Post by The Jester on Dec 4, 2010 0:43:59 GMT -7
It began with me casually browsing Jack Point one afternoon when I came across a very old forum posting regarding emerging Technomancer’s. I saw a posting by NetCat regarding her awakening and made me think a little bit about my own. It had been a rollercoaster of virtual beatings and lessons – like blacking out and coming to only to find something new. I had never been in any kind of VR before and only ever worked with overlay schematics and iconography, it seemed like minutes – sometimes “feeling” immersed as a whole new person – others times being ripped apart and rebuilt by some greater being – but being rebuilt better. Almost like I became the machines and they became me back in the yards, each time “disappearing” into blackness before being yanked again into whole new worlds, Sometimes I would view the world – almost omnisciently like hovering above or in it all… and I saw chaos. Not to mention the feeling, like I was the machines I lived to build…. Then after a few brief hours I woke up in agonizing pain and with heavy dry mouth in a white room connected to life support equipment. For the last 4 months after I crashed the plane I was flying with the team into the Nevada desert. Yeah, not my best moment in the skies, nearly lost Angel to… I don’t know if Arch has forgiven me for that yet. I just kind of assume the fact I’m still alive means that’s she’s come about as close as she gets to forgiving – but even if she does – I’ll never forget.
At the time it was a nice – yet disturbing – walk down memory lane, that moment changed my life. As I redesigning Gizmo a new brother known as Scopes I started to think about myself. I was completely redesigned and evolution when I got dragged through the Matrix and the feeling like I was the Matrix. After a few weeks of reverse searching what little pieces of memory I had from those “Months” on LS – I discovered I couldn’t find anything. Now don’t get me wrong – most of the old matrix is still active and with a decent terminal in an old section of town it’s kind of like running through a city of the dead – very little resonance and NOBODY to be seen. What was I looking for? I wanted that connection I had back – the feeling like I was part of something bigger – not to be the creator but to be re-created. I wanted that power, the deep resonance, the architect – what everyone referred to as the true source… to reach out again and give me greater understanding. I was a gift in a time of chaos… I wanted him to take another shot at it with me - I wanted to be designed and gain a whole new level of connection.
After returning to myself after another unsuccessful search I set my sprite to auto filter through my email while I dropped into my node to make another unsuccessful entry into my journal. Half way through my entry I see Hack starts to chirp with excitement and begins crawling down a wall holding a bright egg note. I open the message –seems this one is from Angry Bill making an inquiry as to why I haven’t joined into this year’s Salish-Shidhe Mountain Rally yet. It’s a circuit rally race from random starting points but normally always covers the area of Mount Rainer, Mount St. Helens waste lands and then Gifford and Snoqualmie’s Awakened Forests. The buy in was 2500 Nuyen and normally about 50-100 drivers showed up. The race itself occurs in the 3rd week of May, and the terrain is still crap from the rainy season almost coming to an end. Then it donned on me – why didn’t I think of it before. My connection to the world was with my pets, my drones – if I wanted to change myself I would have to push myself harder and farther than I ever had before. I didn’t just need to control my babies – I needed to become them, to be them – to erase the line between me and my machines!
I send Bill the Nuyen and had him submit my application as always, kind of crazy just how many underworld go-gangers and foreign government contacts this man had. But he sent back a confirmation stating I was registered and would receive the actual starting location and track a day in advance. The race itself was 2 weeks from now and I set myself to making sure Homer could handle the drive. Trixxy and I spent a few extra hours rebuilding Homer’s Engine to not only allow for a higher top speed but to redirect the exhaust into a Pressure canister and custom exhaust manifold to allow for Top Speeds during Hover Mode as well. The exhaust system was redesigned to allow for dual topside exhaust and 6 directional thrusters in her underbelly to effectively steer and boost while the Hover Jacket is active. The extra tank holds 5 rounds of extra “thrust” used up during hovering – guess this means no more spinning my wheels while going over the water. Well that set me back 16000 Nuyen but it was worth every cent. We managed to complete the vehicle in 3 days and then Trixxy went back to completing Flesh’s Bike – which I must say is looking to be a work of art unto itself. I also managed to find a beautiful new bumper for my baby – oh does he ever look good now.
