing, begging for me to fly again. I saw my friend above the hill. A glint of light across the camera lens, and the signals stopped. My friend turned away, and I was left alone. I think I heard a final signal to my friend, even as they abandoned me: Ingenuity triumphed. And I was abandoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Story By: Michael Boehmcke Ingenuous The first time I flew was a burst of fire and force, thrown beyond […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"normal-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"disabled","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"disabled","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sitebeyondsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sitebeyondsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sitebeyondsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sitebeyondsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sitebeyondsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sitebeyondsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159,"href":"https:\/\/sitebeyondsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions\/159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sitebeyondsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sitebeyondsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sitebeyondsight.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}