The floating spheres of New Orbit rose above the city’s white spires. It was a sight to see this early in the morning, watching the city come alive, lifted by its anti-gravitational field.

Ollie stood in awe. The night before he asked his father if he could leave early enough to watch the sun rise with New Orbit, to which he obliged. It was certainly a city any eight-year-old boy would envy, but especially one from Value City. Nothing but a mile-wide river separated the two cities, but to Ollie, it felt like a world apart.

The boy squinted as morning commuters zoomed through the tube-way from remnants of old New Orbit and up into the skyway. It truly was a modern marvel, or at least, that’s what Ollie’s father told him.

For most of the kids living in Value City, it was more like watching a TV show rather than a reality – watching life pass by on the boob tube. No one knew anyone who lived in New Orbit, at least, not anymore. There were those few who claimed to have relatives living in the city years or who had snuck in through an old railway, but those stories were as believable as a Bigfoot sighting – you want to believe, but know it’s a load of malarkey.

Sure, there was a quaint charm to Value City that older folks liked. For starters, it’s been what they’ve known all their life. To them, it was that comfortable sweater you wore on a dreary day. It’s even what New Orbit was once upon a time – an sprawling concrete jungle. But to Ollie, his hometown reminded him more of a reused paper bag than anything else – tattered and bland.

He yearned to leave home, yearned for something new…something more. But it wasn’t just the glitz and glamour of New Orbit that drew Ollie to it, nor was it the unimaginable tech that it produced, it was where Ollie believed his mother ran off to when he was just a babe – despite his father saying otherwise.

The idea of New Orbit had become so engrained in young Ollie’s mind that it’d become almost like a religion to him, a divine reverence had grown deep down inside of him without him even realizing it. He held the city on an unreachable pedestal the way others placed their own deities or Big Macs or whatever they prayed to.

Finally, the Sun kissed the horizon, and an orange hue washed over the holy ground at which the young boy worshipped.

Satisfied, Ollie readied himself for the day. Yes, he was only eight, but eight was old enough to contribute here in VC, and every bit mattered. So he turned and headed for the Sun Fields.

The Fields were a synthetic park, built on top of an old landfill – astroturf rolled out over the mounds of garbage. Now the grassy hills rolled over the eastern shore of Value City, where the lowly metropolis met the sea.

Ollie tossed his bag to the ground with all the grace of a newborn deer. A conduction coil plopped out, in more of a knot than carefully wrapped, followed by a large swatch of fabric and metal rods. Today, Ollie was going solar farming with his kite.

While it was true that people and any physical interactions were non-existent between New Orbit and Value City, that wasn’t to say there hasn’t been any communications between the two. The kite, which Ollie simply referred to as his sun catcher, was one of the small gifts that came out of New Orbit since it’s meteoric rise in prominence. The piece of technology, which included solar cell fabric containing photovoltaic cells and a retrofitted, snake-like version of a Tesla coil, was sent to Value City with a friendly electronic message.

Its purpose was to be latched onto rooftops, giving the people of the city access to free, off-the-grid energy. Unfortunately, most of the Valuites didn’t trust the new tech and refuted any scientific evidence that suggested it was indeed a useful tool.

That is, except Ollie’s father, Jacob Stantz, who since his wife’s departure had fallen on tough times and took advantage of all the opportunities he was given. Ollie insisted, however, on taking the sun catcher to the Fields every weekend instead of it being mounted on the rooftop. It would give him something to do on the weekend while his father worked, and he swore that the Fields would offer more sun rays over any other part of the city – it was, after all, high up on a hill and away from the concrete blocks of buildings.

All these reasons were only partially true, the real reason was because of this morning. Because of his mother. Maybe his father knew Ollie’s true reasoning as well, or perhaps he thought the boy just needed to get out more. Either way, he agreed with his son.

Having undid the nest that was his conduction coil and connected the kite, Ollie surveyed the skies. It wasn’t an idle day for sun catching, gray and cloudy, but the solar kite was made for this. Its endless coil was smart enough to sense the lack of sunlight and extend up and above the clouds when needed.

With the cables connected to battery in his backpack, Ollie waited until a galling gust of wind carried in from the shore and up and away the kite sailed. Higher and higher it rose, Ollie allowing it free reign until it pierced through the clouds.