The day before the race I’m already down at Bill’s (since he’s right on the Seattle Salish Border anyways when we get popped the message to meet up on Rainer’s West Side near a recent rockslide. There’s been a lot of rain coming down these last few days and seems were starting right near a fresh mud pit. I set Homer to Hidden Mode and dropped Igor and Warp into the Box as precautionary measures – with orders to just hide until we were well into the race. Igor was informed to take control should something happen to me during the race and ensure we stay on the track while Warp was to stay on the defensive and tear anyone to shred’s should they try to hack in – he seemed slightly disappointed that I wouldn’t be sending him out to cause damage this year but kind of happy I pulled out all sense of dignity when it came to how badly he was allowed to beat on intruding drivers – this year he was allowed to kill. Took about 4 hours to get to the pits and register in at a hap-hazard series of booths and security trucks. Since “weapons” were banned in this race every vehicle was inspected and electronically checked for hidden attempts. Every year they searched – it never seemed to be too hard since after the start everything from tire shredders to spike strips seemed to hit the ground. My air ducts and toolbox roused a bit of a lifted eyebrow when they went over my Baby but the search came back clean as Exhaust Ports and valid tool shop. I also had a spare tire strapped down under the canopy cover just in case. They attached a Satellite GPS monitoring unit in my cab on a closed frequency and adv me to connected to it as the route would only give me one check point at a time, passing each check point would upload a new section of map. This whole race was a 10-12 hour affair and did not have a stop for fuel or gear. Seems I was registered as driver 27 and a total of 86 drivers entered this year. Quite a few new young guys sported slightly modified Land Rover Impulses and similar rally built machines. The one I liked was the 2 elf crew running a heavily modified BMW Biber. Seems they completely rebuilt the frame to hold a Hotspur engine and added some pretty good body armour to the 2 man buggy – the rear of the vehicle was enclosed and the weapon mount removed (or well hidden) and it seemed to have a top notch navigation and sensor suite. After 15 minute of checking out there specs they dropped into hidden mode and gave me a hard stare down – I simply nodded and smiled – hoping to convey my appreciation for such good work.
All Drivers were lined up according to number on a rather wide open section of road. 10 vehicles wide and as far back as they needed to go. Instructions sent noted to stay under 60 for the first half mile to warm up and the race begins after the first major left into the fresh mud pits. I’m going to assume a few will go around it losing time – but not every vehicle is ready to dive into fresh mud, the local rock contains a fair amount of iron which throws off sensors and I’m sure there’s more than 1 section in there that is just dirty water. I strapped myself into the back chair (which had a few upgrades such as a full body harness and strap down plus extra shock absorbency and a built in Life Support System underneath - mostly just nutrient bags and an IV supplied by the doc). With my commlink and the GPS module slaved into Homer’s main systems I slipped myself into full VR mode. I pulled Homer to life and wow did that engine rebuild ever feel good – like my heartbeat had become even more rhythmic with flow. I ran a full diagnostic on all my systems and pulled Igor and Warp to my side. They both seemed just as excited as me with the upgrades and patting them both on the head we waited for the race to start. We heard the Gunshot echo through the air and I began to run forward – this race was all about winning and I was ready to push myself to a level of connection and adrenaline I hadn’t experienced since I Emerged a few years ago and it was all starting now.
It all felt very familiar, the sensations of controlling Homer was like a hug from a close friend. As the engine pumped away gaining speed I could feel everything around me. The new tires I installed made it feel like I was running barefoot over soft sand, every little rock and twig we came across causing no problems as the new tires just molded around them. The first corner was coming up and people had begun to spread out – some already accelerating ahead to cross over the mud pits or go around the recent mudslide. I could feel the ground beneath me getting softer as we began to race faster and faster toward the loose dirt. I watched as one of the lead cars only a few meters ahead of me dip nose first into a puddle and only the rear lights showed it was ever there. I pulled hard to the left cutting off another driver when my sensors noted the ground was too soft and we were going to sink. I pushed outwards releasing the hovercraft skirt – it felt like part of me just stretching out as I pulled my wheels up into the wells and used a burst from the new tanks to ensure I shot out of the mud to fly over it. The thrust was amazing as I tested the new systems – the rush pushing out actually launched me a few feet into the air before coming back down to hover a few inches off the mud. I noticed I actually drained half the tank in my eager jump out of the mud – hmm good to know it works at least. I noticed I wasn’t the only one who had similar equipment loaded in but we must have lost a good 22 opponents as there icons stopped or just disappeared from the 3D map guide system. But so many still remained as a good number of drivers (mostly highly modified bikes) going around the slide and falling slightly behind – not that they were worried, we were less than 5 minutes into the race and still had 10-12 hours of travelling to go. The rush was amazing as we began to reach top speeds – I could feel the dirt and mud flying up and around me, reaching up to brush under me. I also felt the patting of rain against the body; I closed the sunroof and slowly adjusted the paint from white to bluish grey hoping to disappear into the upcoming storm. As the mud slide came to an end I slightly lowered the wheels and began revving then up to speed to match my current 160mph – as they hit the ground and lifted the body I recalled the memory metal skirt back into it under chassis housing and sped on ahead. I felt really good being back behind the wheel of a race, I had to miss last year’s Pacific Run from San Francisco to Vancouver due to a job dropping medical supplies to a Northern Salish town that got cut-off from normal highway routes after some earthquakes and no funding to fix the roads and bridges. I sped forward along the rocky flats with a clear sight ahead to the base of the mountain and into the thick forests.
