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Please note I did not say Absolute Land Speed Record (although that'd be fun as well), I said Absolute Speed Record.
As in go out past the Limit, set up a 1 Light Hour course, and try and get past 511.734c (IIRC).*
Also, RE: monomolecular constructs. You'd need full nanotech assembly for that, and as far as I remember only Stellvia, Prometheus Forge and possibly the Soviets are anywhere close to developing it.
Doing a single monomolecular construct (i.e. blades, mono-wire, transparent carbon panels) is possible with wavetech, but building the several hundred individual waved machines for the parts needed is too time and space consuming for any realistic attempt. Even in Fenspace.
*The math says that you would cover 1 Light Hour in 7.2 seconds at 500c. This seems reasonable to me given that at Mach 1 the measured mile would take 4.69 seconds.
I don't bloody check this forum enough, as I keep being Blocked (writer's, not ISP) and it's a bit frustrating. Characters and stories, locked in my stupid head. Anyway!
Having been around for brainstorming of stuff, and running numbers and general sanity checking (ha!) on IRC... the final readthrough is even better than I was being led to believe from the chunks I'd seen in advance. It feels like World's Fastest Indian, or Song of the Sausage Creature generally... which is a good thing; as someone who does such as a hobby, it well and truly feels like going way too fast to be safe.
Instead of gushing for several sentences, I'm going to put it at "bloody well done" and cut myself off there. 
On the technical side... about all of it's at least technically plausible. The power output is pretty hairy in terms of raw numbers, but not really breaking new ground in rotary engine stuff. And the speeds pretty much make sense too.
Oh, and the noise levels? They're about right too. Heh heh heh...
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Thanks  Google helped with a lot of that stuff. And Youtube. There's a video of a single-turbo 4-rotor mazda engine, putting out over 1600bhp. Hmmm...Research does help a story.
Monomolecular metals, even fully ceramic engines... they're all beyond Jet and Ford's budget or time. They have to do a lot with a little. It's also their advantage... there's a lot of knowledge and experience out there tuning Mazda 13b engines which they can tap into... and plenty of tuning companies offering the features mentioned. (Many of which I found on google).
I remember reading Song of the Sausage Creature when it was reprinted in a magazine after Hunter S. Thompson died,. Take note of the names of the three journalists in the story . It was nice to read it again .
Quote:Please note I did not say Absolute Land Speed Record (although that'd be fun as well), I said Absolute Speed Record.
As in go out past the Limit, set up a 1 Light Hour course, and try and get past 511.734c (IIRC).
That... that sounds like fun. Jet would definitely be up for it, duty schedules accommodating.
Edit: Now wiki'd. I stripped Jets mailing parts to the talk page.
And with Picture, a coloured version of a drawing from the BClub... a bit like the Jet images.
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*looks at picture of Highway Star* ..... OH HELL YEAH!!!
You know what? Imagine the Lunatic Fringe and the Highway Star lined up at the 'drag strip'... just imagining the sound they would be making gives me this imagery of Thor hanging out in the audience with a wild and manic grin. *Deafening banshee scream from LF* *Gut blasting thrum from HS* Thor: "I LIKE THIS SPORT! AGAIN!"
Skuld will probably be there too, on principal alone. 
And afterwards...
Skuld: "Father's Name! You guys have gotta let me have a matched set! They're perfect for Kei-kun and Onee-san's wedding present!"
Ben: "Didn't you want a Blackbird when you passed through last time? Get us invited and I'll see if one of the girls in my hangar takes a fancy to ya."
In the Blackbird hangar at 36 Atalante, you don't pick the plane - the plane picks YOU.
ETA:
RE: Absolute Speed Record
Mayonaka will not permit this to go unchallenged.
RE: Nanofacs
Dunno, IBM in real life is pretty close - they already have a machine that will let them manipulate an individual atom. I don't think nanofacs, even hardtech ones made with wavetech, are too far down the road.
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The Highway Star does not 'thrum', it does This. Note the man running for cover at 0:15. It rips the very air apart with a 'beat that' challenge laid at the very feet of the Thunder God to which he'll answer deafly, 'WHAT?'.
