Cover art by: @ricodz

ICARUS

The Olympus Space Centre is a sight to behold, trust me.

Gathering here like moths to a flame, crowds of tech enthusiasts, astro-engineers and journalists sat eagerly within the Olympian Auditorium.

It was blasphemy to even call it an auditorium. The towering structure of metal and glass, reaching up like mankind’s hand brushing their fingers against the face of the heavens. Imagine being inside the belly of a cathedral, but instead of worshipping the Divine, you’re praising innovation and progress; all under a dome as endless as space itself.

Personally, I wasn’t so focused on the granduer of it all. My attention was on the frail man at its heart - my dad, Daedalus.

He was the head engineer of the Olympus Space Centre, the silent workhorse behind all their innovations. A genius, really, but the guy had the stage presence of a plank of wood. He just wasn’t meant for the spotlight, he was meant for the shadows of his lab, toiling away on projects that redefined the boundaries of human imagination.

He was introducing his latest proposal; the Dyson Swarm. Need a picture? Imagine a bunch of solar panels hugging the sun - gathering and storing all that energy. Got that? Now imagine it beaming said stored energy any place in the solar system it wanted. All you’d need were receiving stations ready to convert those beams back into electricty. And voilà; a literal intergalactic power grid. Neat, huh? Pure sci-fi stuff, soon to become reality, thanks to him. But as he stood there, reading off the teleprompter, you could see the uncertainty etched onto the lines of his face, the slight tremble in his hands as he pointed at the conceptual designs illumintating the giant screen behind him. It was painful to watch, but also, kind of endearing.

I remember when I was little. Mum and I would sit in the front row, giggling every time Dad stumbled over a word or got the slides mixed up. His speeches at home were always better. I used to get so lost in those dreams he weaved - a starry utopia, humans stretching beyond the boundaries of our tiny Earth. But all of that was a long time ago.

Today, I was here for a different reason.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” my father’s voice ricocheted off the walls of the vast auditorium, “we’re on the cusp of a new era, and who better to guide us than our very own CEO. Please welcome him onto the stage!”

The crowd went nuts as Zeus sauntered onto the stage. He put a comforting hand on my dad’s shoulder, taking over the presentation with a certain charm and confidence that my father had lacked. The crowd lapped it up. For them, Zeus was Olympus, not the quiet man behind him content with working behind-the-scenes.

I glanced sideways at the displayed renderings of the proposed megastructure, my own dreams clashing with the great images flickering before my eyes. My father had always wanted me to join Olympus, to be part of his vision, this moment in human history. He said it was my destiny, our shared dream, born out of a tragedy that had torn our family apart.

The tragedy, of course, was Mum. She could make anything green flourish, but tech? Not her forte. But she was the one who’d sparked the idea - a solar system powered by clean, green energy. “The Sun keeps everything alive here on Earth,” she’d say, a spark in her eyes, “so why can’t it do the same for the entire system?”

Losing her… it changed everything. Dad and I, it’s like we were on different chapters of the same story. The distance between us seemed to grow with every passing day, as vast as the silence after a song ends. We didn’t know how to talk to each other anymore. And it wasn’t just about finding the right words, but finding the courage to say them. But in that chasm of silence, there was this tiny glimmer of hope that made me think maybe, just maybe, we could reconnect again someday.

Dad was right about one thing though: we were on the cusp of a new era. Only, my new era had nothing to do with Olympus. I had my own plans, ones that didn’t align with his vision of me following in his footsteps. My dreams were tangled up with MINOS - Olympus’s main rival. It was a secret I kept close, a tiny spark of rebellion ready to ignite. The only hitch was Dad’s digital signature, validating my age and experience.

The bitter irony of it stung. The key to my future was held by the man whose shadow I was trying to escape. But I’d made up my mind. I’d get that signature, even if I had to forge it. I knew it would shatter him, but it was the only way to unchain myself from his dreams and build my own.

As Zeus continued his show, Dad stood quietly in the background, just like he did with his dreams. I swallowed the guilt, firmed up my resolve. It was time to start my own story.

“Decades ago, the launch of the Skyhook revolutionized our reach into space. Building on its success, we stand here today, a species that sails among the stars,” Zeus was commanding the crowd, his voice strong and resonating through the colossal auditorium.

“But,” he said, bringing the noise down to a hush, “we’ve hit a big wall.”

“Our colonies among the asteroid belt, on the Moon, and finally Mars are all facing the same problem,” he explain as the crowd listened closer. “Energy”.

“We are trying our greatest to keep up with supply, but the demand… is only getting higher.” The room was silent, hanging onto his every word. Zeus was a maestro with his audience, knowing when to stir their excitement and when to drop them into a contemplative silence.

“But fear not! Here at Olympus, we’re driven not only by the vision of our predecessors but also their courage! We’re pushing boundaries, going where no man has gone before! The Dyson Swarm will tap into the Sun’s power, providing us with energy in quantities we’ve only ever dreamed of!” With this, the crowd erupted into applause.

That was my cue.

“Dad,” I whispered to him, barely audible against the roars of the crowd.

“Hmm? What is it, Icarus?” he replied, tearing his gaze from Zeus to meet my eyes.

I took a deep breath, each second ticking by like an eternity. His eyes were full of warmth, pride… and expectation.

“Dad,” I started again, my voice slightly stronger, “I’ve been scouted by MINOS.”

The words hung in the air between us like a bad smell. His brow furrowed as his brain worked overtime to make sense of what he just heard. I could see his mouth open and close like a fish gasping for air.

“But… I don’t understand. You said you’d accept the internship, at the company. I was just about to introduce you, announce you as a part of the team.”

He sounded hurt, confused, as if I’d pulled the rug out from under his feet.

Zeus, meanwhile, was driving his point home. “We’ll light up the solar system, make it livable, sustainable. This isn’t just our mission, it’s our legacy.”

The crowd was going nuts, swept up in Zeus’s visionary rhetoric. But in our corner of the stage, a storm was brewing. The pain in my father’s eyes was almost unbearable. I felt a sharp twinge of guilt, but I held my ground.

“Dad, I have to do this. For me. For Mum.”

An uncomfortable silence followed, a chasm growing between us. I could see the hurt in his eyes, a sense of betrayal. It was as if the noise of the cheering crowd had faded into the background. Soon the hurt in his eyes, melded into a stone cold look of fury.

Zeus glanced over at him, ready to receive his signal to introduce me. Despite Zeus’ general aloofness, even he could sense something was off. Looking back toward the audience, he decided it was time for a quick break. “Let’s take a brief intermission, folks. We’ll be right back with more exciting updates from Olympus. In the meantime, enjoy some refreshments.”

With that, Zeus swiftly moved towards us, his charismatic CEO mask giving way to concern.

“Everything okay over here?” he asked, assessing the tension. But before we could answer, he swiftly moved on, defusing the situation for the moment. “We’ll sort this out later. Right now, let’s keep the conference moving smoothly.”

I watched as he pivoted back towards the audience, resuming his spot at the center of attention. Dad, meanwhile, had this look on his face that was hard to interpret, his dream for us crumbling on the same stage he had hoped to celebrate it.

I had a sinking feeling that our relationship was heading into uncharted territory. And I wasn’t sure we’d ever find our way back to each other.