Callum, Sanna, Dion and Koyla have a race, however they have no cars, what will they do to fix that?
“For the record this is a terrible idea,” Dion from Greece said.
“You would say that because you’re going to lose,” Sanna replied.
“I’m saying it, because this is a bad idea,” Dion repeated.
“I came up with this,” Koyla interjected.
“Which is why I know it’s a bad idea,” Dion shot back.
“I think this is going to work, with zero injuries,” I said as I bent down and made an adjustment to my robot.
“Why did you guarantee zero injuries like that?” Dion said.
“Like what?”
“It sounded more like a hopeful statement, than a factual one,” Dion explained.
“You heard me wrong, trust me this will work and it’s safe, there will be zero injuries.”
“Stop saying that,” Dion cried out.
“Look the crowd is getting pent up, shall we begin,” Sanna said.
All four of us turned around. Sitting on a shutdown construction robot was a crowd of twenty or so Arkonauts.
They were all sitting on the arms of the robot high up, giving them a commanding view of the track we had laid out.
All of us were in the robot storage level. This whole level is right above the residence and control centre for the Ark. Parked in bays are numerous robots meant to service parts of the ship and eventually serve us when we reach our new home. We had just spent the last two hours moving some of them around making space for a racing track. It was a simple course. I had based it off a race course I had seen in one of my dad’s favourite computer games, Mario Kart. He had tried to teach me how to play those retro games when I was young and he loved the 8th version of the game so much. Some of the tracks had stuck in my head, so it was a good basis for this race.
We weren’t using cars or karts though, we had none. Well we had some, the cargo bay had a vehicles for use on our new planet. There was just no way to get them up to this level and we didn’t actually want to drive real cars, none of us had ever learned how.
So we had selected certain robots with wheels and modified them to be cars, four of which were lined up on the track.
“Let’s get this race started,” I said.
I got onto my robot, it used to be a medical droid, it had caterpillar tracks and three arms. There was a control pack on the back for inputting instructions. After a bit of jury rigging, I can now make it ‘drive’ turn and speed up.
Sanna stepped up onto her robot. It was the same type as mine except that it had wheels instead of tracks. She was my main competitor, I was unsure if her robot was faster, however mine would have better grip.
Dion was using a Cart Robot, designed to help move heavy loads. It was basically a tray on wheels with a wireless control stick which she held as she sat down on it.
Koyla was using a rare find on this level, especially since it had legs. It was a Pack Mule, a military spec donkey. A mechanical horse that could carry loads in all-terrain environments. It is used by those working in the water recycling centre to carry heavy pipe. Instead of ammo and guns.
Our ‘Karts’ were on the starting line ready to go.
Illarion was next to us, holding a rag on a stick, our starting flag.
“You ready,” he said.
I revved the motor of my robot a little.
“Ready,” I said.
The others gave their consent.
“I bet a desert on Callum,” I heard Ogwambi say to Moana.
“No bet,” she replied.
“I’ll take some of that action,” Evans said though.
Illarion raised the ‘flag’, the group held their breath.
He dropped the flag and the race was on.
I was first off the line and got the early lead.
The first turn was not far away it was a ninety degree right turn. This was not a difficult track in all honesty, plus our karts could only go at best ten miles an hour, which was why this was only a single lap race, any longer would be painfully boring.
The first turn was difficult for me to take, because caterpillar tracks don’t turn vehicles very well unless you know how. I remembered watching YouTube videos back on Earth of people driving tanks like stunt cars, I wish I knew how they did it.
I came to a virtual stop as I turned the robot right and it had to reverse the right track. It was an awkward manoeuvre however I could take the turn sharply.
The others went around me. Sanna made it with little difficulty. Dion however pretty much wobbled around the corner. Her robot was powered by its back wheels and the front ones had the steering capabilities of a shopping trolley. It wouldn’t really do her bidding.
Koyla sort of screamed out when he came to the corner because his mule leaned a little as it turned.
