GalwayGirl: Ah, our favourite orange cat. Never change.
MadBea: I can neither confirm nor deny the brain cell was temporarily misplaced.
UwU-chan: You mean “I can meowther confirm nor deny the brain cell was tempawarily misplaced.”
DohnJoe: i took psychic damage reading that

Bea sat at her computer, leaning back in her chair with her feet up on the desk out of shot as she waved to the camera. ”Welcome! We weren’t supposed to be here. But we are. Whyyyy? Well, after the last art stream, I was going to clean everything like I normally do… but then GalwayGirl dropped her bombshell in the Discord. By the way, Galway, you were this close to catching a negligent manslaughter charge,“ Bea held up her hand, thumb and index finger almost touching. ”I couldn’t breathe reading that. If you guys don’t know what I’m talking about, head on over to our Discord server, link in the description, and have a gander, it’s the last pin in the ‘Storytime’ room. Anyway, I got distracted by that, and then I just forgot what I was going to do like a complete knob, aaaand now my airbrushes are full of dried-up paint.“ She held one of the tools up, visibly gunked up. ”So I found a sacrificial bowl, filled it with paint thinner and we’ll see if I can salvage this in time to do at least something today.
In the meantime, since the stream with Amy, there was a big spike in subscriptions. Welcome to the madhouse, new people, we’ve got fun and games.“ She held her arms open in a welcoming gesture, ”And with new people came old questions, with a vengeance. So initially I thought I’d go through the evergreens and answer them so they’re all in one place people can go to and neither I nor others have to repeat the answers over and over ad nauseum. And then this happened, and although I might regret this, I thought why not do this live and post an edited version later, plus the ones that are unasked here. And we’re doing it here because let’s go with all questions, not just art.
So get your questions sorted out, I’ll go get some tools, and we’ll get right into it.”

MrZombie999: Who or what made you want to race?
”I and every other racing driver in the world answer this one at least once every year in official interviews at the start of the season you lazy bugger, you didn’t even try.” Bea grinned as she started disassembling the airbrush, ”Though I suppose that’s the definition of an evergreen, isn’t it?
There wasn’t really a person or a racer I idolised. Once I was racing I obviously read up on the sport’s history, so names like Walter Röhrl, Michelle Mouton, Einar Englund and Karri Talo entered the picture, but no one that actually stood behind my decision to race.
Instead, when I was two, three years old, I’d sit on the living room floor playing with LEGOs and my dad would be there working from home and he’d have the telly playing on our home cinema as background noise. Dad always liked boats, so I was playing with LEGOs, imagination in overdrive, under this four by two wall of Sailing Unlimited, Olympic Sailing and maritime documentaries and before long, I was no longer building houses and animals, I was making boats and ships. And when I inevitably asked dad if I could join a sailing club, he obviously said yes and those will always be some of my most treasured memories, those father-daughter bonding moments of preparing and launching our boat or discussing the club races.” Bea recalled fondly, placing several pieces of the airbrushes into the paint thinner bowl.
”If you ever have to do this, remember to never soak the whole thing, just the metal parts. Paint thinner and rubber seals don’t party well together.”
CryptidX: So why the switch from sea to land?
”You get wet, you get cold, if there’s no wind there’s no race, it’s not a comfortable affair.” She shrugged, ”Bit of a weird reason to switch to karting I guess, but there it is.”
CryptidX: Do you still sail?
”Occasionally, when the weather’s nice. Speaking of, I’ve got something related to that planned for the summer break for the art channel, too. All of you who have been with me since the sailing days will love that.”

NineIron: Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized Kais’ or one Kais-sized duck?
”I’ll take the Kais-sized duck and anyone who claims otherwise is either lying or fucked in the head.“ She laughed, ”You have no idea how happy I am Kais was just another victim of maple syrup terrorism and not the perpetrator of that incident, because I am not looking forward to chatting shite about Kais for any reason. I’m quite attached to my front teeth being where they are.” She wasn’t trying to say he’d do it, but she wasn’t entirely convinced he wouldn’t either.

---

”I can’t overstate how happy I am that they aren’t making us say the patented name of this gizmo.” Bea tugged at one of the small devices attached to the harness, sitting cross-legged in the side door of a helicopter in a company-provided white jumpsuit with black highlights and black full-face helmet.
”Still can’t get it right?” Ava wore the same except with inverted colors, slipping on her helmet and stretching while the HUD confirmed the gizmos in question were working right.
”If it has more syllables than a week has days it’s not a word, it’s a tongue twister.” When they first got the script the previous day, both pilots spent their lunch stumbling over the long Japanese name the company chose for their new line’s unique selling point.
The video coordinator looked up from his tablet. “Camera drones ready for jump one!”
“Sound checks out.”
Both racers gave the crew a thumbs up and stood in the door.
“Aaaaand… Go.”



Framed by the rising Sun, Ava and Bea stood in the door, the camera doing a close pan of the parachutes on their backs before Ava looked over her shoulder into the camera.
”As a former test pilot, I know the importance of precision and reliability. That’s why I trust Fujikura parachutes.”
Then, as one, they both turned to face into the helicopter and fell backwards with a slight push away with their legs, arms spread as wide as the smiles on their faces, over the edge and out of view.

Several quick cuts of freefall acrobatics followed, both solo and the two in close proximity; plain and with smoke canisters attached to their ankles, and including shots of the pair performing a synchronized routine together, all with an upbeat, inspirational track in the background.

The fun was interspersed with closeups of the sensors around the harness, on-screen graphics explaining all the helpful features they enable, and CGI-modified visor cam shots of the two skydivers showing the HUD giving them real-time data on wind, speed, sum of speed vectors, acceleration and more, essentially allowing for IFR skydiving.

The camera cut to Bea levelling out of an inverted corkscrew and deploying the parachute, the canopy featuring a sun setting over a mountain range in vibrant colors. Ava followed soon after, her canopy adorned with intertwined red dragons on a white background. An overhead shot showed both women landing standing up on small cardboard markers, high-fiving each other after stowing their chutes and doffing their helmets.
”And with the new guidance system,” Bea turned to the camera, ”You can dive right into the fun without worry, whether you’re a seasoned skydiver or just starting out.”

“Fujikura Parachutes” The narration closed as the screen cut to the company logo, “Your adventure awaits.”

---

Shel1: Ah, what the hell, I needed to upgrade anyway. I can live on instant ravioli and tap water for a month, right?
HotStuff: I have no idea how theyr allowed to do this
NineIron: Man, Imagine someone telling you you can’t do a dangerous hobby so you don’t injure yourself and can do your dangerous job instead.
Crossfit_Crusader: Which, to Bea, is also a dangerous hobby. :D
Richie: Man, imagine trying to tell Bea to do or not do something. I’d rather herd cats.
MalvinasMatias: Wow. Blasts Spirit over being “unsafe” last year because their planes were found SLIGHTLY rusted and now she’s shilling this? Really? Hypocrite.
Javi: wish her parachute failed
Darkstar69: Damn, those jumpsuits…
TruckerTim:

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode 3: The Neon Bath

---

Bea sat on comfortably the Delta Hyper set, clad in the usual jeans, team polo and sneakers, listening to Aurora’s explanation. Seemed easy enough.

”Who is the most likely to eat noodles with a fork?” She read the first question, ”Starting controversial, the answer is: Anyone with a shred of sense.“ She grinned mischievously, ”But I’ll say me, because I know for a fact I don’t know how to use chopsticks.”

”Who is the worst at keeping secrets? I think Amy and Han would be pretty bad choices to tell yours, not because they’d accidentally tell someone else but because they’d do it intentionally if they thought it could help them.” No malice, just a matter-of-fact statement.

”Who is the best Christmas gift giver? Definitely Han. She strikes me as the type of person who has entire Excel spreadsheets for birthdays, previous gifts and whatnot.”

”Who is the most fussy eater?” After reading the question, Bea simply raised her hand in silence.

”Who is the most likely to climb Mount Fuji? Oh, that’s Harrison. Although I think Jenny does bouldering, she might go as well.”

”Who is the most likely to get speeding tickets? Nora.” Bea fired off immediately, not even elaborating. ”Maybe Henry. Rich kids, am I right?” She added a second option, the sarcasm dripping from her voice.
“Paul thought it’d be you.” Aurora added.
Bea raised a finger. ”Look, in my defence, a lot of times the speed limit is complete horse manure. But he’s not entirely wrong.”
“Would you share how many?”
”Nooo, I think I’ll take the fifth. Next question! I don’t like where this is going.” Bea laughed.

”Who is the best drifter? Either me or Ulrich. I’ll say me, because I’d been rallying for longer. To quote Walter Röhrl: ‘Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows.’” She flashed a toothy smile.
“Paul wasn’t sure who would be better between you and him and suggested you two find out.”
She drummed her fingers on the tablet. ”I know what he’s doing, and I hate that it’s working.”

”Who is the biggest classic car fan? Oh, that’s easy, that’s Paul. Dorian probably has a few, but Paul I know for sure.” Bea knew he inherited his father’s collection, but didn’t explain her reasoning. Audrick’s death got brought up every other time Knight was in the news, she didn’t need to add to that.

”Who is the most likely to be the first to die in a horror film? Henry. Rich playboy kid never makes it past Act one.”
“Does that mean you two would be the first to go?”
”I like to think I’ve seen enough horrors with my dad to recognize I’m in one early and leave, but maybe that is what would do me in. ‘Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.’ after all.” She shrugged with a smile.

”Who is the most romantic of the pilots on the grid?” She actually paused to think, ”Well Dorian definitely thinks so, he’s French.”

”And the last one: Which pilot would you most want to be stuck on a desert island with? It says ‘desert’ island, so I’m assuming there aren’t all that many resources to go around, so either Harrison, Nora or Ulrich. If I’m going to die of dehydration, might as well make those two days fun.
If it’s like Robinson’s island, survivable, then Ava. She’s had training for it, I know we can tolerate each other and I’m almost sure she wouldn’t whack me with a rock to preserve resources and then blame it on an unfortunate fall when she got rescued. Kais is also a valid choice, but the jury’s still out on the last two points.”

”Your turn now.“ Bea reached over with a smile, handing the tablet over to Aurora, ”You’re as much of a star of the sport as any of us are.”

---

The event was in full swing, a mix of pilots, sponsor representatives and both paying and invited VIPs milling about under the rainswept energy shield and beats of the music. And with the fruitiest, most colorful drink being offered in hand, clad in a black pantsuit with white-colored accents - she needed full sleeves since she couldn’t be bothered to swap out her prosthetics for the backup set to keep up with dress code guidelines on visible body art - and giving the cameras the occasional wave, Churchill’s ‘V for Victory’ or a blown kiss, Bea was right in the middle of it, the inkpens she brought along getting mileage on them as, knowing she had nowhere else to be, many people were asking for sketches in addition to the regular photos and autographs and in the breaks between, she kept herself busy dragging the Condors’ resident introvert out of her comfort zone. Although her plan to make it a bit more bearable for Ava by finding the similarly-outgoing Astrid to start with crashed harder than she did in Cape Town as Astrid beat them to the event by about fifteen minutes and that was enough to get the Faroese pilot going.
”Bit of a shame we already did the Fujikura ads.” She noted, ”That would've been some publicity stunt. ‘Alright, time for bed.’ Grab stashed parachutes and throw ourselves over the edge.”
”I think you've had too much to drink.” Ava replied from behind a glass of Chilean red, ”Or maybe not, I've lost the ability to tell with you.” She added a friendly jab.
Bea was about to reply when Astrid got their attention, the group merging with some of the other pilots.

"What do you drink by the way? I know they're free, but I'm gonna make a run to the bar!"

”I still have some, thank you.” Bea raised her glass, still half-empty, when Cassie offered to make a booze run. ”Have to pace myself.” This wasn't a secondary school house party, she had a qualifying session to knock out of the park tomorrow. The unconstrained merriment would have to wait until Sunday evening.

"I don't think we've met yet. You did well in Cape Town. Till uhh...yeah."

”’Yeah.’ about sums it up.” She nodded in agreement with Harrison, reaching out to shake his hand. ”But it wasn’t my first, it won’t be the last, such is life.” Bea shrugged.
”So, is this finally your year or are we in for another snoozer?” She turned to both Southern Cross drivers and more cheerful topics, nodding her head in Amy’s direction at the last word.

Her eyes visibly went slightly wide in surprise when Astrid mentioned bidding on her art for the painting itself as opposed to the charity, and kept growing when Dorian joined the club. ”Thank you, but you do know that our facilities are just down the paddock from yours on a race weekend, do you? You can just pop over to say ‘hi’ and ask. Any of you.” She offered with a smile before turning to Astrid specifically, ”I’ll trade you one for some gin, I had one of yours a few-.” She paused, ”For legal reasons two years ago at a wedding, like liquid liquorice candy.”

“Does anyone else wonder where they come up with these questions to ask us?”

”They most likely have interns scour fan sites. It tracks with the style, especially of younger fans, the secrets and drifting for example.” She shared her opinion when Paul asked, ”Oh, and regarding that: You’re on.” She jabbed a finger in his direction, referring to the drifting challenge he proposed. ”Manager at the Brooklands Mercedes World in London owes me a favor, I could get us a few hours on the attached test track.”

---

---

---

The trip to Tokyo took a good half day, leaving aside all that had gone on behind the pilots’ backs, from the flight logistics to the paperwork that the team had been preparing for weeks if not months in advance. Kais had been looking ahead at the weather info after returning from Cape Town, and for some reason it only ever seemed to rain here most of the time. From blistering heat, to soaking wet, it seemed, and even despite his expectations, reality was still not quite on the same level. When they came in for landing, they were greeted with a storm the likes of which he hadn’t seen in a while, and as he glanced down their airplane window, it suddenly became clear to him why Tokyo was the City of Neon Lights - they certainly gave color to the rainy place.

---

---

"Kais, can you give us an update, please?" Al Saqr's Team Radio crackled amidst the roar of storm and engines.

"Weather is brutal. A lot of noise on the sensors, low visibility. Lots of turbulence. Gonna be a tough one. Hope the electrical engineers did a good job, they’re gonna be pulling us through on this one."

---

Aurora’s holographic face seemed to be in a good mood today, and Kais wondered what would be in store for him this time. He sat down on the usual Delta Hyper couch, adjusted his freshly donned team hoodie and blow-dried hair a bit, and then noticed that on the table in front of him was a holo-tablet. Aurora’s head briefly explained the new format, and before Kais had even nodded, a strange game show-like jingle sounded and questions started appearing in mid-air.

“Do I get points for these, or…?” “No, no points. Just fun.” “I see. Alright, then, let’s get this done.”

"Most likely to eat noodles with a fork?" “Are you sure these are the right questions?” ”Yes.” “Hmm… Fitzroy, then. Next.”
"Worst at keeping secrets?" “Stoking, are we?” He scrolled down. “I don’t see your name on the list, Aurora.” Still, there was only one other to give Kais similar enough ‘PR in the front, stabby in the back’ feelings, and so he clicked Han.
"Best Christmas gift giver?" “Gifts, huh? Kofi, probably.”
"Most fussy eater?" “That’d be me. Don’t ask the team about our potluck.”
"Most likely to climb Mount Fuji?" “I can see Beatrix doing that.” A short pause. "Might join her myself actually, as long as I won’t have to paint.”
"Most likely to get speeding tickets?" “Nora,” he said without hesitation. “I bet she has a whole backlog of them.”
"Best drifter?" “Amy.”
"Biggest classic car fan?" He leant back, looking off to the side in thought. “One of the Miller Motors guys, probably." What was he called again? “Westwood?”
"First to die in a horror film?" “Honestly? Most of them. But it depends on the enemy, terrain, gear, things like that. I do know who’d survive, though...” Kais thought for a few seconds, smirked a bit, then clicked Jamie Hart for first.
"Most romantic of the pilots on the grid?" “Pass.” Aurora chuckled a little. “That’s not an option.” “Hmm, beats me, then. Cassie maybe?”
"Which pilot would you most want to be stuck on a desert island with?" “Villarosa, she knows her stuff…”

---

Kais took in the view of Tokyo as the elevator music started its second loop. Ninety floors was quite the distance, and yet, despite what the rooftop bar’s ads said, the higher they got, the less sure Kais got on whether you could really call what they were seeing a skyline anymore. Most of it was covered by a haze of neon and chrome: the megacity’s skyscraper forest, the cobwebs of hover-car lanes connecting them, the reflective raincurtains in between, the drones and holograms floating wherever there was any space left… Whatever you called it, though, it was quite the sight. “Quite the sight, huh?” Layla said. “Just when you thought Abu Dhabi was big, Japan goes ahead and goes bigger and badder and flashier…” “Hmm…” Kais answered. It was all very flashy indeed, but he felt himself more preoccupied with what would come at the top of the elevator. The elevator pinged, doors opened, and Al Saqr’s duo made their way into the venue together, greeted by a barrage of flashes and noise - and that wasn’t even counting the storm pattering on the kinetic barrier above them.

“Hello. It’s… great to be here.” Kais told the holography drones gathering around, polite but with no small measure of impatience, as he kept walking his way through to the event’s main stage. “Layla, Kais, how are you experiencing Tokyo so far?” “Well, it’s a bit more rainy than I’m used to. I’m glad we do have a barrier here, though,” Kais said. Layla followed up with. “We’re loving the energy here! There’s nothing quite like Tokyo! BioCHO is very gracious for hosting us. Come, let’s go say hi.”

Al Saqr’s Marketing and Sponsorship team had dressed them up well for the occasion, to complement each other: Kais in a classically-cut matte silver-on-white suit, and Layla in an graceful green dress exquisitely tailored to show off all the gold augmentations against what caramel skin she had left. White and green were the main colors of Al Saqr, and, in a fortuitous stroke of luck, also of the sponsors of the event. Inside, the two therefore made sure to shake hands with the -very busy- representatives of BioCHO and share some words in not-so-subtle Arabic, a wink to their parent company’s shared roots within the Union. “Ah, Miss Layla, Mr. Kais, welcome! We're happy to see Al Saqr join us tonight as well.” One of them said as they extended a hand. “Thank you, it’s an honor and a pleasure to be here,” Layla said with the slightest bow. “You’re a great help in keeping our propulsion engineers happy. We’re all very excited to see how BioCHO is innovating the biofuel industry.”

It was all part of the game. But even here, in the glitter of success, every step felt like it was a part of an even larger show. “Looking forward to seeing what comes next. The future looks bright.” Kais added, his words practiced. A drone hovered by, its holographic ‘recording’ tag switched on. Even now they were under surveillance. “Come, let’s grab a few pictures,” the executive suggested. And they -to the best of Kais’ ability- smiled for the pictures a bit. Layla leaned in and whispered just loud enough for all to hear. “Hold it just a few seconds longer, Kais.” The representatives chuckled and directed the two towards the bar. “Please, have some drinks.”

And that they did very gratefully. Kais ordered a “Tonic water. The middle one.”. The mixed-haired mixologist nodded with a smile, and poured him one on the rocks. Luxurious.

---

Kais moved to a quieter vantage point to scan the scene: Beatrix, Paul, Astrid, Dorian, Ava were mingling. Nora and Harrisson were there. Cassie fluttering in between. Then Han. Amy, Henry Fitzroy, and Max. And then there were the two of them. Even with Layla at his side, he felt like an alien in this glamour, this veil of mere appearances, and he wondered if he’d ever get used to it. Then he noticed a certain someone’s lack of appearance. Jamie hadn’t been there with the presser, not in the last round of interviews, and now he wasn’t here too. Odd.

Ava looked across to the others, smiling as they clanked away glasses, and she got to sip away. Her eyesight turned as she looked over her shoulder, seeing Kais and Layla on the fringes. The others chatted away, almost everyone, bar Amy, Max and Henry courting the cameras elsewhere, were in one place. Ava stayed on the outside of her group, letting Bea, Astrid, Dorian, Cassie and Paul share the limelight.

Kais heard a hearty chatting coming from the group towards the center of the scene, and his eye was naturally drawn to the tallest of them by far. His last conversation with her hadn’t ended very well, but if there was anyone that he felt he needed to talk to at this moment, soldier to soldier, it would be her. “I’m going to talk to Villarosa,” he muttered to Layla, already moving before she could respond. He nodded briefly to the rest of the group. “Ava, can we talk?”

Ava nodded, toasting her glass to the others, knowing Bea was going to be left for a while, but well, not like she couldn’t hold her own. “Of course.” Ava replied, breaking away from her conversation, champagne in hand, as she parted away, the chic looking obsidian dress she wore sticking to her form, making no effort to hide the military-grade prosthetic legs, nor her usual demeanor. She followed Kais, heading over towards one of the balconies, looking over another terrace of the sponsor event, and the various stands and bars below. “I am guessing you’re thinking over things. You saw what happened in front back in Cape Town. And you’re wondering why.” Ava simply asked, an open question, though it felt like it had a gentle point towards it.

“Yeah.” He replied. “I have been thinking about our previous conversation.” He said, his back turned to the mingling crowd. Their sounds pushed to the back of his mind. “I reacted… harshly. I’m sure you understand.” He said. An admission for sure, but his gaze was drawn down to her military-grade prosthetics, to the battles she must have fought herself. Who else could understand? “But I stand by what I said. I won’t just stay on the sidelines. But still, in light of recent events…” His frustration was palpable. He could still feel the hairs around his neural interface stand up as he wrestled back control, Bea’s wreckage left in its wake. How things could have gone differently, in another time. He took a sip from his tonic, the bitter taste lingering in his mouth. “I need another set of eyes on it all. What’s your tactical appraisal?”

Ava smirked, shaking her head, knowing she could so, SO easily, just say 'Told you so.' But she hadn’t. “Racing is racing, Kais. Shit happens. But, for what it’s worth… I think someone got away with a move.” Ava replied, shrugging her shoulders, looking out to the skyline, then back. “Jamie made a poor move. And he got away with it because he knows you’re both rookies, you and Bea, and he could spin it that way to the stewards. A 50/50 risk, but then again, you’d take it too if you were in his shoes. He has a lot to prove, or else Amy is going to stomp him in the pilots championship. And Amy, she does not want competition.” Ava commented, hoping maybe Kais would get it a bit better. “If another team competes with her, fine. But is Jamie what, the third now to take that second seat, and to start looking like he buckles under pressure…not a good look for him. But it proves Amy right. And that’s what she wants. So bad decisions get made.” Ava said what many would likely be thinking, but well, better to put it out loud.

Kais nodded. “I get it, having a lot to live up to, to prove. To himself. To Amy. To everyone else. Just to stay in the game, to survive…” Kais’ mind went back to many of his own talks with Omar, endless debriefs, performance evaluations, pushing, prodding. And there it was again. Survive. It always seemed to come back to that, didn’t it? A deserted island, surrounded by sharks. With just a lick of neon paint and the growl of engines. He looked back at Layla for a second, already in talk with someone else again. Would she… Would he? “You’re not asking me for my thoughts, are you? Not really, you’re asking me what lengths I’d go to. What lines I’d cross.”

Ava shrugged. “Maybe… Maybe you would, but while you may intimidate most people, no offense, Amy does so too, psychologically. Takes a lot to be that difficult to that many people.” The Chilean pivoted. “What’s your thoughts on what we discussed, then? Before. In Auckland?”

Kais exhaled in thought. ‘Before’... Auckland, Cape Town. Old world, new world. It all blended into each other. Battlefields had their bombs and bullets, the track had its tricks and tensions… The baiting for reactions. And then that line. Light and shadow. He looked back from the balcony to the chattering crowd underneath the neon lights, the BioCHO reps, the reporters, Amy, then to Ava again, baiting for a reaction… Cryptic as she was, what side was she on? “You said something about them making a better weapon out of us.” He glanced down to her prosthetics. “I’ve been wondering… What are you fighting for?”

“They’re not making a weapon out of me. No. Out of you.” Ava was pointed in that, as she drew herself into the conversation, seeing Kais look over, battling his thoughts. “Without being rude, Kais, you were engineered, but that implies that someone knew what they were making. They had their recipe, and someone liked it, even if they can’t get access to that source code anymore. That sort of thing is illegal in many, many states, the fact you even exist is something that the European Union banned, as well as a lot of other actors since. Genetic modification is one thing, full-growing people in a synth-womb is another.” Ava didn’t answer what she was fighting for, but she did at least hint at it.

“I suppose what I’m trying to say is, I noticed something. A link between you all. Nora’s got actors in the Inner Circuit who are linked to her, dangerous criminals, the kind that are transnational, and certainly have their links into corporate interests. Bea, who’s the daughter of an arms producer. And Layla, who has more mods than I could ever get. And I couldn’t help but wonder what it was with you, but… I realized, they’re all looking in the shop window. At people who might have access to augments that most markets don’t even get. And most of all, a testing ground. To make another version of you based on that. If they even can.” Ava continued, looking over her shoulder, then back to him.

“I told you that story about home because that was the world I fought for. Not a perfect one, but, it’s why people don’t starve, die of dehydration, have somewhere to live, have people that are accountable, and more than that, gives us a world that isn’t on fire and in ruin. And right now, Layla and Harrison, Amy and Astrid, are pulling at opposite ends of the wire on what next for humanity. And somewhere in-between, and I still can’t work it out, you’re in there somehow. And someone is going to want what you are when that happens. It’s easy to print someone that’s numbers and code. But harder to produce someone who’s tested, proven, and you can extrapolate. I suppose I want to know what’s coming so I don’t get swallowed by it either.” Ava commented, knowing it was cryptic, but well, she had a certain way with it. The next bit, hopefully, would make more sense.

Gently pulling her dress up and pushing on a socket of her prosthetic leg, she pulled out a tiny, SD-card like chip, and offered it in her palm, over to Kais. “You know what you did, where you were, what you fought in. They probably told you all of it, reformed you, and now here you are. And you chose this out of free will. But would you like to know where you came from? And who it was? Who it might still be?” Ava asked, leaning in. “It takes a lot to engineer someone. It’s something the Arabic Union was very interested in back then. You wonder why Al Saqr’s implants, augments are such high quality? Layla offers them one thing. You offer them another. And they get a lot out of it. Well, so did someone else. And I think they are keeping an eye out.” Ava added, looking to him, knowing he had every reason to distrust her.

“Put this into your neural link. It’ll give you schematics, how they produced you. It’s clearly corporate, but someone oversaw that. And someone else on the grid has markers and bioengineering that follows on from what you had, modified to their own taste, of course. You can swab it before you do, if you don’t trust me, but I’m in no interest in turning you into a vegetable, given that people can see I’m with you right now and I’d be the last person you were with.” Ava added, glancing back at the crew behind, then back over to Kais, glancing at Han.

“I don’t trust easily, Ava.” Kais grumbled. “And I’ve been told many things about my origins. Contradictions. Conspiracies. I’ve heard it all. But if what you’re saying is true…” Kais stared at the chip in her hand, his heart racing. “How do you know all of this?”

“I have my sources. Like I said. I was in your world once. So it didn’t take a lot for me to pull on some strings. Just know that, if they come for you, the next person they’re coming for is me. The black market right now would kill for a neural print of someone who could fly an anti-gravity ship like we do, or for the ability to fly a hypersonic jet before it all went autonomous in my case. You learned how to kill like I did. Just with different outcomes. No simulator can replicate that. The memories we currently have inside of us, are the kinds they’d love to take. And then the rest.” Ava knew that was no answer, none at all, as she sipped some wine down, looking out, into the illuminated skyline that was frankly on eye level out here.

“The world went to shit. And people started getting greedy and started treating people like play-things. That, I suppose, is why I care.” Ava was a bit more stoic there, revealing, turning. “Look. I won’t take up anymore time. Have a think about it. You can pretend this never happened, I’ll never come back to you again, and what happens, happens. Or you can get to the bottom of it, because at the bottom of it all, there is an answer for what’s coming for… us.” She finished, wrapping up a lot that was no doubt rushing through his head, but well, she knew there were few others she could trust with this.

For a while Kais didn’t know what to say. A deserted island surrounded by sharks, indeed. It had been a while since he doubted every move he’d make. But was there an alternative? It seemed that no matter how much he tried to run away, his past would just keep catching up to him. A past that was still very much classified, even to himself. Finding out anything more about it… He moved his body to Ava’s side, making sure to block the view for the rest of the gathering. Then he took the datacard as discreetly as possible, lingering his gaze for a brief moment. In thought, and a gesture of thanks, perhaps, but if not more, to watch her response. Stoic as Ava seemed, he felt something genuine in her eyes. He slid the card into his neural stack without saying another word. And when it was done, he was sure she could read it all from his face: jaw clenched, eyes not quite knowing where to look, and -once again- that tension. Then he nodded, as if he had processed it in any way other than anger and pain, and turned back to the view of the Tokyo nightscape. To the veil of neon and chrome, and in between, the storm.

“What shit fucking weather, huh…?”

---

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode Three: The Neon Bath

“Welcome back to Delta Hyper, Hyeon-Ae.”

”I am happy to see you as always, Aurora.” Hyeon-Ae returned with a charming smile, sat back on the fancy couch. For this appearance, she was in a sleek black outfit, trendy high corporate fashion.

“We have something a bit different for you today, now we're in Japan! Right in front of you, I've left a tablet." Aurora instructed. The footage followed Hyeon-Ae as she gracefully swept up the tablet and let Aurora continue. "So, on that tablet, there's a few questions. Now you've gotten to know the grid, let's see what you think about them. We have heard you in the press conferences talking about their activities on the track. What do you think about them off it?"

There was a tremble of Hyeon-Ae’s brow, a mild shiver in her expression, when the facade threatened to break, but she maintained her coy smile and flicked the touchscreen briefly with her fingers to steal a glance at the content.

"Any questions?"

”...Ah, is there any way to get out of this?”

“Afraid not.” Aurora shot back, unapologetic and all smiles. Han smiled politely in a way that did not reach her eyes, and lifted her shoulders in a mild shrug. When no more surprises came, Aurora let off a sharp start; "Alright, go!”

Hyeon-Ae smiled a little more nervously and looked down properly at the screen to fiddle with the questions. She supposed the easiest way to get out of this would be to endure it as pleasantly as possible. Who greenlit this dumb idea and didn't warn her?

”Most likely to eat noodles with a fork?" Hyeon-Ae read aloud with a soft scoff, looking up at Aurora with mild incredulity. Aurora remained firmly unmoved, expectant of whatever answer she could torture out of the pilot. When no salvation came, Hyeon-Ae wracked her brain for this infantile question to produce some manner of result. ”I suppose I'd have to say… Kais Zenix. I do not think he would have the patience to learn such a skill.”

Aurora smiled in a way that Hyeon-Ae found off-putting, like she knew something Han didn't. But she could only continue. ”Worst at keeping secrets? Good question. I think I would have to say Kofi Mensah. He is so nice, you know, I think he would feel guilty about keeping secrets from anyone.”

Again, Aurora looked glib. She was enjoying these answers, and probably knowing what others had said, if anything. Eventually she let slip the source of her pleasure. “Some of the others think it'd be you.”

Hyeon-Ae was quick to smile back, undeterred by the dig. “I'm sure. Every social group has people who do not trust each other.”

“You don't want to know who it was?”

“I wouldn't want to speak ill of someone behind their back.” she lied with a humble and unyielding smile, refusing to play Aurora's game with cameras pointed on her. When she noted that there were no more attempts to push the issue, she went back to looking at the screen.

”Best Christmas gift giver?" Hyeon-Ae continued with a brief glance at the screen, and paused to consider it a bit longer. A smile touched her expression again. ”I’m going to say Paul Mulder. He is such a sweet man, I think he would get something from the heart, no matter his recipient.”

Aurora leaned forwards just a little. “Bea said it would be you - you'd have it all figured out with charts and planning.”

The sudden assault caught Hyeon-Ae off guard and she found herself chuckling, pushing nervous energy out and buying herself some time. ”A vicious accusation… but I suppose I do like to keep track of things.” Hyeon-Ae looked into the nearest camera with a coy smirk. “Watch out for your birthday present, Ms Ward.”

After a moment of snickering between host and guest, Hyeon-Ae refocused for the next question. "Most fussy eater? I would have to say Amy Stirling. I don't think you sit at the top for so long without growing accustomed to certain things.”

“Paul said it would be you.” Aurora declared imperiously, as smug as before. Or Hyeon-Ae was just projecting her internal resentment onto the peppy host.

Either way, Hyeon-Ae chuckled and feigned hurt with a hand to her heart. ”Me? Ah, no… Well… I follow a strict diet but… Well… Oh no…”

The realization made somewhat in jest lingered for a while before Hyeon-Ae cleared her throat and looked back down. ”I'll move on. Most likely to climb Mount Fuji? I think this is Harrison Makara. He has been fairly public about that sort of daredevil naturism, I believe. I would not be surprised if Astrid Thorsdottir is the same, deep down.”

She paused for a brief moment, pondering the next question to herself before reading it out. ”Most likely to get speeding tickets? I suppose we are implicating criminals now… That said, there is only one answer; Anyone who has seen Nora Kelly on the track knows she has speed in her soul.”

”Best drifter?" Hyeon-Ae remarked soon after, looking up at Aurora with questions in her eyes. Aurora briefly explained the etymology of the word to the confused Korean. ”Ah, stalling and oversteering. Ulrich Falkner. He drives beautifully. Such smooth motions suggest a deep control of the machine.”

She looked a little lost for a moment. Reminiscing about something? Drooling over a rival's driving style? Either way she shook out of it to continue. ”Biggest classic car fan? Uhm, perhaps Henry Fitzroy? It seems like a hobby that would take a lot of money and time.”

Aurora smiled and motioned for her to go on. ”First to die in a horror film? Hm, difficult. It's been a long time since I watched a horror movie - but if I remember, there's usually a person set up as the hero who is killed to set up how dangerous it is. So I would say Amy, the ‘hero’ of the grid.”

She smirked a little to herself and then sighed as she saw the next question. ”Did Mr Hornfleur pay you to put this question on here? ‘Most romantic of the pilots on the grid’. I'm going to skip past the obvious typical answer and say that between his sweet manners and his teammate, I have high hopes for Paul.”

“One final question now,” Aurora coaxed slyly.

Hyeon-Ae breathed a quick sigh and reconstituted herself with a smile. ”Which pilot would you most want to be stuck on a desert island with? That's a good question actually. Layla Al-Nadir is my immediate answer. She has a broad and skilled background and the personality not to fall apart. I think her teammate might be a dependable choice as well. And… Astrid, for the same reasons.”

---

The Liquid Lounge

The rhythmic thuds woven into the music in the bar’s ambience mingled with the buzz of conversation to provide a dizzying cacophony of sound. Though a mere sponsor event, it turned out that several executives and philanthropic businesspeople present had a liking to the palatable and marketable eastern star.

Thus, while Cassie mingled with others freely and danced from group to group without a care in the world except the alcohol level in her glass, Hyeon-Ae had been smiling politely and laughing at dry old-world jokes for a good while now. Every time she made an effort to leave, one of these old moneyed fools asked her a question or brought up something vaguely related to racing or her past, and she was forced to remain as a trophy statue in the company of others. A calming element and a sign of nearing Zygon, perhaps. Even as someone with a talent for piecing together something from scraps of information like her, she would probably end up killing someone soon if she had to hear another story about how one of these old folks managed to sweep their rival on the Osaka preserve golf course, or similar lame exploits.

