The Full Story, Part 1 of 4
Kayden stared at the dashboard as Rukari drove the Bricksley harder than any of them would have dared to go. The engine roared as they hurtled back down the road at a terrifying pace with Rukari double-clutching every gear change, occasionally sliding the truck around corners.
“Slow the fuck down!” Malavera yelled from the back seat. “You bin the truck, Rukari, and who’s going to rescue us while we’re rescuing them?”
Kivenaal was frantically looking around for things to grab a hold of as Rukari took another turn while going almost 60 miles per hour. In the process, he grabbed the CB handle in its resting place, and with it being that close to the speakers, it gave a squeal of feedback over the air.
Kaylie winced and grabbed the microphone out of Kivenaal’s upper right hand, holding it instead in her right hand to keep it from being grabbed by the startled Valraadi in the mid-rear bench. “Grab the seat in front of you if you have to!” Kaylie said.
Jayde looked almost terrified as the Bricksley surged around another corner. “Rukari! There are other cars!” He yelled as they shot past the atomic-pink van of Team Hillbilly Rollers with an insanely-high closing speed, headlights glaring and wipers working hard to keep the windshield clear.
(@Knugcab)
Despite this, Rukari kept his foot down. Kayden glanced at the dashboard again and grimaced as the Bricksley’s temperature gauge was climbing fast. The suspension rattled and squeaked as Rukari left the road momentarily to let Team Mravolinski-Chitco’s truck pass without incident, shaking up all the cargo in the bed again.
(@MrdjaNikolen)
“Oh, in the Name of the Rift, slow down! This is the corner Kayden almost missed!” Jayde said. Rukari piled on the brakes with everything he had, trying to haul the heavy van-truck down to be able to make the turn. Malavera groaned as he smacked both heads into the roof-mounted radio box, courtesy of only having a crappy back-seat lap belt holding him in place.
“Can you not drive like an idiot, please?” Malavera snapped.
“I am not driving like an idiot,” Rukari growled back. “I am driving as fast as I can.”
“Like an idiot. What good will we be for help if we die on the way?” Kivenaal said.
Two hours after they had left the camp, however, they saw the Dione of Team RK Series Racing pulled off to the side of the road. Rukari, again, slammed on the brakes, though this time everyone was prepared for it, though the cargo wasn’t, with the jack and the tire iron slamming into the toolbox with a crash.
Kaylie looked over at the dash and told Rukari, “Leave it running! We’re at 230 degrees Fahrenheit, if you shut it down, we’ll vapor lock and it’ll take forever to restart. Plus, this means the water pump is still turning, so we’ll cool down.”
The doors were opened and all six members of Team Shift Happens bailed out. Kaylie wandered over to the Dione, seeing the hood open, then groaning as she realized what had gone wrong. “Twin Suns. How did that happen? Broken clip, loose cap, the rotor’s missing. No wonder you guys stopped,” Kaylie said. She looked over to the others and said, “Looks like we’ll have to tow them in. Their distributor came apart in a real bad way.”
Kayden stared at it, popped the hood on the Bricksley, then said, “Couldn’t we just put our spare in their car?”
Kivenaal shook his head. “No. Our rotor is too big, and if I remember my cars correctly, the distributor drive gears are different. Even if all of that wasn’t a problem, it mechanically wouldn’t fit, ours is just too big.”
Rukari rummaged around in the bed for a while, even looking in the toolbox and under the spare tire. “Where are the tow-chains?” he grumbled to himself.
Malavera looked at Rukari, then said, “Probably about 60 miles back the way we came, flung into a ditch from one of your little off-road excursions.”
Jayde looked over to Constantin, who was still trying to hit his target with his new bow. “How is the archery going?” he asked.
At some point, with multiple other cars having passed the stationary Brick™, Connor was the first to spot the rapidly approaching Bricksley.
“Team Shift Happens has arrived. And their vehicle is overheating.”, Connor remarks, gently pushing Valentin off the road that bit further to avoid being ran over.