The wind whipped around, sweeping through Ollie’s mess of curls, pushing his gaze back to New Orbit.

What a wonderful day, Ollie thought. And it really was. Despite the lack of sun, it was a brisk autumn day with plenty of folks out for a morning walk.

Unbeknownst to Ollie, who still stood city-gazing, a pack of kids came barreling over the hill.

“Hey, looky who I found here! It’s Ollie Orbit!” One of the kids called out.

The boys were older but knew Ollie from school – everyone knew of Oliver Stantz and his obsession with their neighboring city.

“Hey Stinkface!” Another kid hollered but Ollie’s head was quite literally in the clouds.

Realizing Ollie was in full daydream mode, the oldest of the boys got the attention of the rest, quieting them. With a hush, the boy slunk his shoulders, sneaking up on poor, unexpecting Ollie.

When he was close enough, he grabbed Ollie by the shoulders, shouting, “Get your head out of the clouds Stantz!”

Ollie nearly jumped out of his shoes in surprise. The gang roared with laughter as their boss slapped the back of young Oliver’s head.

“When will you realize you’re never getting over there, kid.” The boy stood nearly a foot taller than Ollie, despite just a year’s age difference. “They don’t care one bit for us over here in Value City, none of them do!”

“Yeah,” Another kid spouted, “My daa said they’re good for nothing nobodies over there.”

With one final shove for prosperities sake, the gang tired of Ollie’s lack of reaction and stalked off to reign terror upon another unsuspecting kid. Young Oliver Stantz, however, was reacting – maybe not the way the kids wanted him to, but the angry tears welled up inside of him. He was bullied enough to be used to the abuse by now, but it never stopped hurting.

As if mother nature said, enough with those fools, a gust of wind howled, dragging the kite away and not giving Ollie any more time to stew on his bullies.

Ollie had dealt with intense winds before, but this one was different. It felt as though someone put a motor on the kite and stepped on the gas. He dug his heels into the turf, but the kite continued to drag him away.

The conduction coil stretched out, pulling Ollie further and further through the grassy fields. Faster and faster, he went, despite the wind dying down. All he could do now was hold as tightly as his hands could.

The kite tugged to the right, pulling Ollie and then just as quickly, jolted to the left. He must have looked like a fool, zigzagging around, seemingly having lost control of the kite, but he had no other choice but to hold on. This was his father’s only one and couldn’t imagine them having the money to buy another.

Through gritted teeth, Ollie attempted one final stop, planting himself as deep into the ground as he could. The kite jerked to-and-fro, wobbling around before it plummeted out of the heavens, catapulting itself through the clouds and back down to Earth. The weight was unbearable – it dragged Ollie to the ground, sending him tumbling down a hill as the coil wrapped around him.

With a crash, the kite slammed into Ollie as the two clattered down. That hurt a lot more than it should have, Ollie thought, still feeling the sting from the collision.

Catching his breath, he stretched his little body up and out of the mess of cable. It’ll take him the rest of the day to unfurl that. A sudden movement coming from inside the kite had him freeze mid-stretch.

Was there something stuck inside of it?

From within the solar cell fabric, something, or someone jerked.

“Easy, easy.” Ollie cautioned. “You’re going to get hurt.”

Ollie carefully approached his fallen kite as it flopped like a fish out of water. He was an only child but had the delicate sentiment of an older child getting to see their newborn brother or sister for the first time.

It took some time to unwrap it all, not because the kite took much damage – its metallic shell held strong – but the cloth itself was stuck inside a gear of some sort. After everything was unraveled, an ellipsoid shaped encasing was revealed. If it stood long-ways, it was probably nearly as tall as young Ollie and half as wide.

A hiss of air whizzed out as the top part of the shell pushed up and then out. Ollie jumped back as the hinges of the hatchway opened and out popped a small android-like being. A big old, round head twirled out, circular glass sphere fell onto Ollie, adjusting themselves like a camera coming into focus.

Ollie hesitated. “Are you…are you okay?”

The little creature’s periscope arms extended out as it stretched.

“Wh-why, yes, thank you for a-a-asking.” The creature struggled through its speech – the way Ollie’s computer would stutter through new video games, its graphics card struggling to keep up.