Then she caught Cassie waving her over towards a more palatable group, pilots who had been spared her fate for a time, and clustered together not unlike animals grouping together to avoid the buzzing haze around them. Hyeon-Ae smiled to herself, allowing herself that beacon of mercy, and began to bow her head. But the vice grip of business interest was not so easy to escape when the word from above was basically to be a compliant doll for investors to gawk and poke at during this event. She had not even begun to speak when the next question came.

“Ms Han, you are part of your uncle’s company are you not? What do you think about the future of biomechanical integration in personal cars?” One of the old men dropped, forcing her to remain and answer. Before she could excuse herself after that, one of them called over her son, and introduced him. It was like trying to escape a swamp made entirely out of glue.

Eventually she caught sight of Paul, smiling over at her and joining in Cassie’s previous attempts to call her over. How long has it been since the last attempt to extricate herself? She leapt at the chance to escape. ”Sirs. Ma’am. Please excuse me. Someone is calling me over. Have a pleasant night.” she uttered and swiftly bowed out of the conversation before anyone could think to stop her.

She arrived at the tail end of some discussion among the pilots, catching a few jeers back and forth. She entered behind Paul as Beatrix was taking center stage in the ‘little’ group.

”They most likely have interns scour fan sites. It tracks with the style, especially of younger fans, the secrets and drifting for example. Oh, and regarding that: You’re on. Manager at the Brooklands Mercedes World in London owes me a favor, I could get us a few hours on the attached test track.”

”I suspect one question was sent in by Mr Hornfleur personally.” cut in smoothly before the conversation wandered too far off track. She placed a hand on Paul's shoulder as she stepped past him to face the others more properly, glancing at him briefly. ”I heard we're meeting soon again,” she gave to him conspiratorially, smiling a little more coyly than usual.

Her dignified mystery didn't last long as Cassie drove by to put a drink in her hand. Repeating her maneuver from early marketing - signaling both teamwork and dominance, she lifted an arm to sling over Cassie's shoulder as she addressed the group. ”We have been going easy on you before now. Tokyo is no longer the honeymoon, yes?”

---

With conversation flowing all around, the night continued on, pilots chatting to one another, sponsors, and the atmosphere certainly one that felt like it was corporate meets a party. No doubt, the minders for each team would begin to start wrapping things up shortly, and they'd be finishing for the night.

After all, jet lag could be cured with some concoctions, as could blood alcohol level, but a late night was already getting later by the minute, and there was qualifying to get into tomorrow. Some teams had advertising gigs to get into during the day (or already had), but one thing was clear.

One of the most slick, scenic street circuits was coming up tomorrow night, and experiencing it for the new pilots would be one hell of a vision.

---

(April) Fool's Gold

Soundtrack: Bicep- Vale

The rain had somehow, stopped. The grey clouds had lifted for a brief part of the dusk with the sky at a pink, deep, dark navy, as per forecast, but that made the neon, LED and holographic jungle of Japan's biggest city, one of the major metropolises of the world in that weird and wonderful, still no less dramatic. For anyone else, it was a total, complete sensory overload, but for the pilots, it was a sideshow to the most of the time three-lane highway that defined the majority of the circuit, a historic legacy given the skyways of glass and flying AVs that now filled the sky of the city. A circuit that was relatively long for a street circuit, yet indulged in some incredible highways of Tokyo, and saw most of the major sights.

From on board with Amy, you could take it in from a ship's point of view from her first person camera on her helmet- not quite as fast as Cape Town given a lot of the straights were broken up, but still, ridiculously close in with barriers and skyscrapers all near. The tarmac of the Shuto had been replaced in parts by MAG tracking, giving a secondary benefit to ships that benefitted from great energy systems. This meant the hairpins were very much on the limit of each ship, requiring really good high-speed cornering skills, more than craft handling and where the stability element of this track came in. However, from stop start sections with big turns, as well as the layout of the circuit's MAG traps meant that energy systems were definitively the most important factor, reflected in the laps being put down.

And she went through each corner with that in mind, the forces wanting to tear her apart, yet her suit, modified physiology and anti-gravity core doing the work to keep her on track. The ship whined, almost as if it was reacting to that very drive, pulled through her very psyche itself into the way it twitched through Turn 1, at the world-famous Shibuya Crossing.

The circuit was a long one, with the start on the iconic Shibuya Scramble Crossing, surrounded by towering, dizzying amounts of light and holographic displays, probably the tightest section of the circuit in terms of turns. From there, the circuit headed to Route 246, into a hard right-left section that then headed onto Route 3 and the Takagicho Shuto highway, an elevated expressway that flanked skyscrapers, seamlessly narrowing into a hard junction that went onto Highway C1 at the Suntory Tower, flying past the Tokyo Tower and down to the Tokyo Bay all on elevated expressways, about two to three storeys above the main roadway below. Which in itself, revealed just how insanely visual this track was- if it wasn't the neon, it was the sheer views themselves, exposing a megalopolis when it opened up on that section towards the harbour itself, the sea all visible in the moonlight and neon.

An exceptionally long right-hander that was a 270 degree turn, with limited MAG tracking sent ships up onto the Rainbow Bridge over the Tokyo Harbour, ships through here almost "drifting" from the right drone shot, given just how fast they were and almost no brakes were required, the G-Forces here like being subject to a simulator given it lasted about five seconds of continuous lateral right turning. Over the bridge, and joining another junction with a long 90 degree right hander, past a corner most knew as "Robot Corner" for the gigantic GUNDAM-styled robot that was once there, and now actually worked on the harbourside in the docks, brought the ship through another tunnel, and a long straight with a curve.

After bursting through that, a sharp long right hand hairpin took them back into a long tunnel complex on Highway C2, snaking under Shinbamba in a tunnel section that echoed with the roar of the ship's engines, before joining Route 2 via a near inverted banking onto the elevated expressway again at Gotanda, flanking more and more skyscrapers as well as a park, before turning off via a ridiculously tight hairpin using extensive mag tracking and an almost half-pipe like banking to drop down onto a smaller road, Route 305, weaving through urban streets at ground level before winding back to Shibuya, with a tight 90 left, right and right hander finishing the lap.

Overtaking was strange- you couldn't really pull past on the junctions given it went about two ships wide, if that, but energy systems could spit you out of them even faster, and you could roll on past, where the lanes gave a bit more room. Almost all of the circuit, including the tunnels, overpasses and tight Shibuya section became an overtaking zone, and it made for incredibly aesthetic racing to watch, because it was always a fight during raceday, but during qualifying, more of a test of a pilot's resilience to make the most out of each corner and slow-down.

Amy was on pole again, but not by much, as she realised she'd only just, and barely gone past Kais.

"Top lap, Amy! You always pull it out of the bag, tonight is no exception, top job, top job!" The response from her Welsh engineer, Keira Adams, called into her ear, as she breathed out, exhaling, winding the ship down, finding her exit route after Corner 3, pulling down into the pit. Even she was a bit lost for words.

"Holy crap. That was something..." Amy smiled, as she felt the ship was definitely on tenterhooks on some of the MAG strips, but well, it had held on. With the ship pulled into the Silver Apex garage, she popped the canopy and clambered out, a big grin on her face as she put her hand into the air, hearing comms from Keira on her end.

"Yeah, you did well there, Ames. Shame about Jamie. Could have done better if he hadn't have binned it on Corner 2. But we move." Keira called into the comms, disappointed, yet not really focussed on that at all. She had to recover her own self for now.

"We do indeed. Kais is gonna be hunting us tomorrow. But I'll outplay him." She grinned under the visor, the response not very private, but well, a shot fired back.

And on that note, she took her helmet off, clambering down the steps of the ship, her crew coming in and cheering, an actual bit of success after Jamie had performed absolutely poorly. He'd done nothing right on that lap, and Amy was not at all happy with him. Sure, it made her look even more incredible, that was always fun, but the team was going to suffer again. And it was another day of pulling a rabbit out of a hat when it came to an ELS fight. The fact the grid was fragmented between teams helped her, given they might not help each other as much, but even so, Amy knew that Kais would be a fierce competitor, and given how much ELS was needed to get a lap right here, meant a ton of micro-management.

That meant racers that were typically just fast on circuits like these were managing a lot more, and not knowing how to manage that system would be a disadvantage, outside of just the craft's general characteristics itself. Nora as a result hadn't performed perhaps as well as some might expect someone who was used to the underground to perform- same with Bea, who while having a fast ship, didn't have the energy system to back up her ship's capability. As for Nordic Call, having Astrid in 4th was pure insanity- she had pulled an exceptional lap out, and whilst she may have joked around, her ELS system had been tuned by the team exceptionally well, whilst her team-mate had flagged and not made the most. Al-Saqr's new upgrades had clearly hit their marks, and whilst sub-par in ELS to some other frontrunners, made up for it in everything else, as well as Kais just managing to attack his lap and Layla doing the same.

---

Post Qualifying Interviews

After the qualifying session, the pilots were back again at the Delta Hyper booth within the paddock after various interviews and catch-ups with their teams, Rory back in presence, full body rather than just a head in the distance. The British commentator kept his mic set, catching each of the pilots as they came in.

--
@Sylvan

"Nora, a shame about not making podium today, but it seems you're still getting to grips with the Formula AG energy system after making the switch from the Interior Circuit. How does Tokyo stack up as a street circuit for a former underground racer?"

--

@Enzayne

"Han, you seem to be impressing the pundits and spectators, pushing that Zygon craft higher than perhaps some are saying it should have been from the data says. Yourself and Cassie are stacked together in 7th and 8th. Do you think you can keep the pace up in the race?"

--

@LadyAmber

"Paul, maybe this isn't Valkyrie's circuit given your ship characteristics, but a good effort nonetheless. How do you feel about the surprise from Astrid coming in 4th today, and her thoughts on competing with Valkyrie in Tokyo?"

---

@Starlance

"A qualifying to forget Bea, it looks like the ship has the speed but the energy system just wasn't there for you and Ava. Do you feel you can pull more out of it in the race, and do you think you and Ava will work together to climb up the grid?"

---

@MrSkimobile

"Wow, what a lap that was, Kais! You and Layla must be on top of the world- you both seem to be in a position to put some pressure on Amy?"

---

One by one, the other pilots trickled in, of course, starting with Amy.

"Yeah, that was a special lap for me. Really, really had to push, through the tunnel section it felt like I was really on the edge of what we could do, but I always had it. Super happy with that!"

Harrison seemed to shrug, happy yet wanting a lot more.
"Yeah, not sure about the qualy, just the ELS trigger there didn't get it right and Kais was on fire with his deployment, so kudos to him. We'll make it up tomorrow and keep them on their toes!"

Astrid was bouncing. As you'd expect, given a team that so far had underperformed drastically was now launching back at the rest of the grid.
"Amazing! Just amazing! 4th is really good, and that lap felt so easy to weave. The craft is so easy to launch out of the corners and the team must have gotten my setup perfect, I think I set a purple sector at Sector 2? I love that bit so much, so yeah, let's keep going tomorrow!"

Layla too, seemed upbeat, cheerier than Cape Town, albeit annoyed that Astrid had beaten her. A team that was normally not so great, had turned up with their fancy ELS and absolutely gone to town with Astrid's setup to get points.
"Yeah, just cannot believe the lap that Astrid put down. But, we'll get her back tomorrow. ELS or not, I'll be coming and Kais just set a great marker too!"

Dorian was a little annoyed, but Japan wasn't their strong suit either. Handling was more their game, so here, they had to make do.
"Yeah, it's a bit annoying, but we'll try tomorrow and make it up on track. The ELS is tricky to master and our system is good, so we'll roll the dice tomorrow and get some points."

Cassie was certainly smiling again.
"Oh we are definitely keeping our places tomorrow, me and Han have got that locked in! The ship's really fun, and everyone seems to be really going toe to toe. Anything can happen so stick about!"

Ava was a little more pensive, albeit honest, knowing that even with her extensive ELS knowledge, Nordic Call, Valkyrie, and Zygon had certainly pulled it back with their systems here.
"Not much more I could have done, in the race I can reel them in, but on pure pace, we just don't have the same ELS and stability some other teams do. We'll be back though, Bea is next to me on the grid and we'll work together."

Max seemed a little annoyed, similar to Ava, pensive.
"So uh yeah, we aren't where we want, but kudos to Ulrich. Knew his ELS knowledge would come in handy! As for me, I'll make it up, and fight back to points. Japan is such a good circuit to get in the groove, I love it here and honestly, I wanna make it one to remember!"

And Kofi was a little similar, disapointed to not have more, but then again, the upgrades just hadn't hit this weekend. It was a salvage operation, and even he had not much to add.
"It is what it is, we have more to be competitive, but we'll try and fight in the backmarkers and set some respectable times. We'll do what we can."

And Henry? Well, the talk was a little different.
"Yeah, not amazing really. The team back at home are doing well, there are a lot of rumours at the moment, but that isn't holding us back and we're still working on getting ourselves up the grid, and that will happen."

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode Three: The Neon Bath

---

A Dream of Neon

It was one thing to hear about Tokyo, with its lights and sounds, its 3D ads and holographic attractions. The magnetic roadways, both fully replaced and enhanced asphalt. It was like nothing Nora had ever seen, and her eyes were glued to the window of the Southern Cross transport as it began its final approach, landing at Haneda Airport in Tokyo.

“Glad the schedule’s set to let us take a peek around the city after race day this time, barely got a chance to see any of Cape Town with everything that happened.” Nora said, sounding for all the world like an excited tourist, and excited she was. She had grown up on stories of street racing and Formula AG, and Tokyo had always featured heavily in the history of the sport. The team also had responsibilities to sponsors that would also be in town, but Nora was never one to allow work to get her down, especially not work like this.

---

A Querious Questionnaire

Nora walked into the studio where Aurora was holding the interview with the confidence of a woman expecting to win. This time she was wearing a black crop top and ripped black jeans with a leather jacket, a throwback to punk styles from the beginning of the millenia. Her one concession to team branding was a prominent SC patch on the breast of the leather jacket. She was also wearing the Pounamu stone pendant, the same one that Harrison had given her.

As she picked up the tablet and looked at the first question, she raised an eyebrow. “Trying a new format? Can’t hurt to give it a burl. Interesting questions, though.” As she thought about the first question, she cracked a smile.

“Most likely to eat noodles with a fork? That sounds like something Henry would do, a silver fork to go with his silver spoon.” There was a clear teasing note in her voice as she poked fun at the Fitzroy racer.

As the next question showed up on the tablet she took a second look before she answered. “Think I’d have to guess that Paul is the worst at keeping secrets. He just… He seems too open to keep a secret well, even if he meant well by it.”

“Best Christmas gift giver… Hmm… Well, I know Harrison is a good gift giver, think I have to give it to my teammate here.” Nora smiled as she touched the pendant around her neck, then looked at the tablet, ready for the next question.

“Fussy eater? Amy or Bea probably. The Brits conquered the world for spices, then used none of them!” Nora repeated an ancient meme with a wicked grin, her eyes flashing a friendly challenge to prove her wrong.

As the next question came up, who would be most likely to scale Mt Fuji, Nora answered almost before finishing the question. “Harrison. The man loves nature and mountains, not that I blame him. Bet the view from the top of Mt Fuji is ####### spectacular!” After a moments thought, Nora continued. “Might join him, honestly.”

As the next question came up, Nora snorted. “Gotta be a toss up between me and Bea. Limits just a suggestion, eh? Then again, they couldn’t ticket what they couldn’t catch so maybe Bea has more…” Nora feigned an innocent smile with her final comment before reading the next question.

“Speaking of, we’ve all seen Bea on the track, I think it’s obvious she’s the best drifter among us.” Nora answered that question straightforwardly.

“Don’t get Paul started on classic cars if you want to talk about something actually important, so I hear. Gotta be him, haven’t heard anything close to that of anyone else.”

Nora raised both eyebrows as she read the next question. “Running low on material, Aurora? First to die in a horror movie?” Nora shook her head, then considered it for a moment as she appeared to take it seriously. “That said… Might be me. I could see me saying something stupid like Oh look, it’s nothing! See? just in time for the killer to rock up.” Nora replied with a self-effacing laugh.

“Realize it might be a sleeper pick, but I could see Harrison being a full-on romantic and I respect it. The man has a way about him.”

“A deserted island? Uhm… If I just wanted to enjoy the ride, definitely Bea or Kofi. If I wanted to survive, I’m thinking… Kais or Ava. They seem the most likely to know what to do there.”

After finishing the list of questions, Nora was silent for a moment, before cracking an eager smile. “That was a grouse idea, Aurora. Gotta admit I’m excited to see what the other pilots said!” Nora commented, in lieu of any final questions or thoughts.

---

The Liquid Lounge

Nora was in the same outfit she had worn to the interview, the dark clothing contrasting her alabaster skin and white hair. She was a bit nervous, even with the training she’d received from Owen she didn’t have much experience hobnobbing with VIPs, or partying in a place with quite that many cameras, and her media strategy thus far had been, simply put, “try not to say anything too incriminating or stupid.”

That said, she wore her confidence like a cloak. No reason anyone needed to see her nervous, not in public anyways. As the two talked, drinks in hand, Cassie arrived and made herself part of the group.

"So, you finally got a match?" Cassie teased, Harrison at first having it go over his head.

"Oh, you mean like for dating, racing?" Harrison replied, Cassie spitting the remainder of her drink.

"I meant you're actually up against someone!" She giggled, as Harrison sighed, knowing to be better and make introductions.

Nora snorted at her teammates first response, spraying the rest of her own drink out her nose and coughing mightily as she was thoroughly caught off guard by the comment.

"You two haven't spoken. Cassie, this is Nora, Nora, Cass. She's a friend of mine."

"Friend? We're on different teams. I'm just here to kick his wee arse sometimes. But yeah, we're good." Cassie added, putting a hand out to Nora.

"What do you drink by the way? I know they're free, but I'm gonna make a run to the bar!"

After recovering from her minor coughing fit, Nora shook Cassie's hand, her grip firm and friendly. “The best friends make for the fiercest competition, I’ve always found.” Nora smiled at Cassie, the smile friendly, but with a note of challenge. “And yes, another drink would be a rip snorter. I’m drinking rum and coke, hold the rum.” She handed Cassie her glass, then continued. “I don’t like to drink before a qualifier or race, old habit.” Nora added, sounding like she had said it a million times and just expected the question. As Cassie left, and Nora also turned to see Bea, Ava, and Paul, she nodded to the two other rookies.

"I don't think we've met yet. You did well in Cape Town. Till uhh...yeah." Harrison remarked, with a small chuckle, but shaking his head, indicating he knew just how big that hit was.

Nora winced at the remembered crash. She’d been well ahead of it, but the replay had looked nasty. “And with where you were before the crash, can’t wait to see what you can make happen through the rest of the season too.” Nora said, adding onto what Harrison said.

As the conversation, and the party, continued, Nora followed the conversation, adding her two cents here and there but otherwise going with the flow of it. Half of her time was spent taking in the view if she was being honest with herself, the bar had an amazing view of the cityscape, and Nora found it as awe-inspiring as the mountain vista that Harrison had shown her, though perhaps in a different way.

DELTΔ HYPER

---

---

The party was in full swing. The buzz of conversations filled the air. The DJ was keeping music going in the background. There was a small dance floor that was packed. Paul sipped at his drink as he listened to his fellow pilots chat with each other. The news drones were still in the air. Paul smiled as he listened to the banter among the pilots.

Paul had been surprised when it was Bea who answered his question about where they found the questions they asked them.

Bea: ”They most likely have interns scour fan sites. It tracks with the style, especially of younger fans, the secrets and drifting for example.”

Paul laughed at Bea’s answer. Paul: “Okay that makes sense. Some of the things we get asked by fans are so out there.”

Paul was grateful that security screened his fan mail. They always gave it to him after they had screened it for threats. Some of the more entertaining fan mail included marriage proposals, underwear from both sexes, and homemade gifts which had included everything from jewelry to crocheted hats and scarves. The weirdest thing he had received in the mail so far was a large sea shell with his face painted on it and some live fish.

Paul grinned as Bea accepted his drifting challenge.

”Oh, and regarding that: You’re on.” She jabbed a finger in his direction, referring to the drifting challenge he proposed. ”Manager at the Brooklands Mercedes World in London owes me a favor, I could get us a few hours on the attached test track.”

Paul: “Bea why would we go to England? You do know that Japan is the birthplace of drifting, right? Drifting tracks are still very popular here in Japan. I am sure we could rent a track for an hour or two to have some fun while we are here in Tokyo. If you have the time? I will be here after the race for a few days taking care of some sponsorship commitments.”

Paul threw the challenge out to the rest of the group.

Paul: “Would anyone else be interested in some time racing at a drifting track? Nora would you be interested? I know you are skilled if you were a street racer.”

Paul continued to sip his drink and was pleasantly surprised when Hyeon-Ae finally joined their little group. He understood that she had commitments here at the BioCHO party just like they all did. It was nice to see her break away from the stuffed shirts for a bit though.

Hyeon-Ae: ”I suspect one question was sent in by Mr Hornfleur personally.”

Paul snickered a little at her comment. He knew exactly which question she was talking about.

Paul: “I don’t know about that. Dorian has a reputation for being a lover and a flirt. Of all those questions, that is the one I can most see fans having asked.”

Paul was more than a little surprised when Hyeon-Ae so casually laid a hand on his shoulder before she stepped past him. Paul's thoughts were racing even as his heart rate picked up a little. Was Hyeon-Ae flirting with him? Or was she trying to play mind games? She had turned to him with a smile as she told him.

Hyeon-Ae: ”I heard we're meeting soon again.”

Paul slid his free hand into his pocket as he saluted her arrival with his drink in his hand and a nod. He gave her a return smile.

Paul: “Indeed, I believe Mr. Sanberg has us scheduled to meet on Monday after the race at 11:00am. I am still waiting on confirmation of where we are going to meet. So will I be meeting you in a stuffy conference room somewhere or someplace more entertaining?”

Paul gave Hyeon-Ae an amused smile as he challenged her rigidly scheduled and planned life a little. Cassie swooped in, putting a drink in Hyeon-Ae’s hand. Hyeon-Ae slung her arm around Cassie’s shoulder. Paul smirked amused as Hyeon-Ae tried trash talking.

Hyeon-Ae: ”We have been going easy on you before now. Tokyo is no longer the honeymoon, yes?”

Paul couldn’t resist trying to fluster the pretty Korean.

Paul: “Why Hyeon-Ae, is that a marriage proposal… already? Don’t we have to be married before I can enjoy the honeymoon? I can’t deny that I did enjoy chasing you around the track at Cape Town.”

Paul smirked a little as he knew that she was trying to use a common idiom in Western culture. She had used it correctly but he couldn’t resist teasing her a little.

---

---

Soundtrack: Icon For Hire - Waste My Hate

---

Paul was grateful that the weather had cleared up before qualifiers. He had been training in the simulator for this track. He hoped to use a similar strategy from Cape Town to keep Valkyrie competitive here in Tokyo. This was one of the tracks he was most looking forward to. Paul loved Tokyo’s history with racing. Tokyo had a rich racing history with Formula One tracks and street racing was a huge deal here in Japan. He might be an antigravity racer but Paul would always have a love of racing automobiles. There was just something special about that extra friction from meeting the ground with rubber tires that was simply different. You couldn’t go as fast but it was a whole different set of skills needed to be successful. Paul might be romanticizing it a little but it was one of the things he enjoyed most. It was why he drove his classic cars when he could instead of driving the latest antigravity flitter.

Paul’s strategy for Tokyo was to try and make up speed in the corners and chicanes while watching his energy usage. He had been working to get the most out of the energy systems but knew that other teams had better ships in this area. All he could do was his best. Luckily he did have handling and stability on his side for this track. The engineers had done their best to tweak and tune the energy systems for this track. Paul knew just like Cape Town his best option was to shoot for points. He might not be able to win the season but maybe just maybe, they could be in the running for constructors.

Paul got a decent start but he fought to keep the energy systems charged enough to get the speed he wanted. He found himself once more chasing Zygon ships around the track. He managed to find a pace that worked but he was frustrated with how the ship performed. He understood Dorian’s frustration after finishing in ninth behind Cassie. Paul did enjoy the street based track which made his frustration of not being able to give a better showing in Tokyo fuel. Paul felt like he had let his fans down. All he could do was give his feedback to the engineers and do his best to move up through the pack if he could tomorrow.

Alexander was spending his evening at the track with the engineers and mechanics. Maybe they could find something else to tweak on the energy systems to help their pilots out tomorrow. Alexander was in his team shirt, jeans, and work boots. He flitted around the paddock and tried to help out where he could. He trusted his team but he had hoped for better in Tokyo. He had seriously underestimated their energy systems for this race. This was yet another good argument for pushing for new ship designs.

---

Post Qualifying Interviews

---

Paul found himself once more in the Delta Hyper booth on the now very familiar couch. Paul was still in his new racing suit and had his new helmet sitting next to him. Paul smiled as he was met by Rory this time instead of Aurora.

Paul: “Hello Rory, it is good to see you again.”

Rory: "Paul, maybe this isn't Valkyrie's circuit given your ship characteristics, but a good effort nonetheless. How do you feel about the surprise from Astrid coming in 4th today, and her thoughts on competing with Valkyrie in Tokyo?"

Paul: “Well I have to give credit where it is due Rory. Tokyo, like Cape Town, simply doesn’t play to Valkyrie’s strengths. We are doing our best to get the most out of the ships here in Tokyo. I am very excited to be here and racing in Tokyo, which has such a rich history with racing. As far as Astrid coming in fourth, good for her! She raced a great race and her ship really performed today.” Paul paused and gave a cheeky grin as he looked at Rory. “I am always up for a great race. So if Astrid needs to single Valkyrie out as a competitor, well I can only assume that we are doing our job.” He winked at Rory.

---

Social Media

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Reply from:

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OfficeDrone#12: Way to bury the qualifying results.
SuperfanAGR54: Disappointed. I had hoped we would see better results after Cape Town.
DantheMan:Who cares what they look like while they are racing? I want to see results! Their results suck!
BatDave: I am still Batman! Just like the Dark Knight returns... so can Valkyrie!
Superfan2075: Valkyrie tanks after Cape Town.
DadBod89: Wow I feel like I am on a roller coaster. What happened to the momentum from Cape Town?
Hater101: Once again Valkyrie is underperforming.
Papabear34: TBF Paul did alright. I am disappointed in Dorian.
Nana2050: They can still recover. This is only qualifying. We simply never know what will happen during the race.
GeorgeFly: #BadKnight #PoorPerformance
ValkyrieFan56: I like the new suits. Wish they had performed better in Tokyo though.
Weedhead81: Paul you need to chill man!
SexyM@m@5: #sexysuits I am printing that out poster size and putting it on my wall.
Paulmulder4eva: #sexypaul @SexyM@ma5 You are thinking old school. Life size holo projection!
Britball12: Valkyrie is still not performing. #KnightFail
!YouSlow!: Valkyrie is not in a great position this time. Paul did alright for a rookie. Disappointed in Dorian though.
xImFasterthanUx: Dorian was outperformed by the rookie. Sad.
AGInthusiast: Gotta give their marketing team props. Lead with the positive news and bury the qualifying announcement.
micheal650004: Hopefully they do better during the race.
llamalover4life: #sadrace
ieatAGR: Team Valkyrie’s performance was pitiful in Tokyo so far.

---

---

---

“They told me the supersoldier programme was derived from a captured genetic mod-bank for survival scenarios. Even before the wars, with the world apparently going to hell at breakneck speeds, many genetic modifications were being drafted to -at least theoretically- help humans adapt to even the harshest environments. Some of these turned out to be very suitable for the battlefield. The exact details are still classified for obvious reasons. All I know is that most of the extreme augs got banned after the wars ended, or at least surrounded by massive amounts of red tape. But it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the folks working at the hyper-hazenv cleanup regions still have some.”

---

---

---

The synth-womb’s sensor suite gathered absolute treasure troves worth of data. Temperature, environmental antiseptic measurements, amniotic fluid composition, prebirth-conditioning adrenaline levels, and -if you tuned your filtering just right- environmental vibrations could sometimes be extracted from the pressure sensor readings to make for a makeshift listening device. Vague and muffled, but there it was: a beating heart, the ambient whirrs of waste and nutrient pumps, the irregular flesh-on-elastomer squeak as coalescing muscles twitched and undulated. And, every now and again, from the outside: voices!

[INAUDIBLE]

“ZNX model: nothing too specialized. Mods on NOS3, RYR1, MAO-A, FGFR3. Basically some extra organ growth potential, neuro-musculature, and hostile environment resistance of course. But we have a few models drafted specifically for nocturnals, sleeper agents, those kinds of things.”

“ZNX-5-01, these fifth gen?”

“Yessir, indeed. I’ve high hopes for these. You can never know for sure in our field, but most of the unintended defects should be taken care of by now. The joy of rapid, iterative prototyping, huh? Growth, as you can see, is similar to lab-grown meat products and bioprosthetics. And conditioning is… Well, it’s a bit unsubtle, but what can you expect for their line of work? Not like they’re going to last very long.”

Another plasticky squeak. “Did it just react to us?”

“Probably not. And even if it did, it doesn’t matter, they’re not going to remember any of this. Just the stimulated reflexes, the commands, the adrenaline-endorphin rush, the battle sims. It’ll all be like a warm bath to them soon enough.”

“Impressive, very impressive. But with your credentials I’m sure you’ve already figured out I’m not here just to get a progress report. I have another request. New directives from higher up. We need to up the birthing schedule. We want this batch ready for deployment several months ahead of plan.”

“Months? That… That’s untenable. I... We might be able to accelerate the physical growth, but even then the mental conditioning wouldn’t be finished, and I’m not sure how controllable they’d be in that scenario!”

“Control is subjective. What you see as risk, my clients see as opportunity. You’d be surprised how often chaos yields results... So let us worry about that, and you stick to your end of the contract. Now then, will you make the adjustments, or should I speak to someone higher up your chain of command?”

“No, I-- I’ll start the process tonight, but, sir… I can’t predict what might happen.”

“Whatever happens, happens… And Ayman? If word gets out about this... Well, I’m sure you’ve figured that one out also. We’ll be watching.”

[INAUDIBLE]

[INAUDIBLE]

---

“This is possibly the craziest thing I’ve seen in all my time here, and I’ve seen a lot.” Khaled said as 5-01 stared at the board with intense focus. “I’m still not sure if you’re smarter than you look, or dumber…” he continued. Rami was stuck deciding on which of the two of them he was talking about, shrugged, and turned back to the game as 5-01 shoved one of his pawns forward. “Good start, good start.” he said as he put another pawn forward himself, sucking on some of his moisture-grass rations.

The sandstorm had been raging for two days already. Extreme weather wasn’t an uncommon occurrence by any stretch these days. It made for a great cover for moving camp, intercepting Union convoys and striking at their new building sites. It also meant that, now they were outside of the shielded urban centers, certain day-to-day operations and training had to be suspended for its duration. Shame that they could only enjoy the semi-free time inside their dug-down barracks.

“You heard the news about the Masdar Tahir?” Khaled asked. “More cells falling apart… Some of them didn’t even get to fight back. Found brain lesions amongst their supers, last I heard. Went insane, entire camps slaughtered.”

“Damn.” Rami sat back, then glanced at 5-01 with not a small measure of worry. “You all good there, buddy?”

“Good enough.” The young man replied. Rami and Khaled glanced at each other, and then decided that he had made a joke. “Man,” Rami laughed. “the world really is ending, huh?”

“Yeah…” Khaled paused a little, letting the moment sink, then continued. “It’s not just Egypt, though, Rami. Jordan’s feeling the vice. I think the UAE and the Saudi splinter regions are fully under Union control now, and now they’re moving into Yemen. You joined us at a bad time, not gonna lie. It’s not like the early days when we were still somewhat united. Now it feels like we’re just waiting for judgment day to come.”

“The only one who’s ever been united was the Union. Easy to be when you’ve got nearly a tenth of the world’s money working for you,” Rami replied, “and they’ve let us fight for the scraps, hiding in the desert like a bunch of criminals as they vacuum up even more.” He sat back, and the game paused. “I used to believe in it, you know. Unity, Arab pride and all that. And then they went after every community that had managed to claw their way out of misery… They made the best assets for the cause. Seems like unity can only happen when everyone’s under the boot.” He sighed. “I just don’t get it. How can they be so high and mighty when all they do is just take? And it’s not like they’re going to stop, Khaled. Not unless we go after every single one of them.”

“Careful, kid. Don’t fall prey to anger. It’ll end up wrecking you. Eyes on the goal.”

“What goal? The Union’s everywhere. Everywhere we go, they follow. Every base we build, they bomb. Every inch of land we cede, they sell off to their corpos. The Nile’s our only hope for some balance of power, and they’ve routed us from that as well. What goal’s even left, save for...?” The wind howled hard outside as a tense silence filled the tent. Knight to fucking d4. “What’re your plans, then, for, you know, after?”

Khaled chuckled a little. A fool’s hope, indeed. “Might go back up to the farm near Helwah. Rebuild the house. Plant some coffee, heard it grows well there now.”

“Sounds nice, man.” Rami replied, with some hestitation. “I might join you. I don’t have much to come back to myself. Remember that massive solar plant we drove past once? Used to be a village there. Were offered one of the first relocations. Parents never made it.” Then, before he allowed the hurt to take, he turned to 5-01. “What about you? You ever think about what comes after?”

Queen to h8. “Check.”

Rami chuckled, then sighed. “Yeah. Guess I was a bit distracted…”

“Hey you!” An officer appeared in the flaps of the tent, and the trio sprung to attention. “Cut that out! You know I have to report unauthorized handling to Command! Now back to your duties!”

“Yes sir!" "Sorry sir!”

“And you! Come with me!”

“Acknowledged.”

---

---

---

The pulse drive roared as the ship numbered 48 zoomed off into the crazy chroma-scape that was the Tokyo AGP, with neon displays so dizzying almost every turn had flashed up epilepsy warnings in Kais’ neural link during practice - ones he had immediately switched off. Still, the lights weren’t the only things you had to be careful of here.

“Good start, Kais, good start. Keep going. Next sector: Shibuya. You practiced this!”

There it was. Couldn’t even see the track beyond the first corner. But he had practiced this, indeed. Decrease the thrust. Rotate the nose around, straight towards the corner exit. Rotate power distribution around the pulse drive in the opposite direction to keep momentum as long as possible. Then full blast dead-ahead as soon as the other side of the corner came into view. Kais’ jaw clenched shut and he felt his organs push into his back as the sudden blast of the pulse engines made it feel this close to hitting a wall. And so it went. Five times. What absolute madman dreamt up this track?

Shuto highway next. Tokyo tower zipped past. Next up: Rainbow bridge. And that it was indeed. The holograms mirroring off its glass skyscrapers and water created a mind-bending infinity mirror in every color imaginable before the track shot over Tokyo Bay. Luckily the turn leading up to the bridge itself was constant and predictable. If you got your entry right, it made for smooth sailing, assuming the other ships didn’t get in the way and you could keep your stomach from turning. Then came Robot Corner, where Layla would undoubtedly gawk for a few milliseconds.

