Fetzen
LadyAmber
Forsythe
FourtyTwo
wintersoldier
Carlyle
Chronic
KawaiiOtakuGirl
Abstract ProxyA collab with FourtyTwo / Starlance
Tuesday May 11th, 2094, 12:30
Avebury, United Kingdom
Avebury, United Kingdom
And what an environment for go out for a Sunday drive in. The route to Avebury, in the green rolling hills of the Wiltshire countryside was at a Neolithic site, with lots of standing stones that put Stonehenge to shame. It was a great driving road, and given that most travel was routed these days via public transport, the roads were virtually left untouched, Amy’s skills easily qualifying for her to drive this thing without any autonomy.
And in the middle of it, literally in the centre of the old hamlet of Avebury itself was a classic car stop, at an old pub called The Red Lion that had now become Cars and Chai- a regular pitstop for anyone that wanted to enjoy old traditions of petrol-based cars rather than biofuelled anti-grav based modes of transport, rather the old risk new fangled racing that had come with it. Most importantly, the car fit where she was going. A place Amy wanted to catch up with Bea, given their schedules had missed for a while, to say thank you.
So, pulling into the gravel car-park, up to the mock-Tudor structure surrounded by big rocks, she kept her shades on and saw the supporting SUV-styled, 2085-produced make tail into the car park a while away, the quiet mid-day, midweek crowd not catching Amy’s figure. They likely would want autographs, but she’d made a private arrangement with the venue already to keep a table free, and most of all, quiet.
She had been watching. And well, she may have been dealing with her own portfolio of problems, but keeping that friendship alive was still important to her. No good deed unpunished, as they said.
Walking inside, Amy found a quiet booth reserved away from prying eyes, and took her seat, looking out through the hazy window at the rolling green hills that even over centuries had remained the same, still the same agriculture and yet still mostly covered in chalk, seeing the reflection of her carbon-composite hollow forearms, her black leather jacket and her jeans that contrasted against much of the manicured, hyper-competitive pilot that some would stack her up to be. It was nice to get out and about without a million cameras on her, be something a little different.
Out of all the usual traffic her Agent Ai pushed her way every day, a lunch with Amy Stirling wasn’t expected. Much less halfway across England. It was quite the drive, but what better excuse to take out your replica rally car than a trip to the countryside, once one had untangled themselves from London, with public transport having priority, no-drive zones and the rising Thames collecting its land tax. OK, it wasn’t an exact replica, as the sound that heralded bea’s arrival wasn’t the iconic tune of the Audi I5 engine, but rather a likewise identifiable Porsche flat six from a 2072 911, getting shown what’s what by the driver through the last few turns before entering the quiet village was anything to go by.
She let it idle for a minute after pulling in to let everything spool down and cool before getting out and making for the pub, taking a while to take in the scenery before entering, asking the first non-busy staff member she found for the table by name before making her way over. ”Two years I’ve been attending rallyes a stone’s throw away. Never knew this place existed.” She said by way of greeting, wearing a friendly smile and her usual aviators to go with a short sleeved t-shirt and dark blue jeans.
“Yeah, it’s not bad…..places like these keep the old ways alive, we just seem to be in a bubble sometimes. Good to see you again, Bea.” Amy smiled, walking across and giving Bea a hug, the embrace definitely strange even for Bea no doubt, given this was the person that at this point, most of the grid would have seen frankly having carbon-composite horns sprout from her head if they had anything to believe. Sighing, Amy took a seat again, beckoning Bea across, Amy peeling her sunglasses off and gently swiping her finger on the AR display on the table, looking over.
“My treat, by the way. Tea, coffee?” Amy asked, flicking through, looking over options.
“Good to have you here….and sorry I’ve been so busy and we couldn’t debrief sooner. This has been a long, long time overdue. But, I guess you’re getting used to this whole…..circus now. You have been busy too I guess. Jumping out of planes, snowboarding, damn, you must be addicted to adrenaline?” Amy quipped, giggling with no uncertain sense of irony, given that she had been much the same in her earlier career, and now, had moved onto some much more significant personal endorsements.
