MANTA’S RIOT
Monty Russell joins his uncle’s racing squad in his gap year, diving headfirst into the world far beyond New Amsterdam.
The tracks move above gravity and physics, the cities are larger than life, and the world is bigger than you think.
A look into racing culture outside and inside of urban areas, looking at the burgeoning combination of racing and automation.
His foot tapped the pedal as the needle moved towards 150 mph. He gripped the wheel ferociously, his white knuckles matching the whites in his eyes. The car tore down the track, sending debris flying across the road. What stood in front of him would be another test. The track began to twist into two paths, the audience stared in awe as the road took a life of its own.
“Take the one on the right, slick! The other road’s a dead end!” His coach barked into his ear through aviator goggles and three hours of sleep. His car waited for the choice as many drivers took the road Stanley suggested.
“I’ll believe you this time, Stan! Let’s do this!”
He took his car to the right side as the world separated away from the track. The road curved away into a loop, our driver silently thanking his magnetic tires. The loop reached a plateau as the leading cars started heading down. He pushed the pedal down further, sending his beloved Riot into the fray. Some cars weren’t so lucky. Their magnetic tires gave way, sending them straight down as they reached the peak.
“Now’s when you push it, kid! Send the Riot into overdrive NOW!”
He shifted forward like he was physically pushing his car, as Riot screamed forward, its engine spewing fire out the exhaust.
The straight line down sent him aerially. The tires left the track. He floated in his seat. The back of the car began to spin as gravity tried to dominate over his car.
Not today.
He narrowed his eyes as he pressed buttons and shifted his gears.
He narrowed his eyes as he pressed buttons and shifted his gears.
A signal was sent to the tires, the balls of rubber and magnets that only hovered in the wheel bay. A compartment opened up from within the tires, sending exhaust flying from the back wheels.
Both Stan and his mechanic prepared for this moment. For racing in this climate, you had to be ready for anything.
At that moment, the Riot glided down the bottom half of the loop, sailing over other cars and hundreds of feet of track.
Through the sunroof, he saw his next problem. Drivers screamed helplessly as their cars careened towards the bottom of the loop.
“You have to outrun those cars before they get to the bottom and blast apart the track!”
Before Stan finished, he knew exactly what to do- at least what he thought would work.
He turned the burners towards the track as he shut off the tires' engines. The Riot jumped even further away from the track, straight towards the falling cars.
“Monty! What the fu-”
The Riot collided with the other cars, sending them ricocheting away from the bottom of the track. He reactivated the tire burners, sending the Riot spiraling towards the bottom of the loop. With a touch of the burners and a strategic wheel turn, the Riot landed all four wheels on the track. He heard Stan’s string of expletives as a sign of approval.
The race wasn’t close to over. Monty held the wheel firmly as the track moved into further contortions that defied gravity and physics. Yet he soldiered on, the Riot his chariot, the track his path to victory.
Now it was about placement. He was still in 19th place, three higher than he started. For his tricks, other drivers had more. His jetpacks in the wheels were exhausted, his chassis looked beaten up, and the sunroof was cracked from the impact with the other cars. Yet his engine kept thundering on as the Riot stormed across the track, catching up to the armada of other cars.
He zoomed past Cobalt Striker, Jetstreak, Eclipse, and Hyperious one after the other as the track seemed to favor whatever choice he made.
Also, HEY THERE! HAPPY BELATED NEW YEAR...yeah, the timing is so bad, it's lower than the Mariana's trench. Anyways, it had to be said. I hope you enjoy some good ol' fashioned concept writing.
ooooohhhh..... keep writing. I am dying to see where it goes.
ReplyDelete