Sighing,Caroline wrestled the previously graceful sky-cycle into a slow curve towards what she thought looked like a promising clearing as it began its inevitable earthward bound glide.The sky-cycle responded sluggishly but at least it went where she wanted it to,more or less.Once it was settled in its glide path,Caroline relaxed slightly,automatically switching on the distress beacon.If anyone was in the vicinity, hopefully they would come to the rescue.

All your own work...and yours.....

Hi,everybody.I've always wanted to be a writer and maybe I'm being presumptuous but I guess perhaps a lot of you out there feel the same.For myself I usually start off okay,bash off a couple of pages and then get side-tracked by life.Y'know,little stuff like family and work at least push the writing into a very poor second place and you miss a day.Writing is a bit (lot?) like exercising;if you miss a day you have to do double next time just to keep level.As you miss more days,so it gets harder to catch up,until....well,guess what,it's easier to decide the idea behind the story wasn't that good to start with and the project gets filed.

That is such a shame! Look,maybe we're not brilliant at what we do,I'm no blockbuster top writer,I'm no Leslie Charteris(The Saint) and now I have shown my age,but I enjoy writing,surely that can be fulfilling in its own right.How many others out there feel the same?

I'd like to try an experiment.Nice and easy,no pressure.I'll start something off and anyone wants to can add a bit and we'll see how we go.Could be an interesting mix of styles and story-lines but probably no worse than some soap scripts,arguably a darn sight better.

Oh,just an apology before I start.I'm sort of into sci-fi so it might influence my input but we can work around that I'm sure;and can we keep it reasonably fit for family viewing?

Okay,here we go.

The engine coughed and the sky-cycle dipped briefly before the turbine fired up again.Caroline’s heart jumped and then steadied as the little craft soared smoothly up to three thousand feet,where she levelled off,hovering over the breathtaking Shaba falls,a plunging cascade of roaring water that dived vertically for four hundred metres.Smiling,she guided her sky-cycle through the iridescent rainbow arcing high over the falls.Caroline turned her face to the sun,revelling in its heat in contrast to the damp chill from the waterfall.

Caroline urged her craft a little higher,up and above the cliffs surrounding her and fully into the sunlight.A herd of gazelle-like creatures raised their heads in alarm and like a shoal of fish,swung as one and bolted into the distance.The engine stuttered again.And once again,before it stopped altogether. “Uh,oh. “ Caroline muttered.She knew that,although sky-cycles had stubby wings,those wings had more to do with stability and less to do with flying,which made the craft a cumbersome beast at best when the turbine failed.She knew she could glide to earth but it wouldn’t be easy;finding a setting down place could be a challenge and the thought of parachuting into the rugged land below didn’t appeal much.