Torrencial

It started raining right at the end of the Junior AG race, in which Elise took first, and then, it felt like it didn't stop.

In rain like this, someone would have expected MMR, NOVA, or even SuperCat to make a stab at points. Astrid was the only one that actually had a competitive time.

Yet the rest of the top ten so far, were all from top teams. Harrison had a bad setup, yet again, and Paul hadn't done as well, given the handling debuff. Bea seemed to be the marker of pace, just clear of Cassie Neves, who was barely thousands of a second behind.

Nobody was letting up. Nobody was blinking. And in the rain, it left Amy Stirling, third from last to go. The last upset in the top ten.

Soundtrack: Noisia & Amon Tobin- Sunhammer (VIP)

Steadied on the end of the outlap, the spray from the outgoing Beatrix Ward had began to dissipate, but the rain hadn't died down.

"Okay, Amy, let's crank up the power. All sensors good. You like this track, don't you?"

Amy's lips turned to smirk.

"Yeah, I enjoy this one."

And out of Juncao, the ship agreed.

On board with Amy, the ship twitched through the first Senna "S" chicane, flickering left then right, the Curva do Sol replaced with a hard right turn with a MAG-tracked element that was all straight, and climbed steep, above the relatively upmarket suburb of Interlagos, the circuit flanked by a strong array of field generators given the infrastructure was at least six storeys above ground, over traditional clay roofs and brick and polymer buildings, the beam of Sao Paolo's skyline behind, illuminated in spite of the pouring, black-cloud monsoon rain. The track went all the way down Avenue Rubens Montano south-east as a long, straight-line ripe for ELS, turning left at the rail intersection with a long sweeping bend (a corner nicknamed "Borba"), following the Maglev trainline's former path as another long straight, before snaking left again at "Station" corner into another elevated section over the favela, an Esses-like section called "Dialma" putting the track at camber, left, right and back down, flying straight into the old Turn 4, Descida de Lago, turning it into a chicane rather than a long left-hand turn. The new addition had garnered controversy, but done right, it felt perfect for AG ships- the meeting of old circuit, with cutting edge, new, forcing a mid-track change in style to make the most out of the glue-like magnetism, especially given the rest of the circuit, unlike Argentina, was completely devoid of any MAG strips, not even banking to reduce corner speeds. It was still used as a conventional car-racing circuit, so the tarmac remained, and track limits were enforced, despite how tight the circuit was by modern standards.

As the windscreen pulsed, Amy kept it locked, purple flickering as the ELS whined, the LIDAR and sensor suite feeling honed in, tuned, perfect. In monsoon conditions, she felt at one, the ship still as glued, close in to her. Qualy was one half of the fight. She was very good at this. But the race was another.

Best way to do that was to set a gauntlet. And she barely seemed phased by the sheer volume of water and blindness, Ferradura creating a beautiful right hander uphill, before the chicane at Pinheirinho, Bico de Pato's sharp hairpin that required her to get turn in and almost drift the ship in this configuration, the lack of MAG tracking, banks or anything meaning that ships were actually forced to get slow. Not before Mergulho, which was basically a flat corner for ships with good enough stability, and fnially, Juncao, which made, or broke a lap. Amy kept it as far as she could on the outside, millimetres from being offtrack, before, as early as she could, peeling the ship tight in and slapping on throttle, nearly screaming as the ship came around out of the left hander and up the hill, pointed straight, the rain clattering the canopy hard directly into the LED floodlighting.

Delta was healthy to Bea. And she smashed her time, by two-hundredths of a second. As if to make a statement, to remind, she still had control here. It would be down to thousandths now for the top runners, but Amy, well, she still had that trick up her sleeve. And in the rain, her experience, and outright talent shone to trust a ship that was half her now.

"Incredible lap, that is P1, Amy, P1, bring it on home, it is chucking cats and dogs out there but you made that look effortless!" Amy heard from Keira, as she exhaled hard, the oxygen cycling through her lungs hard, as she smirked, keeping a relatively hot outlap going, thinking to herself about it all.

Was the risk worth it still? It felt like everyone was charging, were they on what she had? Or was the machine breaking down? She couldn't tell. Amy didn't want to rely on it. She just wanted to stomp, and let others talk. Bea was no doubt going to find that time intimidating, but you didn't win two championships without playing the psychology game. Pushing harder than she should have through Juncao maybe wasn't the smartest move, but tomorrow, she had a feeling she'd need to get a reset if she wanted to make sure Nora couldn't catch her in the points, and Southern Cross could be chased in the constructors.

---

Delta Hyper Interviews

Under a hexagonal, field-generator like parasol that let rain drip off the surface, the rainy, floodlit afternoon in Brazil had the teams all getting interviewed once more, everyone wearing high-tech raincoats.

"Bea, 2nd place. How are you feeling, sandwiched between a Cassie Neves that is hunting Valkyrie in the points, and an Amy Stirling, who is going to fight hard to keep first? It seems like she set that lap as a marker, how do you think you'll respond tomorrow?"

"Kais, an impressive qualifying from you, absolutely fearless! The points gap to Valkyrie still remains narrow, so do you think you'll be able to make the most of it tomorrow, in what look like mixed conditions?"

"Paul, we know you had issues in transit and some are saying your handling setups were affected by the riots in Buenos Aires. What is your plan for this weekend, it seems like you're positioned well to fight with the other big teams tomorrow, and grab some valuable points against Al-Saqr?"

---

The platinum blonde haired, pole sitter had a shit-eating grin on her face, the question coming through about her obvious competition tomorrow.

"Yeah, well Bea is impressive, so I had to put a gauntlet down. I felt comfortable pushing the ship, and yeah, I know she's capable, she'll want to bounce back from her nasty crash last week. But same time, I've got plenty to keep me focussed. The fight at the top is picking up, but I back myself, like with Harrison last year!" Amy replied, the raincoat day-glo silver, as another reporter tried to get her, but she made her way out, clacking on racing legs rather than her usual given the pace of the interviews..

"Well, there's lots of rumours, but my goal is to keep scoring as many points for Zygon this year and next, as that's where my contract is. 3rd is super great for us, and we're putting on the pressure onto Valkyrie. We want to get them this year." Cassie put matter-of-factly, cutting seamlessly to her old rival, Dorian.

"Not amazing, poor run in Sector 2, the handling setup we thought we would have just isn't there after damage to our fabricators. We'll have to make do with what we have, and I was well below what I expected today. Just couldn't make it work, but Paul has set up well for tomorrow." His comments were dry, less than he would expect of himself, but then again, a bad setup, was a bad setup.

"Lots in it, we're right behind Paul and Kais, and they're both going to give me a good fight. Gotta keep the pressure on Amy, so I will be giving it everything tomorrow." Nora smiled, the smirk from the Aussie in her usual black (faux) leather jacket hiding a certain element of fear in chasing down the indomitable Stirling at the top of the timeboard.

"Well, the top teams are so far away, it feels impossible in this close of the season! But, we'll do what we can. We're pulling through, me and Ben are learning lots more about the ship, and setting the groundwork for next year. But yeah, let's see, a cheeky point would be great!" Florence replied, a usual grin, as she was ushered away, under the arm of a green and yellow jacketed engineer, the teal blue and orange suited pilot of Max Wedgewood coming in next.

"Yeah, kinda what Florence said! The top teams are there for a reason, and at Sao Paolo, a bit like Auckland, the absolute best ships are getting shown. It's a shame to be leaving MMR but I'll put all on the line tomorrow, and we'll do what we can." Max added, chirpy as ever, even if he got a massive load of rain as he walked out of the bubbled up area.

"It feels good, very good! The ship is connecting, yalla, I hate rain but it felt so nice to put the speed we have down. This circuit is amazing!" Hamid excitedly chirped, Aurora replying with a grin of her own behind the camera, cutting to an actually not frowning Astrid.

"9th is good. We want points. Try and keep up with MMR. But uhhh.....we shall see. I like rain and mixed conditions. And the ship is good, soo.....yes." Astrid made more than just a handful of words, and well, it showed in her actually breaking out....a grin at the end. Fuck.

Kofi was less happy.
"Not that great. Bad setup, the ship was so slippery in Sector 1, just couldn't make it work. C'est la vie." He shrugged, moving out of frame, as quickly as he had come in.

Mon 04/10 10:37 PAUL [Batt: 91%]

> Hey Bea! Not gonna ask what happened. Just gonna say I am here for you and I am glad you are alright. I hope things get better.
> Appreciate it.
> What’s that I heard about equipment damaged in transit and why do I feel a bit responsible? 😛

---

The ‘Evangeline’ chassis was back in use after Ava executed the one bearing Frederick’s name, HUD set to keep the floor of her ship and her legs transparent and projecting the outline of the ship on the ground so she could keep an eye out on track limits in the latter sectors more easily, FA rules disagreeing with the rally brain that demanded corner cutting whenever possible. She made good time, the ship slicing through the pouring rain to put her on provisional pole position, where she stayed until Amy happened.
”Where the bloody hell did she find that?”
”Like Thanos, she’s inevitable.”
”Two hundredths, fuck me…”
”Almost a minute over the race duration, but she doesn’t have you behind her in qualifying. You said it, she’s mortal this year. She’ll blink. We just need to be patient, no rash moves.”
”Rash moves? Me? Neveeeeer.”

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode 15: The Art of Racing

---

”Bea, 2nd place. How are you feeling, sandwiched between a Cassie Neves that is hunting Valkyrie in the points, and an Amy Stirling, who is going to fight hard to keep first? It seems like she set that lap as a marker, how do you think you'll respond tomorrow?”

”I like how you put articles in front of their names like they’re not even people but obstacles to deal with. Amy I’ve fought already, easy,” Bea snickered, ”It’s Cassie who’s the variable here. But this circuit handles very similarly to Silverstone, so we like our chances tomorrow. Amy’s getting put in a pressure cooker tomorrow, and the only thing that can save her is giving up or the checkered flag.” She grinned, contrary to what was discussed with Alistair.

---

Xinny: At this point go with stars like PS fighters were named after because at this point that’s what you’re racing.
Zero: Or elements, after Pridwen tractors.
MadBea: I’ll do that next year if the ship is garbage.
Shel1: Name the next one ‘extended warranty’ and see if it survives longer.
CrossfitCrusader: ‘Untitled,’ ‘TBD.’
Mate0: Just number them at this rate.
_PsychoFish_: Mythological figures? Just skip ‘Icarus.’
TruckerTime: First ‘Akela,’ now ‘Frederick.’ Name the next one ‘Inheritance’
MadBea: That is awful. 😀
GalwayGirl: And you still laughed. What about naming one after your grandma? Or someone who inspired you to race? (Also please stop crashing them, we’re emotionally invested now)
MadBea: 'Walter,' 'Colin...' that could work. (Also, I'm not doing it on purpose! 😀)
AndesAG: It does not escape my spying eye that one CC ship is not where the other one is.
Briat77: if you say it enough times, you’ll believe it yourself.
HotStuff: Carrera Condor. Fired. The wrong. Pilot.
MadBea: Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves there.

---

Interlude.
Bellatrix Olmypus. Nordic.
Junior AG to Current.

A introduction and a start to great adventures.

....

Lunar. Junior AG. Crash.

“And Valle of Condor racing has a line, right past Oakley of the Southern Cross team.” Came the voice of the announcer out to thousands of excited fans on the Lunar Junior AG track stands. It was packed out, sun was out though 1 ship had dropped out due to a mechanical failure. “Wait, we're seeing live on Bull corner, yes.. that's Hunter, yes.. , he …oh… last year's runner up Olympus of Blue Sheep is right into the concrete, safety ship is out. Flags up. Hunter is in the race, but that might be a disqualification.”

…

“Medical and crash teams on scene for the last few minutes. Early Reports from the team, alive, just unconscious. I'd be careful Hunter, her fans and crew seem to love her and they look angry.”

Bellatix woke up on a rapid air ambulance shuttle after not remembering much at all of the crash, racing, Hunter was close and nothing else. The dull hum of thrusters was clear and felt like after her first real life simulation sessions on the ship, bruised, battered and barely able to lift her head due to the ache.

One of the team was riding with her. It seemed as if someone was holding her hand and fell back into oblivion.

Belgium. Junior AG. Lap 45/53

“This is Trixie, I've got a flux issue. Sending now.” She said on team radio as the ships control panels became a scary set of markers, and warnings. It gave her flashbacks to the crash back in Lunar. She brutally suppressed and forced herself to pull the car back onto line, the force of the grav motors misalignment sent hats wobbling in stands when she veered inches from the barrier walls riding the edge of the aggressive track.

“Copy. Orders. Defend. Hold. No push. 3rd gets us on the top” Came the team radio clipped tons and Bellatix tone became a little dejected but she understood, she wanted to reclaim this season but … it was not happening.

"Copy. Defend 3rd.” She said as G force hit her hard doing a rapid brake, turn and a 90 degree rotation to blast down the apex on the sharpest bend to keep the pursuing ship boxed out of a run.

“Enginerring. Say max 90. Power back to 90%. Should make the finish line. Over and out.” The voice said and Bellerix locked in to a tough high G defensive flight. She just tapped Received. Confirmed. on her wheel and did not reply.

