Soundtrack: Hybrid- All Torque (Raffertie Remix)Leaping onto the concrete floor of the Silver Apex pit garage, Amy paced across the short distance and immediately confronted Keira, the tech coming off the pit wall to see the scowl a mile wide on Amy's face.
"What the fuck was that?" The half British, half Korean pilot asked, as Keira shrugged.
"Looks like a software glitch. We don't have all the telemetry but...."
"Keira, the bloody thing disconnected me for a split second. I don't do that. That isn't my mind playing tricks, I know I'm solvent. Much as it might seem that way. Also, that Valkyrie pilot got in the way and acted dangerously on my moves. Are we not talking about that?" Amy huffed, as Jamie looked across, the look from Amy sending daggers, Peter walking over.
"Amy. Come on. Leave it for now, we'll sort it later." Peter responded, Amy shrugging, a deep sigh audible from her voice.
Amy nodded, taking back a bit of sense, knowing probably best not to make a scene. The kind of thing she warned against.
The scene cut to the studio.
Sitting in the room, Keira sat on the sofa, a little more analysis poured in.
"Amy is hyper-competitive. She was on pole....and losing that felt like a blow especially she knows there was nothing she could do. Software almost never crashes like this. So we have to fix it, and just move onto the next." Keira sighed, the now silver-haired, silver-shirt wearing engineer showing rather passive body language.
"Do you think Amy's feeling the heat this season, and it's adding to the frustration?" Aurora's disembodied voice behind the camera asked, as Keira shook her head.
"Our pre-season was incredible. Amy came out of it on some of the best form I've ever seen her in within our four year relationship. She's ice cold.....but, the other teams have accelerated fast out of the gate to get their ELS systems up and running. I think Amy wants to win. But that's going to be harder than she expected. Amy knows that. Her pullback shows she has the pace. She just needs better luck, and us to pull some late night finding out quite how her neural link disconnected under load."
"P9 baby, hell yeah!" Max yelled out into his comms, Carl wooping in response too.
"Nice work Max, bring it on in. That's valuable points, let's keep chasing Carrera and Nordic. Get in there." Carl responded, the tanned American whooping back, a smile on his face visible in the pit wall, as he high-fived the analyst next to him in only a way a points finish could make him do.
Carl sat in the sofa on Delta Hyper's couch, addressing the unspoken question.
"It is safe to say the investment we thought was coming......well, it isn't being felt yet, if you read me. So, Max is on top of the world to perform that well in a ship that we're still learning this season. He's piloting that thing like he stole it, so he shows we're performing well. And that is all we can do for now."
"With so much chaos on the grid, do you think there's a difficulty to keep him if the ship can't keep up? Silver Apex and Valkyrie are rumoured to be eyeing him up for next season, how do you respond to that?" Aurora asked, the rumours of course, absolutely the kind of gossip that happens on the paddock. What happens when you put two and two together and make 12, because Dorian retiring left a pilot-sized hole at a team supposedly near the top four.
"Not something I can answer, but.....well, okay. It hasn't even crossed our mind, but we know it's hard to ignore. Max is committed from everything we talk about right now. This team is everything the project he has been looking for, and it would take a lot to change that for him. It's a slow burner here. But I think we'll be coming for the others soon."
Analysis with Rory Andrews
The gilet-wearing, commentator extraordinaire was cut into scene next, Rory's stubbled face recognisable to the audience in response to the two scenes before, as well as those at Al-Saqr, Carrera and Valkyrie.
"So, where do we start. Amy's stall. An uncharacteristic mistake from Silver Apex, up until now, who have been dominant, just baffles me. I imagine someone will be in deep trouble over that, because it cost her that victory. Amy did not respond well after that, but I can't blame her. Her crash rate and attrition rate is amongst the lowest in Formula AG. So she can't be pleased to lose points at a circuit critical to them." Rory began, honest in his analysis of the start of the race.
"As for the rest, Paul Mulder, Cassie Neves, take a bow. The former defended like a lion, holding back a rampaging Stirling with good positioning and fair racing, and the latter? She was frankly powered on fan-boost, charging through Kelly and Mulder on the aggressive, attacking driving we enjoy watching her do. She has been incredibly underwhelming so far for the high hopes many had of her at Zygon, but I think she's silenced me this race, among others! More like this, and I think we'll see the Cassie Neves we were hoping to see at Zygon." Rory commented, sighing, looking across at the telemetry, and the gigantic projected constructors championship.