A heart, from a Silver Apex employee? What sorcery? Bea stifled a giggle as she quickly adapted to the hug, likewise doffing her shades. ”Nice seeing you off the clock again too, if unexpected.” She said as she scrolled through the tea selection, having less of a ‘metal devil’ view of the fellow Brit as much as the racing equivalent of a corporate drone.
”Makes sense. You’re busy staying at the top, I’m busy trying to claw my way up there.” The younger driver grinned, ”Yea, Eva got the patient genes. And a lion’s share of the wisdom pool. I can sit still when I’m old and boring.”
”What’s long overdue is a thank you. Gave us a good leg up from the get go.” Even if someone’s teammate immediately fucked it. ”But we’re not her to talk shop, are we? How’s life away from the cameras?”
Amy chuckled, hearing that comment about the leg up. Amy knew her people had made some changes, and well, Carrera’s engine had benefited immensely from the remap, a partnership that was a debt repaid from Bea’s father’s old sponsorship of the team that had now transferred into Carrera. Despite the change in the world, nepotism always remained….
“Well, you helped me, I helped you. Life is good. I have sponsorship commitments of my own than usual. More than I planned. Always goes that way. But, it is what it is. I suppose you’re keen for now, and while you can, enjoy it.” Amy added, swiping on a latte for herself, pinging the AR display across to Bea to have a look, as she stared out of the window for a moment back at Bea’s car, before back across to her fellow Brit.
“How about you? How are you finding it all? I suppose you got a taste of points. That, and everything else that exploded on your socials, I can’t stop hearing about it. Don’t worry, it’s not jealousy. Just really impressive. I’ve never seen the hype for a new pilot like you. And for what it’s worth, it makes me pleased you have a ship to match.” Amy commented, the surface level giving way to a gentle poke that she was making, yet keeping it light.
There was a hint of a sour hint in Bea’s expression at the mention of hype for a new pilot before the neutral friendly expression returned. Nepotism indeed remained, and whatever anyone could say for her talent or results, Bea always reminded herself that that was the first and second reason she had a seat. Although being so focused on getting a seat that she completely neglected any backup plans for the 2093 season until it was too late lay squarely on her shoulders. ”More of the same, but bigger.” She shrugged, ”Flights to Argentina aren’t fun, but it is what it is. Portugal fucked us a little… a lot, but there’s plenty more to come, so I’m not worried.
Are you?” She returned the poke, referring to the other hemisphere ans she added a green tea to the cart.
“You’re telling me. I had my fucking neural link pulled for a hundredth of a second. I don’t believe it was a glitch. No way. When I find out, that person’s getting more than a helmet thrown at them. And we are working on it.” She replied, sighing, disappointment more than anger coming through.
“The top level’s a scary thing, as you probably learnt yourself. As much as Jamie made himself a twat, you paid for it sadly. It happens. Nobody has your interest. Not even your team, sometimes. So pressure exists. More than just to keep your seat. Winning it all is what you grow up wanting, and it’s what you need to keep on delivering. It really is as simple as that. Or points. Whatever it takes.” Amy replied, watching the staff make some brews, some catching sight of the two AG pilots in a booth, chatting amongst themselves but trying to make no scene, hiding it poorly. Amy was no doubt getting Bea’s attention there, the smirk in her face telling.
“I’ll get them back. Al-Saqr’s up to some weird shit, Layla seems out of her usual, way more than she should be. Harrison’s the same as ever, but Nora is….well, she’s just incredible. Don’t tell her I said that. Raw talent, but how long will those two last when they can’t decide who wants first? The title can’t be shared, after all. We’re all a bit greedy here.” Amy quipped with a giggle at the end, hearing the waitress come over with two cups, placing them down, a side of very, very sugary Midget Gems in a bowl also joining the order.
“It always comes back. Keeping first is hard. Pressure can’t be removed out of your brain. Those chemicals we don’t know about yet.” Amy replied as she sipped down some coffee, looking back across the table.
“Caffeine we do though.”
”I think those were my exact words, yep. But it’s water under a bridge. And there’s other crashes taking the forefront now.” Bea nodded along when Amy indirectly called Jamie a twat, ”Yea. I mean, obviously I’m not against augs, but any cyberware that messes directly with your brain…” She shook her head, ”Standard neural links have at least been field tested for years, but some people don’t know when to stop. She’s got junkie energy. Cyberware and Luna alike.” She chuckled.
