Alright. Marching steadily onwards.
I just noticed that, very rarely are there more than two people talking per scene.
Corrections/suggestions are welcome.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Quote:The sound of the impact blasted down the tunnel, outracing the speeding Griffon. It overtook KJ on the Stilleto a moment later, muffled by his helmet and drowned out by roar of the engine beneath him. The tunnel itself formed one massive helmholtz resonator, amplifying the sounds of the impact until it exploded like a bomb into the carpark, ringing off the metal-lined walls.
Almost everyone ducked. Except Kohran.
It pulsed down the emergency tunnels, shaking a rain of rust and dust loose from the overhead ventilation. Myk feared the worst. Almost everyone rushed to their phones to report what’d just happened.
It rumbled like thunder through the dealer’s hall high above, echoing and rolling over the heads of the attendees. Almost everyone looked up.
“Oh no,” said Sora softly.
-----
“Fuck!”
Ford watched as the indicators merged on her map. She held her breath in that moment as they crossed.
One stopped. The others blasted straight through. She grasped her communicator, squeezing it tight enough that it was threatening to break. They’d already passed out of shot before she zoomed the map in to crash site. It told her nothing more than the relative position of a number of wristbands, and the embedded RFID chips.
She guessed the fastest was Jet. One had to be the Griffon. The following one was the Tumbler. Slowing down were the Tachikoma. Visions of exploding cars ran through her mind, tangled wreckage and wrecked bodies. A cold memory of the night she learned to hate all street racers rolled through her mind, squatting up front and centre in her awareness.
“A Tachikoma crashed. It hit the Top Gear caravan. The Griffon is free and undamaged,” Anika said.
Ford barely heard her.
“Anyone hurt?”
“I don’t know yet.
The medical officer interrupted with a gentle cough. “I’m going to wait until the car’s stopped. There’s no sense in making it worse, if it comes back around.”
Ford didn’t even look. “Right....”
-------
White smoke rose from the front seat of the Range Rover where the Tachikoma leg was baking the foam. Small flames licked up around the glowing brakes, inspite of the retardant impregnated into the material.
The cameraman sitting in the driver’s seat stared, his mouth goldfishing as he tried to comprehend what would’ve happened if someone had been sitting there beside him.
It took the Sound Engineer attacking the building fire with an extinguisher to snap him out of it. He fumbled with the door handle before tumbling out when it opened unexpectedly, chased by a white cloud of carbon dioxide.
A few last flecks of foam rained down around the producer. He sat back against the cool stone wall
“We’re alive?”
He didn’t even believe he’d heard his own voice.
“Is everyone okay?”
“We’re alive,” answered the sound engineer. “Production office is gone though. ”
“Bugger.”
“Landy’s fucked too,” the cameraman added.
“At least we’re all still here.”
The presenter took a few moments to marvel at the fact that he hadn’t been torn to pieces in the impact before doing one final piece to camera.
“Good news everyone. It appears we’re all alive.” He glanced at the wrecked bonnet. “Until Ferrari finds out what happened anyway.”
------
“KJ. Kohran. We’re going with plan B. Get up to speed.”
Kohran didn’t need Lebia to tell her twice. She was already howling into the darkness of the tunnel, hot blue flame blowing through the Highway Star’s open wastegates.
-------
“Oh fuck me. You’re sure.”
Nene winced. She watched Jeph run her fingers through her hair as her worst fears were confirmed. All colour had gone from her face. It was beyond bad news...
“There’s a detachment from Asuka coming , I hope they arrive in time.”
Another pause. Nene strained to make out the other end of the conversation.
“We’ll be there inside the hour.”
Jeph placed the wavephone on the pilot’s console beside her, taking a few moments to calm down and try and centre herself. It didn’t do much to take the edge of the sense of infuriating frustration.
“What happened?”
Her voice was small and quiet, even inside the cramped cockpit of Starbug. As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished she hadn’t asked.
Jeph took one big deep breath, holding it for a moment to give her ample time to prepare. “Myk says he just heard a big crash. He doesn’t know any more than that, but it was big.”
Nene could feel herself shaking.
“Oh no... Mackie.”
-------
“Mackie. We’re going to open both doors. I’m going to get aboard. I’ll take control, pass you out to Kohran on the Highway Star, then I’ll abandon the Griffon once it’s clear of people.”
It sounded so easy.
He didn’t know how many people were hurt when that Tachikoma hit the caravan. He didn’t know how many people were hurt when it shot through the car park.
He felt his body go cold all over. He knew had had enough fuel for another circuit, maybe two. Enough to make it back around and run smack into the middle of that accident.
There was no stopping it. The idea to use the Tumbler as a mobile brake in front flashed through his mind, just long enough to tease him with a glimmer of hope before he remembered that the back end of a Tumbler consisted of a flaming jet pipe and four fat tyres.
It hoved into view in his mirrors, polychromatic paint shifting colours to grab his attention. Lebia was there.....
“Maybe I should just stop it.” He said, for the second time.
He meant it too.
“Mackie...”
He didn’t have to look, he could hear the scowl on his sister’s face.
“No really. I can control it. There’s less fuel in it so less fire. And we’re close to help. And if I keep going I’m only going to hit that wreck. A controlled crash would be better.”
He could survive a controlled crash. In a controlled location. He could bail out and bounce. It was crystal clear and certain in his mind.
“Mackie. Shut the fuck up. I’m getting you out of that car in one piece if it kills me. “
Somehow, he knew that if Jet could’ve slapped him across the face right then and there, she would’ve.
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The wounded Tachikoma was glad it hadn’t been fitted with polychromatic paint yet. It saved it from turning pink with shame as the others circling around, brakes steaming as they cooled off.
“We can’t take you anywhere, can we?”
Not again.
“Wrecked again? How many times is this?”
“They weren’t my fault!” it pleaded, but it was futile. Reputation cared little for truth.
“Mother told us to wait here with you. We’re to try move the wreckage to in case the car makes it back around.”
All three calculated the probability of success, then got to work anyway.
-------
“He does have a point.”
Jet seemed to hang in the air for a few moments, staying silent within her own thoughts for long enough to make Lebia wonder if she’d heard - or was even paying attention. The cyber just kept pace with the accelerating Griffon, hanging just off the driver’s side door, clear of the sparking cables still being dragged behind.
“I know.”
“The remaining Tachikoma are clearing the wreckage, but there’s only two of them functional.”
Another pause.
“Fourteen. Charlie Fourteen’s empty,” Jet replied. She sounded like she might as well have been choosing a grave.
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I just noticed that, very rarely are there more than two people talking per scene.
Corrections/suggestions are welcome.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?