"Jamie Hart I think is still a problem many aren't talking about enough. And he is getting a ton of coverage, so make of that what you will. It's still too early to tell, but surely, something must change at Silver Apex, or else Southern Cross will run away with this title. They must be stressing over there. Zenix, Kelly put a solid shift in, as did Mulder. Wedgewood managed to put that ship higher than it ever deserved to be, and I think some are going to be thinking about him as a serious option for Apex next year- but same time, he has been outspoken about MMR's future plans" Rory commented, shifting the topic towards that midfield.
"And as for the other midfield teams, Nordic Call is being let down by Waldgard too. From the recent race form he seems to have, and just doesn't have the measure of Astrid this season. It's hard to see Fitzroy or even SuperCat being able to scrape points this season, given they still seem to be in transition, and one must think that Fitzroy is a miracle at the moment considering all the news." Rory finalised on them, sitting up.
"Then for principals? I suppose everyone is asking if Alexander Knight is performing to internal standards. But it seems like scandal after scandal comes out of Valkyrie. I think he must be doing something right in spite of losing his Chief Engineer, but the wider team seems in disarray. He will have a hell of a job on his hands, and I think no Team Principal would ever want to deal with his situation, let alone an experienced one such as Peter or Owen."
Johanna checked the phone, her digits trying to parse together the right message to Alexander. She wasn't neurally linked in, not for this. Not for an quantum encrypted message that needed to be sent. She had another Committee to go, being the Special Rep for Anti-Gravity Technology putting her in the firing line of all of this. Valkyrie's stakeholders had started all screaming, and they did not go to Alexander. They went to her. So her response had to be to calm him down, and well, point the ship.
"Alexander,
Can't talk much now, but I'm fighting the fire you found. This is quantum encrypted so keep this to yourself, as this is not on any EU-network, and are my thoughts are being shared privately because you won't know how to deal with this.
Privately, I am impressed with what you have done so far within the team despite some shaky results, and are unlucky to be here whilst this is happening. You put your head on the line, but the people investigating this won't mess around. So I will help because you did the right thing, but I will be honest, you won't like what I have to say.
This is going to be worse. Your search warrants are from the German state and you did the right thing there, but the entire brunt of the European Union's Department for Economic and Financial Affairs is about to bear down on you, so expect things to get hot. They aren't like normal police. They will audit you to an inch of your life.
Brendel and Zimmerman's slush funds are going to be recovered but it is possible they will try and hit back against you and make this a mess. To that end, a full financial audit will be performed of Valkyrie, which will mean full intrusion of the HQ for the next three weeks to make sure you are clean, so this will cause disruption. You need to find a way to make sure the team do not get affected- the ESA have a pool of engineers you can second and I recommend you bring in as many as you can to minimise disruption, as they aren't involved in any of this mess. That will help ease the pressure on the team, but you need to manage that.
FIAR will be interested in the same audit, because they technically stole the championship's money via a non-authorised outlet, and thus, now put them into disrepute and commercial contracts could be at risk. That could lead to disqualification from this season for the constructor race if they think it's necessary. Hopefully they don't. This is not your fault. But this is how it works.
Abuse allegations are small fry and can be dealt at a Public Inquiry in Strasbourg which is for politicians, but the siphoning of public money means member states are going to rampage until they get an answer so it likely means extended court cases. This will be messy.
I'll deal with the politics. I've been here six months so no way of knowing how far this goes, outside of Leopold's instincts and your information. The investigators will likely find the rest.
You focus on running this show, reassure anyone in the team and sponsors, and get the results. We need positive stories, and zero comment on the background. I will appoint replacement board members after Monaco and sort them out personally with Leopold, given the last thing the SPV partners (Renault, Ferrari etc.) want is the same audit we are receiving. If you deliver, the questions stop at Leopold and me, but I need no engineers, pilots, or anyone getting angry to create any more drama or things get really bad.
This is far above yours and Leopold's paygrade now.
Also- you need to make sure Arianna is nowhere near anything to do with Valkyrie right now. I understand you won't like me for this, but any link of her getting treatment on site at present, this will be an issue, so cease anything. They will put you to this if there is an Inquiry, and as an Estonian citizen, you are legally bound to answer their questions. Please understand I do not tell you this to be liked, when I respect people like yourself enough to give them the courtesy to do the right thing.
Speak soon.
Johanna."
Sent.
It was not a nice message. But Johanna hoped Alexander would understand the gravity of just how screwed Valkyrie was. She sighed, as the call prompt came up on her desk's holographic display for the meeting.