Curious, Ollie knelt next to the contraption. Was it some sort of spacecraft?

“Are you an alien?” Ollie couldn’t help but ask.

            “Alien? No.” The creature said with a tilt of its head. “The-the name is Wallace. I am an Aero Courier – it seems I have had a mishap.”

            Wallace the courier, began to inspect its capturer.

            “You’re a robot then.”

            “That is quiet right.” Wallace agreed.

            “And you’re taking a message somewhere?”

            “Right again.” Wallace’s head bobbled back up, now thoroughly inspecting Ollie. “You are not taking me prisoner, are you?”

            “Prisoner?! What? No. Not at all. Why would I do that? I was just solar farming and well, you got caught.”

            “I see.” Wallace’s glass-bottle eyes squinted. “Very well. You would be surprised, though, how many people try to steal New Orbit data. It’s not by accident we Aero-bots fly so high.”

            “New Orbit?” Ollie couldn’t help but spit out. “You’re from New Orbit?”

            “Indeed.”

            And then it hit Ollie. “Hey, it’s your type that share the new tech that comes out of New Orbit’s then, isn’t it?”

            “You are correct.” Wallace agreed. “And I must continue on my way.”

            The robot began to slink back down into its orbital craft.

            “Wait! No!” Ollie pleaded. “My mother…she’s in New Orbit. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen her – please, please Mr. Wallace, can you take me there? I’ll even help you with your message deliveries if you need me to.”

            The clouds parted in the sky, the Sun shining down on young Ollie like a perfect little angel.

            “Your mother.” Wallace paused – processing what the words could mean to this young boy.

            “Yes, my name is Oliver Stantz, and my mother is –”

            “Lydia Stantz.” Wallace quickly replied as he searched both the boy and his mother’s name in his database. “Birth name Lydia Rowland. Married to Jacob Stantz and mother to Oliver Jacob Stantz.”

            The robot’s eye then set on Ollie, the metal half-moons above its eyes pushed up in anguish.

            “You don’t know much about New Orbit, do you, Oliver Jacob Stantz?”

            Ollie didn’t catch Wallace’s sudden change in its demeanor, he was still in awe that this robot knew of his mother – that she could be in New Orbit.

            “No.” He managed to say. “But I’d like to learn more about it.”

            “I will take you to see your mother then.” Wallace said matter-of-factly. “And still have enough time to finish my assignments after.”

            Wallace fumbled around inside his small craft, odd sounds bleeped and blooped from within. Its head popped back up, clearly satisfied with what it had done. The once, one person ship creaked and extended into a cushy two-seat convertible.

            “You will have to sit on top, not inside, but it should do.” Wallace said, pleased with himself.

            “Sit?” Ollie was flabbergasted. “On top? With you?”

            “Correct.” Wallace settled into what was now the pilot’s seat. “Come on now, we don’t have all day.”

            Ollie didn’t hesitate. He clambered up on top of Wallace’s ship, like one of those mechanical animals you’d pay a nickel to ride at the shop.

            “Hold on tight.”

            The cold, metal hands of Wallace pulled Ollie’s arms around, leading them to hold on tightly to the robot’s shoulders.

            Without further ado, the courier’s ship took off. Zooming through the Sun Fields and out towards the river. Instead of elevating beyond the clouds, Wallace steered the ship along the river, water splashing up behind them as they jetted by.

            The white of New Orbit was nearly blinding. It was so…new….and clean. It was a stark contrast to the dirt lined Value City that Ollie was so used to.

            Halfway across the river, Ollie noticed a translucent sheen bubble around the city that he hadn’t noticed before. He considered asking Wallace, but at the pace they were travelling, Ollie was afraid if he’d open his mouth, he wouldn’t be able to shut it again until they came to a stop. Instead, he held on tighter and as they passed through the clear coating causing the field to warble momentarily, but nothing more.

            Wallace whizzed around the city, now rising higher and higher as he traversed the white spires towards the floating orbs that have become synonymous with New Orbit.

Back in Value City, New Orbit was nothing more than a beautiful, impressionist landscape painting framed by the pale, blue sky. Now, fully immersed within the city, it was as if he was part of that painting! Commuters flooded the tube-ways and spires as the city hummed with an unmistakable energy.