Due to a slight oversight regarding Homer’s camera equipment , I also slaved Scopes enhanced Sensor package into the trucks systems, he was providing me with a great real-time visual feed of everything around me while the truck gave me the ability to overlay the SAT-GPS’s map with actual road details and geothermal signatures. After the hard turn back in the pits I felt a sharp sting as Scopes dug his legs into the dash for extra grip. Poor little guy – guess he’s learning the hard way how to hold on tight. Gizmo on the other hand was happily asleep in the driver cup holder in the center console – he was my physical back-up if someone managed to get into my cab during this trip – I could also feel Warp watching the sleeping drone as well – hoping to beat me into it. He just loves piloting that little guy around. I continued my trip down the mountain side feeling the loose rocks sliding occasionally under me. I push a little harder and use the under vents to help provide counter direction as I slide sideways. So very happy I adjusted and installed that system, it’s coming in very handy thus far. I routed some of the exhaust pressure back into the tank every time I had the chance keeping the tank topped up. We were heading south down one of the many ravines heading towards the first of many checkpoints – Paradise Village. I switched over to electric engines once the loose rock was out of the way using gravity to my advantage and powered along one of the valley’s old logging roads, very few people around me now as everyone seemed to have planned their own route. Igor was in overtime scanning over the SAT-GPS feeds to check for problems and roads being out ahead. I continued to push hard down the road and within the next 30 minutes I find myself about to connect to a group of racers already on fractured Paradise Hwy. Seems like the group was mostly made up of 3 entries who were Corp sponsored bastards in an Impulse and 2 Shin-Hyung’s – they were actively pushing around the 2 elf Biber crew cutting them off and side ramming them hard. I don’t think they noticed me coming down the dirt road just overhead the main highway 15 ft up – the merge connection about 2500 meters ahead. The Elf crew seemed to pull slightly ahead of the group and they created a 3 man wedge and revved hard ready to push him into the ravine. I hated when corps entered into what should have been an everyman for themselves race. I considered “dropping in” on those boys when the elves back-end started smoking. As the 3 Corp’s boys drove into it all I could see and here on their icons was spinning and crashing. The smoke ended a few seconds later and the elf crew flew ahead – my rear sensors picked up a oil patch on the road – seems those boys had a few tricks installed that the organizer’s missed. Now this was becoming the race I loved to remember. I merged onto the highway and roared on ahead just ahead of that elf team; don’t know what other tricks they might be carrying but I wasn’t going to find out before the first checkpoint.
We passed through town at top speeds, the main road was walled off with tires and hay bales to ensure the drivers stayed on the right path. As I passed by an armored truck it scanned my RFID in the SAT-GPS and the next section of the route downloaded into the system. I also got a upload of remaining opponents and locations on the map, seems I lost a bit of time up in the ravine and there were a good 35 people ahead of me, I shifted back into high gear leaving the city and began powering over the rough asphalt. The next 2 checkpoints seemed rather mundane as we cleared a large section of heavy forest. The SAT-GPS unit showed multiple icons spread out over various dirt roads, while I hovered down a nice section of river to avoid some of the pitfalls and traps in the foliage. I was a good 7 hours into the race and felt better than ever on this long haul, many times I was almost distracted taking in the scenery but then ahead was my junction – I let the wheels begin their spin up when I noticed 2 avatar’s not too far away from me, then much to my dismay a crack ripped through the air and one icon stopped and disappeared from the SAT-GPS unit. I stopped my daydreaming and pushed deep into VR concentration. The beach I landed on connected to an old back road heading directly south but unfortunately for me it seems that the other icon was catching up. I shifted focus out my rear camera to see a Biber lining me up – a nice Gauze Cannon set into a gyro mount on top. I pushed hard and got ready to go evasive fast – I could feel the tingle as a shot went ripping by my right panel, a quick last minute swerve allowed me to just barely miss it. My body sensors felt like hair on end as I began weaving down the road hoping to avoid the next shot. It came like thunder blasting up rock and debris just ahead - charged right through it but hurt like hell when the front wheel hammer that hole. I tore hard to the left heading back for the river but those little bastards had size on their side.