Amy giggled, hearing that comment. She didn’t want to disclose just how much hardware and software she was running under the hood, but she hid that a hell of a lot better than Layla did. A hell of a lot better.
“Well, she does love Luna. I’ll give her that one. Just lacks the….fire elsewhere. The machine can’t be perfect when it has tells.” Amy quipped back, smirking as she sipped down some coffee, knowing Bea would appreciate her comment about Jamie, leaving it there.
Bea took the cup with a thank you, testing the temperature with her lips before setting it back down and switching to the candy for the time being, letting silence hang for a second or two before breaking out in a giggling fit. ”I won’t tell her, but it won’t be free. You probably won!t tell, but I have to ask: What was the mood in the team like when Jamie got beaten by Jen? Paint me a scene, just a hint. Quiet household?”
“Awkward. But he was at the back. And he put himself there. In a ship proven to be title winning. So he’ll need to go better next time. Shame he can’t join me on the podium.” Amy was brutal back, sipping down more coffee, nonchalant as anything, as she leaned against the wooden baton, taking in the measure of Bea, knowing she got her answer paid there.
“It happens in teams. Form is temporary, class is permanent, yadda yadda. You’re lucky to have a good team-mate in Ava. Jen seems to be coming off to a nice start herself, too. You two kept me entertained when I watched the Junior AG streams.” Amy replied, making an observation classic as all time, but not hiding her thoughts. It was Jamie’s job to improve, after all. And on paper, the ship Silver Apex provided was able to win constructors’s and pilot’s championships.
“Thank you for the collab stream on that auction, by the way. Cass dropped me a line about it actually, she was super chuffed with what you did. Then again, I imagine things got awkward back in Tokyo about the painting that Dorian bought….between him and Cassie, there’s bad blood. Probably don’t want to hear the paddock rumours, but that was ringing in my ear at the end of last year, I’ll tell you that.” Amy chuckled, sighing as she sipped more coffee down.
”Their bad blood’s their business. If they wanted me to know, they’d tell me.” Bea stopped Amy with a raised hand before leaving the topic, doing a theatrical bow when Amy mentioned watching Junior FA when she raced.
”No problem, and let’s not pretend I didn’t have my own reasons to do it.” She shrugged with her usual honesty, ”You’re right with Ava though. We’re Yin and Yang in all the right ways.” Now Cassie, there was one whose team and maybe even teammate Bea didn’t envy. ”Big help on ELS and the Moon alike.”
“She’s like that. Fierce girl. I’d not want to fuck with her, but still has that mentality. So yeah, could be worse.” Amy used classic British understatement, sipping more coffee and grabbing a handful of sweets, “She’s always been capable of more. Guess this year is that year. Even if not Portugal.” With that, Amy was leaning back in against the padded seat with a little thought on her mind, changing the topic gently..
“You feeling good about Luna?”
”Two, three years, we’ll be right up there with you, don’t worry.” Bea grinned back at the three time champion, ”Year, maybe. Last race, definitely not. I mean, fuel injectors? In an entire engine, the part that fails is the one with three moving pieces, seriously?”
”Feeling excited, never been. And we have a good hand, despite our augs being what they are. I think I’m still betting on the Kiwis though, no offense.”
Amy rebuked that with a giggle, sipping back more bitter coffee. “Pfft, Harrison prefers the solid earth to the Moon. It’s trickier than some think.” Amy dryly replied, nodding to her earlier comment.
“It happens. Had a nasty one in Junior AG. Sticks with you, for sure..” She commented further, before putting the cup down.
“I’m sure you will. Progress well You sound keen on the project? I mean, ask me in Round One, I’d have been surprised. Carrera was as you probably know, a bit of a political mess for a while. So someone must have pulled something together this year. Had to happen eventually.” Amy commented, merely observing the obvious, but prying away at Bea a little on that one.
”Carrera Condor, Valkyrie, every time you have multiple countries cooperating, it will inevitably either begin or end in a dumpster fire. Does my dad have stories from back when a few European countries tried to design a light interceptor together and Pridwen was a subcontractor.” She shook her head, ”Right now it looks like we’re the former, and as far ago as pre-season testing I wouldn’t have believed it either. But if you have people whose hearts are in it and decent funding, they’ll pull through.” She took a sip of her tea.