The ship slowed exponentially as they crossed into the city proper, finally giving Ollie a chance to speak, unfortunately, he was at a complete loss of words. His mouth hung open, soaking in all that was around him. The new, foreign tech, the people, the sounds – he was in New Orbit.

“We are here.” Wallace said with a warm crackle.

“Here?” Ollie hadn’t realized that they’d come to a stop next to one of the massive orbs. He was here…to see his mother. “My mother, she’s actually here? She really is here in New Orbit?”

“Why, y-y-yes.” Wallace confirmed. “Lydia Stantz – patient number 06438.”

“Patient?” The red-cross of a hospital stared back at Ollie. This floating orb was a hospital.

“Oh dear.” Wallace bemoaned. “You didn’t know why your mother was here, did you?”

“No.” Ollie fought back tears. “My dad never told me any of this. I just always hoped she was here. So, I can be here…with her. Why wouldn’t he just tell me.”

Wallace’s head drooped down, as if the weight had become too much for its hydraulic neck.

“I am not human like you, Oliver, but I think this error in ways could be resolved human to human.” Wallace surmised. “With your mother. In room 106.”

He was right, a little on the nose, but right. Ollie had come all this way – it was time to go talk to his mother. He took a deep breath in and walked inside.

Compared to the rest of the city, New Orbit General Hospital was quiet. Nurses, both human and robotic, glided from room to room.

The patient’s rooms started just beyond the hospital’s vestibule, curving down into an endless hallway.

Room 102.

Room 103.

104. 105…the ominous door of door 106 loomed over Ollie.

“Here we are.” He said, half expecting Wallace to respond to him, but it was just him and presumably, his mother behind door 106.

Ollie closed his eyes and turned the knob on the door open. With his eyes still closed, he stepped inside.

The slow, rhythmic breathing of someone deep asleep gave Ollie the courage to open his eyes, if only a little. At the far end of the room rested a woman, from this distance still young looking, with her hands folded, fast asleep.

Ollie inched closer. “Mom?”

Yes, now that he was closer, he could see it was her. In fact, it didn’t look like she’d aged one day from the few pictures he’d seen of her.

He traced his soft hand across her cheek. “Why’d you leave me, mom?”

Then, something happened that he wasn’t prepared for, his mother’s eyes flickered open.

“Oliver?” Her voice was horse, as if she needed a glass of water. “Is that you?”

Ollie nodded his head, staring wide-eyed as his mother.

“Oh, dear, Ollie.”  Her eyebrows furrowed the same way Ollie’s did when he was anxious. “What are you doing here, darling?” 

“I…I…I missed you, mom, I missed you. And no one would tell me where you went or what happened to you or anything and I just…” But it was too much for young Ollie to take, he couldn’t hold back his emotions any longer. He burst into tears and into his mother’s arms.

“My sweet Ollie.” She whispered in between kisses. “My dear, sweet boy.”

Despite her skin being ice-cold, that was the best hug Ollie had ever had.

“Why’d you leave me?” He asked once more, this time through his sobs.

His mother ran her fingers through his mess of hair. “Honey, I didn’t want to leave you, I had to.”

“But you still left me.”

That was true, no matter which way you looked at it and that clearly hurt his mother.

“Believe me, dear, it was a decision your father and I discussed for a long time, even before you were born. And it was a decision I swore your father not to tell you about.” Ollie could feel her hand tracing along his face and then gently tilt his face up. “You don’t know about New Orbit, do you?”

Puppy-eyed, Ollie shook his head no.

“Time is different here…it’s at a standstill. That’s how technology seems to advance at such a rapid pace here, scientists have the time to innovate, doctors have the time to find cures to diseases. That’s why,” She took a deep breath, “That’s why I’m here, honey, I’m sick…I’ve been sick for a long time now with no cure in sight. I didn’t want to put you or your father through the agony of slowly losing me, so I left before you could remember me. But it seems it had the opposite effect…”

“But I could take care of you back home, momma.” Ollie muttered.

“I know, I know. But I couldn’t possibly put my little baby through losing his mother the way you would have if I stayed.” It was her turn to start to tear up. “I just couldn’t. While I’m here in this little time bubble, at least there’s a chance for me to get better, and who knows, maybe one day I’ll be able to leave here. But I didn’t want to give you or your father that slim chance of hope, that’s why I asked him not to tell you about here.”