Sitting inside of the sim room, Dorian sat in a sweat against the wall as he saw Anais come by, deep in prep for Luna, putting in the hours before the entire day of EVA emergencies and safety. He was on his own this morning, and wanted time to chat to her, wanting to at least talk things over quietly. The simulator seat had been shut, and he was cooling down outside of it, slumped against the wall on a beanbag.
Not exactly the best week he'd had, after all, finding out all he had was upsetting to say the least. Anais and him had been busy- given he was at the twilight of his career, this was not how he wanted it to end.
To someone who wasn't Valkyrie, or his other half. Wearing an athletic undersuit, an Enigma Lux one no less, he appreciated Anais being on time, even if that time was very early in the Aachen morning.
"Morning. You are here early?" She asked, Dorian chuckling.
"I needed to take my mind off things."
"Clearly. I can't help but notice." She replied with a smirk, as Dorian looked blank.
"What can I do. This is not what I expected of retirement. I am too old for this shit sometimes I feel."
"And yet my number one client would not say that. You are still pulling in big names. Credit Agricole, Terra, Bang and Olufsen, they like the content you make and outside of a certain Beatrix Ward, you seem to be producing your well. Ignore the Valkyrie nonsense. I can tell it is that, which is getting you upset." Anais added, sitting down next to him, sighing, the Luxembourgish-Indian publicist all too aware of Dorian's cues.
"I mean, it is that, isn't it?" She added, as Dorian looked over, not needing much thought.
"Felix is gone. Two more engineers I worked with are gone. The ship failed and compromised us positions in Portugal. Brendel got arrested, and now for the first time since Audrick died, I'm thinking about things over than racing because I can't get the team out of my head. I've been here years, and in reward for my loyalty, I'm watching the team I spent half a decade as a solid piece and doing my job, start to fall apart. And Alex just happens to be the one it happens to...poor guy. Fuck. At this point, it's nearly better to pull the plug. Walk away before the roof falls in. The legacy I thought I'd have is getting more and more difficult to cement." Dorian's usual charm was weary, tired even.
"You could say something. Help him, no? And....after, you must be thinking of the next step, so Valkyrie may still be a good place for that if you want that role. You would make a good race strategist. Or pundit. You have a voice Delta Hyper, RTL, ZDF would adore."
"The gentleman playboy of the grid? Running a team? Or commentating? You are crazy, Anais."
"Well, someone said that about Alexander before they offered him the job. And he got it because of Mulder's mother. Safeguarding her son in the sport, and her influence on Leopold. It's no coincidence, he's managed other outfits but nothing the size of this. I guess that they were desperate and knew they might make him the fall guy, if it all collapses into itself, Paul included. Or they realised he's the only person that could take on Brendel, and he might be a popular choice for fans, being a legend in the sport. Either way, I thought you should know that from my digging." Anais commented, as if to drive another knife into him. Or at least, it felt like it was made of plastic at this point.
Dorian sighed with a certain look back, the curly-haired, undersuit wearing Frenchman just at his wits end.
"Is anyone actually not corrupt here apart from me and Paul? Fuck, what happened to just being a son of a millionaire, having your seat bought in Junior AG, and going racing? Jesus, at least we knew then where you stood. Arianna is.....was, here too. But....I don't know. He's the lesser evil of all of it. Somehow. Fuck knows. If he's caught up in this, then it all goes to shit." Dorian was not sure of his own thoughts, shaking his head as Anais replied.
"I agree. Alexander doing what he can, but this is going to be a storm and he needs to weather it for all of us to keep getting paid. Do you think Cassie saw it coming?" Anais asked, changing the topic.
Dorian paused in thought at her question, shaking his head.
"Don't tell me you think she might have known." Dorian replied, almost as if not wanting to compute that thought.
"What if she did? Would it help?" Anais said, the two looking across at the comprehensive sim suite, deep in that chat still.
"Maybe. All I know is I need to stay through to the summer break, as a minimum. I just hope this improves. Take the money while it's there, keep the networks up with the other teams, and then call it a day. Leave a legacy. Have kids. Be boring. Paul definitely needs to be mentored too. I owe that much to his old man." Dorian seemed to collect thoughts more, thinking over this a bit more logically now.
"I thought you'd like the chaos a bit more for someone of your taste." Anais chuckled, Dorian actually cracking a smile.
"Yeah, that is true. May as well get back to work, nothing's certain till we have this fixed." Dorian replied, getting his smile back, trying to leap back into a positive frame of mind.
"I'll sort out the endorsements. They will just want this to be over, so let me do some good publicity, you glow on camera, and I'll make this go away. Let's hope Alexander holds his end of the deal?" Anais commented, standing too, Dorian smirking back.
"Sounds like a plan."