”But since I have you here and you’re sharing, what do you make of the Engineer Musical Chairs?” Bea giggled, ”Don’t see that mid-season often. I was going to quiz Paul about it a little, but then the Valkyrie dumpster fire flared up again…”
Bea’s comment got an eyebrow raise out of Amy, and a gentle giggle.
“Felix? Oh, no it doesn’t happen often. But I suppose after what went down, I’m not shocked. No matter what Knight does, contracts are contracts, and well, corruption reaches in when there’s this much money in this sport. To his credit, he made a principled stand against it, is my understanding. Like you said, the Europeans sometimes find their way to make things more complicated.” Amy chuckled, sipping more of her brew, putting it back.
“I suppose belief is one thing. And it puts your team on the map. I noticed it in Ava too….you’re definitely a driver behind that. Maybe I will need to worry about you after all….but trust me, that crown’s heavy.” Amy smirked, sipping the rest of it down, putting it back on the saucer, paused by thought.
”Maybe I’ll pull a Rosberg on you. Steal myself one title and retire to do something more fun?” Bea teased with a bit of history.
“You get that then, fine, but you gotta earn it. I get to be a Starcross.” Amy replied with a barb and perhaps her own overinflation of her own ego, knowing Bea almost had no uncertain doubt of her, the name bringing back a thought.
“You ever met her? She is so funny. Like, she’s 80 but she is still hysterical. She would drive that P1 faster than me. I do not get what that old lady is made of. She actually lives up in Hackney at the moment, of all places.” Amy paid her own homage back, taking a handful more of sweets from the small pot for herself, pouring a bit more out from the remaining teapot of coffee into her own.
Bea laughed out loud at Amy’s reply. ”Alright, that’s enough racing sacrilege for one day.
The Mouton of our time. Never had the honor. Just Florence in Portugal.” She shook her head. ”To the greats.” She raised her cup in toast.
“To the greats.” Amy smiled in reply, clinking cups, and with it, sipping it down.
“You are gonna be out of control when you get a podium, aren’t you?” Amy wisely quipped, knowing she’d started something in Bea that she was never going to get back.
”May our names be among them one day. Preferably not posthumously.” She added, acknowledging the difference between the names mentioned and even someone like Amy.
”Out of control? Little old me? Perish the thought.” Bea pointed to herself with faux indignation, ”One way or the other, that’s a bridge I’ll cross when I get there. Sure, there is the ‘P3 WRC’ incident that I refuse to talk about, but last I checked, bars survived Nora’s first win, so there’s nothing to fear, right?” She added in jest.
”Sure.” Amy simply replied back, sipping more of her brew again, seeing the gentle drizzle pick up outside now, the relatively nice day turning into a briefly crap one, as was the weather in England. Nothing but a gentle sigh to reply with, as Amy ditched her leather jacket in favour of her pale red top.
“Well, at this pace, I’m sure it’ll happen. Between us, things do change fast in this sport. Just don’t miss out on any opportunities is all I’ll say. Taking that top spot is scary, you’ll need to hunger hard if you want it. My dad used to absolutely beast me in the karts when I was young, the amount of neural stuff I did when I was young….shit, I forget it now but man it sucked back then. Cannot imagine what kids go through now. Got me here though.” Amy mused, more of an open commentary, revealing perhaps a more vulnerable side than she ever would in front of a camera. The nemesis of the grid almost as if she showed a gentle, surface level crack to Bea there and then.
She let the more experienced driver speak, picking up food for thought to sort through on the drive back, the loyal bone in her body clashing with the opportunism often required in fields such as theirs. ”Well, it changed for the better fast, now I’m hoping I’ll see the other change before it slaps me in the face.” Bea shrugged, ”But if we knew what’s coming, life would be boring, wouldn’t it?” Getting philosophical and they weren’t even drinking.
“Keeps it interesting.” Amy quipped back, sipping more down, before putting the cup down again.
