The rising sun now sat swollen just above the horizon. An array of race-suited figures of all shapes and sizes stood in a circle around Rnnsnthan. He went through the rules of the race as if it was a holy incantation, memorized long ago.
"[We've laid out the course from here to the finish point [fifteen miles] distant. Follow the black line and you'll do fine. The course is laid out in ten segments divided by speed gates.]"
Here he pointed at the starting line's gate, a large angular black opening that dwarfed any cathedral door. "[Your speed through each segment will be determined by your time between each gate. Fail to go through a gate, and you will be disqualified. We will have chase drones monitoring your speed via radar, but that is only as a backup and will not be counted as the official speed unless absolutely necessary.]
"[Your top speed during any tenth-segment will be counted as the official top speed for that run. After finishing you will have [thirty minutes] to turn your vehicle around, perform any necessary repairs, and then head back. If it takes you longer than [thirty minutes] to start on your return run you will be disqualified. Your speed on the return run will be determined in the same manner as with the outward run. The average maximum of the outward and return runs will then count as your official speed. Does anyone have any final questions?]"
Henry didn't speak up, nor did anyone else. He felt a trickle of sweat start to make its way past the inside brim of his ball cap and start edging down one side of his face. Fortunately, it was only his head that felt the heat. As opposed to his relatively primitive (okay, really primitive) vehicle, his racesuit was a miracle of modern xenotechnology. Its outer skin flexed like cloth, but under impact it would become as hard as steel plate. An inner layer of sintered aerogel padding meant that he could probably be thrown off a five-story building without damage. And, most importantly, it had the finest cooling nanotech which money could buy.
The suit even sported his favorite color, a glossy candy-apple red which matched Lucille's aeroshell.
The one thing he'd insisted on, much to Nanrznin's bemusement, was to keep his helmet. That was a positively primeval piece of tech, a bit of fiberglass and tinted polycarbonate which was the only thing keeping his noggin intact in the event of a crash. But he had a sentimental attachment to that helmet. It had seen him through many decades of racing.
He smiled to himself, remembering Reglnen’s words earlier about 'chasing Hznarah'. Maybe he’d use that term for his chosen profession from now on.
Reglnen's own racesuit was colored a flawless white that already looked blinding in the rising sun. She walked up to Henry and gave his own outfit a once-over. "[I like the color.]"
Henry smiled. "Thanks! So do I. Well, obviously."
The Dorarizin looked over to the rapidly-filling grandstands. "[Great! He actually showed up.]"
He felt a bit of ice hit his stomach. "You mean Snnmnarath?" Henry felt a bit of pride that he'd managed to only halfway-butcher the name of one of his idols, but that accomplishment didn't help his unease.
"[Yep, he's right there.]" Reglnen pointed at the VIP section at the front of the grandstands, towards a coiled-up Jornissian with sky-blue scales. "[Do you want to meet him?]"
Henry realized he felt more nervous about that possible meeting than about strapping himself into Lucille and hurtling forth into the unknown. "Oh, there's no need to bother him, I'm sure he's a busy guy..."
"[Nah, he'll be thrilled to meet you.]" Reglnen waved one muscular arm overhead until the distant figure of Snnmnarath perked up his hood and looked fixedly in their direction with bright green eyes.
"No really, I don't think it's...oh, man."
Reglnen's fangs bared in a happy grin as she pointed down at the red-clad human beside her in an unspoken phrase of 'check this shit out!'. Snnmnarath wasted no time in slithering towards the grandstand exit. From the Jornissian's relatively slow movement, Henry could tell he still bore some internal scars from his horrific crash.
Henry managed to keep his cool right up until Snnmnarath loomed over him.
"[Pleasant greetings to you!]" The snakelike alien lowered himself so that he was eye-level with Henry, then held out a clawed hand for a human-style greeting.
"Likewise." Henry shook Snnmnarath's hand, feeling a little like a mouse under the unblinking gaze of Snnmnarath.
"[So you're the one aiming for my record?]"
Before Henry could stop himself, the words started tumbling out of his mouth. "I am, but really I just wanted to say it's an honor to meet you and I don't mean any disrespect, you're such a legend, and I hope I do you justice and do the sport justice and get a really good set of runs in, did you want to see my motorcycle? I can show it to you if you want to..."