Mindset was king in racing. But with the anarchy in the background, keeping focus at 500kph was not exactly easy.
Sitting inside the flashy office within Songdo, Cassie sat at the desk replying to mail, some fan, some sponsor, some publicist, lots Zygon overheads whilst sipping away at her coffee.
She was occupied at it wearing her team polo shirt and shorts, interrupted by an unknown number on her glass-like phone. She swiped her finger on it, picking up and linking it into her neural link to at least not talk out loud in the office and be that shit.
"Hello. Who's this?"
"Bonsoir. It's Dorian. Sorry to ring you, it must be late over in Seo...."
"Why are you calling?"
"It's....look, I'll cut to it. Why did you get so angry about Valkyrie? Did you know?"
"Did I know what?"
"You can't have missed the news."
"Oh....oh, fuck, yeah. Heh, seems like I was right. Shitty management. What a shock." Cassie's sarcasm dripped on the phone.
"Look. I think I got too frustrated at you. I didn't understand why you wanted to leave. I got frustrated because you wanted to be world champion tomorrow."
"And I do. But it sounds like you are about to apologise, so go on, say it."
"Sorry I didn't get us equitable treatment. I apologise. I did it because....well, team-mates are rivals and you deserved better at the time from me." Dorian's words were heavy, as if they came from a place of almost frustration.
Cassie shirked, shrugging her shoulders, walking into a sealed meeting room, hitting the blinds, and deactivating any recording in the table's centre console. That was enough for her to take on. This wasn't about Valkyrie or Zygon doing well, this was more a personal aspect.
"I'll accept that. Fine. And I could have been less of a wee twat to you, and been more patient. I get your point, but things happened, now I'm here, and you're still there. This is a fickle sport where things change." Cassie added, sitting on the table, staring into the blank glass wall. "Dorian, if I remember, they picked you over me back then, not because of results."
"Meaning..."
"I mean there's no easy way to say this. You were at the core of what they wanted, and they knew I was easier to keep second fiddle if a bigger team wanted to steal me. How many of your personal endorsements end up on Valkyrie's ship, and how much more did they yield when the performance bonuses paid out? I thought you were good at this whole game, so why am I telling you this, something I swear we argued about to begin with?"
"Those are big words. Are you suggesting they stole from my dividend?"
"Nobody in Valkyrie did a thing when you're the reason Brendel's slush fund is so thick. Some clever accounting and he pocketed it into a server and you still got paid. Knight had no chance of knowing. My gut told me something wasn't right. So yeah. That's how I see it."
"Shit."
"Yeah, well, it doesn't matter, because they're now going to find a healthy amount of money they can put into the team from your endorsements. Audits will clear you and you'll get to go on living. Hooray for you. If your endorsements stay on board. Jesus, Anais is gonna have a field day."
"Hooray for me? You knew. And you didn't say anything."
"Because I couldn't do a thing, Dorian. Because who listens to the second pilot against the vet who brings in the cash? We already had that argument about roles. Let's not start again. You know I had my reasons."
"So why do I get the feeling you're just as pissed? I know you, Cassie."
"Dorian, I've been sat in an office full of people who want to analyse every piece of my behaviour to fit the Far Eastern market, capitalising on that P2 in Portugal. They are selling Pastel de Natas in Myong-Dong with my face printed on the jam, which I'll be honest, is freaky. Some of this is straight up weird to me even now. Shit, I have no idea why I'm telling you this. Maybe because....it didn't have to be that way."
"Maybe you're telling me because you're in over your head and despite leaving and telling me all of this, you feel your Team Principal is a useless sack and you're now part of something the same as what you left? It's a Chaebol, for God's sake. And Silver Apex is no better, Cass." Dorian's wisdom bit back, as Cassie's fire countered.
"Maybe. But, we're both in the sport, and what happened, happened. People would kill for this. So yay us." Cassie sighed.
"Indeed."
"Well, I'm sure we'll knock the crap out of each other on the circuit after anyway, so it's not like there's much we can do."
"And the media will blow it out of proportion."
"It keeps people watching."
"That it does."
"That was a good talk. Look after yourself, Dorian."
"Bye."
Disconnecting the line, Cassie exhaled hard, and put her face into the table, and her head into her hands.
Fade to black.
The cutaway includes the scenes of Amy darting in and out between Paul, fighting hard for position, Harrison's victory, Paul's podium, and the fire of Ava's ship, as well as the competition that raged hard throughout the circuit played on, the final scenes of the Portuguese AGP playing out.
"We're off to Luna in two weeks time, and we can't wait to bring you all the action from what will be a special Grand Prix. I'm Aurora Baxter signing off, we'll see you in the next one!"