Almost there now. The tunnel under Shinbamba roared as Kais sent full power into the engines. Then dialed it back for the final turns through the urban streets of route 305. One last zig zag. Flash finish. And he gasped as all tension left his body with the deceleration.

---

"Wow, what a lap that was, Kais! You and Layla must be on top of the world- you both seem to be in a position to put some pressure on Amy?"

“Yeah, it went pretty well.” Kais told Rory and the crew as he wiped his face barely clear of sweat once again, with still some lingering reddish irritation around his neural link. “Layla and I have been running some solid sims on our energy management together.” He continued. “And like I’ve said before: I don’t cap mine at just 100%, and it paid off. But the race is not done, and we have stiff opposition.” He turned to the camera. “That said…” And you’d swear he was speaking to more than just Amy on this one. “We are coming for you.”

---

Off Camber

Soundtrack: PINES - Lost

Jamie sat at the terminal, running the sims, running it all again.

A terrible result in qualy, and the pressure was mounting. Auckland was below par. South Africa had an incident that internally, had been under review, and was sketchy. And now, a terrible qualifying session, not even making the top ten.

But one he was going to figure out, one way or another, as he seemed pensive, plugged in, quite literally, running the lap back, again and again.

"You alright?" Callum Wallace, his Lancashire-accented Race Engineer said, looking over, the vacant look in the Canadian's face revealing it all, for a moment out of the system.

The blonde haired, slim Canadian seemed to be a little withdrawn, even though he knew that in his heart, he had to stay upbeat. In his third year, after two at Nordic Call as the cream of their most recent crop, competing with Astrid, he had to admit, he wasn't here. Competing with Amy was scary. Having a lot of new augs, from his synthetic eyes to the new heart, it felt like something inside of him was lost, yet...somewhat not entirely replaced by what had gone in.

"The lap wasn't good enough. I get it, Amy ain't on pole, but...that wasn't there. And I don't understand how. It's like nothing I can do works. And I'm on her setup." Jamie said, frustrated, the young Canadian's pale face clashing with his short blonde hair, a pair of clean augmented legs and hands clashing against the tight silvery-white of his race suit, adorned with Silver Apex's litany of sponsors, and clean, smooth industrial design.

"Well, look at where you lost time. Jamie, you're overdriving the ship. Copying her setups won't work. You nearly binned it in Sector 3 on that hairpin, that flutter cost you seconds, and making it up elsewhere isn't going to work. Take a moment, mate, run it back again, smooth and to your setting." Callum had clearly said this before, but well, it had to be repeated.

"I know, I know. It feels like the ship's built around her, you know. How do I put it.....the ship is ridiculously twitchy. It's like it wants to handle like a needle, the ELS shoots hard rather than smoothly ramps, and the cornering is just lucid. The sims I can keep up, but in reality, it's like there's something missing, that no neural link setting I have will ever do properly. Like I can't find that last bit to tame the ship." Jamie's words felt concise, yet Callum knew the deep root of him.

"Well, it is. But you need to adjust. This isn't a Nordic Call ship, this is a thoroughbred, race-winning ship, and Amy's got it to such a fine tolerance, you'll need to get close to that to make the most of it, or else you'll never push it. That's what your augments are for, and we knew a few races would be ropey. Chin up. You need to focus on that, just get comfortable. Overdriving isn't going to help." Callum said, as Jamie nodded.

"Yeah. Got it, Cal. I'll go back in." Jamie replied, as he sighed, instead of that, taking a look at his glass phone. Half redundant with a neural link as powerful as Silver Apex's spec, but well, able to link together. Sitting up, he looked into the abyss, outside the window of the trailer, watching on at the rain come back. He brought up links of the commentary going on, and immediately turned it off, not wanting to hear it.

His phone on that note, buzzed, the text coming up. With a sigh, he replied. Dad. Back home in Saskatoon. He was just as curious on how things were going, and with a message back, he put his phone back, and plugged back into the sim.

And again. And again. Each corner. Each little bit the ship he tried to bring in, and it was a fight, not a sail.

He wondered if Astrid was right. This was a big step. A big move. And he felt alone, even in spite of that text. He had so much more to do, and even if there was time on his side, he knew how they were here. There had to be something he could do.

---

Midnight Club

Soundtrack: Art of Rally OST: Race

The commentators were in position, Rory and Rosie providing the feed to the audience at home.

Not that it mattered, the Delta Hyper camera following Amy on this one, the view from behind her helmet transposing into her first person view.

The rain was fully in force, and even with a neural link, the pilots could hear it clattering against the windowed cockpits. Of course, with an in-built repulsor for cockpit safety, it intermittently activated and sometimes spat the water away when a collision was possible or close in a manner that was akin to a windscreen wiper on steroids, but more rainy water replaced it fast enough, draining across the nanite-reinforced polyglass on the ship tiself. No spray emitted from the rear of the ships, but with the night sky in Shibuya's neon glow, it meant that the amount of rain meant you relied more upon neural aspects than you would your eyesight. Looking through rain meant a reliance on the ship's various systems, and something of pilot skill. An equaliser, that somewhat negated the ships themselves, and rewarded pilots who were both brave, and consistent.

And for Amy, it felt like another night to set things straight. The half British, half Korean pilot exhaled, hearing the murmur in her ears, the ship rolling on the start line, her breaths almost in tandem with the ship's gentle hum.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

As the lights went out, Amy shot off the line, using her pole position advantage to maintain the lead. Kais, though, was right on her tail, refusing to let her build a gap. Harrison and Astrid slotted in behind, the top four already beginning to separate from the chasing pack.

However, it didn’t take long before Kais made his intentions clear. In a daring move, he swooped past, rushing by with a well-timed ELS move in the tunnel section, in even way she wouldn't have seen coming. It was an audacious overtake, and whatever Kais was doing, it seemed like he was on the ragged edge of the ship. Not clean with the ELS, more as if he was just finding tenths that just couldn't be found by anyone else in Sector 2 and 3, and in the section around Shibuya, even in spite of the ship's lesser handling capabilities.

Behind them, chaos ensued. In the midfield, Jamie immediately began climbing through the grid, making swift work of Ava and Dorian. Bea made impressive progress, clawing her way up from 13th to break into the top 10 early on, remarkably, not through the use of ELS but pure pace on the straights of the Shuto expressways and Sector 2, which rewarded the Carrera Condor's pace. It was like watching someone with a mission charge, still giving it everything with a ship that certainly felt on edge. Not much strategy, just attack, all the way. But whatever the crew at Carrera Condor had done, they'd gotten the strategy right for Bea, and she'd delivered.

As the race reached its midpoint, tension was palpable. The tight corners and technical sections of the Tokyo circuit demanded precision, and a single mistake could prove costly. For the front-runners, the battle for the podium intensified. Amy was zoned in, yet she now found herself under immense pressure from Harrison and Astrid, who were fighting, the latter in particular using her ELS in a way that almost seemed incredible, her poor ship speed made up for by the electrical whine that screamed, a slow burn that on its current setting, offset the speed loss with how well she was stealing it from Harrison and Amy. Harrison made an aggressive move in the sector by Tokyo Tower, squeezing past Amy to take second place, yet Astrid capitalised on the moment of the two bickering. She surprised everyone by darting through an opening and sliding past on a full dump of the electrical power, rocketing her Nordic Call ship into second place with a bold double-overtake that had the crowd on their feet. And she held it. Astrid did not relent in letting Amy past, defending from each ELS surge, using her energy to sap out Amy's, whilst defending from Amy's efforts to take it back by knowing when to push forwards, and when to hold up traffic. It was the only way to win- the speed differential was significant, even if the rest of the ship was giving Astrid what she wanted.

Further back, Layla found herself in a fierce scrap with Nora. The two had been battling since the start, and by Lap 10, they were dogfighting over fifth place. Nora eventually managed to edge ahead, but not without several close calls that had both crafts brushing the barriers. Layla may have been better on ELS, but Nora kept up through pure pace alone, making her ship count where it had to.

Paul also put in a commendable performance, finishing 8th after a quiet but solid race. Meanwhile, Ulrich from MMR achieved a respectable 7th place, his best finish this season, as he capitalized on being a master of ELS and using it to pick the lock of Cassie, Han and Paul. The setup of Zygon in Japan was not living up to at all what the ship should have, or could have done- whatever it was, the pilots just didn't have the right edge here, and neither did Valkyrie, with Dorian making no ground at all, if anything, dropping back after getting rinsed on the straights and never making it up in ELS. The same was true of Bjorn Waldgard, whose lack of ELS experience meant he couldn't put the Nordic Call ship to use, and Ava had felt the same, just unable to make the most of Carrera Condor's ELS to push through, especially since Jamie Hart had been forcing overtakes in a ship that felt like it was being driven by someone after a few too many Canadian Clubs. Cassie should have done better too, given her experience, but it hadn't come to avail. Max Wedgewood, considering his team-mate's performance wasn't giving it much either.

The results were perhaps not a shocker, but some pilots had clearly gained massively, some had lost, and nobody had crashed, even if a few had perhaps not made the most of the rain and not kept up their pace. But nobody perhaps was more enthralled than Kais, who Amy could see in front, her disappointment visible on her face, inside the cockpit. She sighed out hard, listening into the click of her comms bring her race engineer into audio.

"P2, Amy. Not much more you could have done there. Bring it back to pit." Amy heard from her race engineer, Keira's voice reassuring, even though she knew Amy wouldn't react in turn.

"Yeah....good for him. Taking it back in now." Amy seemed a little disillusioned, but still, didn't want to come across sore. And P2 was good. Brilliant. But no undefeated season for her this time around, it seemed. She hoped she'd get one someday, but well, this ship wasn't going to do that. And she was going to need to defend.

---

Cooldown: Tokyo

Soundtrack: Art of Rally OST: Kanagawa

The feeling felt almost cobalt, given Amy wasn't on top. Astrid had actually broken, she was actually smiling, actual, genuine emotion was on her face, given this was just beyond her wildest dreams. And Kais? Well, he was...well, we'll leave that to him.

Astrid watched on, looking at the overtakes, giddy even.
"Told you I'd be back. Right track, right time." Astrid said to nobody in particular, watching her overtake Amy, then Harrison as they tangled over 3rd, and her finding it easy as ever to just dump the entire ELS store in one straight, capitalising on the ship's ability to accelerate on boost rather than outright speed. An impressive overtake, many, many laps in the making and well thought out strategy-wise.

Compared to Kais, who looked like he was very much skating on ice at places, but something he was doing, well, it was clear he was benefitting from what Al-Saqr had done to the ship. It was more stable, and cornering even tighter than before, but that speed was what defined it, the look of the white and green ship roaring on the highways an iconic sight, bursting in and out of tunnels, and leaving a trail of disturbed water behind it, almost like a wave chasing his ship with the amount of rain, and the suction of the aero and the pulverising effect of the pulse engines.

Amy shrugged, brushing her platinum-blonde hair, with a green fleck in it from her stylist's personal recommendation over her shoulder, looking over to the Egyptian supersoldier.
"Not bad at all. Kais, fair play to you though. Pushing on like that.....I wonder if you were flying through your neural dampers or something, pushing that glass cannon that hard!" Amy half knew something was a little fishy with Al-Saqr's neural dampers. Did she know all of it? It was impossible to tell, as a steward came through, Amy nodding in response, and the group moving through. She wasn't afraid of Kais. Supersoldier or not, she'd be able to handle them.

Walking through the small tunnel, the three headed out onto the podium, non-alcoholic champagne at the very top step for Kais. What triumph must have felt like in that moment, for the most unexpected P1, was well, something that must have felt like a childhood dream. Like a lifetime of impossiblity had come to a reason here. The drones took camera shots, and the crowd upon his announcement went wild, even more so than Amy's. It was like someone had broken the deadlock for this season, proven she wasn't invincible, and his talk had been justified. The Meteor had crashed the party.

If there was talk that Kais was perhaps the weaker of the new rookies, right now, he'd smashed every expectation. Set things on fire, metaphorically speaking, and this moment was his, and Astrid was just as over the moon, hugging him after the champagne was popped, so much was her extraversion out after this. A complete 180 from what sometimes was seen, but then again, from poor results to this, well, that was the other story below that of Kais's victory.

---

Analysis with Rosie Appleyard

Rosie sat up in the chair, this time her position in the analysis box brought in to think over the race. Her pale skin, and pink hair clashed against her press vest, looking on at Aurora, and coming back at her question.

"Kais Zenix. Now that was not a name I expected to hear of the rookies winning first. After a bit inconsistency, what he's doing in that ship is incredible, especially on a circuit maybe that wouldn't have suited him. It may be unstable, but he seemed to push lap after lap, finding a flow that certainly will raise other title contenders hairs."

"Then, I guess there's Astrid. Nordic are a midfield to backmarker team this season from their outline results, and whatever they did, they found a setup that she just nailed, and Astrid's ELS talents coupled to that ship were always going to be a threat here. They found what they needed to do, and everyone knows just how that Nordic Call ship has been built to her spec. Is it weakness in Amy to let up to those two? Or, just perhaps she's been unable to fight against that many people who are coming for her crown, yet holding a podium in spite of the fact so many teams were coming close, seems remarkable. Not being able to hold pole after the start perhaps shows the ELS on that Silver Apex ship isn't as good as we thought, but, never rule her out for future races. Then Nora. It's hard to say how she couldn't make more out of her ship, but still an admirable performance. And after that, Bea coming back from 15th to 9th, is just proof she's also got talent. Shame about Valkyrie and Zygon, I think a lot of people expected more, and no doubt their Team Principals are scratching their heads over getting dented by some smaller players."

"Any favourites for Italy?"

"Speed, and handling on a circuit that feels more like a road course than a proper circuit. I'd say Nora, Kais and Bea are in for a rematch. But not if Amy has anything to say about it."

---

Delta Hyper Post Race Interviews: Sponsored by the Anti-Social Social Club

@MrSkimobile

Aurora had Kais first to interview, the actual, in person, real life Aurora, rather than some hologram out here under a rainy parasol in the paddock, beneath the glowing lights of Shibuya Central.

"Kais, what a race! Your very first P1 and what a way to lay down a marker, it looks like you came within a tenth of a second of the circuit record on Lap 5! How are you feeling after that incredible effort and your first win?"

---

@Sylvan

"Nelly, you and Layla were fighting the entire way, it looks like you certainly have your way with ! Even though you didn't have your ELS down, how did you feel about keeping Layla behind you and taking the P5?

---

@LadyAmber

"Paul, a respectable result, up from P9 to P8. Valkyrie however doesn't look like it performed as well as it could have this weekend, any lessons learned from this weekend?"

---

@Enzayne

"Han, you bagged a point but it seems like it wasn't the best race for you or your team-mate, even in spite of your ELS knowledge, it looked like you couldn't defend from Beatrix, Ulrich and Paul today. Where do you think yourself and the team could have done better?"

---

@Starlance

"Bea, what a race that was! We thought your ELS pace wasn't enough, but it looks like you managed to make the best of the woes of the racers in front of you and make it on pure pace. Looks like Ava's advice has come through for you, how do you feel getting your first points in Formula AG?"

---

The other pilots had also shuffled in.

Astrid was of course, her typical self. But a little bit more buzzing.
"Yes, what an incredible night! The team did an amazing job on my ship, and our strategy and our ELS deployment metrics couldn't have been better. We earned our party tonight! Woo!" Astrid yelped, out of the frame as soon as she was in it.

Amy was a little down, but well, had to put her hand up to Kais on that one. First Nora, now him. This new group were pushing her, that was for sure.
"Kais did an amazing job, I mean where did that come from? But seriously, we have more to work on, and one slip up when he was on form like that, and I paid the price. But we'll get him back. I won't take comment on Jamie, those affairs are his.

Jamie was in next, and sighed, looking even more so dejected.
"Yeah, real shame not to get more out today, but traffic is hard to navigate here, and I'm still bedding into the ELS systems of the new ship. Real shame but we'll take it and move onto the next."

Harrison was losing position from qualifying once more, but holding up a half decent race when it was clear that Astrid and Amy had tangled up.
"It's a tricky one, and I ended up losing that ELS fight. Still happy with our pace, and in Italy, I think we've got one hell of a package right now with the ship. We're only three points behind Silver Apex in the constructors, so we have a lot to look forward to. We're keeping the pressure up and we are consistent, which is great, so good takeaway and we'll be smashing it in the races to come!"

Max wasn't that happy either, perhaps the wonderkid's season taking a tail off given how results in the last two had gone.
"Yeah, not the best result for us there, Ulrich's ELS knowledge was incredible, but I just couldn't get past the traffic on track, and couldn't make the most. Glad to overtake Dorian, but we weren't getting much more out of it today."

Cassie was similar, feeling disappointed in the craft, but mostly herself. Even she had to reflect on that.
"Genuinely? We should have done better. We had the pace, but just the wrong fights, and some pilots deciding they'd turn it up to 11 got us. Me and Han have work to do."

A common theme seemed to be felt by Dorian, hands on hip, shrugging in frustration.
"I had no response there sadly. Just got left for dead by a lot of pilots, Jamie, Beatrix, even Max were gunning today and I ran out of steam on ELS more occasions than I should have. A shame, but Paul is doing well and he got some valuable points back for us."

Ava was, however, somewhat more upbeat.
"I did what I could, but nothing to hold Jamie back was going to work. Well done to Bea though, she's got a couple of points for the team with an incredible drive, a lot of overtakes and a lot of making her way through a lot of experienced pilots. An incredible drive, so kudos to her today, looks like she picked up my ELS knowledge!"

Henry hadn't turned up for his interview, given he was inside with the team. But Kofi had, the big man also following in a shrug.
"It is what it is. We have a lot of work to do, our ship needs a lot more but we're still a young team, so development will take time. We'll be better soon."

“Okay that makes sense. Some of the things we get asked by fans are so out there.”

”Oh, you want ‘out there’? I could have people CC you the next time I’m holding an art contest. ‘Creativity knows no bounds’ but bloody Hell, some people should have some set.” She laughed, perhaps disassociating a little from some of the things she’d seen in the past eight years.

“Bea why would we go to England? You do know that Japan is the birthplace of drifting, right? Drifting tracks are still very popular here in Japan. I am sure we could rent a track for an hour or two to have some fun while we are here in Tokyo. If you have the time? I will be here after the race for a few days taking care of some sponsorship commitments.”

”Because just because it’s from here doesn’t mean it’s special. Hamburgers are from Germany, yet it’s the Yanks you think of when you hear the word.” She shrugged, ”And if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right, with enough time, proper car for the occasion and everything.” She was also working a bit of an angle with it, because living with an older sister taught her it wasn’t a friendly competition if you weren’t tilting the field a little.

Hyeon-Ae: ”I suspect one question was sent in by Mr Hornfleur personally.”
“I don’t know about that. Dorian has a reputation for being a lover and a flirt. Of all those questions, that is the one I can most see fans having asked.”

”Oh, I can guarantee you that was an actual question. 80% of the time asked by women, 50/50 chance anyone asking that is 16 or thereabout.”

---

The Shibuya section was almost fun, were it not for her ship’s tendency to understeer through it. Not like in a wheeled vehicle, going straight due to going too fast, but rather being too slow turn, requiring her to take the corner slower so the ship would have more time to rotate.
”Decent pace so far, keep your head down. Long way to go.” Alistair’s voice buzzed in her ears, doing the sisyphean task of trying to keep a racing driver from getting cocky.

Next came a long straight, at the end of which she knew was a long hairpin. She kept the throttle pinned, squeezing all she could out of the Carrera Condor rocketship where it mattered. The regular air mixed with the forward-going stream from the thrust reversers as she throttled back hard as the corner came into view, the resulting turbulence blanketing the ship in a cloud of spray from the water still standing on the track. She left a slight vapor trail behind her as the hot exhaust fumes vaporized some of the water, undisturbed by other ships.
”Building a gap.”

The Rainbow Bridge entry was a tricky one. She started wide, idle on entry, diving to the inside and gradually increasing power through the corner, inertia making her drift back out to the outside. Was it the best way to take the corner? Nope. The best she could figure out after days in a sim? Thereabouts.
”Sector one still purple.” Words of encouragement, but the word ‘still’ betrayed a time loss.

Next came another energy-heavy section through the tunnel, Bea once more driving the machine to the redline, capped off by the double-apex right-handed hairpin by the recycling center. She missed her braking point, the air flowing too fast over the side of the ship upsetting it.
’Whoa, WHOA! No. BEHAVE! Fuck…’ The laryngophones picked up her inner voice as she wrestled with the control stick for control over the ship dancing beneath her. Silence from Alistair meant nothing good. Just like that, the gap was gone.

More relatively simple corners, still somehow losing time. Improper energy use compromising entry, thus compromising exit speed and hundredths became tenths over the lap’s length. Lightly on the airbrakes, no reverser with the exception of one 90 degree bend and the tight hairpin at the French embassy.
”My kingdom for a bloody handbrake.” She groaned as she wrestled with the ship.
”Last few corners, come on. It’s not that bad.”
‘It’s not that bad.’ Ouch.

Finish line.
”Mode ‘Slow’ Bea. Temperatures are OK,”
”Well?” Less expectation, more ‘give me the bad news.’
”Ulrich and Astrid beat us.”
”Expected. Projections?”
”Pretty glum to be honest.”

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode 3: The Neon Bath

---

In the end it wasn’t all bad after all. Max had an off day and Jamie seemed fully in his Sergio Pérez phase. Not that having him breathing down her neck gave Bea any peace of mind.

"A qualifying to forget Bea, it looks like the ship has the speed but the energy system just wasn't there for you and Ava. Do you feel you can pull more out of it in the race, and do you think you and Ava will work together to climb up the grid?"

”I wouldn’t say so. It’s better than Auckland, that’s for sure.” Bea shook her head, ”Valkyrie gave us a run for our money, yes, but having Max and Bjorn behind us is a nice bonus. Jamie…” There was a pause, ”We’ll see.
As for working together, that would be the name of the game if it were up to me, but the track being what it is, I expect the team will prioritise points however we can get them, even if that means sacrificing one driver’s race. They’re in reach, that’s for sure.”

---

The glass walls of the restaurant offered a view of the entire city, the pitter patter of raindrops on glass soothing the diners. Except ombrophobes. At a corner table, the pro-racing half of the Ward family was enjoying their meals.
”Qualifying went more or less as expected?” Frederick looked up from his bowl of soki suba.
”Some did better, some worse.” Bea shrugged through a mouth full of yakitori.
”You are side by side on the grid with no other team pairs around, that’s an asset.”
”That’s what I thought in Auckland“ She finished chewing, ”And look what happened there.”
”Ava even mentioned it in her interview. You don’t believe her?” Fred raised an eyebrow.
”Oh, I believe she said it now, because she saw who’s behind us, or rather what team. In Auckland, the biggest threat to her was Bjorn, and his ship fell apart. And trying to keep Jamie behind us is pointless, a half-trained monkey could pass us in that ship.“ She scoffed, ”Our fight’s with Valkyrie ahead and Max behind. Jamie can go disappoint his team further up the grid.”
”My, you are in a mood tonight. And didn’t you say yourself that all 20 of you are there to do the best you can for yourselves after Auckland?”
”I know. This weekend is just a slog for me, up here I’m pretty much already in Italy.” Bea gestured to her head, accidentally smudging a bit of sauce on her forehead. ”God damnit. And it does actually make sense to use me to help her here. Not like we’ll lose any points doing that. Not holding out much hope for Luna, Argentina and the States either.” She continued after wiping the sauce off.
”Energy management heavy circuits?” He guessed the problem.
”Yeah. And I am not looking forward to not doing well in Argentina.” Bea sighed, ”Not the country’s favourite racer on a good day.”
”Ah, some of them are genuine barbarians, yes.” Frederick shook his head, ”All over some islands we were in the process of giving them anyway.”
There was a pause before Bea spoke again. ”Well, at least I can drown my sorrows on Han’s tab tomorrow.” The lighter tone eliciting a chuckle from the elder Ward.

---

”We’re expecting Jamie to charge right away, joined by Bjorn on the straight.” Alistair reiterated relevant points from the pre-race briefing.
”Can barely see a thing in this soup, Al. Thermal, lidar, it’s all crap.” She complained as she settled on blended radar view, using radar data to create wireframe overlays over the track and other ships in her field of view on top of ‘feeling’ their presence through the neural link.
”So is everyone else’s, so no lap one heroics. Keep it safe and steady until the field spreads out a little.” Alistair stressed, aware his job since last year was pretty much herding a cat. ”Last ship approaching the grid.”
She glanced to her left, where she could actually see Ava’s ship.
Then the rear camera, where she half saw, half guessed Jamie’s craft.
’Don’t do anything stupid, will you?’
”Green green green!”

She stayed true to Al’s wishes for a good four and half kilometers, right up until turn eight. Spurred on by the sight of Jamie’s ship looming large in her rearview camera and emboldened by having made up four ship lengths on Ava by copying her energy deployment and adding a little bit of her own trademark insanity to it, she took a risk braking late and went around the outside of the long right-hander to pass Ava on exit.
”Nice one, keep them coming.”
She took care to give Ava enough space to avoid compromising her corner, but Jamie still followed her through no more than two turns later.
”Do I try to hold this guy or are we balls to the wall?”
A pause. ”Go nuts. Ava can catch up to you in the tunnel, he’ll most likely take you there.”

But he didn’t. And although she couldn’t copy Ava’s ELS strategy easily anymore, that Rally Bravery and Carrera Condor engine with Silver Apex software were working overtime on the straights, passing Dorian in the same place on lap two, only having to fight off one counterattack before the Frenchman himself came under fire from behind.

And then she got past Cassie when the Zygon pilot made a mistake at the start of the Shibuya section a few laps later, messing up her next four corners and allowing Bea to drive past her halfway down the straight like she wasn’t even there.
”Next ship is Hyeon-Ae, looks like she’s struggling.”
”And Paul?”
”Making good time ahead, go get him.” Alistair replied, blissfully unaware of the second reason Bea was asking about his pace specifically.

Bea would have to talk to Alistair after the race to settle on a shared definition of ‘struggling’ As although she lost positions, Han still put up a Hell of a fight, withstanding several laps worth of Bea’s feints and honest lunges alike, the British racer’s ship visibly loose out of tighter corners, until she caught a lucky break and squeezed through, but too late to do anything about Paul.

”Chequered flag. That’s P9 and your first two points!”
”YEES! Absolute legend with the energy management calls, mate. I feel like I had a second brain, like a dinosaur.” She chuckled, absolutely ecstatic at the result she wouldn’t have seen coming in a million years. ”I think my hands and brain are actually sore after this.”
”I don’t think that’s remotely accurate, but I’ll take the compliment.” Alistair’s inner Dinosaur Kid piped up, ”You know that one song: ‘When thunderclouds start pouring down, light a fire they can’t put out,’”
”’Carve your name into those shining stars.‘” She joined him for the last verse of the relevant part.
”’Carve your name into those shining stars.‘ I guess you took it to heart, because you did just that tonight. Not our circuit, good talent around but you made it work.”
”Now to do it again, and again and again. Top job today, lads and lasses, and for the whole week before. I owe everyone in the garage dinner. Pick a time and place and pay no mind to prices.”
”From how the boys are cheering, I suggest taking out a loan. Mode ‘Slow’ please, recharge off and we’ll have marshals around the pit lane, so easy on the throttle.”

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode 3: The Neon Bath

---

She made sure to find a few of the drivers in between the interviews to shake their hands, or at least try to, starting with Han. ”That was some lovely defense. Had me sweating until the last moment.”

Next stop was Paul. ”You really didn’t want that shirt, did you?” She laughed, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. ”Guess I’ll swing by later to pick up mine.”

She likewise circled back to Kais. ”Good show tonight. Keep her honest, make her shake in her boots a little.” She said with a warm smile, the platinum-haired ‘she’ in question obvious.

After a few seconds of contemplation, she also made a stop by the grid’s current black sheep with a simple but honest, or at least honest-sounding, ”Better luck next time.” said to Jamie.

"Bea, what a race that was! We thought your ELS pace wasn't enough, but it looks like you managed to make the best of the woes of the racers in front of you and make it on pure pace. Looks like Ava's advice has come through for you, how do you feel getting your first points in Formula AG?"

”You weren’t wrong, it wasn’t, but Colin McRae was right: When in doubt, flat out.” She beamed, night and day from the gloom of last night. ”Ava was indeed a big help in the week leading up to the weekend and I hope I can return the favour soon, but it would be criminal not to mention Alistair and the strategy department as well. Everything came together for us today!” She somehow spoke even faster than she usually did.
”There is a bit of a sour aftertaste in that much like Auckland, a lot of it can be attributed to people ahead of me having a bad race, as you said, rather than me actually doing much, but every race can’t be Cape Town’s pace. We’ll bounce back next round.
As for the first points?” She finally took a breath, ”Just the start of the road. Absolutely over the Moon obviously, it took a lot longer in the Junior Series and to score here of all places when I’d basically written it off already makes it all the more sweet, but the worst thing I can do is let it get to my head and rest on the laurels. That being said, we’re indulging in some celebrations, I think the whole team’s earned that. Huge shame the other side of the garage doesn’t have much to celebrate with us, but this time it was us, next time it will be all of us and some bar owner will get to retire early.”

---

NineIron: So that’s what that was about. Makes sense why she was gunning for him that hard now.
UrbanMaverick: One of my friends thought they were swapping drivers.
CloroxEnjoyer: Lmao, clueless.
DadManWalking: Nice to see the drivers being bros and goofing around, especially since some of them are still kids basically. It’s easy to get swept up in a competitive job like theirs.
Richie: That fight with Han though! Good stuff from both of them, we were all at the edge of our seats the whole time.
AndesAG: thats one for the highlight reel for sure
ZygonFirst: Sad for Han Hyeon-Ae, but I agree, beautiful battle.
Queen36: Ward just got lucky on that pass and you celebrate it like an achievement
IronBeer: In case you haven’t noticed he was complimenting them both, no need to be a cunt about it. Everyone has off days.
Laugh_Ness: Han was holding onto that last point like a rottweiler. That’s some focus, commitment and sheer feckin’ will.
CarreraCarmen: Super sad for Ava, but Bea holding back Jamie! On Pace (and traffic, sure, but still)! Pinch me.
MadBea: Mee too! :P
DohnJoe: yo, did someone tell zenix he can go home early if he beats the lap record? bro tapped into the speed force
GalwayGirl: Let’s hope he’s still gonna be tired from this in Italy, else that rematch ain’t looking too hot.
MadBea: Betrayal…
Zero: I’m convinced if you gave him a signed document freeing him from media duties forever he’d go FTL. Man clearly has the talent and determination for it.
LionneDeLyon: Painful day to be a Dorian fan.
Javi: daddys $$$ got lucky again
AndesAG: yeah, at least shes self aware enough to know. Disappointed with ava tho, she blundered it bad
Mate0: Well the team USED TO have two drivers who knew their way around the ELS systems…
DohnJoe: who you lyin to? midbanez was ava but worse
Xinny: Himself.
Briat77: Neves has been so fucking unlucky this season. Not even a fan and I still feel bad for her, first a breakdown, now she gets walked over by no talent in a worse ship like that.
TruckerTim: Could someone give Hart a damn hug? Bloke looks like he needs it bad or he’ll jump into the harbour.
ChesterFromChester: Nah, fuck him.
MissedApex: I think he should’ve stayed in the oven for a few more years, he’s undercooked for the top flight.

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Paul Mulder

---

---

Paul: “Bea why would we go to England? You do know that Japan is the birthplace of drifting, right? Drifting tracks are still very popular here in Japan. I am sure we could rent a track for an hour or two to have some fun while we are here in Tokyo. If you have the time? I will be here after the race for a few days taking care of some sponsorship commitments.”

Bea: ”Because just because it’s from here doesn’t mean it’s special. Hamburgers are from Germany, yet it’s the Yanks you think of when you hear the word.” She shrugged, ”And if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right, with enough time, proper car for the occasion and everything.” She was also working a bit of an angle with it, because living with an older sister taught her it wasn’t a friendly competition if you weren’t tilting the field a little.

Paul laughed and tsked at her, shaking his finger. “Now Bea, there is something to be said for tradition. I know for a fact the track I have in mind has cars specifically set up for drifting. It is also a neutral track where neither one of us could call foul play or find unfavorable advantage. There is something to be said for neutral territory.” Paul sighed and smiled at Bea. “My calendar is pretty full for a bit. I don’t know when I can get to England. Maybe we can arrange that when I am in England for the English Grand Prix in June?”

---

---

Paul had been disappointed with how he had done in qualifying. He had started the race in the 9th pole position with both Zygon ships in front of him and Ulrich behind him. Paul had trained hard on ELS just for this race. He was struggling to get the timing right with his driving style. He was surprised when Dorian performed worse than him and was starting behind Ulrich in the 11th pole position. Paul was a little nervous about this race. He wasn’t nervous to be in the race. He was more nervous because there had been a change he hadn’t been expecting. For the first time, Alexander was going to be in his ear along with his engineer. The heavy rain and the need for ELS systems mandated the need to rely on his neural interface for input. He had been training really hard in the new simulator for situations just like this. Today would be telling if that training was paying off.

For this race Paul’s engineer was the team’s ELS Systems expert, Luca Tabarri. The engineer Paul had been working with quit unexpectedly after Cape Town. Evidently he was not a fan of Knight and had been looking for a new job. He didn’t tell anyone he was looking. Paul had been working with a new engineer that had stepped up to be his personal team lead. The person who would be on the headset with him at every race. They had only worked together for a week. Paul liked his new engineer well enough. He was still getting used to hearing a feminine voice in his ear instead of a male one. His new engineer was from Italy and her name was Carmella Fidanza. It had been a big adjustment for Paul. Carmella had different strategies and he didn’t know her very well yet. It was going to be hard to trust her at this race after a week. He was doing his best though.

Alexander’s voice came over the radio deep, calm, and with that authoritative edge that was just Alexander’s personality.

Alexander: “Paul systems check.”

Paul: “Systems are green across the board. I can’t see much in this pea soup though.”

Carmella: “Paul we talked about this. You need to trust your ship systems. Make sure you have your radar and lidar enabled.

Paul sighed and rolled his eyes at Carmella’s advice. Like he hadn’t already done that and played with the settings to get the best images possible for his needs.

Paul: “Already done Carmella.”

Alexander could hear the nerves and frustration in Paul’s voice.

Alexander: “Easy Paul. Do me a favor. Use those breathing exercises that the trainers have been working on with you.”

Paul rolled his eyes again at Alexander but obeyed. He closed his eyes and began the deep breathing exercises to boost his oxygen levels. It had the benefit of slowing his heart which had begun to race a little and calm him down. Damn man didn’t miss a trick.

Alexander switched over to check on Dorian.

Alexander: “Dorian radio and systems check.”

Dorian was frustrated and annoyed with Knight. He didn’t need a damn babysitter telling him what to do. He was pissed that he had done so poorly in qualifying.