He slapped a mortified hand over his mouth to stop the torrent. Snnmnarath smiled gently, but didn't otherwise comment. Once Henry was certain he wouldn't start babbling again, he took his mouth away. "Um, wow. Sorry about that."
"[No need to be sorry.]" Snnmnarath dipped one side of his hood in his species' version of a wink. "[You just get out there and [race your butt] off.]"
----------------------------------------
Reglnen reached out and settled her paw-pads into ten separate divots which lined the forward area of her saddle. They fitted her hands perfectly, and with a twitch of a finger she could control her lift fans along with the myriad of other parameters governing her vehicle. Her toes likewise fit into more controls which allowed her fine-grained control of her thrust. This was one of the other stipulations for anyone competing in the Gnranth Trials; there couldn't be any VI or expert systems in the loop when it came to vehicle control. The pilot directly controlled their ship, and that was that.
Her hovercraft whined as it rose up on its ground-effect skirt, then that whining rose another octave in pitch as her propulsive jet-turbines engaged. Reglnen brought her wedge-shaped craft forward to the starting line, her eyes fixed on the first huge timing gate [fifty yards] distant.
She looked over and saw a gaggle of racesuit-wearing comrades, one of which was a much smaller person wearing an obnoxious red outfit. He leaned against the blue coiled-up body of Snnmnarath, his earlier embarrassment clearly faded. The tiny-chomper extended his hand towards her in a fist with his thumb pointing upward.
Reglnen grinned behind her helmet and returned the thumbs-up, then set her paw back into position. She could just hear the announcer's voice through her cockpit transparency. Off to her right, opposite the grandstands, stood a giant holographic display tied into the cameras on the chase drones that hovered a few tens of [yards] back on either side of her.
"[Good afternoon, fellow sapients and speed-heads! We've had some grand competition this morning but now we're getting ready to see some serious speed! We've just seen Ln'nar'ka try and fail to beat the record in the 'Ground Effect, Advanced, Jet' category. Up now is the [Dorarizin] who set that particular record, and we're sure she's here to beat it once more. Give a warm and loud welcome to [Reglnen-of-Nrzahn!]]"
The roar of the crowd reverberated through the cockpit, but Reglnen was already in the zone and paid it no mind. Her crew chief's voice sounded loud in her implant.
"{All set, boss. When you're ready you can start your run.}"
Her craft's turbine-whine went even higher as Reglnen opened the throttle. The hovercraft leaped forward and in an eyeblink the first gate was already receding behind her. Salt crust streaked by underneath her lift-skirt while Reglnen kept a sharp eye on the altimeter reading projected by her implant. Having no wheels meant that she could achieve truly epic speeds, but that came at the price of having to constantly tweak her lift fans.
The second gate rose up at the horizon, a small black rectangle that with shocking suddenness expanded into full size and then blew past her. By now Reglnen was at [four hundred MPH], and she could already feel her craft getting squirrelly on her. Her fingers danced on the controls, modifying her lift and keeping herself from becoming too airborne.
----------------------------------------
Henry's foot jittered as he watched the chase-drone's camera on the big display. Reglnen's craft wobbled too much for his peace of mind; he could envision the whole thing simply flipping nose-up into the air then tumbling along the salt flats end-over-end while the Dorarizin inside got turned into so much strawberry jam.
The next gate streaked past the camera in an almost invisible blur, followed by the announcer's booming voice.
"[Segment five. [Six hundred and seventy MPH].]"
"Holy shit," muttered Henry. Reglnen was within spitting distance of destroying any possible record he could even hope of setting and she was only halfway through her run. His unease at meeting Snnmnarath was now replaced with a more fundamental unease. Was he wasting his time here?
Snnmnarath nodded his hood with a smile. "[She's not holding back, is she? I expect that at any moment we'll hear...]"
A distant crack like God's own rifle-shot sounded out, echoing over the suddenly-hushed crowd.
"[She's broken the sound barrier, folks. Remember, [nine hundred and two MPH] is the record to beat.]"
----------------------------------------
By now Reglnen's hovercraft really wanted to become an airplane and she was reaching the limit of her reflexes. Her world narrowed, becoming nothing except the black line stretching off to infinity against the white hardpan. Her fingers flexed minutely as she rode right at the claw-tip of disaster. Her concentration was such that she didn't even notice the next timing gate streaking past.