Junior AG. Belgium. Post Race.

The area was busy, hot sun beat down on a hot summer afternoon and the radio and holo pundits etc. were doing all their various post race coverage, highlights and parties…so many parties. One replayed an earlier coverage by Sky racing. “In Belgium, Hausman took top, new driver Thovex took a very popular second with Olympus back from a 4 race medical suspension took 3rd. Hunter, on his second race back after a suspension, came in 9th, having been held up by Zygons Lau for much of the first 3rd…. Lister came in at a notable 5th.”

“Hey, wait up” Bellatrix looked round, she was headed back to the teams pit box after a session with her fans and carrying a mostly empty bottle of champagne. She had managed to come 3rd in the race. On the last few laps her left side power to AG unit linkage had a flux issue and she had to back off, nurse the car and mount a technical defense. The final run down she planned having worn the top pack down over the last 10 laps had been for nothing and she was frustrated as her team were saying she could have taken 2nd in a lap or two.

It was her pit crew manager, clad in orange overall as he came over at a light jog, but easily caught her up having a vastly longer stride than the suited up driver. “Great race, really. You kept 'em off, and kept the podium, constructors love that. We got your ship in the shop already.”

“I still wanted the race, I got as close as possible to the championship last year, I got crashed, then my car got a flux error, you know.” She said as she walked and he slowed down to match her stride as they walked back, the much taller man next to the red headed female driver, the advanced suit hid all the augments and technological elements from view.

“Next time, the big scouts were watching Bella, you made the right call. Trust me.” The older pit manager said they were pretty informal but pilot's and pit crews had to work closely together. She was posh, blimey her name was longer than one line on any system, they only put Olympus on her ship but she had a way with people. “Probbly those new grav linkages, always thought they cut back too much on shielding, weight my ass.”

“Don't let the rep hear you.” She chuckled but also did not want him to get in trouble, she could not do this alone, she was a pilot but far from the only part on the machine. Easy, confident, and even despite being in Belgium her fans had still turned up and she had spent about 40 minutes with them after the podium talking, signing, taking photos and glad when she remembered a few from other races making sure to ask how they were and such.

Round her suit's wrist was a few hand made charm bracelets given to Bellatix. Those would go into her holo streaming background at home. Gifts were not meant to be thrown away, even if one could not properly spell her name yet.

…

Sol City Corona Chronicle.

Junior AG championship heating up
The Junior AG championship is coming to a tense and exciting conclusion. Injured Pilot returns from suspension.

The race winner pilot Hausman however could not beat the advantage in points of his rivals. Lau came in 3rd ahead of Olympus who despite losing 4 races to injury finished 4th and with average lap times to have challenged for second.

The top 5 championship sits at and likely to change as things remain tight. Current as of publication.

Valle. Condor.
Lister. Miller.
Lau. Zygon
Olympus. Blue Sheep. (Notes. 4 RACE MEDICAL SUSPENSION)
Hausman. Valk AGR.

The returned Pilot Olympus made one hell of a comeback this race, her pass of Hunter was plain cold as vacuum but safe and one hell of a message. She is back. She means business.

Scouts were present and we saw multiple known team scouts out today. Who knows, we might be seeing some pilots coming up to the top tier. Several drivers have shown less than ideal runs this year.

Obiwan barbobi.
AG racing correspondent.
Sol City Corona Chronicle.

…

Wales. Between races.

October in Wales was wet and misty as expected on a cool morning. Bellatrix recalled her holiday and was still getting weird messages about the beach selfie, laying in the sand with an ice cold fruity drink and getting some sun on her skin.

Still worth it as she had taken a week and gone to a resort in Egypt near Cairo, explored the museum, visited the pyramids and done what she did not have time for when races ran back to back there. Aka. Relax. Unwind and get multiple massages! It had been a tough season so far and while claiming 4th with 4 races missed and 1 penalty thanks to a pit lane speed error she had pulled 4th in the championship so far. Even then her muscles, back and body felt the tension, arguments, glaring fans of her rivals and stress accumulated melt away during that holiday.

The walk down from the castle wrapped tight in a warm dark blue coat, galaxy pattern winter leggings and a pair of her old comfy boots she made way down to the forest spot by a small lake, pond ish…thing that had naturally formed. It had a bench and it was quiet as she set up a camera for a short live stream.

with a pause, a smile and flash in her gold eyes as she saw the light go green, much as people had asked… She however kept her natural vibrant red hair. “Morning to my lovely Atalanta family. We are back in Wales today and I've decided to take us on a little walk outside. Now what we all been waiting for, Sapling news! We have been sent updates from our future racers, be they carts, cars, ships, hover bikes and more! First up is one from a stream regular Hydro Hydra and his rather stormy race off the isle of White!” Reaching over as a small mechadrite of powered slender metal slid off camera and out back of the red headed woman's coat to press play on a small portable holo emitter next to her.

These small streams were to give back to her fans, they took time but she had time right now and liked to do stuff to give back on her off season and quiet times. And those Saplings would grow into trees hopefully one day.

…

“Miss Olympus Ronus Draken is currently engaging with her fans, she will be back in an hour or so. She likes to take a walk in the grounds afterwards.” The Nordic executive assistant could understand someone similar but utterly unbending yet remaining totally polite and without even raising 1 octave dismissed any argument. Typical old families! But she had to admire the game. “Of course, thank you.“

…

“Miss Olympus, a call for you. From Nordic racing.” Their Butler who followed the old traditions, classic dark suit regardless of the current year came into the smaller and more comfortable drawing room bearing a tray with a silver tea pot, a holo phone, plus her favourite small mints. This man knew her well though acting old fashioned, she knew he was their household manager, had advanced neural and other uplinks alongside being quite the gamer. When the older man allowed himself.

“Thank you Arthur, you go rest, I know this weather messes with your knee.” She said kindly, he always insisted and they had offered to help pay for any augmenting needed but he carried on, old knee or no. He was an odd but loyal man to their family.

“You always have been kind Miss Bellatrix, Mister and Mrs Olympus not be back till later afternoon and your Brother is away in Scotland for the week.” He said giving her his normal update on everyone's schedules. The man was a waking life saver. He let a glimmer that he was more than staff to them after over 20 years of service. He was family and treated as such.

Setting the holo camera up and angling it, first she poured a cup from the silver pot, the weight and heat was not a problem for her augmented arm and found he had swapped the traditional China for her favourite yellow lego mug with its smiley face. He knew her too well. “Good Morning Nordic, how can I help you?” The image showed or was working. A holo image was sent to Nordic as she waited sipping tea and putting sugar into her tea, it was not sweet enough.

“Finally, your…man said you were busy earlier, I'll keep it short as we need to get to track soon.. We want to invite you up, meet the team, Astrid, our pit crews and our engineers. We want to offer you a pilot's seat. Frankly Bjorn has fallen off this season, so you take his seat, you're on for the rest of the season. We do not expect you to win anything yet, but place solidly and race well. We will take you on next year. We already cleared the offer with Blue sheep before you ask.” He finished and their team's talent manager said as he had reviewed the prospects, they had some drivers in training and reserves but none offered what he wanted. He needed to shake up their mix as Nordics blend was stale right now, cars not where they would like and points where off target. It was only a few races if it did not work out.

Bellatrix was shocked for a second as she nearly let her tea slip before placing it back on the silver tray. “Yes.” She did not even need to think about the offer, the chance to go up and get out of Junior. It was a big risk and yeah, she would be moving teams, Nordic was not the best but when or ever would she get offered a Pilots seat again? You never turned down an opportunity like this especially as her current contract was up for renewal.

“Yes. I will join you up North, pack for the cold and bring a good coat. Send me the details over, I'll get Arthur to book me the flights over. We can work things out once we are in person.” She said with good cheer as she ran through the mental maths. Top level racers often had more extreme augments and changes but Bellatrix liked the challenge, the pain and the aches. It meant you were alive and without that feedback fueling her competitive edge. It felt like you were just … . Not racing. Racing was more primal, much more than mere speed but everything combined and split second actions decided everything.

That was her style of racing as a pilot.

“Excellent, that was easy. We can discuss exact details after you meet the team, the ship, get you on our simulations, see how you feel and fit in. Dress warm Miss Bellatrix.” He said, this was only the first stage though and much more in depth stuff would be going on in the background. Arthur…. Oh. Must be the man in suit he spoke to. Bloody upper class and their weird habits. He was a war orphan made good, not that he disliked her for being born how she was… just odd to see people having people who ran their lives for them.

…

She refused to call him over straightaway and let the man rest as she looked out, slowly pouring a new cup. Bellatrix was off to the far snowy north… and somehow was potentially a top level driver!

…

A very cold afternoon in the North.

It was cold, bitterly cold as the red headed driver walked over to the car bearing her name on a sign like the old fashioned method used for centuries. She was dressed warmly and thanks to a fan vote and one a little embarrassingly her thick insulated coat was pale pink with little bear ears on the hood and she had matching colour gloves with a white scarf tightly bundled about her neck to preserve the heat she had.

Well it felt bitterly cold to her anyway after a late season of mostly hot races anyway. Even Wales in winter was warmer. The car was hot and Bellatrix tapped twice to confirm she was ready to leave on the car's arm rest. The car pulled away quietly with barely a feeling…Nordic hired a good driver…

There were very few downsides to this bar, the cold and Bellatrix now had an ex. They had been quietly dating and kept it low key as the person was a lot more shy. In hindsight it never would have lasted her being her , racing was what she did, she was growing more famous etc. It came to a head with her taking the new season at Delta hyper. Words were said. Things ended. They just were going in different directions. Things were on a down turn after her crash, this was just the final blow. Thankfully they decided to keep her plans and such private, they were different. Not an enemy.

The holding hands image with matching event pass bracelets had been a fun one to cause social media tempest, but all good things can end.

Passing though through the airport had justified that, drivers images, numbers and posters up! Names she watched and just maybe she might join them! It had been a humbling experience when she returned to the last season. A 2 on her car and promotional posters bearing her image and a photo shopped Greek temple with a union jack “2nd place. Olympus. 2093.” She felt humbled more than anything, especially as she was a smaller fish in a very big pond now.

The media had caught onto her trip but not all had yet worked out the reason. Reasons and rumour but no open statements yet. It was fun making them work for their money.

Fresh start. Fresh team.

That was good.

Soundtrack:I Won’t Back Down - Fearless Soul

---

---

Paul began his qualifying run. He had a good start even with the heavy rain. Paul’s synchronization with the ship was better than ever. He continued to get faster and smoother as the new Shinichi Bionics neural implant worked with the new nanite infused neural network. The rain didn’t hamper his vision at all as he used the cameras and lidar and radar systems in the ship to help him navigate. It was as if the sensors in the ship were an extension of his body. He could feel the hull temperature and the water sliding off the canopy. The sensation made his frustration with the damage to the handling all the more sharp. His ship had taken damage from the rough trek to the airport in Buenos Aires. There was a slight shimmy and shudder as he slowed to the first Senna S curve. Paul had been working to adjust as the team did their best to find the issues and replace parts and adjust them back to where they were. It was simply impossible with the timeframe and missing parts. If they had the time and were at headquarters they would be able to repair the damage. With less than a week in the field, he knew his mechanics and engineers had worked miracles to get his ship back in the fight. Paul gritted his teeth and once more tried to keep an optimal racing line. Paul’s racing style had become a smooth and silky flow of movements which were now somewhat jerky and stuttered in places as the ship didn’t respond as it usually would to his input.

The ship had taken damage when it had been shot at. They had managed to repair a lot of the damage but there was not enough time to recalibrate it back and there were still a few damaged parts. The mechanics had managed to repair the parts enough to function but they were still not up to the stresses and demands a race put them under.

Paul’s ship was screaming down the straight, throwing up water as the ship passed. Unseen to outside eyes it shimmied slightly and fought him. The ship wanted to veer slightly to the left. Paul had to keep constant pressure to keep the ship on course. He was fighting the ship for every inch. Instead of smooth in and fast out his turns were harder and more sharp. He was losing some of the speed he had managed to find in the corners. He let out a sigh of relief as the ship finally crossed the finish line. Paul was grateful to get P5 behind Kais. At least he managed to operate well enough to race. He wouldn’t like having to give up all points.

Paul pulled his ship back into the paddock. He was helped out of the ship by some of his teammates and Carmella was there waiting for him.

Paul: “The ship is still fighting me. It has a slight shimmy as I get it up to speed. It is pulling to the left slightly on the straights. The handling is still not as responsive as before. I am not sure if there is anything that can be done before the actual race. But that is what I am struggling with.”

Carmella looked concerned as she nodded like she had been expecting it. “The ship took damage to the antigravity skirting where some of the handling components and stabilizer mechanisms are located. Some of those parts simply can’t be replaced here in the field. We can get it fixed once we get it back to the factory. I will run it past the mechanics and other engineers to see if anyone has any ideas left.”

Paul nodded and walked off. He hoped they would find some minor repairs but was resigned to working with the ship he had. Maybe they could set up the simulator so he could practice with the current issues he was experiencing. Maybe it would help him find ways to anticipate what the ship would do.

