Operation BIRD; First Stage I
August 25th 2018; 20:42; evening
Tonsoms phone emits a ringtone. He pulls out one of those ancient Nokia 3310s and reads the message displayed.
The race has officially started
He turns over to the other two:
Tonsom: “Alright, race is on! Here we go!”
Redwood: “Finally, time for my engineering to shine!”
Connor immediately gets into the car, occupying the rear-left seat. Tonsom follows, but on the co-driver seat. Redwood closes up the trunk and also gets into the Mimas as the driver. He starts the engine (firing it up would be severly overstated), puts into first, flicks the lever to lock the diff and heads off into the woods.
The first few minutes were rather uneventful, until they got to a river, with a Tobotar Outlander 4x4 stuck in it. Two people are standing in the river, knee-deep, furious about being out already.
Tonsom rolls down the window:
Tonsom: [shouting] “HEY! You stuck? Need a ride?”
Connor: “The car belongs to the team named Old But Gold, the members are named Richard Smith and Susan Miller.”
Smith: “STAY AWAY! I need time for myself…”
Miller: [comforting voice] “Come on… they are trying to help…”
Smith: “NO WAY! Either i get ther in MY car or i am gonna die here…”
Miller: “Look… they seem to be friendlies. They are trying to help us even though their race result will be blown by this…”
Smith: “Ah fuck it… at least i can keep my money.”
Redwood: “You can enter once we are through the river. Okay?”
Miller: “Nice of you guys.”
The car drives through the river without much of a problem. Connors preconstruction software really helped find the right path in this case and provided Redwood with crystal-clear instruction on where to drive.
On the other side, the group of four helped load Team Old But Gold get their stuff onto the until then empty roofrack of the Mimas. They decided that Connor was of little help for reloading their belongings. Sadly, their tools and everything else in the trunk sank together with the car.
Smith and Miller enter the Mimas with Susan in the rear-middle seat and Richard sitting in the rear-right seat.The other three enter in their positions as before.
The rest of the trip to the camp-site remained rather uneventful, with Redwood mostly using pre-plowed paths of bigger, faster competitors.
August 25th 2018; 21:24; evening
Redwood: “Well… seems like we´re there.”
Tonsom: [] “Finally… i wanna sleep…”
The three members and two guest occupants exit the car and start setting up their tents.
Building up a tent was not much of an issue for Susan and Richard, although it´s size (they have seperate tents) made it take longer than most others. Tonsom has serious problems getting his tent assembled, while Redwood took it a sptep further and sets camp in 14 seconds, because he has one of those throw-and-it-opens-into-a-tent-tent things. After that, he helps Tonsom, unsuccessfully, leading to Tonsom having to sleep in the car this time. Connor, not owning a tent in the first place has to stay in the car as well.
While Miller, Smith and Redwood are making themselves at home in their tents, there is a bot of talking in the Mimas…
Tonsom: “Well… my tent is apparently broken. So i have to stay with you the night…”
Tonsom folds the driver seat full flat, now lying down in the car.
Connor: “Your tent is in perfect condition and nothing is missing, Captain.”
Tonsom: “Your ice is getting thin already, and we are fourty minutes in… you want to make it even thinner?”
Connor: [obviously not getting it] “Which sheet of ice are you talking about?”
Tonsom: “Fuck… you are dumber than expected… Anyway… got some topics to talk about?”
Connor: “Yes.”
Tonsom: “Blast ahead.”
Connor: “Can i have my coin back?”
Tonsom: “Why the fuck do you want the coin now??”
Connor: “Remember our visit at Millers Cars and Vans?”
Tonsom: [to himself] “Oh my god not that thing…”
Connor: “Your attack loosened a Thirium hose connection, leading to severe loss of Thirium. The loss resulted in me having to use passive-mode in order to prevent any additional damage. That is why i should have collapsed onto the floor.”
Tonsom: “Oh… Did not think of you being… able to be ingured?”
Connor: “Being damaged. The connection was re-established around 4 minutes later and a supply of Thirium allowed me to return to normal operation.”
Tonsom: “That must´ve been when you woke up?”
Connor: “Correct. The loss of connection meant loss of calibration for the right arm component.”
Tonsom: “Now what?”
Connor: “I need this coin to recalibrate the movements involving the right arm.”
Tonsom: “Soo… you are gonna play with your coin for an eternity?”
Connor: “If you want to call it playing, yes, but not for an eternity.”
Tonsom: “Maybe tomorrow… i need some rest…”
Tonsom rolls around a bit, trying to find a sensible sleeping position. Connor just sits there, staring straight ahead, waiting for any further instructions.
OOC stuff:
Note 1: picking up Old But Gold was agreed on voa Discord DM
Note 2: @Mr.Computah i may accept a minor time penalty at the next morning to compensate for the time spent loading their stuff onto the Mimas
Note 3: Any character in my Team (members of Old But Gold included) will be called by their last name in my posts (Connor does not have a last name)
Note 4: same applies for any other character, if a last name is available
Note 5: since Connor’s cover went down the drain in the Discord, i saw no reason to continue hiding his identity