Her crew chief noticed it for her. "{[Nine hundred nine]! You've broken it, now ease off!}"
Reglnen didn't let up. She pushed her toes back as if springing at prey and the whine of her engines went near ultrasonic.
"{I said back off! You're yawing too much, you're gonna lose control!}"
She didn't waste any of her concentration in forming a reply. There was nothing except the black line, the whine of the engines, the horizon dancing up and down as she fought to keep her altitude stable...
Then she saw something else, something right at the horizon.
A small fuzzy-brown dot that hovered in the wavy air thrown up by the heated soil.
Reglnen blinked, and then another gate blurred past her.
"{[Nine hundred thirty-five]! This is the last segment, NOW will you please brake?}"
The number jolted Reglnen back into the real world. She hit the thrust reversers and the protesting whine from the craft started to ease down into something less skull-piercing.
The last gate swung past overhead, now looking almost comically slow in spite of the fact she was still going well over [one hundred MPH]. In the distance, at the end of the black line, sat a gaggle of people and vehicles from the various contestant crews.
Reglnen's crew chief came stomping up as her craft settled itself onto the ancient seabed. Its canopy hinged up and Reglnen flipped up her visor to give the upset Dorarizin a cheeky grin.
Her chief didn't smile back. "{Do you have a death wish? Or do you just want to give me a heart attack?}"
"{It wasn't enough margin. I don't want to beat my record by a few [MPH], I want to definitively smash it.}" She smiled wider, showing her fangs. "{Gotta show those young punks out there that this old lady's still got it.}"
Reglnen levered herself up out of the cockpit and took the opportunity to stretch her arms over her head. Even though she'd been driving for mere [minutes] it felt like a lifetime had passed since the starting line. Behind Reglnen, her crew started fussing over the hovercraft, muttering to each other and removing various panels to check on the vitals underneath. In the meantime, she was content to look at the heat-blurred horizon while pondering the hallucination she'd just had.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
It had to be a hallucination, a misfiring of her brain's pattern recognition while she was under stress and looking at something hard to focus on. She'd seen it a few times now. Once, she swore she'd also heard a mocking howl which was barely audible above the racket from her own engines.
"{I'm gonna get you one of these days,}" she muttered under her breath. "{I don't care if you are a hallucination, I'm still going to bring you to heel.}"
Reglnen felt a tap on her shoulder and started in surprise, feeling a little abashed about getting caught talking to herself. It was her Karnakian chief mechanic, fidgeting her claws together as if afraid of giving bad news.
"{Is there a problem?}" asked Reglnen. "{The ship felt fine on the outward run.}"
"[No, the craft appears sound. It's...well, it's your leg, [ma'am].]" The Karnakian pointed down at Reglnen's left leg.
The Dorarizin followed that indicating claw and saw a black char-mark against the pure white of her race-suit. The burn sat right over her calf muscle.
"{Oh erzet shit!}" She looked up at the worried Karnakian. "{Well, I suppose now you get to say 'I told you so'.}"
To her credit, the mechanic didn't gloat. "[I can rig some shielding to protect your leg. Even wrapping some metal foil around your calf should be enough...]"
Reglnen cut her off with a wave of a claw. "{I appreciate the thought, but no. I need both my feet for precise control of the throttles. Having foil around my leg will throw me off, I don't have a chance to get used to it. I've only got [ten minutes] to start my return run.}"
By now Reglnen's crew chief was done with her own inspection of the craft. Her ears flattened against her head when she walked over and saw Reglnen's burn. "{You can't drive with that going on! What happens if the heat gets through your suit?}"
"{Well then I'll just have to put up with some singed fur.}" Reglnen folded her arms in a way that said in no uncertain terms that This Conversation Was Over.
----------------------------------------
Snnmnarath had done his best to put Henry at ease, and after some pleasant chatting the human's embarrassing fanboy incident was now well in the rearview mirror. The Jornissian showed great fascination with Lucille's power source, and at the moment he had his hood stuffed down into the motorcyle's aeroshell as he inspected the engine.
"[Utterly amazing!]" chirped the big alien as he pulled his head back out. "[It's like a work of art!]"
Henry told himself to man up and just accept the compliment. He was damn near fifty, for cryin' out loud, not a blushing teenager. "Thanks, sir. I hope she'll do me proud."