The crowd roared their approval.
I laughed over my shoulder at him.
Now we were on a straight and I could gauge how fast we all were.
Koyla mule screamed ahead, Dion was level with Sanna and mine was losing ground on those two.
I was sure then that I was going to lose, there was no way I could make this up. The next corner was right again a short straight then right once more. I tried to work out a better was to take corners and gain ground, if I could get it right then I would accelerate out of each turn faster than the others.
However the next corner went poorly for me and the next.
Koyla was shaky on his mule and he almost slid off. He was being reckless, not bothering to slow down before each corner.
Sanna was doing as well as me however she was faster on the straights, Dion had to readjust her course all the time but was keeping pace. I reckoned that if she could keep her kart in a line then she would be the fastest.
The next set of corners were a left, left then right, right, all ninety degrees and short straights. Basically the track was u-shaped. There was also an obstacle on the second to last straight, the road split in two then re-joined.
I used the last corners to perfect my turning. I knew what I was doing wrong, I was not powering up the left or right track depending on the turn, if I kept the power on just enough the robot could drift around a corner, like a formula one tank.
I took the next corner better than the others and ended up ahead.
It was then that stuff started to go wrong.
Kolya’s mule suddenly stopped in the middle of the track then bolted for one of the lifts that took robots down to the lower levels.
“What’s going on?” He called out.
The crowd laughed.
“It’s been summoned from below,” I said.
Koyla jumped off his mule as it reached the lift, his race was over.
Dion had now learned to subtly control her kart and was speeding in a straight line.
However she had a problem, and I saw it as she went past me. Her kart’s battery life was shrinking of the small screen on her control.
It took a few moments, but the lack of power kicked in and her Kart slowed down and eventually dropped to a halt. Me and Sanna went flying past.
Dion threw her controller to one side in a huff.
Sanna was now level to me, right when had to go either side of and obstruction in the centre of the track.
I went right she went left. The obstruction was another long robot and it obscured her from my sight. When she came back into view she was ahead.
She turned and smiled at me.
The next corner was my last hope.
I took it sharply and came out of the corner on the inside ahead of her.
I was certain that there was not enough track left for her to catch me up and overtake.
I turned back to smile at her, and to shamelessly gloat.
Sanna looked irritated and determined, which is why she removed one of the arms of her robot.
She then removed the other, which eliminated the easiest places to grip the robot. However she had shed some weight. She gained on me.
I started to try and undo the arms on my robot, however it was a slightly different model so I couldn’t get the arms off, the seals were more complicated.
Sanna inched up to my level, holding on for dear life around the robot’s torso.
“No, No,” I shouted and I tried to will my kart forward.
But it was no good, Sanna overtook me and the ‘checked flag’ was flown.
The crowd cheered.
Ogwambi scowled at me. As I crossed the finish line.
Sanna screeched her Kart to a halt and then did laps around it with her arms in the air, her clothing billowing behind her. I braked right next to her, scowling.
“Ahh,” she said, pretending to be sad, “I’m sorry.”
“Let’s go again,” I said quickly and started turning my kart around.
“We need to get Koyla a new kart,” she said.
“Yeah one that doesn’t rush off halfway through a race,” Dion said as she pushed her kart to the start line.
Suddenly Gerlinde came running up to the track, we had asked her to keep an eye on the stairwell, to give us fair warning in case One came up here.
“He’s coming up,” she said breathlessly.
“Everyone to the lift.” I shouted.
The crowd and the other races dashed for the nearest lift, which went down into the medical bay.
We all stood on it and I pressed button on a remote that made it descend.
We reached the medical bay and rushed from the room to disappear amongst the other Arkonauts, One wouldn’t know who was racing.
From the level above us I heard One yell out, “What the hell?” in exasperated tones.
“If he asks me if I know anything about that, I’m blaming you,” Ogwambi said.
“Why?” I said.
