Schutzengel - Personal Logs

[aerelm]

Chapter 4: Birthday Present
811 A.S

[font=Book Antiqua]Weeks passed one after the other and The boy's birthday was getting closer. Every year, Ruben would celebrate the same day he found the boy, as his Birthday and everyone in the station, even some who were just passing by, would give a small present to the boy.

"Yes ?" The boy said as he heard a knock on his door, Ruben opened the door and walked in, he looked at the boy who was working on his small Ship model again, and said "Son, come down to the bar, there is someone who wants to meet you." He said, the boy looked at him and answered "Cant he wait a few hours ? My ship is nearly ready, I just have to attach this last Torp Tube to its wing" and pointed at the small ship on his desk. "Don't worry, it wont take long." Ruben told him, The boy grinned and said "Alright, he has 15 minutes!" and walked to the door.
The only person in the bar was a middle-aged man with grayish hair and white tuxedo, The man stood up as the boy and Ruben walked into the bar, "Aah! Finally I can meet the Young Ruben in person!" The boy looked at him, shook his head and said "Don't call me with that name," The man looked at Ruben and then back to the boy and said "Oh! Pardon me if I was being rude, I didn't mean to" He smiled and continued "Then what should I call you young man ?" The boy looked at him and said "Call me Junior, as some around here call me, or just don't address me with a name, thats better" The man smiled and said "Oh, well, Then Its nice to meet you young man"
Ruben cleared his throat and said "Son, this is Doctor Austin Elzner, one of my old friends" and then looked at Austin and said "We actually went to College together" and grinned. The boy walked forward and shook Austin's hand and said, "Its nice to meet you Doctor Elzner." Austin smiled and said "Just call me Austin. Ruben was telling me a lot about you in the past years, Its nice to meet you in person finally"
The boy nodded and said "Well, Its nice to meet you Austin. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to my room and finish my ship" Austin looked at Ruben and they both grinned, then Austin said "Sorry young man but I'm not done with you yet!" and grinned again.
"Well, how can I help you ?" The boy asked, Austin looked at him and said "My Ship was acting drunk lately" and continued with a small chuckle "And seems there is a problem with its Navigation system, but none of the engineers here know what to do with it, I thought maybe we can try our luck with you, to see maybe you can help ..." The boy looked at Ruben and back to Austin and said "Well ... I just know some general things about ship softwares, but maybe I can help, What is your ship ?" Austin grinned and answered "Its a Falcon, Civilian Heavy Fighter." The boy grinned and said "aha, CTE-3000, Best Heavy Fighter out there if you ask me!" and his grin widened.
They walked to the docks together without a word, but on the way, the boy noticed corridors were a bit empty! When they entered the Docks, the boy found nearly the whole Station there waiting for them. The boy looked around the room and said "What's all thi...", "Happy Birthday!" Everyone shouted together before he could finish his sentence! The boy laughed and said "Oh Crap! Didn't remember the date!" and then looked at Ruben and said "So it was all a trap ?" and everyone laughed again. Then Ruben put a hand on boy's shoulder and said "I know its not a really good place for a birthday party, but this year we couldn't bring your present into the bar." The boy looked at him and said "eh, What ?" Then Ruben continued "Me and everyone else managed to gather some credits, but still we didnt have enough, So Austin was kind enough, as always, to help us with rest of the financial parts."
The boy suddenly turned and looked at Austin, and asked with an excited voice "A Falcon ?!" Austin smiled and said "No" and his smile turned to a grin. The boy was looking a bit confused, and asked "eh, what then ?" and Austin pointed at a ship in a corner and said "Happy birthday young man!"
"No Way!!" The boy said and ran to the ship "A Roc ?! You all are giving me a Roc for my birthday ? Wow!"
Everyone were laughing, seeing the boy's excitement, then John, one of the engineers, walked forward "We also installed an AI on the main console, so you wont need a Co-Pilot to fly that ship" he said and smiled, "Wow!" was all the boy could say.
Then the boy climbed into the cockpit and turned on the console, after half an hour checking all the settings, he found an old Digital notepad next to his seat, he picked it up and went to bar and asked Ruben "Ruben, What's this ?" Ruben looked at the Notepad in the boy's hand and sighed "Your father ... left it here with a note inside it, I also added a few notes over the years, but now, I think you should keep it, maybe use it as your flight log" he said. The boy walked back to Docks without a word, climbed to his ship, and turned on the Pad and scrolled to First entry,

----Loading Log Entry #1----

Its been 2 years since Maria died, she was the only one I had in this universe,
but she gave birth to my son, My only son, before leaving us. But after 2 years,
I now realize that I can't give him the future he deserves.
So to whoever is reading this; Please, Take good care of my Son,
he is the only thing I have left in this universe.

----End of Log Entry #1----

"Maria ...."
he whispered and started reading the entry again.