“There might be some more opportunities for us on the horizon. Some more clout and behind the scenes for us in particular. FIAR are thinking of some celebrations at Silverstone when we’re back in the UK. I’m tapping up Cassie for something, Paul would probably be keen too. Some old classics might be open for us to try. The sort of thing that money can’t even really get. Want me to let you know when it goes down?” Amy asked, knowing the answer would be an obvious one- but still, wanting to put it across.
Bea was nodding enthusiastically even before Amy finished speaking. ”Keep me in the loop, yell if I can help.”
“Thought so. Just thought to confirm unless you had your schedule full. Just in case.” Winking with a grin, Amy finished her second cup, pinging it over, before flipping over the phone across the table.
“Question is, do you want Starcross’s ‘59 car or Hamilton’s ‘20 car?” That was a decidedly more pointed question, as Amy slid her personal phone across the table, with the spreadsheet on it for names to each. There was perhaps a little insight that Amy maybe had a little to do with the admin on this one, or at least, a string to pull.
”Not all of us are superstars, I still have some vacancies, especially for something like this.” Even if her calendar had been full, it wouldn’t be after that invitation. She pondered the question for a few seconds. It was a serious one, but then she looked back up at Amy with a mischievous smile. ”Someone said she’d get to be a Starcross.” She said as she assigned her name to the 2020 Mercedes AMG machine, a hint in her voice that maybe she would’ve picked the other option were it not been for that earlier statement, whether it be out of respect for the older driver thinking that was the car she wanted more, honoring the unknowing dibs or a small step to making that statement true up in the air.
Amy raised her eyebrows, but nodded, with a certain kind of respect, agreeing and knowing Bea played her there.
“Knew you were a sucker for the classics.” Amy giggled, claiming her phone back as with it, she put it away in a pocket of her leather jacket to her side, before addressing Bea again.
“Silverstone is crazy. You know it from Junior AG. Just wait till you end up there. Big festival, as I’m sure you know. They bring you in and give you a proper announcement on the Saturday night on the stage, British drivers in particular, they go mental for. Makes you feel like a star. And trust me, you never get used to it. Home crowd and all.” Amy seemed almost to be leaning into a certain kind of lookout for Bea here, knowing that it was almost without saying. But worth a mention anyway, more than most.
“It’ll be a good one. But then there’s Monaco before that….and Monaco….” Amy put her fingers to lips, a chef’s kiss and a smirk back from the platinum blonde making it clear.
“In an AG ship it’s perfect but good luck passing. I heard Astrid already has a yacht party planned. When she bins it at Mirabeau and wants more gin maybe she’ll go direct. I mean, fair. I’d drink with her too. She parties HARD.” Amy commented, leaning back and knowing no doubt, Bea had seen the history, and was about to go live this.
”I may eat my words later, but I think I’ve got a handle on fans. Could give you some pointers if you wanted.” Bea teased, calling back to the start of their conversation before Amy mentioned Monaco. Tight circuit rewarding handling and stability. ”Valkyrie will be insufferable over there, won’t they?”
“Fans are easy enough. The connection just becomes a little number when you end up winning titles. It’s a bit difficult to stream as often given commitments. But I find time too. Keeps it all smooth.” Amy replied, rather candid, going back to Monaco.
“Oh, they will be. But we’ll just have to see. Circuit requires perfection, nothing less. It’s everything as good as you think it is.” Amy’s lips turned into a curling smile, sitting up in the chair, looking across at Bea, taking in her confidence, the silver-haired veteran thinking about something else she’d had on her mind, the waitress coming over and interrupting that thought as she took the cups away, as Amy leaned in, changing the topic.
“So, this is a bit of a strange proposition…based on pointers. You seem to have something about you, Bea. So if it’s anything, I’m happy to mentor you a bit. Help you out here, given what you saw with Valkyrie is probably scaring you, as is Zygon at the moment. You might be good with fans. But if you want to win titles, I can show you what it takes. And no AI programme, learning course or training module can help you with that. I was groomed to perfection and believe me, it was terrible. But I don’t think it has to be that way. I think there’s something else we can do.” Amy opened up, resting her artificial hands on the wooden table, contrasted against her pale-like skin at the joint that seamlessly seemed to blur.