“Because you lost me a dessert,” he replied.
“For the record this is a terrible idea,” Dion from Greece said.
“You would say that because you’re going to lose,” Sanna replied.
“I’m saying it, because this is a bad idea,” Dion repeated.
“I came up with this,” Koyla interjected.
“Which is why I know it’s a bad idea,” Dion shot back.
“I think this is going to work, with zero injuries,” I said as I bent down and made an adjustment to my robot.
“Why did you guarantee zero injuries like that?” Dion said.
“Like what?”
“It sounded more like a hopeful statement, than a factual one,” Dion explained.
“You heard me wrong, trust me this will work and it’s safe, there will be zero injuries.”
“Stop saying that,” Dion cried out.
“Look the crowd is getting pent up, shall we begin,” Sanna said.
All four of us turned around. Sitting on a shutdown construction robot was a crowd of twenty or so Arkonauts.
They were all sitting on the arms of the robot high up, giving them a commanding view of the track we had laid out.
All of us were in the robot storage level. This whole level is right above the residence and control centre for the Ark. Parked in bays are numerous robots meant to service parts of the ship and eventually serve us when we reach our new home. We had just spent the last two hours moving some of them around making space for a racing track. It was a simple course. I had based it off a race course I had seen in one of my dad’s favourite computer games, Mario Kart. He had tried to teach me how to play those retro games when I was young and he loved the 8th version of the game so much. Some of the tracks had stuck in my head, so it was a good basis for this race.
We weren’t using cars or karts though, we had none. Well we had some, the cargo bay had a vehicles for use on our new planet. There was just no way to get them up to this level and we didn’t actually want to drive real cars, none of us had ever learned how.
So we had selected certain robots with wheels and modified them to be cars, four of which were lined up on the track.
“Let’s get this race started,” I said.
I got onto my robot, it used to be a medical droid, it had caterpillar tracks and three arms. There was a control pack on the back for inputting instructions. After a bit of jury rigging, I can now make it ‘drive’ turn and speed up.
Sanna stepped up onto her robot. It was the same type as mine except that it had wheels instead of tracks. She was my main competitor, I was unsure if her robot was faster, however mine would have better grip.
Dion was using a Cart Robot, designed to help move heavy loads. It was basically a tray on wheels with a wireless control stick which she held as she sat down on it.
Koyla was using a rare find on this level, especially since it had legs. It was a Pack Mule, a military spec donkey. A mechanical horse that could carry loads in all-terrain environments. It is used by those working in the water recycling centre to carry heavy pipe. Instead of ammo and guns.
Our ‘Karts’ were on the starting line ready to go.
Illarion was next to us, holding a rag on a stick, our starting flag.
“You ready,” he said.
I revved the motor of my robot a little.
“Ready,” I said.
The others gave their consent.
“I bet a desert on Callum,” I heard Ogwambi say to Moana.
“No bet,” she replied.
“I’ll take some of that action,” Evans said though.
Illarion raised the ‘flag’, the group held their breath.
He dropped the flag and the race was on.
I was first off the line and got the early lead.
The first turn was not far away it was a ninety degree right turn. This was not a difficult track in all honesty, plus our karts could only go at best ten miles an hour, which was why this was only a single lap race, any longer would be painfully boring.
The first turn was difficult for me to take, because caterpillar tracks don’t turn vehicles very well unless you know how. I remembered watching YouTube videos back on Earth of people driving tanks like stunt cars, I wish I knew how they did it.
I came to a virtual stop as I turned the robot right and it had to reverse the right track. It was an awkward manoeuvre however I could take the turn sharply.
The others went around me. Sanna made it with little difficulty. Dion however pretty much wobbled around the corner. Her robot was powered by its back wheels and the front ones had the steering capabilities of a shopping trolley. It wouldn’t really do her bidding.
Koyla sort of screamed out when he came to the corner because his mule leaned a little as it turned.