With it, the final closing scene of Cassie on the podium, trophy held high played out, and from there, a fade to black of the footage.
Soundtrack: M83- OutroThe music begins, playing back archive footage of Apollo 11, the gigantic rocket leaving the pad at Kennedy Space Centre, the tail shot of Earth, and the sight of the Moon. Luna. The grey, rock-filled satellite of Earth, a memory ago. The landings which you already know, the planting of an American flag, gently set as the music strums. And then, the setup of the battery-powered Lunar Rover. Archive footage of it rolling about, bouncing on the grey, shard-like surface.
And as the music rises, the rudimental buggy rolling slowly across the lunar surface changes in a glitch effect as it suddenly dips through a small dimple in the surface, a Al-Saqr ship flying out and spraying dust, chased by a Silver Apex and Valkyrie ship in exactly the same shot, breaking from poor colour-correction to ultra, ultra high definition that immersed the viewer in their turns. The turns with zero atmosphere forcing the ships to quite literally act as if they were flying with the usually redundant corrective thrusters, which do the heavy lifting on Luna, rather than the airbrakes which appear to be fixed in place.
And the camera slowly following the two side on as they latched through a MAG section into a canyon, before it turns, catching them as they roar out of a crest, getting sucked back in by a neatly placed mag-plate into the surface again, the dust billowing in the solar wind to reveal the mostly blue, white, and green planet beyond it.
A soft, gentle, narrating voice comes on, without her in physical presence yet.
Layla.
"Looking back at Earth, 384 thousand kilometres away, it's hard to put into perspective when you see it for the first time. It is where home is."
As the ships roar past, Layla leans against her own ship, off-circuit clad in a green, white and black
spacesuit, staring into oblivion, her figure coming into frame on the camera shot. Her visor has a beautiful gold tinge to it from a pulled down sunvisor, the suit cut out of more modern composite and significantly more elegant than that of something NASA would have 70 years prior, but still, requiring pressurisation and many amendments to meet Layla's own augments.
She has seen this before. But if you haven't as the audience, you're taking in Earthrise. The tiniest of thoughts. And a montage plays out.
"Yet from there, comes every innovation, invention, and the things we make." Medicine, flight, the motorcar, skyscrapers, augmentations on pilots legs.
"Every fight, every battle." Trench warfare. Modern conflict with exoskeletons and hovertanks. Engineers at work on ships and paint being traded in earlier rounds this season, particularly Jamie and Bea, Astrid and Han, Kais and Paul.
"Every adventure, our courage." The sailing of ships on faraway shores in the Pacific through storms in the 17th Century, ocean trench exploration from a submarine, hot air balloons, freeride mountain biking and the rolling of a crewed buggy on Mars, kicking up red dust.
"Every story we tell, and every dream we have." Layla sighed, not making half a bad actor here. The music continues to build, approaching crescendo.
"And every single one of us." A newborn held in a doctor's hands, and children playing in a Pre-School. And footage there of Layla, who clearly, clearly, was dreaming of becoming on astronaut one day from the toy helmet she had. Cutting back to Layla's face, helmeted on, staring into oblivion, cutting back to the scene before her of the curves of the Moon and the pale Earth beyond.
"There was a time when the Moon was an untouchable dream to us. A pale light in the night sky, calling out to humanity, daring us to reach for it." Cutting back to the Buggy from the 1970s again, and the archive footage playing back again.
"And we did. We set foot here, a fragile species bound to our home, yet bold enough to leave it. Decades turned to centuries, and what was once impossible became inevitable. The Moon, our first step... became our proving ground. Our next chapter." The footage cut to more recent footage from the 2040s of more frequent Lunar landings, on return. Not just the Americans, but the Chinese Space Programme, the Indian one, the Korean, European, even the private entity of Fitzroy finally starting to make a dent into its own private tourism industry on Luna.
Then in the 2060s, the beginnings of Colonia Asterion, later Asterion-Cresent, the Valdes Helium-3 mine, as well as more development across the lunar surface, looking more and more like what Antarctica may have looked like in the 1950s as slowly, humanity put a foothold on there. Scattered, tiny settlements, but bit by bit, people stayed. People were there not for just science, but for mining work. And that had exploded, turning into Australian-style five on five off, except it was more five to ten months on, five to ten months off depending on rotation and risk profile. Mars was just starting to get that treatment now, thanks to new nuclear fusion-powered drives, and the Solar System beyond was beckoning. That vast black had humans in it now, and if there was any part of humanity that could have optimism, hope, this was it.