That little buggy came right up behind me as I booked it for the river – the GPS overlay noted that we had climbed a bit and there was a good 100m drop cliff side now as I approached. I pushed and reved forward as I sprang out onto the ledge. I could feel the engine’s pistons pumping like my own heart and I stressed forward. A quick sideswipe knocked a leaning tree into the road, damn little buggy blew right over it before it the log went tumbling down the cliff side into the waters below. I could feel the mists as the wide river was forced into brutal rapids below us. Within seconds of recovery I could feel that damn Gauze Cannon powering up behind me again. They were right on my heels and were going to miss again. My heart was racing as I could feel myself stressing to my limit – we were doing over 220 on gravel down a cliff edge, felt just like my own heart was ready to beat right out my chest. The front grille itself must have twisted into a painful smirk as the electricity field hummed right through the cab, in a split daze second I whipped myself into a dead man’s spin pulling into a 360 burnout and aimed for the edge – It was like reaching out as grabbing them with my own arm – like a doll in a child hands as I shot out my winch with the momentum at the 2 man Buggy behind me was grabbed by the gecko patch. I held on for dear life and ripped the light weight towards me as I flew off the edge of the ravine – fuzzily watching him flying with me sideways over the edge. I closed my mind to the world as I let go of him and pushed with all my might out my air ducts, blowing as hard as I could it left me breathless – flailing to balance and reach out again for the ravine ledge – it was like a moment I had never experienced before, an ecstasy that surpassed even my emerging. It felt like I was in free fall – my own body as a living extension of Homer – I didn’t even register or feel the pulse in my meat body. For what seemed like forever the world stood still, I could only feel the spray from the river below, see the world in a 360 degree view around me clearer than anything I had ever experienced, I can feel my heart race as the pistons pumped life through my body. I reached out and grabbed a hold of the upper ledge and felt myself smash into the rock wall – my wheels and struts sending pain as if I had jumped from a 2 story building and landed hard. I began to run up the wall. Near the top one last jump set me hard over and on the ground – and with a snap that sent a deafening ripple through my body I felt one of my ankles snap. The feedback and recoil flung me right out of VR and back into my meat body. I came to only to find that the race had finished 30 minutes ago according to my timer but no notices of feed from the GPS. As I sat up I could hear a hard ringing in my ears as I felt blood drying on the side of my face. My eyes were blurred and slowly adjusting to the evening light. I tried to jump into AR to run a diagnostic but got no response – I felt dizzy and had to lie back down so I switched over to VR mode – it was strange this time – my sensor suite and diagnostics weren’t responding. She started up just fine but was off balance. I slid back into my meat body and sat up again to look around. After giving my head a quick shake and taking a shot of pain killer doc left for me I looked around. The cab was trashed – my seats cooked and dash fried – that would explain the lack of response. Igor and Warp buzzed back in through the open window – each operating Scopes and Gizmo sending out messages making sure I was ok. Then I noticed something that just wasn’t quite right. The transmitter for the rigger box for the truck was trashed, a large caliber gauze round buried into her soft shell. I began to recall the events in those last few seconds of the race and that shot had hit the truck prior to me launching off the edge, I was confused – how the hell did I pull that off? I reached forward to pull the round out of the box when I felt something different – I felt connected again. Somehow I was connected in hard with a mere touch. A smile crossed from ear to ear as I thought again and again what had happened. It wasn’t a greater power that reformed me, it was me that reformed me.
I went to stand up when the brutal pain in my legs sharply reminded me of the landing. I limped out of the truck and did a visual diagnostic – seems I smashed my front drivers side axel coming down to hard. I reached into the truck and grabbed the SAT-GPS unit, happy to see it was only scorched but not fried. I reached in and sent a buzz to Bill requesting his assistance. A few hours later the sound of Bill’s chopper sounded overhead – he dropped a patch and I attached it to Homer. He reeled us in and I secured us to the tie downs on the under chassis. I climbed up into the cockpit and put on a headset, Bet with the story he was about to hear I wouldn’t even get charged for the lift. I smiled as I looked down – shame about the Biber – looked really pretty until it fell off the edge and smashed it over a few boulders in the rapids. We began the trip back to the Yards and I begin to tell bill about the race – I don’t know who was more shocked about my new skills – me or him when I finished but it was late when we got back so I crashed at the yards. Bill let me grab the new parts on the house including an amazing new sensor suite I found on a 2068 Humvee model – seems he set it aside for me but waived the fee after what happened. Now that what’s you call a good buddy. I got Homer back up and running the next morning. My ankle was feeling a lot better but I still used a chuck of pipe as a cane as I hobbled about the shop all day. It felt awesome to be back – now to get back to Guai about that inquiry – I checked my inbox on my slow but enjoyable ride home – nothing yet. I smirked as my bare feet sat up on the Synth-Leather dash – I hadn’t even installed the transmitter yet yet and let myself slip into VR. Oh life was good.