A roaring, whistling gas turbine, and a blazing, ripping, machinegunning rotary. Oh yeah.... people'd pay to see that. And that'll probably pay to keep the Star running, and to keep tweaking it slightly before each event so that things are competitive (Such as better coatings on the rotor and chamber to reduce friction and heat loss to coolant, or better radiators and cooling system upgrades).
On the absolute record. I can see this becoming something of a friendly rivalry between all involved, trading fractions of C with each run.
On the subject of Skuld... I'm surprised nobody thought to phone Richard Dawkins while she was travelling through Fenspace.
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blackaeronaut Wrote:RE: Nanofacs
Dunno, IBM in real life is pretty close - they already have a machine that will let them manipulate an individual atom. I don't think nanofacs, even hardtech ones made with wavetech, are too far down the road. I think the availability of a Nanofac would depend on its speed... building something on the molecular level could be HORRIBLE slow, but the slow machines would be quite easier to build.
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Dartz Wrote:On the subject of Skuld... I'm surprised nobody thought to phone Richard Dawkins while she was travelling through Fenspace. I have two chapters and an epilogue left to write in Legend of Galactic Girls. I might be able to squeeze in a call to Oxford... or the Vatican. However, I'd prefer to not tip over that apple-cart, if only because nobody's mentioned anything about such a call in the stories set after LoGG.
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blackaeronaut Wrote:RE: Nanofacs
Dunno, IBM in real life is pretty close - they already have a machine that will let them manipulate an individual atom. I don't think nanofacs, even hardtech ones made with wavetech, are too far down the road. HRogge Wrote:I think the availability of a Nanofac would depend on its speed... building something on the molecular level could be HORRIBLE slow, but the slow machines would be quite easier to build. Nanotech is one of the things that Noah removed from the Whole Fenspace Catalog before releasing it, so that StellviaCorp could use it as a competitive advantage and a trade secret... so the know-how is in Fenspace but not commonly available. As for local research producing a nanofac "not too far down the road," I'll point out that we've been "fifteen years away" from working AI for the last fifty years now...
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robkelk Wrote:I have two chapters and an epilogue left to write in Legend of Galactic Girls. I might be able to squeeze in a call to Oxford... or the Vatican. However, I'd prefer to not tip over that apple-cart, if only because nobody's mentioned anything about such a call in the stories set after LoGG.
Tongue firmly in cheek. I'm sure someone on meeting Skuld has made the snark "Shit, does anyone remember Richard Dawkins' phone number?"
Now back to Shadowrunning. The 'better' story. I like these two stories... I think I've got some nice character development stuff going for Jet and Ford. I'm sort of treating Jet like an RPG character whos first gaming session was at Serenitycon. Everything before that's background and character creation.
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Dartz Wrote:... It rips the very air apart with a 'beat that' challenge laid at the very feet of the Thunder God to which he'll answer deafly, 'WHAT?'. As someone who races RX-7s, that's the best description of rotary exhaust notes I've yet heard.
Quick edit. For anyone who wants the full effect, you really need to be able to have the volume cranked up to where each engine pulse is resonating in your chest cavity at idle, and your ears are ringing even with earplugs in at full throttle.
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robkelk Wrote:As for local research producing a nanofac "not too far down the road," I'll point out that we've been "fifteen years away" from working AI for the last fifty years now... Eh, just needs that last little push that the Wave is only too happy to apply.
blackaeronaut Wrote:robkelk Wrote:As for local research producing a nanofac "not too far down the road," I'll point out that we've been "fifteen years away" from working AI for the last fifty years now... Eh, just needs that last little push that the Wave is only too happy to apply. Exactly what I was thinking...
building some waved "nanofac" that builds quirky things which tend to be quirky (because they contain handwavium) will be (most likely) the "easy" solution...
building a waved one that build things without handwavium contamination is harder (see Blood Oranges in the wiki ^^).
building a hardtech one is... lets say a few decades away for most Fen.
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If the plot absolutely needs nano-scale fabrication, then that's what handwavium's for. Having cool tech for the sake of having tends to be a bit...like a Bad Star Trek episode . I doubt this story would've been as interesting if the Highway Star had more cool gizmos fitted to it, like a fully ceramic engine or something. Technology isn't the plot in itself, it just enables the plot.... even if that's as simple as allowing Jet to hug Ford proper tightly for the first time.