Dorian: “Radio check.”

Dorian tugged on the gloves of his new racing suit. He tried to push negative thoughts away and focus on what he needed to do. He set up the radar and lidar systems so that he could navigate the ship without being able to see with the naked eye since he couldn’t see crap out his windshield. Dorian switched to the private comm line direct to Alexander. Dorian knew what to do. This was not the first time he had raced in the rain with poor visibility.

Dorian: “Alexander are you there?”

Alexander: “Yes of course Dorian, What is it?”

Dorian: “Please don’t talk to me during the race. Just leave me to my team lead engineer, Remy. Hearing you try to talk to me during the race will just break my focus.”

Alexander’s jaw clenched tight in frustration. Dorian was struggling here in Tokyo. He was a skilled and experienced racer and it was one of their issues. He didn’t want advice or to listen to anything Alexander told him. Alexander couldn’t force him to get on board with his way of doing things. He had suggested a strategy for Tokyo that was working for Paul but not Dorian. Who was going off script and doing his own thing. He had not done very well in qualifying. Alexander understood that Valkyrie’s ships would struggle here in Tokyo. He thought he had proven his strategies to Dorian in Cape Town. Yet here he was determined to run the race his own way once more. Alexander decided to give him what he wanted. He would focus on Paul.

Alexander: “If that is what you want, I will focus on Paul for this race. Run the race how you see fit. I have given you what I feel is the best strategy for our ships here in Tokyo.”

Dorian smiled as Alexander gave him what he wanted. He was surprised that Alexander agreed to his request. Dorian respected that Alexander had his own experience pool to pull from but Dorian didn’t trust it. Alexander had been out of the game a long time. The fact that he couldn’t seem to make any improvements to the ships was just frustrating to him and a red flag. He didn’t feel like Alexander had a plan to turn their team around. This was his last season and he wanted to do better than he had been. .Dorian snorted at least he wouldn’t have Alexander commenting on top of his engineer distracting him during the race.

Dorian: “Thank you.”

He went through his pre-race checklist quickly. He switched his comms back over to the main channel.

Dorian: “All systems green.”

Remy: “Dorian I can confirm we are reading the same here in the paddock. All systems look good.”

Dorian had not been content with the strategy laid out for this race. He had been very vocal about how he felt and instead of focusing on the strategy the team had come up with, he had pushed his own agenda. Dorian was pushing for consistency which had fared him well so far. He knew his ship was not going to do well here in Tokyo. He was still frustrated that all the tweaks to the ships have not put them on par with Silver Apex and Southern Cross. He kept telling Knight if he would get him a competitive ship he would bring home the wins. He felt like Knight was coming up with excuse after excuse. It was a short time later and the countdown for the start was on.



Paul hit the accelerator as the race started, rocketing off the starting line. He was grateful he had been training for this. His neural interface was handling all the incoming data and he was not feeling overwhelmed by it. He had the data coming in from the radar and lidar systems overlaid on a wireframe of the track. His neural interface was feeding all the sensor data that the ship had directly into his brain. He had been training on focusing on the data he needed and processing it faster. Paul’s digital display on the dashboard had been reconfigured for this race. He had the ship’s camera feeds pulled up in a small sectioned display to one side the dashboard. The screen split half showing what was in front of the ship and behind the ship. He had a screen with infrared and thermal imaging displayed next to each other. There was an almost identical quartered screen on the other side of the dashboard that showed the radar and lidar scans in real time. It allowed him to see what was happening and where he needed to steer despite the almost blinding rainfall. It would allow him to see other ships around him during the race. The rest of the dashboard was a host of holographic gauges and indicators on everything from available power, speed, direction, fuel, hydraulic pressures, air speed, and directional air flow flap indicators.

Carmella: “Good start Paul. Ease yourself into this. Just stay on pace as you get a handle for the track. No one is going to be making any hard aggressive moves in the first round. You are looking good, just maintain your pace and position for now.”

Paul was struggling to nail the timing for the ELS. He was hitting the corners and the chicanes getting the most he could out of the ships handling and stability. He was failing to keep the energy systems charged enough to boost past other ships. He was fighting tooth and nail to keep Cassie and Hyeon-Ae in his sights. Ulrich was right on his tail and seemed glued to his damn ship sucking its energy away. He managed to maintain his position in lap one but it was a battle.

Alexander: “Paul, you are doing good. This was just the first lap. How are you feeling about the ship? Any issues?”

Paul: “Handling and stability is saving me in the corners and chicanes but Ulrich is slowing me down. It is like he is locked onto my ship. I can’t maintain enough energy to use boost and maintain a higher speed. He is bonking me every chance he gets.”

Alexander’s voice was back confident and soothing as he reassured Paul.

Alexander: “Paul we expected this, remember. Just like Cape Town our goal is to pick up points. There will be tracks where our ship will be in a better position to compete. I expect Ulrich will make his move to overtake you in the next few laps. Remember your defensive training.”

Paul snorted as he passed Shibuya Crossing for the fifth time and was robbed of breath as his body was thrown against his harness as he executed the hard left and right turn sections onto Route 246 and onto Route 3. Paul felt the ship shuddering as cross winds caught it on the open straight. Paul used his interface to make the minute changes to the steering flaps to add some downforce to help with steering even as his hand on the joystick picked the best line for keeping a consistent speed coming out of the turns. He saw Ulrich coming up quickly behind him. He did his best to defend against an overtake and it was like Ulrich turned off the lights in his ship as he suddenly shot past him on the right.

Paul: “Ulrich just passed me. At least he is challenging Cassie now.”

Alexander: “Pick up your pace and chase him. Take advantage of the chaos as he pushes those in front of you!”

Carmella: “Paul focus on rebuilding your energy reserves as you pick up your pace some.”

Paul followed orders as he floored it on the straight aways. He whooped with glee when he went into the long turn as he approached the Rainbow Bridge. Paul smiled as he drifted through the long turn having built up some decent momentum. It was one of those places where he used his piloting skill to conserve some energy while keeping his momentum going.

Carmella: “You are approaching Robot Corner. Good pace Paul. You are closing on Ulrich. 1 second ahead of you.”

Paul pushed the ship in an effort to catch up to Ulrich once more and be in a position to overtake him. He tried to lock onto Ulrich’s ship to drain some of his energy but Ulrich was playing damn good defense. Paul’s ship was dancing left to right as he tried to get a lock. Ulrich pulled ahead of him and shot out of the tunnel section from under the Shinbamba which spat the racers out on Route 2. Ulrich went flying by Cassie. Paul followed in Ulrich’s wake and was shot by Cassie as if her ship had stalled.

Carmella: “Nice job Paul. Try to keep up the pace now. See if you can continue to follow Ulrich’s lead. He is opening those doors nicely. Keep taking advantage of them.”

And so the next several laps went as Paul listened to the engineers and Alexander sharing the intense battle behind him. He managed to hold off Cassie who was charging him hard trying to overtake him and regain her lost position. Pretty soon he lost Ulrich as he slingshot past Hyeon-Ae. It was about the midpoint of the race when he found out Bea was behind him having overtaken Cassie. Paul was charging hard as he once more used his ship's superior handling and stability to catch up with Hyeon-Ae’s Zygon craft in front of him. Hyeon-Ae couldn’t take the turns as fast as he could and he was within overtake range finally. He managed to get close to her at Robot Corner. He managed to stay with her. He smiled as he used the antigravity on the ship in the tunnel to his advantage as he poured on the speed and ran the ship up the tunnel wall using it like a skateboarder would a halfpipe and swept up and around and down in front of Hyeon-Ae. He shot out of the tunnel in front of Hyeon-Ae.

The rest of the race left Paul chasing after Ulrich but never able to get a lock on him. Ulrich was simply a master of the ELS. The rest of his race became a defensive battle to maintain his position. First from Hyeon-Ae and then a few laps later it was Bea nipping at his heels. He smiled having fun with this amazing track. Bea kept him on his toes as he fought to maintain his position. The track challenged his skills and highlighted areas he needed to work on. He was still having a blast as he defended against Bea’s attempts to get around him. Their side bet just added another layer of satisfaction to how well he was doing every time he shut her down. The checkered flag came down and he had finished in front of Bea.

Paul threw a fist in the air in victory as he slowed his craft down and headed to pit lane. He could be heard laughing on the radio. At least he had beaten Bea. He wouldn’t have to wear the rainbow shirt. He would have if he had lost the bet. He smiled as he wondered how much she hated the sight of the number 72 on the back of his ship at the moment. Maybe he would surprise her and wear it anyway.

Alexander: “Good job Paul, you came in 8th. We got some points.”

Paul: “My thanks to the team. I wouldn’t have done as well without all your help. Thanks everyone!”

---

Paul pulled his ship into pit lane and shut it down, handing it over to the mechanics and engineers to deal with. After getting to spend some time with some of the other pilots, he wanted to make a point to be more friendly to them. He finished in 8th place but he had faith that he wouldn’t be stuck in the middle of the pack forever. His time to shine would come. It was still a fun track for any serious racer.

Paul first went into the Valkyrie paddock and gave a personal thank you and feedback to Carmella, his new engineer. He also made sure to give personal thanks to all the engineers and mechanics in the bay. Not everyone had radios on. He wanted to be sure that they knew he appreciated all the hard work it took to keep him in the race.

Paul was on his second sports drink since pulling into the paddock. Japan might be cool but it could be really warm inside the ships and the race was long. Their sponsor Zap sports drinks always had drinks in the paddock for the drivers after they were done. Paul liked the pink ones which were a watermelon flavor. They were full of all natural ingredients that replenish electrolytes and had natural energy boosters in them. They were great for recovery after the race and a quick energy boost before the interviews.

The back wall of the paddock was plastered with sponsor logos and slogans. Valkyrie’s biggest sponsors currently were Zap Sports Drink and I Can’t Believe It's Not Meat. Part of the reason he was in Tokyo after the race was to finish Valkyrie’s responsibilities to their newest sponsors the Enigma Lux Fashion House and Orion Luxury Watches. There were a bunch of smaller sponsors. The less important the sponsor the smaller their logo. They had representation on the wall though. There was a special section that listed the agencies on Valkyrie’s governing board: Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, Renault, Sauber, the European Union Space Agency, Brimex Corporation, Biomatter International, Hansen Genetics, and Kivelo Kinetics.

He was surprised when he found out that Dorian had finished in 16th after starting in 11th. He had lost 5 places since the beginning of the race. It was the first race where he had a better finish than Dorian and by a huge margin. He was about to leave the paddock to go in search of Bea. He wanted to congratulate her on a good race. When she found him and showed up in the Valkyrie Paddock.

Bea approached him, amusement was in her tone as she told him.

Bea: ”You really didn’t want that shirt, did you?” She laughed, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. ”Guess I’ll swing by later to pick up mine.”

Paul gave Bea a bright smile. “Great race Bea. It was a fun track and you made it even more fun.” He grabbed one of the Zap Sports Drinks out of the large cooler he was standing next to and tossed a drink to her. “Here, have a drink on me.” He grinned at her. “I will see you soon.”

Paul wanted to congratulate Kais on his win. So he went over to the Al Saqr paddock which was full of celebratory smiles and cheer. Paul approached Kais with a smile. Paul. decided to share a Zap Sports Drinks with his fellow pilots. He brought an orange flavored one to Kais. Paul held his hand out offering Kais a handshake.

Paul: “I wanted to congratulate you on your first win. That was an epic race. I am glad you broke Stirling’s winning streak.” He handed Kais the orange flavored sports drink. “Here, have a drink on me.” He clapped Kais on the shoulder in a friendly way before he left to find Hyeon-Ae.

Paul approached the Zygon paddock and had to pass through multiple security checkpoints to even get close to Hyeon-Ae. He waved at her and was finally let through after some kind of hidden signal. Paul approached Hyeon-Ae with a warm smile. He was once more carrying a Zap Sports Drink with him. This drink was green in color. He didn’t like this one as much but he figured Hyeon might. It was a mint and lime flavored sports drink.

Paul: “Here, have your first drink on me.” He handed her the green sports drink. “Hyeon-Ae, I wanted to thank you for the absolutely stimulating race. You kept me honest and battling hard all the way through the finish. I look forward to our meeting tomorrow.”

---

Delta Hyper Post Race Interviews: Sponsored by the Anti-Social Social Club

---

Paul smiled at Aurora: “Always a pleasure to be here Aurora.”

Aurora: "Paul, a respectable result, up from P9 to P8. Valkyrie however doesn't look like it performed as well as it could have this weekend, any lessons learned from this weekend?"

Paul paused and thought about his answer. He didn’t want to keep throwing out the same canned responses. He wanted to come across as genuine to the fans. He wanted to give an honest answer but be respectful.

Paul: “Tokyo is not a circuit that Valkyrie expected to do well on. Valkyrie’s engineers work hard between every race to try and tweak our ships to get more out of them. More speed and better energy management systems. Every circuit we race is different with different challenges. I couldn’t do what I do without the team behind me. I know they work hard and do their best so I can meet the challenges of each circuit.”

Paul shrugged a little and gave the camera a wry smile. “Everyone on the track has skill and wants to win. The fact is we can’t all win all the time. We are all going to have bad days. Today was not Valkyrie’s day. We had hoped for better but the results are what they are. I can’t change them. I was happy with my finish today.”

Paul smiled at the camera. “Tokyo was a fun race for me. I really enjoyed this challenging track. The midfield battle was intense. I have to give props to Ulrich. He proved himself a master of ELS today. Bea kept me on toes with pure racing skill. Today’s race reminded me to enjoy what I do but I have a lot of work to do. I will be training harder on ELS management and trying to improve my defensive skills. Today was not my day but that’s okay because I will be ready when it is my day.”

---

Social Media

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Reply from:

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OfficeDrone#12: Rumors from inside Valkyrie say there is tension between Alexander and Dorian.
SuperfanAGR54: Dorian utterly quit by round 5. He must feel comfortable at the back of the pack.
DantheMan: Dorian looked like he just gave up! He even made Fitzroy and SuperCat look good at this race.
Superfan2075: Paul did okay but what the hell happened to Dorian?
DadBod89: I feel like this is a repeat of last year’s disappointment.
Hater101: Knight fails as a leader. Valkyrie is obviously struggling.
Papabear34: Paul is showing promise as a rookie. It was a good race for him. Solid performance.
Nana2050: The team still managed to take some points from the race. Disappointed with Dorian’s performance though.
GeorgeFly: #ValkyrieCrashes
ValkyrieFan56: I am glad to see Paul performing with some consistency. There is hope for Valkyrie yet! Go Paul! #ValkyriePaul
Weedhead81: Maybe Dorian should try some green magic. Maybe he would do better in the next race.
SexyM@m@5: Poor Dorian. I wonder what happened?
Paulmulder4eva: Paul is doing well. Is there something going on between him and Beatrix Ward? What’s with the whole t-shirt thing?
Britball12: Valkyrie’s wings are broken.
!YouSlow!: Dorian totally botched this race. His performance was downright sad and lackluster.
xImFasterthanUx: Dorian was outperformed by the rookie. Sad.
AGInthusiast: Look at that Kais took the podium!
micheal650004: Paul did ok.
llamalover4life: #sadrace
ieatAGR: Team Valkyrie’s performance was abysmal in Tokyo..

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Welcome to The Paddock, our popular Formula AG Racing Forum! All Formula AG Fans are welcome to discuss all things Formula AG! This channel is moderated and all participants need to adhere to the Community Guidelines and Terms of Use. This online channel is a place to discuss the thing we are all passionate about Formula AG Racing!

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KingKofiFan: Kofi might not have done well but he is still my favorite. I am a member of the pride, not the herd! #SuperCatPride
$erwa: #SuperCatPride
Jan2084: It is nice to see some fans stay loyal to their team.
Bertha: Kofi botched it!

NoraRules: Nora top five again!
BadBrad: I agree Nora is this season’s rookie of the year!
ApexSuperFan: Kais certainly tried to tie for Nora’s rookie of the year nomination.
AGInthusiast: Southern Cross as a team is doing really well this year.
Bertha: Nora still has not beaten Amy Stirling.

TeamCondorSF: Good teamwork by Team Condor.
Susie: Ava could have done better.
ApexSuperFan: Hart finished in front of Ava.
Abdullah: #FalconSoars Falcon Kais knows how to fly!
Bertha: Even Bjorn came in ahead of Villarosa.

Roberto: #NordicCallReturns #AstridDomination
Merica1: Astrid looked hot on the podium. Was nice to see others above Silver Apex for once.
Bertha: Who knew the blonde really knew how to drive?

Zygonista: Disappointed in Tokyo.
BadBrad: Not surprised Han tanked in Tokyo. #NoSkill
ValkyrieFan56: Exciting midfield race between Han and Paul.
Zygonista: I will grant Paul has some skill.
BadBrad: [comment removed by the moderators]
Bertha: Even Miller Motor Racing did better than Zygon in Tokyo. How sad is that?

SuperfanAGR54: Jamie Hart didn’t do very well and Dorian was flat disappointing. Was he even there to race? It was like he didn’t show up at all.
BeaLover: Bea did pretty well.
Abdullah: Al Saqr ruled in Japan!
ApexSuperFan: It was only one race. Apex will be back.
Bertha: [Content removed by moderators.]

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After the Tokyo Grand Prix

Monday April 3, 2094

Soundtrack: I Won’t Back Down- Fearless Soul

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Valkyrie didn’t do as well as they should have in Tokyo. Paul did okay but Dorian fell in standings and position. His poor performance reflected badly on the whole team. Alexander understood Dorian’s frustration but he also saw that he was getting in his own way. He was second guessing every decision and ignoring all the advice from his team. It was one thing to ignore Alexander’s advice but he wasn’t listening to the mechanics, engineers, or the trainers. It was like he was determined to have it all his way. That only his way would work for him. Alexander had gotten tired of fighting him over decisions that needed to be made. He let him have his way and he utterly botched it. He lost 5 positions in the race and only beat out the worst two teams in the antigravity league. Alexander knew Tokyo was going to be a difficult race. He could admit that he was partially at fault. He had underestimated how important the ELS Systems were in modern antigravity racing ships. Those systems had been in their infancy when he had been racing. They were a lot more complex today. Alexander knew he bore some of the blame for the results. He had allowed it. Dorian’s poor performance was his own doing though. He needed to have it out with Dorian though. He couldn’t allow this to continue or Valkyrie’s season was going to get even worse.

Alexander slept in after a late night. He was still in Tokyo after the race because he had to see to the team’s commitments for the new sponsorship contracts with Enigma Lux Fashion House and Orion Luxury Watches. The endorsement and residuals on new fashion designer fan gear would help fill the coffers at Valkyrie AGR. Enigma Lux was going to design and produce a high end line of fan gear for Valkyrie AGR Sport that would be sold exclusively through the official team online fan gear store. Valkyrie would help promote and facilitate sales and profits from the merchandise would be split evenly between the team and the fashion house. The better the team did and the happier the fans were, the more gear they bought from the store. Katherine was hoping that by having new and exciting fan gear designed by a luxury fashion designer for the masses would appeal to their fans. The new line would be launched in conjunction with the Grand Prix in Italy. Team Valkyrie first had to honor their end of the contract and that meant that Alexander, Dorian, and Paul first had to shoot photos and video endorsement ads. Then they all three had to be runway models at Tokyo Fashion week for Artie Lux. Alexander couldn’t believe he had let himself be talked into this.

Alexander knew the funds that would come from finishing this contract would be crucial to getting the first steps started on building new ships. The influx of money would allow Alexander to hire the talent he needed to begin working the kinks out of the new ship designs while he continued to work sponsorships and endorsements to help pay for it. Several sponsors were in town for the Tokyo Grand Prix. They had wanted to talk over drinks after the race, which is how Alexander ended in the hotel bar after the race. Alexander felt ridiculous like a queen holding court as he shook hands and smiled and took pictures with a host of smaller sponsors. Alexander did have one surprise visitor from Shinichi Bionics. Yuhara Shinichi herself had requested to meet Alexander. He had thanked her profusely for the opportunity she had granted his daughter. Yuhara wanted to clarify some details on their new agreement with Valkyrie AGR. Alexander had been very impressed with her knowledge and drive. After Yuhara left, Katherine kept sending a steady stream of smaller sponsors his ways who just wanted to feel seen and heard. That typically meant a short conversation and maybe a photo or autograph. Which had inevitably led to a late night for Alexander. He was not a young resilient man anymore. He couldn’t get pass-out drunk and function well the next day anymore. He had nursed that third scotch along and had switched to coke after his fourth one. He was so grateful that the photoshoot for the fashion house was scheduled for tomorrow.

Alexander downed one of the Zap Sports Drinks that he had taken from the paddock for his hotel room. He downed it with a few painkillers to help his headache. Their sponsor sent cases for them to distribute and use at races for promotion. Alexander remembered when brands like Monster Energy Drinks went organic with natural ingredients and enhancers. Zap was just the latest rising drink company out there. The executives from Zap had been in town and basically wanted to meet and greet with the pilots. They wanted their personal moments with the talented pilots and stars of Team Valkyrie. Alexander had done his best to be gracious. He had wanted to roll his eyes and remind them that Paul and Dorian were men just like them. They put their pants on one leg at a time just like the rest of them. Alexander knew the routine even if he found it boring and predictable.

Alexander was coming to lean more and more on Katherine’s expertise in marketing and public relations. She was becoming a key team player in handling and developing new sponsors and endorsement deals for the team. Katherine’s understanding of how to sell sponsors on how their endorsement or sponsorship deal will benefit them was what he believed the selling point was. It had been Katherine’s brainchild after Valkyrie was approached by Artie Lux from Enigma Lux on how to weave the two corporate identities together in a way that made sense for them both. Enigma Lux was seeking ways to enter new markets and areas. They were seeking to broaden their consumer base. Artie was getting what he wanted out of Alexander for his artistic muse and Valkyrie was getting endorsement money. Alexander felt like he was being pimped out with the Enigma Lux deal which made him somewhat uncomfortable but he would suck it up and do what he needed to do. Artie was going to get exposure to the Formula AG fan base which included a broad audience and a new revenue stream in more casual designs produced for the Valkyrie Team to be distributed through their official fan gear stores. Artie Lux was currently the only officially licensed designer for Formula AG fan gear for Team Valkyrie. The rarity of the official license stamp from the Valkyrie Team would appeal to collectors and fans alike. This again would be a benefit for Enigma Lux. Alexander just wished he didn’t have to smile and shake his ass for the camera to get it. This was part of being a professional racer that he had not missed.

Alexander ordered a greasy American breakfast from room service and then hopped in the shower. He was dressed in sweatpants and a green t-shirt when his breakfast was delivered. He was starting to feel better by the time he had finished breakfast. Alexander ate and then pulled his tablet out to check in with Mabel. He had to turn some things over to her since he was stuck in Tokyo all week. Alexander emailed her since it was the wee hours of the morning in Germany and Mabel should be in bed asleep. He asked her to put out some feelers about finding up and coming energy system engineers. He then got to work replying to the emails that he had put aside while he was busy in Tokyo overseeing the race. He sent a message to Dorian that he would like to see him at 11:30am. That gave him plenty of time to wake up and sleep in this morning. Alexander put on his sneakers and went to the hotel gym. He wanted to get in a good workout while he had the opportunity. The hotel gym was nicely appointed and mostly empty on a Monday morning. Alexander put his earbuds in and turned on some music. He then put the equipment to work in a strength training round before he ended with a nice long run on the treadmill. Alexander made it back to his room in time to shower and change again. He switched to jeans, a dark green t-shirt and his favorite boots.

There was a knock at the door and Alexander answered it quickly. He had been expecting Dorian. He opened the door and motioned him in. He indicated the small seating area in the living room area of the suite. He took the chair while Dorian took the couch.

Alexander: “Hello Dorian. How are you feeling today?”

Dorian sighed, his voice full of frustration as he answered.

Dorian: “How do you think I feel?”

Alexander: “If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked. Let me cut to the chase. We both know you did poorly in yesterday’s race. I feel I have been fair with you Dorian. I gave you exactly what you wanted for the race yesterday and you fell flat on your face. So I was expecting that you were feeling frustrated and maybe angry. I would like to hear from you what could have happened differently? What happened yesterday?”

Dorian frowned and he knew he sounded angry because he was. Dorian scoffed as he answered Alexander’s question.

Dorian: “What I needed was a ship that could take on the grid and be competitive. What I got was a slow fucking brick that was useless in ELS defense. I keep telling you to give me a ship that can compete. You are failing to deliver Alexander.”

Alexander: “Well let’s talk about that. We have had this conversation so many times that I don’t know how many other ways to say it. The engineers are doing the best they can. We are here to seal the endorsement deal with Enigma Lux and Orion so we can get that influx of funds. That will allow me to start head hunting for new engineers. In the meantime, we have to race the ships we have.”

Alexander met Dorian’s eyes head on. He didn’t flinch from his responsibilities or his shortcomings as he gave Dorian the broad and brutal truth.

Alexander: “I understand why you didn’t want me in your ear during the race. The only reason I stepped in was because of the last minute change in Paul’s engineer. He was uncomfortable with the new engineer at a race so soon. I was fine with that request.I will admit that you are right about me not understanding everything about racing today. There are things I didn’t understand. I will admit that I didn’t understand how important ELS was to the current racing circuit. That doesn’t mean I don't listen to the people who do know. That didn’t mean I let the engineers rest on their laurels. Everyone of them busted their ass to get your ship set up to the specs you requested from your runs in the simulator. The same was done for Paul. Now you lost 5 positions falling to 16th place only beating out MMR and Fitzroy in the standings. Paul managed to overtake Zygon and hold off Carrera Condor to take 8th. He is the rookie Dorian. You are the experienced pilot. You should have done better than Paul on this circuit. I let you have your way. I supported everything you requested. What is your excuse for not performing as well as your teammate?”

Dorian’s jaw clenched and his fists clenched. Dorian was angry and frustrated. He wanted to hate Alexander for calling him out. He knew he was right. He should have at least done as well as the rookie. They had the same ships. Alexander had let him run it his way this time and he had failed to perform. He didn’t like that Alexander was forcing him to admit it out loud though.

Dorian: “I was overthinking everything and I played it too cautiously. By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late to make up for the lost ground.”

Alexander: “Look I know racers will have bad days. I am not your fucking enemy Dorian. I am here to help you. You have had a damn chip on your shoulder and you are not listening to a damn word I say. You are not paying attention to the advice the team is giving you. I don’t mean just me. You are ignoring the advice of our experts and engineers. None of us can do this alone. I will do my best to help you get the best out of this season but we have to work together! If it is going to be your last season, enjoy it! If you don’t like something say something. If the engineers and experts advise differently then detail why it feels wrong or give them an alternative. They can’t make it better or fix it on descriptions like ‘it feels wrong. Fix it.” Try to give more feedback than that. Tell them why it feels wrong. Like that adjustment is making the rear of the ship feel like it's sliding around. It is messing with the handling or the stability. What I can’t have you doing is undermining my authority in front of the rest of the team. You can disagree with me in a respectful manner and argue your point of view Dorian. This doesn’t need to dissolve into a pissing contest at every race. Tell me what you need but listen to the team’s advice. We have got to find a way to work together.”

Dorian’s eyes narrowed as he watched Alexander’s face as he thought about what he said. He really wanted to be angry with him but he knew that the anger he was feeling was from the situation he found himself in. The situation was partially of his own making.

Dorian: “I will work on giving them better feedback and listening better. I hope that means you too. I want to finish on a strong season. I can’t do that with the ships like they are. I know you are working on it but is there anything else we can do in the meantime?”

Alexander tilted his head to the side as he watched the emotions play over Dorian’s face.

Alexander: “The engineers are making changes and upgrades as fast as they can develop them, test them, and modify the ships. With the money from the Enigma Lux contract I will be able to headhunt some new engineering talent. I want another ELS engineer. I am working on raising the capital needed to get new ships designed. That takes money. You can help me by helping with sponsors. In the meantime, we are stuck with the ships we have. If you have ideas on how to improve anything, don’t be afraid to bring it to the team. We will brainstorm the shit out of it and if it can be done, we will do it. I don’t want to spend all season feeling like I have to fight you to do my job. Can we please call a truce and just be civil to one another? I promise I am on your side Dorian. I am doing the best I can.”

Dorian sighed. “You are right. I have been a frustrated mess and all I can see is my last season going up in smoke. It’s making me crazy!”

Alexander laughed a little as he shook his head sadly.

Alexander: “You know if I had known that that was going to be my last season as a racer. If I had known that would be the last time I saw Audrick, I would have paid more attention to the details. I would have stopped to enjoy it more. I regret that I was so focused on winning, I don’t remember what it felt like to run some of those circuits. I don’t remember what it felt like to race Audrick and challenge him on a curve. All of that has been overshadowed by how I left racing. I don’t want that for you. Please slow down, take a deep breath, and enjoy your last season. Trust me there are some circuits coming up where Valkyrie should shine because of our handling and stability, Portugal, Monaco, Canada, Belgium, Germany, and Singapore for example. We have time to work on the speed and ELS systems before them. If we can edge them up even a little, you should have a good chance at a podium in those races. You won’t be in the championships though if you keep losing out on all points though. Some points are better than none. Yes?”

Dorian was a little surprised by Alexander. He had expected to get lectured and yelled at and the whole I am disappointed in you speech. He was frankly shocked that Alexander shared some of his regrets from how he left racing. He was even more surprised that he was encouraging Dorian to make memories and enjoy his last season. Maybe he had misread Alexander’s intentions. He had to be honest with himself. He had not really given Alexander a fair chance. He had to admit that Paul had certainly done better than him here in Tokyo. Dorian had been upset about having the weird experience of a former competitor come onto the team as a principal. He had colored everything Alexander told him with a mocking tone as if Alexander was telling him his way was better. Looking back he could see that Alexander had not meant his way was better but more an alternative and another option. He had to admit that Alexander had requested and asked. He had not demanded like Rossi had. He had been unfairly painting him with the same brush. Dorian sighed and let his head fall back against the couch. He closed his eyes and just thought for a few minutes.

Dorian: “Yes I know you are right. Some points are better than none. I will think about what you said. I am still going to push you for ship improvements. I will at least try your strategy next week in the simulator. We will discuss it and I will try to be a professional about it instead of sounding like a whiny child. I know that I have been difficult.”

Alexander smiled at Dorian and jerked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the door. “Go enjoy your day of freedom today. Tomorrow we both have to mug it for the camera. Enjoy Tokyo a little while we are here.”

Dorian chuckled a little and rose to his feet with a slight smile. “Alright boss. I am on my way out your door.” Dorian smirked a little, unable to resist teasing Alexander a little. “I can’t wait to see how you handle hair and makeup and a predawn site call.”

Alexander just laughed and hung his head. He had felt like the butt end of a lot of jokes about this upcoming photoshoot. The guys in the paddock had a field day with it. They had left books and articles giving modeling tips and more for him in his office. Makeup and makeup application tips had been left on his desk. Makeup tutorial videos had been “helpfully” shared by many of the female staff who had joined in on the fun. “The things I do for my team.” He sighed and smiled as Dorian laughed on his way out the door.

---

After Dorian left, Alexander sat down at the desk in the suite with his tablet. Alexander sifted through the dossiers that Mabel had sent him on the engineers that Felix had requested he look into hiring. The first dossier he looked at was for an American engineer named Dakota Ellis. She was currently working for Pratt & Whitney, a well known jet engine manufacturer. Dakota had spearheaded the work and development on Pratt & Whitney’s latest jet engine line boasting improved efficiency and speed. He sent her an email asking for a meeting. The next engineer he looked at was Bastijin Velnaar. Bastijin was a Dutch engineer that worked for one of the world’s leading wind turbine manufacturers. He had been instrumental in developing a new type of wind turbine that was being used in smaller urban spaces. Alexander sent them an email requesting a meeting. Alexander looked over Felix’s recommendation for the ELS engineer they needed to hire but his instincts were telling him that this was not his guy. The guy was knowledgeable and his work was solid but there was nothing new or revolutionary about it. Alexander felt strongly that their ELS needed to go in a new direction. He wanted someone with inspiration and new ideas for this role. Alexander pulled up the list of recommendations sent by his father. He started researching the name his father had sent him, Stephanie Mitsuyo. Stephanie was a third generation Japanese American college graduate student. She had submitted her PhD doctoral thesis on how to reduce what she called electric waste, electricity that was lost due to poor design and electrical conduction. Her work had been a study in superconductors and manufacturing techniques. Alexander was intrigued enough after reading her thesis to send her a meeting request as well. Alexander continued to dig through resumes and dossiers before taking a break for some food.

After lunch Alexander checked the time differences before he began to make calls. He had done some video calls soliciting the interest of potential engineering candidates. He had spent some time on a video call with Felix. They talked about how the race in Tokyo had gone. He gave Felix the feedback he had from the race. He told him to focus on the ELS systems to see what could be done to increase their defense against ELS and better accuracy and lock on when deploying ELS against other ships. He also once again asked the engineers to see if they could come up with anything to help with speed. Was there anything that could be done to provide even a temporary boost to their speed? Alexander reminded Felix he would be completely unavailable tomorrow and Friday. If he needed him to reach out via email and call him in any emergencies. He told him if anything drastic came up to call Katherine as she would be with him at the photoshoot and the fashion show.

Alexander called Leopold to check in. Leopold was not available so he left him a message. Alexander had probably botched the time difference again.

Alexander: "Leopold I know Tokyo was a mixed bag. I take full responsibility for the results. I made the mistake of underestimating how important the ELS was for our ships. Paul did alright and had a decent showing. The strategy worked for him but not Dorian. I am working on fixing things with Dorian. I shook hands and made the sponsors happy last night. I have put out some feelers for some of the new talent we need to bring in. I have already spoken with Felix about what needs to happen before the next race. They are working on it. I will be in Tokyo for the week taking care of the responsibilities we owe on the Enigma Lux and Orion contracts. I will be completely unavailable on Tuesday and Friday. If anything dire comes up on those days, contact Katherine she will be available and on site with me. Sorry if I called at the wrong time. Damn time zones. Bye."

---

Victory Laps Racing News

---

Alexander Knight was seen out getting drinks with sponsors after the race in Tokyo. It looked like it was business as usual for Team Valkyrie AGR.

---

Enigma Lux and Orion Endorsement Work

Tuesday April 4, 2094

Soundtrack: I Gotta Feeling - Linkin Park

---

Alexander, Dorian, and Paul were up before sunrise. They were scheduled to shoot photos all over Tokyo today for the Enigma Lux Fashion House and Orion, a luxury watch maker. Katherine came with them to ensure the Valkyrie AGR branding was on point and not misrepresented in any way. She will be using materials from the photoshoot as well to support marketing at Valkyrie AGR. Alexander was grateful that Mabel stayed with Arianna at headquarters. He couldn’t believe he had been dragged back into this world of fake smiles and the politics of racing.