As soon as Rukari stomped the brakes, not much happened, as the immense weight of the thing overburdens the brakes, which cannot lock the wheels even on the loose surface.
The Bricksley rolls to a stop, and all six team members jump out of their van-truck-hybrid thing.
Kaylie was the first to receive an answer from the Valentin - Connor duo:
“Not entirely sure, it went bust and the cap now is broken…”, Valentin exclaims, equally confused as to how that was even possible.
“Likely material fatigue and wear. I found the parts number on what remained of the component, and it was manufactured in 1979. It was installed by AMP Holdings as the vehicle was manufactured.”, Connor explains, holding up the remains of what once has been the distributor cap. Valentin was impressed, not by Connor’s knowledge, but by the cap itself: “Well… when the OEM cap joins the million-mile club… gotta comment the build quality of those indestructible fuckers.”
A discussion arose about fitting the Bricksley spare distributor onto it. However, that was quickly dismissed due to compatibility.
“How are you gonna make a V8 distributor work in the first place? Not even looking at the gearing or anything… We have a straight-four.”, Valentin commented, seeing no use for a spare cap meant for a V8.
As Jayde was approaching Constantin, he looked at him immediately, as he was inbetween shots and not focused on missing the target almost every time.
“Very poorly… something’s very off with this stuff your friend made.”, Constantin replies, calm, but also rather frustrated at his poor performance.
The jacket downrange only had a few holes in it, despite him spending a good three hours and close to a hundred shots trying to hit the damn thing.
“I see you found a way to keep your hair out of the engine bay,” Kaylie said, smiling as she looked at the zip-ties holding Valentin’s hair back. “Getting grease out of one’s hair is a nightmare,” she said.
“Kayden, Valentin’s right. Trying to rig something up with the Bricksley’s distributor is just not going to work. Even if we skipped every other cylinder, you’re still throwing live high-voltage sparks around the engine bay. That’s going to mess with their CB radio, could potentially interfere with Connor, possibly start a massive engine fire, and that’s even assuming we could adapt the diameter. Not possible, and we’re not trashing my only spare distributor so you can try it,” Kaylie said, looking at her brother.
Kayden shrugged and put the spare distributor back into the toolbox. “It was just a thought.”
“How about you leave the mechanical stuff to us mechanics, please, and help Rukari find something to tow their car with?” Kaylie replied.
Jayde nodded. “I apologize for that, Constantin,” he said. “I’ve seen her make good bows before, it’s the only reason I recommended her. I’m not sure what went wrong, but I’ve seen your skill in battle. Even I can see something isn’t right,” he admitted.
Kivenaal grimaced as he grabbed one of the containers off of the roof rack, feeling rather thirsty. He popped the lid open and took a long swig, glad that they still had water, but wishing like hell it was cold instead.
“Kivenaal!” Malavera said, glaring at the four-armed Valraadi as he caught him red-handed in the middle of taking a drink out of one of the jerry cans. “Not straight out of the containers! We’ve told you this before!”
Kaylie stopped studying the Dione’s engine bay and sighed. “Really, Kiva? We all have to drink that water, there’s bottles in the truck, and you’re chugging it out of the cans.”
“I was thirsty,” Kivenaal replied.
“And there are bottles in the truck you could have filled,” Kaylie responded. “You didn’t have to be lazy and take a great big slug of water out of the can.”
Kivenaal sighed. “Yeah, bust my ass for drinking straight out of the water jugs as if you guys haven’t done it, too,” Kivenaal grumbled.
Malavera pulled off a strip of duct tape and labeled the can Kivenaal had in his hands so that no one else would accidentally drink out of it before someone could clean it.
Rukari closed the lid on the toolbox and sighed. “Can’t find any tow chains,” he grumbled.
“Well, instead of sitting on the toolbox, Rukari, start trying to find a solution,” Kayden said.
