Post by Rennia Trayvold on Jul 30, 2013 18:14:27 GMT -5
In the dark of the night a car made it's way down a quiet highway. At this time of night traffic was sparse at best, leaving the vehicle alone in the dead of the night. To either side trees dampened sound and bounced the light from the vehicles headlamps, almost muting it's existence. The vehicle came around a bend and rolled onward, leaving the area back in it's silence and darkness once more.
Now only the occasional gust of wind broke the otherwise complete silence of the area. After a couple minutes that silence was suddenly broken by the click of a mechanical mechanism which soon was followed by the whirring sound of an electrical motor winding up. The sound was quickly drowned out by the roar of a V8 gasoline engine as it fired up. A few presses of the throttle caused fuel to be flooded into the engine, shooting up it's revolutions. The hot exhaust from the detonations were pushed out into the exhaust manifolds and down the connected pipes until it escaped the modified exhaust system. The result was simple. A deafening roar flooded the clearing.
Then the light came. Twin high powered headlamps suddenly burst to life, supplemented by several running lights and four tail lights. One could just make out the silhouette of a 1967 Corvette Stingray. Inside it's windows the scene was entirely different. As much as the owner of the vehicle liked the look and feel of the Stingray as a whole, they had also grown to appreciate the value of the benefits of digital upgrades. They did however make sure that the loss of said electronics would not render their vehicle completely dead in the water. Inside the cabin light from various LCD screens illuminated the space, bouncing light off of the confines as well as the occupant.
The pitch of the vehicle kicked up ever so slightly suddenly and a few moments later two oversize rear tires began to spin. For a moment they spun freely, causing a faint screech as well as a small bit of smoke to be thrown. Then they gripped into the asphalt of the little off to the side parking area the vehicle had been parked in, and caused the vehicle to lurch forward.
The machine quickly navigated the on ramp to the highway and gently glided onto that long road. That's when it opened up. The engine roared as the vehicle was propelled with incredible force as the supercharged 454 cubic inch engine opened up. Every so often the pitch would drop as the vehicle was shifted into a higher gear. It's speed climbed and climbed and climbed. It blew past sixty, seventy, ninety miles an hour and kept going. The light traffic on the road ensured that running into a cop was beyond unlikely, allowing the driver the freedom to open that machine up and run flat out. That's exactly what they did.
The car rocketed along the roadway, seeming to gracefully navigate every turn and twist. Larger ones inevitably brought the vehicle's speed down to an acceptable limit before it wound around the corner, but that was quickly rectified as it shifted back up and opened up once more. Finally, after an hour of driving, even at those blinding speeds, the vehicle leveled out onto a straight away, heading into one of the country's major cities.... Phoenix.
Unfortunately the closer it got to Phoenix the slower the vehicle needed to travel as the odds of running into a patrol car increased. The driver was somewhat disappointed, but it didn't matter to them. They'd had their hour of fun, now they had to head back to the civilized world of man.
At the edge of rural and urban America, the vehicle pulled of of the road into a gas station. It was one they had been to before, but back then it was smaller than it was now. Times had demanded change unfortunately. The deep red car pulled up to a pump and the engine was cut off. The lights quickly followed, dying as the switch was flipped. A short time later the door opened up. From within the machine a tall woman stepped out. It was clear that her fitting into the vehicle would have been a tight fit, but she appeared to have no problem getting in and out of the machine.
For a moment the woman stood there, enjoying the sound she heard. It was the thrumming of the lights above her... and the whine of wheels rolling along the roads. It wasn't the fact that she liked or hated technology. The sound represented freedom to her. It was the sound of people going wherever they wanted. Sadly it was a dying world...
The woman went over to the pump with a sigh and picked up the nozzle and selected a somewhat higher octane fuel. It could have run on eighty seven easily, but she liked to give it ninety two or better, so long as it didn't have that ethanol crap.
The woman unscrewed the cap on her tank and slid the nozzle in, depressing it's lever and locking it into place. Once she'd gotten that taken care of she went back to listening to the sound of Old America....
The female, clad in an unusual body suit had just finished filling up her motorcycle. The suit fit her curved body well, accenting her form in black with silver highlights along the arms and legs and up her sides. Her black sports helmet hung from the handlebar to allow her long brown hair to fall around her shoulders and her hazel eyes a unobscured view around her. The bike beside her was not bought, but instead built from plans she 'borrowed'. Well plans that Raphael had borrowed and built the motorcycle for her from with minor modifications. It was a Dodge Tomahhawk, a 'concept' design that was not ridable when first present. However with a few modifications Raphael had made it ridable for Korina.