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Paul was wearing a bright golden yellow raincoat with gray trim with the Valkyrie logo on the back. He was standing under the gravity generator parasol as the rain came down repelled by the gravity screen. He looked out at the sky which was pouring rain with light peaking through the clouds in places. He sighed and thought the weather matched his mood.

Aurora: "Paul, we know you had issues in transit and some are saying your handling setups were affected by the riots in Buenos Aires. What is your plan for this weekend, it seems like you're positioned well to fight with the other big teams tomorrow, and grab some valuable points against Al-Saqr?"

Paul: “The mechanics and engineers have been working around the clock to fix the damage done to our ships by rioters in Argentina on the way to the airport. I am grateful they managed to get the ships operational. Handling is still not back to where it was but it was enough for me to be competitive.” Paul stopped to give a confident smile. “All I can do is my best. Hopefully it is enough to challenge Kais for position in front of me while defending against Nora who is behind me. It should prove to be an exciting race.”

Monday 04/10 10:38 - Paul Mulder - [Batt: 49%]

Bea> What’s that I heard about equipment damaged in transit and why do I feel a bit responsible? 😛

Paul> Yes our ships were damaged when the equipment convoy was attacked by rioters on the way to the airport when we were pulling out of Argentina. The team’s mechanics and engineers are working on it. Hopefully they will manage to repair it before the qualifying race. Four of our guards were injured as well. You shouldn’t feel guilty. You didn’t go out and tell your fans to riot and attack us.

---

HydrofoilHater WOW the Argentina Fans sure gave him a good excuse for a poor performance in Brazil.
ThrusterJester: Remind to avoid any races in Argentina in the future.
QuantumQuokka:Sounds like all the action happened after the race in Buenos Aires.
Bertha:Mulder is good at making excuses.
ValkyrieFan56:Someone should be held responsible for the damage and the setbacks that the team are facing due to this.
Nana2050:Outrageous! What is FIAR doing about this?
MulderMuse:At least Paul was not hurt by the rioting fans.
Paulmulder4eva:@MulderMuse I agree with you. Grateful Paul was not injured.
RumorMill:I heard that the ships’ handling was impacted by the damage.
DantheMan: Wow! I am glad I didn’t travel to Argentina for the race.
LegacyStan94:I hope the mechanics and engineers can fix the damage before the race.

Soundtrack: Sub Focus- Elevate

The rain hammered.

Despite the ridiculously powerful quantum computers that could calculate every close to every inch on every square kilometre of rainfall patterns, the strength of this was something else. Geoengineering had a habit of sometimes producing something way more potent than expected, and well, in the last hour, this had gone from a drizzle to a full blown thunderstorm that would cut about halfway through the race. So much for a dry Sunday...

Ship's cockpit shut, Amy's breathing chattered.

"Okay. Ward is gonna make moves."

"I'm in her head, Keira. I know her well enough." Those words, normally, were taken not literally. And maybe Bea if she listened back to the race playback, in the insanely unlikely chance she would sift through audio, would hear that.

"Yeah, well, let's not annoy the stewards, let's play fair. We have the pace this weekend. Let's put it to use, let her feed

Four. Three. Two. One.

It was a brave start. Amy closed the door on Bea, immediately. And it fast became a duel.

Amy knew Bea was brave, brave as hell. Through the Senna S, the elevated section, ELS screamed, Amy holding her line ahead of Bea, losing out at Descida do Lago with Bea forcing a clean overtake, but Amy immediately replying into Curva do Laranjinha, the long right hander giving her ample time to take the outside and smack on the airbrakes, beating Bea to the apex, in the hail-storm like rain that suddenly decended. This would be a red flag in any other condition, but this sudden spray of rain even made the human reactions elevate.

Into the next corner at Pinheirinho, and the tight hairpin at the old Turn 10, Bea would have clawed in from Amy's compromised line. Yet Amy didn't let her past.

It was a sucker punch of a move. Amy gave up the corner, abandoning defence completely with ELS. Bea would have wanted to strike, dump her own ELS battery and get away. And she had the inside line.

But Amy came from nowhere and unleashed hell, going more aggressive, really forcing Bea into rethinking even her own risky choices. In a corner that absolutely shouldn't have worked for an overtake, Amy simply brushed Bea aside at Mergulho, and made sure that Cassie was now breathing down the Brit's neck too. Amy sweeping around put the 3-time champion in front at Juncao, where Amy slowed and kept it tight on inside, giving the hint that she was vulnerable in a corner that shouldn't have been.

Amy was toying with Bea. This you didn't learn from karting. Or AG racing.

You learned this from being a fucking champion.

Bea was no doubt rattled after that last race. She had it in qualifying, but in ship to ship, well, Amy didn't need a neural link to break into the mind of other pilots and how they felt. She might have failed herself sometimes, not seen things coming, not had the reactions, but right there, she may as well as have been inside Bea's brain for what it was worth to the Carrera pilot, like she told Keira. Not literally, of course.

Not this time.

Because Amy made Bea have no choice. Risk contact, take the outside overtake, or smell ozone.

The move on the outside, coupled to the dirty air, coupled to Amy activating the ELS shield as if to spite, rather than get away, forced Bea off circuit into the messy magnetic run-off that stalled ships before they clattered the repulsor field but technically, Amy had held position in the corner and held her own. That was a legal move, but Amy had used the entire circuit to decide if Bea was going to push back, or not. They'd come centimetres from contact, but the difference between Ava and Amy was that the latter knew how to get under skin. Fight the fight that absolutely came with being another level of animal.

Amy reasoned, Bea had a family that loved her very much. And after Argentina, the rumours....just fed that. There was fair racing. Then there was understanding ELS was a weapon, a tool if you wanted to put it to work. Especially when the fear spread like ethanol, you just needed a match.

If there was a reprimand, good luck proving it, Amy thought. First in the drivers championship was tight. There was no time to be nice. A bastard move, but Amy wasn't letting Bea even entertain the thought of first. Not when she had her own fight with Nora Kelly. She was friends off track, but every pilot knew you left friendships behind when you were on circuit. Bea would have done the same to her. Frankly, Amy thought that she did back in Belgium with her ELS move.

It had span Bea out though, at least, flicked the ship 180 and other ships, bunched tight, whooshed past, as Bea would have fought out of the magnets and clattered back on track, far, far further down the grid. A recovery drive then.....

"And Beatrix Ward is dropping, oh no, that's a mistake as she gets caught out by Stirling there, she left her nowhere to go! The stewards will look at that, we're seeing Stirling using all the dark arts, that was certainly a deceptive move to lure in Ward and then force her with no options but wide! She seems to be moving again, but she is going to struggle getting back up the leaderboard, as.....wait, that's a huge off for Kelly! Oh wow, that's an entire failure of her anti-gravity unit, that's a nasty hit!" By the time, the footage changed, from a Beatrix Ward trying to clamber up, to a very different ship back in the rankings.

They'd gone to Pinheirinho, and Nora's yellow, black and navy blue machine was in the repulsors.

Amy didn't like to be positive about her chances, but the numbers went up so much higher in percentages of getting a critical hit on Kelly today. Her main rival was out. Points were hers, if she held it down. She felt sorry for Bea. But not really for Nora.

Bea would be no doubt, screaming, because any chance of making it up in racing conditions, with a ship that was still optimal, were now gone to shit. Red flags meant a reset, and with a poorer ELS delta at the time the flags were out, Bea was 14th.

"Wow, rare we see those these days, but Kelly's ship seems to have just totally failed, on the replay.....oooof, that is an awful hit from Neves, the two just fought over a line they couldn't keep! That's like losing the wheels on a car, how did that happen?"

"Yes, it looks like it comes from Cassie Neves, looks like they collided coming out of the Senna S......ooof, yeah you can tell it's really upset the ship. It's all over the place, amazing she didn't retire it there and then....and yeah, then the AG unit shuts down and bogs it into the floor, that was optimistic to try and get it to the pit for retirement, what a shame!" A strange crash. But if anything showed Nora was begging for the ship to make it, let alone keep going, it was that moment that showed it. Cassie had gotten some damage to her nose for her gains, allowing Kais to overtake.

The red flag reset the field, and before Bea had the chance to climb back up from her off, Paul found himself in 2nd, Kais in 3rd. With a hell of an opportunity to clear a podium, or even beat Amy. Even if she was cooking up something.

Remarkably, Ben Hale was in 13th, making a lot of insanely brave overtakes at the back of the field on Ulrich, Max, and Vladmir, and by chance, in front of Bea. And clearly, NOVA had gotten his setup right. He was breathing down the back of his team-mate. Astrid and Hamid were notable too, making a huge leap in points.

The stewards, made a racing incident decision on Amy's defence. Trying to "remove the penalties" in the sport meant racing was more dirty than sometimes pilots liked it to be, especially with an ELS system that felt more like a lasso than it did a fair system to get overtakes done. Bea would be pissed. But same time, there was no time like the present to recover.

The debris clean up gave everyone a bit of respite. And as heavy as the rain came down, now it was barely a trickle, a steady, intermittent shower that came into the circuit as fast as it left, leaving blinding sunlight that vapourised the tarmac into petrichor and ozone from the ships, to sprays of water that coated the track. It felt like a

Four. Three. Two. One.

Soundtrack: Art of Rally OST- Run

Amy barely held it in front of Paul at lights out, but Paul would be mistaken if he was getting Amy here today. Every attempt was riposted, through the spray, showers and blinding sun, Amy was making him fight all of the way for it. He was a good pilot, but unlike their earlier tangle in Belgium, once again, Amy was pulling every trick she could find. His ship being slightly compromised sadly, might have been the difference. But it didn't matter. Paul was just on the wrong side of the equation, against a pilot that was a two-time champion hell-bent on securing her fourth championship.

Kais would be caught in that train, and with Paul giving it everything, couldn't even exploit the gap. The lack of handling, with a glass cannon that worked great in straights sucked in the last, twisty sector, undoing his progress. 3rd was progress, but that lack of fine control cost him the last he had left in his tank.

Ben, meanwhile, had continued his one-man rampage against the entire back half of the grid. In what was looking like his breakout rookie performance, that lack of confidence coming alive in the mixed conditions, finding something about the ship and leaping from ship to ship with excellent ELS management.

"How has he done that! From P17 to P9, Ben Hale, welcome to Formula AG, that is an exceptional performance!" Rosie commented, the two commentators playing back his last overtake on Jenny Lowry with no hint of irony, and a perfect, match cut to Peter Thatcher, TP at Silver Apex, looking absolutely stone-faced.

"Yes Rosie, I mean those moves as well, he seems to have gotten so lucky with that red flag, the right ELS, the right time, and no doubt Sally Morrigan must be screaming with joy. The first points for the team in quite some time, showing they made the right choice to back the rookie, who is finding his feet!"

"Certainly, and it looks like it's not a day to be for Dorian Hornfleur, as he pulls in and retires, looks like a steering failure, what a mixed season he is having. He looks really dejected, he was making such good progress up the grid, he clearly has it but the ship just didn't!"

It would have been a difficult day for Alexander. One ship retired, one ship on the cusp of P2. But as the showers stopped, the sun created more petrichor smell everywhere, and the race continued, it felt like the overtakes had evened out.

Bea had clambered her way to P11, overtaking Han and Florence, but the slow pace of Jenny Lowry, seemingly lacking form from her earlier win, was creating a train down in P10. Was Amy stealing racecraft from her team-mate? Well, the jokes would go around, but Jenny just wasn't on the same level today as Ben, how was even trying to dogfight Harrison. Brave or insane, it was impressive..

As the chequered flag came out, Paul had P2, and Kais P3, after a steady, simple race, Cassie threatening Kais at the end but never quite making the moves stick, holding back the Zygon ship from encroaching on Al-Saqr's points total. But Paul had done all he could. No doubt there was a feeling they could have done more, but today, it was not to be.

"And that's Neves P4, Villarosa holding onto a respectable P5, Astrid Thorsdottir coming into P6 with an excellent result for Nordic Call, P7 for Atlassi, P8 for Makara, P9 for a stellar Ben Hale, and P10 is rounded out by Jen Lowry. Rosie, thoughts on that race?" Rory commentated, following the obligatory radio messages from each of the pilots in the top three.

"Wow, it had it all! Rain, sun, controversy between Ward and Stirling, Kelly's crash, and that fight for the top five, wow, Brazil didn't disappoint, and talk about Ben Hale! What a stunning performance, so many doubted him, wrote him off from his shift but he's clearly made his mark, and look at how happy he is, waving to the crowd!" Rosie's voice joined, the camera focussed on a translucent visor of Ben Hale, crying through his visor, finally, finally getting there with points, and making his mark into Formula AG.

---

Cooldown Room- brazil

Watching back the race, the controversial move from Amy to deny Bea an overtake was played back from many angles, with Amy looking over Paul and Kais, who no doubt had opinions on that.

"Clean defence. Did it to me in Belgium....backing off the outside line was a a choice, Bea." Amy quietly retorted, as the rest of the race played out, including Nora's crashout / retirement, the conditions, and Paul and Kais fighting, beyond Cassie.