“Still prefer it either open or kept with actual ties… those plastic things are itchy as hell”, Valentin replies, actually reverting that change as he simply pulls them off the end of his hairdo, pocketing them afterwards.
“Though i do have an idea.”, Valentin continued, not yet revealing as to what exactly it was. But he was grinning, knowing that at least in theory, it was possible.
“I mean… i am Constantly aiming high, it seems like. I think the arrows came out waay too light, but there’s no proof, as the old ones got soaking wet yesterday. Well… the ones i still have, that is.”, Constantin explains, distraught after having spent four hours practicing with a bow that obviously wasn’t of use for him.
At this point, Tim joins the group in front of the Dione, having heard the ruckus about not drinking out of containers.
“Maybe assign each member a jerry-can then? Seems like your fuel eco is about on-par with that of your truck.”, Tim jokes, mostly speculating on the actual fuel economy of the Bricksley. Though with it looking decidedly 70s, six people on board and both trunk and roof full of cargo, it certainly seemed very heavy to him.
Kaylie nodded. “I can understand that. I mean, I don’t have any hair to pull back, but… I swear, zip-ties seem to be made out of the most irritating plastic possible.” As Valentin then stated he had an idea, Kaylie smiled. “I believe there is a quote, that necessity is the mother of all invention. If we can find anything to tow you guys with, we’ll get you to the camp, or into the town if you think you need supplies there.”
Malavera looked over at them, then said, “We did bring tow-chains, but the gray-furred idiot behind the wheel bounced them out of the bed trying to get here at the speed of sound.”
Jayde nodded. “This is one of those times I wish I could wind back time, tell myself to listen to my instincts,” he said. “I knew there were two bowyers in that town, both good ones. Rather than asking around to see who was better, I went with who I knew, and that seems to have been a mistake. A major one, at that. Maybe at one time, she was better, but it seems that she’s losing her touch. Or she was distracted. Either way, I let you down, and for that, I am sorry,” Jayde said.
When Tim mentioned assigning people a jerry can, it was Kayden who stared at Tim for a few long seconds, then looked back at Malavera. “Seriously, we’ve got six people here, several of which are incredibly smart, and a damn AI, and we can’t think of using a few strips of duct tape and a Scribble marker to label a few cans? How the fuck any of us got off the planet, I’ll never know.”
“Remember, Kay, you ran our ship out of fuel. Also,” Kaylie said, walking over to her brother and tapping him soundly on the nose with Nova’s handheld, “you know better than to leave expensive military hardware just laying around. Be glad I picked this up or I’d make you march your ass back there.”
Kayden flinched even though Kaylie hadn’t hit him hard at all, more from being scolded for leaving things laying around again. “Got it. Won’t happen again,” he said, opening the door and setting the phone-like device on the dashboard.
Malavera, meanwhile, was ripping off strips of duct tape and using a black marker to label out 6 of their 20 water cans. “Anyone wants more than 5 gallons, label a second can,” Malavera said.
Rukari wandered over toward Jayde and Constantin. “Sorry for the delay. I’ve managed to lose our tow chains,” he said.
“Well… Not sure whether it’s even reasonable, but I have a climbing rope,” Jayde said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a coil of rope. “It can hold up my other form when climbing, but… I don’t know if it can hold up to a car.”
“Well… we’re gonna need a whole workshop and some manpower to get that done by tomorrow morning…”, Valentin admits, not wanting to be too much of a burden to the others, but also trying to help his own teammates out.
“With how you explained how this is basically some kind of steampunk-y, tropical country, i figured we use local technology.”
Tim looked at Valentin rather befuddled, failing to utter a word in confusion.
“We turn the car into a traction engine. I spent the better part of four hours theorizing this. It’s definitely possible!”, Valentin continues, confident in his truly ambitious idea.
Constantin, meanwhile went about the process of de-stringing his bows after having tried the other to see if the bow was the issue.
