Chapter 5
It was bright and early in the morning. Johnny sat at a traffic stop, sunglasses on and a convertible rooftop pulled back so the rays beat against his neck. It was a new day; every day would be a new day from now on and he intended to live it as one. He reached for his half-eaten sausage roll and bit another mouth full just as the lights turned green.
He surged ahead, first in line and with few cars ahead of him there was no reason to resist the need for speed. Even if he’d retired from Banzai Bangers he was still a thrill chasing racer and the sound of his engine roar, the wind blowing past his ears and cooling the sweat on his neck in seconds…it was all he lived for.
That sentiment led him to his current destination. A week ago Agent Nadim paid him a visit at his championship party, the last one he’d likely ever have and not without reason. But Nadim’s visit came with an enticing proposal he couldn’t stop thinking about all week long, even as he cleared out his things from the trailer and made an attempt at getting used to having all hours of his day open to his every whim.
As nice as it was to laze around, eat, play games and stalk the news on upcoming Banger races, Johnny wouldn’t be getting used to the idle lifestyle any time soon. He was curious, agitatedly so. Nadim’s demonstration with that car, its promised ability to transform into any vehicle and the offer to be a part of something as wild and dangerous as pioneer space travel technology, it was all very enticing to think about. And after a week of sitting on the offer Johnny felt it was time to pay DRIFTERS a visit.
He made a quick left turn just after a right, the roads around were lined with sky scraping buildings plastered with big conglomerate names of the automobile industry, car manufacturers from across the world and across the solar system set up shop in the quiet, heavily guarded neighbourhood. And DRIFTERS was arguably the largest of them all.
Johnny soon found himself in line, the vehicles ahead went through state of the art security checkpoints while a regular Convar slipped drivers with pass cards if they passed the check. Ahead of it all was a large, truly massive compound of three skyscraping buildings. The largest of which had DRIFTERS plastered across its top.
Johnny drove through the checkpoint, the familiar, albeit alien groan and churn of the machine always gave him hives as a light swept across his convertible, searching for any and everything that could be illegal or within their blacklist of items. He was always going to be clean and never had anything to worry about but Johnny had a better idea than most what these security machines were capable of when they sensed a threat; his paranoia was completely warranted.
The lights flashed green and the barrier let Johnny through to pull up against the guards post. “Johnny Victoris!” the guard cheered, his arm hung out the window of his post.
“Hahaah, hello Steve, been a minute, hasn’t it?” Johnny greeted, sharing a stiff and brotherly handshake with the Convar working security for DRIFTERS. He was one amongst many but Steve was Johnny’s favourite, he understood and enjoyed Banger racing.
“Sure has. I watched your finale, the Shadow Wolf still has it out for you huh?” Steve said, handing Johnny his passcard.
Johnny shrugged, “Brandon’s been like that, I got used to it, survived it too. He’s done his worst and I’ve beaten it.”
“Victoris!” Steve chuckled heartily, “Always going to be a fan, Johnny, you can count on me.”
Johnny gave Steve a wide and grateful grin, saluting him before driving into the complex with a warm feeling of excitement bubbling within. It had been a long minute since he’d had to stop by DRIFTERS headquarters, the last time he did was for the final tests for the Lonsdaelite helmet and that was months ago.
He drove his convertible into a free parking spot closest to the main building and hopped out the car, not bothering to open the door, a Derby racer habit he’d have a hard time quitting now he was retired. Johnny made a beeline to the reception, usually, if he were scheduled for tests he’d have headed over to the hexagonal building in the west of the complex but he was merely paying a visit today, following up on Agent Nadim’s offer.
Johnny took off his sunglasses as he entered the spacious reception, his grin only widening as he approached the large marble reception table manned by two beautiful Convar women. They quickly took notice of him in the midst of their calls and work, a smile as bright and warm as his own found their lips.
““Johnny!””
“Miriam! Hera!” He answered the two at the desk, smiles all through as Miriam lurched across the tall desk to hug his neck and ended up burying his face in her chest. “Miriam…Miri…I can’t breathe!”
Miriam set him free only after a couple seconds more, she held onto his cheeks, her fingers soft on his face as her eyes stared into his, full of worry, “You almost died!”