At the time it was a nice – yet disturbing – walk down memory lane, that moment changed my life. As I redesigning Gizmo a new brother known as Scopes I started to think about myself. I was completely redesigned and evolution when I got dragged through the Matrix and the feeling like I was the Matrix. After a few weeks of reverse searching what little pieces of memory I had from those “Months” on LS – I discovered I couldn’t find anything. Now don’t get me wrong – most of the old matrix is still active and with a decent terminal in an old section of town it’s kind of like running through a city of the dead – very little resonance and NOBODY to be seen. What was I looking for? I wanted that connection I had back – the feeling like I was part of something bigger – not to be the creator but to be re-created. I wanted that power, the deep resonance, the architect – what everyone referred to as the true source… to reach out again and give me greater understanding. I was a gift in a time of chaos… I wanted him to take another shot at it with me - I wanted to be designed and gain a whole new level of connection.
After returning to myself after another unsuccessful search I set my sprite to auto filter through my email while I dropped into my node to make another unsuccessful entry into my journal. Half way through my entry I see Hack starts to chirp with excitement and begins crawling down a wall holding a bright egg note. I open the message –seems this one is from Angry Bill making an inquiry as to why I haven’t joined into this year’s Salish-Shidhe Mountain Rally yet. It’s a circuit rally race from random starting points but normally always covers the area of Mount Rainer, Mount St. Helens waste lands and then Gifford and Snoqualmie’s Awakened Forests. The buy in was 2500 Nuyen and normally about 50-100 drivers showed up. The race itself occurs in the 3rd week of May, and the terrain is still crap from the rainy season almost coming to an end. Then it donned on me – why didn’t I think of it before. My connection to the world was with my pets, my drones – if I wanted to change myself I would have to push myself harder and farther than I ever had before. I didn’t just need to control my babies – I needed to become them, to be them – to erase the line between me and my machines!
I send Bill the Nuyen and had him submit my application as always, kind of crazy just how many underworld go-gangers and foreign government contacts this man had. But he sent back a confirmation stating I was registered and would receive the actual starting location and track a day in advance. The race itself was 2 weeks from now and I set myself to making sure Homer could handle the drive. Trixxy and I spent a few extra hours rebuilding Homer’s Engine to not only allow for a higher top speed but to redirect the exhaust into a Pressure canister and custom exhaust manifold to allow for Top Speeds during Hover Mode as well. The exhaust system was redesigned to allow for dual topside exhaust and 6 directional thrusters in her underbelly to effectively steer and boost while the Hover Jacket is active. The extra tank holds 5 rounds of extra “thrust” used up during hovering – guess this means no more spinning my wheels while going over the water. Well that set me back 16000 Nuyen but it was worth every cent. We managed to complete the vehicle in 3 days and then Trixxy went back to completing Flesh’s Bike – which I must say is looking to be a work of art unto itself. I also managed to find a beautiful new bumper for my baby – oh does he ever look good now.