“Well… i appreciate the attempt at providing aid, though those bows are of no use to me. Look at this!”, he exclaims, pointing at his Jacket propped up down range. “I spent more than three hours and close to 100 shots on trying to hit this thing! Of those, i hit like what… eight?” Constantin continues, as he chucks the now un-strung bow a few feet into the grass field ahead of him.
Constantin took note of Rukari approaching, but didn’t react all that much, being stuck in a state between disappointment and frustration.
Kaylie raised an eyebrow as she heard Valentin’s plan. “In any other situation, I’d say that was a crazy idea, but here? That might just work. From what I know, a typical combustion engine uses a controlled, but very rapid burn to expand hot gas and push the piston down in the cylinder. A steam engine uses a controlled measure of high-pressure water vapor to push a piston inside a cylinder. The operating design is the same, pistons go up and down, connecting rods transfer that reciprocating motion into a crankshaft, the crankshaft rotates as a result. The only real difference is how those pistons are moved,” Kaylie said.
Rukari smiled as Jayde showed he had a rope. “That might work,” he said.
Jayde seemed skeptical, but followed Rukari.
Rukari, on the other hand, called out to the others, “Jayde has a rope we could use.”
Jayde grimaced slightly, then said, “It’s my climbing rope, but… I’m not quite sure it’s able to handle this.”
Kayden looked over at the rope, then asked, “Wouldn’t Connor be able to tell? Let him have a look.”
Jayde nodded, then stepped closer to Connor, respectfully leaving as much room as he could between himself and Valentin as he handed over his rope for an inspection.
“Exactly!”, Valentin called out after Kaylie had finished explaining the difference between internal combustion and steam expansion. “Given a high enough boiler pressure and a good valve gear mechanism, we could make quite the torque-monster!”, he continues.
As Rukari called out that a suitable rope might have been found, Connor walked over to take a look, as was suggested by Kayden.
“This rope is a typical 12KN climbing rope. Towing the Dione using it, while possible, will require extreme caution to avoid damage to the rope”, Connor replies, after having inspected the Rope in question.
“We could double it up.”, Valentin suggested. “Loop the rope through one hook and tie both ends to the other hook, effectively giving two ropes.”
Jayde nodded. “Didn’t know if it was reasonable to tow something like that with a rope, so, glad to hear it’s at least possible,” he mentioned.
Kaylie grabbed the rope and looped it through the Dione’s tow hook, then studied the back of the Bricksley, trying to find a good attachment point. “Fuck, this one doesn’t have the towing package,” she grumbled.
“Could loop the rope around the axle,” Rukari suggested.
“Absolutely not!” Kaylie said, glaring at Rukari. “That could ruin the suspension, wreck our differential, and potentially tangle a broken rope up into our driveshaft!”
Jayde studied the back of the Bricksley, looking for anything suitable for tying a rope to that also seemed strong. Kayden, having a moment of mild frustration, kicked the rear bumper, causing a cover to fall off and exposing a tow hook. Jayde raised an eyebrow at Kayden, who shrugged. “Totally meant to do that,” Kayden said, trying to make it sound like he knew it was there the whole time.
“Right. That’s why you kicked the bumper on that corner,” Jayde said, pointing to the passenger side of the truck, “and the cover fell off on this side,” he added, now pointing to the driver’s side of the truck, “instead of just telling me to remove the shiny cover.”
Kaylie chuckled, then tied both ends of Jayde’s climbing rope to the tow hook.
“Right, we’ve all been here waiting long enough, some far longer than others,” Kaylie said. “Let’s get into our respective vehicles. Rukari, I swear if you break this truck on the way there, snap that rope, or wreck their car because you’re driving like a moron again, you will be doing all of the maintenance.”
Rukari nodded, climbing up into the driver’s seat, while Kayden took the front mid-bench to make shifting easier for Rukari, and Malavera took the last front seat, having had an experience once with the rear seat radio console. In the rear bench, Kaylie took her usual spot as the radio operator, Jayde took the mid-bench, and Kivenaal took the driver’s side window seat.