He knew though that he needed to raise a lot more money if he wanted to get those ship designs built. It would take resources, personnel, and money. So if he had to smile for a camera and pretend he was worth looking at, well he had done it before. He still had a hard time believing that anyone would still be interested in seeing his aging mug. Alexander once had been confident and secure that he was a handsome man, attractive to women. His ex-wife had left that part of him in ashes. It was as if when he lost his arms, he somehow became less of man. He had never really felt whole again. He dreaded therapy. He didn’t want to examine his feelings or talk about them. Talking about them dredged up shit he had buried long ago. He was tired because he hadn’t been sleeping worth shit lately. Alexander was feeling the pressure and stress. He was glad he had spoken to Dorian yesterday. He hoped they would move forward with a better understanding and relationship. The time difference hadn't helped as he tried to get his work done while in Tokyo.

Alexander had a quick breakfast with coffee in his room before he was supposed to meet the others in the lobby. Alexander had dressed in his favorite comfortable work boots, jeans, and a t-shirt. He had pulled a worn brown leather jacket over it all. He had no idea where they were taking them to do the endorsement filming. He had been told that a wardrobe would be provided onsite. The suits and tuxedo that he had already been given to him by the fashion house were for him to wear out to work events. He had been careful with his grooming since he was being photographed today. He rubbed his tired eyes wondering why they had them up before the buttcrack of dawn. He yawned and sipped at his second cup of coffee. He looked around the lobby for the others.

Alexander spotted Katherine looking chic and feminine in a soft gray pantsuit with a soft yellow blouse and nude flats. He walked over to where she was sitting and took the chair opposite her. He tried to stifle another yawn and failed miserably.

Alexander: “Morning Katherine. Do you have any idea why they wanted us up at this ungodly hour?”

Katherine looked over Alexander and she pitied his makeup artist for the day. He looked tired and had dark circles and bags under his eyes. She gave him an amused smile as she put away her phone.

Katherine: “Didn’t you read the itinerary that I sent you?”

Alexander groaned and just knew he was going to hear about it.

Alexander: “No well I glanced at it but to be honest there has been a lot on my plate. Can you give me the rundown… please.”

He tried giving her sad puppy dog eyes and then gave it up. He probably looked like some older demented creep trying that.

Katherine giggled as she watched Alexander give her pleading look that developed into something she didn’t know how to categorize.

Katherine: “Please never try whatever that was again. I can tell you it failed.” She raised an eyebrow at him meaningfully. “You know Alexander, if you had read my email, you would already have this information.”

Alexander: “I know. I know. I am duly chastised. Please Katherine?”

Katherine smiled: “Okay. They wanted you up before dawn because they wanted to capture the natural light at sunrise. Which is why we are sitting in the lobby at 4:00am. The first place we are shooting is Rikugien Gardens. It is one of the more historical gardens in Tokyo. After that we will be moving to Tokyo Harbor. They want pictures on a boat. Then we will be moving to a smaller film studio to film the commercial on a green screen. We will be wrapping up the day by shooting at the Imperial Hotel. They want some shots from inside the hotel and then finally some evening shots from the rooftop restaurant and bar. At least they chose to get it all done in one day. It is going to be a long one though.”

Alexander sighed and shook his head again wondering why Enigma Lux couldn’t just focus on the pilots. “Thank you Katherine. I appreciate it.”

Dorian and Paul stepped out of the elevator together. They walked towards them talking softly. They both looked surprisingly refreshed and disgustingly energetic to Alexander’s tired eyes. Dorian was dressed in chinos and a white button down shirt, a brown tweed jacket, and soft brown leather loafers. Paul was dressed in black slacks, a blue button down shirt, with a black leather jacket, and black dress boots. Alexander looked down at what he was wearing and then back up at the two younger men. Alexander gave Katherine a confused look.

Alexander: “Katherine. Were we supposed to dress up for this? Should I change?”

Katherine threw back her head and laughed at how nervous Alexander sounded. She smirked as she answered him.

Katherine: “No. That is typically how Paul and Dorian dress when working with sponsors. You will have to change for the shoots anyway Alexander. Besides… you don’t have time. Our ride is here. It’s time to go.”

Alexander groaned as he stood up. How had he missed that? He was the team principal and was dressed like a country bumpkin, not an executive. He hoped it didn’t turn them off or insult them.

Katherine rose to her feet and greeted Dorian and Paul as they joined them. Katherine’s eyes held a little devilment in them as she looked over Paul and Dorian. She didn’t bother hiding her smirk.

Katherine: “Morning gentlemen. You look good this morning.”

Dorian smiled and retorted easily: “I always look good.”

Paul just laughed and shrugged. “I got my beauty sleep.”

Alexander rolled his eyes and finished his cup of coffee. He tossed the empty cup into the right recycling can.

Katherine turned to Alexander and patted him on the back as she gave him a smile.

Katherine: “Don’t worry Alexander. When we get back to headquarters I will arrange for one of my team to go over wardrobe and grooming with you. And what is appropriate to wear to what events.”

Alexander groaned because he knew he deserved that barb. He gave her a grumpy look and led the way to the entrance of the hotel where an antigravity bus was waiting for them. It was packed with people. Alexander tried to smile and not look grumpy. He managed a neutral pleasant face.

Katherine shook hands with an Italian foppish man wearing chinos, a white button up shirt, and the most abstract and colorful scarf that Alexander had ever seen on a man. It strangely worked for him and somehow made his overly large blue sunglasses not look out of place. The foppish man used the handshake to pull Katherine closer to give her air kisses on each side of her face. Alexander found the man’s high pitched voice a little grating on his nerves.

Artie: “Katherine, It is so good to see you in person.”

Katherine: “Good morning Artie. I didn’t expect to see you here in person.”

Artie: “Katherine you know I am very hands on. I want this campaign to be a success. I needed to be here to supervise personally. I have a vision!”

Katherine chuckled in delight and wondered how Knight was going to handle working with Artie.

Katherine smiled and continued. She pointed to each man as she introduced them. : “Let me introduce you to the team. This is Dorian Hornfleur, Paul Mulder, and Alexander Knight.”

Artie clapped delightfully with excitement. He moved forward and grabbed Alexander by the shoulders and was air kissing him on the cheeks and almost bouncing up and down in excitement.

Artie: “Alexander! It is such a pleasure to meet you in the flesh. I can call you Alexander can’t I? Yes…. you are going to be perfect! I can see it now.”

Alexander was startled to have Artie pulling him into a hug like embrace as the man started air kissing his cheeks. Alexander didn’t like having his personal space broached and froze in place. Then he felt like a bug being inspected as Artie held him at arm’s length and looked him up and down before clapping in excitement. Alexander turned pleading eyes to Katherine and mouthed “Help Me” at her. To Alexander’s frustration and disappointment Katherine just giggled and winked at him. Alexander thought to himself, this is my private version of hell as he listened to Artie ramble on.

Artie: “You are going to love what I have designed for you. My whole new line is based around you Alexander. I can’t thank you enough for agreeing to be my muse for this campaign.”

Alexander finally managed to pull himself together. He caught Dorian and Paul with smug amused smiles watching him. Alexander narrowed his eyes. He would get even later. He managed to smile and push Artie back to arm length as he shook his hand.

Alexander: “I look forward to working with you Artie.”

Alexander had never been more grateful for a bus driver as he announced that everyone needed to take their seats so he could get them underway. Artie gave Dorian and Paul a quick greeting before taking a seat next to where he was standing. Alexander quickly dove across the bus to take the seat next to Katherine. He groaned this was going to be one long ass day. The bus lifted into the air and they were quickly on their way.

---

It was still dark out when they arrived at the gardens. They couldn’t see much and followed the lantern lit pathways. Alexander enjoyed the quiet and peaceful nature setting and it began to settle his nerves. They were led to a prep area that was lit up with bright lights and had multiple tents set up. Evidently the worker bees had come ahead to get everything ready for the shoot. Alexander was hustled into a tent where he was greeted by a young man with blue hair that's shaved on the sides with floppy curls on top. He had on heavy eye makeup with glitter that caught the lights. He was wearing a turquoise colored silk tunic and tight white trousers with sandals. He looked like he had South Asian ancestry. The man greeted him with an accent that Alexander couldn't place.

Ishie: “Hello my name is Ishaan but you can call me Ishie. Come come. Sit in the chair. We must get started on your makeup and hair.”

Alexander was tugged over to a high canvas director’s chair. Where he was pushed gently into the seat. Ishie was talking a mile a minute as he began gathering supplies.

Alexander sounded tentative as he greeted him.: “It is nice to meet you, Ishie. Uhh Makeup?”

Alexander was worried that he would be getting the same glitteratzi treatment that Ishie was wearing.

Ishie: “Why yes darling. Otherwise the bright lights would wash you out and the photos would look bad. We can’t have that. It will just even out your skin tone and provide some color. Don’t you worry. Ishie will take good care of you.”

Alexander thought to himself that is exactly what he was worried about. He knew makeup was coming but had assumed it would be like what he had to endure in the past. Just some foundation to keep him from looking flat under the bright lights and powder to keep him from looking shiny like he was sweating and to prevent glare. Alexander didn’t want to be embarrassed by the photos in the ads. He was also confident in his sexuality and comfortable with his masculinity. Glitter didn’t belong on his face. He was worried what the end result would be. Alexander was relieved when Ishie turned him over to a black man. His black hair had been bleached resulting in a golden color. It was cut short and a designs cut into the sides that contrasted with his dark chocolate colored skin. The man had the slightest touch of a metallic gold eyeshadow on that made his eyes stand out. He introduced the black man as Derek.

Ishie: “First is hair. For that I turn you over to Derek here. He is the best! Not to worry.”

Ishie hurried away without waiting.

Derek: “Hello Mr. Knight. I will be your hairstylist today. Do you mind if I trim your hair? I just want to clean up the shape a little and take out the dead ends. It looks like it has been awhile since it was cut.”

Alexander frowned as that had not been told to him prior. It was just hair though it would grow back. So he consented with a nod. As with Ishie, Alexander didn’t want a high and tight with a design in it. He would look ridiculous with his blonde hair that short against his white scalp. He would just look bald. The style Derek was rocking worked for a younger man and was certainly not Alexander’s taste at all. Alexander didn’t want the Lux Fashion House to make him the laughing stock of the racing circuit. He had been out of the limelight for a long time. After the media had crucified him in the past, putting himself out there in an ad campaign was difficult. He knew it was inviting the culture vultures to comment on his look. He knew from experience that they would be merciless and were often cruel. He was not exactly on good terms with the media. He was also very concerned about how it would look to his daughter. She was an adult and had just come through a traumatic experience. He didn’t want her to be embarrassed of him. It was another reason he was surprised that Artie Lux had been so adamant about him being the face of this campaign. He sighed reluctantly.

Alexander: “Sure I don’t mind a trim but I am not planning to change my entire look for this campaign. Not too short please.”

Derek gave him a warm smile and nodded. “I just want to clean it up some. Add some layers to make it look thicker for the camera. And I want to trim your beard and mustache a little and give it a more modern edge. Nothing too flashy I promise.”

Alexander did his best to quell his nerves as he gave Derek another nod. “Alright. I am trusting you Derek.”

Alexander was still worried about how he was going to look in the end. Alexander didn’t want to look bald or like a clown. Maybe he still had some vanity left after all. He still had a full head of hair and was proud of that fact at his age. Even if his dark blonde hair had some gray in it these days. He didn’t want to change who he was to conform to rules others set for him. He had fought long and hard to accept himself the way he was. He felt as if some of that control over his future was being stripped away a little and it made him very uncomfortable. He was trying not to take it out on the staff.

Alexander was grateful when Derek put on some music and just got to work without a lot of chit chat. Alexander sat still while Derek whipped one of those hair cutter capes around his neck. He secured it and began to spray his head with a spray bottle full of water. He sat patiently while Derek ran a comb through his hair and began snipping away at his hair. Alexander watched as his hair landed in piles on the floor. Derek put some product in his hair and began to use a brush and blow dryer on it. Styling it after the cut seemed to take forever. Then Derek began trimming his beard. Finally Derek seemed happy with the result. He finally allowed Alexander to see what it looked like. He handed him a hand mirror. His longer shaggy looking hair had been cut into a thick layered style that would look good no matter what you did to it. His beard had been cleaned up and Derek had added some artistic angles into his sideburns that made him look younger. The shorter beard emphasized the shape of his jaw. At least he didn’t look ridiculous.

Derek cleaned up the hair and put away his supplies as Alexander used the mirror to look at his hair. Derek smiled at him and took the mirror away from him and sat it down somewhere in the supplies behind him.

Derek: “I hope you like it.”

Alexander gave Derek a smile. “Thank you Derek. My trust was not misplaced.” He shook Derek’s hand while Derek beamed with pleasure at the compliment.

Derek: “Now it's time for makeup. I will go get Ishie. It was a pleasure working with you Alexander.” Derek walked to the tent door and called Ishie’s name.

Alexander had been hoping someone other than Ishie would return to do his makeup. He kept telling himself that this was for his team. He tried to be gracious as Ishie came back into the tent.

Ishie clapped his hands, his eyes wide with a delighted look on his face.

Ishie: “Derek always does such amazing work. Your hair looks fantastic. Now let’s see if we can make your face match the hair.”

Ishie began by placing a hot wet towel on his face.

Ishie: “This is to cleanse the face and open your pores. We want to remove all that dirt and toxins on your face before we begin. The heat will help you relax. You look a little nervous.”

Alexander was smothered under a hot wet towel as Ishie talked to him. The truth was he was nervous. He didn’t want to look like a glittering clown for all the world to laugh at. Alexander managed to mumble under the towel.

Alexander: “I am a little. I am…” How did he ask this without being offensive? “What kind of makeup are you supposed to use on me?” That was professional and safe enough right?

Ishie just laughed and patted Alexander on the shoulder playfully as he removed the towel. He looked amused as he turned back to Alexander after putting the towel in a hamper.

Ishie: “Relax. We are going to clean and moisturize your face. Most men have horrible skin care regimes. You can’t neglect that these days you know! Then I will work my magic to remove those bags and dark circles under your eyes so they don’t show up on camera.”

Alexander tried to relax but it was really hard. He kept seeing his face made up like Ishie’s and winced at the mental image.

Alexander: “oh okay I guess.”

Ishie used some astringent smelling compound on little wipes to clean his face. Then he put some kind of lotion on his face and began to massage it in. Alexander relaxed a little as that felt nice. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. Then Ishie dotted some kind of serum under his eyes and patted it in with his fingertips. The serum tingled and he could feel his skin tightening. Suddenly Ishie was in front of him with a cream makeup stick of some kind and was marking lines under his eyes. He then began to attack his face with a pallet of makeup in his hand. Ishie kept talking to Alexander as he worked.

Ishie: “You have the most amazing green eyes. Just beautiful. It is too bad you bat for the other team. You are like a big beautiful blonde sexy bear. Rrrrar!”

Ishie made a clawing motion with his hand as he gave what Alexander assumed was supposed to be a roar. He squirmed uncomfortably in the chair. He had no clue how to handle this situation. Alexander was not unnerved because Ishie seemed to be blatantly gay. It was more that Alexander was uncomfortable being the center of attention and was stuck in this chair while Ishie did his job. That meant letting Ishie into his personal bubble and allowing him to touch him. Ishie’s proximity was triggering Alexander’s anxiety.

Alexander: “Uhh..Thank you for the compliment?”

Ishie kept working and talking. He was blending makeup and applying makeup all over his face. He even put some kind of moisturizing lip stuff on him. Ishie paused for a moment and looked serious for a moment as he told Alexander.

Ishie: “I saw the press conference and the follow up message you sent out to the media about your daughter Arianna. She is a lovely girl. I hope she heals. It is obvious you love your daughter very much.”

Alexander tried to talk around the lump in his throat. He wasn’t ready to talk about Arianna. Alexander’s voice was gruff as he replied. “I hope she heals too. She has a long road ahead of her but she is on her way.”

Ishie seemed to sense Alexander’s mood and stopped talking. He soon finished his makeup and handed him the mirror. Alexander was relieved to see that he looked natural and better without the now hidden dark circles under his eyes. Whatever was in that serum he used under his eyes had taken care of the puffy bags that had been there.

Alexander gave Ishie a bright smile. "Thank you for your help Ishie. I will be sure to tell Arianna that you are rooting for her.”

Ishie gave Alexander a bright smile as he put his makeup pallet down.

Ishie: “That is all I can ask for. Now it is on to wardrobe, which is over here.”

Ishie led the way to a section of the tent that had been partitioned off. There was a portable clothing rack with 5 bags hanging on it. The large garment bags were full and had smaller drawstring bags hanging off them. He pointed to the garment bag on the end that had a clear vinyl pocket with a piece of paper in it. The paper had his name and a number one printed on it.

Ishie: “Everything you should need for the first look should be in the bag. When you are dressed, just come on out and someone will show you to the set.”

Alexander gave a nod and waited for Ishie to leave before he unzipped the garment. The drawstring bag on the front of the bag had a pair of dress boots, socks, and underwear. Alexander groaned as he saw the equivalent of a male thong in the bag. He sighed and just decided to accept what he couldn’t change and changed out of his clothes. He folded the clothes he had come in and set them on the small bench that had been in the changing room. Alexander put on the first suit. It was in a lightweight fabric of some kind and very soft to the touch. It was a chocolate brown color with bronze metallic threads running through it. The shirt was a golden yellow color and soft but held its shape like linen or cotton. It had a sheen to it as well like polished cotton. There was some embroidery on the cuffs that mimicked tribal Nordic runes. The collar tabs of the shirt had stylized wings on them. Alexander didn’t like this suit much. It was a little flashy for him. But what did he know? He was just the model. He did like the brown and gold colored leather dress boots that mimicked an older style patent leather loafer. They were comfortable and stylish. Inside the drawstring bag had been a square black colored leather looking box with the Orion logo on it. Alexander assumed that was part of his outfit. So he pulled the bronze and gold colored watch out and slipped it on to his left wrist. He didn’t mind the watch but it was a little flashy for him.

---

Meanwhile in another tent Paul and Dorian were getting to stay together as they sat under bright lights in high canvas director chairs.

Dorian: “Did you see the panicked look on his face when Artie hugged him?”

Paul snorted with laughter at that.

Paul: “He looked like he had swallowed a bug. I am going to enjoy today. Alexander seems completely uncomfortable. I wonder why he agreed to do this if he hates it so much.”

Dorian: “Didn’t you read the contract? It was contingent on Knight being a model. For some reason Artie wanted Knight for this. At least we are getting paid too.”

Paul: “That is very true. It is still nice to see the boss uncomfortable. It is the first time I have seen him so out of his element. It is out of character for him.”

Dorian: “He should be used to this. He used to be a racer and endorsements are part of the job.” Dorian smiled as he continued. “It is nice to see him nervous for a change though.”

Their conversation was interrupted as they were approached by a tall muscular olive skinned man with dark brown hair. He was wearing tight form fitting slacks and a colorful print shirt. He was accompanied by a woman of average height with brown curly hair with lavender colored eyes. She either had contacts or cybernetic eyes. The woman looked like she was a mixed race with some Asian persuasion in there by the shape of her eyes. The woman was dressed in the latest outrageous Tokyo street fashion in neon colors.

The man spoke first, “Good morning gentlemen. My name is Jeffrey and this is Akiya. We will be taking care of your hair this morning. I will be taking care of you Mr. Hornfleur and Akiya will be taking care of Mr. Mulder.”

Jeffrey offered a hand to Dorian to shake. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I am a huge fan! May I call you Dorian?”

Dorian smiled comfortably at Jeffrey as he shook his hand. “Of course. May I call you Jeffrey?” Dorian flirted back not missing the fanboying that Jeffrey was hiding or the interest in his eyes.

Jeffrey: “Please do.” Jeffrey gave Dorian a big smile.

Paul smiled and offered his hand to Akiya. “It is nice to meet you, Akiya. Please call me Paul. May I call you Akiya?”

Akiya gave Paul a polite nod and a tight smile. “Hai.”

Paul nodded and relaxed into his chair as Akiya began to work on his hair. She didn’t say much, just started adding product to his hair. She began working with various tools to get the look she wanted. Paul was content to sit and let her do her thing. He listened in amusement as Dorian flirted with his hairstylist.

Dorian gave Jeffrey a sultry smile as he asked him in a suggestive tone.

Dorian: “What do you have planned for me Jeffrey?”

Jeffrey blushed a little before managing to get an answer out.

Jeffrey: “Well we are going to start with a nice relaxing head massage and then we are going to blow out your hair and style it with some setting product.”

Dorian grinned as he flashed another smile at Jeffrey.

Dorian: “Is that all? Well I am sure I am in excellent hands.”

Jeffrey blushed again as he began massaging Dorian’s scalp.

Their hair had not taken long to style since they had followed directions and had washed it and left any product out of it that morning. Paul had gotten a perfunctory smile as he complimented Akiya on her work. Paul sighed as he thought not everyone could be a fan.

Jeffrey gave Dorian a bright smile as he finished. “Next up is make up. I will see you later in case you need any touch ups.” He slipped a piece of paper into Dorian’s hand and whispered in his ear that he was free that evening if Dorian was. Dorian had thanked him and told him he looked forward to seeing him later.

Paul looked over at Dorian and shook his head a little as he laughed as they waited on the makeup people.

Paul: “That is so not fair. You get a potential date and I get the ice queen.”

Dorian just grinned and winked at Paul. “Being Bi means I have more chances that others will accept my advances. It is a bigger dating pool.”

Dorian was having a great time with the pampering so far. He loved working with Enigma Lux so far.

The two makeup people came in together. They almost looked like twins. They were both young Japanese women. They, like Akiya, were dressed in Tokyo street fashion but these two were wearing the latest in Lolita fashion. They looked like dolls in pastel ruffles and platform heels. Their names were Yuko and Kaori. They introduced themselves with giggles and gave them a bow before they began work.

Dorian was just as pleasant to Yuko but Yuko just giggled at him.

Yuko pampered Dorian just as much as Jeffrey had. She had started by cleansing his face with an astringent smelling cleaner. She had then massaged moisturizing lotion into his face. She had taken her time and massaged the tension out of his forehead and temples. He felt like puddy when she was done. His makeup went on pretty fast after that.

Kaori smiled as she began working on Paul. He tried to talk to her but she shushed him so she could work. Paul again sat placidly while she quickly cleaned his face, applied moisturizer, and then his makeup. Paul was surprised when Kaori did more than just the base coats he was expecting to even out his skin tone. She had used a special digital printer gadget to apply colorful wings around his eyes. It was not something Paul would have chosen for himself but it looked kind of cool like a tribal tattoo.

Paul looked at Kaori a little nervously. “This comes off right?”

Kaori just giggled at him and nodded. “Of course. Makeup remover will take it off.”

Paul looked over at Dorian who just had the base layers. He frowned, why did he rate the extra color? Dorian had a classic formal look going on while Paul’s look was young and edgy. His hair had been set in golden waves along the sides of his head. He was starting to worry about how this would look in the end. Well the suits they had sent for him to wear to events had been great. How bad could it be?

The girls showed them to the opposite ends of the tent which had been set up as dressing rooms.

Dorian got dressed quickly in the chocolate brown suit in a soft material. The suit was paired with a golden colored silk shirt with maroon stitching on the cuffs. The design was some kind of Nordic tribal. There was a maroon colored silk tie with stylized wings embroidered on it. There was a classic looking gold men’s watch with a maroon face that he slipped onto his left wrist. Dorian loved the gold and dark brown leather patent leather shoes that went with the suit. He stepped out of the dressing room and was smoothing the lines of the suit. He looked good! Dorian looked up and caught sight of Paul and doubled over laughing.

Paul had been dressed in tight navy trousers, a white silk shirt with the same Nordic tribal design on the cuffs. He was in a peacock blue vest with a wing pattern across the chest. There was a steel watch on his left wrist with a peacock blue face on it. He was in black dress boots. He was pulling at the crotch of his pants which left nothing to the imagination. Paul winced as he tried to find more room in the crotch of his pants. He felt like his manly parts were being suffocated. He had blushed as he remembered the underwear that had come with the suit. He found the pants a little too tight to be comfortable. The material was stiff and didn’t have a lot of give. Paul looked at what Dorian was wearing and crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. Dorian looked coiffed and polished and ready for any formal event while he looked like he was about to go clubbing with a girl named Candy. Paul frowned at Dorian.

Paul: “Why do I get peacock blue and you get a nice respectable fall colors?”

Dorian snickered as he tried to contain his amusement. Paul was dolled up like a peacock too!

Dorian: “Hey I didn’t choose the outfits. Talk to Artie.”

Paul just grumbled as he walked out of the tent. He would be walking funny if he had to stay in this suit for very long.

Dorian followed him shaking with laughter.

---

Alexander was already on set and listening to the photographer when he spotted Paul and Dorian. He frowned as he noticed Dorian was wearing a more traditional suit than he had expected he would be put into. He was grateful he was not Paul though. He couldn’t help the smile that crept across his face at how uncomfortable Paul looked. He looked like a peacock dandy. Alexander gave up and started laughing.

Katherine looked over and put a hand over her face thinking dear lord give her strength. It had just taken her 10 minutes to talk Alexander down off the ledge because he didn’t like the suit he had been given. Paul looked a little green and his blue eyes were stormy. He didn’t look happy. He was usually the easy going one with this kind of thing. At least Dorian looked content and happy.

Paul walked up to Katherine. “I will try the photo shoot but if I look as ridiculous as I feel in this outfit they will not use them. Am I clear?”

Katherine was relieved that Paul was at least going to try to go with the program. Katherine gave him a grateful smile.

Katherine: “Understood. Look on the bright side. The color does bring out your eyes.”

Paul gave Katherine a scowl before he looked over at Alexander and noted that even though he was laughing at him. He was dressed in a suit that was almost midway between Dorian’s conservative but classy look and Paul’s young and trendy look. Paul grinned his normal confidence returning as he saw a group of 4 women who were with the shoot’s crew eying him with the look of fangirls.

Paul: “I might look like a peacock.” He puffed his chest out and put his hands on his hips in a superman pose. “But I am a sexy peacock!”

Katherine burst into laughter at that. Good lord would she survive this photoshoot? Alexander was laughing so hard he had almost fallen on the ground and Dorian was laughing and shaking his head.

They were interrupted by the creative director. He informed them they would be working with multiple photographers. They would be posing for individual and team shots. The director informed them they would be starting with individual shots. They really wanted to take advantage of the light at sunrise. Alexander would be shooting on a bridge over a koi pond. Dorian would be shooting next to the koi pond with traditional stone lanterns and a pagoda on a small stone island. The pond was surrounded by lush greenery. Paul would be photographed in front of a large blooming cherry tree. The three of them fell into a more serious professional mode as they listened to instructions and what was expected of them. They understood the directions.

The sun started to rise. It was go time. Alexander was not overly fond of the suit he was wearing but his natural confidence and competitive nature wouldn’t allow himself to give no less than his best. At least he had a glitter free face even as the metallic threads in his suit caught the sunlight and glinted occasionally. Paul was damn uncomfortable as he did his best not complain about the tight pants even as they asked him for some more dynamic poses as the youngest. Dorian was having the time of his life as he was pampered and deferred to. His inner diva was in heaven. Katherine watched it all with a discerning eye and a diplomatic deposition.

They were done with Paul and Dorian at the park. Paul and Dorian had headed back towards the tents. They wanted to capture Alexander in a second outfit so he had gone off to change. They would be relocating to Tokyo Harbor next. While the men had been shooting, the female models had been going through hair and makeup for the next site. Katherine had the opportunity to review the photos while the men were changing. She had been worried when she saw how uncomfortable Alexander and Paul had been when they first came out of the tents. The photographers were excellent though. There were certainly some bad shots in there as well. Alexander looked powerful and broody in his shots. Dorian looked classy and cultured. Paul looked edgy, sexy, and fun. She had to agree with Alexander though. She didn’t like that color suit on him. It did contrast nicely with his hair which was the intention she was sure.

Alexander’s second look was a more casual look. He had on navy blue cuffed trousers, a classic white button up shirt with a modern mandarin style collar, and a navy blue vest with a tribal Valkyrie in flight embroidered in silver on the front. The vest was double breasted and didn’t detract from the power or beauty of the design embroidered on it. Alexander had on plain black leather dress shoes this time and the shirt’s sleeves were rolled up. He had on a brushed steel watch this time with a dark blue face. Alexander liked this look much better. It was more his style. Katherine could tell from Alexander’s body language that he was more comfortable this time. Her favorite photo from this set was one of Alexander leaning on the bridge’s railing with his hands casually draped over the side with the watch prominently featured on his wrist, his other hand behind it. Alexander was looking into the distance with a serious look on his face that could be interpreted to mean just about anything. It was a powerful and artistic shot.

Before they knew it, they were all being hustled back on to the bus to head to the next site. Tokyo was busier and had woken up as they had been shooting in the gardens. They had hit the height of rush hour in Tokyo. They arrived at the docks and it was chaotic. Water taxis and ferries hurried residents from one side of the harbor to the other as they made their way to work or ran errands. Alexander was grateful that they were not using public transit at the moment as it was crowded and busy. There was a frantic scramble as everyone got off the bus.

Alexander had to use the restroom after all the coffee had drunk to keep him awake and functioning. He told the others he would catch up to them. He ran to use the public restroom at the docks. There was a line of course. Alexander was not happy that it had taken him almost 20 minutes. He ran back to the dock and the boat was pulling away from the dock and was already about 100 yards away. He crossed his arms and glared at the boat. He picked up his phone and texted Katherine. He was not happy to wait another 10 minutes before the boat turned back around to pick him up. He couldn’t believe they had left him behind. Alexander was blamed for setting their schedule back almost a half hour. He had to endure having his hair and makeup touched up again.

This time Alexander was dressed in business casual attire. He was put in pants that had a weave to them. If he had to guess it was a linen and bamboo mix. It was soft but not as stiff as linen could be. The pants were dyed a dark green that was almost black. They were paired with another button up shirt in a dark golden color with dark green stitching. The shirt had a loose fit and they once again had him roll the cuffs up. The rolled cuff had that same nordic tribal pattern design showing in that contrasting dark green thread. They had him wearing a watch with a dark brushed bronze color band and a dark emerald green face. They had him wearing brown leather boat shoes with dark green stitching. He didn’t mind the outfit but he did mind what they wanted him to do.

Alexander: “She looks young enough to be my daughter! And you want me to allow her to hang all over me in a bikini! Not just no but hell no!”

Alexander looked furious as he turned to Artie and looked ready to pummel something.

Alexander: “You can use the models in the background but I will not be party to anything suggesting I am sleeping with a much younger woman. You can forget it. I won’t do it.”

Artie looked over Alexander’s face and looked frustrated.

Artie: “Look Alexander, I get it. You have a code of honor but sex appeal sells. We want the public to see you as sexy and attractive. The models help with that.”

Alexander narrowed his eyes at Artie. “I said NO! If you want me to pose with a woman like that then use a model closer to my age. You can get shots of me on the boat but I am not allowing those girls to hang all over me in that way. Forget it.”

Artie tilted his head to the side and gave a huge sigh as he frowned. “Fine, we will change it up.”

Artie went to talk to the shoot director. His hands were flying every which way as he talked, obviously passionate about what he wanted. Alexander stood watching him with his arms crossed. Alexander glared at Artie and the creative director with a brooding angry look that just dared them to ask him that again. Katherine did her best to calm Alexander down and then worked with Arite and the creative director for ways to get something usable from the harbor shoot.

They got some group shots of Alexander at the wheel of the boat with the other two with girls in the background. They decided on some close up shots of Alexander with some of the older style restaurant ships in the background that gave Tokyo harbor so much character. They were shooting on a private yacht though. Artie wanted that clash of modern and history which is so characteristic of Tokyo. Paul was more comfortable this time around but he had some issues with models pinching his ass and groping him when they could get away with it. Normally he wouldn’t mind but he was feeling decidedly like a piece of choice meat. It made Paul uncomfortable. Dorian was still having a fabulous day. Dorian didn’t mind the playful flirtatious models and loved being the center of attention. Katherine had been worried that Alexander was going to deck Artie and throw their creative director overboard. She was grateful that Artie had been flexible enough to change “His Vision”.

Word had gotten out that Paul and Dorian had been spotted at the harbor. By the time they got back to the docks, fans had flooded into the area. They had to use an alternative dock while their security worked with Tokyo police on crowd control. They were still spotted coming off the yacht and had to make a run for the private vehicle that security had brought around to get Alexander, Paul, Dorian, and Katherine to their next destination. They barely made it out of there before fans blocked the way.

Their next destination had been the small studio where they were shooting the commercial. That had tried Alexander’s already fraying patience. First there had been trouble with the teleprompter, then the sound equipment had a mysterious buzz and they had to record everything over again. They were shooting in front of a green screen on a soundstage. They had put all three men in tuxedos. Alexander’s was all black with gold embroidered nordic runes down the lapels and a gold bow tie. Dorian was in a matching tuxedo but in a dark charcoal gray color and a classic black tuxedo shirt in silk. Paul’s tuxedo was a slimmer cut with thin lapels. His tuxedo was dark charcoal gray with a gold vest with a valkyrie helmet embroidered on the vest in black. The shirt was a black silk like Dorian’s but had a mandarin collar. Paul didn’t have a bowtie. Alexander was not happy to see the bevy of young female models again. They were behind schedule by almost four hours by the time they made it to their next destination, the Imperial Hotel. Alexander was starving; they had missed lunch thanks to all the technical issues that had run into at the studio. They had to push on to the hotel for the next series of photos.

After another round of hair and makeup, the three men were photographed in a variety of places around the historic hotel. The female models followed them. Paul once more had some fans working with him with grabby hands. He had been excited about working with a group of fans at the park but they had quickly gotten out of control. He couldn’t exactly get away from them. The creative director had them all posing and hanging off of Paul in various ways. The shots made it look like he had his pick of women.He didn’t want to complain and come across as difficult to work with. Most men would have loved this level of attention from women. Paul normally would enjoy the attention, except he was working and wanted to come across as a professional. Paul was finding that being seen as sex object instead of a person bothered him. It bothered him that they acted like they had the right to grab him and grope and pinch him. It bothered him that he had not invited their attention but was forced to deal with it. Dorian on the other hand was having the time of his life and loving all the attention.

Alexander found himself in a dark charcoal gray suit with a black dress shirt and black dress shoes. The tie was a black silk with golden wings embroidered on it. They had paired this suit with a watch with a black titanium band with a gold face. Alexander had been told this was the last outfit for this photoshoot. He was grateful he was irritable and tired. He had just wrapped up photos in the hotel’s grand staircase. He was being hustled into the bar at Kouichi Imbayashi. Alexander could appreciate the old world elegance of the hotel. He was left to cool his heels for a few minutes and got a quick scotch from the bartender. He had finished his drink by the time the creative director was ready for him.