It was black, with silver highlights as well, matching her riding outfit and helmet. The reason she had even allowed Raphael to build it was simple, she was working on a new machine and by riding the Tomahawk she was literally doing research for it. Not to mention the sheer thrill of going three hundred miles an hour upon the bike (she had only done that once though on a completely straight road in the middle of the day) as well as the stares she got was an adrenaline rush. The modifications to the bike where not visible ones, but invisible and absolutely needed. Strong magnets had been installed along the bike that attached to the servo motors of Korina's walking exo-suit. These held Korina firmly upon the bike preventing her from being lifted off and hurled away by the wind of such incredible speeds. Secondly, Raphael had upgraded the steering system to also handle the speeds otherwise a simple adjustment would have sent the bike pinwheeling and her body splattered all over the pavement to be scrapped up with a stick and spoon. Not an option she though very favorable even if she was already dying.
So here she was, filling her gas tank up with the higher octane fuel that the bike had to have to maintain its incredible speeds. A long day of testing and research behind her she felt very accomplished. She had a basic idea for her new machine, which compared to her other robotic machines was very simple. For a motorized vehicle it was complicated. The most annoying part would be waiting while it was fabricated. A month at least probably, if not more. Newer fabrications always took forever as the kinks and stuff where worked out as they where discovered. Once completed a fabricated model could be churned out in a few days.
Looking up at the other woman got out of her Stingray Korina watched her begin filling her vehicle. Cars where nice and all, but Korina wasn't big in to them. She loved feeling the wind and the freedom of the motorcycle. Though the Tomahawk was almost not considered a motorcycle with its front and rear double wheels. That wouldn't be an issue in her design, for she didn't have the double wheel design that had apparently become popular. However the Stingray the female was driving was a decent although exceptionally expensive vehicle. Korina wondered what she did to earn that kind of money as she removed the nozzle from her tank and replaced it before screwing the gas cap back on.
Post by Rennia Trayvold on Jul 31, 2013 18:58:58 GMT -5
The woman snapped out of her daze as she felt...something that distracted her. She gazed over her shoulder and perked a brow at the site she saw. The machine was one of those 'because we can' things. They shoved an engine far in excess of what a bike would ever need onto the machine and the result was a mobile rocket... if you could get it up to those speeds. You had to be pretty ballsy to even consider the attempt however as anywhere past one hundred and twenty was extraordinary risky.
The woman shook her head and chuckled to herself as she looked back forward. Her voice carried back over the thrum of the heated lamps above them. "Five hundred and five cubic inches, five hundred and ten horsepower... Four hundred and eighty and change brake horsepower...and five hundred and twenty five pound feet of torque. The Viper Es Are Tee Ten Vee Ten engine. Certainly a statement when put on a bike. Though I could have sworn that bike wasn't classified as street legal. Bit brave to be driving it around on the street near a big city aren't you?"
Her attention returned to the nozzle as the signature pop signified that the nozzle had shut off now that the tank was full. Despite some recommendations she squeezed a little more out, just to get it to a round figure before she placed the nozzle back on it's stand and capped her own gas tank. After securing it, she turned back around, facing the bike and it's owner. Those red orbs slowly traced over the machine, noting it's striking color, unusual to the stock production models she was familiar with. Then her gaze turned towards the rider. It wasn't quite a stare, but the almost emotionless gaze about her would have still set many on edge. The faint glow to those irises wouldn't have helped matters in the slightest.
Finally after a moment, giving the woman a chance to speak if she decided to, the owner of the '67 Stingray made her way towards the store front, choosing to pay inside at the register rather than at the pump. Then again she was also going to pay in cash and sadly the machines did not accept dollar payment.
Korina smiled and nodded. The female who drove the very nice car certainly did know her stuff. About the engines and about the vehicle not being street legal. She smiled sheepishly. "Oh....yea it's a statement alright. Also definitely not street legal. Far to fast, though most of the other things where safety issues that I worked around. Besides, it's just for some research I'm doing. I don't actually usually drive anything at all."
She followed the female inside, preferring to pay with a card but those machines where so unreliable. A couple times she had been charged twice, and almost never did she receive a receipt. Something she liked to have so she could keep track of gas mileage. Something especially useful in doing research to see how efficient the engine was and if she could down size or possibly upsize the engine just slightly to move all that bike better. Not that she was sure if she even could do that...but it was worth looking in to.
