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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/micktalian on 2024-10-30 18:24:32+00:00.
Part 96 Test Run (Part 1) (Part 95)
After two weeks of daily meetings with the UHDF Council, transferring trillions of galactic matter-energy credits from his personal accounts for the good of humanity, and very impatiently waiting for the mech prototype to be ready for testing, Professor Mikhail T River felt a real and genuine sense of accomplishment. The United Human Defense Fleet Council had taken care of everything necessary to begin recruiting, building training locations on every inhabited continent on Earth and every major colony on Mars, and already accepted more than enough applicants to start filling its ranks. Though the process of fully synergizing the strict and hierarchical military systems found in Sol with the much more decentralized Nishnabe Militia was certainly not over yet, it was well underway with a solid foundation. On top of that, all of the finances had been accounted for, payment systems had been set up, and deals had been struck with UN-E, MarsGov, and most of the various national governments that constituted humanity. Even the BD-10 series mech prototype was ready for its test run. With all of those essential tasks having been taken care of, his responsibilities to the Council temporarily complete, the call informing Mik that his Cudacorn Mark 2 was complete and ready for him to drive came at a perfect time.
With his car ready for pick up, Tens needing to be at Zone 14 by noon, and a personal shuttle at his disposal, Mik already has a plan for the day. Leave Newport station by 8 AM, be at Sheke’s shop by 10, and, assuming nothing came up, drive into Nishnabe’s planetside military production center by 12. The times table was tight, they didn’t want to be late, and there was a bit of a rush to get onboard Mik’s shuttle on schedule. However, with Binko flying, Atxika acting as the stern motivator for Mik and Tens, and wonderful prizes at the end of this journey, the group was out the door and off the station with time to spare. The shuttle flight down from Newport Station to the small settlement dubbed the Middle of Nowhere was likewise fast paced but uneventful. Not only did all four want to see and hear the Cudacorn Mk. II, they were all deeply excited to see the BD-10-X-1 take its first step. So when Binko and Tens parked Mik’s elaborately decorated custom shuttle he purchased from a Qui’ztar shipyard, there was practically a race to be the first one out the hatch and into Sheke’s vehicle shop. However, once all four had gotten onto solid ground and their eyes turned towards the two story tall warehouse, they were surprised to see that an interspecies crowd had gathered at the rolled up door.
“Mno gishget, nzheshe.” Mik took this opportunity to practice some of Nishnabemwin he had been learning and tried speaking an older Nishnabe man who was standing at the back of crowd. “Ni je ezhewebek?”
“Ne?” The older man turned towards Mik, Tens, Atxika, and Binko with a confused look on his face before his expression changed as he finally deciphered what had been asked of him. Though he did look a bit stand-offish, hearing someone he didn’t know refer to him as uncle threw him off a bit, he spoke in galactic common with a relatively friendly tone. “Sorry, the station dialect is kinda hard for me to understand. But good day to you too, nephew. And… uh… Sheke built some monsters and a bunch of us wanted to come see.”
“Monsters, yah say?” Despite feeling a bit embarrassed that his attempt to practice his language skills had failed, that didn’t deter Mik’s smile. “As in more than one? Has she fired any o’ ‘em up yet?”
“Oh yeah! Damn things woke me up from my midday nap yesterday!” The older Nishnabe man quickly glanced at Tens, Atxika, and Binko, then brought his piercing gaze back to Mik. “I take it you’re the crazy person who asked her to build those things. And if Tens is here, you’re gonna take it for a test drive, aren’t you?”
“I mean, I only asked her to build me one!” Mik shot a quick look towards Tens to discover both he and his Qui’ztar lover had devious smiles on their faces. “Aye! What’s that look? Anythin’ yah two ain’t tellin’ me?”
“Well…” Tens had a playful inflection in his voice while Atxika stood on the tips of her toes to try to see over the crowd and into the warehouse-like garage. “After seeing those videos of you racing your Cudacorn, I wanted one of my own.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, but it’s smaller.” Tens admitted with a smirk as he eyed his partner who hopped a bit in a vain attempt to get see what Sheke had crafted. “Sheke found a good license for a small family utility vehicle, split your engine design in half, and them combined those. I don’t need almost fourteen-hundred kilowatts of power, especially if my love and I are going to be driving it around with the kids.”