Kaylie leaned out of the window and called back to them, “Honk once you’re ready!”
Rukari planted his foot on the brake pedal, which went concerningly close to the floor, stepped on the clutch, put the gearbox in first gear and the transfer case in 4-Low, then waited for the signal.
Tim and Valentin nod in eager agreement, piling into the front passenger and rear driver seat respectively.
“Thanks for sticking to your word. We still have the battery and radio and all, as we knew you were coming at some point.”, Constantin remarked as he walks past the others to get his jacket downrange.
His trip into the field took longer than expected, as he made sure to not leave anything else behind that belonged to him, collecting two leftover arrows in the process.
He then heads back and pokes his head into the nearside front window.
“Mind if i take charge of the radio? As far as i know, we still have power and we could coordinate the tow better that way.”, Constantin suggests.
“Sure. You probably know your way around this radio stuff better than i do…”, Tim admits, freeing up the front passenger seat for Constantin.
After having dumped the useless bows and ancillary equipment as well as his jacket through the broken rear window, he gets into the Dione, picks up the radio handle and motions to Connor to turn the ignition back on.
An order was followed by it’s execution, as power was needed to sound the horn anyway. For completeness sake, the hazards were also turned on to warn later drivers about the Dione being slow and poorly controlled.
“Constantin Schrant for Shift Happens, we’re ready, over.”, he speaks into the handle with a degree of professionalism unheard of for anyone else but maybe Connor.
This was followed by Connor tapping the horn a few times to confirm the state of readiness via the previously-agreed-upon method.
“We said no one gets left behind on the entry form,” Malavera said to Constantin in response, “and we meant that.”
Kaylie smiled as Constantin called over the radio. “Kaylie of Shift Happens to Constantin Schrant, heard you loud and clear. Heading out, over,” she replied, adopting some measure of professionalism on the radio.
Kayden, seeing the hazards were on with the Dione, quickly hit the toggle for their hazards as well as Rukari slowly let the clutch out and pulled forward, taking up the slack in the rope remarkably carefully, considering how he’d showed up. The V8 growled as the combination of first gear and low range gave the truck all the torque it could possibly need to get the Dione moving, and other than a brief spin of the driver’s side rear tire, quickly stopped with the differential lock, soon the two vehicles started to move on down the road.
“Think you can manage to shift smoother, Rukari?” Kivenaal asked.
“I can try,” he said, for once not double-clutching the gearbox as he went for second gear. Then it was third, and he realized that any faster and he’d start slipping thanks to the now-wet gravel and dirt. “Not fast, but we are moving.”
Kaylie keyed the microphone, dropping her previous professionalism in favor of getting to the point. “Rukari says this is about as fast as we can go. Any faster and the tires start slipping.”
As they rolled along at an almost-seemingly-casual pace, V8 roaring in third-gear, low range, the little yellow Yinzer MightyTiny buzzed by, carrying Team Jockey along on four flat tires. (@NoahC)
The team was in surprisingly good mood as the Dione slowly started rolling.
The wet dirt kicked up by the offside rear prompted the use of the wipers to get the windshield clean again. Connor then had a suggestion: “A higher gear could be attempted. The lower engine speed allows for more room in throttle modulation due to less power being available.”
Constantin then went for the handle again: “Shift Happens, Connor is suggesting the use of a higher gear to give more leeway in throttle use, Romeo-Kilo Series Racing.”
In the back, Tim inquired once again as to how Valentin plans to convert the thing.
“Without going too deep, it doesn’t matter how you move the pistons in the engine. If you apply force to them, the engine spins and you have power. There’s people runnning them off of compressed air for shits and giggles. And steam is not much different from compressed air, really…”, Valentin explained, confusing Tim a bit.
Neither party in the rear went deeper into the explanation, instead relying on mutual trust for it to work out.
