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….

Michael grinned to himself as he led the small boy away from the more crowded areas of the workplace. They travelled right to the back of the area where there was a lone door at the end of the corridor.

"Just through here is where your Dad is going to meet you, okay?"

John nodded as Michael pushed open the door. There was a small pathway leading around a deep ring that resembled the graviton wheels that were found at fairgrounds. In the middle of the ring, there was an office complex that stood around 4 to 5 metres higher than the ring section. This complex held all of the computers that were used to control the gravity ring…not that John knew that.

"Alright…" grunted Michael as he lowered John down into the ring, "….now, you just stay here whilst I go and check with your Daddy about all of the details about your surprise!"

John frowned up at Mr Davis, "Why can't you just text him?"

"…His phone might be on silent, it's easier to ask him in person…"

"Why can't you tell me what the surpwise is?"

"Well if I told you, then it wouldn't be a surprise would it?!"

"If you tell me, then I'll still act surpwised!"

"Hmmmmm, those big blue eyes aren't going to crack me. No, you'll just have to wait."

"PPPLLLLEEEAAASSSEEE!"

"No, no, no. You and your Daddy need some Father-Son time. I imagine you don't get much, what with having…four other brothers? That must be very tiring for you…"

John shook his head, "No, because Scotty and Virg know when I need to be alone and Gordon prefers swimming than bothering me. Alan is too little to be left alone, so I get a lot of quiet time. Me and Daddy watch the stars sometimes!"

"Fascinating…and it's Daddy and I. Well, I'd better go sort all of this out then hadn't I? O…don't touch anything…please."

John nodded as Mr Davis left. Curious, he wandered around the ring, every so often jumping up and down on the spot. Glancing around, he quickly plucked a small action figure from out of his pocket and held it up to his face.

"Come on Neil Armstwong. Let's go on an adventure!"

…..

Sid grinned as his phone buzzed.

NOW.

…..

"And then Neil waced towards the wocket ship. Aliens! Aliens!" John ran around the ring, his action figure out in front of him as his imagination went wild. Suddenly, the ring lurched backwards before slowly spinning round. John lost his balance and fell to the ground causing him to giggle in shock. The giggles soon stopped however…when he found that as the ring got slightly faster, it became harder to get up.

"DADDY!"

….

"….and the fan keeps halting every few minutes without warning. My real problem is with-"

Jeff held up a hand, halting the worker in his rant. "The combustor, what about the combustor?"

The worker frowned but before he could say anything, Jeff held up his hand again as his pager beeped in his pocket. "Hmmmmm, that's strange. The gravity wheel's been activated…"

At that moment, Michael Davis burst into the room, panic clear in his eyes. "Sir, I swear! I only looked away for a moment! He just wandered off!"

"Woah, woah, woah! Slow down Michael!" ordered Jeff, "What are you talking about?!"

"John! He just walked off when I was checking something on my phone. The Gravity Ring area door is unlocked…I think he might be in there!"

Jeff's face went pale and he found himself running towards the Gravity Ring. He flung the door open only to gasp in shock when saw the ring speeding up, a flash a blonde hair occasionally catching his eye.

"JOHN!" he yelled as he prepared to jump down into the ring, "HOLD ON! DADDY'S COMING!"

"DADDY! I CAN'T MOVE!"

Jeff flinched at this, before making the decision to jump into the ring mid-spin. He yelped as he felt his ankle sprain at the landing. "JOHNNY!"

Jeff dragged himself along the ring until he reached his crying son, who was trying to push himself off of the ground. "Don't worry Johnny, I've got you!"

Wincing, Jeff managed to wrap his arms around his son and drag himself up into a kneeling position. "Okay Johnny, you're going to have to let go because I need to get you out of here!"

"Daddy, I can't breathe!"

"I know Johnny…on the count of three, I'm going to throw you onto the pathway, okay?"

"Okay Daddy…"

"Three…Two…ONE!" Using all of his strength, Jeff threw his son onto the pathway, just as the ring sped up again. He yelped as the increase in gravity forced him to his hands and knees and then onto his stomach.

John stretched his hand towards his Dad, "DAD!" he screamed as the ring increased again.

….

It was times like this, Jeff really appreciated the training he went through to become an astronaut. Through considerable effort, he managed to pull himself to his feet and stumble towards the pathway. Gritting his teeth, he managed to jump just high enough to grab onto the edge and pull the top half of his body up onto the pathway just as the ring sped up again.

He grunted as a stabbing pain in his chest increased, indicating cracked ribs, as he tried to pull himself up further. Turning his head, he attempted to see where John was….but the control centre was in the way. "Great…" he muttered.