"You are fast, Paul. After the start of the season, I wasn't sure where you would go....you got some skills. But I ain't giving over that easy! Gonna be seeing you challenging me for the title next!" Amy chuckled, reaching out and hugging Paul, before shaking hands with Kais, hearing the steward come through and wave a thumbs up at the three. From the high-tech cooldown room, to the glorious, screaming crowds of Sao Paolo, the podium where Senna had his home crowd screaming his name at the top of their lungs, were yelling out for Kais Zenix, and Paul Mulder.

And oh, Amy Stirling was back to P1.

Where she belonged, stepping onto the top step, and with all anthems and trophies, dual-wielding champagne and a massive piece of chrome with a crazy grin, knowing that winning in Brazil was like winning one of the best, old classics.

A race that was at least 125 years old, an icon of the sport, with fans almost as mad as those in Argentina, with ethanol in the blood of everyone here enjoying the high spirits of racing in any condition. An important win, breaking the duck of so many race winners in times gone by, and reminding everyone why she was where she was.

---

Delta Hyper- Interviews

"Paul, a solid finish in P2 again, and despite that damage you looked like you're finally hitting a purple patch of form. It looks like Amy really frustrated you, and you fought for quite some time with Kais too. Do you feel from a race management point of view, you did all you could after Beatrix crashed out?"

"Bea, two from two races to forget, that move looked like such a close call in the stewards. Your recovery from 14th was admirable, it looks like the mid-table of the grid are putting up more and more competitive performances. Do you still think Zygon can be caught in the constructors?"

"Kais, looks like a solid performance all things considered, with a clean pass on Cassie and keeping the pressure up on Valkyrie. Your ship seems to be getting matched by Carrera on the straights more and more, how are you feeling about that

---

"Look, I know I got my elbows out, and of all the people, I know Beatrix will understand, we might be friends, but once we're racing, we're finding any edge we can. It was a move she should have reconsidered, I can't apologise for it."

"About Bjorn leaving? Look, I can't possibly comment, sorry!" Astrid cut off, as she peeled away before the follow up questions could hit.

"Terrible. The ship just gave out, the AG unit was unstable and shut down before it did any more damage to the casing. Gutted, but what can you do?" Nora replied, blunt as ever, the look on her face of realising she might not get Amy at all. Despite it all.

"Yeah, we absolutely smashed that! So, so happy with our setup, we knew we were underdogs, but I just was like, push hard at the start, get to Florence, and then the red came out! After that, I got lucky with ELS, but you know, opportunity meets a bit of wet weather skill, I just felt zoned in, and it all came together today! Really, really happy with points!" Ben replied, grinning ear to ear, the crowd giving a cheer, the Pilot of the Day with helmet raised as he put hands up like he'd gotten a podium or something. First points for Nova, as the green and yellow suited pilot relished in the feeling he wouldn't forget soon.

"Well, Bea has had an awful run of luck. And I did too, with Nora. But, shit happens. You just gotta keep your head up, and honestly, it looks like just a racing incident. We all play on the edge, I mean, I know FIAR won't like me saying it, but that's what racing is about. Close ship to ship racing takes time to learn, Nora pushes hard and we just got it wrong, but the ship's built like a tank so we just plough on. And Bea against Amy Stirling? Yeah, no pilot would find that easy! I'd say I'm happy with 4th. Paul and Kais gave it a really good show, and they were just locked in. So can't say any more!" Cassie exhaled, lots of words leaving her, smiling for the crowd, the feeling that of actually settling back to where she'd been with Valkyrie. Even if in the back of her head, those words she'd softened because she might go and join Bea next year.

"Good result. So happy to bounce back from last weekend, and yeah, get some points, P5 feels good though I know I was helped by Nora crashing out. I know Zygon are pulling away, but we're going into rounds that suit us. We just need to do everything we can, and make it up to the fans there. P5 would be a dream, but we have to be dreamers!" Ava didn't give any smug look to camera, despite the entire internet wanting her to. That would just fan flames.....and make Pablo throw furniture at windows back at HQ.

"Bad day in the office. Not happy with it, but, we move, no?" Kofi added, a big, fat, shrug saying it all.

"Yeah not ideal, cannot believe how fast Ben was! He was a rocket, he found some time we just didn't have and risked it all on a strategy that was perfect. So yeah, gotta take my hat off to the dude." Max's usual American accent carried, not having words to say in P15.

---

Before the episode was out, the news would have likely hit.

"Bellatrix Olympus, welcome to Delta Hyper! Would you like to introduce yourself to the viewers at home, as the newest member of the grid, and a brand new pilot at Nordic Call?" Aurora asked, awaiting her first response, before asking another question. The brown-haired presenter sat across from Trixie, letting her take the central spot on the sofa, in dominant view, the entire world looking upon her.

This was the pressure of it all, and she had all eyes to her, for the last five races of the year. Other rookies had come in and snatched points. Now she had to show if she could.

"We're hearing a lot of good things about you from your Junior career, and in that montage, we saw quite a lot of what you got up to. Tell me, what do you think you can do with Nordic Call, for the rest of this season? How are you looking forward to working with Astrid- a famous party-goer, and infamously, a pilot of few words?" Aurora asked, many questions, but the audience clearly looking for answers.

@PrinceAlexus

The camera cut to Astrid, sitting at the same sofa, in a separate cut.

"Trixie is.....unexpected. I had a feeling there was a change coming. But we will see. AG is hard. And results for us are harder to come by. I hope she understands the challenge." Astrid did not normally come out with more than a few words. So she clearly had put time, thought and weight behind these.

---

Morning in Swedish Lapland

The far north of Sweden was fairly mild even by early October standards, but the cold had returned, and snow would be inbound sooner rather than later. The two massive concrete, composite and wooden blocks were monoliths in the Swedish forests, and while it felt remote, climate change had turned Lulea and it's rare earth, iron and aluminium refinery into a bona-fide tech and communications hub, featuring the HQ of Nordic Call's actual business, the major employer that did telecoms across the globe in satellite internet and a littany of other VR, TV, neural-link, holo and other services that provided Scandinavian-quality. It was half owned by the Nordic Union and Swedish state too, so some of that co-operative vibe was still in, the other half run by private equity and one particular investor who brought in the Nordic Call Formula AG team into the fold.

The concrete was oppressing to turn up to, but lower down, a glass front revealed a Scandinavian-style lobby. Clean, smooth, natural. Sharp lines, curves, wood panelling everywhere. It was lovely. Cosy even.

"Ah, Miss Olympus? If you'd like to come this way." The assistant motioned, as they headed up a set of stairs, the massive glass panel revealing the massive, engineering room of the factory, a common sight across most factories, showing off the ships, the engineers, the pristine white environment with the team's branding all across the walls, aurora wraps included, and clean-room suits, like they were working on a satelite. Biological reagents used in the construction of ships could be especially sensitive to microbes or dirt, so cleanliness was a priority, though once it was out of the design phase, it was generally considered fine.

"Through here." The assistant added, the Conference Room up ahead. Trophies at the back from races long ago. But one from Tokyo that glowed with an ethereal bronze-like haze.

And in front of it, Erin Becker. Team Principal at Nordic Call. A 45 year old, Danish lady with plenty of years at this level of motorsport, leading this team through thick, and now, thinly-placed points.

"Ah, Bellatrix. Welcome to Sweden! Astrid, I believe you and Trixie have met, yes?"

Astrid nodded.

"We've seen each other. Hello." Astrid stood, shaking hands, the apple blonde, half-Faroese, half Finnish pilot of few words.

"Well, welcome to the team. I believe Anders will sort out your IT and paperwork." Erin broke the silence, as they all sat down, stating the obvious, realising Astrid didn't like fucking around in meetings. Bellatrix would realise Nordics didn't really cut on what they wanted to get out of it.

"Well, let's cut to it. The ship's not the best. But if Astrid can get points out of it, you may be able as well, Bellatrix, with a fresh pair of eyes. We think we have one last upgrade left before the season ends. One last chance to make of it what we can." She started, taking a sip of water. "We want to take points off MMR, and get 7th. It will be hard. But, we think the team can do this. You are the final piece of the puzzle, we hope, Trixie." Erin added, as Astrid nodded.

"Maybe. If not. At least stop Max Wedgewood from single handedly carrying the American States." Astrid joked, barely cracking a grin to show she didn't actually mean go and ram the guy.

Erin stood up, looking at the ship, then back to the two.

"We have plenty of work to do. I believe you have a session with the neuroscientists, augment specialists, then some sim work. Check, and make any modifications to augments you have. We stock highest end, to your request, and manufacture bespoke here, and you will be taking on augments you didn't get in Junior AG. Your input is valued, Trixie, like anyone here, so please tell us if we can improve. Find us a way to get points, and we'll be happy." Erin concluded, the small matter of the rest of the induction, meeting the engineers, sim rig, medical team, as well as her race engineer, and getting ready for the soon approaching Australian AGP, were on the calendar.

The world was Trixie's. She was a pilot in an AG racing workshop. And behind the scenes, from physical work, working with engineers on upgrade patterns, getting operated on, enjoying the Swedish forest, this was her home away from home.

(@PrinceAlexus - you can take control from here on everything behind the scenes. All chars at Nordic Call are NPCs!)

Interlude.
Bellatrix Olympus. Nordic.
Busy. Busy.

All things ahead full.

....

Delta Hyper dressing room.

…

Bellatrix outfit.


Bellatrix was trying not to pace as her Social media manager Ren went though the points they wanted to raise immaculately dressed and drinking coffee while Bellatrix was having the last touches made to her make up under the French woman's strict and direct guidelines. “A little more pink, she lives in Wales, we need to give this woman some colour.” she said in a very Parisian accent that something as banal and minor as Lipstick colour to her was a vital strategic decision. She had broken out into French several times as they planned this, the whole big debut and they had less notice than would have liked thanks to circumstances.

“Ren, you're worse than me, I'm dressed up, you have me in diamonds and in heels, I look elegant.” Bellatrix said with friendly exasperation, her media manager was highly strung at times, Ren was indeed dressed in a long white skirt, a figure shaping black top and wearing a rather dramatic bracelet of diamonds and sapphires from 1920's she had inherited.

The French woman just shook her head and paced instead leaving heel marks in the soft carpet, this woman only ever wore heels unless utterly could not. Her 5 '8 was usually more than 5' 10 on any given day. “Yes, you look like a proper lady for once, ma petit bella, even if you are tall as teenager. That was below the knee, but it works as a midi."

Bellatrix gave her a mock glare and laughed as the make up artist just left them be, she heard many many things, but did not comment or reveal. That is why she was paid the amount she was by Delta Hyper. “Drink Ren, champagne. Drink it. Relax, your Paris is showing” Ren said as she forced the champagne glass to the tall woman who looked like was handed a bomb.

“It's English… your Wales is showing ma belle.” But Ren did drink and they moved slowly to move business topics and goals.

“And I asked for it. You have my heels? The Italian black ones…” Bellatrix asked as the make-up artist began to pack up her stuff, all done, hopefully Astrid was done too so no little fixes needed. “We need some pics for my Instagram, fan pages… too.”

“Yes, Channel, Lubattons, at least they are European. You think I forgot, you wounded me.” Florence said with far too much drama than needed as she did the catch effortlessly and helped Bellatrix to her feet, handing her matching bag and nodding at her work. “Ma Belle, you are ready. We walk.” The French woman merely looped an arm with the small English woman and they headed clicking stiletto taps audibly to her fate.

…

Delta Hyper Studio

…

Oh Bellatrix knew what Florence did. It worked and she did not blame her one bit for her actions. She paid her rather a lot of money because Florence Dubois was one of the best. Mentally going over her cues and her things she had to include she paused on the edge. Nerves, fear… what if she tripped, in a skirt and heels no less, on her debut. But that was burned away by determination and quiet confidence. One click, another, repeat and she stepped carefully onto the Delta Hyper set taking the main seat with care to avoid the soft fluffy minefield of carpet.

The Universe did not hate her and she sat seeming naturally confident and calm even her insides felt like fire. But fire could be used to help, not hinder

…

"Bellatrix Olympus, welcome to Delta Hyper! Would you like to introduce yourself to the viewers at home, as the newest member of the grid, and a brand new pilot at Nordic Call?" Aurora asked, awaiting her first response, before asking another question. The brown-haired presenter sat across from Trixie, letting her take the central spot on the sofa, in dominant view, the entire world looking upon her. (Quote)

“Thank you Aurora, it's a pleasure to be here and hello to all viewing from close and afar.” She opened with the practiced line, making the audience feel the connection and part of the room. Carrying on from the pause easily and naturally with the flow. “I'm Bellatrix Olympus Rokus Draken, but you know that. I'm sure the Nordic IT guy loved it.” She added with an easy smile. “Im proud to be chosen. It's a great responsibility and also an amazing opportunity too, Thankyou Blue Sheep for supporting my Junior Career and for Nordic Call for giving me a chance.”

“I finally may” she paused. “To my Saplings, there's nothing stopping you being up here or any stage one day and to the Parents, we do appreciate the many hours you spent waiting by cold track sides and leaky pit tents.” Bellatrix finished on an up and well, if she helped her own brand a little while they used her to help Delta Hyper. Fair trade.