The day before the race I’m already down at Bill’s (since he’s right on the Seattle Salish Border anyways when we get popped the message to meet up on Rainer’s West Side near a recent rockslide. There’s been a lot of rain coming down these last few days and seems were starting right near a fresh mud pit. I set Homer to Hidden Mode and dropped Igor and Warp into the Box as precautionary measures – with orders to just hide until we were well into the race. Igor was informed to take control should something happen to me during the race and ensure we stay on the track while Warp was to stay on the defensive and tear anyone to shred’s should they try to hack in – he seemed slightly disappointed that I wouldn’t be sending him out to cause damage this year but kind of happy I pulled out all sense of dignity when it came to how badly he was allowed to beat on intruding drivers – this year he was allowed to kill. Took about 4 hours to get to the pits and register in at a hap-hazard series of booths and security trucks. Since “weapons” were banned in this race every vehicle was inspected and electronically checked for hidden attempts. Every year they searched – it never seemed to be too hard since after the start everything from tire shredders to spike strips seemed to hit the ground. My air ducts and toolbox roused a bit of a lifted eyebrow when they went over my Baby but the search came back clean as Exhaust Ports and valid tool shop. I also had a spare tire strapped down under the canopy cover just in case. They attached a Satellite GPS monitoring unit in my cab on a closed frequency and adv me to connected to it as the route would only give me one check point at a time, passing each check point would upload a new section of map. This whole race was a 10-12 hour affair and did not have a stop for fuel or gear. Seems I was registered as driver 27 and a total of 86 drivers entered this year. Quite a few new young guys sported slightly modified Land Rover Impulses and similar rally built machines. The one I liked was the 2 elf crew running a heavily modified BMW Biber. Seems they completely rebuilt the frame to hold a Hotspur engine and added some pretty good body armour to the 2 man buggy – the rear of the vehicle was enclosed and the weapon mount removed (or well hidden) and it seemed to have a top notch navigation and sensor suite. After 15 minute of checking out there specs they dropped into hidden mode and gave me a hard stare down – I simply nodded and smiled – hoping to convey my appreciation for such good work.
All Drivers were lined up according to number on a rather wide open section of road. 10 vehicles wide and as far back as they needed to go. Instructions sent noted to stay under 60 for the first half mile to warm up and the race begins after the first major left into the fresh mud pits. I’m going to assume a few will go around it losing time – but not every vehicle is ready to dive into fresh mud, the local rock contains a fair amount of iron which throws off sensors and I’m sure there’s more than 1 section in there that is just dirty water. I strapped myself into the back chair (which had a few upgrades such as a full body harness and strap down plus extra shock absorbency and a built in Life Support System underneath - mostly just nutrient bags and an IV supplied by the doc). With my commlink and the GPS module slaved into Homer’s main systems I slipped myself into full VR mode. I pulled Homer to life and wow did that engine rebuild ever feel good – like my heartbeat had become even more rhythmic with flow. I ran a full diagnostic on all my systems and pulled Igor and Warp to my side. They both seemed just as excited as me with the upgrades and patting them both on the head we waited for the race to start. We heard the Gunshot echo through the air and I began to run forward – this race was all about winning and I was ready to push myself to a level of connection and adrenaline I hadn’t experienced since I Emerged a few years ago and it was all starting now.
It all felt very familiar, the sensations of controlling Homer was like a hug from a close friend. As the engine pumped away gaining speed I could feel everything around me. The new tires I installed made it feel like I was running barefoot over soft sand, every little rock and twig we came across causing no problems as the new tires just molded around them. The first corner was coming up and people had begun to spread out – some already accelerating ahead to cross over the mud pits or go around the recent mudslide. I could feel the ground beneath me getting softer as we began to race faster and faster toward the loose dirt. I watched as one of the lead cars only a few meters ahead of me dip nose first into a puddle and only the rear lights showed it was ever there. I pulled hard to the left cutting off another driver when my sensors noted the ground was too soft and we were going to sink. I pushed outwards releasing the hovercraft skirt – it felt like part of me just stretching out as I pulled my wheels up into the wells and used a burst from the new tanks to ensure I shot out of the mud to fly over it. The thrust was amazing as I tested the new systems – the rush pushing out actually launched me a few feet into the air before coming back down to hover a few inches off the mud. I noticed I actually drained half the tank in my eager jump out of the mud – hmm good to know it works at least. I noticed I wasn’t the only one who had similar equipment loaded in but we must have lost a good 22 opponents as there icons stopped or just disappeared from the 3D map guide system. But so many still remained as a good number of drivers (mostly highly modified bikes) going around the slide and falling slightly behind – not that they were worried, we were less than 5 minutes into the race and still had 10-12 hours of travelling to go. The rush was amazing as we began to reach top speeds – I could feel the dirt and mud flying up and around me, reaching up to brush under me. I also felt the patting of rain against the body; I closed the sunroof and slowly adjusted the paint from white to bluish grey hoping to disappear into the upcoming storm. As the mud slide came to an end I slightly lowered the wheels and began revving then up to speed to match my current 160mph – as they hit the ground and lifted the body I recalled the memory metal skirt back into it under chassis housing and sped on ahead. I felt really good being back behind the wheel of a race, I had to miss last year’s Pacific Run from San Francisco to Vancouver due to a job dropping medical supplies to a Northern Salish town that got cut-off from normal highway routes after some earthquakes and no funding to fix the roads and bridges. I sped forward along the rocky flats with a clear sight ahead to the base of the mountain and into the thick forests.