"[All right, speed fans. We've just heard that [Reglnen-of-Nrzahn] is ready to make her return run. As expected she broke her last record with a comfortable margin. Now the question on everybody's mind is...will she be able to do the same coming back?]"
The pair looked up at the holographic display just in time to see the distant white speck of Reglnen climbing into her hovercraft.
Snnmnarath's eyes narrowed. "Is there something on her leg?"
Henry peered more closely, but couldn't see anything himself.
----------------------------------------
Once more her world was nothing but white salt, blue sky, and the black course-line pointing like a accusing claw towards the horizon. Reglnen was now well and truly in the zone, her fingers dancing as she kept her altitude and attitude right on the mark. She grinned fiercely behind her helmet's visor; her worries swept away as her craft rocketed along.
She was the Alpha, she was the mightiest hunter. Reglnen glared at the heat-shimmers ahead as if daring any lurking hallucination to show himself. "{Go ahead, stick your nose out,}" she muttered. "{I'll grab it right off your face!}"
"{What was that, boss?}"
"{Er, nothing.}"
With explosive speed a timing gate appeared right at the center of her vision before expanding into a blurry black rectangle that bracketed her hovercraft before vanishing aft.
"{[Eight ninety three], boss, with four more segments to go. You got this, let's put it to bed!}"
Reglnen's toes pushed down on her throttle right as she slacked off on the power to her forward fans. Her craft seemed to dance under her as she gave a short bark of delight. This was easy...
Then she felt it. A definite sensation of heat on her left calf.
For a moment, just a moment, Reglnen felt a rising panic. But she tamped it down and told herself to relax. It was only a little heat, that was all. The worst thing that could happen was that she'd have to put up with the obnoxious smell of burnt fur.
Another gate swept past. The heat on her leg increased, now becoming almost painful.
"{[Nine oh two]. You've got the record!}"
"{It's not enough,}" she murmured, and again kicked back at her throttle to give the craft a little more juice.
She was quite unprepared for the spear of searing pain which lanced up her left leg. Her scream echoed in her helmet as her fingers wavered against her lift controls.
----------------------------------------
The crowd behind Henry gave a collective gasp as Reglnen's hovercraft started slewing sideways. he clenched his fists in helpless worry. "Shit, that's not normal. Is that normal?"
"[No.]" Snnmnarath's coiled-up body clenched in on itself while he continued to stare unblinking at the huge display.
----------------------------------------
"{BOSS! What's wrong?}"
"{Little busy here,}" gasped Reglnen. With the reflexes of a gunslinger she managed to keep the left side of her hover-skirt from scraping against the salt crust which sped by underneath with deadly speed. If she hit the ground now, she'd flip over and get crushed into paste.
Reglnen ground her fangs together and ignored the waves of pain that throbbed up from her left calf. Her craft started to yaw to the right, and she pulled up on her back-right foot to throttle back. Just by the merest fraction, enough to even her out and get her nose pointed true.
By the time she'd gotten her craft back under control another two gates were distant memories to her rear.
"{Okay,}" she panted, her heartrate now getting back to normal. "{I'm okay, got control back. How bad?}"
"{You lost some speed, the last segment was back down to [eight twenty-two]. It's okay, with the averaging you've still beaten your previous record.}"
For one moment Reglnen thought about taking it easy, about giving up and throttling back. Her leg felt like it was on fire, and for all she knew that might be literal. Her hovercraft might be damaged from her mis-handling. Yes, the smart thing to do was to play it safe...
And then, out on the horizon, wavering like a mirage, appeared a small brown-furred dot.
"{There you are, Hznarah,}" she whispered. "{I'm coming for you, you little bastard...}"
----------------------------------------
"[Folks, we're not sure what happened there but it looks like [Reglnen's] got it under control and speeding back up. She's not slacking off, no way! That's the spirit of a true champion!]"
Henry found himself pacing back and forth in front of Snnmnarath's clenched-in coils. He stopped himself with conscious effort and looked up again at the display. "What do you think happened?"
"[No idea,]" replied Snnmnarath. "[Don't worry. If it was a big problem she's smart enough to call it a day.]"
They continued to stare up at the chase drone's footage, neither of them really believing what Snnmnarath had just said.
----------------------------------------
Reglnen tried not to think about the pain from her leg, tried not to think about charred skin and burnt muscle. Her focus sat once again on the black line and the taunting little brown dot at the edge of her vision. Nothing else existed, not the gates that flashed by or the annoying voice of her crew chief.