This was the pressure of it all, and she had all eyes to her, for the last five races of the year. Other rookies had come in and snatched points. Now she had to show if she could. (

"We're hearing a lot of good things about you from your Junior career, and in that montage, we saw quite a lot of what you got up to. Tell me, what do you think you can do with Nordic Call, for the rest of this season? How are you looking forward to working with Astrid- a famous party-goer, and infamously, a pilot of few words?" Aurora asked many questions, but the audience was clearly looking for answers. (Quote)

“Many good things, apart from that crash at Lunar, trust me it hurt. I was closing in on the top 3 for points again.” She said lightly and turned the down swing into a light joke and moved swiftly on. “Honestly, I have a few races, a new ship, a new team, I believe we can get things moving in the right direction though, and be much stronger for next year. Real progress is slower, but worth it.” Bellatrix did not hide, she was running uphill joining mid season, no testing phase, no acclimatise or time to get to really know things. But challenges always inspired Bellatrix.

“Astrid, my new team mate, I'm sure I can learn from her and actions speak a lot louder, so I'll have to prove myself in my ship on the race track.” Bellatrix glanced over and got a mostly thumbs up from Florence who was gesturing her not to stop. She had a good thing going. “She has had a decent season even with a harder car to fight the pack against the odds.”

It was a choice not to mention her former pilot. She was not going to degrade the man, but they had taken a rookie from juniors then kept him on for the rest of the race… You could do the maths yourself. If they wanted to add it up they could but she would not do the work for them.

The camera cut to Astrid, sitting at the same sofa, in a separate cut.

"Trixie is.....unexpected. I had a feeling there was a change coming. But we will see. AG is hard. And results for us are harder to come by. I hope she understands the challenge." Astrid did not normally come out with more than a few words. So she clearly had put time, thought and weight behind these. (Quotes)

“Good unexpected i hope to show.” Bellatrix added a little cheekily at the end but politely. She had to show confidence! She was not just a wall flower.

…

The interview winded through a few other smaller topics with questions for both, media padding and bonus content, they had their main content and the Media was fed their pound of flesh.

…

Nordic Call Factory

…

Bella entered the very tidy lobby and in short order had found herself in a rather fancy office area where the execs and so lived with a cool efficiency and quiet highly organised staff. Everything so far has been quietly productive, professional and without much drama. She found many of the staff were local which made sense. Especially when it was a major Swedish company supporting racing outfits.

Astrid, the team principal and so were present right now, she had not met him yet and dealt only with the teams General manager in her first conversations. He ran the day to day, this man ran the team's direction and big decisions as a whole.

“Good afternoon, you call this cold mild?. We met at Delta Hypers studio. Though Florence had me quite busy before and after.” Bellatrix said and guessed she should have to get used to her team mate being the quiet, very quiet one of her racing team mates she had since joining Junior AG. She did not express much at all, more like a living wall. The smaller British woman took her hand freely and gratefully.

Her social media manager had her fully taking advantage of the opportunity. She had met some useful people and pushed her Sapling project a little more forward.

She paused, everyone's eyes seemed to be on her. She was expected to make a decision… a test? Or just wondering what her priorities were? “Medical. My augments are tricky, and it might limit what can be done before the season is over… Prototype tech, Mars Inc. You need to ask them for help.” To explain, she snaked 2 of her little mechanical tentacles out and one interacted with her arm and the other used to move a hair out her eye. “It took a little practice.” Bellatrix said as she sat down and used the mechanical appendage to open her jacket.

“As expected, we will see if we can do a good neural update for the ship and our systems, custom builds, fine by me. Well, let's burn some midnight oil, tell them this is top priority. Before Australia. Afterwards, see what else is best.” The team Principle was resigned to the rushed nature that he had to pull off. They could not do a major change before the race but they could get Bellatrix with all she needed for top flight racing and most important. Safety.

“Head over to the nerd herd for ID after, get you fully signed in and Astrid, can you take Bellatrix over to the production level, get her to see the controls and show how a Junior and a top level ship differ.”, The team Principal made a clear decision and a basic plan.

“Simulations, books, whatever else you think of. Don't be late.” The few words Astrid said with clear tone that she expected no one to mess with her schedule. Party girl was a serious pilot and serious about racing. Serious about drinking too, she was proud of her own gin, it had taken a lot of work to get it right.

“I'll be early Astrid, but realistically, the first race I cannot in good faith promise anything. I know the field, but not been in the thick of it. It's a huge difference.” Bellatrix said as the group managed their expectations. Changing pilot mid season was never easy, and especially not on a down turn.

“That works for me, challenge them, slow them down. Mess with their strategy. If we can get ours in and theirs out points, do it..” The Principle looked at them both more seriously and pinned them in place. “I know we cannot guarantee a trophy. I know our car is behind the curve and we're gonna work hard to change that. I need you two ladies to work as a team, help each other, if we cannot beat them on pure tech.”

The man turned to his PA. “Tell the pit managers, race planners, I want new plans, new ideas for Australia, we have a new pilot, play to her and Astrid strength, she is not Bjorn. They underestimated us, two ships' tactics might change the odds. We have a spare 2094 test ship part built, that's Bellatixs. We might need some modifications. Blue Sheep agreed to send us some data to help.” He already knew it would need some extra weight to be in race compliance, Bellatrix was 5 foot nothing and much lighter than Bjorn.

“Astrid, your call is on track, but do not waste Bellatrix, she green yes, but a solid Junior pilot, everyone in strategy thinks you make a strong team.” He was risking a lot on these two working together, his car was slow, his driver, fired, and replaced. He needed a new idea and this was the change they would try.

“No pressure.” Astrid said cool as ice but no disrespect, just Astrid. “Who needs sleep. My skin yes.?” Bellatrix replied with an easy charm, but she would put the work in.

“Then off you go. Team meeting, strategy, 30 minutes. Get everyone.” The team's Principal said as he put action to words.

….

Media.

Racing Holo post.
New Pilot for Nordic Call. Will it change their season?

“Nordic call have taken on a Junior AG pilot, Bellatrix Olympus…”

Comment feed.

What. Give Bjorn a chance. #team Bjorn#
She is fast, team Trixie, and that skirt. Where can I buy it?
Gonna watch, need some fresh Pilots.
She races boring, but she did well in Junior AG.
Deleted. TOS breach.
Creepy bastard.
Someone's already got a fanfic. Astrabell shipping. AO3.
Bloody fanfic writers faster than Amy.
Nordic are taking a big risk, but the seasons are already a bust. Why not?
Beatrix. Bellatrix. Wanna see commentators do this one.
Deleted. Spam
Is Astrid some kind of Norse spirit of depression …
Viking immortal shield maiden, totally.
Don,t give the conspiracy nuts ideas.
Too late. I'm making a YouTube video right now.
Dammit.
I asked on Twitter if Bellatrix would race in Australia. I started a war. Rome is aflame. Thousands are dead. 37 bots now discussing why frogs are gay.
Twitter has been like that since 2025.
Check out Instagram. *link*
Oh! Is that new merch?
She just joined! Days ago. Give it a week.
Chapter 2. For love of racing. Out. 3 out tomorrow.
Damn you Loki275. Can you not ship for once.
But you read it. No. Shipping is life.
How fast do you type…
Yes.

…

Messages and Calls.

Ren: what's with the no pick up. Got news ma belle.
Bella. Busy, new driver, new ship, IT guy hates me as normal.
Ren. Well read your email. From me.
Bella. Obviously… Junior Gala, it's normal, I'll attend if I can.
Ren. No, Ma belle. Oh you simple soul. As you got busy… call me, we talk this out.
Bella. 10 mins, quick notes?
Ren. Fine, you have to attend, it looks good for them to see a pilot go up tiers. You attend voluntold.
Bella. You coming with me then, no date remember now, as if they would… might as well scare creeps off being tall and French.
Ren. Ooh! I'm dressing you. I'm a scary Tall French lady. Deal Breaker.
Bella. I surrender, Blue? Paris shopping, grand hotel champ…le… central?
Ren. *plotting gif* Oh! You're getting some class.
Bella. *scarused gif*
Ren. Oh you do know me. Call?
Bella. 5 mins, just 5 mins, need coffee. Ran out of sugar :(
Ren. Oh poor you miss a rich girl.
Bella. Says the Parisian with a family chateau.

…

Many group chat notifications later, Bellatrix swatted most aside and out the way seeing she had been added to way too many things in the last few hours. Pilots lounge? Wait…was that team or….?

“Your sugar miss Olympus.” An admin pulled some out a draw with a conspiratorial grin. “Damn health nuts don't get it all.”

“Our secret! Thanks.” She said and would not forget that little kindness.

…

“Yes…yes… Ren, let me wake up, look I'm super busy, call home, ask Arthur to arrange for Jake to get over here. ASAP.” She said as she drank coffee, waved off someone trying to bother her and talked at the same time.

Chaos. Was her life now.

Soundtrack: Fight Song - Rachel Platten

---

Paul knew that the mechanics and engineers had been working round the clock to fix the ships and recalibrate what they could before the race. The team had managed to set Paul up with a virtual reality simulator to reproduce the ship’s current quirks and setup. Paul had spent all his free time in the simulator trying to learn how the ship was going to react on the track in Brazil. Dorian was having even more trouble with the issues with his ship. Dorian didn’t seem to be as flexible and adaptable as Paul. Paul assumed it was an age issue although the two ships had taken different types of damage. It was possible that there was less they could do to repair Dorian’s ship. Paul was happy to get P5 in qualifying after everything they went through in Argentina. He was not content to stay in P5. He trained hard and worked tirelessly with Carmella and the mechanics to calibrate and adjust the antigravity skirting, air braking system, and sensors that had to be repaired and replaced. Paul was feeling more confident in the ship and what it could handle after his work in the simulator.

One of the pit crew helped Paul into the ship. They carried a large umbrella to shield him from the rain. His helmet and race suit was water repellent but they were taking no chances with the moisture in the delicate electronics. The crew member used a towel and wiped off his helmet and shoulders to ensure the area was dry before closing up the canopy. Paul carefully took the cord with the clip and plugged the ship into his neural interface. Paul always experienced a rush as data began streaming into his consciousness from the ship’s sensors and computers. The new computers that had been upgraded just before Argentina were stronger and faster than the old ones. They used a new and unique encryption process to help bolster security for the ship’s systems. It was part of the security upgrade package from Radian Security Systems and Banshee Microsystems. Paul employed some of the techniques he had learned from Doctor Ainsworth, the team’s neural specialist, that had been developed in conjunction with Shinichi Bionics. The training techniques had helped Paul sort, compile, and utilize the massive amounts of data coming in from the ship. It took Paul a few minutes of meditation and visualization as he dropped into a cognitive state that allowed him to focus on the race and the ship. Paul could read the ship’s hull temperature and the amount of water that was rolling down the sides of the ship from the rain. He could see the track easily using the numerous cameras, radar, and lidar systems on the ship. Could flip through various camera settings such as low light and infrared at will. Paul was in the zone as he began his prerace checklist talking to his race engineer over the radio as they went through the list together.

Paul was sitting in his ship at the starting line. He was in P5. His ship’s livery had been repaired and repainted to be sure all the sponsors got their advertising as promised for the race in Brazil. He pulled on his racing gloves and massaged the heavy tech fabric that was heat resistant down between his fingers to help ensure he had maximum dexterity. Paul was wearing the bog standard Valkyrie livery for the race. He had already closed his racing helmet up using his HUD to help with the prerace checklist. He had already reconfigured his virtual dashboard with the sensors and readings he would need for the race. Paul was feeling comfortable and focused as he waited for the race to start. He smiled as he heard Alexander’s familiar voice break into the channel.

Alexander was sitting with the Team Valkyrie engineering team for the race. He was wearing what had become race day normal for him. Alexander didn’t bother with one of his suits on race day. He wore what the other engineers did when he was in the team’s paddock. He was wearing dark gray uniform pants, a button down Team Valkyrie shirt golden yellow with the logo in gray on the pocket, and work boots. His long hair was pulled back in a pony tail so it didn’t get tangled in his headset. Alexander was sitting between Carmella, Paul’s race engineer, and Remy, Dorian’s race engineer.

Alexander spoke into the microphone attached to his headset.

Alexander: “Okay Team I want to remind everyone what our strategy is. We know that the Dorian has been impacted by the damage to his ship significantly more than Paul. This has impacted our strategy for this race. Dorian will do his best to run interference for Paul from his position on the track without endangering himself. He will do his best to finish in points if possible. Paul will utilize the improvements made since qualifying to try and capture as many points as possible for the team. Paul, remember to take it easy on the antigravity system. No fancy rollovers here. We are unsure if the antigravity skirting will maintain its stability and integrity if you push it too hard. Best of luck everyone! Let’s get the job done.”

Paul rolled his eyes at Alexander’s reminder. As if he could forget with everyone reminding him. He was known for getting the most out of his antigravity when the conditions were right. Brazil would not be that race for him. He would just have to do his best using what was working well.

Paul’s hands rested lightly on the control yoke as the countdown began as the lights began to flash in sequence at the starting line. Paul got a good start but was unable to gain any positions before the first turn. Paul gritted his teeth and charged forward. He managed to gain some moments in the corners and was slowly gaining on Kais.

