Chapter 3

The Participants

Highways laced into, around, above, and below each other and sprawled out in all directions like an intricate spider’s web running for miles, all tangled up without anywhere to go. Inner Zenron was a maze of industry and capital. Skyscrapers loomed over the rest of the city, hundreds of stories taller than the tallest buildings in lower Zenron. In the middle of it all though was the Grand Plant. A nuclear reactor five miles long and half a mile high that powered the entire city. Wires spread out of the reactor and into the rest of the town like the roots of a tree in the middle of a rainforest.

Daisy had driven Johnny to the starting line where they had been presently waiting by a gathering crowd. The track was no ordinary circle for the drivers to go in, rather there was a single starting line drawn up for the race to start at as well as some bleachers for onlookers to watch from.

Daisy and Johnny had started to get anxious. Most of the racers had already shown up and Mondo was still yet to arrive. It didn’t help that they were in a place where they knew absolutely no one, getting the kinds of dirty looks you get when you go into the V.I.P area of a club without a pass.

Suddenly they heard a loud engine heading towards them and a voice calling out over the roar of the motor. Johnny looked beyond the starting line and saw Mondo rolling towards them in a beat up old pickup hover truck. Johnny took immediate notice of its old rumbly engine and bulky design.

“Please don’t tell me I have to drive that,” Johnny mumbled. Mondo took his place at the starting line beside Johnny revealing the contents in the back of the truck. A pristinely kept vintage heavyweight, yellow and black sports hovercycle with twin rocket propulsion, and platinum blades. Mondo hopped out of the truck and walked up to Johnny and Daisy.

“Hope I didn’t keep you waiting,” Mondo said, blowing his nose on an old hanky.

“Are you driving that?” Johnny asked, awe stricken.

“Me? Drive that? What, are you crazy? Have you seen the statistics about hovercycle deaths? They’re horrifying! No, I’ll drive my truck thank you very much,” Mondo said, getting up in the truck to bring the cycle down.

“You think you can race in that?” Johnny asked, struggling to help him carry it off.

“Son, I’ve been in a race or two. Let me tell you something, it ain’t always the fastest racer what wins. Usually it’s the one who’s got a machine at the finish line in one piece,” Mondo said, hopping down from his truck and taking a swig out of a flask. Johnny and Daisy gave each other a concerned look.

“Shouldn’t you be sober for the race?” Daisy asked, as politely as she could.

“Don’t worry bout’ it, I drive better when I’m drunk” Mondo said, holding in a burp.

“I think the race is starting soon, Daisy,” Johnny said, turning to her. Without a word she gave him a kiss on the cheek and then ran off into the bleachers with the fans where she squeezed into the front row between some shouting fat gamblers who hadn’t noticed her presence.

“Well well if it isn’t my old pal Johnny. I was hoping I’d get a chance to race you again, hope you know we don’t have a reason to keep you alive this time,” Creedence said with a smirk, walking towards the line with his men.

“Fine with me, I don’t either,” Johnny answered.

“You used to be cool until your dad died. Now you’re just a wet bar rag,” Creedence snarled back.

“And you’ll never change,” Johnny said. Creedence was about to answer but before he was interrupted by an announcer, a color commentator, and a referee getting set up at a booth with an air screen television in front of the audience. A twenty year old with a partially grown in mustache set the camera up in front of the announcer and color commentator.

“Good evening and welcome to the 83rd annual Zenron Hover Race hosted by Diablo Riddle and sponsored by Riddle Prosthetics. Need a Hand? Call Riddle prosthetics! I’m Chuck Bones here joined by Harry Bon Tango. How are you today, Harry?” The announcer looked over to the color commentator who happened to be an anthropomorphic bottle of ketchup.

“Chuck I feel like a sugarsplosion, how about you?” Harry said, speaking out of his flapping cap.

“Well I’ve got a lot riding on this race, I’ll just say that. First let’s go over the track, Harry?”

“Well it’s a long track, Chuck but there are no laps and no checkpoints, we’re talking one straight line to the finish, boys and girls. The first hover vehicle to the top of Riddle Tower is the winner” Harry stated in a flamboyant voice.

“So I have to ask, are we obeying traffic regulations here?”

“No, the whole point of a race is they don’t.”

“Wow. Don’t try this at home folks.”

“Absolutely, always drive responsibly. Especially if you’re drunk or committing a crime,” Harry said in a voice of harsh disapproval.

“Now that they’ve all lined up, why don’t you introduce us to the racers Harry,” Chuck suggested.