"{[Nine fifteen]! Come on, that gives you [nine twenty-five] with the average! Isn't that enough? Damn it boss, talk to me!}"
Reglnen ignored it all, ignored the pain and the endorphin rush in her brain and the entire damn galaxy. The fuzzy dot just started to resolve what might be a Dorarizin male. If she squinted she could see his immaculate mane fluffed out in the bright sunlight, a glorious sight sure to capture the heart of any female. He loped along on all fours, carefree in spite of his tremendous velocity.
Over the whine of her turbines Reglnen whispered again.
"{Oh, I am SO gonna catch you...}"
----------------------------------------
"{That was the ninth segment, a speed of [nine hundred and twenty MPH]. It looks like [Reglnen's] well and truly sewn up another victory!]"
The cheering from the stands rose and then died off as the hovercraft in the display showed no signs of braking. Henry realized well before the announcers that, whatever was going on with Reglnen, her slowing down was not part of the equation. He tapped Snnmnarath on the nearest coil.
The Jornissian's head snapped around with blurring speed to gaze at Henry. "[Eh?]"
"I think we should, ah, take cover. We're too close to that final gate."
Snnmnarath looked back up at the display, then over at a tall rooster-tail of dust now becoming visible in the distance. "[You know, I think you're right...]"
Before Henry could blink he found himself hoisted up, letting out an involuntary whoof as the air was driven from his lungs. Snnmnarath might be permanently injured but he was still faster than any human. He slithered towards the nearest trailer and tucked himself behind it.
Henry wheezed as he got his breath back. He tried to look out, only to find his view completely blocked by blue-scaled coils. Snnmnarath had Henry completely surrounded, shielding the human with his body.
"Damn it all, I gotta see this!"
Snnmnarath let out a teakettle sigh. "[Fine, at least put your helmet on...]"
The human managed to slam his helmet on and get the visor down in less than a second. He climbed up the nearest set of coils and peeped over. The trailer blocked most of the view, but around one corner he could see a small white dot right at the horizon, at the apex of that huge plume of dust.
"[Folks, ah, we're trying to get in contact with [Reglnen's] team but, ah, it seems that...oh shit, shit, SHIT! TAKE COVER AND PROTECT YOUR EARS...!]"
In the space of less than a second Henry saw a white triangular blur fly with surprising silence through the gate, past the assembled racers, and off into the distance. He realized what was coming and ducked back down into the protective ring of Snnmnarath's coils...just as the whole damn world exploded.
The sonic shockwave of Reglnen's passing crashed through the complex; those on the stands crumpled to their knees or bellies depending on their body-structure. Everyone had their hands or claws pressed over their ears to shut out the sudden and overwhelming noise. Bits of salt crust rained down onto Henry's helmet as he picked himself up and shook off the accumulated debris. "You okay?" he gasped.
Snnmnarath took his hands away from his ear-holes. "[I'm hearing some ringing right now, but I'm fine otherwise. You?]"
"Just peachy." He climbed up again to peer over the Jornissian's coils and looked in the direction of Reglnen's departure. He saw a small white triangular shape a mile or so distant...a shape that was stuck point-first into the ground and unmoving.
"Oh no."
----------------------------------------
By the time they reached Reglnen's hovercraft it was already swarmed by a team of medics.
"How is she?" panted Henry as he ran up. "Is she okay?"
The Dorarizin medic looked down at Henry with a surprised look, but before he could respond a loud bark-click sounded from the middle of the swarm.
"[Get offa me, dammit! I just cooked my leg a little, that's all!]"
Both Henry and Snnmnarath sagged in relief. Reglnen's big gray-furred head popped up from the middle of her would-be rescuers and her smile grew wide. "[[Henry!] [Snnmnarath!] How'd I do? None of these clawless jerks will tell me and my crew chief isn't talking to me at the moment. I think I kinda pissed her off.]"
Snnmnarath spoke before Henry could. "[With your speed through that last gate, your average was [nine hundred and thirty-two MPH]. You set a new record.]"
"[Yessss!]" Reglnen pumped one triumphant clenched paw into the air, nearly punching out one of the medics in the process.
"Congratulations!" said Henry. Any further plaudits died on his tongue as the medics parted and he saw the charred mess of Reglnen's calf muscle. Part of her racesuit looked fused into her flesh, and the edges of that horrible wound oozed with blue ichor. He turned away and breathed deep, trying and fortunately succeeding in not throwing up.
