[RFC][Story]It's not the speed....

[Dartz]

A short update, but I'm trying to keep the weekly schedule.

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The wail of the Highway Star resonated out of the tunnel, lingering long after it and it’s rider had departed.

The Stilletto was first to arrive, bulleting along the path cleared through the car park. The howl of its engine hung in the air behind it, the whistle of a turbocharger blowing it along.

Jet blasted through riding a high cold scream, trailing shock-cones from both foot-mounted engines, followed by the deep hollow roar of the Griffon’s single turbine leaving a trail of hot metal sparks and shimmering hot air.

The Tumbler’s bellowing engine brought up the rear, it’s paint still shifting to adapt to the sudden influx of overhead light.

Dozens of flash-bulbs illuminated them from all sides for the single second it took to pass through the car park. Waved camera’s and holographic scanners captured dozens of high resolution pictures in that moment - framing speed itself on a smeared background for all to see.

It was speed on a human scale -speed you could reach out and touch and be a part of. The thunderous noise- the drifting heat and the wafting smells of burned fuel, hot rubber and warm lubricants - it spoke to the soul with an energy and power that thrilled the hearts of those who watched in a way a lazy point-one C cruise through space never could.

What the average wavecraft achieved was nothing more than the rate of change of distance with respect to time - a sterile figure no more exciting than a measure of how long you wouldn’t have to wait to arrive at your destination.

But this... this here was speed.

Naked and undeniable speed, powered by the burning bones of dinosaurs set free with a roar entombed underground for aeons and now finally unleashed to challenge the God of Thunder himself for dominance.

There were no God’s who could answer, only the thrilled screams of those who bore witness.

This was why they came. This moment. This thrill of speed - of racing along the razors edge, a dance with seductive death herself beckoning just within reach if you just went that little bit faster. The thrill was speed - the thrill was the difference between true speed and the magnitude of a velocity vector.

It passed in moments, living only the shivering echoes behind and the primal feeling that it really was great to have survived.

For they were the those for whom it never got fast enough, slaves to the cause of speed.

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The three needles on the speedometer pointed to 704.

Full throttle. Full boost. Full speed.

The Highway Star was giving her its best and Kohran knew it. It was exhilarating. It was electrifying. It rolled through her body and made her feel all giddy inside.

It was excessive.

Reigning the machine in to let the others catch up was the hardest thing she had to do. When every synapse demanded she accelerate. When the motorcycle itself demanded to be let run free. It begged to go faster.

She switched off the water injection, boost controllers reverting to their lower setting. It seemed almost insulted to be asked to go so pathetically slow, stuttering for a few moments as it ran momentarily rich.

“This‘s Kohran, I’m cruising down at 450. Waitin’ f’r you guys.”


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KJ could hear it.

Over the wind noise ripping at its ears and the noise of the V8 between his legs, he could still hear the Highway Star up ahead, long before he saw it. An alcohol burning V8 engine blowing through a single turbine was loud enough to break most decibel meter make ears ring for hours afterwards.

The Highway Star, with four rotors, peripheral ports, open wastegates and bazooka ‘silencers’ was loud in the same way the flash of a nuclear bomb was bright. Get too close without proper protection and it might well be the last thing you ever heard.

The air itself buzzed with power and energy, alive and tingling. The smell of burnt leaded petrol filtered in through his helmet, strong and sweet. The insides of his legs baked in the heat rising from the exhausts.

Moments later, the Star came into view - it’s taillight glowing red out of the gloom.


“Kohran! They’re about ten seconds behind me.”

“Roger! Roger!.”

He could hear the grin on her face as he rolled past. The Star was cruising lazily at an easy 450, waiting for the following Griffon to catch up - Kohran’s own fault for getting a little overexcited racing too far ahead.

KJ accelerated ahead, leaving the Highway Star in his wake. It was a shame really, he’d been looking forward to that race. Neither machine was really being asked to give it’s best.

'LO FUEL' Flashed up on his Motec display. He cursed inside his helmet, before selecting Lebia’s frequency.

“This is KJ. I’m on reserve fuel. One minute and I’m done.”

“Understood.” she answered, almost instantly. “Continue to Charlie 4. Then stop out of the way..”

“Copy that.”

The downside of big speed and hardtech alcohol engines - Fuel burned fast.

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EDIT:
Song of Sausage Creature Mentioned earlier in the fic. Also, paraphrased above. Hunter S. Thompson - worth reading.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?