Week 3 Preparations
“Over There” or “Down Town”
WUM! WUM! WUM! The noise of the aircraft is loud. Tracey and Doc stand in the belly of the giant C-5 looking at their transportation. Tracey looks at Doc who is moving his mouth. She can’t hear a word he is saying. They point to the van and clamor in. The GlasSteel helps diminish the sound.
“What did you want,” Tracey asks her partner.
“I asked what you did while I worked on our supplies.”
“Oh. Right. After I called Tiny who called in a favor to one of his Air Force buddies to give us a lift in this, I came walking back and saw this guy sitting by himself and I realized that we weren’t the last ones in Egypt. He didn’t seem to be working on his vehicle, so I went over to him.”
---
Is he meditating? He’s just sitting there hovering with his eyes closed. “Ummmm, hello? Are you ok? Do you need some help?”
She sees Vince open his eyes quickly. It’s a little surprising. She watches him look her over. His look of concentration softens to a more kind expression. “Ah. Hi. You must be a fellow racer,” He greets her and then closes his eyes and looks to the sky. Then he continues, “V, we'll have to continue with the rest of the details later. Just finish the changes to the floating mines and remaking the ones lost.” Tracey looks around. Is he talking to me? No, he’s talking to ‘V’. But where is he? Or she? And why are his eyes closed? “I know it'll weaken their defenses, but it'll make their offense able to ensure that defenses won't stop them if they are able to reach their target. I'll go into more details later. Got someone to talk to.” Vince's head turns back to Tracey, opening his eyes again, “Sorry about that. Telepathic communications.” Vince smiles at her kindly.
She smiles back and offers her hand, “Hi, I'm Tracey. I'm racing with my partner Doctor Cod in that car plane thing over there.” She tilts her head to the side, “So, where's your vehicle?”
Vince smiles wider, his arm becomes an orangish peach like putty appearance and shapeshifts in form, changing rapidly between shapes. First it becomes a demon claw then a laser rifle followed by something that looks like it could control wind and finally it reverts back to normal. “Let's just say that I can split apart, and you can see what else I can do from that, so you can guess where it is.”
Tracey blinks a few times and places her hand back by her side. Well, Ed had his car split into others. I don't suppose this is much different. “Ok. So, does it have a name? Or do I just call it 'Shapeshifting Guy'?”
Vince chuckles at her humor. “I've never really stated it, but it's actually called the Nemesis.”
“Ah. So, is your name Nemesis?”
Vince laughs out loud at that, “No, no, no. Hah! Good one though. The name's Vince. Vince Elbic Vinni. I actually just named it Nemesis based on one of my old designs I developed some centuries ago. The real Nemesis is one of the golem guards to one of the districts of my country, actually. Been a while since he's been active though..... “ Vince’s face begins to look a little downcast, “Lately, he just sleeps a lot and enjoys the environment. He trains every now and then, but he rarely sees need for it anymore.” Vince shakes his head removing the sadness, “Anyways, it's good to meet you. From what I can detect, it seems like you and your friend over there had the misfortune of actually encountering multiple of my mines. Odd. The nanites that are with them should have sent out signals to dissuade other mines had all the living entities in your vehicle been effected by the mines. You must have somehow deactivated them by accident or something.”
“Yeah. Doc said we had been hit by those flying things before. Oh! Was that you who sent those? Wait. You can tell we were attacked? You used nanites?” She stops herself realizing that she is getting carried away. She looks apologetic, “I'm sorry. It's good to meet you, too.”
Vince nods with a smile at her remembrance, “Yeah. It's good to meet a new friend in this. As for your questions, the nanites merely tell the other mines not to attack unless they sense another living creature not affected by my unique magic signature. Whenever changed back, the signature quickly leaves, and the nanites that were on disintegrate, meaning the mines can attack them again.”
“So, the nanites are still there. And you can detect them.” She drifts into a thought but brings herself back, “So, did you need any help?”
The shapeshifter shrugs, “Not really. I actually personally travel far faster than any of the vehicles in the race. I could easily circle the globe in no time. But, I like to race fair and only perform the actual racing with just the technology I make from my cells. That way, I'm limited to the technological speed. Besides, I love a challenge, and that definitely makes it more so.” He pauses to take on a serious thoughtful explaining expression as he crosses his arms, “However, you do misunderstand one thing. It isn't the nanites that tell ME if you've been affected. The nanites are the only signal the mines I made can detect to deter them. For me, however, I can sense my magical energies within you and your friend. However, the energies within you have almost completely left by now, and your friend has lost a large amount of the energies in him too.”
Tracey tilts her head to the other side. “Huh. So, it's not the nanites that do the work. Maybe that's part of our problem. Our bots are the workers.” She pauses until she realizes something, “Doc has magic?”
Vince shrugs again, “There's magic IN him that is what caused the change. The magic is primarily aimed toward the angel form he has now, though he'd return to normal if that magic is removed. I purposely made the mine's effects fixable that way. There was another part to the magic, but that part has already been removed somehow. The magic also leaves if the body is changed outside of its parameters, though only the part of the magic that had its parameters taken away leaves.”
“Ah. Ok. That makes sense. At least as much sense as this race does. I'd offer you a ride with us as I just received word from my brother, but you seem set. I probably should get back now.”
The fellow racer nods, “I'd offer you a faster ride as well, but either way, I'm sure we'll both get there. From all the work I see you guys doing over there, I'm sure you'll make it. Oh, and one forewarning.... those mines may be my best weapons in the race, but I have much more tricks up my sleeve. Keep a lookout though. All my mines have been restocked, and they're of a far higher number than you've thus far seen,” he ends with a challenging smile mixed with a bit of eagerness.
Great more of those mines. “Yeah, we'll see you there! Good luck in the race.”
“Same to you!” Vince starts to glow purple as he starts to float up. “See ya, Tracey!” He waves as he flies off with a smirk. Whoa, he can fly by himself!
She waves at his backside and returns to the van.
---
“And that’s what I did while you were restocking us. Did you invent anything new?”
He smiles and points to the dashboard, “Nay, however, I did install a few new things. We have GPS now. It should be able to interface with the computer in the back.”
“So now we can see the road as well as the other racers,” she finishes for him.
“Indeed. Also, your brother brought an unexpected gift from the lab. I had forgotten I had invented it.” Tracey looks at him confused. “I invented it before you. It’s the Telescoping Retractable Sail 8000 or the TRS-8000. It is on the roof in front of the big rocket …”
“Big Betty,” Tracey interrupts, “I should read the directions on that. I wonder why he sent THAT one …”
Doc ignores her and continues, “and with one button it extends and forms a ‘bot’ sail. With another button it collapses into a small cylinder the size of a can of soup. And that dial over there turns it for catching the wind, should we need it.”
BANG! BANG! BANG! They both look out the window at a man in fatigues and a helmet and visor banging for their attention. He makes several gestures. They nod while not understanding.
WOOSH! The van tips slightly as the wind pulls at it. “I guess we’d better strap in.” Tracey nods and heads for her seat. WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. The van slides and bumps along until suddenly Doc is weightless. He looks down and sees only sky and a small patch of land.
His speaker comes to life, “I take it we are in freefall?”
“In moments we will be at terminal velocity,” he confirms.
She laughs, “I guess we better hope those repairs we made hold.”
“Indeed.” He turns the motor of the Frankenstein like machine on and takes the wheel. Shortly thereafter they arrive on the start line.