Bit by bit, the structures phase into the montage, including the now mothballed Mare Austral, and the assembly of the track by a fairly brave group of Astronauts and supporting engineers. The circuit's complexity and MAG stripping, a piece of humankind's desires to race, to win, put here.
And now.
The scene shifts to a high-speed shot of the Mare Austral Circuit, its vast, winding layout etched into the Lunar surface like an artist's brushstroke with MAG tracking amongst buildings and impossible things that you couldn't do on earth, bending most people's understanding of perspective, impossibly big jumps, and a mix of technical and fast all across the place. The circuit is breathtaking —a mix of human ingenuity and raw, alien beauty. The camera follows an AG craft as it streaks across the track, kicking up faint trails of Lunar dust in its wake going past Layla again.
"The Moon is no longer a silent to us, far away no more. Not just a constant in everyone's night sky. It is alive with the roar of humanity's desires. Our collective dream, to explore the universe, starts here."
The music intensifies as the AG craft dives into a section of the track cut into a jagged canyon. Massive holographic displays rise from the regolith, and the virtual audience able to watch. The craft weaves through tight corners, its thrusters flaring, the soundless void replaced with the pounding rhythm of M83’s soaring melody, interspersed with onboard audio. A mixture of archive racing footage, Amy and Layla competing over first, the rush of a Carrera Condor ship into the horizon, and flat across the Lunar surface, leaving a trail.
"This is more than just a race. This is a celebration of what we’ve become. Of where we are going. Of our boundless courage, our ceaseless innovation, our will to push past every limit. To go faster. To be more than human. To go beyond." Layla commented, the Jordanian turning towards camera, her face barely visible beneath her darkened, hazy gold visor, standing by her ship's side, facing back to the camera, exhaling oxygen and back to the camera.
You might have felt a teeny tinge of irony given Layla's background, but for half a gleaming second, even with what was going on with Layla, there was absolutely a person emotive in there beyond the machine, her voice at creak but composing back for the final part. A half script, but....something deep in her heart seemed to carry it.
"Welcome to Formula AG. Welcome to Luna."
With it, the tones of M83 fade out, the camera panning to reveal the wider complex, and most importantly, just how tiny, utterly insignificant it was. There weren't many settlements this side of the moon. Lights were not visible. It was grey, and then beyond, and endless, nebulous black filled with stars beyond number, as with that, the title sequence faded to black.
Episode Six: The Dark Side of the Moon
Round 6 of Formula Anti-Gravity
Friday 19th May, 2094
Practice Day
Lunar AGP
Mare Austral, nr the South Pole of the Moon
1300 Lunar Coordinated Time (LCT)
With Royston in picture on the sofa, the scene comes back in again. It's shot on Earth, given some of the footage is from before the race, in front of the blank wall that Delta Hyper has been using in this season so far. Royston is as always, animated.
"Why Luna? Well, we are always trying to find the next thing. And so when the Mare Austral site was proposed by the former operator as an ideal site, full of chasms, climbs, natural turns from excavation activity, we had to investigate. And we found a perfect circuit for Formula AG to demonstrate we're more than just a Earth-bound sport. We're pushing the frontier. So, we go where no motor sport has ever gone, and we are exploring more options." Royston's tone was a chirpy one, the classic marketing on display as other.
Simon Hall came into view, the polo-shirt wearing Silver Apex designer having his own views.
"Because I suppose it is a challenge. The ships are incredibly hard to tailor. And they are....well, nothing if a completely different race. Ships need to now rotate and fly, aided not by air resistance but by actual propellant and oxidiser. Aerodynamics are completely irrelevant, suddenly you create a ship that needs to incorporate innovative design to carve over the surface. The pulse engines do well at that, but they need rethinking a little. Each team prepares, like the old teams used to for Monaco each year, and comes with its own solution. And it changes year to year as our ship designs change. We can't build a ship dedicated to Luna. But we can refit, and think about how we make the adjustments, from secondary thrust systems to regolith filters, to updated HUD and anti-gravity unit adjustments." Simon's analysis seemed pertinent.
Movement in the background of each team's HQ could be seen, from specialist ISO-styled containers made for spaceflight, made out of a highly tensile composite being loaded, including the ships themselves, one to each small spaceplane. Crew were boarding, harnessed up in the cockpit areas, and getting readied for launch. It was a hell of a logistics operation. A ton of health and safety, training, from the pilots going through neurally-linked VR training to real sim work in a pool to get used to a spacesuit, to dealing with emergencies, including pressure loss, hull loss, trauma in zero-G and sealing suits in the event of an incident. The sort of thing that 70 years prior, might have been an undergraduate course worth of content, was now teachable in a week. Many had undergone it in the pilot pool already. Those who were new picked it up fast enough, their physical and mental state as pilots fitting the extra requirements well.