Then Kais managed to get past Cassie and Paul saw a chance. He followed in Kais’ wake allowing his ship to steal speed from Kais’ by following in the shadow of Kais’ ship. He allowed Kais’ ship to clear the choppy dirty air by staying in the ship’s rear drafting. He was able to slip right past Cassie as Kais passed her. Paul’s stability allowed him to stay in the slipstream shadow of Kais’ ship slowing him down while speeding Paul’s ship up. Paul made his move as Kais slowed to enter a turn. Paul threaded the needle on the inside slipping ahead of Kais. Paul was just coming out of the corner when his ship did an emergency shutdown. Paul had been focused on his fight with Kais when Carmella’s voice came through the radio.

Carmella: “Red flag due to collision!” Paul was being directed back to the starting line for a restart. Paul was uncertain what the grid looked like. Carmella filled him in as they waited for the race to restart. Cassie and Nora had collided. Nora was out. Bea had been forced off the track by Amy and had dropped to the back of the pack. Paul would be restarting in P2.

Carmella’s voice came through the radio, her tones soothing as she told him what was going on. “Cassie and Kelly collided and then Kelly’s ship shut down. Both pilots appear to be okay. Cassie will be continuing.”
Paul set his sights on Amy. He knew Amy would be a hard fight. Paul was watchful to keep an eye out for the dirty tricks she liked to play. Paul had been studying Amy’s racing footage. He had noted she skirted the racing rules to create incidents to end those who would challenge her. It was technically legal but Paul’s ship was somewhat delicate. He couldn’t take any extra punts in this race. He was careful to be sure he had clearance in the corners. Unfortunately it forced him to be somewhat cautious. He couldn’t quite find a line to overtake Amy. He managed to get ELS on her a few times but she always managed to break away. Kais behind him forced him to stay on the defensive. The race was about three quarters over when Alexander’s voice came over the radio. “Dorian’s handling is gone. He is retiring. Stay defensive Paul. We need the points. Defend P2.”

It was a nerve wracking race but Paul managed to keep P2. He crossed the finish line and breathed a deep sigh of relief. He pulled into parc ferme and shut down the ship. Paul popped open the canopy and the team were already running up cheering him on. He smiled as today’s win was as much the engineers and mechanics as his. He smiled and thanked his team. He hugged Dorian and patted him on the back.

Paul: “I am sorry about your ship Dorian. Tough break.”

Dorian just smiled and hugged Paul back. “It was worth it to see you take P2 today.”

---

Cooldown Room- brazil

Paul was still in his racing suit although a team member had taken his helmet back to the paddock for him. He was standing and watching the race footage in the Cooldown room. He was sipping on a Zap energy drink. It might have been raining earlier but it was hot and humid in Brazil. Paul was still sweating as his body cooled down from the exertion and the heat in the cockpit.

He watched the screens that showed Amy’s move on Bea. He nodded thinking so that is what happened to Bea. He would ask his simulator trainer to compile some training on how to defend against Amy’s dirty tricks. He would have them go back through her career footage and pull together a good training simulator for him. It would be helpful for him to face stuff like that in the simulator before he sees it on the track. If there was a way to defend against it, he needed to learn it now. Paul was focused on the screens as it also showed the collision between Cassie and Nora when Amy’s voice cut into his concentration.

Amy: "Clean defence. Did it to me in Belgium....backing off the outside line was a a choice, Bea."

Paul didn’t say anything as he remained focused on the screens. He felt bad for Nora. She would soon be out of contention for the championship if her season didn’t start to turn around. Paul was getting close enough that he might be able to challenge for at least top 3 in the championship standings.

Amy addressed him directly. "You are fast, Paul. After the start of the season, I wasn't sure where you would go....you got some skills. But I ain't giving over that easy! Gonna be seeing you challenging me for the title next!"

Paul looked confused as he replied to Amy. “I would not expect you to be easy. I kind of thought I already was challenging you.”

Paul allowed Amy to hug him. He just shook his head as Amy was a driver he didn’t understand.

Paul turned to Kais and offered him a hand shake. “Thank you for a great race.” He clapped Kais on the shoulder before following Amy out to greet the screaming fans of Formula AG for the award ceremony.

DELTΔ HYPER

Aurora: "Paul, a solid finish in P2 again, and despite that damage you looked like you're finally hitting a purple patch of form. It looks like Amy really frustrated you, and you fought for quite some time with Kais too. Do you feel from a race management point of view, you did all you could after Beatrix crashed out?"

Paul: “I feel like I could have done more but I played it safe. The ship had been repaired the best the mechanics and engineers could while in the field but I was told the repairs might not hold if I pushed too hard. I protected the team’s position in the points. I will be back after repairs for the next race. Hopefully I can keep producing solid finishes. Who knows, maybe I can gain enough points to challenge Amy for the championship.” Paul left that with a charming smile and wink.

---

---

---

---

They had flown from Buenos Aires in haste. "We need to go." Kais had said in the calm before the storm, just before the riots truly kicked off, his soldier's sixth sense for these things tingling. The team knew to listen, and Al-Saqr had managed to stay ahead of most of the chaos. And now, sitting in their team H2-plane, Hamid Atlassi rubbed his eyes. What a headache, he thought. He watched the Abu Dhabi sprawl come into view. That helped a bit.

Hamid had never really gotten into contact with violence before. Indeed, Hamid's entire family had never really been impacted by the Water Wars. Au contraire: the Atlassi Shipping Dynasty in Casablanca had thrived throughout it all. They stayed perfectly untouched, their wealth and connections protecting them from what had consumed Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, and most of the Gulf's splinter states. His grandfather, was an obvious choice to contribute to the Union's reconstruction efforts. Strong-armed? Perhaps. Profitable? Definitely. Years of war-time premiums provided the budding Union's shipping and supply priorities. And in said wealth, Hamid, son of the Atlassi shipping dynasty, had grown up. He attended the finest academies with only the most Union-approved Elite curricula. He raced go-karts on literal gold-paved private tracks. And a place at what would eventually become Al-Saqr's junior programme was as good as guaranteed.

And now, here he was, sharing a team with a man who had fought people like his family and peers, who believed in the Union and worked to make it happen. Hamid gritted his teeth and glanced across to where Kais sat. Eyes closed, standby-light of his neural link pulsing lightly at his neck, just above where his previous life's barcode was... Or was it truly his previous life? Who knew... Even the Ministry probed him about it every time they could. The Union was right to be cautious, Hamid thought. But there was also something else to Hamid. Infuriatingly so: Kais was fast. Faster than Hamid. Tends to happen when the fear instinct is genetically handicapped, he supposed. But... when his neural link sync levels were in the high-90s? Hamid knew that meant even their flying brick could be rammed into the Top-3s of the Delta Hyper leaderboard.

If the Union could find a way to harness that...

Hamid shook his head and returned to his chess app. He was playing against Farouk, the pit drone controller. Farouk had spent many lunch breaks with Kais and Nadia, practicing. Seemed it had paid off. Hamid was losing badly. He sighed and resigned. He looked at his watch, a Talaq24 white-gold piece, gift from one of his sponsors to match his bleached hair, then turned to the man in front of him. Kais had said nothing during the entire journey. He rarely did, these days. Since Layla's... incident, the man had retreated even deeper into himself, communicating mostly in grunts and angry stares. Hamid found it infuriating. Genetic enhancement after genetic enhancement, neural integration, backing of the Union's resources rivaling his own for reasons just as infuriating, and he spent his time brooding...

Hamid's tablet pinged: message from the Arabic Union's Ministry of Culture. Progress is as desired. Continue as briefed. Report any unusual events. The Ministry called his role at Al-Saqr crucial, 'Cultural outreach'. That is: someone has to be the team face, actually talk to the sponsors, making sure their investments in the team produced results beyond the leaderboard. But Hamid had his suspicions. He deleted it without responding.

---

Back at Al-Saqr island, Omar commandeered a conference room for a high-prio strategy meeting. About São Paolo. About the current situation, and how best to exploit it. There even were rumors some opposing team's kit was damaged in the riots.

"The other teams have caught some flak. Perfect timing. We just have to keep our head down. Now we're so close." Omar started, his glasses reflecting the standings that were displayed on the holographic glass pane in the center of the briefing room table. The gap to Valkyrie had narrowed to single digits.

"Carrera is... preoccupied. Their fans nearly tore them apart. Their media team is making overtime. Should give us some breathing room." Omar continued. "Southern Cross is out of reach unless both their ships crash, which I deem unlikely. I can only imagine their safety setup after the Luna event. And Valkyrie is performing consistently." He paused. He tapped the display. "Fourth place we can hold. Maybe even challenge for third. The constructors championship may be in reach if we play this right." He turned to Hamid. "Which brings me to you."

Hamid straightened. He could feel the weight of the room's attention on him. The engineers, the analysts, Kais's dark eyes digging into the side of his head.

"DNF in Belgium. P10 in Germany. P9 in Hawaii. P20 in Singapore, and now P5 Argentina." Omar ticked off the results on his fingers. "You're improving. But we're going to need you in the top seven at least. Consistently. Beat who you can."

Remi Tewe continued "The new telemetry is showing Hamid's neural integration almost at eighty percent efficiency. It's promising data, but at these speeds I don't know if 80 would cut it in the long run. There's a reason Layla pushed herself to get into the high-90s."

"I understand," Hamid said, his voice artificially steady. "I can do it. I'll get in touch with Nadia to schedule some more sync sessions, and I'll talk to doctor Nasri, see what we can..."

"What about Apex?" Kais interrupted out of the blue. He hadn't moved from his position against the wall, arms crossed, face unreadable.

Omar's smile faded. "Apex is Amy. She'll win this race. Probably the next one too. But she's not unbeatable."

"That's not what I meant. She asked if our neural links were acting up."

A moment passed between the team principal and the ex-supersoldier, something Hamid wasn't privy to.

"She was fishing for something," Omar said finally. "It's what she does."

Kais uncrossed his arms, pushing off from the wall. "She knew something. Or suspected something. And with what happened with Layla--"

"Layla's situation is contained." Omar's voice was sharp. "There's no reason to believe..."

"No reason?" Kais's voice sharpened now, something Hamid had rarely heard from the usually stoic pilot. "We saw code disappear from our own ship's networks, Omar. After what happened with Layla. Code that looked suspiciously like it came from the same source that Carrera got theirs from. And Amy, of all people, asks about neural link malfunctions? At a private event? That's not coincidence. I'm suggesting Amy isn't just racing us. She's studying us. And using it against us."

"The security team is looking into it," Omar said. "In the meantime, we race. Score points. We don't give Amy, or anyone else, reason to look closer." He turned back to the displays, dismissing the topic with the next slide. "Now. Let's talk Brazil. Yasif has been running simulations on the energy harvesting in sectors 2 and 3, and..."

Hamid tuned out. His mind was preoccupied with Amy's question.

"And one more thing," Omar said. "The Delta Hyper crew wants footage for their São Paulo episode. Graffiti wall in one of the favelas, local artists, the whole deal." He looked at Kais. "They requested you. Something about your 'artistic side.'"

Kais's jaw tightened. "I don't have an artistic side."

"You do now," Omar said. "Smile for the cameras, both of you. We need every bit of positive coverage we can get."

---

"My question is, how will you leave your mark, like Senna on that wall?....

The Delta Hyper cam-drones captured every angle, every expression. Every artful moment. Or whatever came close to it, Hamid thought as he put on a camera-ready smile as he waved with his spraycan. He looked around for someplace showy. Someplace center-like. Ah, perfect! Now then... What to paint? It'd have to be something safe, more or less. A little bit of edge, but it'd have to be something Omar would be pleased with. Something the sponsors would like to reply to underneath their socials. Something that would look nice in the Ministry's reports. Maybe just the Falcon, in Union-colors. Hamid had been looking forward to working for them most of his life, after all.

He glanced at Kais... Who stood before his canvas. Just standing there. It seemed apt, and Hamid couldn't help snickering imagining Kais' mark on the wall just be cracks from an angry punch. After all, what else could a leftover war-machine possibly-- then, Kais started moving. He picked up a spraycan. Black, of course, and painted the whole damn wall with it. Typical, Hamid thought. Then, orange trails sprayed across. Hamid wandered over to watch. "What did you make?" He dared ask after a while.

"Meteor shower across the night sky. I wanted something hopeful." Kais finally took the can of blue spray paint. "Make a wish."

Hamid looked up at him with surprise. Then Kais added dots. Stars. A moon, maybe.

Kais nodded. And that meant it was perfect.

---

Hamid sat in his room, reviewing the livestream of the interviews.

"Kais, we've seen Al-Saqr adapt as the season break has passed, and there's lots of speculation about the mid season change for the ever-loved Layla Al-Nadir being replaced by Hamid Atlassi. Do you think the fans are confident that Hamid is the right replacement for her?"

He thought about the PR of Layla's "retirement." Low-key. Respectful. Its words carefully erased, replaced and blurred by three different legal teams: 'Health concerns requiring immediate attention. The team wishes her the best in her recovery. No further comment at this time.' No mention of the experimental modifications that had pushed her past human limits and... Just 'health concerns'. The fans had sent flowers. Messages. Every variation of get well soon to a woman that only her AI assistant would read. Of course the question of her replacement had to come at some point.

Hamid found himself leaning forward, suddenly very interested in the answer. But Kais' expression revealed nothing. That same damn stone-cold face he wore for everything.