“With pleasure! Our first racer is a young up and comer. The young rookie Nigel Fairservice. Many say he’s likely to be the biggest challenge to our reigning champ. He’s also the only other one besides the reigning champ to come from Inner Zenron. He knew he would become a racer one day when his uncle gifted him a toy model hover car for his birthday. That toy has since been lost but is still in our hearts.”

“One thing I love about this kid is his ability to be calm without losing that sense of adrenaline one needs to make it to the finish line. We’re gonna talk about that a lot in this broadcast,” Chuck added as screens around the starting lines started showing off a young man with “Fairservice” written on the back of his leather jacket, nervously fiddling with the engine of his sparkling blue hoverbike. The minute Nigel took notice of the camera he immediately dropped his tools in a panic and began to nervously wave to the camera. Johnny couldn’t help but become a little anxious now that he knew he was going to be televised. He looked over to Daisy in the stands innocently eating a bag of popcorn. Johnny gave a disapproving glance.

“Next to him we have Roxy Rocket. The only girl in competition” Harry continued.

“Having a girl in the hoverace is not something you see everyday. Roxy has overcome a lot in her career to get here. There is still yet to be a female Hoverace champion. Harry, maybe this will be the year?” Chuck said.

“Well, probably not, her racing skills just aren’t on par with the likes of Bernard Piston or Nigel Fairservice. However, I did get the chance to talk with her coach and ask for Anita’s reasons for competing in the hoverace. She stated, ‘Anita loves racing. She always has ever since she was little. The hoverace was just a natural next step for her so even if she doesn’t win today she’s just glad to have competed at the top level of competition on behalf of Zenronian women everywhere’” Harry said, solemnly.

“Absolutely. I’d just like to point out to all the little girls watching from home. This can be you one day, sweetie!” Chuck chimed in. The camera moved over to a chipper young woman with glitter on her face and a low cut blue top with short sleeves that showed off both her cleavage and belly button.

“Hi Grandma I’m on TV, woo!” Roxy shouted, waving from her pink convertible. The crowd cheered for her and an eager miner threw her a pair of his bubblegum flavored hard candy undies.

“You gotta love her attitude Harry. Truly a pioneer” Chuck said.

“Moving right down the line we have a bit of an oddity, that’s PAL-239. This machine is an AI designed only for racing created by his master Professor Antonio Masterson” Harry announced in a curious tone.

“Being an AI myself, I’m okay with this,” Chuck said.

“I didn’t know that!” Harry said, in genuine shock.

“Most news broadcasters are actually,” Chuck informed.

“Well, there’s nothing in the rules against it,” Harry happily stated. The camera rolled over a scientist carefully shining a shirtless metallic torso that had wires connecting from its head to the engines on the equally shiny silver lowrider it sat on.

“We have three for one with this next machine. The equally impressive David Hyde and Pierce!” The cameraman moved down the line to show three scrawny boys with bowl cuts on a three seated hovercycle, rhythmically zipping and unzipping their fanny packs. Without blinking, they stared at the camera and then each boy was chanting a single word to form a phrase with each other.

“Need”

“For”

“Speed”

“Pre game rituals are always very important for the athletes, right Harry?” Chuck asked.

“Yes, I’m guessing that’s what that was. Moving on we have the Hoverace veteran and former Uranium Miner; Mondo Duplantis” Harry announced with a flourish. Mondo gave a thumbs up out of his old truck and waved to the cheering crowd. Mondo was modest, but apparently still had a good reputation in the racing community.

“There’s not many that have had as exciting a career as Mondo, he’s still yet to capture that elusive first place though. Of course no one needs to remind him what happened three years ago when his machine crapped out at the finish line. Do you think he’s got a chance at the gold today, Harry?” Chuck asked.

“I think too much time has passed now. Mondo is still racing the same old races from when he was in his prime, but the times have changed. Just look at his machine, it's the same hover truck he had three years ago. That can’t possibly keep up with modern gear no matter how much he customized it,” Harry argued.

“He’s an old school racer, but you gotta admire his ability to get on the line with the best of the best,” Chuck said.

“What’s very interesting is his young protege who came in as a last minute entry into the race,” Harry said, as the camera moved onto Johnny and his machine. A modest applause ensued with a distinct cheer from Daisy in the audience. Creedence smirked at Johnny from the side.

“That’s a nice looking machine he’s got,” Chuck suggested.

“Well what matters most is the person at the wheel of course!” “Johnny Millenium is the name of this pilot, and he happens to run a bar in Outer Zenron owned by Diablo Riddle called ‘Diablo’s’. Good luck to the rookie pilot in his first race” Chuck announced. Johnny suddenly became alarmed by a tapping on his bike. He looked behind himself and saw that someone behind a set of bleachers had thrown some pebbles at him.