Peter Thatcher appeared next, the formally dressed team boss of Silver Apex having his own input.
"Well, it's a pain in the f*cking arse to go there, but you all know it at home.....it's pretty spectacular. It's very good racing. And I think the sport evolves when we work with constraints. It's hard to prepare for, but the pilots still prove us wrong."
Spaceplanes were a little more difficult to run to Luna than a traditional rocket, but no less, technology meant they could be loaded, and launched from various spots, Silver Apex and Fitzroy Orbital sharing facilities from a launch site of Fitzroy's on the Isle of Nevis (in St Kitts and Nevis), Southern Cross from Otrere Launch Site in Hastings, New Zealand, Valkyrie and Nordic Call from Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana, Zygon from Wonsan Spaceport, Korea, Al-Saqr and SuperCat from Hamad International Spaceport in Qatar, MMR from Koch Space Centre in Texas, and Carrera Condor from Punta Arenas Spaceport in southern Patagonia, Chile.
The launch of Silver Apex's in particular caught the light as it soared from the angled runway, all burners on, and accelerating towards the sky, endlessly so. Minimum tonnage and minimum crews- a barebones pit team and only the pilots would make the trip, Principals optional given the use of a datalink. Space was difficult still, and in spite of decades of this, literally going hundreds of thousands of kilometres away from home, in zero-G, meant adaptations that were more profound.
And what a view it would be, looking back through the port window....
Soundtrack: ODESZA - Intro / A Moment ApartWhat had been talked about in that intro was something that did not need understating, it was...well, there. Even if you had seen it before as a pilot, it would still be a headscratcher. If you hadn't, even a neurally linked VR experience couldn't entirely lay out the feeling of touching that port window and staring at all of it. Where home was, or where the team was, or Portugal, or anywhere else growing smaller by the second. A change of perspective that revaluated everything you understood.
All the conflict, worry, concern, friends, family, all of it, as Layla had articulated, were well and truly in that one field of vision, enough to make you either hopeful for the future of humanity and advancements, like Layla wanted, or so appreciative of the care of it and preservation of it, just like Harrison did. On a philosophical level, for many people this would re-evaluate your understanding of place if you hadn't seen it. Some even said the proliferation of spaceflight in the 2040s had become the main driver for many billionaires, governments and other organisations to focus their efforts on change,
It wasn't a long journey given the slingshot dropped the spaceplanes quick to the site, near the southern pole of the Moon, in one of the "seas" of the Lunar surface. The spaceplanes offered zero-G, via the same matrices that allowed the ships to float with anti-matter being inverted to provide about 8/10ths of regular gravity, a rough compromise for power and conserving muscle mass. Of course, not everyone had that luck. Many had to deal with zero-g on the way to Luna for work, taking supplements, and even in more extreme cases, augments to deal with osteoporosis, bone density change and the risks associated with long-term radiation exposure. Most cancers could be very easily cured back on Earth, but radiation poisoning, that could do a number.
One by one, they had arrived a week early, and the mothballed facility, with old digging equipment laying dormant like some sort of surreal slate quarry in Snowdonia, now was populated- half of the facility embedded in a lava tube, the other half protected from solar radiation by regolith covering and some exceptionally complicated field generators powered by a localised solar field 4km away. Everything was sealed, but EVA was undertaken where needed, for track maintenance or any other orders of business. The pitlanes were hybridised- the ships were worked upon within an airlock, with crews clearing and depressurising the area to let ships leave and go, as needed. Pilot suits were modified bespoke to the function, as were team kit, the use of robotics coming in extremely useful to help tinker with ships once the crews needed to be clear, or were in bulkier kit.
Biosecurity was a significant factor in line with the 2075 Istanbul Agreements on Lunar Biosecurity- and the crews were isolated for a two days before they could access the operational areas of the facility, and a couple days after before departing Luna altogether if in contact, driven by a huge fear of infections to mining or other crews from MRSA and other bugs that came from various corners of the globe into space, especially operational sites that technically, Mare Austral was categorised under. Further supplies already on site, or from Luna, or from Earth were then brought in as and when. For those with marketing prowess, making the most out of the downtime, away from other pilots was likely a boon.
The track was set up, advertising, virtual spectator positions, and one by one, practice runs that trickled in. For any pilot, this was everything they had come to dream of. No other series came here. No other series (bar someone insanely suggesting the World Rally Championship or World Raid Championship could, but, would that even be a relevant title to it?) came here.
