And the Institute gets in on the show....
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The Jet Car, in atmosphere, can go Mach 7 at 35,000 feet without the slightest shudder. However, it does leave a heat signature the size of a Boeing 757, and has a tendency to make air traffic controllers go totally spare.
Which, in this case, was the intention.
Yeager Tower, this is HB88. We have concluded our acceleration test and will be ascending to LEO on vector four-zero. Once again, please accept the Institutes apologies; we filed that flight plan two weeks ago.
HB88, we have the flight plan here, along with the confirmation. No apologies necessary. We must have had a clerical error.
No harm, no foul, Tower. Yall did a bang-up job of shuffling traffic, and your pilots all had their eyes open and their hands steady. Next time, well double-check the confirmation.
Affirmative. Clear skies, HB88. Say hello to Buckaroo for us.
Will do. I snap the channel switcher over to another frequency and add, Sorry about the mix-up, Hunter Team. We honestly didnt know yall were out there.
The voice on the channel is as dry and sarcastic as only a jet jockey can get after a near-collision. Of course you didnt, HB88. Youre lucky we didnt decide to drop a heatseeker down that oversized Zippo you call a main engine.
I smile. You need to check out the flight cameras from that little incident over South Dakota, Hunter One, before you do that. Itll save you the disappointment. You guys have a safe trip home.
Theres a pause as the implication that the Jet Car can outrun missiles sinks in. A chuckle comes across the wire, followed by, Acknowledged, HB88. You drive the speed limit, next time you decide to fly over West Virginia.
Message received, Hunter One. This is HB88, over and out.
Buckaroo looks out at me from his monitor. Nothing, he comments good-naturedly, is sadder than a jet jockey with thruster envy.
Aw, come on, Buckaroo. Sometimes a turbine is just a turbine.
He smiles at that, and then picks up the radio in his virtual cockpit. Buckaroo likes to have a background when he talks to us; he says it helps him set the mood to the conversation. As a result, when hes running the Jet Car with us, he sits in a virtual cockpit, working his side of the controls. World Watch One, this is Buckaroo Banzai. Whats our status?
J.s voice comes over the speaker. Read you five by five, Buckaroo. Satellite view shows the Raptors have pulled away and are heading for home.
Excellent. Anything on our VLO?
Hephaestus has one of their folks on the way. Looks like theyre on final approach. The others are mobilizing.
Buckaroo turned to me. Shall we go meet the neighbors?
Since were already out for an evening drive? Why not?
There are plenty of reasons not to, Blackstone.
True, but at this point in time, none of them apply to me.
Buckaroo turns back to the radio. World Watch One, advise our newcomer that Blackstone is on his way.
Acknowledged, Buckaroo.
The Jet Car pushes its way up through the top of the sky and into the Black, and we point our nose at the chunk of land that we had passed under on the way across West Virginia. Someone in Strategic Air Command took offense at folks choosing to move 250 acres for which they held title and paid taxes. Running at full burn across the sky in an unannounced test flight caught their attention before the Raptors had a chance to do anything they might have regretted. Not that any standard ordinance could have taken a chunk out of something that big that had been waved, but you never can tell.
Nice bit of finagling there, Buckaroo, with those flight plans.
I dont know what youre talking about, he replies. His eyes are merry though, and hes got that smile that he gets when he does some sort of mischief that benefits more people than it hurts. Like the smile of a Buddha, enigmatic and peaceful. I filed those plans weeks ago, he adds. Remember, we discussed it last Sunday.
Last Sunday, I was cutting a marble reproduction of the Venus de Milo in half at a show on The Island and restoring it without a mark. I dont remember much of anything except the whine of the saw and the applause. Oh yeah, we talked about it during intermission. I hope the data is good.
That it is. Ill talk to J. about it later. Hes not fibbing on that. Its a little known fact that Buckaroo is constantly improving the Jet Car. Its fast right now, but he thinks it can go faster.
The VLO isnt hard to find, since it went straight up from West Virginia and seems headed for Low Earth Orbit. I give it a slow flyby, taking in the scenery behind the dome. Lots of green. If these folks are farmers, I suspect theyll do a healthy business in produce, which is always scarce up here in Fenspace. I wonder if they can grow avocadoes. Last ones I found at Kandor looked like they walked there, and I could kill for a good dish of guacamole.
I loop back around on a slow approach, holding position so they can see the Jet Cars silhouette. The Institutes PR makes us pretty recognizable, even without Buckaroos initials on the door. No hails yet, he says. Maybe we should knock?
Sounds good to me, Boss. I pick up the mic and spin the tuner to the citizens band. Breaker, breaker, this is HB88, hailing the very pleasant real estate off my portside window. I am requesting permission to dock and say howdy. Im not selling Amway, nor am I handing out literature. Yall decent for visitors, or should I come back later?
-----------------------------------------------------------
(The "incident over South Dakota" refers to the Jet Car's inaugural flight, in which it outran a Sidewinder by shifting into fifth gear. It would be classified, if it hadn't been filmed by attendees at Burning Man.)
Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
--------------------------------------------------------
The Jet Car, in atmosphere, can go Mach 7 at 35,000 feet without the slightest shudder. However, it does leave a heat signature the size of a Boeing 757, and has a tendency to make air traffic controllers go totally spare.
Which, in this case, was the intention.
Yeager Tower, this is HB88. We have concluded our acceleration test and will be ascending to LEO on vector four-zero. Once again, please accept the Institutes apologies; we filed that flight plan two weeks ago.
HB88, we have the flight plan here, along with the confirmation. No apologies necessary. We must have had a clerical error.
No harm, no foul, Tower. Yall did a bang-up job of shuffling traffic, and your pilots all had their eyes open and their hands steady. Next time, well double-check the confirmation.
Affirmative. Clear skies, HB88. Say hello to Buckaroo for us.
Will do. I snap the channel switcher over to another frequency and add, Sorry about the mix-up, Hunter Team. We honestly didnt know yall were out there.
The voice on the channel is as dry and sarcastic as only a jet jockey can get after a near-collision. Of course you didnt, HB88. Youre lucky we didnt decide to drop a heatseeker down that oversized Zippo you call a main engine.
I smile. You need to check out the flight cameras from that little incident over South Dakota, Hunter One, before you do that. Itll save you the disappointment. You guys have a safe trip home.
Theres a pause as the implication that the Jet Car can outrun missiles sinks in. A chuckle comes across the wire, followed by, Acknowledged, HB88. You drive the speed limit, next time you decide to fly over West Virginia.
Message received, Hunter One. This is HB88, over and out.
Buckaroo looks out at me from his monitor. Nothing, he comments good-naturedly, is sadder than a jet jockey with thruster envy.
Aw, come on, Buckaroo. Sometimes a turbine is just a turbine.
He smiles at that, and then picks up the radio in his virtual cockpit. Buckaroo likes to have a background when he talks to us; he says it helps him set the mood to the conversation. As a result, when hes running the Jet Car with us, he sits in a virtual cockpit, working his side of the controls. World Watch One, this is Buckaroo Banzai. Whats our status?
J.s voice comes over the speaker. Read you five by five, Buckaroo. Satellite view shows the Raptors have pulled away and are heading for home.
Excellent. Anything on our VLO?
Hephaestus has one of their folks on the way. Looks like theyre on final approach. The others are mobilizing.
Buckaroo turned to me. Shall we go meet the neighbors?
Since were already out for an evening drive? Why not?
There are plenty of reasons not to, Blackstone.
True, but at this point in time, none of them apply to me.
Buckaroo turns back to the radio. World Watch One, advise our newcomer that Blackstone is on his way.
Acknowledged, Buckaroo.
The Jet Car pushes its way up through the top of the sky and into the Black, and we point our nose at the chunk of land that we had passed under on the way across West Virginia. Someone in Strategic Air Command took offense at folks choosing to move 250 acres for which they held title and paid taxes. Running at full burn across the sky in an unannounced test flight caught their attention before the Raptors had a chance to do anything they might have regretted. Not that any standard ordinance could have taken a chunk out of something that big that had been waved, but you never can tell.
Nice bit of finagling there, Buckaroo, with those flight plans.
I dont know what youre talking about, he replies. His eyes are merry though, and hes got that smile that he gets when he does some sort of mischief that benefits more people than it hurts. Like the smile of a Buddha, enigmatic and peaceful. I filed those plans weeks ago, he adds. Remember, we discussed it last Sunday.
Last Sunday, I was cutting a marble reproduction of the Venus de Milo in half at a show on The Island and restoring it without a mark. I dont remember much of anything except the whine of the saw and the applause. Oh yeah, we talked about it during intermission. I hope the data is good.
That it is. Ill talk to J. about it later. Hes not fibbing on that. Its a little known fact that Buckaroo is constantly improving the Jet Car. Its fast right now, but he thinks it can go faster.
The VLO isnt hard to find, since it went straight up from West Virginia and seems headed for Low Earth Orbit. I give it a slow flyby, taking in the scenery behind the dome. Lots of green. If these folks are farmers, I suspect theyll do a healthy business in produce, which is always scarce up here in Fenspace. I wonder if they can grow avocadoes. Last ones I found at Kandor looked like they walked there, and I could kill for a good dish of guacamole.
I loop back around on a slow approach, holding position so they can see the Jet Cars silhouette. The Institutes PR makes us pretty recognizable, even without Buckaroos initials on the door. No hails yet, he says. Maybe we should knock?
Sounds good to me, Boss. I pick up the mic and spin the tuner to the citizens band. Breaker, breaker, this is HB88, hailing the very pleasant real estate off my portside window. I am requesting permission to dock and say howdy. Im not selling Amway, nor am I handing out literature. Yall decent for visitors, or should I come back later?
-----------------------------------------------------------
(The "incident over South Dakota" refers to the Jet Car's inaugural flight, in which it outran a Sidewinder by shifting into fifth gear. It would be classified, if it hadn't been filmed by attendees at Burning Man.)
Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."