“And for real this time!” Hera added, “What exactly is wrong with that guy? I understand that’s the point of Derby races but to be so blatantly murderous…he needs help.”
Seems just about everyone watched my finale. Johnny thought, hiding his own feelings about Brandon’s murderous manner behind a widening grin, “Oh don’t mind him, he’s just desperate. There will always be people like the Shadow Wolf, callous and dangerous, but none of that matters because he couldn’t take me away from you two beauts!”
Hera giggled, looking anywhere but at Johnny but Miriam sighed, “I suppose...you had me really worried there Johnny.” She found her smile in his and added as she pinched his cheek, “But I guess you’re called Victoris for a reason after all.”
“Guilty as charged.” Johnny chuckled. He looked about the reception, there were few people moving about and quite a couple sitting in the waiting area watching their interaction with curious looks. He decided not to dawdle, “So, I’m here about a new offer?”
“Oh, that, Agent Nadim mentioned you’d be coming over sometime soon, he’s on his way down now.” Hera said and true enough, the elevator dinged and out came Agent Nadim, his strides long and eager.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
He spread out his arms, showing off a toothy grin as he patted Johnny’s back with cheer, “Johnny Victoris! I’ve been expecting you.”
Johnny nearly doubled over from the force of his friendly pats, Nadim was a large Convar, easily towering at seven feet tall with a wide and full build. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and nodded, “I guess you know me all too well, Nadim.”
Nadim winked, “You can count on it. Come now, there’s a lot to show you.”
Johnny waved Hera and Miriam goodbye and followed Nadim into the elevator. As they rose the faint hum of cutting-edge machinery buzzed in the air. The elevator’s window door provided a view of the sprawling facility and its a sleek, futuristic design—all polished steel and glowing blue panels with humans and Convars working round the clock in lab coats and safety gear.
Johnny and Nadim enjoyed each other's company in relative silence, cracking the occasional joke about how predictable Johnny had been and discussing how much progress DRIFTERS had made in the week that passed since they last saw. In little time Nadim was leading Johnny through a familiar but clearly renovated testing area.
It was a marvel of engineering, a hybrid between a racetrack and a high-tech proving ground. Vehicles of all shapes and sizes lined one side, some clearly experimental, others familiar staples of the DRIFTERS fleet.
Nadim stood looking on proudly as scientists and mechanics worked around the clock, some familiar faces stopped briefly to wave at Johnny before going back to testing. The entire, massive testing arena buzzed with the roar of engines and whirrs of machinery Johnny vaguely understood. There was an entire section cut off by impervious glass where weapons of all sorts blasted against dummies and beat up, trashed vehicles all while lab coats recorded numbers in clipboards.
“So…what do I look at first?” Johnny asked, beginning to feel overwhelmed by his own excited thoughts. There was a lot of dangerous, fast moving equipment laying around, itching for him to give it a go.
Nadim grinned down at him, “Let’s start by settling your doubts, ay? I know you still have some despite my marvelous demonstration, isn’t that right?”
Johnny couldn’t help looking away, Nadim did know him too well. He gave a sheepish smile and challenged, “I want to see if that car can really transform into anything, I’ll be more likely to-”
“Cole!” Nadim yelled out over the cacophony, clapping his hands as he beckoned a scientist on the other side of the arena, “Cole! Get over here and bring in the prototype. Yes, the XT-3000!”
There was a surge of chaos at the side of the arena clustered with the many prototype vehicles DRIFTERS lined up, a sleek grey 2000s nascar stock car pulled out alongside a lab coat who seemed to control it from the tablet in his hand and there wasn’t a driver in sight. Cole, the lab coat, and the XT-3000 came to a stop at the track Johnny and Nadim stood at, the vehicle seemed quite normal, old in fact as the chassis was nothing out of the ordinary unlike the many other streamlined and fanciful cars lined up where it came from.
“Johnny Victoris…it’s an honour to meet you, sir.” Cole said, a human man a foot shorter than Johnny with a slouched build and a broken pair of glasses. He set out a hand for a shake as he introduced himself, “I’m Cole Mcdaris, lead researcher on the Dimensional Drive.”