“You have a good setup at Carrera to show off what you can do. So at the least, if you know fans, then let me help you with politics and flying. That bit I can show you. And then some. I would like to mentor you, Bea. Us English pilots need to look after each other.” Amy returned a smile back, the words coming difficult, the phrasing coming out all a bit wrong, yet somehow, against even her own selfish judgement and want to succeed, knowing Bea was really quite genuine here. Yes, she was British too, that bias held firm in her, but in another way, somehow, Amy knew that with all these titles, all of what she’d done so far, that was autopilot to her- but helping someone else, that would be a reward to itself, something she wanted to do and didn’t mind there was likely to be no reward at the end of it. She almost saw a bit of Bea inside of herself, the four artificial limbs among other its demonstrating a want, a commitment to that top level. And Amy must have felt something in that moment, because she wanted at least to do something else than just drill into everything she was at her core. Victory at all costs suddenly felt like it had perspective, because Bea had it all on the line too to stay in her seat.
”Valkyrie isn’t exactly scary at this point. It’s just sad and infuriating.” ‘Makes me want to throw up in my mouth.’ was also something that would’ve described that scandal well, but Bea had enough corpo background to sort that out in her head. Though Amy was right with Zygon and Al-Saqr, they were being weirdos.
As much as she did her best to hide any doubts about those, the next thing out of AMy’s mouth hit her from a blind angle. ”I, uhh.. I mean.” She stammered before her brain got traction again, ”I have someone for that, but another opinion from another angle can’t hurt. I suppose it depends on the price.” The thought of juggling hand grenades was still there, but so was the vision of gain. Back to not being sure whether she was being manipulated or not, great.
”And be careful playing the English card.” She recovered fully, back to her usual ways, ”Half of me is a grease and freedom-loving, red-blooded American, remember?” She chuckled.
“And half of mine is Korean. Still share a strand.” Amy quipped, letting her think it over, nodding in return with agreement.
“No price for it. Normally you’d be right, I’d have some reason to it, but I have a heart, Bea. May not be real. But I know what it was like. And that I’d appreciate someone in my corner if I needed it. I see a little of myself in you in that way..” Amy replied, knowing this was going to take Bea by a surprise. A pleasant one, Amy hoped.
”And there’s the price.” Bea grinned mischievously when Amy mention someone in her corners, ”But it’s one I think I can afford. Just please don’t ask me to smile and nod next time the stewards are cooking out of water.” She answered with warmth, filing away the hinted similarity to unpack properly later.
“You do you, Bea. We’re here to grab titles. But after that, we’re still people. Even if the media makes us out to look…..different to how we are. They made me and Harrison look like we were scheduling a cage fight. I mean, sure, we may not be eye to eye, but…..there’s more than meets the eye.” Amy shrugged, thinking back to it.
“He’d win though which is why I didn’t. But anyway……” Amy added with a giggle, thinking back to Hans’s off-put comment in Bonneville last year, one that had become a meme in their rivalry, albeit had been since filed away in the archives of shit-talking that came and went.
“Happy to help you there I guess, if you have anything planned, or just need to talk. I appreciate you coming out here. There’s plenty of good roads around here if you want to explore too!” Amy chuckled, looking back out at the cars outside, joined by another 2074 produced McLaren, that was rolling into a spot next to Amy’s- gathering a small cluster of people taking pictures of it now they’d realised the numberplate and the uniqueness of it.
Thursday May 13th, 2094, 16:48
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Ranch
”Nevermind all the bad I have to say about liquid immersion, it’s worth it.” Bea said in response to Ava’s amused look at the state of the brit, ”Bloody Hell…”
”But now you’re not used to the gees having an effect.”
”Yup.” She agreed, trying to adjust to the fact that her arms and head now weighed their actual mass times the planet’s gravitational acceleration as opposed to several times that. ”Right call advocating to let this one be yours.”
”I don’t know. The last two times you gave up on a race, you did great.”
Bea sat in silence for a second, realizing Ava was actually right. ”Maybe if I tell myself it’s a lost cause, it’s less stressful and I make fewer mistakes?”
”Maybe you descend from Merlin and ‘I give up’ is an incantation?”
“Burn the witch!” A passing engineer cackled.