"Having trouble Jefferson?"

Jeff glanced up at the voice and sighed in relief, "Michael! Thank God! Give me a hand would you?"

Michael smirked at his business partner, "I don't think so Jefferson. You see, this company needs someone giving it their full attention…not some washed-up astronaut who would rather play Daddy every day!"

Jeff frowned in confusion, but Michael continued, "You see Jefferson, I don't purely blame you for this…your children are the true culprits. Imagine my surprise when you brought one into work today! My little take-over plan could be put into action and the whole world will soon learn just how poor of a leader Jefferson Tracy really is! So incompetent that he died due to a mixture of a horrible mistake…and trying to save his precious son, who died after playing in an unattended gravity ring that was due for a test. Sad really…"

Jeff sneered, "Joke's on you Michael…John's safe and sound, in fact, he's probably halfway out of here getting help by now!"

Michael shook his head, "Not from what I heard…if you listen really closely, you can still hear him calling for you at the other side of this marvellous machine. The plan will have to change then…the world will mourn when they found out John Tracy died due to blunt force trauma to the head. I'm sure I can…" Jeff found his attention drawn to Michael's cane which Michael was lifting up in a threatening position, "…figure out a way to make that happen without drawing too much attention to it. After all, when John was trying to help you after you saved him…it's entirely possible that he fell in, bashing his head off of something."

Jeff growled, "You sick, son of a –"Jeff was cut off when Michael hit him in the head with his cane, knocking him out immediately, meaning that he lost his grip on the pathway edge and fell back into the ring, which was now spinning at an alarming rate.

Michael heard a heart-breaking wail from the other side of the ring, "NOOOOOOOO!" Hmmmmm, the body must have made its way back around to the boy. However, before he could make his way around, the gravity ring began to slow down until it finally stopped. His phone buzzed.

SORRY BOSS. SOMEONE HAS SWITCHED IT OFF IN THE ELECTRICAL CONTROL ROOM. NOTHING WE CAN DO. EMERGENCY SERVICES HAVE BEEN CALLED.

Growling, he made his way around the ring just in time to spot the six year old clamber down into the ring, probably to find his Dad. Thinking to himself, Michael smirked. Maybe he could work this to his advantage.

…

John clambered down into the ring and immediately began to look around, "Dad? Dad?!" He ran around the ring only to stop in his tracks when he saw a crumpled heap in the middle of the ring.

"Dad?" he whispered as he crept closer. Once he got closer, it became clear that the heap was his Dad. There was blood coming out of his nose and mouth and he wasn't moving. John knelt besides his Dad and bean to shake him, "Dad! Come on, you gotta get up! Dad…I wanna go home!"

John tugged and pushed at the body of his Dad, only to stop and scream "HELP! SOMEBODY….ANYBODY…help"

Realising that his Dad wasn't going to be moving anytime soon, John began to sob, curling up besides his Dad as a futile gesture of comfort. He remained there for what seemed like hours, but it was only a few minutes. Suddenly, he heard a voice from the side of him,

"John…what have you done?!"

John span around to see Michael standing there, his cane still in his hand as he frowned down at John. "I-it was an accident, but I didn't touch anything I swear! It just started!"

…..

Michael bent down and placed two fingers on Jeff's neck.

A pulse…weak, but definitely there. Dammit.

"He's dead…" Michael could hear John gasp at the statement, "…and you must have touched something otherwise this would never have happened! Your Dad would still be alive….what on earth will your Mom think?!"

He turned around to see John wringing his hands together, "I-I…What should I do?!"

"Run…" John stared at him, "Run! Run away and don't come back!" Michael lifted John onto the pathway and pointed to a separate door, "There's the emergency exit…it leads out into the main streets…now go!"

John glanced at his Dad before pushing the door open and running away. Literally seconds afterwards, Michael glanced at his three workers. "Sid. Ed…kill him, but take that employee jackets off first. Mindy. Wipe the security cameras."

Sid and Ed sped off after John and Michael remained where he was, just in time for the emergency services to enter the room in order to check out Jeff.

….

John gasped and panted as he heard footsteps from behind him. Glancing in that direction, he saw one of the men pull out a knife. "Come here kid…I promise it won't hurt!"

John continued to run until he ran into a dead end. Spinning around he pressed himself against the wall, trying to make himself as small a target as possible. One of the men lunged at the boy, nicking him in the arm with the knife as John attempted to dodge it. John yelped in pain as he tried to stop the blood with his other hand. However, before the man could strike again, the two attackers were grabbed and had their heads bashed against each other, knocking them out instantly. As John began to lose consciousness, he heard another, very different, voice.

"Hello…what have we 'ere then?"