As Constantin advised them on using a higher gear, courtesy of Connor in the Dione, Kaylie acknowledged with, “Thank you. We will try a higher gear, then.”
Rukari grabbed the transfer case stick and shoved it into high range, and almost immediately, the Bricksley shuddered and chugged, the engine trying hard to stall. He stomped the clutch to the floor and stomped the throttle as well, the engine bellowing as it recovered from a near-stall. Taking advantage of what little momentum they had left, he put the gearbox in first and carefully set off again.
“Sorry about that back there. Our driver went for high range when he should have tried fourth gear,” Kaylie replied over the radio. “Trying again for first to second, over.”
“You are such an idiot sometimes, you know that?” Malavera said. “He said, ‘a higher gear.’ You had fourth, you had fifth, why the fuck did you try third in high range?”
“I thought it would work,” Rukari replied.
“With all of us loaded, and all of our shit in and around this truck, we’re probably around 9,500 pounds, Rukari,” Kaylie responded. The truck shuddered a bit as Rukari engaged second gear, though it managed, barely, to pick up the RPM enough to keep going.
“I’d wager we’re a bit more than that,” Malavera said. “Water, kerosene, parts and supplies, all of us, the truck itself, all of the shit in our toolbox. It all adds up.”
Jayde grasped his green crystal in his hand and muttered a quick prayer of, “Just, please, let all of us make it.”
As the Bricksley meandered on down the road with the engine rumbling and black smoke pouring out of the exhausts, the temperature slowly climbing, and Kaylie trying to let everyone in the Dione know when they were going to have to actually use the brakes, the Schnell XL53 of Team Slow (@interior) passed them slowly enough that Kaylie had to tell Rukari not to even think of drag-racing them with a load behind them.
Kayden grimaced as he saw the water temp climbing up again. “Rukari, you’ve just reached the start of the yellow band,” he warned.
“It will be fine,” Rukari replied.
As the engine of the Bricksley up front came to a near-stop, so did the car itself, forcing Connor to smash the severely diminished brakes due to the brake booster not being driven.
As a result, the car almost rear-ends the Bricksley, slackening the tow-rope in the process.
Kaylie then apologized over the radio, while also seemingly ordering Connor to put the car into second.
Everyone in the Dione knew that this was a dumb idea, leading to Constantin going back to the radio controls.
“Negative. That would add useless load to your car. We’re not putting it in gear, let alone first, Romeo-Kilo Series Racing.”, Constantin spoke, attaching the handle back to the spot on the center heater vent.
With lack of power came lack of AC, forcing them to open the windows and shed some layers where possible.
Valentin ends up removing the underlying tanktop, leaving just the fully-unbuttoned Hawaii-style shirt on, Constantin and Connor were already topless and Tim only has a basketball jersey he could rid himself of, but didn’t feel entirely comfortable doing so.
Other than that, the group of four in the Dione were simply waiting for it to end…
Soon, though not soon enough for everyone in the Dione and everyone in the Bricksley, as Kayden had turned off their AC to give them every last ounce of spare power possible and reduce the load on the already overheating engine, the campsite was at least visible in front of them.
Or, it would be, at least, if the Bricksley hadn’t moved past the yellow band and into the red on the temperature gauge, and started spitting and sputtering steam out of the radiator cap. The windshield wipers, previously fine on a mid-speed intermittent setting, now flicked back and forth on low just to keep the window clear.
Sure enough, nearly 12 Earth hours after they’d left that morning, the Dione rolled into the fourth campsite. “Where is the nearest steamworks?” Rukari asked.
“Over this bridge, down the main street to the far side of town, past the gate. It’ll be a right, down the road. There’s a train station before it,” Jayde said.
“Shift Happens to Romeo-Kilo Series Racing, Jayde has mentioned a steamworks is on the other side of the town, near a train station. We’ll tow you there, over,” Kaylie said.
As Rukari turned to drive across the bridge, careful not to yank the rope or drive them, or the Dione, through anyone’s camping supplies, Kayden scowled at the temperature gauge. “Rukari, that gauge has been trying to tell you something for the last 20 miles,” Kayden said.