”Well, whatever it is, you jinxed it now.” She shook her head with mock indignation.
“Ms. Wa- Bea?” The man in charge of the centrifuge called out from his control booth, “You’re up again.”
”I don’t like that guy.” She shook her head, ”You shouldn’t be such a workaholic if your job involves moderate torture, that can’t be right.” She grinned.
”Don’t forget to put your eyeballs back in the sockets.” Ava called after her.
Friday May 14th, 2094, 11:15
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Ranch, cafeteria
”So me and two other flight leader candidates are mission planning. We’ve been at it for an hour and still going nowhere. Then the mission commander walks in ‘Hurry up, I need the flight plans, we’re already late.’ We looked at what we had, it was all a big mess, we haven’t even gotten to the block plan-”
”Block plan? What’s that?” Rey asked.
”Every flight has an altitude block assigned to it. Like, for example 10 000 feet, that’s ‘10 Block’.” Ava explained, ”So we made up the block plan as we left the room. Turns out…” She started giggling, ”We put the Ikeyas in the 40 block!” Bea and one of the mechanics joined the laughing, the mechanic a combat flight sim enthusiast and Bea generally aware of what Pridwen designed fighters were capable of. ”The 40 block! Weasel flight is in the bozosphere, barely holding on with their stubby little wings and one engine.” Ava soldiered on, talking through fits of laughter, ”Their number four was lagging six nautical miles behind before opfor even showed up, one called Bingo and went home before we even started and when they tried to threat react, they couldn’t go over four Gs. Then the Four got yelled at in debrief for being out of formation.” The entire table was laughing now, the feeling of someone else screwing up and you getting yelled at over it a universal human constant. ”Meanwhile we in combat air patrol are having the time of our lives in 20 block. The Antari practicing suborbital strikes are looking down on these poor bastards, wondering if they should help them or put them out of their misery.”
A ringing phone interrupted the story. ”I’m sorry. Carry on.” Bea excused herself and stepped outside the room as Ava continued the story.
”Yello?” Bea picked up the call, the voice of Peter Hayes coming through the line. ”The sunglasses company? ...What about it? ...Buuuut Valkyrie had a Valkyrie moment and they don’t want to be anywhere near Paul or anyone else now? …I don’t hate hats! Sunglasses just look better. ...Send it my way, but I trust you didn’t see anything off? ...They don’t want me to wear anything that was meant to go with Valkyrie’s other clothing sponsor, right? ...No, nothing against it, I’m just not exactly who you get to advertise formal wear. Plus we’ve always been a Kingsman Tailors family. ...Sounds great. I’ll let you know when I’ve read it. ...Bye for now.”
Friday May 21st, 2094, 10:12 Universal Lunar Time
Mare Austral, Luna
Mare Austral, Luna
Apollo Hotel
”So, first impressions from space.“ She played it off casually as if she hadn’t just nearly faceplanted into the wall, ”Apparently I’m among the 50% of people who suffer from Drop Sickness in microgravity, that came out of nowhere.” She made a sour face, ”It was awful, and those were apparently the moderate symptoms. I mean the insult of being essentially sea sick while simultaneously the furthest away from any known body of water you can be. What the Hell, brain? Fortunately that was just the SSTO, everything else has artificial gravity and I do not want to imagine that trip if that hadn’t been invented.”
”But I was recently reminded about a discussion I saw over on Discord about how in the past drivers weren’t allowed to do dangerous things - Leclerc couldn’t skydive, Verstappen couldn’t go skiing - meanwhile we went and did both as part of our sponsor commitments. It’s eased up a little since those times, but León is still pretty insistent on us not doing anything too risky - might have hired the wrong drivers, then - or at least tries to be. Because if you thought - and I did - that he wasn’t happy with the skydives for Fujikura, boy, oh boy, you should’ve seen his face when he learned the Pridwen ads dad wanted Ava for included an aerospace fighter.” She snickered, León’s silent panic followed by resignation playing in her mind’s eye. ”If you are outside at night around this time, and you look up at the moon and something really bright is blinding you, that’s probably Ava grinning ear to ear.” Bea smiled.