Due to a slight oversight regarding Homer’s camera equipment , I also slaved Scopes enhanced Sensor package into the trucks systems, he was providing me with a great real-time visual feed of everything around me while the truck gave me the ability to overlay the SAT-GPS’s map with actual road details and geothermal signatures. After the hard turn back in the pits I felt a sharp sting as Scopes dug his legs into the dash for extra grip. Poor little guy – guess he’s learning the hard way how to hold on tight. Gizmo on the other hand was happily asleep in the driver cup holder in the center console – he was my physical back-up if someone managed to get into my cab during this trip – I could also feel Warp watching the sleeping drone as well – hoping to beat me into it. He just loves piloting that little guy around. I continued my trip down the mountain side feeling the loose rocks sliding occasionally under me. I push a little harder and use the under vents to help provide counter direction as I slide sideways. So very happy I adjusted and installed that system, it’s coming in very handy thus far. I routed some of the exhaust pressure back into the tank every time I had the chance keeping the tank topped up. We were heading south down one of the many ravines heading towards the first of many checkpoints – Paradise Village. I switched over to electric engines once the loose rock was out of the way using gravity to my advantage and powered along one of the valley’s old logging roads, very few people around me now as everyone seemed to have planned their own route. Igor was in overtime scanning over the SAT-GPS feeds to check for problems and roads being out ahead. I continued to push hard down the road and within the next 30 minutes I find myself about to connect to a group of racers already on fractured Paradise Hwy. Seems like the group was mostly made up of 3 entries who were Corp sponsored bastards in an Impulse and 2 Shin-Hyung’s – they were actively pushing around the 2 elf Biber crew cutting them off and side ramming them hard. I don’t think they noticed me coming down the dirt road just overhead the main highway 15 ft up – the merge connection about 2500 meters ahead. The Elf crew seemed to pull slightly ahead of the group and they created a 3 man wedge and revved hard ready to push him into the ravine. I hated when corps entered into what should have been an everyman for themselves race. I considered “dropping in” on those boys when the elves back-end started smoking. As the 3 Corp’s boys drove into it all I could see and here on their icons was spinning and crashing. The smoke ended a few seconds later and the elf crew flew ahead – my rear sensors picked up a oil patch on the road – seems those boys had a few tricks installed that the organizer’s missed. Now this was becoming the race I loved to remember. I merged onto the highway and roared on ahead just ahead of that elf team; don’t know what other tricks they might be carrying but I wasn’t going to find out before the first checkpoint.
We passed through town at top speeds, the main road was walled off with tires and hay bales to ensure the drivers stayed on the right path. As I passed by an armored truck it scanned my RFID in the SAT-GPS and the next section of the route downloaded into the system. I also got a upload of remaining opponents and locations on the map, seems I lost a bit of time up in the ravine and there were a good 35 people ahead of me, I shifted back into high gear leaving the city and began powering over the rough asphalt. The next 2 checkpoints seemed rather mundane as we cleared a large section of heavy forest. The SAT-GPS unit showed multiple icons spread out over various dirt roads, while I hovered down a nice section of river to avoid some of the pitfalls and traps in the foliage. I was a good 7 hours into the race and felt better than ever on this long haul, many times I was almost distracted taking in the scenery but then ahead was my junction – I let the wheels begin their spin up when I noticed 2 avatar’s not too far away from me, then much to my dismay a crack ripped through the air and one icon stopped and disappeared from the SAT-GPS unit. I stopped my daydreaming and pushed deep into VR concentration. The beach I landed on connected to an old back road heading directly south but unfortunately for me it seems that the other icon was catching up. I shifted focus out my rear camera to see a Biber lining me up – a nice Gauze Cannon set into a gyro mount on top. I pushed hard and got ready to go evasive fast – I could feel the tingle as a shot went ripping by my right panel, a quick last minute swerve allowed me to just barely miss it. My body sensors felt like hair on end as I began weaving down the road hoping to avoid the next shot. It came like thunder blasting up rock and debris just ahead - charged right through it but hurt like hell when the front wheel hammer that hole. I tore hard to the left heading back for the river but those little bastards had size on their side.