Alexander heard his name being called by the man and turned around and froze. The creative director was approaching with an elegant brown haired beauty that was older than the other models. She was drop dead gorgeous and was closer to his age but she looked younger than him. She was wearing an elegant black suit. The pants had a wide leg in a silky material that flowed with her body as she moved. It had a thigh high slit up her right leg. The jacket was low cut and form fitted through the bust area before it flared out and away from her skin. The jacket had long sleeves that stopped at the wrist and was designed to be worn without a shirt underneath it. The lapels of the jacket had gold wings embroidered on them. She was wearing a long golden chain that fell down inside her jacket. Four inch gold stiletto heels peeked out as she walked. Her hair was pulled up in an elegant updo. Her makeup was understated and classy with a bold red lip. He really thought he had managed to get out of showing up on camera with a female model. That victory was short-lived, he acknowledged privately to himself. He sighed and accepted the inevitable. Evidently they had found someone at the last minute. He gave the lovely woman a smile. It was not her fault that he was uncomfortable with being seen as a sex symbol. Alexander knew his adult daughter would be looking for these photos. It made him squirm a little as he had no idea what Arianna would think.

The creative director: “Alexander, for this series of photos we are going to have you posing with Lena here. I assume this is acceptable?”

The man’s tone was challenging and Alexander knew he had not been the easiest person to work with on set. He nodded and held out his hand to greet Lena.

Alexander: “Hello Lena, nice to meet you.”

Lena shook his hand and gave him a sultry smile.

Lena: “I must thank you for asking for an older model. It is harder to get work as you get older in this business. I hope you find working with me to be acceptable.”

Alexander couldn’t help but smile. Lena was beautiful and confident which Alexander found attractive. Maybe it was the scotch but he was relaxing and admitted he might just enjoy this. Alexander shook her hand gently.

Alexander: “Thank you for being available.”

They were being ushered into position by the bar. Alexander blushed as the director told him to pull Lena closer as if he was telling her something naughty in her ear. He wanted a picture full of sexual tension with Alexander’s hand on her waist showing the watch. He wanted a profile picture and Alexander was supposed to look at Lena suggestively. Alexander was stiff at first and Lena laughed at the tension in his posture and arm. She leaned closer to him and her voice was laced with humor as she whispered to him.

Lena: “Relax Alexander, I won’t bite you unless you ask me too.”

Alexander startled a little at her words. He had not flirted with a woman in a long time. He blushed a little as he whispered back to her.

Alexander: “I am not a fan of objectifying women. I have an adult daughter. I worry what she will think of this ad campaign. I don’t want you to think I have anything against you. You are very beautiful and I believe you know that.” Lena’s chuckle sent ripples down Alexander’s spine.

Lena: “Thank you Alexander. Maybe I just want to be a woman who is appreciated by a very handsome man. You don’t need to protect your daughter Alexander unless you are married. All she will see is that her father has a sex life.”

Alexander looked at Lena startled. He had forgotten that they were being photographed and that there was a whole crowd of people watching them. He couldn’t deny that he had chemistry with the lovely Lena. She was running her hands up his lapels as she tilted her head up to look him in the eyes.

Lena: “So Alexander, are you married or dating someone?”

Alexander was feeling a little tongue tied. He was momentarily speechless as he tried to figure out a graceful way to exit this situation. He blushed and shook his head no since he couldn't seem to get his mouth to work.

Lena’s smile grew as her eyes grew darker. She moved closer to Alexander and whispered in his ear suggestively.

Lena: “Then Alexander, I humbly suggest you make me feel appreciated.” Her hands slid under his jacket and around his waist running her nails over his abs.

Alexander’s focus was on the beautiful woman in front of him when he heard the creative director yelling at him to keep going. Alexander cupped Lena’s face as he stared down at her. He gave her a warm smile. Alexander kept his tone low so no one would hear him but her.

Alexander: “I should thank you Lena. It has been a long time since I held such a beautiful woman in my arms. Even if it is just for work.”

It seemed like no time at all had passed as he and Lena flirted back and forth suggestively. Then the creative director was hustling them up to the rooftop bar to get those evening shots he wanted. He wanted Alexander leaning against the railing to the rooftop with the neon lights of Tokyo lit up behind him. He placed Lena in front of Alexander. He had Alexander’s left arm with the watch wrapping around Lena from behind with his hand over hers. They did a few more poses as he ordered them into new positions. The creative director was not happy with the shots though.

The creative director: “No, it's no good. It’s missing something.” Alexander didn’t like that wicked smile the man got. He asked Alexander to take off his jacket. The man artfully draped the jacket over a chair to the side like Alexander had just pulled them off. He then told Alexander to untie his tie and unbutton his shirt. Alexander turned to him with an exasperated expression.

Alexander: “Excuse me! I never agreed to be photographed without clothes.”

The creative director was obviously frustrated with Alexander. He sighed and tried to reason with him. “Alexander, are you ashamed of your body? Because I can tell that you stay fit. You do not have a “dad body” as you Americans would say. You have great chemistry with the lovely Lena. I want a picture that captures that. You will leave your shirt on. I just want to show a hint of skin. I want it unbuttoned and loose. I want the tie around your neck with Lena holding onto it pulling you closer. I want to shoot you from an angle. You keep your pants and shirt on. This is acceptable, yes?”

Alexander was uncomfortable with it but he felt he had pushed the creative director as far as he could today. Alexander turned to Lena.

Alexander: “Are you okay with this?”

Lena just purred at him as she gave him a wink. “Yes I am very okay with this.”

Alexander sighed and began to untuck his shirt. To his amusement Lena decided to help him out. She loosened his tie and met his eyes as her hands began to unbutton his shirt. Alexander just rested his hands on her shoulders and let her. Lena tugged his shirt open and ran her hands over his chest and abs with a wink.

Lena: “It is nice to know that the contents measure up to the packaging.”

Alexander laughed as they got into position for the shot the director wanted. Alexander was surprised when Lena pulled on the tie and wrapped her hands around his head and planted a kiss on him. He stumbled a little as he lost his balance, pressing them together. He shamelessly kissed her back. The creative director hollered that’s a wrap. Alexander released Lena a little reluctantly.

Lena was smiling to see traces of her lipstick on Alexander’s lips.

Lena: “It was a pleasure working with you Alexander.”

Alexander laughed as he caught her hand and lifted it to his lips. He brushed a kiss across the back of her hand. Alexander held her hand as he invited her to dinner. “I am in Tokyo for a few days. I am starving. Would you like to have dinner with me?”

Lena smiled and nodded. “I thought you would never ask.”

Alexander just laughed. “Well let me get changed then and it's a date.”

Lena winked at him as she walked off towards some of the shoot staff. Alexander smiled as he watched her walk away. Maybe today hadn’t been that bad after all.

---

Media

The news stories hit the airwaves at: TMZ 6:00pm, Gossip 8:00pm, Fox News 10:00PM.

---

TMZ: “This is Lilly Stryker with TMZ. This is a story you will only see on TMZ. TMZ has images of the anti gravity racing team of Valkyrie AGR Sport partying on a boat in Tokyo Harbor the day after a disappointing showing in the Tokyo Grand Prix. Is Alexander Knight just helping his pilots blow off steam after a rough race? Is he buying their cooperation by treating them to a party? There appeared to be alcohol at this party. Were there drugs? We may never know. It certainly looked like a good time was had by all. These images are exclusive to TMZ and you will only see them here. What do you think?”

[Image of Paul with two women in bikinis hanging one on each side of him. He is dressed in navy blue trousers and a loose billowing cream colored shirt and has what looks like a champagne glass in his hand. He is on the deck of a midsize yacht in Tokyo Harbor.] [Image of Dorian in dark gray slacks and an icy blue shirt. Dorian had a glass of what appeared to be champagne in his hand and he was talking to a handsome black man. Dorian was obviously standing on the deck of the same yacht as Paul. There was another image of the same yacht with Alexander looking out to sea and you could see Paul and Dorian and four women in bikinis behind him with Paul. The images showed other people on the boat but they were not clear enough to give any details of the others.]

Lilly Stryker: “Remember you saw it here first folks. This is Lilly Stryker with a TMZ Exclusive.”

---

Gossip: “This is Hans Keller with a Gossip exclusive! Paul Mulder was out partying on a yacht in Tokyo Harbor with his teammate Dorian Hornfleur and Team Principal Alexander Knight. Does Paul Mulder now have a leading lady in his life? He recently disclosed in an interview that he didn’t have time to date. The woman in the photo has been identified as fashion model Megan Macdonald. The photos certainly suggest that something is going on between the two of them. Be sure to tell Gossip what you think about these latest rumors. This has been Hans Keller with a Gossip Exclusive!”

[There is a series of photos side by side of Paul with a lovely redhead on his arm in a dark blue bikini. Another picture from the side shows her hand grabbing Paul’s ass. Another image shows Paul smiling down at the woman. The images were carefully shot to not to show any of the background photoshoot people like the photographer. They captured Dorian and Alexander in the background talking to people. Nothing to indicate that it wasn’t a party. The angles of the images indicate they were probably taken by a drone using a zoom lens.]

---

Fox News: “This is Jessica Smith from Fox News. We are sharing a story that we picked up from our local affiliate station in Tokyo Japan today. Tokyo Metro Police were called to the iconic Tokyo Harbor Transit Center when a crowd of dedicated fans mobbed the busy transit center during the lunch hour rush hoping to spot Paul Mulder and Dorian Hornfleur as they disembarked from a yacht they had been on. The security for the antigravity racing team Valkyrie AGR Sport had been onsite and were quickly overwhelmed by the large number of fans. The heavy crowd impeded traffic in and out of the transit center during the incident. It took Tokyo Police an hour to restore order. Team Valkyrie security whisked Paul Mulder, Dorian Hornfleur, and Alexander Knight away moments before Tokyo Police arrived on the scene.

Fox News has investigated the incident and it appears the news leaked on social media that the pilots were out on a yacht in the harbor. According to our sources, the manager on duty at the transit center is the one who requested police after zealous fans began to impede traffic. There are images of Paul Mulder, Dorian Hornfleur, and Team Principal Alexander Knight on the deck of a yacht in the harbor. [Images popped up full screen replacing Jessica’s talking head. The images were clearly taken from other boats and a few were from drones in the area. The images showed all three men Paul, Dorian, and Alexander with a group of four women in bikinis and a crowd of other people. Paul and Dorian looked like they were holding champagne glasses.] [Still images pulled from social media and obviously shared from private cell phone cameras showed crowds of mostly young women crowding the docks in Tokyo Harbor’s transit center which handled ferries that carried people from one side of the harbor to the other. There were images of Paul, Dorian, and Alexander being rushed down the wharf at the harbor and then a sidewalk with a crowd of people chasing them. Then there was a set of images of them ducking into the private vehicle and driving off.]

“There has been no official statement or comments from either the Tokyo Police Department or Team Valkyrie AGR Sport. This has been Jessica Smith with Fox News. Stay Tuned! We will be back right after this commercial.”

---

Enigma Lux and Orion Endorsement Work

Bellesalle Shibuya First

Friday April 6, 2094

---

Alexander, Dorian, and Paul had a busy week in Tokyo. Monday was spent recovering from the race weekend. Tuesday was spent shooting the advertising for the Fashion House and Orion. Wednesday they had a day to recover from all the shooting and work they did on Tuesday. Paul and Dorian had a day to themselves. Alexander had asked Paul and Dorian to stay low key after the debacle at the Harbor on Tuesday. Alexander had spent most of the day interviewing new engineering candidates over video calls. Katherine had spent most of Tuesday evening and Wednesday working on responding to the various stories that made it into the press as the result. She had issued a statement about what had happened.

Team Valkyrie AGR Sport pilots Dorian Hornfleur, Paul Mulder, and team principal Alexander Knight had been on the yacht in Tokyo Harbor filming an endorsement ad for a new sponsor. Evidently they had been spotted. Team Valkyrie had security on hand but were overwhelmed by the number of fans who had found out and showed up in the hours the team had been out on the water. Team Valkyrie appreciates the enthusiasm of its fans but reminds them to be considerate of others around them. Team Valkyrie extends its thanks to the Tokyo Police Department for their prompt and skilled assistance.

Thursday was fittings and practice for the fashion show at the Bellesalle Shibuya First in Tokyo which is where Enigma Lux Fashion House was hosting its fashion show at Fashion Week on Friday evening. Alexander pulled Artie to the side after the events at Tokyo Harbor and insisted on increased security for the fashion show. He didn’t want a mob of zealous fans being able to crash the fashion show to injure his pilots. Thankfully Artie was understanding and assured him that the venue would be able to help control crowds. He explained that fashion week itself attracted crowds and that security was well able to handle the crowds. Artie also explained that while the public often wanted to attend the fashion shows, they were typically by invitation only. The bulk of the crowd at the show would be people who had been invited who were important in the industry such as media, buyers for department stores and boutiques, fashion critics, and celebrities who influence fashion that they are hoping will wear their brand to promote sales.

Artie was showing his new line and sponsoring an up and coming Japanese designer,Tetsuya Shindō, that worked with women’s suits. Artie was looking to branch out but keep the luxury suit branding of his line. Mr. Shindō was helping his brand branch out into high end luxury suits for women designing under the Enigma Lux label.

Alexander found out on Thursday at practice that Lena had been tapped to walk the runway for Shindo wearing one of his fashions. It had been decided to pair the male models with female counterparts. He would be walking the runway with Lena. She had shared how excited she was to work on a runway show. Evidently Artie had liked their photo shoot so much he wanted to include her on the runway with Alexander. Shindo had been amenable and it turned out the outfit she had used at the photoshoot was one of Shindo’s designs. It had been altered to fit her better. Paul was grateful that the pants he had struggled with had been let out so he was no longer walking funny when wearing them. Dorian was having a great time in Tokyo despite a disappointing showing at the race. Dorian felt like he was on vacation being pampered instead of working and earning an obscene amount of money for one week’s work.

---

Soundtrack: Kodo O-Daiko - Taiko Japanese Drummers

The night of the fashion show was here. The long wide venue hall had an elevated runway in polished black wood. The stage had lighting along the edges that showed upward from where they were embedded into the stage. There was a heavy lighting rig over the stage with bright lights focused on the runway. The stage stretched all the way across one end of the venue with curtains walling off the backstage area. To one side of the back wall was a trio of Japanese Taiko drums. The runway stretched in a long straight line with a slightly wider curved section at the end. Seating for spectators lined the sides and ends of the stage several rows deep. Holographic walls were set to show pictures of Tokyo’s neon skyline at night, and pictures from iconic areas around Tokyo. The pictures reflected Japanese culture both past and present. They rotated through scenes all around Tokyo. Traditional Japanese music played softly in the background over the sound system while guests were being seated as they waited for the show to start. Swag bags in black and gold were on every seat. There were cameras stationed in the rigging above the stage and around the venue to capture the show. Journalists and media had their own cameras and drones hung like a cloud in the air.

Alexander was not nervous about hair and makeup this time. He was once more working with Derek and Ishie. He found himself sitting in a backstage area which was lined with chairs and light up mirrors. There were models, hair, and make-up artists everywhere. There were huge rolling racks of clothing with garment bags on them. Alexander was surprised by the sheer number of people needed to put the fashion show together. Paul and Dorian were sitting in chairs to his right. Lena was on the other side of him. Alexander was grateful that he only had to model one look tonight. Alexander and Lena would be the last two models to take the runway. They were the intended finale to the show. Dorian was opening the show and Paul was somewhere in the middle of the lineup.

Paul was once more in the first outfit he had modeled in. The tight snug navy colored pants had been altered to give him a little more room in the crotch area. The white silk shirt with the mandarin style collar and the peacock blue colored vest. He was much more comfortable in the outfit this time. He had been paired with a lovely Japanese model who was shorter than him. Her name was Iori Murasaki. She was dressed in a sculptural style suit in peacock blue to match him. The pencil skirt was snug and came to mid calf with a slit up the back of the skirt that came up to mid thigh allowing the model plenty of room to move. The jacket was short sleeved with a capelet around the shoulders and a peplum. The capelet had a crane embroidered on it in silver and navy blue thread. The jacket only had one button at the waist and was very low cut. The material was soft but stiff enough to hold the sculptural detailing built into it. It was almost a crossover between classic style and Japanese street fashion. There was a sleeveless cream colored silk blouse with a high keyhole neckline with a ruffle for a collar. She was wearing navy blue patent leather pumps.

Dorian had been put in the chocolate brown suit but it had been paired with a maroon colored vest with gold embroidered stylized wings creating a jacquard like effect on the front of the single button vest. The shirt underneath was a cream color with maroon Nordic runes embroidered in maroon colored thread on the cuffs and collar. He was back in the brown and gold patent leather shoes. He had been paired with a model by the name of Shimamoto Namiko. She was wearing a silk dark red pencil style skirt with a slit up the left thigh. The jacket had long sleeves with flowers embroidered on the cuffs. The jacket had two gold buttons that caught the light and sparkled. The collar of the jacket was a sculptural and origami masterpiece that made her face look like the center of a flower. The jacket fit snug through the bosom area and then flowed away into a longer peplum. Her suit was paired with gold stiletto heels.

Alexander found himself being hustled into the model line up next to Lena. There were at least three people fussing over his suit with lint rollers and adjusting and making sure it was laying just so. He sighed and tried to bear it with good humor this time. Lena was receiving the same treatment. There were 5 groups of models between Alexander and Paul and another group of 5 between Paul and Dorian. Artie and Shindo walked by to perform a final check of their looks before the fashion show started. Artie had started with Dorian and walked down the line until he got to Alexander. He once more thanked Alexander for modeling for him and clapped excitedly as he and Shindo whirled and moved to the curtain entrance to the stage to start the show.

Alexander smiled at Lena. Alexander: “Lena, you look beautiful. Are you nervous? Because I am nervous. I am worried I am going to trip and fall flat on my face.”

Lena laughed at him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Lena: “It is natural to be nervous. I have tripped before. You at least have shoes with a low heel. If you fall, you simply get back up and keep moving.”

Alexander: “I don’t think that made me feel any better.”

Lena gave him another smile.

Lena: “All you have to do is walk Alexander. It will be over before you know it.”

Alexander gave her another warm smile and a side hug.

Alexander: “Well I am glad you are the one I am doing it with Lena.”

About that time the background music cut off and Artie’s voice was heard over the speaker system in the venue.

Artie: “Hello Tokyo! Thank you for joining us tonight! Is everyone having a good time?”

The crowd’s roar of pleasure and confirmation was almost overwhelming.

Artie chuckled into the microphone.

Artie: “We hope you like the gifts left for you on your seats. They include some very special gifts from a new partnership with Orion Luxury Watches. All of our male models will be sporting new designs that are a collaboration design just for this collection.”

The crowd once more roared in excitement and approval.

Artie paused before continuing.: “Tonight Enigma Lux is proud to welcome a new female suit designer to our label, Tetsuya Shindō! Please give our newest designer a warm welcome!”

Shindo smiled and waved at the crowd from Artie’s side.

Artie: “Enigma Lux is expanding our label to now include high end luxury suits for women. Shindo will be the primary designer in this new area. We certainly hope you will like what you see tonight!”

There was another loud response from the crowd and the flashes from cameras could be seen even through the heavy curtains used to block the backstage area from view.

Artie: “Tonight’s collection was inspired by some of the world’s most popular athletes from the world of antigravity racing. You will see some famous faces among our models this evening. The theme for tonight’s collection is ‘Luxury never goes out of style’. Please sit back and enjoy the show.”

Artie and Shindo bowed to the audience to another round of loud applause. Then the lights on the stage went out and they came back through the curtain. The stage lights came back up as the three male drummers took their place in front of the three huge Taiko drums. The drummers began softly and then as they amped up the volume on the drumming, Dorian and his model stepped out to begin the walk on the runway. The crowd went nuts. There was surprise and excitement and the flashes from cameras were nonstop. Dorian made it smoothly down the runway, escorting his model as she had her hand looped over his arm. He paused at the end of the runway and spun him and his model out to the side before they started back down the runway. The next set of models started down the runway. They passed each other in the middle of the runway. The fashion show continued smoothly; the drumming was a powerful musical backdrop. The beats were so powerful it was a physical sensation vibrating your body. The music and decor was a masterful nod to the past and culture of Japan and the present. There were oohs and awws heard from the crowd with each new look that came down the runway.

Paul and his model were cued to start their walk. Paul’s foot caught the curtain as he stepped out onto the stage. He recovered quickly and kept going like nothing happened even though the flashes from cameras had almost blinded him. As soon as Paul stepped onto stage there was another loud reaction from the crowd as they recognized him. His heart was racing the entire time though. When he and his model reached the end of the runway, they exchanged places and turned from side to side. He then took her hand and guided her back towards the stage entrance. He managed to make it backstage without any further incidents.

Alexander and Lena were last and were considered the show finale. Alexander was in a black tuxedo with black velvet lapels. The shirt was a white silk. It was paired with a black silk double breasted vest with a valkyrie in flight embroidered on the vest. Instead of a bow tie or tie, Artie had a winged valkyrie helm styled pin in gold where the bow tie would be. He was wearing a watch with a black band and gold face. He was wearing the black dress boots to complete his look. His hair was styled in fluffy waves. He looked sharp and powerful in the tuxedo. It accentuated his strong shoulders and slim waist.

Alexander and Lena were cued to begin their walk. Once again as soon as he and Lena stepped through the curtain there had been gasps of surprise and excitement from the crowd. Alexander kept walking even as the lights almost blinded him. Lena had her arm curled around his as he escorted her down the runway as if she was his date. When they reached the end of the runway, they paused to let the press get their photos. He spun Lena out to the side as they had practiced. When he pulled her back to him her heel slipped and she fell towards him. His quick reflexes caught her and made sure she had her footing again. She gave him a bright smile and looked up at him in gratitude. He smiled down at her. It might have looked rehearsed from the audience’s perspective. He held her hand up and waved towards Lena indicating the crowd should appreciate her lovely form. They then started back down the runway and made it past the curtain to the back area.

Artie and Shindo once more took to the stage. The audience was louder than ever in appreciative applause. Artie and Shindo walked down the runway together to the end. All the models followed them back out onto stage in reverse order. Putting Alexander and Lena standing on the end of the stage next to them. The others were lined up along the runway behind him. The drumming stopped once all the models were on stage.

Artie spoke into the microphone once more. “Please show your appreciation for Tetsuya Shindō!”

Shindo gave a bow to the appreciative audience and a wave.

Artie: “I want to thank Team Valkyrie AGR Sport for being willing to be models for this collection. They did a great job, didn't they?”

The audience was standing on their feet clapping and sharing their excitement.

Artie looked like he was in his element. He looked excited and satisfied. He waved back to the models.

Artie: “I also want to thank the models who walked in the show. We couldn’t do this without them.”

The models all took a bow on stage together.

Artie: “I want to thank you for joining Enigma Lux tonight. Team Valkyrie, Shindo, and I will be available for questions after we join you for the after party. In the meantime, please enjoy some champagne and small bites.”

At Artie’s introduction waiters carrying silver trays began to circulate through the crowd. The background music started back up again at a low volume. It added ambience without overwhelming conversation.

The other models left the stage. Alexander was reluctant to let Lena leave him but duty called. He felt more comfortable for some reason with her hand on his arm. His anxiety about being the center of attention seemed easier to handle. This was part of the contract work with Enigma Lux. Alexander was grateful that most of their obligations to this sponsor were able to be handled in one week. The endorsement deal had been rich enough that it was certainly worth it. Alexander, Paul, and Dorian joined Artie and Shindo at the foot of the stage where there was a set of steps down to the floor where the audience had been sitting.

---

Paul stepped down into the crowd of people who had come to the fashion show. He had two security guards with him. He found a spot along one wall near an emergency exit. His security wanted to be able to control how many people approached him. Paul just went with it. He did his best to conform to what security asked. He had found it made his life easier. Paul was quickly approached by what felt like a wave of reporters and people. He smiled and nodded to his security people who stood on either side of him and a little bit in front of him. They provided a human barrier so people couldn’t just grab him. The crowd formed up around them in a semicircle. Paul recognized some journalists. He had no clue who the other people were. Paul smiled and waited for the first questions.

A well dressed middle aged man asked him. “Would you mind turning for me? I would like to see the outfit from the back.”

Paul had been told on Thursday at practice that he might get questions like this from some of the buyers. So he assumed that was who this man was. Paul obliged the man and turned around. He could hear the small group behind him talking. The man’s voice continued. “Yes I love the detailing here and the fit is perfection. Of course I would expect nothing less from one of Artie’s designs.” A female voice almost purred “The fit is indeed exquisite.” Paul was back to feeling like a piece of meat on display. He would never again think models had an easy job. He turned back around and the middle aged man smiled at him. “Thank you Mr. Mulder.” Paul noticed that small groups of people were chatting and moving between Paul, Dorian, Alexander, Artie, and Shindo. They were also chatting in small groups as they enjoyed the champagne and food.

Dorian’s security had taken him to the wall opposite Paul. They wanted to spread people out. They set him up in the same manner as Paul’s team forming a human barrier and stop point with Dorian’s back to the wall. He had his own crowd around him in a semicircle fan around him. Dorian smiled as the crowd seemed to be inspecting him like an exhibit at the zoo. “Mr. Hornfleur how comfortable is the suit?” Dorian gave a genuine smile “The suit is very comfortable as are the other three I have from Artie. I feel I look very dashing. What do you think?” Dorian smiled at the man who had asked him and then turned around slowly modeling the suit from all sides. The man who had asked the question looked a little startled and then laughed. “The suit looks good on you Mr. Hornfleur.” Dorian grinned as he always loved getting a reaction out of a man even if he was straight.

Alexander was standing next to Artie. He had two security guards next to them. They were standing at the base of the steps by the stage. Alexander felt like a bug under a microscope as a large group of buyers and media converged on him and Artie. Alexander just stood there as people started to call out questions which Artie answered.

“Artie darling, this show was bellissimo! Just divine darling!”

Artie: “Thank you! I am very proud of how this collection turned out.”

“Are the fabrics eco friendly?”

Artie: “But of course! I only use eco friendly fabrics. Most of the fabrics in this collection are a blend of bamboo, cotton, linen, and silk. All natural sustainably sourced and recycled when possible. The leather products used are all sustainably and humanely sourced as well. If people are going to eat beef, then it makes sense to use their hide responsibly.”

“Can you tell us about the fit?”

Artie: “The slimmer detailing through the abdominal area modernizes the silhouette while a hidden placket in the back of the jacket and under the arms allows for a comfortable fit and a full range of motion.”

Alexander listened and was surprised at all the thought that had gone into his look. Artie continued to answer questions about how soon the fashion house would be taking orders for the new line. He was also asked if he was going to be offering more affordable versions for department stores. Alexander played model holding his arms out and turning around as requested as Artie explained something about what he was wearing. Alexander had relaxed since he himself didn’t seem to be the focus of the attention so much as what he was wearing was. He was slightly amused by that revelation. He was surprised when a question came his way out of the blue by one of the journalists attending the event.

“Mr. Knight, you seemed quite familiar with the model you escorted on the runway. Rumors are that you were seen having dinner with her on Tuesday evening. Are you dating?”

Alexander looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He shouldn’t be surprised but he had been completely blindsided by the question. He blushed crimson because he wanted to see Lena again. He really liked her but wasn’t sure he was ready for a relationship. He should have seen this coming after the harbor incident. He knew what the press was like. He should have thought to warn Lena about it over dinner. He had simply enjoyed her company. He had forgotten what it was like to be the subject of the media’s attention. How could he forget that after they gave him such a painful lesson? He waited to long answer and now there were cameras on him and flashes and the buzz from the crowd was getting louder as more questions came his way. A particularly close flash from a camera snapped him out of his shocked state. He did his best to push it off as if it was not an important question to him. He held up his hands to slow the reporters down and to quiet them down.

Alexander: “We are not dating. We just met this week as a matter of fact. The secret is out of the bag now. So I guess there is no harm in sharing this little bit of information. Yes we had dinner after a long day of work shooting the advertising campaign for Enigma Lux’s latest line.”

The reporters went nuts asking for her name and more details. Alexander smiled at them and shook his head.

Alexander: “I am not telling you anything more. Besides I am here to discuss the new line from Enigma Lux. Do you have any questions regarding Artie’s amazing work? I can say from experience that his suits are some of the most comfortable and stylish I have worn.”

Alexander smiled and tried to pour on the charm that he had once mastered so easily.

Artie laughed and bowed to Alexander with a pleased expression on his face.

Artie: “Yes Mr. Knight is correct. We are here to talk about fashion tonight.”

Alexander was grateful when Artie pulled the attention back off of him. He began to circulate through the crowd. He grabbed a glass of champagne and sipped it. He needed it to cool the anger and anxiety he was doing his best to hide. Eventually Paul and Dorian had joined them as the tone changed into more of a party. People mingled and talked about the fashion seen at tonight's show. Of course they gossiped as well.

Alexander spoke to the two of them with a low voice that wouldn’t carry past the two of them.

Alexander: “Does anyone else feel like a mannequin on display?”

Paul chuckled and nodded. “Oh yes. I will never think models have an easy job again.”

Dorian smiled looking positively giddy. “I have enjoyed all the attention and pampering. I wouldn’t mind working with more fashion designers. This has been a blast! I can’t believe how much I am getting paid for this.”

Alexander shook his head with a genuine smile on his face for the first time in a while this evening.

Alexander: “Well I am glad some of us are enjoying this public fishbowl. You make a good point though. I can’t complain too much for what they are paying us.”

Paul’s eyes glinted and there was a hint of mischief in his voice as he asked Alexander.

Paul: “Did the Tokyo police department decide to fine us for obstructing traffic in the harbor for what happened on Tuesday?”

Alexander flinched as that incident had been a pain to resolve. He had not known how bad it had gotten until after they were done with the photoshoot. Poor Katherine had waded into that one after being exhausted from a long day of riding herd on the three of them. He had heard from Leopold about the incident but he was amused by the whole thing instead of worried about it.

Alexander: “They requested that they be notified of the team’s itinerary in the future so they can plan accordingly. We were warned if other such incidents occur we would be paying for the clean up from it.”

Paul just smiled and took a sip of his champagne.

Paul: “That’s why they pay you the big bucks. Boss.”

Dorian just laughed at the look on Alexander’s face. Dorian couldn’t let the opportunity to tease Alexander go by since Paul had done it. He was competitive after all. Let’s see who got under his skin more?

Dorian: “I heard the reporter ask you if you were dating the model. Has anyone warned her that evidently there are pictures out there of you two having dinner together? You did warn her that she might find herself at the center of some media and fan attention right?”

Alexander froze and looked panicked for a moment. His head whipped around towards where the backstage area was. It had been a good hour since the show had ended. He wondered if Lena was still in the building. Alexander emptied his glass and handed it to one of the waiters. He nodded at Dorian and Paul before he mumbled a quick, “Excuse me.” Alexander quickly climbed the steps to the stage and headed towards the backstage area. He didn’t see Dorian and Paul laughing as he went through the curtain.

Dorian: “I should have bet money on his reaction. That was classic. Did you see how panicked he looked? He obviously didn’t think to tell her.”

Paul shrugged with a smile. “I admit that typically it wouldn’t be that big a deal. But unlike other Team Principals he seems to draw the press’ attention.”

Dorian nodded and looked around at the party. Dorian met Jeffrey’s eyes from across the room. Jeffrey was biting his bottom lip and watching Dorian with a knowing smile. Dorian gave him a smile back.

Dorian: “Well no one even batted an eye at Alexander leaving. Are you ready to get out of here? Or do you want to stay?”

Paul looked around to see who Dorian was trading looks with. He just laughed and shook his head. Dorian’s reputation as a flirt was well earned.

Paul: “I think I am going to leave. It looks like you will be occupied. I will see you on the plane tomorrow or Monday whichever comes first. Have fun.”

Paul just laughed and finished his drink and handed an empty glass to a waiter before taking the same route as Alexander.

---

Media

---

Vogue Europe: “The Enigma Lux Fashion House debuted its new line “Luxury never goes out of style” today in Tokyo. Artie Lux said that the inspiration for this collection came from anti-gravity racing. As part of the endorsement deal with Team Valkyrie AGR Sport, pilots Dorian Hornfleur and Paul Mulder were models in the show alongside team principal Alexander Knight. It was a bold move by Enigma Lux but Vogue Europe has to say we like the results from such inspiration. The collection felt fresh, new, and exciting which can be hard to accomplish with mens formal wear. We were particularly surprised by the inclusion of Alexander Knight but completely understood Artie Lux’s vision once we saw him on the runway.

[Image of Alexander Knight staring down at Lena at the end of the runway. The photo captures them under the lights of the runway. Alexander looked handsome, fit, and confident.]

In other announcements by the fashion house, Japanese designer Tetsuya Shindō will be designing a women’s line of luxury suits under the Enigma Lux label. The model paired with Knight on the runway showcased the new line by Shindō. Another bold move by the fashion designer was his choice to use an older model to showcase his finale design. We applaud this inclusion of older female models in runway work to truly highlight the diversity of women everywhere. Vogue Europe found Shindō’s work sexy and luxurious. It embodied everything we have come to associate with Enigma Lux’s brand. We look forward to seeing more from this up and coming designer.

[Closeup Image of Lena as she had been turned to the side at the end of the runway. It showed her leg extended through the slit in her pants when Alexander spun her out. The dynamic shot made her look sexy and powerful.]

There was also a rare collaboration for the collection between Enigma Lux and Orion Luxury Watches. The collaboration added a nice touch of technical artistry and luxury to the show. Orion’s exclusive collaboration line with Enigma Lux will be hitting retail shelves soon. You can get a sneak peak in our next edition of Vogue Europe!

---

People - “Jamaica Williams with People. People Magazine was invited to attend the Enigma Lux Fashion House runway show in Tokyo. Artie Lux revealed that his inspiration for the line was the athletes from anti-gravity racing. It is common for athletes to work as models for fashion designers. They usually don’t hit the runway with a designer. Team Valkyrie AGR Sport pilots Paul Mulder and Dorian Hornfleur strutted their way down the runway alongside their team principal Alexander Knight. The line was hot! The term silver fox applies to Alexander Knight!”

[Close up image of Alexander Knight at the end of the runway from the waist up.]

"The story doesn’t stop there though. Does Alexander Knight have a new lady in his life? Sources confirm that Knight was seen out to dinner with model Lena Bouras. Look at this picture of the two of them from the end of the runway during the show."

[Image of Alexander Knight holding Lena Bouras closely in his arms while he looks down at her with a smile. She is looking up at him with a smile. The image captured that there is chemistry between them.]

"When asked after the show if he was dating Lena, Alexander Knight denied that they were dating but did confirm that they had dinner together. He confirmed that they had worked together on the fashion line. Is this a budding romance? Will we be seeing more of the lovely Lena in the future? We will be watching to find out how the story ends. This has been Jamaica Williams with People.”

---

Valkyrie AGR Sport Headquarters

Monday April 8, 2094

Soundtrack: I Am Not Okay - Jelly Roll

Alexander had finally gotten back from Tokyo on Sunday. He had been pouring over applications and recommendations for new personnel. He had already interviewed a few key applicants that he was hoping to hire. The money Valkyrie had taken in from the Enigma Lux and Orion contracts would allow Alexander to begin hiring more engineers. The contract with Enigma Lux had proven extremely lucrative for Valkyrie. Artie was now going to design some team fan gear that would be put up for sale exclusively in Team Valkyrie’s online shop. Enigma Lux would get a percentage of all profits with the remainder going into Valkyrie’s coffers. Artie had been asked by some of the models on the set if he had thought about designing for Valkyrie’s fans. They had shown him what was currently available and he had been horrified by how generic and common the designs were. He immediately vowed to design the women some “classier” fan gear. Alexander just accepted it and signed on the dotted line after the lawyers looked it over. It was a good deal for Valkyrie since Enigma Lux had all the connections they needed to source design and manufacturing. Katherine had final say on approval of any designs that made it into production. Alexander had to admit that he had been a little skeptical about working with a fashion house as a sponsor but they were turning out to be a great sponsor.

