The Fallen Sky

 
The Fallen Sky is a novella I started working on in 2011 when I was a junior in high school and finished in 2013, when I was a sophomore in college. I did not release it until now, and while my writing has matured since then, I'm still rather satisfied with the final product. It's a work of science fiction surrounding genetic experiments, shaky alliances, and misguided loyalty.

The Fallen Sky is about two genetic experiments, Gladys and Raoul, and their successful escape from the facility that has housed them since the day they woke up from near-death. Whereas Gladys is willing to stop at nothing to distance herself from the facility, however, Raoul chooses to stop at nothing to get back inside, his goal consisting of an enigmatic girl named "Anna". Gladys reluctantly follows him back, and not only learns more about herself, but also the experiment she had almost never spoken to before, and who exactly "Anna" is.

The Fallen Sky can be downloaded as a PDF in the following formats:

 Complete
     Part 1 - Birth
     Part 2 - Variation
     Part 3 - Selection
     Part 4 - Prosperity
     Part 5 - Death

In total, The Fallen Sky runs about 30,000 words long. Any and all constructive criticism is welcome.

The above photograph is that of the General Animal Research Facility in Kodaira, Japan; I found the image online quite some time after finishing the work, and I felt it accurately represented how I viewed the facility Raoul and Gladys break out of.

Some author notes come after the jump.

The Fallen Sky was initially supposed to be a full-length novel centering around Raoul's gradual growth as a "child" in the genetic programme up to his ill-fated rescue attempt, along with his unusual relationship with Anna. While I initially looked forward to working on the project, I ended up growing frustrated with how predictable it came, to the point where I started referring to it as "A Futile Exercise In Dramatic Irony".

At the suggestion of a book that told writers to try to take advantage of in media res in writing stories, I chose to axe a majority of the prospective story and instead start off with Raoul escaping the facility. While I did enjoy this change in pace for the story, I found the concept of Raoul working alone dull, especially since the original work had him interacting with his caretaker. As such, I created Gladys to allow for dialogue to be featured in the work. She initially had a grim personality like Raoul, but I tried to make her more of an idealist to separate her from Raoul.

One thing I've never liked about this work is the title. I've grown used to it, but I still wish I could've done better.

This story was heavily inspired by the track Sky Fell Over Me by American synthpop band Shiny Toy Guns, and it also served as the inspiration for the work's title; its lyrics can be read here. And as noted by one intrepid reader, the chapters' names were taken from the final level of GENETOS, a freeware video game that was based on both shoot 'em up games and the theory of evolution.