”One final note, this race won’t be streamed live. For obvious reasons. For the sadists among you who are looking forward to seeing me actually experience the Gs for once, you’ll have to wait a few days for the edited upload as usual. With that said, practice in an hour. Tune in then.”
DELTΔ HYPER
Episode Six: Dark Side of the Moon
Carrera Condor once again benefited from a partnership with a defense company, Pridwen simply having dug up actual space suits meant for combat pilots, removed unnecessary features and replaced some materials with lighter ones where durability wasn’t needed anymore to shed half their weight. A combination of a rigid torso and helmet with skintight limbs made for a mostly comfortable and unencumbering suit while still being able to take a hammer blow to the chest and allowing the use of high pressure breathing mix without complicated additional aids. Ava probably felt like wearing old skin.
"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?"
”Great to be here.” Did Aurora ‘have her here’ since she very clearly wasn’t ‘here’? ”A race without fans is like a footballer without a leg. Of course it’s an amazing location, but you can tell there’s something missing here. Especially since I came up through rally, where we have a very close relationship with the spectators.”
Cut. The onboard camera was between the seats of a rally buggy looking out through the windshield as it hurtled down a gravel road, a text briefly appearing on screen.
Beatrix Ward - Gareth Burns
#81 - Ariel Raider Rally3
Kenmore, United Kingdom
Saturday 16th October 2088, 11:28 - Drummond Hill
Scotland Regional Rally“...left six long intae right six long cut-”
”No?” Bea interrupted her co-driver, the road they were taking not matching the pace notes.
“Wha- Hold up…”
”Hahaaaa, Gazza got lost!” She started cackling as she threw the car door-first around a 90 degree bend.
“Bloody Hell, where- Right four care-”
”Turn left- Bollocks!” Bea overshot a junction she saw too late in absence of the pace notes and the car came to a halt half in a ditch with a bang. ”Too fast.”
"Shite. Kin we git back out?"
”Nope, go ou-”
Before Bea could finish saying 'Go out and push.' and Gazza could even unbuckle himself, three spectators had appeared at the front of the car, a fourth voice oh-so helpfully yelling "The road is that way!" into Bea's side window before joining the other three. Two seconds later, mere six since the crash, the car was already screaming down the road again.
”Got a little lost there, did we?” Bea teased with a chuckle.
“When we landed th’ jump Ah skipped a line, so sorry.” The Scot explained before sinking back into his notes, “Seventy, left four tightens, don't cut...”
The interview cut back to the couch. ”Sometimes too close. Portuguese rally fans are bloody insane.” A well-known picture flashed across the screen, ”No offense intended, but some of you are not right up here.” She tapped her forehead.
Group Chat
Bea“@Kofi What about Cape Town repulsors? I got a pretty close look and they seemed fine to me.
If anything Italy could stand more in a fe2 places.
*few”
BAY-RAN @Bay_Ran:
"We are thrilled to announce our official partnership with Beatrix Ward (@MadBea) of @CarreraCondorFA! As the season shifts into high gear, we’re also launching our new line of sports sunglasses, designed for those who live life in the fast lane.
We combine sleek design with cutting-edge technology, all frames coming with our top-of-the-line Chyron™ heads-up display. Stay informed and ride in style - whether you’re on the track or enjoying a day out, or conquer the road with our ‘#18 Limited’ aviator-themed series.
Join us in celebrating this partnership and elevate your style with our new collection! Check out the link in our bio to shop the collection and support Bea’s journey to victory.”
#Bay-Ran #FormulaAG #CarreraCondorFA #StyleInMotion
"We are thrilled to announce our official partnership with Beatrix Ward (@MadBea) of @CarreraCondorFA! As the season shifts into high gear, we’re also launching our new line of sports sunglasses, designed for those who live life in the fast lane.
We combine sleek design with cutting-edge technology, all frames coming with our top-of-the-line Chyron™ heads-up display. Stay informed and ride in style - whether you’re on the track or enjoying a day out, or conquer the road with our ‘#18 Limited’ aviator-themed series.
Join us in celebrating this partnership and elevate your style with our new collection! Check out the link in our bio to shop the collection and support Bea’s journey to victory.”
#Bay-Ran #FormulaAG #CarreraCondorFA #StyleInMotion
