[center][h1][b]Saturday 15th June, 2094
Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England
1400 GMT
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[color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Running in the Shadows[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color]

Sitting in the commentary booth, the Zygon ship was visible blasting by the camera, painted in its classic pearl blue and red snaked through Becketts, its iconic whine piercing down the Hangar Straight. Silverstone was still sold out, given the support and Historic series were on here. For the ticket, you got a hell of a lot of entertainment, and compared to yesterday, the clouds had come in. The glorious sunshine had gone, and was replaced by an overcast, bland sky that covered the circuit yet held back from rain. Such was the UK- glorious at one point, awful in the next.

"Yes, Rosie, we're watching an incredible lap from Cassie Neves. She seems to be struggling generally, but back at home, the fans are going crazy here. Her second home, perhaps....but she's got spades out of that ship again.

"Well, she's definitely chasing results, and Nora Kelly has set a new fastest lap in her last delta, where is this coming from? You'd think she's always had two artificial limbs...."

The commentary continued, yet inevitably, Amy put it on pole. While the other teams were pressing up against her, she was resilient even so. She didn't need a team-mate, she just needed a calm run and she put it where it had to be.

The grid seemed incredibly difficult to split- Southern Cross, Al-Saqr, Zygon in particular looked almost in parity. Silver Apex, or rather, Amy, was the cut of the field. At home, she was clearly lapping this up. But then again, Nora was right behind her with a point to prove. As if she was there to set fire to her, and with Kais behind her, he had Cassie to worry about in his rear view.

Layla's neural mods pushed her past Han, who was then followed by Paul's silky handling with a regular chassis returned to after Monaco, and Beatrix had managed to overperform the ship once again, making advantage of a poor lap from Harrison, and a decent lap from Dorian.

The one thing that could be said was that given how tight the ships were on circuit on the timesheets, and how good the overtaking opportunities were, nothing could be certain. Ships had strengths and weaknesses, but it all came down to tomorrow, and it all came down to what they would do. Compared to Auckland, it felt like the ships had taken on paths, design directions and had a character to them. 

Al-Saqr's ship was as fast as Southern Cross's, but without that handling, felt more like a missile that required a cutting edge mind to even pilot, one that Layla was now relishing and in sync with, feeling like it was an extension of her body in. 

The Southern Cross ship capitalised on historic successes, with added handling and energy systems making it feel incredible on a sown lap, but less consistent, like Harrison had found. 

Valkyrie's ship, while handling sublime and leeching power incredibly efficiently lacked the speed that now Zygon had found, with a ship that seemed terrifyingly fast, and with little serious weak points outside a poor ELS that Cassie couldn't use to put the ship even higher in the grid. 

Carrera's ship, while incredibly fast, good in energy systems and on corners still lacked any semblance of stability, and seemed to drift more than it did hold tight in the slower corners, perhaps benefiting Bea but punishing Ava's slow and steady approach more and more. Even others, like Nordic Call had capitalised on an all-arounder that underdelivered in speed, while MMR and SuperCat were starting to chase too, in their own right.

After Monaco, this was not one to be missed because there was plenty at stake. Qualifying was a suggestion for a race that was no doubt, going to be an epic. Rivals known, and perhaps, unknown to the public, on a circuit going toe to toe. Al-Saqr chasing a struggling Silver Apex, Zygon hunting both, and Carrera wanting to break away from MMR and Nordic Call. This felt like despite all the drama at the start of the year, a point where it was all coming down to the long-term decisions playing themselves out.

[hr]

[color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Peer to Peer[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color]

Inside the Delta Hyper trailer, rather than talk through qualifying, which was already hot enough a topic, each pilot sat down, individually coming in with the edit cutting between each of them, naturally anticipating probably some hot question on their performance, relations, opinions, maybe even the history. Aurora stayed quiet, an envelope coming across the desk in front of the sofa.

"So, we have a bit of a change of plan again. Because today on Delta Hyper, after we've gotten to know you, your thoughts on your team-mate, and now....maybe we put you in the hot seat. Would you like to open the envelope, please?" Aurora asked, and with it, the pilots read the text out on the old-school cool that was the paper.

[b]*Ask a question to one of the other pilots.*[/b]

They no doubt, would be a bit confused, and Aurora clarified it.

"So, does that make sense? If you had to ask something, take a look to our audience and tell them, if you could, what's your question to the name on your list? And....we won't tell them, not yet." The camera cut between each pilot in specific reference.

[b]"Kais, you have a question to ask Bea."

"Bea, what's your question for Paul?"

"Paul, what's your question for Kais?" [/b]

[hr]

Astrid chuckled, shrugging her shoulders.
"I'd say that person knows I would struggle to pick. But probably AG racing, definitely. I love it so much."

Harrison, on the other hand.
"Snakes are worse than sharks. Definitely. Shit, I know who asked that one.... I mean sharks got a really bad rep, you know, lot of restoration work there at Muller Cay...."

Max folded his arms, shaking his head, chuckling.
"I mean, I know who that is. I still haven't decided, I was thinking of saving it for a podium...maybe I should put it to an online poll?" 

Amy thought about who had asked it, and really drew a blank.
"I guess that if I had to choose....yeah I'd still pick the same car after that intro. Can't fault it. No way I'm picking anything else." 

Jenny looked like she had a bit more to contemplate too, thinking through who this may have come from.
"Hmm, I would say the hardest bit is overcoming the fear when you start out. It's so fast, so violent, so crazy. And I mean, I had a rough season to start with. So that's the biggest challenge, trusting your neural mods, which means totally trusting yourself. And embracing who you are comes with it. So yeah, being yourself. Weirdly that is the hardest bit."

Dorian sighed, thinking things over. It was easy to answer, at first at least he thought that.
"I think....best race? Crap, well, the last one was pretty good....hah, but the last few Formula One races. Those were something else. Truly terrifying machines, it felt like they were so unsafe..."

Ava leaned back in the chair, scratching her face, in a certain thought.
"Damn, you got me there! Fighter jets are scary, but AG ships are just something else. Feels like taking an aircraft through a canyon run, even with the controls....yeah it is serious. As I found out. And I mean, risk comes in one way but....we forget it happens here too." 

Layla followed suit, answering right in sequence.
"I would probably say the biggest thing I've learned about new limbs, new attachments, is that it's an experiment. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but, it always comes through in the end. And trying new things is like trying new food. Sometimes it isn't a fit, but sometimes, you can't live without it." 

At the end, Kofi smirked.
"Well, of all the big cats, lions definitely are the coolest that I work with. And as for Astrid, I would ask her...."

[hider=Qualifying Results for Silverstone:]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qF6cn-eA0G0sumgf79TvEnPjOHyQP-vZSFV6LNrn_OY/edit?usp=sharing

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