Alexander was coming back to his office after meeting with Felix and Helga. They both had been in a second round of interviews with Dakota Ellis, Bastijin Velnaar, and Stephanie Mitsuyo. Felix was not sure Stephanie was a good fit for Valkyrie AGR. He pointed out that she had no experience with ELS systems. Alexander argued that her broader expertise in electrical engineering might be what they needed. She was an expert in electrical efficiency and conductors. Alexander’s argument was that they were looking to build new systems not recreate what they already had. Helga had liked Stephanie’s knowledge of materials. The interviews had taken about 3 hours. They had flown the candidates in for the interviews.

Alexander was still a little surprised at how easily so many of the employees had accepted his leadership at Valkyrie. He got good mornings and smiles from almost everyone he ran into these days. There were still those who were not his biggest fans but they had learned not to voice their feelings too loudly. Alexander knew they were still spies working for some of the board among the staff. He didn’t mind them having their minions as long as they didn’t interfere or harm morale.

Alexander paused as he stepped into the section of the building where his office was located. Mabel’s desk sat just outside his office door and had a small waiting area with seating. Mabel was sitting with Arianna in the seating area on a couch. They were looking at something on a tablet together and laughing.

Mabel: “Oh my look at this one!”

Mabel chortled gleefully.

Arianna giggled. “Paul looks like a puffed up peacock.”

Mabel swiped her hand and smiled with a nod.

Mabel: “Dorian looks classy and elegant.”

Arianna snickered as she swiped the screen and burst out laughing.

Arianna asked Mabel: “Should I be worried this is going to be my new step mom?”

Mabel snorted as she replied. “I doubt it. At least it looks like he finally remembered he is a man. That doesn’t mean he remembers how to date.”

Arianna giggled as she replied.

Arianna: “Mabel, my father is a smart man. He can learn new things. Maybe I should contact Lena and drop the hint that he might need some remedial training. He certainly looks interested in this photo.’

Arianna smiled and wiggled her eyebrows at Mabel.

Mabel just laughed. “Well I did hear through the rumor mill that he asked her to dinner. The press got a hold of the rumor as well. People magazine is speculating about it. The Enigma Lux and Orion ads are live now. After all the press from Tokyo and the advertising coming out over the weekend, it seems that’s all the internet is talking about.”

Alexander could feel the heat of the blush in his face. The tips of his ears felt like they were on fire. What the hell do those photos look like? Katherine had sworn to him that they were tasteful and appropriate. Alexander stormed over to where the two women were sitting. He leaned over and plucked the tablet out of their hands even as Mabel and Arianna verbalized surprise and protest.

Mabel: “What the….”

Arianna: “Hey!”

Alexander stared down at the picture on the tablet. It was a picture of Alexander looking down at Lena on the rooftop in Tokyo. Her hands were under his shirt pushing it open. The image was very provocative suggesting she was helping him lose his shirt. There was obvious sexual tension between the two of them in the photo. He looked like he was about to eat Lena alive. His hands were on her hips pulling her into him. The slogan across the bottom of the image read “Enigma Lux and Orion, luxury never goes out of style.” Alexander didn’t look bad in the picture. He looked like an attractive powerful man who was about to drag a beautiful woman off to his hotel room for some bedroom gymnastics. Alexander didn’t recognize himself in the image. He felt like he was looking at a stranger wearing his face. He didn’t see himself that way. It felt like he was looking at someone else. Alexander kept scrolling through the tablet to see that the pictures were everywhere. The campaign had launched this morning evidently. They were all over internet ads, fashion magazines, and digital billboards. He groaned as he found out that the campaign was trending on gossip sites and in the media.

Alexander couldn’t believe which picture that they decided to plaster all over some of the largest digital billboards around the world. Not to mention the image they chose for the campaign. Alexander was not embarrassed about it but more uncomfortable about the image. It dredged up a whole lot of feelings and confusion that had everything to do with the hateful words of his ex-wife. He was very self conscious of his arms and the scars he had. The scars on his arms were not seen in the photos. He also was not sure what to say to Arianna about the photos. People who knew him would see that photo. The photo screamed yes let’s have sex and exuded raw masculinity in a powerful way. It was a side of Alexander’s personality that had been kept under wraps and dormant for a long time.

It was not a comfortable topic for Alexander. He had avoided dating and relationships since he had divorced Candace. Paul had flings when he had been racing but they had been meaningless easy hook ups. They had not meant anything to him. Women made it easy for him. He had been careful about accepting those offers. He always made sure they understood it was a one time thing. He had always been discrete for Arianna’s sake. How did you respond to someone in a professional setting who broke out with “I saw your picture in (add publication and source here). Nice photo.” Did you just say Thank you? He would just ignore it and hope it goes away but he just knew it wasn’t going away anytime soon. He groaned and handed the tablet back to Mabel.

Alexander: “Arianna…. I had wanted to talk to you about those before you saw them. I …”

Arianna giggled and then turned to look at her father. When she saw his tortured face, she rose to her feet carefully and moved around the couch to face him. She carefully laid her hand on his arm and gave a gentle squeeze. She gave him a warm understanding smile.

Arianna: “What is it dad? Are you worried that you look like you have a sex life? I never really thought about it before because you never seemed to be dating. I assumed you had a sex life though. Not that I need to know about it. We are both adults, dad.”

Alexander was blushing scarlet as he looked down at his daughter. All he could see was that little girl in braids who had always looked at him like he was her hero. He had a hard time resolving that image with the young woman that stood before him. Alexander brushed a stray hair away from her cheek to tuck behind her ear. He met her eyes but it was hard.

Alexander: “The pictures don’t embarrass you?”

Arianna just laughed thinking he was joking at first. Then she saw how serious he was. She caught the fear and embarrassment in his eyes. Arianna stopped and tilted her head to one side. Arianna’s voice was cautious as she asked him.

Arianna: “Dad, why would you think I would be embarrassed?”

Alexander frowned and looked away. His arms crossed across his chest as his automatic emotional defenses kicked in as he tried to turn any attention away from him. Alexander did not do a good job of hiding his emotions as his voice came out flat and cold. He avoided answering her question by deflecting.

Alexander: “I just didn’t want to be an embarrassment to you.”

In Alexander’s head he was reliving all the hateful words he had endured from the woman who he had once sworn to share his life with and love till death parted them. He was drowning in all those feelings he had of not being good enough. That he was not a man deserving of love. That was scarred and damaged goods.

Arianna watched her father’s emotional retreat and didn’t quite understand it. She did understand that he saw something different than her. Her brow wrinkled in concern. She leaned over and grabbed the tablet from Mabel. Arianna had the tablet project the image above it in a hologram form.

Arianna: “Dad what do you see?”

Alexander didn’t look at the tablet. He growled out irritably.

Alexander: “A beautiful woman who deserves a better man than the one holding her.”

Arianna’s face looked surprised and sad.

Arianna: “Dad! No! Really look at it.”

She shook the tablet at him trying to get him to look.

Arianna: “I see this proud powerful amazing man that is my father rejoining the dating pool. It looks like you are really connecting with this model. I was hoping that you were moving on. You know, mom’s not right about you Dad?”

Alexander was surprised by his daughter’s words and he searched her face in confusion.

Alexander: “What do you mean by that Arianna?”

Arianna moved in to hug her father from the side as she spoke.

Arianna: “Dad, you have always been there for me. You always put me first. You are the man I measure all men by and you are the best man I know. How can you not be good enough? Are you hearing Candace’s voice in your head? She didn’t always hide how she felt about you. I have heard her degrading remarks about how you are not a whole man anymore. Besides if mom was right about you then she is right about me. Maybe I didn’t deserve to live.”

Alexander looked alarmed at that and was shaking his head no.

Alexander: “No.. No Arianna. Never believe that.” He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight.

Arianna sighed and hugged him back. She spoke with conviction, not giving him any room to argue with her.

Arianna: “Then the same goes for you, dad. Candace is not right about you. You deserve to have a personal life. You are a good man. If you want to date, then date. I thought you just didn’t want to introduce me to your dates. So you kept that part of your life hidden. I want you to be happy, dad. I don’t like the idea of you being all alone. Promise me you will talk to your therapist about this?”

Alexander sighed knowing he had just lost this argument.

Alexander: “I will think about it.”

Arainna stepped back and glared at her father.

Arianna: “That’s not good enough. Promise me!”

Alexander sighed as he dropped his head.

Alexander: “I will mention our conversation about dating.”

Arianna knew that was the best she was going to get from him. She sighed and handed Mabel back her tablet.

Mabel just smiled knowingly.

Mabel: “I will be sure to remind him before his next appointment.”

Alexander looked over at Mabel with a frown.

Alexander: “I am going to my office where I won’t be ganged up on!”

Mabel: “Do you really think the door would stop me?”

Mabel’s laughter followed him all the way to his office as he shut the door. Alexander dropped into his desk chair and pulled up his tablet. He looked at the ad once again and tried to study the photo objectively. He was ironically grateful that Arianna was not embarrassed about the photo and had cornered him about it. He had to admit to himself that was not what he saw when he looked at that photo. He had taken the chance in Tokyo to ask Lena to have dinner with him. He didn’t know if it was the circumstances of how he had met her or if there was just something special about her. But he had enjoyed her company without guilt and self recrimination. It was the first time since before he had met Candace that he had not felt so self conscious with a woman. He had been very comfortable with her. He had learned that she had been a model for a very long time. She still made a living as a model but most of her work was now for online retailers. It was catalog work. She rarely got to do high end fashion modeling anymore. Older female models were simply not in demand. Women wanted to look younger, not older. He had learned that she had gotten into modeling because she had wanted to travel and see the world and she loved fashion. He had also learned she didn’t like seafood and had a weakness for chocolate. Her favorite color was blue. She was passionate about environmental restoration and loved to run. He wanted to see her again but old insecurities had been running around his head. Maybe Arianna was right and he should talk to the therapist.

---

Social Media

Official Valkyrie AGR Sport Team @TeamValkyrieAGR

Check out the new designs from Enigma Lux and Orion Luxury Watches modeled by Team Valkyrie Pilots Paul Mulder and Dorian Hornfleur and Team Principal Alexander Knight.
[link to Enigma Lux and Orion websites]

---

OfficeDrone#12: I didn’t know Knight had it in him. #SilverFox
SuperfanAGR54: It's an ad endorsement. So what? All the pilots get them.
DantheMan: Can we get back to talking about racing?
Superfan2075: Why is the internet losing its mind over this?
DadBod89: What is the big deal? The guy posed for a picture. So he has before when he was a racer.
Hater101: Don’t care about the ads. Can we get back to the fact that he is not doing a very good job?
Papabear34: I wouldn’t mind posing in his place. Wow!
Nana2050: Knight still has it ladies. Look at those abs!
GeorgeFly: I would rather hear what is doing to help solve the issues Valkyrie is facing. They didn’t do so great in Tokyo.
ValkyrieFan56: They all look good. I am excited to see what kind of fan gear Enigma Lux produces.
Weedhead81: Damn man. I hope I look that good when I get old.
SexyM@m@5: Dorian looks classy and sexy.
Paulmulder4eva: Oh I love that blue. It brings out Paul’s eyes.
Britball12: #knightfail I would rather hear he has a plan to help Valkyrie win more races.
BatDave: I am Batman!
!YouSlow!: Can we please get back to the racing?
xImFasterthanUx: Knight should be focusing on his job as team principal not shaking his a$$ for the camera.
AGInthusiast: Well not sure why everyone is talking about this. It is an ad campaign of guys wearing fancy suits. Can we move on?
micheal650004: Dorian looks hot! Call me!
AGR4life: #EnigmaLuxFire
ieatAGR: Can we find out what Alexander is doing to support the team?
Weedhead81: @AriannaKnight Still waiting on your call.
Bertha: Man I would do ungodly things to those boys!

---

“Why Hyeon-Ae, is that a marriage proposal… already? Don’t we have to be married before I can enjoy the honeymoon? I can’t deny that I did enjoy chasing you around the track at Cape Town.”

Hyeon-Ae had been mollified by his retort, her usual high-speed reaction and wit now finding itself tangled and unsuited for combat. Instead she hid behind her glass and a mysterious smile, content - no, desperate - to keep her position with some dignity and not risk a misstep with a comment too many.

And that is how she remained, politely indulging with the other pilots in a more aloof and elegant manner, mainly backing up Cassie with confident remarks or trivia about Japan. She didn't forget however, and through the laughs and the buzz, she gave Paul the occasional glance.

---

”Seven-four-nine improvement on Cassie's time. Estimating sixth to ninth before final results. Well done.” the radio crackled in her ear as the machine began to power down.

Hyeon-Ae took the moments after the qualifier ended to breathe out, letting adrenaline settled as a combination of autocorrection and mild steering brought the craft back into the pit. A few minutes of breathing and thinking later she was climbing out of the vehicle, detached from her metallic outer shell to rejoin the world of normal human beings.

“Not the first time you push metrics to the brim,” Lead Engineer Zhou remarked as she unclasped her helmet and allowed herself to breathe fresh air again. “Starting to think you don't need us to juice that thing.”

Hyeon-Ae smiled tersely and handed the helmet off before lifting her arms to get help with the suit from two engineering interns. ”Don't be crass, Yijin ssi. You think I'd get that grease, oil and plastic foil all over me? she remarked with a tone that was all venom.

Despite the worried glances of the interns warily handling her return to humanity and overhearing them, Zhou laughed a dry, throaty chuckle. “Too true. Can't have our pretty princess getting dusty.”

”If there's dust in there someone is getting fired.” she snapped back, and the two exchanged glances for a good while as she was freed from the last of the racing gear, and they shared a humoured, minimal smirk. ”Did Cassie ssi already leave?” she asked after the interns began to scurry away in muted panic, and the man shook his head and gestured towards the connected lounge nestled by the Tokyo pit. Hyeon-Ae gave the older engineer a pat on the shoulder as she passed and headed straight for the lounge. So long as none of the remainers pulled a strange time and lodged themselves in between, they had a real opportunity tomorrow.

---

Beyond the high-tech advanced glitz of the immediate paddock, where systems maintenance and repair work required equipment that looked a single step removed from magic to the uninitiated, lay the crew lounge. Prepared presumably to fill building code requirements and decorated with a highly utilitarian mindset, it could have passed for the stage of net office drama in comparison to the hypermodern garage next door.

The mood was quiet and peaceful, something that changed to mild tension the moment Hyeon-Ae stepped inside. The blue sheen of Neves’ eyes shone up briefly from the couch, before they darted back down to the touchpad in her hands. Hyeon-Ae for her sake made an effort to take her time, stepping over to the drinks machine to order a cold coffee shot. She patiently waited, like a lazy cat pretending to ignore the mouse. In truth, she knew enough about her teammate now to know she would find the silence unnerving. A petty power play, her uncle would have called it.

Eventually - a little earlier than expected - Cassie gave in and broke the silence first. “Beat me by a hair,” she offered with a wry grin, though Hyeon-Ae could read the anxious gaze that followed with it. As soon as they exchanged glances, Hyeon-Ae completed her idle patrol of the room and moved to sit down. “Fair enough, yeah? Things keep on like this, I'm overtaking you by Portugal.”

Hyeon-Ae offered a placid smile to humor the Portuguese pilot. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she measured up her designated ally and rival. ”You think it's the machine?”

The augmented pilot waved her hand dismissively, tapping a few times on the screen before turning it to show Hyeon-Ae; schematics and mathematics in Korean. Terse instructions and scheduling. “Let's call it home field advantage. Can't deny there's a difference in handholding between us.”

”I'm marketable. My ‘bride price’ was high. It makes sense they'll try and get some guarantees for return on their investment,” Hyeon-Ae offered back with practiced, arrogant calmness. ”And, the old roots at the top are probably xenophobes.”

She offered a previously ordered metal can of iced coffee to Cassie, and the more fiery pilot hesitantly leaned forward to accept the gift. “Hoping I'll throw in the towel, then? I'm no coward. Even when the ref is paid off.” Cassie muttered as she cracked open the recycled metal canister.

”No. I like to win-”

“No kidding…”

”But…” Hyeon-Ae continued a little louder, otherwise not rising to the taunt. ”I also hate losing. That includes my team and my people. I prefer you winning over the others. So, my wish is for us both to come together and show them the power of Zygon's women.”

A few moments of silence, before Cassie sipped at the iced coffee. “That's so fucking cheesy.”

The two women chuckled together, and for a while there was a little less tension.

---

"Han, you seem to be impressing the pundits and spectators, pushing that Zygon craft higher than perhaps some are saying it should have been from the data says. Yourself and Cassie are stacked together in 7th and 8th. Do you think you can keep the pace up in the race?”

”Well, it is important to me. This race, I mean. Tokyo is such a beautiful city and means much both to me and my fans around the mainland.” Hyeon-Ae offered with an elegant smile. She took a few moments to straighten her posture and smooth out an imagined crease on her pants. ”Racing alongside Cassie will bring out the full potential of the team. Tomorrow we are a force to be reckoned with.”

---

Han Hyeon-Ae @HHA:Zygon:
Seems you'll be chasing me again. Enjoy, @ValkyriePaul.

Han Hyeon-Ae @HHA:Zygon:
City lights bloom bright,
Garden of color and hope,
City's vernal glow.

---

Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.

The zoom of engines and the high-pitched whine of anti-gravity adjusters overwhelmed her senses as vehicles went from zero to ludicrous speed in seconds. She´d ran the track in her head countless times, even more in simulations, and had a strategy talk with Cassie. Going into the race, she was confident. Owing to her latest performances, it was fair to say that she was better than the machine allowed. She was compensating for hardware, rather than the other way around. The first and last sections were the hardest on the Zygon machine, and the straights were simply a fact of blocking to keep others tightly stuck behind her and Neves. A fair few of them would crush them in a straight duel of speed, so playing offensive on defense, as it were, was the prime strategy.

The meld of machine and human felt almost natural for once; Han sped along the track with a flighty sensation like that of a bird soaring over the ground. She felt like she was entering a trance, where she was less picking up incoming turns, areas to push the machine, encroaching drivers, more merely being aware of it all and making adjustments as necessary. A spider playing puppet master from the center of its net, knowing all around her without much effort. That feeling was not to last more than the first handful of laps however - like a carefully stacked house of cards, it only took the singular push of a well-meaning observer to throw her out of her zone.

”Ulrich´s making a push on Cassie. She´s dwindling.” her radio crackled, pulling her attention back to reality for the first time proper. Her body tensed and the craft responded, pulling her out of her solo-game of energy compensation optimization to pay attention to what happened behind her.

”Ulrich and Paul behind you.” her radio engineer warned not long after. Hyeon-Ae´s knuckles whitened as they gripped the joystick. Not enough that Cassie had nipped at her position earlier in the race, now she let the dogs into their walled garden.

Ulrich was an opponent that Hyeon-Ae did not relish fighting. Her chipping and feinting seemed to wither under his tireless ELS draining, and whatever mild counters she threw seemed only a third as effective as she´d hoped. The man was a king of wearing opponents down, and Han´s usual game of staying on the razor's edge of what the machine was capable of to eke out her own kind of advantage was critically weak to any excess losses of energy. He forced her to drive conservatively - putting the motor under less strain, putting less energy into trying to speed away. It wasn´t enough. Her flagging speed and the drawn-out energy battle made her craft feel outright sluggish compared to what she was used to. Ulrich sling-shot past her in a maneuver Hyeon-Ae might have appreciated if she wasn't busy being furious. She muted the incoming radio call preemptively, and tried to focus on regaining her position - but Ulrich was already putting enough distance between them to keep her solidly at bay, and Paul was biting at her heels only seconds after Ulrich passed. So she focused on defense yet again.

Paul was a good opponent. The frustration blended with the pure focus of keeping him at bay. She felt the battle was in his favor - the hard turns were brutal on her machine and Paul was keeping speed far better out of every corner. Still, she put all her focus on keeping him back, intentionally slowing down harder to force him to decelerate in corners when he was right behind, and other tricks she could think of in the heat of the moment to eke out whatever advantage she could. The pressure mounted when Cassie failed to keep Ward back as well. In the end, it wasn´t enough. Paul put his superior momentum to good use and literally spun over her with the help of his surroundings. She didn't see it coming, and though she felt the bitter hopelessness of losing a position, inwardly she was impressed with the sheer audacity of the move. The superior handling of his craft meant she had to give up trying to win back her position every time they took a corner. It was brutal - something she´d failed to foresee during the simulations.

A cheeky Brit snuck up right behind her soon after, Bea eager to have her go at the defeated Korean driver. ”No, you ******* don´t!” Hyeon-Ae burst out in sheer frustration, and put the last of her spare energy into recovering her craft´s poise after having been roundly outplayed by Paul. Bea an unpredictable driver - a formidable opponent on its own for someone who puts pressure on weak points like Hyeon-Ae. In her ear, her radio engineer cut in something unnecessary about Jamie and Cassie dueling; Han was entirely focused on not losing another position. Sheer teeth-gritting willpower and focus went into keeping the slower Zygon machine in the lead - body-blocking, whipping sideways, and shield-screeching bumps were overflowing from her arsenal as Hyeon-Ae did all she could to keep Bea from utilizing her Carrera-engine’s speed and acceleration to its full potential, trying to box her into having no good options no matter what she tried. The more unstable Carrera craft worked in Hyeon-Ae´s favor for a long time here; moves that barely bothered Paul and Ulrich threatened to destabilize Bea unless she corrected. It was a vicious back-and-forth battle, one that Hyeon-Ae - who had spent most of the race being frustrated and angry - would probably admit she enjoyed when she calmed down.

Her dreams were crushed late into the race, when an overcorrection to the right after a corner gave Bea the opening she needed, and with an undefended straight ripe for the taking - the British pilot shot past Hyeon-Ae like she was late for dinner.

When Han made it into the finish, the energy was thoroughly drained from both her and the machine. Tenth place was not bad, but it wasn't what anyone had wanted. Not the fans, not the investors, not the board, not her. It felt like defeat. And she had been so confident going in.

---

Hyeon-Ae stood silent as she awaited the incoming question post-race, fighting internally to keep the displeasure and bad taste from the race overtake her expression. Fortunately, she was good at putting on an aloof front. When Bea came to shake her hand, she found herself able to smile rather easily despite it all. Perhaps the British gal´s friendliness was just infectious.

”That was some lovely defense. Had me sweating until the last moment.”

”Lovely driving to you, Ward. Congratulations.” she responded as politely as she could, trying her best not to be salty near the cameras.

The mild elation of being recognized for your efforts didn't last long after Bea left, as Hyeon-Ae awaited the unyielding approach of Aurora - the doom of controlled marketing.

"Han, you bagged a point but it seems like it wasn't the best race for you or your team-mate, even in spite of your ELS knowledge, it looked like you couldn't defend from Beatrix, Ulrich and Paul today. Where do you think yourself and the team could have done better?”

”Firstly it would be important to acknowledge what a race some others on the track had; truly remarkable. For the team, I would say there needs to be a bigger conversion of plans to results - everyone was not on the same page for today, and that came through in our on-track performance.” Hyeon-Ae rattled off with a soft smile, putting on the demure air of dignity that implied she was not truly the one at fault, but took the hit for those-who-shall-remain-unnamed.

---

Exxalibur: Betrayed by her teammate and disappointed by her lacking team
Exxalibur: Don´t worry Hyeon-Ae my queen I still believe you are the best
Exxalibur: [IMAGE UPLOAD BLOCKED; INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT]
[User: Exxalibur has been timed out by auto-moderation.]
Zygonite: bro chill
Zygonite: bit of a shit race honestly
Zygonite: [i]idk wtf cassie was doing[i]
Classie0: hyeonae should be ashamed of her name with that performance
WyteNyte: What does her name mean?
Zygonite: wisdom
WyteNyte: She wisely gave up her position to better racers.
Classie0: lol
Zygonite: lol

---

She could have used Zygon´s funds for this - but following the results of the latest race, doing it on her own (her uncle´s) dime turned out to be a maneuver of great prescience. No doubt the accountants back at headquarters would find a way to complain about throwing anything after the race otherwise. They did like to whine over every won. No. Paying for it herself was the correct choice. That meant no Zygon goons stood over her shoulder trying to correct her, no analysis cutting the evening short. She could spend it all destressing.

She had sent a mysterious message in the collective group chat for drivers. Implying that she´d make good on her promise, and an address. The address led here: a local nightclub in the Shibuya district that Hyeon-Ae had leased the entire VIP section of, and paid for a healthy supply of drinks to be brought up to people´s specifications. To a limit, anyway. Further, she´d taken the time to use both her name and Zygon´s to invite a couple handful of celebrities who were all too keen to rub shoulders with drivers in a more informal capacity. A few others as well, friends of friends and people from the club below who looked hot. And Cassie of course, who dusted off her disappointment to live the high-life for an evening.

In truth, Hyeon-Ae had never hosted an event that fell in the afterwork category. Knowing the background of other pilots, she hoped this was enough. For her own sake, she parked herself on a big couch and tried to inspire others to talk. She wasn't much in the mood to celebrate, but people-watching? That was always interesting.

---

---

“Date: November 11th, 2058. Subject 5-01 has been extracted at 0300 hours, presenting fully formed with no immediate defects. Achieved 38% on the benchmarks within the first 12 hours in accordance with projections. Initial motor function tests met all targets. Mental suppression in-range, with acceptable deviations in stress tests as per the new specifications. Subject is cleared for Phase 1.”

---

---

From the moment the track went green, Kais went for it, and went for it hard. And it was exhilarating. The connection, the rush. He hugged close to Amy’s ship and rumbled a “COME ON!” in chorus with his engine. His race engineer called over the comms. “Stay focused. Don’t forget to breathe. You're doing great.” “Acknowledged!”

Kais wasn’t sure how long he had forgotten to blink his eyes -his actual eyes- amidst the blur of data streaming in. Still, he crept closer and closer. Could almost count the frequency of Amy’s engines, see the shifts in her handling by the waveforms in the LiDAR at which the rain’s droplets settled behind her pulse drive bank…

“Amy’s only got a point-eight delta. Stay with her, and keep up the pressure on the ELS. DON’T PUSH until you see that opening, you’re almost there!”

An opening, he said… There was nothing. Impossible. It was like Amy cut him off before he even properly started his move. The struggle was infuriating. Still, he could not give up. Would not give up. Keep breathing. Watching over telemetry his race engineers would have seen the steam sizzle off the drive core, the veins in Kais’ forehead pulsate, his muscles twitch in their exertion and sensorimotor stimulation, his eyes blood-shot, shimmering, but steady.

Robot Corner swung by. Then, on the C2 highway, just halfway down the tunnel under Shinbamba, along the left side of the wall, the slightest angle: “THERE!” And the ELS system fired into action. The strips of neon blue light on the sides of his ship faded back as all their energy was dumped straight into the drive core, shooting him out into the distance. And though it boosted him to over 160 m/s, the moment itself felt as if in slow-motion, and as he cut by her with surgical precision, he hoped with a great fiery passion that it would’ve felt the same for Amy too.

He pushed the pulse drive for all it was worth, felt his ship rattle and whine with pure intoxicating power, and Shinbamba tunnel roared. Again.

And again.

And again.

Until at last…

---

Kais gasped and all tension left his body as the checkered flag flew and he crossed over into the cooldown lap. His breathing labored and shaky, he punched the padding of the canopy in pure release. The race engineers said something over the radio, but it was almost inaudible over his redout, and as he drifted his ship into Parc Fermé, he looked at the holographic tag at P1, and saw his name... Kais. And for the briefest moment, it was a good thing there were no cameras inside his helmet.

He climbed out of the padded, form-fitted coffin that was the racer’s canopy, or, no, not a coffin, not anymore, it felt like something else. Or at least the start of it, maybe… His hands trembled as he climbed down the disembarking steps. In the adrenaline-endorphine rush, he barely registered the weigh-in, the noise of the outside, the cheers, Farouk and Omar patting his back at the team area, helping take off the safeties and contraptions that were his gold-colored helmet; the medical team checking his temperature and pupils; Layla coming in for the quickest, brightest-smiled hug, her gold augments hot, her caramel skin, like his, drenched in sweat, then being rushed off to her ice bath; and then that whining migraine…

---

"Told you I'd be back. Right track, right time."

“...” Kais said, nodding. He watched his hands starting to calm down, and he dared to drink a sip of water. He sat back and watched, still in a sense of shock, as the holographic replay showed Amy’s fall from P1, to P2, to P3, in glorious HD 3D. So victory felt like a haze...?

Then, as they were ushered into the tunnel Amy spoke to him. The race was not over yet, it seemed.

"Not bad at all. Kais, fair play to you though. Pushing on like that.....I wonder if you were flying through your neural dampers or something, pushing that glass cannon that hard!"

For a fraction of a second Kais was taken aback, wondering how she could possibly know about their mods. An infiltrant? Or maybe… Takes one to know one, huh? “Speak for yourself.” He said, with a glance that meant business more than congratulations. “I guess pushing like that, risking it all does get foreign quickly, on the comfort of the top step. Just remember: a glass cannon can shatter a glass castle. You came in third today, Amy. And I’m not done yet.” Then he made space to the front of their little queue. “After you…”

---

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as the three approached the tunnel’s end and the roar of the crowd grew louder.

And louder, as one by one, they were called upon the podium. Amy, Astrid, and him.

And louder. Hands behind his back, he couldn’t help pinching at his palms as the podium ceremony took its course. Standing on the top step, being in those bright white spotlights for the first time, he felt bare for all to see. Bare for all to see. The Egyptian-Arabic Union’s anthem played. Non-alcoholic champagne sprayed -some of it strategically aimed at certain people amongst the crowd, and a defiant forefinger -number one- was raised towards the cameras and into the air as the three of them stepped off. Amy. Astrid. And him...

Was this it?

Off-podium, he fell silent as Astrid gave him the brightest hug. Then Beatrix came up to him with another bright smile. Kais still wasn’t very used to the attention, and reflexively wondered if she was brave or mad indeed… Whatever may have been the case, she paid back Jamie today, and that, Kais thought, certainly deserved a very hearty handshake.

“Good show tonight. Keep her honest, make her shake in her boots a little.”

“Same to you, Beatrix, keeping Jamie in line like that.” He said. “Here’s to booting Amy off the podium in Italy, huh?”

---

After the ceremony, the fan photos, the press pushing in on him for their soundbites and hot takes, Kais rushed back to the AS paddock for debriefing. There, Paul Mulder intercepted him, congratulated him, passed him a sportsdrink, then almost bounced off Kais' frame when he slapped his shoulder. All very much to Kais’ slight bewilderment.

“Thanks…”

Who let Paul in here…?

---

Even in the rainy nights the lights were too bright. Aurora too.

“Kais, what a race! Your very first P1 and what a way to lay down a marker, it looks like you came within a tenth of a second of the circuit record on Lap 5! How are you feeling after that incredible effort and your first win?”

“Thanks, Aurora, it was a difficult fight: Amy, the track itself, the ship. But it’s…” A sigh. “Listen, sometimes there are moments you just can’t give up. Shouldn’t give up. You keep pushing, even when you're outmatched. And then, when it finally happens… It’s… I don’t know… I’m knackered.” Aurora laughed a little.

“And, I mean, this race only was one step forward. I’ll keep going. Keep moving on.” He nodded. That he would indeed.

“But yeah, it felt… What? What did it feel like? Like a weight off his shoulders? No, no, things were only just beginning. The real fight had only just begun. And he was a target now. Overwhelming, then? Not that either. Just more things to be done. What did it feel like? “I’m happy with it, I think...” A small, wavering smile came over his face as, in the background, the team started getting rowdy for celebrations. “Yeah… That’s it…”

---

At the back of the Al Saqr paddock, Team Principal Omar Hayawi stood and looked over Salma Nasri’s shoulders as the Chief Medical Officer and her team discussed and replayed the neural and bodily telemetry of the race.

Tampering with neural dampeners was a dangerous game, no matter how much the ship’s AIs had the tendency to err on the side of caution and convention. Over-stimulating the brain could have dire consequences, and the whole thing was still in too experimental a phase for Nasri’s tastes to be used in an actual race, and with these weather conditions no less! Their pilots may have had their genetic and technological mods to offset the brunt of it and to slip its telemetric signatures by the scrutineers for now, but not past her…

She scrolled back and forth over the race’s most difficult moments, where Kais had requested more fine-grained data and control from the neural data rate-limiters, and of those moments there were quite a few. She remained silent, and without a doubt, very judgmental. The reflection of her eyes in the holo-glass said it all.

“Do you think they can keep this up?” Omar finally asked. The doctor threw her hand up at the screen. Didn’t even sigh. “I don’t know, Omar. I’ll speak with them, and the engineers.”

---

RuthTruther: "Ex-supersoldier on the podium? More like cheating with all those mods. Come on, where are calls for protests now?"
GoldApex: "First win, huh? That’s cute. One race doesn’t make a champ, bud."
RadNad74: “Noo Layla down to 6? :(”
IHartRacing: “Okay, so Kais won this time, but what happened with Jamie Hart? Anything going on at Apex? Even Amy’s falling back. #❤️ForHart”
NitroNorasArmy: “Kais did great, but Nora’s going back on that podium in Italy, calling it now.”
ValkFansUnite: “Meanwhile I’m here praying Valkyrie can get back on track next race. Knight, bro, what's going on?”
ZygonSupporterL33t: “Zygon is getting closer too. Hyeon-Ae and Cassie are going to give everyone a run for their money next race. #ZygonPower”
TIE_Fighter: “I got you. You have my support, brother.”

---

"Tonic water, there, the middle one." Kais said. He had raised a hand in greeting as he entered, then he had made a beeline towards the bar. And there, he stood and breathed for a while.

Come. The fight was done. Time to enjoy the butterflies... Right?

---

Soundtrack: Jasper Tygner - Deny It

She could have used Zygon´s funds for this - but following the results of the latest race, doing it on her own (her uncle´s) dime turned out to be a manoeuvre of great prescience. No doubt the accountants back at headquarters would find a way to complain about throwing anything after the race otherwise. They did like to whine over every won. No. Paying for it herself was the correct choice. That meant no Zygon goons stood over her shoulder trying to correct her, no analysis cutting the evening short. She could spend it all destressing.

She had sent a mysterious message in the collective group chat for drivers. Implying that she´d make good on her promise, and an address. The address led here: a local nightclub in the Shibuya district that Hyeon-Ae had leased the entire VIP section of, and paid for a healthy supply of drinks to be brought up to people´s specifications. To a limit, anyway. Further, she´d taken the time to use both her name and Zygon´s to invite a couple handful of celebrities who were all too keen to rub shoulders with drivers in a more informal capacity. A few others as well, friends of friends and people from the club below who looked hot. And Cassie of course, who dusted off her disappointment to live the high-life for an evening.