"Layla is irreplaceable," Kais said, and Hamid felt something twist in his chest.

Kais leaned forward slightly. "But the fans can be confident in one thing," Kais said. "Al-Saqr doesn't give up. We don't stop pushing. Hamid is learning. And when he's ready... you'll see what we can do."

He wondered if it was a slip of the tongue, but did Kais actually use 'we'? Coming from Kais, that might actually be as close to a compliment as he'd ever get.

After qualification, Kais had more to say.

"Kais, an impressive qualifying from you, absolutely fearless! The points gap to Valkyrie still remains narrow, so do you think you'll be able to make the most of it tomorrow, in what look like mixed conditions?"

But Hamid switched it off before he had answered. The Valkyrie comment reminded him of the conversation from the strategy meeting, and he still felt wrong about it in a way. That, and Hamid had only qualified in P10, worse than he would've wanted. Last thing he wanted was to get his face rubbed into it by him.

---

The race itself had been a long battle of keeping others at bay more than anything. Rain came and went, grip levels were recalibrated. Kais clawed up to P3 behind Paul, then spent several tens of laps staring at the Belgian's rear looking for a gap that never quite came. Solid race, but not exactly what he wanted. And Hamid had performed at P7. No crash-induced luck, but still better than he expected.

After the race, back in the team garage, Hamid went through his usual post-race routine: congratulating the winners, debrief with the engineering team, the works. By the time he came back from the medical checkup that had somehow become three times as lengthy since the Layla-incident, the garage was half-empty already, the crew taking a break before packing up began again. In the background, the broadcast sounded.

"Kais, looks like a solid performance all things considered, with a clean pass on Cassie and keeping the pressure up on Valkyrie. Your ship seems to be getting matched by Carrera on the straights more and more, how are you feeling about that?"

"Yes. Good race, third place. Closing the gap. Hamid too. Seventh. Points." Kais had shrugged, "Let Carrera come for us. We'll take them." Then he rushed off. Even in the cooldown room he seemed preoccupied by something.

He was still there in the garage. Kais too had gone through medical. But now he stood by his ship, the number 17. One hand resting on the since-cooled down hull, his expression... unreadably stone-cold. It was a ritual Hamid had noticed before, a moment between him and his ship that felt too private to intrude on. So Hamid walked on by. Thinking about it, Hamid thought he had seen it done before by someone else too. Layla...?

Then Kais turned and spoke.

"Hamid?"

"Kais?" Hamid swallowed. Kais hadn't been the nicest to him at the best of times. But recently it had gotten even worse. He was sure it would be some sort of admonishment, or even a helpful put-down. If he was lucky.

"You know how to dance, right?"

Hamid almost choked on his own spit as a combination of a surprised laugh and a very confused gasp escaped him. "Yeah...?" He managed.

"Tango?"

Hamid's pause lengthened. Then his grin widened. "Aaahh, but of course, ami..." He took on a dramatic pose, left arm outstretched left, the other embracing an imaginary partner. "But I thought you'd be more of a marching-man."

"I don't care what you think. Can you teach me?"

Hamid fell silent. Then he started pacing. "No way. No way. You've got to be kidding me." Hamid started pacing around, unsure what to do with himself. "You got yourself a date? Mr. Scowls Zenix himself?"

"Tonight, your room. Don't step on my toes." Kais turned to walk away. Then turned back. "And don't tell anyone."

---

Hamid's room was comfortable if a bit empty. Team-standard accommodations, nothing like what his family's money could have bought him. It was the curse of constantly having to move here and there, of course, but he had given it a twist of his own: his pre-Al Saqr medals and awards hang out near a holographic display cycling through family photos, and a collection of vintage vinyl records he'd gotten shipped for the occasion sat in the corner. He wondered why he even go this extra mile, but figured since it wasn't often that he could humble their Kais Zenix, he'd better put in some effort. He pushed the furniture against the walls to clear the center, then opened the door when it rang. "Hamid..." "Kais..." The usual greeting. Hamid watched Kais enter, still wearing his team hoodie underneath his biker's jacket, looking profoundly uncomfortable.

"So... who is the lucky lady?" Hamid asked, unable to resist.

Kais shot him a glance that could kill.

"Or the unlucky one, I won't judge."

Kais started taking off his jacket. "Villarosa."

"Villarosa? The Amazon giantess?" Hamid snickered, picturing the two of them, with Ava's six-foot-plus frame next to Kais's more compact build. "You want me to teach you the follower's part, then, or wha--?"

"No."

"Of course not." Hamid quickly said. "How could I mistake you for anything but the gentleman."

Hamid unbuttoned his pinstriped dress shirt's sleeves, rolling them up as he moved to his collection, selecting a record. Crackle and noise. Then the first melancholic notes of the bandoneón started their lesson.

"First things first. Wear something nice. No hoodies. Second of all," Hamid positioned himself in front of Kais, breathed in. How would he possibly teach this to him? He inhaled and braced himself. "Tango isn't about steps. It's about the feeling."

"This is stupid. Feelings get people killed." Kais muttered.

"It also gets them kissed." Hamid grinned knowingly. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We'll start with the embrace." Hamid moved in, then was taken aback when he saw Kais' face shooting lightning. "Alright..." Hamid held his distance, and instead only struck the pose. "Look. Your right hand on her back, her left hand on your shoulder. Her right hand in yours."[/color]

Hamid began to walk through the Tango basic 8-step, open-step-cross-resolution. "Don't rush through it. And don't push or pull. Just make your intention known with this here..." he pointed at the Al-Saqr falcon splayed across his hoodie's chest. "From the chest, bang, straight out. She has to feel your intention."

For the next hour, they worked through the basics. The ocho figure eights, the parada to signal a pause in her step, even a little embellishment here and there, with Kais' commenting they were a "waste of energy", much to Hamid's amusement. But most of all it was awkward and uncomfortable and nothing like anything Kais had ever done.

"Don't overthink it," Hamid eventually said. He moved in, grabbed Kais' hands into the tango embrace to show what he meant, then started sweating when he realized what he had just done. His whince lasted a few seconds that felt like hours before he realized that he wasn't getting punched in the face... The man actually let him.

"Look," He said carefully. "You're trying to control everything. But that's not how it works. You don't win a tango, yeah? Just... be there. With her. In the moment. Enjoy it."[/color]

Kais thought about it, then said. "Again... Show me the turn one more time."

At the end of the lesson, Kais nodded once, curtly. "Hamid."

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

The younger pilot blinked, clearly not expecting that. "You're... welcome?" Hamid smiled, and decided to slap Kais on the shoulder.

"Don't push it, junior." Kais responded.

---

---

The address Ava had sent led to a small club in the Liberdade district. Unassuming brick, blaring music and fog machines turned up to 11 that drowned out his approach. At the back. 2nd floor. Private suite.

And at the back, up at the 2nd floor, at said private suite, Ava Villarosa stood in the doorway. Her curly hair was pulled back, her gaze ready for business, her dress... tactical.

"Zenix."

"Ava."

Kais entered. Ava looked back out the door, closed it, locked it, then swiveled to face him.

"What happened to Layla? Is it true? IS she braindead?"

Kais stopped in his track. His posture grounded.

"I don't take kindly to paddock gossip, Ava... Where did you hear that?"
"I don't believe for a second you care about gossip. You're hiding something. I'm going to give you a chance. And don't play games with me Zenix. Bea knows."
"Bea? How--?"
"How?" Ava laughed, and there was no humor in it. "Bea's been different... Scared of something. Did you see her at the Singapore dinner? Didn't even say goodbye. Not even to me. I thought we were losing her. She mentioned things. Things she couldn't possibly know unless..."
"Unless someone was broadcasting..." Kais whispered, and remained silent.
"Layla. Braindead. You. She mentioned you, Kais. Like you were involved in something." Ava stepped closer.
The silence stretched.
"You're right," Kais said finally. "Layla had... something happen to her..." he said carefully. "Neural feedback loop overloaded her after Montreal. She's... non-responsive. Moved to a research facility. The team is doing everything they can to help her."
"And you didn't think to tell anyone? To tell me?"
"What would I have told, huh? That Layla pushed herself so hard she burned out her own brain? Or that we found disappeared code in our systems afterwards. Fragments that might have been planted by a competitor? By Apex' data dump? Or should I say yours?"
Ava's jaw tightened. Her posture shifted. Things were personal now. "You want to talk about that data dump? About things being planted? Fine." Her voice dropped.
"Twelve years ago. Atacama Lithium Extraction Facility. I was fresh out of flight school, running patrol there for the Air Force, joint Union peacekeeping op." She laughed with a bitter edge. "And then, one night, the facility just went dark. Gunfire over the comms. By the time we scrambled, it was over. Seventeen dead. Workers. Security. And..." She stopped.
"And?" Kais prompted quietly.
"And Reya." The name came out as if she had to force it out. "Reya Vásquez. Comms officer. Overnight shifter at the relay station. And she was mine. Used to talk to her over the radio all the time. We were supposed to meet after her rotation ended, you know... Have breakfast. Watch the sunset." Ava's hands curled into fists at her sides.
"The official report was mostly classified. But in there were some small clues. Strange DNA markers in the forensic traces." Ava's eyes locked onto his. "Yours. Traced it right back to the leaked genebank heritage that was in that Apex dump. So don't lie to me!" She stepped closer, close enough that he could see the slight tremor in her augmented arm. "Was it you at Atacama? WAS IT YOU, ZENIX?"

---

---

"It wasn't me," Kais said finally. "I was still in rehabilitation when Atacama happened. Neural reconditioning. You can check the records. I didn't know about Atacama. Not specifically. But I've heard... rumors, about some of us who were approached, reprogrammed for jobs that created instability in resource-rich regions. The kind that justified... consolidation." Kais repeated. "If someone from my batch was at Atacama, they weren't acting alone. And they weren't acting for themselves."

Kais thought about his experience. "And... I think I am starting to understand something else."

Ava scoffed. "Enlighten me."

"You found those files in Apex's data dump. The same dump that contained code fragments we think might have caused Layla's accident. The same code that might have tripped you up at Luna. Now Bea's been acting strange." He began pacing, his tactical mind fully engaging with the puzzle.

"Someone, Amy perhaps, or whoever's pulling her strings, is seeding information. Specific information. Targeted at each of us."

Ava's eyes narrowed. "What, you're saying she wanted me to find those records?"

"I'm saying someone's playing divide and conquer. You get files that make you suspect me. Bea gets something that makes her paranoid. Layla's neural integration gets tripped into overdrive. And now we're all busy fighting each other..." He looked at his own hands, "or fighting ourselves..." He looked up at Ava, "...that we never look up to see who's behind it."

"Pretty words, Zenix. Deflects blame nicely. But pretty words are easy. Reya is still dead. Layla is still..." She gestured vaguely, then shook her head, and walked to the door. There would be no resolution here. And yet, her hand rested on the handle for a long moment.

"I understand. You don't trust me. I don't blame you."

"I don't think you do understand, Zenix." Now she looked back, and her expression was something Kais had seen before. On battlefields. On people who had nothing left to lose. "You expect me to form a unified front, against what, a three-time champion? Against whatever shadow corporation is backing her experiments? Or against you?"

She breathed in. Opened the door. Looked back one last time. "I told you to stay in the light, Zenix. You have no idea what's coming."

She left. The door closed behind her. No tango was done that night.

---

When Kais finally left the club, he could still feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Somewhere out there, Amy Stirling was three steps ahead of all of them all the time. Amy had played them. Or whoever was above her. Feeding them bits of info, then watching them tear each other apart while the real game played out beyond their grasp. But there was no reason the game's rules couldn't be changed on her.

He pulled out his PDA and began to type.

---

He stared at the screen for a moment, then opened a new conversation thread.

---

He sent both messages before he could second-guess himself.

---

Uncharacteristically, and contrary to what she said in the interview, Bea actually kept it patient. She spent the first few laps just probing the defenses. She made her move through Descida do Lago, her brand of deep lunge driven more by guts than conscious thought, unfortunately lasting just two corners until Amy came back. The weather turned foul, a tap of a programmable button on the control stick switching her HUD to the LIDAR-based wireframes that had worked so well in Japan.

”We’re gaining on the straights.”
”Overtake between Junção to Senna?”
”Seems best. Right now, focus on closing the gap, you’ll need to be close to keep her back through Senna.”
”I’ll be wide. Just need to get ahead.”
”And mind the visibility, please.”
”I can see that I can’t see, yes.” She chuckled.
”What is this, ‘I know that I know nothing?’ ” Alistair joked back.

Bea tried to keep the fight going, but she kept her charge in reserve for the long straight coming up just a few corners away, hopefully passing and using it there to put some distance between herself and Amy.
Of course Amy came back, powered by God knew what space magic.
”Gah. Fell for that.”

And just like planned, coming into Junção, Bea struck. And it didn’t work. Going wide, Bea felt the repulsors’ tug on the ship and as she tried to get out of it, the ship tore off from under her, suddenly facing the wrong way.