That little buggy came right up behind me as I booked it for the river – the GPS overlay noted that we had climbed a bit and there was a good 100m drop cliff side now as I approached. I pushed and reved forward as I sprang out onto the ledge. I could feel the engine’s pistons pumping like my own heart and I stressed forward. A quick sideswipe knocked a leaning tree into the road, damn little buggy blew right over it before it the log went tumbling down the cliff side into the waters below. I could feel the mists as the wide river was forced into brutal rapids below us. Within seconds of recovery I could feel that damn Gauze Cannon powering up behind me again. They were right on my heels and were going to miss again. My heart was racing as I could feel myself stressing to my limit – we were doing over 220 on gravel down a cliff edge, felt just like my own heart was ready to beat right out my chest. The front grille itself must have twisted into a painful smirk as the electricity field hummed right through the cab, in a split daze second I whipped myself into a dead man’s spin pulling into a 360 burnout and aimed for the edge – It was like reaching out as grabbing them with my own arm – like a doll in a child hands as I shot out my winch with the momentum at the 2 man Buggy behind me was grabbed by the gecko patch. I held on for dear life and ripped the light weight towards me as I flew off the edge of the ravine – fuzzily watching him flying with me sideways over the edge. I closed my mind to the world as I let go of him and pushed with all my might out my air ducts, blowing as hard as I could it left me breathless – flailing to balance and reach out again for the ravine ledge – it was like a moment I had never experienced before, an ecstasy that surpassed even my emerging. It felt like I was in free fall – my own body as a living extension of Homer – I didn’t even register or feel the pulse in my meat body. For what seemed like forever the world stood still, I could only feel the spray from the river below, see the world in a 360 degree view around me clearer than anything I had ever experienced, I can feel my heart race as the pistons pumped life through my body. I reached out and grabbed a hold of the upper ledge and felt myself smash into the rock wall – my wheels and struts sending pain as if I had jumped from a 2 story building and landed hard. I began to run up the wall. Near the top one last jump set me hard over and on the ground – and with a snap that sent a deafening ripple through my body I felt one of my ankles snap. The feedback and recoil flung me right out of VR and back into my meat body. I came to only to find that the race had finished 30 minutes ago according to my timer but no notices of feed from the GPS. As I sat up I could hear a hard ringing in my ears as I felt blood drying on the side of my face. My eyes were blurred and slowly adjusting to the evening light. I tried to jump into AR to run a diagnostic but got no response – I felt dizzy and had to lie back down so I switched over to VR mode – it was strange this time – my sensor suite and diagnostics weren’t responding. She started up just fine but was off balance. I slid back into my meat body and sat up again to look around. After giving my head a quick shake and taking a shot of pain killer doc left for me I looked around. The cab was trashed – my seats cooked and dash fried – that would explain the lack of response. Igor and Warp buzzed back in through the open window – each operating Scopes and Gizmo sending out messages making sure I was ok. Then I noticed something that just wasn’t quite right. The transmitter for the rigger box for the truck was trashed, a large caliber gauze round buried into her soft shell. I began to recall the events in those last few seconds of the race and that shot had hit the truck prior to me launching off the edge, I was confused – how the hell did I pull that off? I reached forward to pull the round out of the box when I felt something different – I felt connected again. Somehow I was connected in hard with a mere touch. A smile crossed from ear to ear as I thought again and again what had happened. It wasn’t a greater power that reformed me, it was me that reformed me.
I went to stand up when the brutal pain in my legs sharply reminded me of the landing. I limped out of the truck and did a visual diagnostic – seems I smashed my front drivers side axel coming down to hard. I reached into the truck and grabbed the SAT-GPS unit, happy to see it was only scorched but not fried. I reached in and sent a buzz to Bill requesting his assistance. A few hours later the sound of Bill’s chopper sounded overhead – he dropped a patch and I attached it to Homer. He reeled us in and I secured us to the tie downs on the under chassis. I climbed up into the cockpit and put on a headset, Bet with the story he was about to hear I wouldn’t even get charged for the lift. I smiled as I looked down – shame about the Biber – looked really pretty until it fell off the edge and smashed it over a few boulders in the rapids. We began the trip back to the Yards and I begin to tell bill about the race – I don’t know who was more shocked about my new skills – me or him when I finished but it was late when we got back so I crashed at the yards. Bill let me grab the new parts on the house including an amazing new sensor suite I found on a 2068 Humvee model – seems he set it aside for me but waived the fee after what happened. Now that what’s you call a good buddy. I got Homer back up and running the next morning. My ankle was feeling a lot better but I still used a chuck of pipe as a cane as I hobbled about the shop all day. It felt awesome to be back – now to get back to Guai about that inquiry – I checked my inbox on my slow but enjoyable ride home – nothing yet. I smirked as my bare feet sat up on the Synth-Leather dash – I hadn’t even installed the transmitter yet yet and let myself slip into VR. Oh life was good.