Standing inline behind the female she stood looking around smiling. "Got a good business going here huh? What with all the want for ethanol free gas and you being the only one nearby who has any at all." She made small talk with one of the cashiers who simply snapped her gum and mashed the buttons on the register like an automaton. Korina sighed and thanked her to which a large bubble was blown and popped before turning to walk out and back to her bike.
Post by Rennia Trayvold on Aug 1, 2013 23:42:22 GMT -5
Research huh? The woman pondered as she paid for her gas. While she was at it she picked up a quart of oil and a small container of windshield washer fluid and made her way outside. She probably didn't need it, but being this far away from her garage, she wanted to make sure her levels were still where they needed to be, and that she'd have the fluids for if they weren't. The last thing she wanted to do was blow the engine in that expensive machine. It would mean flying home or catching public transit and neither was appealing.
Once outside again she spoke up once more as she strode back to her car. "So what kind of research requires screaming along at speeds over a hundred miles an hour in a machine with enough torque to turn itself into a pretzel with the slightest snag? Or throw a rod through just about anything in it's path..... " A soft chuckle escaped her as she stepped across to her machine. She opened the door and reached in for the hood release. She then leaned back and shut the door.
The woman walked around to the front end of the vehicle. Lifting up from the rear of the hood instead of the front, she lifted the hood out of the way, revealing the engine that was clearly anything but stock. However she did so with no fanfare, simply lifting it up so that she could gain access to the oil dipstick. She would pull out that long metal band and, after digging around within her wardrobe, she produced a napkin to wipe it off on. She slid it back into the tube it came from and pushed down all the way, only to pull it back out again and read the level.
A faint frown crossed her features as she noted that the level was a tiny bit low. It wasn't anywhere near being a problem, but she hated having it outside operational limits. She'd been around cars well enough to know that when you're pushing your machine, anything that's even the slightest bit out of normal could create a problem. She slid the stick back into place and reached for the oil fill port, pulling it's lid off and setting it to the side. She reached over to pick up the quart of oil she'd picked up and quickly broke the seal.
Afterward she looked back at the port and frowned again, noting that she didn't have a funnel, but she would have to make due. A quick eyeballing of the port and a careful tilt of the bottle caused a thin stream of oil to drop right into the port. At the very start a few dribbles missed the hole, but it was small enough for her napkin to take care of, though she'd have to give it a proper cleaning later. That was another thing that bothered her. Unnecessary messes on her otherwise immaculate engine. Even used the machine was in tip top condition.
After a few moments she carefully eased off the pouring, letting it carefully dribble down into the hole before she wiped the bottle off with her napkin. Finally she called back once more. "I do hope it isn't research in regards to how fast of an impact you could survive -if- you do crash.... or similarly how long you could survive not crashing. Those tests are better done with crash test dummies. The living sort that is."
Korina paid for her gas with a swipe of her card and collected the receipt. She slipped her card back in to her wallet (a mans cause it for easier in to the breast pocket of her riding outfit then a woman's long wallet). She then slipped the wallet back in to her breast pocket and followed the other female back outside. Her lips parted in a laughed as she questioned about her research and put oil in to her vehicle.
"No, it isn't research about crashing at all. Mostly about the speed, the ability of myself to handle such speed, and maneuverability. As well as the capacity for such an engine, like of it will reach the factories theorized 400 miles an hour and such. Which by the way it doesn't. I only got it to about three hundred and two miles an hour and it stopped going any faster." She shrugged her shoulders and leaned against the gas pump watching as the other female cleaned up what oil she had spilt when putting it in to her own machine.
Korina shook her head. "I am not surprised though. Those factory algorithms for measuring possible speed are not good at measuring possible resistance. They base it upon a perfect system, although clearly a engine has moving parts so thus has friction and loses efficiency. I don't understand why they insist upon ignore those facts." She smiled slightly again. "However it is still a remarkable machine and quite well built, although a little to bulky and lacking the agility I wish it had."
Post by Rennia Trayvold on Aug 2, 2013 13:37:30 GMT -5
The woman chuckled as the other female talked about it's top speed. "They didn't consider a lot of things when they quoted that four hundred. I'm sure if it was some how magically supplied with atmosphere to it's engine but was in a complete vacuum with no resistance or debris and had perfectly lubricated wheels and no excess weight on it period, however small.. it might reach a lot closer to that quoted four hundred..." As she spoke she busied herself reattaching the cap for the oil fill port and the bottle itself. Then she checked to make sure the windshield wiper fluid didn't need to be topped off, which of course, it didn't.
