Leaves fell from the tops of dead trees. They flew in the wind and landed on a row of used cars neatly arranged in an empty lot. The darkness of the night, accompanied by fog, made the place look terrifying.

An object the size of a car filled the void. It hovered a meter above the ground in the middle of the area filled with used cars. It had no wheels and no propellers. It seemed to float just like that. Its surface was yellowish and flashed red several times with small beeps from inside.

Nathan was trying to control the flying vehicle from the inside. He sat in the driver's seat, pressing a few buttons, unplugging a cable connected to a box-shaped device under his feet. It was the device that caused the flying vehicle to flash red continuously.

"Come on!" screeched Nathan as he stomped loudly on the vehicle's floor. He tried to find fault with the virtual screen emanating from the boxy device in front of him. He called the hand-held, head-sized box machine the vehicle's main component, 'Neo'.

The blinking accelerated. Red filled the entire vehicle. Nathan's heart raced in time with the beeps from Neo. He didn't hurry from there even though he knew what would happen in the next few moments as the blinks turned faster and faster.

BUM!

Nathan was thrown onto the muddy ground. Yellow debris flew through the air, falling onto the nearby abandoned cars. Nathan sighed. Raising his hand, he found that his elbow was injured. He shook off the mud on his shirt. Got up with annoying steps to meet his vehicle.

The vehicle had come to a sad end. It lay on the ground, not floating like before. The top was destroyed. Nathan could only find the backpack and seat and the underside of the flying vehicle. Even Neo was broken.

Nathan let out a disappointed sigh. He had spent almost three months just to complete this flying vehicle project. But it had disintegrated in just one night without leaving any components except the mechanical seat he could make in one night.

Beep beep ...

Nathan looked back. Listening sharply to the beep. The sound was coming from one of the old cars on the outskirts. Nathan stepped towards the sound.

Beep beep...

The sound was very regular. It was similar to the sound the Neo made moments before it exploded. Nathan suspected that maybe the Neo hadn't actually exploded but had been thrown between the old cars. However, Neo would only work with a computer. So, where was the noise coming from?

Nathan looked at one of the car doors. He glanced at the dashboard and the driver's seat. There was nothing there.

He turned to the car's roof and found a small red blinking object on top of a rusty old ford full of rain puddles. Nathan hurriedly grabbed it. It was a Neo's small parts.

Nathan carried the compass away from there. His heart was slightly relieved. There was an object that he could still save, even if it was only as small as his thumb. But Nathan's attention was distracted by the sound of the thing getting weaker and weaker.

Nathan thought it would die within a few seconds. He stopped and waited for it to die and would soon savor his disappointment, but it didn't.

Nathan brought the thing closer to the old ford again. The beeps were getting faster. Nathan was stunned. This car was having an effect on Neo's function.

"Wait!" Nathan screamed. He moved his hand away from the car. The beeps slowed down. Then he brought it closer to the car, the beeps speeding up.

Nathan opened the door of the ford. He looked at the dirty upholstery. Water dripped from the roof, which had a hole in it for some reason. What was so special about this car that it interfered with his compass function? He needed help finding a single working engine.

"It's probably just a coincidence," said Nathan, who couldn't stand the wet clothes and mud splashing all over his body. If it wasn't a coincidence, he'd come back tomorrow when it was light to check on the car.

Nathan picked up his backpack, leaving his homemade vehicle abandoned.

***

Nathan's house was a three-story luxury mansion with two swimming pools and a small garden on either side. Shady, lamp-lit trees lined the path to the main entrance.

Nathan Eduarda was only 17 years old. He was a lanky boy with messy hair. His skin was white and almost pale, but his eyes were bright blue as the night. He was adopted by a wealthy old lady from an orphanage. She always gave Nathan what he wanted, including the scientific instruments he had designed for the last few years since he entered high school.

Nathan found his mother asleep in a chair with the television still on. A waitress offered him warm clothes and a towel when she saw Nathan's body covered in mud.

Nathan ignored that. He wanted to get to the base as soon as possible. Redesigning the flying vehicle with a better plan.

"Take a shower and dinner, Nathan!" said Claire, Nathan's mother, who suddenly woke up without Nathan noticing.

"Okay!" said Nathan as he ran to his base. Nathan always spent his time in that place. It was where he made his own scientific instruments, conducted experiments, and even ate and drank. He never left that place after school and worked with his tools.

Nathan was clean and smelling good five minutes later. He opened the fridge to get some ice cream and threw himself on the sofa. He glanced at the television, which had been on for three days.

A familiar man was bringing up the issue of disasters from a few months ago. This time, a significant storm killed more than a million people in Europe. These disasters happen regularly all over the world. Just last week, Nathan read about a 10-magnitude earthquake in an Asian country. A volcano erupted in Africa, and the ashes reached another country about two months ago.

Nathan ignored the news. He spooned down the last mouthful, then reached for his laptop to design his new project that needed to be fixed so it wouldn't blow up again.

"I need a physics book!" complained Nathan. He laid back down on the sofa. It wasn't long before he got up again and resumed his designs, his eyes closing asleep.