“I am actually quite looking forward to experiencing what Sheke has been able to produce.” Though Atxika wasn’t able to see over the few Hi-Koth that were even taller than she was, there was still a positively delightful smile on her cobalt-blue face. “If it performs how I expect, I may have to have a second one made for my Matriarch!”
“If it’s the red and black one with the bed in the back…” The older Nishnabe man rolled his eyes and nodded towards the garage. “Then the big metal guy was spinning it around in a circle last night while it roared like a Nukatov in heat! Probably scared away any animal in a kilometer radius!”
“What ‘bout the purple one?” Mik asked with a downright devious smirk on his lips. “Did the big metal guy do donuts with that one too?”
“Yeup. And the smaller blue and orange ones.”
“Smaller blue and orange ones?!?” Mik, Tens, Atxika, and Binko all blurted out in unison.
“Yeah, she’s got the red and black truck, the big purple car, and two smaller cars.” All of the hesitation and suspicion in the older man’s eyes had been completely replaced with jovial laughter. “Did she really not tell y’all that she built those?”
“Nah! But now I gotta check ‘em out!”
/---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There were still at least fifteen minutes before the test operator was due to arrive but Skol could already hear the rumble. The short and heavily tattooed man was standing in front of a large and open hanger door with Mamibisa, Frimpchuli, Owen Johnson, and over a dozen other engineers when he heard the distinctive sound of multiple forced induction, internal combustion engines echoing through the forest. Considering the placement of this site, surrounded by massive trees with trucks as dense as stone, the noise was still almost inaudible but definitely there. Though he wasn’t much of a car enthusiast, at least when compared to Mik and TJ, the very particular rumble from a muscle car was something he could genuinely appreciate. And judging by the different sound profiles he could distinguish, each with their own unique rhythm and tempo, he knew that Mik wouldn’t be skidding into Industrial Zone 14 alone. Judging by the slowly increasing volume and pitch, the small Scandinavian man could also tell they were still a few minutes out.
“Nobody move!” Frimpchuli half-shouted as his eyes suddenly grew wide and he began looking over the mech expecting to see something wrong. “What’s that sound?!?”
“Twin-charged V8.” Owen nonchalantly answered, his gaze only peeking up from his tablet just long enough to shoot a quick glance towards the road that led to this facility. “Probably six liters, but definitely not over seven. I’m not sure about the other ones though.”
“Good guess!” Skol shot a rather impressed look towards his former student while the other other engineers began staring at the pair of men from Sol with clearly confused expressions. “TJ’s been building a new version of the Cudacorn with a woman named Sheke for the past week or so. Sounds like they got it done.”
“So that isn’t coming from the mech, right?” Frimp looked a bit nervous as he hurriedly looked over the live sensor readouts on his tablet, his wide and flat tall nervously thumping as he did so. “Because if so-”
“No, that sounds just like the Cudacorn.” The ink covered man lightly chuckled and waved off the Kyim’ayik engineer’s concerns. “It’s loud as hell! It has a supercharger, twin turbos, and short straight pipes. He’s probably still at least a few kilometers away. But I do hear a few other engines, too. I just don’t recognize the sound.”
“Inline-4s, maybe?” Owen suggested while pulling his attention fully away from the data he was reviewing and directing it towards the still distance sound. “Definitely forced induction but… Wait! Skol, did you just say supercharger and twin turbo chargers? How much fucking boost is he making?!?”
“CAG regulations are four point two-five Bars so… About sixty psi or whatever the freedom units conversion is.”
“Sixty pounds of boost?!?” As Owen’s eyes grew wide, a look of utterly delight shining across his face, the various other people now staring at the him and Skol only grew more confused. “Jesus fucking Christ… Dude ain’t driving closer to us, he’s just m…
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1gfthnw/the_gardens_of_deathworlders_part_96/
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