The crowd roared their approval.
I laughed over my shoulder at him.
Now we were on a straight and I could gauge how fast we all were.
Koyla mule screamed ahead, Dion was level with Sanna and mine was losing ground on those two.
I was sure then that I was going to lose, there was no way I could make this up. The next corner was right again a short straight then right once more. I tried to work out a better was to take corners and gain ground, if I could get it right then I would accelerate out of each turn faster than the others.
However the next corner went poorly for me and the next.
Koyla was shaky on his mule and he almost slid off. He was being reckless, not bothering to slow down before each corner.
Sanna was doing as well as me however she was faster on the straights, Dion had to readjust her course all the time but was keeping pace. I reckoned that if she could keep her kart in a line then she would be the fastest.
The next set of corners were a left, left then right, right, all ninety degrees and short straights. Basically the track was u-shaped. There was also an obstacle on the second to last straight, the road split in two then re-joined.
I used the last corners to perfect my turning. I knew what I was doing wrong, I was not powering up the left or right track depending on the turn, if I kept the power on just enough the robot could drift around a corner, like a formula one tank.
I took the next corner better than the others and ended up ahead.
It was then that stuff started to go wrong.
Kolya’s mule suddenly stopped in the middle of the track then bolted for one of the lifts that took robots down to the lower levels.
“What’s going on?” He called out.
The crowd laughed.
“It’s been summoned from below,” I said.
Koyla jumped off his mule as it reached the lift, his race was over.
Dion had now learned to subtly control her kart and was speeding in a straight line.
However she had a problem, and I saw it as she went past me. Her kart’s battery life was shrinking of the small screen on her control.
It took a few moments, but the lack of power kicked in and her Kart slowed down and eventually dropped to a halt. Me and Sanna went flying past.
Dion threw her controller to one side in a huff.
Sanna was now level to me, right when had to go either side of and obstruction in the centre of the track.
I went right she went left. The obstruction was another long robot and it obscured her from my sight. When she came back into view she was ahead.
She turned and smiled at me.
The next corner was my last hope.
I took it sharply and came out of the corner on the inside ahead of her.
I was certain that there was not enough track left for her to catch me up and overtake.
I turned back to smile at her, and to shamelessly gloat.
Sanna looked irritated and determined, which is why she removed one of the arms of her robot.
She then removed the other, which eliminated the easiest places to grip the robot. However she had shed some weight. She gained on me.
I started to try and undo the arms on my robot, however it was a slightly different model so I couldn’t get the arms off, the seals were more complicated.
Sanna inched up to my level, holding on for dear life around the robot’s torso.
“No, No,” I shouted and I tried to will my kart forward.
But it was no good, Sanna overtook me and the ‘checked flag’ was flown.
The crowd cheered.
Ogwambi scowled at me. As I crossed the finish line.
Sanna screeched her Kart to a halt and then did laps around it with her arms in the air, her clothing billowing behind her. I braked right next to her, scowling.
“Ahh,” she said, pretending to be sad, “I’m sorry.”
“Let’s go again,” I said quickly and started turning my kart around.
“We need to get Koyla a new kart,” she said.
“Yeah one that doesn’t rush off halfway through a race,” Dion said as she pushed her kart to the start line.
Suddenly Gerlinde came running up to the track, we had asked her to keep an eye on the stairwell, to give us fair warning in case One came up here.
“He’s coming up,” she said breathlessly.
“Everyone to the lift.” I shouted.
The crowd and the other races dashed for the nearest lift, which went down into the medical bay.
We all stood on it and I pressed button on a remote that made it descend.
We reached the medical bay and rushed from the room to disappear amongst the other Arkonauts, One wouldn’t know who was racing.
From the level above us I heard One yell out, “What the hell?” in exasperated tones.
“If he asks me if I know anything about that, I’m blaming you,” Ogwambi said.
“Why?” I said.
“Because you lost me a dessert,” he replied.
