Designed Destiny

8. Full Throttle

Planet: Thebes

"Dad?" Heracles called softly as he entered the hospital room. It was where his father had been living ever since the brio ship crash four months ago that had put him in a coma and had cost Heracles his right arm. "It's me," he said lamely as he nervously took the chair that was always waiting at his father's bedside. "I uh, had another busy week at the shop but I thought I'd let you know I finally managed to finish working on my bike. I mean, you could have had it done in two days, but Iolaus was a lot of help..." He trailed off painfully as he looked his once powerful father over. Amphitryon was toweringly tall and clad in dark robust muscles, he had deep olive skin and curly black hair and a closely cropped beard that covered most of his handsome face. Most days Heracles wished he looked more like his father but instead he had inherited bronze skin and gleaming golden hair from his mother; the woman who abandoned her family only weeks after Heracles was born. But Amphitryon would never say a bad thing about her, it wasn't in his nature to be cruel; and yet somehow nature had decided to be cruel to him. Life really didn't seem fair.

Amphitryon was then so still and vulnerable; absolutely helpless which was so unlike the strong, confident and resourceful dad that had raised Heracles completely on his own. He was an amazing father, and yet Heracles felt as though his dad couldn't have been cursed with a worse son than him. He was responsible for the ship crash; he was the reason his dad had to stay in this dump of a hospital because he was unable to devote the necessary time into taking care of him with his two token-making gigs constantly demanding his attention. It was bad enough he had lost the apartment they had been living in for years because he had to use the rent money to keep his dad in the hospital. "I really miss you," Heracles softly whispered, voice thick with pain. He heaved a sigh and bowed his head, running his hands through his hair with despair. "Lypámai polý, Popa."

He felt so damn helpless; his father had made being a grown man with responsibilities look easy. But it was far from effortless for Heracles, he was constantly second-guessing himself, wondering if he was making the right decisions in every aspect of his life. He was so behind on hospital bills, he lived in a stupid shack with other creatures just as mixed up as he was, his beloved father was reduced to this meek, silent form because of a brio malfunction Heracles should have noticed hours before it failed and they plummeted to the ground. It was hard as hell struggling through life without any guidance, there was no one he could turn to and ask for help. He felt so desolated all the time, it was draining his lust for life.

"I'm so sorry," he softly hissed as he closed his eyes to keep the tears at bay. His HALO tablet buzzed, he swiftly glanced at. Iolaus was asking where he was, apparently he was already at the Atlas Bridge waiting on him. "I...I better go, Dad," he reached out to place his hand over his dad's, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I'll figure things out, I know you'd want me to on my own." He stood up and then gently brushed his dad's hair out of his closed eyes. "I'll tell you next week who won the race," he flashed a pained smile before he hurried out.

The Atlas Bridge wasn't actually just a bridge, it was really a larger-than-life tension cable that literally held both sides of the planet together and generated its own gravitational pull to keep the two halves conjoined. It also provided the entire planet with an artificial atmosphere. Thebes was a weakening planet, its original atmosphere had decayed a few hundred years ago so the inhabitants wouldn't even be alive had it not been for technology, which was just another thing the religious fanatics had a heyday over. They insisted that it was in the intentions of Zeus that they all perished when Thebes began weakening. They deemed technology a vile force outside of nature that was tainting their lives and forcing them to stay alive outside of God's wishes.

Heracles didn't know what to believe himself; if gods and goddesses were real, if Thebes was supposed to meet its Armageddon or not, all he knew was that technology wasn't the villain the local nutcases made it out to be. If it weren't for the technologic aid of life-support than his father wouldn't be alive; that and sometimes tech made the coolest friends, he thought as he joined Iolaus under the section of the Bridge their city was situated under. "Iolaus! Sorry I got here a little late, but did you manage to put my usual bets down?"