I had the idea from when I was a kid. There were tour companies that did hot air balloon rides over Lake Michigan, and my mom would sometimes take me to Navy Pier to watch them, because from the ages of 6-8 I was obsessed with anything that could fly. I always wondered where they kept the hot air balloons, and I would dream about stealing one and setting off into the sunset. The reality wasn't what I imagined.

We did some research at the Library - God, I missed the internet - and found there were three hot air balloon tour companies that operated balloon rides over Navy Pier. All three offered views of Chicago's skyline, but only two were actually based in Chicago and not the suburbs. Of those two, one was outside the blast radius by half a mile. That left one potential hot air balloon company in the (new) city limits.

Scavengers rolled up to Navy Pier with truckloads of equipment - there had been more balloons than we'd anticipated. After some more research at the library we managed to get ten of them working in a relatively short window of time. They stood ready at the edge of Navy Pier, which now dangled precariously near the edge of the Void. Then Moira took over.

I didn't think the sight of weaponized hot air balloons would be so funny - but the bright colors clashed against the black-clad soldiers climbing in to them. They brought an arsenal of weapons, guns, grenades, and body armor. For a moment, I wondered if I'd just given Moira the keys to an invasion. But I pushed that thought away. In the distance, New York still struggled for freedom against Moscow-Beijing. If we didn't have planes, we couldn't stop them, and Berlin had aircraft to spare.

Once Moira's troops were loaded for transport, she approached us. "Peter, you know what I want. When our people secure the city, you start building a way to get supplies down. Brigg, I want you make sure those planes are operational to our men can take them back to Chicago. I don't want you landing until you get word from the ground troops that they've secured a perimeter. Clear?"

Brigg and I nodded. Our balloon was the smallest, designed to carry only the two of us and a Tech Squad member named Rizzo. His job was to establish communication between London-Chicago and Berlin, by radio or otherwise. Lee was staying behind. Her work with the greenhouses had resumed thanks to the use of electric lights, and she was more needed in Chicago than Berlin.

Moira saluted her fleet and stepped away. Soldiers fired up the air in their balloons, unmoored from the Pier, and began to drift upwards. Soon they were just bright specs of color in the gray sky, floating around the massive bedrock of Berlin.

Lee hugged us and made sure we had food, like a worried mom sending her boys on a field trip. Then we stepped into the basket, untethered the rope, and were off.

Navy Pier drifted away. Lee stood on the edge, waving. Beyond her, London-Chicago unfolded, a glittering island of stone, metal, and glass. When Lee was too distant to make out among the other speck-like people on the Pier, Brigg and I turned to assess the Void. We could see each of the eleven cities of the Void, even distant Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Stolen story; please report.

It was cold in the air next to Berlin's bedrock, and I found myself wishing to be finished with the flight right after we started. We didn't have to steer much, but the small amount of maneuvering proved more difficult than we'd imagined. We erred on the side of going quickly upward, soon surpassing many of the other balloons.

We were above the threshold of Berlin's surface. We'd been right; it was a ruin, ash colored and burnt-out. We were still high in the air, but I couldn't see any signs of life in the debris-ridden streets. Some small fires burned in corners of the city.

"No wonder Jonas wanted to get out," Brigg said, "it's like..."

"What?" I asked.

"I was going to say it's like a post-apocalyptic movie, but I guess that's exactly what it is. It looks like we missed the worst of -"

I didn't hear what Brigg said next, because his voice was drowned out by the sound of an explosion. I whipped towards the sound, thinking that Russia had bombed one of New York's larger towers.

Instead, I saw a new city forming in its nuclear cloud, bright orange light flashing into the gray of the Void.

And then another, to my left. Burning brightly.

And then another. And another.

Five explosions in the Void, then six, and seven...

And then they were as numerous as stars, burning brightly. How many there were, I didn't know.

One city flashed into existence to my right, causing a deafening explosion. A shock wave hit our balloon, sending us backwards, nearly throwing me from the basket. I staggered to the edge, grasping at the handles.

A city had flashed into existence right on top of Mumbai - no, in the same place as Mumbai. They collided, sending fire and stone into the Void. The sound of rending metal drowned out screams from other balloons.

Stone hurtled towards us. Chunks of Mumbai, burning. I watched one collide with a balloon full of soliders. Another plummeted towards Chicago like a meteor, tearing through a sky scraper like it was cardboard.

"Lee," I said, but the word died in my mouth.

Debris whizzed past my ear and struck the side of the basket, tearing a hole through the wicker.

Rizzo, the Tech Squad guy, sat in a corner, holding his head in his hands.

Brigg screamed, begging me to help him cut the fuel, so that we could descend into Berlin, but I was too shocked to move. The world rang in my ears. I just stared.

The balloon was deflating; I looked up and saw that part of it had been ripped to shreds by shrapnel. We were falling.

Brigg walked towards me, looking panicked, like he was going to grab me and shake the shock away.

A piece of shrapnel whistled through the air and landed in Brigg's chest with a wet thump.

He looked at me as if unsure what to say. Blood spouted from his chest in dark currents. He collapsed, lifelessly, to the ground.

All around me, the world burned.

And we fell from the sky.