“You’re just a penguin, we don’t do flying,” said the elder.

What did he know. All that old rockbreeder ever did in his life was eat fish and caw. Rocket had dreams and ambitions. He had always been fascinated by that giant round egg in the sky and wondered what kind of penguin would emerge if only someone could reach and hatch it. He had asked his parents if anyone had ever tried and they told him to focus on diving lessons and eat enough fish to become a big and strong bird. Later, when Rocket was one of the better divers in his age group, he had told his peers about his dream to hatch the big egg in the sky. All they did was burst out in ridiculing cawing and they told him that he was of his rocker. However that did not deter Rocket from realizing his dream.

One day, during a particularly cold period, where the sea formed sheets of ice as far as the horizon, Rocket had found a cave made out of rotting wood. His parents had told him that these caves were made by naked monkeys, who inverted them to float all across the seas, for they were mediocre swimmers. In this cave he had found something odd. A collection of wet thin wooden sheets, bound together in something that looked like the skin of a really old walrus. The sheets had pictures of the giant egg in the sky and naked monkeys in a pod, connected to the longest piece of wood Rocket had ever seen. It was as long as all the penguins in his waddle if they would lay down head to tail. Rocket cawed at the image of that in his mind. Further pictures showed the pod slinging around the middle where the long piece of wood was secured. They looked to be going faster than Rocket could ever swim and he was the fastest swimmer that the elder said he had ever seen. When Rocket had reached the last picture, he found what he didn’t know he was looking for. The pod was send flying off into the sky right towards the giant egg. Left in awe, Rocket made sure that the pictures were imprinted into his little penguin brain. This was how he would get to the sky egg and proof his waddle wrong.

Rocket had been collecting wood for over three breeding seasons. Mostly from more of those wooden caves that would strand in the ice once in a while. Or the remains of those caves on the bottom of the sea, when he had time to collect it when the others were busy fishing. He’d spend countless nights connecting all the pieces, assisted by the light cast onto him by the egg in the sky. As if it knew that it would finally be hatched if Rocket could get this thing to work. When he had finally finished the pod and constructed everything outside on a remote and desolated stretch of ice, he was confident enough to tell the others.

“What do you mean, you’ll fly and proof us wrong?” asked his mother.

“Don’t entertain him, honey. He should focus on getting a partner and breed his own nestlings.” said his dad.

“But you don’t get it. I know it’s going to work!” yelled Rocket.

His dad looked at him with a worried expression. He knew his dad would understand, if only he saw it for himself. His dad had been considered a dreamer once. That was until the previous elder had humiliated him in front of the rest of the waddle. From then on his dad had been an exemplary penguin who never faltered in his duties. Sometimes, late at nigh, he would speak about his dreams to Rocket, while looking at the sky egg and in those moments Rocket could hear the sadness in his fathers voice.

“Dad. Just invite everyone to watch. If it fails, I’ll give up and find a partner and I’ll even double my fishing duties for the rest of the waddle. Just give me this one chance, to proof that it can be done!” pleaded Rocket.

“Fine. I’ll ask around, but don’t expect too much. I’m only doing this because you’re my son. Not because I believe in all this flying nonsense.” said his dad.

Rocket knew that that was a lie. His father did believe in him, he could feel it.

It was actually sunny, the day that almost everyone had gathered to see Rocket do the impossible. This made it all the more easy for Rocket because the slightly melted ice would accelerate his pod even better. When he waddled in front of the gathering he gestured everyone to be quiet with his flippers and as the cacophony died down it was time for the last piece of the puzzle.

Rocket walked up a hill some way from the place where he had secured his device. At the top of the hill, he had rolled and secured a giant boulder. It had taken him ages to get the thing up there and more than once it had rolled down that same hill and almost squashed Rockets dream there and then. Eventually he had secured it in place with a piece of wood that was left over from his apparatus. With a deep breath Rocket looked toward the horizon and lifted his gaze up to where the giant egg in the sky was faintly visible. With a jump on the piece of wood, the rock came down and crushed the ice below with loud noise and a splash of seawater from underneath almost reached the waddle that had followed his actions with amusement and scepticism. After the wave retreated back into the sea, a giant piece of ice stuck out sharply into the sky. This would serve as the ramp that would launch Rocket into space.

Rocket bowed before his audience and even though he was met with the familiar ridiculing cawing as before he thanked everyone for coming. He turned around and walked towards the pod. He opened the hatch that would give him entry inside and sat down on the makeshift cushion he fashioned from fluffs of baby seal fur he had found while building. He closed the hatch and pushed the button that would start the spinning.

The wood creaked ominously when the device started moving and the crowd had moved from cawing loudly to quiet whispers as they watched with confusion. With each rotation the apparatus moved faster and in no time the pod carrying Rocket was moving to fast that it was hard to keep track with your eyes. Rocket was pressed hard into the back of his seat and he had to push down the nausea, as vomiting while taking flight wouldn’t be a great look for a new-born hero. The story everyone would tell to their nestlings would be one of heroism and determination, not one of vomit and laughter.

When the pod was rotating so fast that Rocket could see nothing but a blend white and the occasional black he knew it was time to launch. He pulled the lever and the pod was catapulted with a speed that no penguin had ever witnessed. The pod barrelled towards the ice ramp and as it slid down the slick white surface, Rocket made one last salute to his fellow penguin-kind. The pod shot off the ramp into space, starting its travel towards the big white egg in the sky and as his waddle watched him fly, Rocket knew that he had accomplished his dream and with that last fleeting thought he slid into a satisfying slumber.

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