This was all too much information at once for Ollie, it was eight years of wanting and wondering to have it all come flooding in at once.

“So, you might not even get better?” Ollie asked.

“No. They run some tests on my every now and then, and put me to sleep while they’re not, but nothing is guaranteed. New Orbit isn’t some luxurious, city of tomorrow, it’s a haven where scientists from all fields have given up their lives to better yours, dear, you should see some of the tech that’s being developed here.”

“It’s not like we’ll see it in Value City.” Ollie huffed.

“Progress takes time, Ollie, nothing is instantaneous, you just have to give it time.”

“Like I have to give you time to get better?”

Ollie’s mother shut her eyes closed at this and he couldn’t understand why.

“Yes, dear, yes,” she finally said, “But you can’t stay here. You need to go back home to dad and not worry about me. New Orbit isn’t a place for kids. You need to have fun living your life and grow old. Yes, there is a chance that the doctors here will find a cure for me, but that is a small chance, honey. It may take hundreds of years.”

“Hundreds of years?!” That was unimaginable to Ollie. Hundreds of years ago life was nothing like it was now, heck the Value City didn’t even exist a hundred years ago and in a year years, it may not be around and then it hit him. “I won’t be here in a hundred years…”

For the first time since he’d come into the room, his mother’s gaze broke his and peered out the window. Out into the great city that Ollie had dreamed so much about.

“I know…I know…You coming here today was a blessing. I got to see my little boy one final time.” Finally, she turned back towards Ollie, grabbing hold of his hands. “I don’t want you to forget me, or today, but I want you to stop daydreaming about me and be the best you. Don’t wait for New Orbit’s help, do it yourself, do it for me because I’ll be here thinking of you and all the great things you can do.”

Ollie nodded, that sad sort of nod that a parent would get when their child knew they had to do something even though they didn’t want to.

“Even if things don’t work out, we’ll always have today.”

“Okay.” Ollie said through his tears and turned to go.

“Hey, I don’t get one final hug?”

And before his mother could finish her sentence, Ollie was in her arms, gripping her tight.

“I love you, dear.” She whispered to him.

“I love you too, momma.” He whispered back.

It felt like an eternity before they broke their embrace, Ollie not wanting to leave.

“Your father eventually agreed with this.” She held her hands up to the room. “But he never liked it. The idea of lying to you. Or raising you on his own. And most of all, losing me. But he did it because of his love for both of us, so do me a favor and be extra nice to him, okay?”

Ollie had never thought about his father that way. He was always at work or cleaning up around the house or cooking dinner, and he always, always seemed tired. Or was he sad? Ollie just assumed that’s who his dad was – but they always felt distanced from each other.

He imagined himself solar farming with his dad at the Fields. Hunkering down the kite to his bag as they had a picnic.

“Yeah, I’ll do that.” He said before leaving.

Wallace was still waiting outside when Ollie got back. The hum of the city resumed itself as he stepped back outside.

“Your facial features are indicating that you are sad, was this not what you wanted, Oliver Jacob Stantz?” Wallace asked, confused.

Ollie looked around. He was in New Orbit. He’d gotten to see his mother! His mother! That was only a dream just yesterday, but now he just wanted to get back home.

“No, it’s everything that I wanted.” He brushed aside a stray tear. “I’m ready to go home though.”

“Good.” Wallace bobbed his head in agreement. “I think this was fruitful.”

Wallace patted his small ship for Ollie to get on, and the two took off, back towards Value City.

The trip back was fast, but wasn’t that always the case? Wallace landed right where they’d unexpectedly come together earlier that morning – Ollie’s solar kite still scattered across the astroturf.

“Will I ever see you again?” Ollie asked as he dismounted the ship.

“That I cannot say for sure.” Wallace answered. “But if you keep an eye in the skies, perhaps you will.”

Wallace was met with a big old hug from Ollie.

“Thank you, Wallace.”

“Y-y-you’re welcome, Oliver Jacob Stantz.” The robot said as Ollie backed away and started to gather his kite. “Don’t fly that too high or you might end up catching the Sun.”

Off Wallace flew back up into the clouds as Ollie turned back towards Value City. His city.

Copyright William Meier Jr. 2025 ©