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Exactly the point that a lot of people forget... in sci fi the tech isnt as important as what it allows people to do or not do. The real purpose of the Goo is to enable stories through enabling people to do what they want.
In this respect the First Fen can be thought of as the ultimate Author Avatar (okay okay, Mary Sue) in and of its not his personal story, but the stories he enables.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children
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Ben -v- Jet. Just messing around, with Lebia Maverick starting the race.
Assuming the 2015 convention is held at Genaros because, well, there hasn't be a con at the L5 stations yet...that's about the only place in Fenspace there hasn't been a con and it's got plenty of space for a drag race. And there's something cool about racing motorcycles under neon lights, along with being an excellent place for a photoshoot.
Besides, would there be anywhere else Fenspace that'd let them run and have the space for it?
Quote:Day 2 of the convention. Afternoon. Not that anyone could tell. The Genaros Weather System kept things in a perpetual twilight. Clouds fluoresced orange with the sickly overspill of a million neon advertisments. The loglo illuminated all.
Outside of a cheapo YT 2032 franchise in the Timex City district, shoppers looked up at the sky above. Thunder cracked far above, chased by a deep rolling roar and the rasp of a thousand chainsaws all screaming at the top of their lungs.
Through the clouds and back out again, half a kilometre above them on Gibson Route 1 in the centre of Tinsel City, it was time for a race.
The startline was the main junction, in the shadow of the JD Quincy tower. 400 meters of elevated freeway had been marked out for the race with pulsing orange lights. Normally they marked out the regular accident or rogue boomer incident. Behind the startline, a building crowd of neon-dressed spectators, mingling with congoers. Someone’s hair shone like a miniature sun until they were encouraged to put on a hat. The Hong Kong Cavaliers were putting out the closing bars of a song by Deep Purple, keeping the waiting crowd entertained. After the race, would come a little Red Rider... both songs were too different to be played in the same set.
Drag racing on Genaros’ streets was nothing new. But this was a little different. Tonight, a pair of BNF’s were settling a bet.
In the left lane, Benjamin Rhodes, owner, designer, builder and current rider of the Lunatic Fringe. A whooshing, roaring, dual turboshaft-powered streamliner bike. Fat, hubless wheels wore bulging tyres which moulded themselves to the road beneath. Ben described is at a lightcycle with a fairing. Others called it a jet fighter without wings. Sitting at the start line, it was going Mach 1.
Brownwyn Foulkes, the Fringe’s usual pilot, was giving some last minute suggestions. Gina provided last minute warnings about what she’d do to him if he wrecked it. Ben knew what he feared most.
The music went down and Ben Fen in the crowd cheered as twin gas turbines began to spin up. There were more than a few in there, decked out in Blackbird t-shirts. Most were belters and Blackbird lovers. Momentum built inside the turbines, winding up from a deep moan, through a building wail into a pure-pitched scream. Igniters clicked and sparked. Jet fuel sprayed freely into the combustion cans. Both engines grumbled to life, the grumble building into a deep, rolling roar like a tornado turned on its end.
Compressors whistled as he tweaked the throttle, blowing a wall of white noise out two fat pipes. Papers and light stones were whipped up in scorching jet breeze. Tarmac began to steam.
It was sleek and clean and pure, wearing only Roughrider markings, seemingly oddly out of place in the city’s dingy atmosphere. It was the single silver spoon in a drawer full of tarnished steel cutlery. Even its turbine engine sounded clean and pure somehow.
In the right lane, the home-fan favourite. Jet Jaguar and Team Stingray with the Highway Star. Jet the Knight Saber. She looked the part in her armour, riding a running replica of one of the most famous motorcycles from Bubblegum Crisis. She couldn’t help but be the local hero. Don’t you know, she still keeps an apartment here? She’s a cyberpunk, just like us.
A few Soviets had gotten close, invited in by KJ DeRosia. Among retro-reflective sponsor-stickers were a Soviet Star from KJ, a StelOil logo prominent on the tank, ACP Engineering, Sara Metalworks, JMC, Garret, Motec, Mazdaspeed and a cluster of others fighting for limited space.