At that point she walked back around the side of her car and opened the door. Slipping inside the machine she quickly set the parking brake, and pressed the clutch in all the way. Next the woman reached over to the shifter and pushed the vehicle into neutral. Afterwards her fingers slipped into her pocket to withdraw a set of keys which were slipped into the ignition of the vehicle. The woman turned the keys an eighth of a turn and then a quarter.
As the key reached the end of it's turn the sound of the electric starter motor kicked in for a moment. The sound was quickly drowned out by the overpowering sound of the supercharged engine as it sprang to life. As soon as it did, the female stopped holding the key in start position and let the clutch pop back up. She sat in the seat a few moments to make sure that the engine didn't shut back down, though that was a force of habit from when the engine had used a carburetor. Now it had multi-port fuel injection and thus wasn't prone to it's old habits.
After revving the engine a couple times, she pulled herself out of the seat and walked back over to the engine compartment, looking everything over. Due to the nature of the engine, it had a somewhat rough idle; though that evened out somewhat once the engine warmed up. That caused it to almost sound as if it would die every so often but it would quickly pick back up again. In front, the two electric fans blew air through heavy duty radiator. For a machine like this, the electric fans were needed, as the engine produced a lot more heat than it's clutchless fan would have produced.
The woman gave a soft sigh as she gazed into the engine compartment. Okay, yes, she was completely enthralled with her machine, but so what? She built it, she should have the right to be impressed with it!
Korina was watching the female with her car. She was clearly more then slightly obsessed with the vehicle, but that was something that Korina wasn't gonna hold against her. After all, she was completely use to the feeling. She was obsessed with Raphael and her machines she built. So it made sense for this woman to obsess over her own machine a little. Korina didn't care much for the bike she was riding. It was brand new, and she was going to only a marginal amount of miles upon its odometer and engine before selling it to some collector for an exorbitant amount of cash.
Korina walked over and looked in to the engine across from the other female. She noticed all the updated machinery inside, along with a lot of electronically systems. "You've updated a lot of the electrical system. However your battery won't support all of for very long. If you wish, I could possibly provide you with a improved battery and even a computer system to increase the efficiency of your entire vehicle." She looked up at the other female then backed away from her vehicle.
"That is of course only of you want. It would increase gas mileage, reduce electrical system error and increase the power to your stereo system to make the sound louder and clearer. Some people find that a good thing and most desirable. I guess a personal taste I suppose. I don't listen to music very often and so thus don't really know about the acoustic levels and things." She went silent watching the female, crossing her arms and watching her closely. For some reason he didn't seem fully human, and Korina had begun to listen to her 'gut' when it came to this kind of thing. Humans instinctively knew when they where in danger from dangerous things. However it wasn't perfect, and Korina knew that supernaturals could easily trick a person.
Post by Rennia Trayvold on Aug 2, 2013 16:32:53 GMT -5
The woman chuckles softly to the comment. "Oh? I am curious about the battery. This one's still in good shape, but if you've got one that's better I'm willing to look into it. As for the offer on the electronics, thanks but no thanks. I do try to limit the electrical interfacing of my engine. Needless to say I've seen what happens when they systematically fail. Usually not pretty. I'd rather retain mechanical back up so that in the event someone decides to play with my computers... like an ee Em Pee Bomb... Then at least my motor will still run."
That of course brought back a few memories. It admittedly didn't happen often, and had never happened to her, but she had seen the effects of the computers on a car entirely too electronically controlled. When they failed, the engine suffered it's own catastrophic failure. It was a permanent one that often persisted after the computers were salvaged. She had no desire for her vehicle to enter a situation like that.
"As for fuel efficient... Heh. You think I'd be driving a car with a four fifty four if I was looking for fuel efficiency? That being said, this car can scrape a good sixteen plus miles to the gallon high way use if I'm just cruising. For what it is... That's pretty impressive. Though yes I know it could be better..."
The woman's head turned slightly in Korina's direction, not quite fully, but enough to allow her a glimpse of the other woman out of the corner of her eye. She noted Korina's now faintly cautious behavior before turning back to her machine. She rolled up her slightly loose sleeves and reached in to nudge the mechanical throttle. The response was a short rev of the engine. As the engine died back to it's previous pitch she called out behind her. "Do I make you uncomfortable?"