Sure enough, as they crawled through the town of Itzgarde, the needle reached the end of the gauge, pinned to the H. What had been occasional spitting and sputtering had turned into a constant hiss from the cap as they passed the gate leading out to the train station and steamworks. Rukari turned to the right, lined up on the road, and that’s when there was a sudden thunderous pop and the air filled with steam.
“Off! Off! Off! Shut it off!” Kaylie yelled from her seat. Rukari slowly pulled the Bricksley over, roughly 60 feet from the doors of the steamworks, then shut the engine off. Everyone in the Bricksley got out, grimacing at the task of shoving almost 7,000 pounds of shit up the driveway into the steamworks.
Not much happened from the perfective of the car being towed, until Kayle went back onto the radio, telling everyone that the destination was a local steamworks normally used to repair and maintain the locomotives used by the local population.
“Affirmative. We’re being towed to the steamworks on the other side of town, Romeo-Kilo Series Racing.”, Constantin replies, in effect saying that they are aware of the info and have acknowledged it.
The team had been oblivious to the overheating of the Bricksley up until the coolant loop went bust, engulfing their front end in steam.
Likewise, the three humans also bailed with Connor remaining in the drivers seat to retain control.
At least the push wouldn’t be that far.
“I’ll steer and stop the truck,” Kaylie volunteered. “I’m the lightest, and I should still be able to steer despite not having any assistance. Might have to two-foot the brake, but I’ll manage.”
Jayde untied the rope between the two cars and inspected it for damage before coiling it up and putting it back in his bag.
With Kaylie in the driver’s seat, Kayden at the driver’s rear corner of the truck bed, Jayde pushing against the tailgate, Malavera pushing at the passenger’s rear corner of the truck bed, Kivenaal putting his hands on the passenger side B-pillar to distribute as much force over as large an area as he could, and Rukari grabbing hold of the driver’s side B-pillar, they set off and started pushing the Bricksley into the shop.
As soon as the truck started rolling, Rukari stepped up onto the running board, while Kayden said quietly, but clearly, “Nova, authorization code K 54812, prepare for battle, safeties limited.”
“Confirming combat mode set, safeties set. Limiting perception of fatigue and pain, increasing oxygen uptake by increased respiration, accelerating heart rate. Engaging fight-or-flight response with instinct suppression.” Nova responded from Kayden’s pocket, her tone switching from the sassy, light-hearted AI she’d been to a more harsh, war-weathered battle-maiden.
Malavera shook his head. “You better turn that off once we get in there.”
“I will,” Kayden said, before pushing with everything he had.
Jayde was startled by the sudden shove at the back of the truck, lost his grip for a moment, and once he’d regained it, was no longer really contributing that much to their combined effort.
As they got within 15 feet of the open door, Kivenaal backed off and walked off to the side, sitting down on a nearby bench to avoid getting spotted.
Kaylie looked over her left shoulder and glared at Rukari. “The least you could do is help!” she snapped.
Rukari suddenly pointed and said, “Crate!”
Kaylie snapped back around, wrenched at the wheel with her right hand, but it wasn’t enough, and when she went for the brakes, the pedal sank straight to the floor as if she’d stepped on a lemon. There was a mighty bump, the sound of wood cracking and then screeching along the floor, and the sound of a certain pain-in-the-ass Valraadi falling off the running board and shattering the driver’s side mirror with his horns.
“Hey! We’ve been waiting weeks for those valves!” the Foreman yelled, rushing over to see what damage was done. Thankfully, it seemed that the crate did its job, protecting the screw valves inside from damage. Before he could scold them any further, however, he saw someone he recognized.
“If any of them are damaged, I’ll pay for them,” Jayde said. “Otherwise, my friends here,” he added, motioning to the crew by the Dione, “need to borrow your workshop for a project of theirs.”