It was a brutal-looking machine. Sharper and more bluff than the Fringe, it looked much older. It looked cruder. It looked used. It looked right at home in the middle of Tinsel city. It was long and low to the ground, with an exposed rider, thinner tyres and a pair of bazooka silencers scorched and blued by intense heat. Two fat radiator ducts seemed capable of swallowing an entire station’s worth of atmosphere, and blowing it right out the back again.
The Highway Star banged to life, spitting flame out open exhausts before settling into a lumpy idle. Crowds stepped back and covered their ears. Jet blipped the throttle. It ripped the very air apart with a 'beat that' challenge laid at the very feet of the Thunder God to which he could only answer deafly, 'WHAT?'.
In a final act of hubris, Jet engaged the launch control, held the brakes on and pinned the throttle. The big rotary ripped up, turbochargers spooling for a few brief seconds before the motor hit it’s launch RPM. Hot flame shot through open wastegates, keeping the boost up, blowing the atmosphere apart with window rattling detonations that seemed to shake the structure of the station. Satisfied, she let it drop to an idle.
Not to be outdone, Ben cranked the Fringe’s throttle, turbine engines screaming and roaring, inhaling deep gulps of cold air and spitting it out hot and loud. It was a noise that filled spectators up from top to toe, that seemed to get right inside their chests.
Satisfied he’d made his point, he let the engine spool down. Anything you can do Jet...
The crowd had wisely begun to step back, for fear of their hearing. Both riders laughed at each other. That was fun.
As the machines warmed up, the arguments started. Everyone could agree that the underdog should win, but who was the underdog?
Was it Ben, challenging the established runners with his self-built machine, designed from scratch? Stingrays the corporate sellouts, bike plastered with logos. Ben with a clean, pure machine. Something innovative and new, something futuristic, something awesome. Something that reached forward and pushed the envelope.
Was it the Stingrays, defending against the newcomer, picking parts sensibly, and taking money and help where they could? Ben the BNF battering them down to sate his own speeder’s ego. Something lovingly refined, old-style motor engineering, the pinnacle of its type, and possibly the last.
The riders didn’t care... they just wanted to race in good fun. Both traded wishes of good luck. Neither wanted a sticky end. Gina offered Ben a last-minute kiss. Jet and Ford touched cheeks. Bronwyn kept Ben-fen clear of the Fringe’s exhausts. KJ performed last minute checks on Star’s launch control. Gina snuck a kiss from Jet, throwing a wink at a laughing Ford. Ben signed an autograph. Jet tried to pose for a photograph. The crowd continued to grow. It was either this, or the Martian Water reclamation panel.
Everyone in the crowd considered themselves a pundit. Tactics, tactics would be key, they knew. Power settings, launch control adjustments, rider skill. Even the basic characteristics of the machines and riders. The Fringe had more power than the Star, easily with two engines, and those big fat tyres to boot. But the Star had the straight line stability given by 2-wheel drive, and was a good deal lighter. Ben was mostly baseline human with a fighter-pilots skill, while Jet had a cyber’s enhanced reactions honed by combat and supersonic flight. How the rotational forces of the station would affect things, nobody could guess.
The road surface was still wet from recent rain. It was perpetually wet. The highway ran right down along the long axis of the station. Long enough for a quarter-mile drag race and brake-down, even on a wet street.
General assumption was, Jet would get the start on reaction, less power to twice the driving wheels and genuine wet-weather tyres. Ben would have trouble keeping thing straight with all that power through the rear wheel only, giving Jet some early distance. Halfway down the course, Ben’s power advantage would start to tell.
Could Jet put enough of a distance over Ben at the start not to get overhauled by the finish line? That was the 64 million credit question. There were more than a few credits riding on it. A few scoffed and pointed to the concert program, suggesting the results had already been decided, not knowing the order of the songs had been decided by a coin toss.
Lebia Maverick at the start line could make the most educated guess, but that discounted such variables as rider performance, tuning, mechanical hitches, imperfections in the road and any number of other flukes. And it would’ve robbed the race of certain amount of fun. She signalled both riders to move forwards. Race time.