In truth, Hyeon-Ae had never hosted an event that fell in the afterwork category. Knowing the background of other pilots, she hoped this was enough. For her own sake, she parked herself on a big couch and tried to inspire others to talk. She wasn't much in the mood to celebrate, but people-watching? That was always interesting.

And with a bit of nightlife, Cassie had dragged herself on, in spite of the fact. Celebrities, from the snowboarding, two-time X-Games winning champion that was Merlin Potter, to other J-Pop and K-Pop celebrities were in attendance, the vibes absolutely living it down. And well, it was nice to mingle, holding a glass of champagne, in the midst of it, Max, Ulrich, Harrison, Vlad, Jenny and perhaps a few others were about here too. A place to be, but the noise was just one that felt like an echo of earlier that evening. Debriefs had gone on for a while. Analysis. And so going out felt more like a marketing chore, than it did a release.

Cassie came across to Hyeon-Ae, seeing her out of the way, people watching, that was, watching people rather than herself being watched. The vibe was of course, succinct, and Cassie was enjoying this whole thing, but still, had to admit, it was strange to have a party after not performing so well.

Crashing down on the sofa next to her, Cassie looked over to her Korean team-mate, a certain thought in her mind that was pointed, not open.
“Do you ever switch off?”

Hyeon-Ae popped open a small drink bottle - non-alcoholic for the sharp-eyed. Perhaps she didn't enjoy the buzz. She looked Cassie's way, lifting the bottle to her lips with a pause that was half drinking in the vibe, half power move. ”I don't follow,” she lied with a placid smirk. ”Isn't this…” ”…‘off’ already?”

Cassie laughed, shaking her head, looking into the crowd, sighing with that, looking back.
“Well, you seem like you want to always assess….always take in the situation. Who’s here, who is doing what. Relax. And while booze isn’t your thing, it’s not like there’s shareholders in that crowd. Just all of Hyeon-Ae Han, you, the individual, get to show off. Maybe a little bit of Zygon, but all you, Han..” Cassie remarked back, sipping down more champagne, the inverse perhaps of Friday night’s little sponsor event for her, but well, no less a charm. Wearing a pair of jogging bottoms and a stylish crimson red Zygon shirt that went with her hair, it seemed like more casual, rather than formal appearance at to the party, as she brushed it aside, sitting up.

“Thank you for standing up for me in that meeting before the race. I know what they’ll say, and they’ll try and give you serious shite for it after today. But, it’s the right thing. It’ll come good. Maybe not here, but it will. Glad you trust me.” Cassie added, smiling, sipping a bit more in.

To say Hyeon-Ae was caught off-guard by Cassie's comments would be off-base, but she still lost a little gleam in her previously self-serving expression of elegant arrogance. That too was a shield after all, and whether it was the appeal to the individual or the open gratitude, the Korean pilot set her little bottle down and followed it up by rubbing at the back of her neck. ”Well. Like I said. I don't like to lose. You didn't get here by being bad at what you do. And I agreed with you, for what it's worth. I've just-... I play their game, yes? The master never blames the dog who is obedient when he's looking.” Hyeon-Ae shrugged lightly. Her gaze briefly darted away to pay attention to Ulrich and Max learning extremely basic moves from a K-pop C-lister. ”I don't think relaxing is something I've ever done.” she murmured, barely above the din in the club.

Cassie paid her mind, seeing her being a little uncertain, though asking away, perhaps her political reflection going at it as Cassie had seen before. Maybe others saw it, they mostly didn’t, but Cassie was close to Han, and as a team-mate, was directly compared. She wasn’t entirely sure of course, about if Han would be in the seat before the season- she was of course, promised one kind of project after Valkyrie, and her falling out with Dorian and her want to take a lead in a team meant here she was. And whilst there were some regrets, there was no doubt if this team got their shit together, they’d be serious. That Cassie understood, but shit, Han was the only way she was getting there.

And yet Han was almost like an android, almost more so than some Koreans she’d worked with. Manicured, perfect, quite literally, as if someone had taken a mould of plastic and carved it with Michalengelo’s fine pick, and she seemed to know how to play it. Yet there was this lack of something inside. Even Cassie could see it, the fiery, Portuguese hearted, Scottish minded pilot brushing her curly hair aside, reflecting on her last words.

“I recommend it. You’re far too serious, Han. Like….I get it. You have to play politics. But you don’t have to, Han. I’m pissed off, to no end. I wish I had words to describe how I felt. It’s disgraceful. And here we are. Partying. It leaves a hollow inside of you, that feeling. Making mistakes. Or that you aren’t where you want to be.” Cassie said, sighing, sipping more down, showing off a different side. A side in reflection. A side that almost seemed unsure about what entirely to say, by intent.

“Yet it’s human, I suppose. I just….I don’t know how you do it sometimes, even if you don’t like the feeling. But that’s why we race, I suppose. It’s human to feel fear, anger, emotions. A machine feels nothing. But that’s what makes us who we are. Good or bad.” Cassie remarked and started, perhaps deeper than she’d usually be, but still reflecting it back with a sip interrupting it.
“So just don’t forget that humanity in you. I heard some stories, but I don’t care for it that much. The bosses at the team want marketing, they want perfection, and you are that. And if it makes you feel withdrawn, then so be it. But don’t forget you’re free to make your own choices, too. You don’t have to worry about who’s going to stab you in the back when you just get out there and make a name they can’t forget. I suppose that maybe works for some better than others!” She joked, although half serious in her approach.

Hyeon-Ae had been listening, an idle fidget as Cassie launched further into her spiel about being herself. She looked unsettled, or perhaps anxious, although she painted it over pretty well for someone apparently deep in thought. Her full attention was on Cassie by the time the mixed-nationality pilot finished.

”Don’t misunderstand, Cassie ssi. I'm upset about today. Of course I am. But I promised in public to host something in Tokyo, so I'm living up to those expectations. I was… raised to care about my image. Would I rather be on a plane home? Yes. But this is for me, not for Zygon. Or my image at least.” she remarked back with a little bit of tension in her voice. Then she frowned briefly as she added. ”...and I just remembered I am meeting Paul tomorrow, so I couldn't leave if I wanted. I am not doing so great on your list of relaxing, hm?” Hyeon-Ae commented with a brief chuckle and reached back for her bottle.
Cassie giggled, shrugging her shoulders, looking into the club, then back to Han, watching her sip away, and remind herself of her busy schedule.
“Well, we all have our brands. Don’t blame you. But yeah. You could do better to chill. But….why do you think I’m relaxing here, eh?” Cassie retorted, sipping away, a smirk forming, masking the sigh that she wanted to make. She was not happy. After all, she had nothing to show for the race, apart from take it on the chin, and move on.
“Not like the flight from here is crazy after anyway, I suppose. And his will be. Jeez, Paul is gonna be in for a lot more mileage….” Cassie chuckled, sitting up in the sofa, finishing her glass, knowing Han was doing a good job of masking, but well, it was that image. That version of self. She knew it all too well. Perhaps here, in this very moment, she was seeing her own, albeit then the mirror to that as well. Reaching across the table, Cassie took the bottle of champagne that sat on the collective table, and poured another glass, then with the spare glass adjacent to Han, poured a little in.

“So….yeah, today was shit. Not exactly like we went forward. Bad setup, the ship should have at least gotten halfway. Question is, now what do we do? I mean, all the facilities….and it just feels like what I was sold to me, totally honest with you now Han, it didn’t work. I just don’t know what to think. The team’s not receptive, and especially when I was brought in as a bit of disruption. It should be way better than it is.” Cassie was more blunt, passing the newly poured glass of Dom Perignon across to Han, with an unspoken tone.

It took a few moments, with a bit of a suspect peer at Cassie, before Hyeon-Ae deigned to accept the glass. But she took it. ”Yes,” she responded mirthlessly, offering neither rebuke nor a way to soften the truth. A few moments of hesitation followed, the Korean woman looking down into the glass of wine and swirling it around a little with a tilt of her hand. In the end, she appeared to open a chink in her armour by offering up something from her world. ”I’ve been picking out people that I can rely on in the company - and the team. I've been playing cards to nudge them, but I'm starting to worry it's not enough. And Jinwoo …” she drew in a breath long and slow, leaving the sigh that followed merely implied. ”It’s not how I imagined it would be. But I did not sign on to be happy with mediocrity.”

The truth melting out brought a smirk to Cassie’s face, as she sipped away, listening, within herself feeling the melt come to Han’s ice slowly but surely. She was happy to see her on the same side, worried beforehand that Han was just an extension of them, well, the collective corp that seemed to make up all of Zygon. She was analytical, but of some sort of principle, at least, which made it easy to be honest.
“Neither did I. Worsens whatever stock we have here, or anywhere else. I mean, word to the wise, teams aren’t for life. What Zygon gives you today, it may not tomorrow. Much as you may be their poster girl right now, look at Amy. She was once….then again, that’s life.” The comment felt like it was spicy, but well, a stark, if not barbed point at a certain someone else rather than Han, something she quickly chased before giving the wrong opinion.

“You seem better at it than I am. For what it’s worth, I’ll give them analytics, but all I know is with these facilities, with this setup, it should be more. Perhaps there’s no breakthrough, but….if they get it together. I don’t know. I’ll just race and try not to piss anyone off. I don’t get how you do it, Han. Korea’s just this….collective, homogenous thing. You don’t get to show off individualism. Punk. That…I don’t know.” Perhaps Cassie was inviting something towards herself with that comment, realizing that she probably wasn’t painting the best image she had. But then again, being fiery, and in some ways, that friendship with Harrison revealed that side to her. She was unafraid of saying what she thought, and backing it up on the track, often.
“I know what they probably said in the media about me and Dorian, and you probably heard about it too. I mean, I thought about it looks. But look at him now with Paul. He wants to win, and he just didn’t mesh with my ideas, . They’ll say it’s the same here and I don’t want that to be the story….but, what choice do I have. You want to step up to be like Harrison, Amy, Nora, Kais now, I guess it takes something extra. Going against mould.” Cassie replied, looking to Han, reaching her glass across, ready to clink.
“Cheers to that?”

Hyeon-Ae listened with earnest interest, offering a small smirk of her own as Cassie took a turn from opening up and inviting condescension - which Hyeon-Ae did not take - and move onwards to speculate on the nature of ambition. Or that is how she interpreted it at the very least; that was interesting to her. She clinked glasses with Cassie without hesitation. ”You should meet my friends back in Korea.” she shot back imperiously. The relaxing navelgazing was over - something Cassie said had started wheels turning in the Korean's head.

“It’d be a pleasure.” Cassie smiled back, sipping back, looking to the club, the crowds filling, and the sight of pilots in the midst, as well as celebrities out and about.
“It’s been a shit day. But, may as well make the most of this. If you promised them something, time we go and make the most of it rather than staring. You in?” Cassie was pushing Han now, a glimmer in her synthetic eyes, her prosthetic as if bringing a hand out to her.

Hyeon-Ae gave her a good-natured look of consternation, eyeing the crowd milling about. With a sharp breath she drained the glass and set it down. ”I paid for it, I suppose it's only right I participate.” she declared with feigned resignation, moving to stand at Cassie's insistence. ”Let's do it.”

Soundtrack: Plan B- Stay Too Long (Pendulum Remix)

---

Valkyrie AGR Sport Headquarters

De Konstruct, Collab with @LadyAmber

Aachen's streets grew greener and greener as the late winter rolled out into spring. Beerhalls actually opened up with benches outside. And not serving craft or strange beer- but actual, genuine German larger, wheat beer and the kind that felt like bread made into liquid form. And of course, Valkyrie's own, from a local brewery that had now taken on not just Valkyrie's brew, but another they'd devised. Mulder Witbier was a popular seller, a Belgian-like beer that had an aroma of orange and juniper, making it stick out from most. After all, Aachen sat at the apex of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, sitting at Charlemagne's corner of western Europe.

The beer was overshadowed however, in Valkyrie's high tech facilities, by the presence of one Johanna Lipusz. The EU Special Representative for Anti-Gravity Research, a non-elected, high up civil servant within the European Union's mechanism. A former MEP, and former engineer, now she was in a very, very high up position, and getting her facility tour in. After all, when the European Union pumped public money into companies, and then special purpose ventures like Valkyrie, that were amalgamations of previous firms, they needed their accountability. Their leash, and while Leopold did that day to day, sometimes, she needed to come by. The blonde-haired, 50-something, gray suited bureaucrat was not perhaps built like a pilot, but she seemed to have that aura behind her of experience.

Johanna looked around through the facility window, seeing Alexander come by.
"Alexander. A pleasure. I'm Johanna Lipusz, Leopold's report. I don't think we have been introduced yet." Johanna's voice carried an almost regal weight to it, making introductions and small talk. Johanna was a bit of a kingmaker, after all. A coffee, some biscuits and light chat, and with that, the start of a more formal tour, as they walked through the non-sterile bits of the factory, Johanna taking on overalls as would anyone going into the sensitive areas. Why was it sterile? Well, working with incredibly sensitive, high margin equipment meant a high degree of security to ensure that no chemicals or contamination affected their surfaces, so tight were the tolerances. That, and the robots really didn't like dirt or dust when working on precision applications, the some bipedal Boston Robotics great-great grandson like carriers that did bolts and tooling, some quadped wheeled units that carried tools that were lovingly referred to as "Pups", quite literally didn't like that dust either.

Alexander shook the woman’s hand as he joined her on her tour of the factory. He decided to remain silent and be pleasant and listen. She would reveal what she wanted too without any prompting from him. He had a feeling her visit had a purpose to it. He had been expecting something after their poor showing in Tokyo. He also wondered if it had anything to do with a few of the engineers leaving after the Tokyo race. He knew Felix was concerned and just as frustrated as he was that their team was not performing better.

Johanna made conversation with him, but at the crux of it, came to her thoughts.
"I do not know how to run a race-team. So I won’t pretend I know better. But, I heard good things about you from Leopold, beyond the results, you two work well together. Which means you must know what you're doing. He's a good operator. But, I like to get hands on sometimes myself too, so hence why I thought to visit. Get rid of the interference like you do, just to verify certain things for myself, and also, make sure I could introduce myself." Johanna commented, looking across, into the glass window that peered into the next lab-like environment where the chassis of the ship was.

"I will tell you now, however, there are requirements that are expected of the team, considering the investment. You have executive control over what this team does. But ultimately, this entire endeavor is not a participation trophy." She looked over, looking at the ship itself, then looking back to Alexander.

"The ship's data, and what you've been working on so far suggests the ship should be optimized from Monaco onwards, and you will be able to get podiums, and wins. No arguments. Your predecessor did not succeed because he did not work with the staff, the pilots, and worse, he did not work with Leopold. But if he doubled down on a handling focussed design, then we have to finish what was started, and the rest will follow after once you have your own ambitions. But our trust in you is that you'll put us back on the top step when that matters. Back to winning ways." Johanna added, walking over to the other window, looking into another section of the factory.

Alexander had not necessarily been expecting Miss Lipusz but he was not surprised completely. He had been waiting for the other shoe to drop. He tried hard not to show how frustrated he felt. He felt like he had swallowed a bug. He hoped he managed to keep the sour look off his face. He did his best to carefully school his face and voice to neutral.

Alexander: “Miss Lipusz I do understand your message. Winning is our goal. Please understand that I inherited what was already a craft set up for mediocrity. That is why I am pushing for a new design and working hard to get the funds to make that happen. Our strategy in the meantime has been to optimize the craft for each race. Our focus has been on improving speed and ELS which is where our craft is weak. We have not been successful yet in finding the winning combination but we are hopeful to see results soon.”

"I understand. And I understand you have more work to do here. You know, they say innovation comes the most during warfare. With no war, racing is the closest we have to fighting. And this whole enterprise, it represents the interest, the passion of an entire continent of people. Every boy, girl, dreams of being in there, and specifically," She said, pointing at the suit and helmet on the wall.
"They dream of being dressed in one of those. We are not just in the business of developing ships. We are in the business of making sure dreamers see a reality in front of them. And our own teams need a reason to be convinced, the people that live in our countries. Leopold I think, forgets to mention that because he's so focussed on business. I don't forget we are more than numbers. Money invested is money put into dreams, but to do that, we need to prove they’re real.” Johanna's statement felt bold, and for a politician, she seemed almost tangibly able to steer past all the noise and just give a firm signal.

Alexander nodded to where she was pointing. “Well my work with the sponsors and being in the media can only help raise awareness for those who aspire to be here. Right?” Alexander was hoping to garner any goodwill he can from this ambush by the prickly woman. He could feel the cold sweat running down his back. He didn’t like threats. He hated that he felt threatened by the woman but he was not stupid enough to believe that she didn’t have the power to threaten him in a more immediate way. Alexander understood that he was being told that winning was expected and being demanded of him. As if he was not doing his best to make that happen already. He was not willing to push unwanted or untested augmentations on the pilots. He didn’t see how augmentations could help since the ship was the issue. He knew he needed to get more speed out of the existing ships and better ELS. He sighed in frustration. He needed to keep his temper.

“Taking time for pilots to show off luxury goods is one thing. The numbers look good, and you’ll still need to keep working with a few more sponsors, as we really lost out there last year. But, I’m not talking about that. When it all comes down to it, people talk of winners, and losers. We have targets for a reason. As I am very sure you understand. This isn’t me going around Leopold either, he can tell you all of this. I think it’s just sometimes important to just remember what our mission is..” Johanna’s response cut fine back, not interested perhaps in a threat, but more as if she could

Turning around before finishing the visit, out of the overalls now after going through a decontamination chamber and a clean changing room on the other side, Johanna left with a final parting comment.
"Oh, and Alexander? Your marketing efforts are good. But be careful with your daughter. You did what any mother would do to help her out. But my thoughts are, do not let her get consumed by this mess of media. I deal with enough politicians day to day. Once her treatment is complete, you can let her have some normalcy. EU law is very particular about a right to be forgotten. And our privacy too. Not that the Federated Union knows much on that matter....but if you want her to keep out of affairs, that is an option. Our solicitors will arrange that. But just thought of mentioning it." Johanna added, as they headed towards the exit. Putting a hand out, Johanna looked up to the Estonian, a little more confident after their visit. But no less expectant.

“Bring us home some results, Mr Knight. Thank you for the tour. I’ll see you when you’re in Monaco.”

Alexander was left confused, frustrated, and feeling decidedly uneasy. Why did she bring up his daughter? It was not his decision to put her in the media spotlight to begin with. He had only held the press conferences to reduce the amount of media attention she had been receiving. Was the offer of help a veiled demand that Arianna should be kept out of the media altogether or silenced? Or was it a genuine offer to help her regain her anonymity and life? Alexander snapped himself out of his spiraling thoughts as she offered her hand for him to shake. He took her hand and shook it gently, giving a bow over her hand. He took a deep breath and gave her what he hoped was a confident look.

Alexander: “I am glad you enjoyed the tour. I hope you saw what you expected to see. We have made some necessary changes but I feel they have been beneficial. I have nothing to hide from you. It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Lipusz. I will do my best to meet your expectations. I will be there.”

“Things work better when we’re all honest. And I expect you will meet them. You have the ship and engineers to do it, after all.. All the best to you, Alexander.” Johanna replied, a smile cracking in return, as with it, she left the building via the security cordon, and with it, was scooped away from a waiting anti-gravity craft outside.

Alexander watched Miss Lipusz leave the building. He immediately dialed Leopold to see if he was available. He wanted to know if Leopold had been aware of the woman’s visit. Alexander had been notified by security. He knew from her title and position that she was important. He was surprised that the European Union didn’t use one of the board members instead for their intervention talk. He guess having someone outside the board that he was accountable to was the point. It was not like he could change the facts for them. She had wanted him to focus on handling. Their craft was already good at handling. If they wanted to win more races they needed to improve the areas they were deficient in without decreasing the effectiveness of other areas. Alexander waited as the call tried to connect.

The call connected and Leopold looked slightly annoyed as he answered.

Leopold: “Alexander? What new challenge do you have for me today?

Alexander: “Well I was just visited by one Johanna Lipusz, the EU Special Representative for Anti-Gravity Research. Did you know she was dropping in for a surprise factory tour and visit?

Leopold looked worried and startled by the name and title. Which told Alexander that Leopold had not known about the woman’s visit.
Leopold: “No. I am assuming that you accommodated her. What did she want?”

Alexander gave Leopold a frustrated look.

Alexander: “What do you think she wanted Leopold? She is demanding wins. She hinted heavily that I should follow in Rossi's footsteps and focus on handling. You also know I firmly disagree and feel like that will not be as big a help as we would like it to be. I still firmly believe that we need to improve the ship's speed and ELS if we want to be competitive. I couldn’t help but notice the timing of her visit as well. We just lost another mechanic. We did poorly in Tokyo. I want you to support my efforts to fast track hiring some new engineers. I think we need new ideas if we want to make any headway for Monaco.”

Leopold looked like he had been hit between the eyes. He sighed, shaking his head.

Leopold: “She as much as gave you orders for a win. She has the power to make life difficult for us both Alexander. Do you really believe new engineers will help the situation?”

Alexander: “Yeah I do. I think we need fresh ideas and perspective on the issue. That means new people. Our current engineers are great, but they have been staring at the same ship and data for over a season. I think fresh eyes will help. Besides, we need more engineers to begin working on development for the new craft as well. I am hoping I can get my top three candidates to at least do a consultation visit with Felix tomorrow if I can swing it. What do you think?” Can I put out the offer?”

Leopold looked thoughtful and then nodded. “Instead of offering them the jobs, ask them to come to headquarters for a skills demonstration. Tell them we will pay all the expenses for the trip. Let them know they are auditioning for the jobs. Let’s see what they come up with. I think a practical demonstration of skills in this instance is a great idea.”

Alexander nodded and smiled. “I like it. I will make the calls. Thanks Leopold.” Alexander hung up, not giving Leopold time to say anything more. He ran back to his office calling for Mabel as he headed straight for his desk. He explained the plan to Mabel and together they made plans to see about getting their candidates in as soon as possible for their demonstrations. After making the calls, it was arranged to bring them all in the following morning. He left Mabel to arrange for fast shuttle flights for everyone. Then he went to fill in Felix and Helga. Alexander felt excited and hopeful again. Miss Lipusz had left him with a dreadful feeling. Having a path forward had helped to dispel that.

---

The Designer Republic

Simon sat up in the chair, Delta Hyper's camera here to interview him with Aurora on the other side of the interview.

What was weird about Simon was, that if you looked at Silver Apex with a lot of dislike, there was one strange thing you'd still like about the pensive, middle aged man, with dark hair that was well kept, and a look of almost consideration on him. Simon was an incredibly, if not exceptionally clever engineer- if Felix reflected a wisdom of designing ships like an art form, then Simon was the other side- industrial, clean design that was all function, not form. A legend in the game, and someone that was integral to Silver Apex's success.

"Hello, I'm Simon Calder, with Silver Apex. Chief Designer and author of "The Art of AG Design". Yes, the label of the e-book is designed with a little ferrofluid so quite literally, you cannot put the book down!" Simon joked, adjusting his seating position a little, a smile on his face, the classic marketing. He'd gone from glasses to none thanks to some new eyes, the small implants on him visible, subtle yet a trickle down from the Silver Apex team that he was within.

"What's your proudest achievement? Outside of that clever label?"

"Wow....that is a hard one. I mean, my two children, I think above all else. But, creating six years of winning cars, that's nearly like the Kastrup Installation, in the mid-Atlantic, that works to keep the Gulf Stream going! It's really, really hard! Or, that's definitely competing with the work we did to build anti-grav rovers on Europa..."

"What was it like, working with the ESA and Al-Maktoum Orbital on that one?"

"Honestly, incredible. I could go on about it, how we had to get creatively design ships and orbital platforms to get astronauts across a frozen ocean....anyway, yeah, I've had a really diverse career."

"And what is it about designing ships you enjoy?"

"It's about finding marginal gains. Ships are ultimately, understood, and AI, CFD and our wind tunnels have done most of it. So, you have to think through from a different perspective. Your competition will always gain on you, so the question is, what do your pilots want that'll make them take the last tenth of a second? Take Amy, for example. She loves a really sharp, planted front end, twitchy to some, but, it means she's a menace on corner entry and exit and it makes the ship handle a little better than Valkyrie's in the right hands."

"Is that sometimes to the detriment of the other pilot, do you think?"

"I wouldn't think so. It's a hard design to adapt to, but if it's proven to work, then maybe it's the other way around. I'll design something the best can tame, and the pilots will find once they get it, it's unbeatable. Of course, I listen to what they say, adjust it, but at the end of the day, one is a multi-year winning champion, the other is still learning. I leave the rest to Peter to make that happen. I just make really good ships. And my design consultancy does plenty more."

"What else do you think Anti-Gravity racing could benefit from?"

"Well....weapons systems are definitely something future rulesets are looking at, and well, I'd have a lot of ideas for that. But I think more races on other bodies in our Solar System, that would be incredible. We know Earth's gravity. And we were all shocked by learning Luna's three years ago. But there's infinite potential for a Martian race, or a race on Titan. Perhaps even an asteroid? Who knows."

"Something rather ambitious, don't you think?"

"We've solved a lot of problems. Why not do something even more ambitious?"

---

The Ecstasy of Gold

Soundtrack: Metrik and Grafix- Parallel (VIP)

Harrison sat inside the simulator, already running through Italy. The circuit was an incredible one, even in the sim. It felt like a road racing circuit, the tarmac covered in snow, with MAG tracking peeling the ship up impossibly steep mountains, literally up the walls in some cases. It was just insane how much work had gone into the circuit, vast stretches of straight broken up with tiny bends and enormous amounts of undulation. The sensors on the ship were critical to keeping pace with the hybrid of MAG-enabled tracking that stopped the ship flying into oblivion, apart from one section at Forcella Pordoi, and the tunnel section on Passo Fedaia, along with the genuinely breathtaking approach up Marmolada glacier made the circuit even more spectacular.

Endless white snow, the frozen lake at Lago Fedaia, the ridge-run with the towering mountains all around, the ridiculously quick uphill and downhill sector through Forcella Pordoi, that then frankly fell off a cliff with a sheer drop that then went back up, and there was zero stopping, aside from the tight hairpins that were on Passo Fedaia's approaches, or the sector north of Canazei west of Passo Pordoi. That was what made it one of the best circuits of the year. It was like someone went on Google Maps, went and drew out a circuit hitting the most major mountains and ridges in the central Dolomites, and had sown them together.

It meant the track had to climb almost thousands of meters per lap, and descend the same, with the width changeable, and the snow underlaying the circuit and the icy frost contrasted with the only meadow green sector at the base of Marmolada proper. The circuit wasn't just flat out all the time- it felt like it was high speed almost all of the time though, and mistakes were incredibly punishing when at that limit. Not like it was just a long straight, but sometimes, as if you had to be hyper-reactive on a road that was barely one AG craft wide, that widened out on climbs and specially enlarged sections. Then the tunnel. Holy shit. The ships frankly roared through those, and emerged into bright white snow, and it was incredible. A nearly 45km circuit, but, given most of it was flat out at 500kph plus, it became like running a fighter jet through it. The hairpins and tricky bends could catch pilots out easy, and required one that was not just a speed demon, but actually able to make the most out of the corners.

They called it the Italian AGP round, but really, everyone knew it as "Strada Alpina". The Alpine Road.

Sector One.

Starting another lap, the ship twitched nicely, the reduced resolution not reflecting actual conditions around the circuit but increasing the latency to the ship's speed and feel, something that was nearly impossible to compute perfectly, but visually, came to almost an identical feel. The WW1 trenches built into the mountain outside the 2nd cable car stop were a blur with the hairpin, that then followed into a long curving turn that frankly dived directly towards ground at a straight cliff, following a narrow ridge over snowy, MAG-strip covered sectors, before coming out to a long left hander that just was full throttle, all of the way down to the valley floor, a green alpine meadow that was glorious, but the only part of the circuit in greenery. That was, until the first climb section. A left, right, and a ridiculous number of hairpins that reduced the ship to a crawl with full tilt levels of turning, no banking put in deliberately to slow ships down, and to add some technical variety, the ship roaring through the sector, climbing up the mountain pass, before entirely giving up and at a cable car stop, switching to a massively steep MAG section that was full flat. And Harrison's favourite sector was coming up now.

At the top of a near 1000m climb, a long left hander which then hit a ridgeline, and to the left, the Marmolada glacier, and mountain, and the most surreal mountain view ever contrasted with Piz Boe to the right, on a ridgeline only a track wide, with small curves, kinks and approaches just making it the most unreal fast section, and one that rewarded ships for speed, and a little of their aero and ability to keep full throttle no matter what, the ship bouncing off an internal limiter to stop it accelerating through the sound barrier which, well, would have easily been done. A right turn past Rifugio Sass Bece and a hard turn down a groomed ski slope, followed with another mountain road, all covered in snow, medium speed corners giving way to slower, then the hard 90 degree that basically, went straight up to Rifugio Forcella Pordoi, the verticality not stopping how fast the ship was going, the Gs that were induced by literally feeling like you were climbing a mountain in a ship, rather than a road- going from 24000m to nearly 3000m in nearly thirty seconds. It was mind-bending, and without MAG tracking, it would be tricky, but the ships glued their way up, before the saddle arrived, and the ships could go full throttle over it, racing past a beautiful mountain hotel, before coming IMMEDIATELY down Even with MAG tracking, ships were often being thrown a good 50 to 100 feet skybound, literally into abyss with the greatest ramp conceived by humanity made out of literal mountain.

If you were a photographer, this would be the place you'd want to be. Nothing beat what looked like a ship literally flying into a massive valley, covered in snow, and then coming back down, hitting the circuit's MAG tracking and in turn, requiring a special damping for the pilots.

Sector Two.

Pitching, and knowing how to direct the ship to land back on MAG tracking then the usual glass and steel was critical here, given there was a long, long hairpin, with no banking, yet still completely flat and a long decent, back down that then came to a medium-speed section, through a dense forest and river with big banking literally turning the circuit sideways through there, before rejoining a road, a couple of switchbacks then following up by a sector on another groomed slope, outside of the main circuit, but this time, going upwards. It was under and between cable cars, and a very long straight, before a sharp 90 degree turn at a ridgeline brought pilost back to reality, and a long turn then wove back down a slope, all flat again, heading towards another dense forest section. Once again, the track thinned and here the pace slowed, made up through tight chicane-like bends, before getting back on road, hitting two more switchbacks climbing up to Passo Fedia.

Sector Three.

And what a sector. Passo Fedaia was a perfect, perfect alpine road, but avalanche protection that covered the roof then gave way to a long tunnel, where the AG craft roared, the acoustics not like Japan, more like a megaphone for the scream of the ships, before emerging out to the frozen lake, staying on the road, the speed relentless with a few corners to brake for, but almost all flat out. And the glacier to the right. That was until a hard right, that took the track over a large dam at the end of the large artificial lake, all covered in ice, and a hard right then leading to a long section of lefts, rights, and weaving up from just snow and forest to rock and glacier, the course actually carving through a broken section of the glacier, physically inside.

A section that revealed gigantic walls of blue ice, with MAG tracking physically sticking the ships to the walls, and peeling the ships upward through the crevasse, and then up onto the surface, through a massive straight that lead to an off-camber hairpin on MAG banking, before leading to another enormous long left hander that went back down, and over the glacier's crevassed surfaces, pulling onto a ridgeline. And roaring past Terazza Marmolada, the very roof of the Dolomites, on track that was laid specially and bolted to the mountainside, physically looking impossible, yet the very top revealing a beautiful section for overtakes, right as the start finish were visible.

Hard exhale.

Harrison let the ship slow, and with it, took a moment to take it in.

Pulling out of it, Harrison grabbed his reusable cup, filling it with water from a nearby tap, looking across to Nora, also sharing a break.
"You feeling good for this? It's a difficult circuit to learn, no amount of neural training will truly prepare you, but, trust me. I adore it. Genuinely the most amount of fun you're ever gonna have in an AG ship." Harrison seemed pensive, but well, he had to be. There was a lot on the line. P1. And they were going to have to take it. He knew Nora was perhaps not as used to long, long tracks like these with this much undulation, but, if she could fly fast and handle well, she'd hold her own.

"I gotta admit though, I hope we break the duck here. Silver Apex feels so close in reach. And we should dominate this. But, I gotta say. We have a lot to prove."

---

Body and Mind

Soundtrack: Artemas- i like the way you kiss me

Ava was herself, pushing on the bike, running through Chile, home. Bio Bio, to be specific. The rainforest like mountains, and the environment was exactly as she remembered it to be. Not what it was now.

Pulling herself away from the sim, she exhaled hard, clambering away, sweeping her leg over, the sight of Rey coming through, working with the Physio team on numbers.

"VO2 numbers are still impressive, Ava. For your age, you are doing well." Rey's commentary was from the glass tablet he held, Ava cracking a rare smile, make a brutal comeback with.

"Rude. But thank you anyway. Fuck you being nice." Ava said, as barbed and with as husky a voice as she could, before she cracked into laughter and he returned the favour realising she wasn't taking it too personally, a smile forming, knowing she just got Rey with that, as she walked towards the window looking out on the Pampas, walking outside into the overcast afternoon.

"Another great afternoon. Sigh. Where's Bea?" Ava asked, with Rey shrugging his shoulder, as they walked through the hyper-modern walkway, heading away from the older historic buildings towards the modern core, including the medical area.

"We're just trying to figure that out. Ready for your appointment?" Rey asked, as Ava turned the corner, the two aware of the next visit to make. Some adjustments for Italy meant a few changes to her augments and her implants, and well, that was like any other visit to any other doctor ever felt like in history.

"I love having someone poke around in my head. Sure." Ava never enjoyed it, but still, it was another happy necessity that followed up.

And that session with Ivan quickly followed, with her neurally plugged in, and on a masseurs-like table, lying face down, staring into a couple of lights below the padded halo for her face, like she was about to get a massage. It wasn't so much programming, as it was just updates to the link that her, and her ship had.

Given how close it was, for Ava, almost closer than some relationships she'd had, small tweaks and changes to the surfaces reflected in the ship, such as the handling and ELS upgrade, were now going to affect how it felt. That then affected the pilot mods, and well, whilst not a major overhaul, such as an entirely new prosthetic, neural mod or another mod to her insides, it was strange. With every poke, Ivan asked for a response, checking her eyes were still doing what they should, and that nothing untoward was happening. A reset point always existed to pull her out, but right now, Ivan was quite literally running new software into her brain, and overlaying what had happened before.

It was a slow, gentle process, and checking her hands, her toes, her prosthetics and her internals was key to making it not fuck something else up. Like patching a computer, except, it seemed to meld her closer to her ship, and the handling upgrade, as did the ELS upgrade, needed her to be with it too.

Sometimes it felt like someone had shoved a needle in her subconscious, and then, it phased out. Gently, the anaesthetic began to kick in, for the next phase, Ivan clipping it into her wrist, and almost like that, Ava was out. The last part required her to be unconscious. And even Ava succumbed fast enough.