And for the moment being, the tunnels, small pit box sealed within an enclosed facility, the teeny area under a repulsor enclosure still demanding EVA suits to access, and then the one outside of it, made for the most spectacular circuit of the year. If sleep schedules were broken in the quarantine, now they were fixed and primed to make the most of this place.
Nothing about this was easy, as Peter said.
Delta Hyper's often used sofa, normally against a backer, now had Earthrise in the background, with a camera perfectly placed next to it. It sat directly on the regolith, the nanite-covered material catching the solar wind.
A normal interview with quite a different background.
Quite comical, really, because the shot opens with the sofa empty.
Every single pilot was going up to it, on top of what looked like a boulder-like arrangement outside of the old Mare Austral site, the sofa lined in god-knows-what protection material to stop it being shredded by regolith. And there wasn't anyone there. A projected hologram of Aurora sat without a EVA suit on, but to stop boiling and freezing alive at the same time, the pilots would need to bring theirs. Either a pilot-grade suit, that they'd be used to that was suitable for walking, or a more bespoke spacesuit brought along, likely repping their team colours. The design of the suits were significantly more modern as Layla had on earlier- pressurised, yet more elegant, form-fitting and modular, and lighter whilst offering protection.
They were literally moonwalking to get an interview, and as they would likely find their spot, and take a seat on the couch, faces lit up due to the lighting arrangement and facing out of the sun, they were getting an interview quite literally like no other. Alone, but with a figure they were used to strangely present. Aurora seemed to stand there as if it wasn't really a big deal. As they would take their seat, the interview felt fairly easy to run with..
"Nora, welcome to Delta Hyper, and welcome to the Moon. It's safe to say with your first time here, you must be having butterflies in your stomach? How are you feeling?" Aurora asked, the hologram coming through in the interviewee pilot's ear.
"Kais, welcome to the sofa. Layla certainly talks a lot about Luna, it seems like a home race to her and I bet you've heard no end of it! Now we're here, do you think she's right to hype it up so much?"
"Paul, welcome to Mare Austral! With all the talk of the controversy behind the scenes of Valkyrie at the moment, would you say the team is ready for the race to come?"
"Bea, great to have you here. With your fans out in force in Portugal, how do you feel at a race that they aren't able to physically attend here at Mare Austral?""Han, great to have you here on Delta Hyper, and welcome to our favourite couch of the year! With your talent on show over the last few races, do you think you and Cassie have what it takes to charge after Valkyrie, and do you think there's any edge you can find at Luna?"
The others sat there as the scene cut to the remaining lead pilots, most of their spacesuits matching their team colours, with various interpretations of the team liveries.
"It would be impossible not to appreciate this. Still makes me pinch myself!" Max replied, his energy carrying in the response to the question which felt rather obvious.
"Yep, it is....it is incredible. I mean, we're so far from home, I can't even see my house from here...." Harrison quipped, cutting to the next, a rather shit-stirring Astrid.
"Eh. It's alright. I've been before. Lacks atmosphere." Astrid dryly remarked, sticking out her tongue beneath her visor as she replied.
"Well, you heard the intro, I mean....what more can I say? It's incredible out here. My two favourite things together, and well, I can set a fierce lap here." Layla gave a smirk, like someone who was rather possessed by it all.
"Not if I have something to say about it. Should be on course to get back here with a good result, Luna is one of my favourites and I imagine it'll be fierce." Amy replied, a smirk forming on her face, the role of a gentle villain playing back, wanting to keep on her crown.
"Well, first African to race on the Moon. Not bad at all!" Kofi smirked, cutting into Dorian, who seemed back to his usual behaviour.
"It's magical. The handling, everything is totally different. Like Monaco but in Space, no?" Dorian giggled, as Cassie followed.
"I mean, it's glorious. We take it in one step at a time. But it's a cool circuit, and I am sure with some party tricks up my sleeve I can make the most out of it." The Portuguese-Scots pilot replied, cutting to Henry, who seemed actually quite excited.
"I mean, I've been a lot but it does never get old. Fitzroy does lot of logistics so naturally, I've been to the Moon more than most..." That intercut with the last pilot, Ava, who sat almost cross-legged even in a spacesuit, making it seem remarkably casual.
"It's a pretty amazing place. I think it suits my style of flying ships, and it's a treat from my previous piloting experience. My childhood self would be grinning ear to ear, so we are here to make the most of it!" Ava grinned, cracking a rare grin, very much satisfied with where she was.
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