The Star ripped and snorted forwards, taking position for burnout. The Fringe exhaled effortlessly forwards, taking station beside. The Star still had its cooling fans mounted. The turbines on the Fringe didn’t need cooling beyond intake air and oil circulation.
Burnout was a riot of noise, flame and smoke to beat hellfire, Highway Star slewing wildly as the rear tyre tried to overtake the crawling front. Lunatic Fringe stayed rooted to the spot throwing billowing clouds of burning rubber behind it. Jet exhaust blasted the smoke clear.
Some in the crowd began to revise their estimates of the Star’s traction. In reality, it was just a function of two-wheel drive, and a single brake lever linked to both wheel’s brakes. Lebia raised her hand, signalling Jet to stop.
Highway Star, staged and ready to go. Jet answered with a thumbs-up, before closing her visor. Blue eyes were staring.
The Lunatic Fringe crawled up beside, been grinning as Lebia signalled to him to hold. Thumbs up, visor down. Rock and roll.
He was the hot-shot jet pilot on his wingless missile. Jet was the animé refugee, playing to type. The crowd whooped and cheered. Lebia started the final countdown. Rev’s built quickly, mixed with screaming turbines and roaring, tearing exhausts.
The Star’s launch control kicked in, spitting machine gun backfires and bright multi-hued flames through open wastegates. The ground started to steam under the Fringe’s big exhausts.
Three.
Hold your breath. The crowd was lost in the noise of burning dinosaur bones and refined Venusian broadleaf.
Two.
Grit your teeth, grab on tight. Offer a prayer to the God’s of speed.
One.
Hold your breath. Wait. Wait just a few extra heartbeats, Lebia adding just a slight pause to keep anyone from anticipating the go. An interminable pause.
Lebias arms dropped. Engines roared. The crowd bayed and howled. Tyres scrabbled and screamed. Windows rattled. Babies cried. A cacophony of sound and speed. The brimstone smell of burning rubber, sweet, hot burning petrol and acrid jet fuel. Noise which punches you in the chest and makes your guts rumble. Smoke which burns at your ears. Noise which tears at your eardrums and leaves you feeling like you lost a fight with an invisible gorilla.
Both machines sprang forward. Go! Go! Go! Go like holy fuck and hang on for dear sweet life.
Race on!
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Small nitpick: Ben's bike has two turbines, not one. (One turbine for each shaft - part of why it's so frickin' wide.) It's part of why the Tron Lightcycle design appealed to me.
Other than that... This looks great! Especially love how you cast the way others look at what is really a friendly rivalry between Ben and Jet. Oh, and Gina would probably go and and give Jet a kiss, too, and give Ford a wink while she's at it. For all her bluster she's really every bit as mischievous as Ben is (recall all the hell Asuka puts Shinji through).
ETA: Think that Blackstone and the rest of the World Watch One crew would be there to officiate? The idea of Blackstone playing sets both before and after sounds like fun.
It is a really nice addition to the first story... I especially liked the fact that it does NOT decide how the race between Ben and Jet has ended... it creates the stage and background for a new category of racing in Fenspace without directly saying X is better than Y.
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blackaeronaut Wrote:ETA: Think that Blackstone and the rest of the World Watch One crew would be there to officiate? The idea of Blackstone playing sets both before and after sounds like fun. Performing before and after the race? Two essential songs, then - one by Purple and one by Rider. But which gets played before the race, and which after? (The musical styles are too different to play them both in the same set...)
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Dartz Wrote:Assuming the 2015 convention is held at Genaros because, well, there hasn't be a con at the L5 stations yet...that's about the only place in Fenspace there hasn't been a con and it's got plenty of space for a drag race. Make it so... (goes and edits the FenWiki)
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Made those few little changes. If the WW1 crew are playing sets, maybe there's more going on around the race as a whole.
Edit: Hmmm... Deep Purple first I guess. Decided by Random Coin toss because that's fairest to both and I actually did the toss. Added that to the story. I can't remember the bandname. I know it's somewhere. I'm sure someone'll inform me.
And sorry for the constant edits 
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At this point in Fenspace history, they're The Hong Kong Cavaliers.
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Fixed it. Thanks!
It was on the tip of my tongue, I just couldn't remember it.
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