TG Race Week 1 Day 4c
“New Mexico”
Tracey peeks out of her safe room, “KOS-MOS? You want a break?” A blip appears on the radar, but she doesn’t see it.
“Negative. I can handle driving.” The blip passes them.
“Ok. Just let me know, ok?”
“Affirmative.”
POP! POP! SSSSSSssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
As the car rocks slightly, Tracey checks the monitor. A blip races off from in front of them. “Danger! Anomaly detected. Assessing threat …”
What hit us? Tracey exits the back room again. Wait! Hissing … Rocking … “Oh no …” She quickly checks the floor entry. As she suspected, small metal barbs litter the road. Several are in all of the tires and they are all flat. She turns on the robot. “Why didn’t you avoid this?”
“We were discussing driving …” She stops. He eyes glaze over, “Threat neutralized. Searching databases. Information acquired. Reprogramming. Modifications finished. Protection complete.”
Tracey hears a WHIRRRRRRR, then a SSSSSSSSS, and then a POP! as it breaks the sound barrier. “What just happened?”
“A dangerous threat was on the roof. My nano-bots infiltrated, discovered the identity of the owner, modified its propulsion system, and sent it back with a little present.”
“Great. But what do we do about the shrapnel in our flat tires.” Tracey leads her co-driver to the hole in the floor. KOS-MOS drops down and collects all the barbs.
“Tracey, my nano-bots are unable to repair our tires.”
“Crud. What are we going to do?” She sits there thinking. “Doc would know. But Doc’s not here.” She thinks again. “I could get Doc back, but I bet he’d agree that things are better this way.”
“Tracey, I might be able to carry our conveyance to a repair shop.”
“No. I don’t want to hurt you. Doc would kill me.” She sits there longer. Nothing comes; nothing helps. “Well, sitting here isn’t helping. Wanna sandwich?”
“Negative. I do not necessitate consumption.”
“Well, I’m going to grab something.” She heads into the back room and grabs a sandwich from the fridge. She plops into the chair as she unwraps it. Absently she looks up at the shelves with only a few vials left. “No picos. 2 rubbers, 3 plastics, 4 beams, 4 …” she takes a bite mumbling the next one.
An idea forms. She chews quickly and swallows. “That might work!” She grabs the rubbers and plastics. “KOS-MOS, I’m lowering the van.”
“Affirmative.”
Once on the ground, Tracey hops out with the vials. “I’ve got to be very careful with these.” She turns to her armored companion, “Ready?”
“Absolutely.”
“Ok, lift the front of the van.” KOS-MOS complies. Tracey spins the wheel so the dent in the tire that was on the ground is now in the air. She uncorks a plastic and drops a drip into the dent. After a few drops, the dent fills with plastic. After allowing it to harden, she then carefully spins the wheel while dribbling a little around the edge. Soon all the rubber is covered with plastic. That should keep the air in the tire.
Then she recorks the plastic and removes the lid off one of the rubbers. Seven drips is all takes to fully rubberize the tires. That will grip the road. Now for the other three. She repeats the process on the other tires, leaving her with only one plastic. “Ok, I think that’s good. Let’s see how she handles.”
“Let’s commence!” They hop in and are soon on their way.
They quickly discover their fix isn’t perfect. Due to the unconventional manner in which they fixed the tires, the car wobbles as if each tire is egg shaped. It’s quite a bumpy ride. Tracey looks to KOS-MOS with concern, “Are we good?”
“This vehicle performs within acceptable parameters.”
“But will you be able to avoid the other attacks?”
“I will protect you in all circumstances.”
“That’s not quite what I asked.” She starts to head back to the back room, but turns back, “Will we reach Albuquerque soon?”
“In one hour, 39 minutes, and 53 seconds assuming no more delays.”
“Would you be ok, to go beyond there?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Because I want to get to the finish line before Midnight tomorrow.”
Tracey heads back to the safe room and opens a window of Solitaire.