Johnny shook his hand in a firm and friendly handshake, “It’s nice to meet you, Cole and I tell you, the honour is all mine. Nadim tells me you’re out here revolutionizing space travel, making it accessible to all, I’d love to learn more sometime.”
Cole’s eyes lit up. “It’s our next big leap in space travel. The drive uses a mix of nuclear and atomic energy derived from Black Ocelate to push an experimental core into overdrive. That allows us to assign vibrational coordinates—essentially pinpointing where in the known universe we want to go.”
Johnny raised an eyebrow. “Sounds risky.”
“It is,” Cole admitted. “Right now, the energy output is unstable. The last test warped an entire building… and part of the mountain it was on. Until we can safely contain that power within the confines of a vehicle, it’s too dangerous to deploy.”
Johnny nodded thoughtfully. “Still, it’s got potential. If you can pull it off, you’ll be leagues ahead of Convar’s conventional space travel.”
Cole smiled and shoved his sliding glasses back in place. “That’s the goal.”
A sudden clap reminded Johnny of Nadim, he was glaring daggers at Cole who shrunk in his lab coat and shuffled a pace away from the two. “If you two are done bonding over the limitless possibilities, can we get back to the actual test?”
“Of course, sir! I didn’t mean to-”
“Johnny! You said you wanted to test its transformational technology, what do you want this…unseeming vehicle to morph into?” There was a proud, confident and quite mischievous glint in Agent Nadim’s eyes but Johnny was just the same.
He folded his arms and wore a smirk that matched Nadim’s boisterous confidence, “If it's so good then surely it can turn into a…weiner dog truck?”
Nadim’s smile faltered a bit, his eyes darted between a chuckling Cole and other giggling onlookers. He straightened up, “Any specifics?”
Johnny’s smirk grew, “Wheel’s like pastrami, mustard seed gatling rifle and ketchup cannon.” Stroking his chin Johnny added, “Oh and a hot chilli oil dispenser, as a trap of course and bits of onion that fall off that can turn to spike strips or shrapnel bombs”
Nadim’s smile was entirely gone at this point, his eyes narrowed at Johnny, “The XT-3000 isn’t intended for contact racing, Johnny, but of course, anything for you.” He nodded at Cole who tapped away at the tablet controlling the prototype and with a final tap he stepped back, a motion everyone mirrored as the XT-3000 began to groan.
Panels shifted and folded, mechanisms hissing and clanking as the XT-3000 underwent its transformation. The car’s metallic sheen rippled like liquid, extending and compressing into a hotdog like shape. The wheels retracted and reemerged as circular, pastrami-textured hubs. A barrel resembling a mustard seed gatling rifle sprouted from its back, and a small cannon extended from its snout. Finally, a dispenser popped out near the rear.
The onlooking crowd of mechanics and lab coats erupted in scattered laughs. Johnny had a wide grin as he inspected the transformed vehicle, “There’s no ketchup or chilli.”
Cole Mcdaris stepped forward, his tab in hand as he explained, “Oh that’s because…well, like Mr Nadim said it wasn’t designed for this, it can transform into what you want it to now but the function…we’ll need to work on that.”
Johnny shrugged, his smile unwavering, “This is still good, very good. But if you want it to survive out there, you’ll need to think long-term. Add a food generation system, automated part replacements, and… maybe a self-repair module. Things get dicey in the field.”
Nadim hummed, lurking behind Johnny he repeated, “Again, the XT-3000 isn’t designed with contact sports in mind.”
Johnny turned to him, rolling his eyes, “Yes, but the Dimensional Drive is going to be warping its contents, driver and all, to different locations. What if things go wrong?” He looked over at Cole, “Your lead researcher did say this is quite dangerous, even if you perfect everything there is to, you’re still going to need food and repairs just in case things go awry due to…whatever. Life happens, right?”
Around him Cole and other mechanics and researchers were nodding in silent agreement, some murmuring affirmatives of his idea. Nadim took a deep breath and shoved his hands in his pockets, “Consider it done…assuming you’re ready to be a part of this project, are you, Johnny Victoris?”
Johnny cackled, “If you can get the ketchup right, I’m in.”