----------------------------------------
"You're sure you're okay?" asked Henry for the twentienth time.
Reglnen grinned, a gesture that was surely intended to soothe him but which instead reminded Henry that the Dorarizin could bite his head off without even trying. She reached over and with casual speed pulled off Henry's ballcap. With her other paw she tousled his hair teasingly. "[You'd make a good pack-father, my little [human]. I told you, I'm fine! Well, except for me having to use this stupid cane for a month or so.]"
She regarded with hate the implement which leaned next to her. Her lower left calf now sat encased in a silvery nanotech bandage, the nasty burn now hidden away as modern medical technology started the tedious process of rebuilding her soft tissues.
Snnmnarath waggled his hood at Reglnen. "[Consider the cane as a reminder on how to slow down properly.]"
"[Har har, laugh away you old wriggler. Next time I'm gonna break that record with even more finality!]"
"[Just so long as you don't break my eardrums while you do so...]"
Henry ignored their banter as he stared at the ground, lost in thought. He felt a gentle prod of a claw at his shoulder.
"[Are you okay, [Henry]?]" asked Reglnen. "[You don't seem as, well, smiley as you once were.]"
He looked up at the giant aliens looming on either side of him. "Honestly? I'm kinda wondering what the hell I'm doing here."
Snnmnarath cocked his hood in confusion. "[You're aiming to beat my record.]"
"Yeah, but..." He waved a hand at Reglnen. "She just trounced any possible speed I could achieve. And might I add she did it in the middle of getting her leg burned off. I know, I'm running in a whole different category and it'll be a miracle if I even break the sound barrier but...still."
The Jornissian let out a thoughtful purr-hum. "[I see. Let me ask you something. Did you ever wonder why nobody tried to exceed my record? After all, it's been over [sixty] years.]"
"Um, actually...no." Henry now felt pretty foolish. He'd read up all about Snnmnarath's exploits but somehow never thought to wonder why nobody had followed in the Jornissian's footsteps...well, his figurative footsteps.
"[It's very simple. Everybody thinks that trying to beat it would be a death sentence.]"
"Oh. Somehow that fails to make me feel any better."
"[But it should!]" Snnmnarath uncoiled himself and moved to face Henry. He brought his fierce emerald gaze to bear, making the human feel once more like he was being sized up as prey. "[At this moment, I have [seventeen] implants working within my body, dispensing a cocktail of drugs as required. If I didn't have them I'd spend my days in utter and unending agony.]"
Henry felt his jaw go slack. "Oh no. Sorry, sir. I had no idea."
Snnmnrath laid a gentle hand on Henry's shoulder. "[Of course you don't. It's not something I publicize. But if you came to me all those years ago, just before I made my last run, and told me of the lifetime of medical hell that lay before me...I would still make that run.]"
The Jornissian rose up and backed away in an elegant zigzag motion. He pointed one clawed finger at the black painted line which stretched out and away from the temporary camp. "[The three of us understand. We understand more than almost anyone here. We three have sought the truth which lies at the end of that line and we will never rest until we obtain it.]"
Henry felt his breath seize in his throat as Snnmnrath slipped forward again to grasp Henry's shoulders. "[You, my friend. You alone among the entire galaxy have stepped forth to take up my mantle, and for that I am forever in your debt. My body is broken and I can no longer endure the sport which I love with all my hearts. But rest assured, I shall be with you in spirit.]"
He released the human, and Henry blinked as fresh adrenaline surged through him. "I'm making that run, sir. And I'm gonna do my best to beat the pants off of you."
"[Just as you should.]" Snnmnrath winked his hood at Henry. "[Even if I don't technically wear pants.]"
The elated mood among the trio suddenly came crashing to the ground as they heard the slapping-together of a Dorarizin's paws.
"[A wonderful speech!]" crowed Nanrznin-of-Amnhrn as he applauded. "[Simply divine!]" He pointed a claw up and behind him at a personal camera-drone which hovered near his mane. "[I'm planning on putting together a documentary about [Henry's] record attempt, do you mind if I use this footage in it...?]"
Snnmnrath's green eyes grew flinty. "[If you do I will crush the life from you.]"
"[Ah. Well. Okay, then.]"