”Hold! Hold…” Alistair raised his voice preemptively to get through the red haze he’d learned to anticipate.
”FUCK!” She smacked the side of the canopy.
”Clear, go.” Alistair finally gave the all clear by the time 12 ships had gone past.
”Oh come on! She pushed me off.” Bea groaned.
”Copy, we’re pushing it to the stewards.”
”Don’t bother.” She snapped back, ”They did nothing in Africa, what makes you think this will be different? Steward’s room needs to grow a bloody spine fir-.”
”Red flag, red flag, turn nine.”
”Oh, come ooooon…”
”Kelly is in the repulsors, keep to the inside. Pull into the garage, we’ll check for damage while we have the chance.”
”Fans must be loving this part of the season.” She sighed, ”Not our fans, but everyone else, oh my. I don’t think there’s any damage, I have no warnings and the handling feels alright.”

The rest of the race passed without any excitement in the Carrera garage. No, that would likely come after.
”Damn it.” She sighed as she passed the finish line just outside fo points, ”Sorry, lads. Today was free points.”
”It is what it is. Ship’s in one piece at least, we’ll talk more during the debrief.”

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode 15: The Art of Racing

---

”Bea, two from two races to forget, that move looked like such a close call in the stewards.”

“Yeah, we had a failure in the throttle-stick linkage.” Bea sighed. ”This one’s all on me. From the cockpit, it looked doable in the moment, but after seeing the replays…” She shook her head, ”It wasn’t, this one’s inexcusable. I owe a bunch of apologies to people this time around, Amy and stewards included.
Big props to Ava for trying to pick up what I dropped, good recovery drive, and passing Jen is nothing to sneeze at either.”

”Your recovery from 14th was admirable, it looks like the mid-table of the grid are putting up more and more competitive performances. Do you still think Zygon can be caught in the constructors?”

”Well, Flo would eat any one of us for breakfast in a competitive ship and I wouldn’t call Jen in a Silver Apex ship ‘mid-table’ either.” Bea shook her head, ”But honestly, that ‘Zygon fight’ ship sailed, wrecked and sank to the bottom of the ocean when I fucked it at Hawaii. Not that you can convince the suits, they don’t see the sport, they just smell money and have a meltdown when reality disagrees with them. But that’s life.” She shrugged with a tired smile after a brief pause.
”Now, if you’ll excuse me,” She pointed over her shoulder, the usual pep returning. ”I have a well-deserved bollocking to attend.”

---

Mate0: I’m tired, boss. Finally admitting it doesn’t score points.
ForzaGl0ria: [link]
DohnJoe: yo, dude, chill
TruckerTim: What do you expect from Italians, they have pasta water for cerebrospinal fluid.
Sol_de_Mayo: Sandals at the ready, don’t make us throw.
Briat77: Shoes flying through the air at the next race like: [link]
MissedApex: Not Bea not breaking the ship because she still hasn’t figured out the name of the next one.
GalwayGirl: Our scatterbrained bean willing a crash out of existence with indecision.
MadBea: I don’t care how hard you throw a shoe just as long as you never use those words in my vicinity ever again.
IronBeer: Sandals are cheaper than composites, maybe threats by ballistic footwear is the economical answer.
GaryFromIndiana: Don’t aim for the limbs to make sure the message gets across.
NorthWest: WALDGAARD GONE FUCK YEEEEEEES!
SmolNjol: Who hurt you?
NorthWest: He did. Me and my sanity.

---

Beatrix. Bellatrix. Wanna see commentators do this one.
Zero: I guess she uses the shorthand for a reason. What did she say, “Only boring people call her ‘Beatrix’ ” ?
MadBea: And Kais.
GalwayGirl: i love the implication of you being too scared to call Kais boring.
MadBea: Yes 😛

---

Bea Welcome to the madhouse, Bella.

Bea @Astrid Do we get told why switch now or are you sticking up for Bjorn like a good teammate?

---

Bea sat in her living room, race replay playing on the TV for the last five hours. External shots, internal shots, helmet cam, telemetry…

She should have seen that.

She would have seen it if she used the neural link like it was meant to be.

But she didn’t.

She toned it down to barebones, driving the ship like the AG equivalent of regional rally and relying on her eyes when the ship could have told her there wasn’t enough space there. León had been right to be furious this time, and unlike Pablo’s tantrum, this one came from someone who actually understood what he was talking about.

She almost picked up the phone to call Lúcio to expect changing of link parameters on Wednesday morning twice that evening. She’d just picked it up again when she received a message. From Kais…

What?

She read the messages several times, her argument with Ava replaying in her mind before replying.
> No, even went through the logs in depth with my neural link specialist. But I never trusted a lot of this tech in the first place, it’s hard to get burnt when you hardly turn the stove on.
> Let me know the time and place.

Technically she wasn’t lying. Her problem wasn’t experienced with the ship, which is what Kais asked about. Hers was more of a ’pilot issue,’ in a way. She felt like she had a lot to say to Kais, but at the same time didn’t know if she trusted him with it.

But that was a problem for future Bea to deal with. Present Bea just closed the messaging app instead of messaging Lúcio.

She’d rather race shopping trolleys than end up like Amy or Layla.

---

Outro to Brazil

"Well, what a race that was, and Brazil turned out to be everything we expected and more...and wow, so many big moments. Rory, what about Amy and Beatrix coming close in the early stages?" Rosie started, as she turned to Rory and Aurora, on the presenting panel, the camera capturing the circuit behind.

"Beatrix Ward's spin looked absolutely gutting. So much potential there, she's been so unlucky, but as they say, you make your own luck in Formula AG. There's a pilot in there that looks so capable, but she's learning the hard way that consistency is king, and one incredible win doesn't represent progress for the team from Buenos Aires. I imagine she's feeling down, but, to put the ship in places it would never have belonged at the start of the season, that must be promising." Rory replied, the experienced commentator providing a bit of insight,

"Absolutely, and well, Carrera will have a long fight if they want to compete for 5th, as Zygon seems to just peel away. Cassie Neves may not have been all over the season at the start, but like her replacement at Valkyrie, is that indicative of next year's gauntlet she's put down?"

"Yes, Paul Mulder, well, we weren't sure about him at the start of the season, but look at him now. Not just two wins but more podiums, and he seems so comfortable. I know Alexander Knight will be kicking himself, but, he's been an absolute rock to that team. If they're building future success around him, I imagine the management must be so pleased they took a risk on him, especially after losing Neves." Rory added, Rosie chuckling.

"Yes, and who could forget what Kais Zenix did this race. He's such a dark horse, so brooding, but all the best pilots are like that! There's that ability to just be so calculated and relentless, he doesn't look like he cracks under pressure, I would not want him in my rear camera!" Rosie replied, as the crew laughed, looking back at Amy, on the top step in the footage.

"And then there's Stirling. So many doubts, and there's so many rumours that the neural link has been playing up for her this season too. How she pulls a gap like that is incredible, but she just has this dark art to her, like she knows how to bait other pilots. It's just incredible, and well, she has built one hell of a lead going into the last few races of the season, so who knows what might happen next." Rory added, looing back at the footage. "Apart from you know, Nora Kelly, if she manages to do some kind of miracle, but knowing her, that might just be possible...." The camera turned back to Aurora, as she knew they were close to wrap up here.

"Well, on that note, we thank you so much for watching, and we'll be taking a break before we head to the Great Barrier Reef. We hope you enjoyed our broadcast and we'll see you next time on Delta Hyper!"

---

Closing Montage- Brazil

Soundtrack: Nia Archives & Clipz - Maia Maia

The closing montage plays.

It's a riot.

Fans roaring in the crowd.

Tattoos on backs in the 100% humidity.

The rain pouring down, lightning crackling in the morning, showers pounding in the afternoon.

The start.

The spin out.

The crash.

The highs of punching sky on the podium.

The low of sitting by a ship and thinking your title charge was over.

Brazil gave, and took so, so much, but in the colourful flags, tifos, facepaint and prosthetics that many of the fans wore, this was a place that was wild.

And a place that loved a party. A place that loved noise. Art. Culture. A world of sport. But a world of speed. And kids wearing shirts from Carrera Condor and Silver Apex running through the stairs of the colourful Neo-Favela.

The camera panning out to the sunset and the circuit at Interlagos, and the setting of Brazil, 2094, an instant classic that felt like nothing else anywhere else.

---

Cardio in Lulea

The work between Brazil and Australia began, as no doubt, Trixie had seen and been involved in Nordic Call's prep for next weekend in Australia, back at base in Lulea.

In the green forested room, the walls all projected up and the two bicycles set up there, set up for V02 maxing and calibrating augments and checking cardio, essential to pilots. Astrid was on her bike, Trixie was on hers, and the AR/VR setup with a neural link felt like being in a rural Swedish forest, in summer, rather than the bleak rain that way outside right now. Pedalling hard, Astrid saw the meter go up for wattage, and smiled, backing down, as she looked up and with the target hit, selected an exit and got spat out of the neural link's connection back into reality.

She pulled her leg over the frame, watching as Trixie came back in from virtual reality back into this one.

"Hey." She had been quiet to Trixie, averse to her noisy, loud nature. But didn't care so long as she dragged the ship up the results. The vibe at Nordic Call had been more depressing than the fact they soon had near-permanent darkness to look forwards to.

"Your cardio work looks good. Doctor Kjelle has helped me out a little with supplements. You may benefit a little from it." She was quiet. Matter of fact. Finns were like that. Almost as if, they weren't being rude, just being direct.

With it, Astrid left Trixie to it, knowing that behind the scenes, there was still plenty of work to do, and an upgrade to resolve.

---

Remembering Reya

Ava sighed, breathing out, leaning against the wall, looking at her phone. The offer letter was interesting, but MMR was not Carrera. Even with everything with Bea lately, she had to admit, being a No1 at another team was nothing on the rise this team had gone through this year.

Even for an older pilot, she'd learned, developed, grown so much. Was this the right move? She had no idea. She wanted to cry a lot about Reya. That memory coming back when he said it.

But she realised Bea was coming from somewhere too. About all of it. She was so fucking stupid. Why did she think she could play anyone? Anything?

Maybe the realisation was coming home. Someone was doing something. But what was Amy's angle? Was she gonna die? Was it someone else, beyond the grid? This wasn't some clear cut detective novel. Everyone had a motive. And everyone had a reason to benefit from nearly two dozen augmented superhumans receiving the best biotech medicine and neural link work anyone could ask for.

But for now, it was back to work. She left the little apartment room, and headed outside into the now warm springtime sun, clicking her hands together, ready for another sim session for Australia.

She'd make her choice soon. Sign that paperwork. But for now, she was a Carrera employee, and even with every doubt in her mind over Kais, over all of it, she knew all that mattered was staying on track.

---

CORAL /// OCEAN //// DEEP

Soundtrack: Tourist - So

The sound of water lapping up against the reef.

It was still abundant. But the clock seems to tick forwards. Time accelerates. Night and day blurring. Faster, and faster.

And the coral bleaching.
"Record temperatures have never been seen like this in Sweden...."

"And we enter the fifth week of record breaking 50C temperatures in Italy....."

"The UK has seen the worst flooding in over half a century..."

"The fire has spread throughout southern Belarus and the marshlands, with fears of fires spreading towards the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone marking fear that..."

Climate catastrophe. Unwinding.

"Floods decimate Los Angeles, with over three months of rain falling in under three days...."

"Permafrost methane bubbles are accelerating temperature change in the Arctic, as the Russian government denies the failure of a containment scheme..."

"AI has driven mass unemployment across New York, but now protesters are angry that reservoirs have begun to run dry, something that...."

"Sea level rise has creates hundreds of thousands of climate refugees from Tuvalu, creating more scenes of residents fleeing on container ships across the Pacific, and demanding reparations from carbon emitting nations..."

"Alaska has had a recent surge in residents, with locals coming into conflict with the United States plan to rehouse residents of flooding in Louisiana last year..."

"Refugees have flooded into Tunisia, as the entire population of Chad is declared stateless from last year's sandstorms and aquifer depletion, with the conflict continuing...."

The sight of refugees, shanty towns as far as the eye could see.

Water becoming a commodity. Food becoming important. Life depleting and passing like the sand on the ocean floor.

If any of this was making you uncomfortable, then the sight of the footage would seem far, far worse. A crisis in 2024 was a tidal wave in 2054.

It met a breakdown in order.

The kettle almost going off.

The sea back in view.

The coral turning white.

Then splintering.

Breaking.

Dying.

Shattering.

The images flicker, with riots, protesting. Disorder.
"Over 40% of all insects species have been thought to been made extinct due to....."

"And in regional news, the EU has capped beef sales, owing to shortages..."

"Microplastics have been found to be in concentrations that the WHO describes as fatal within a decade in Western African aquifers, with bioaccumulation on levels never seen before..."

"And on Wednesday, Czech citizens rioted as bread shortages have left one in four hungry as a total failure of the wheat crop across North America and Russia intensifies, sources reporting that....."

"Britain faces the worst migrant crisis yet, as over two million refugees attempted to cross the Channel last year, with many residents fleeing fires in southern Spain and Portugal..."

"Ghost Dieback has irreversibly affected a vast array of non-deciduous trees, some experts suggesting due to a dormant viruses in the Canadian Tundra have killed the homogenous species..."

"Amsterdam and Utrecht were evacuated today after Storm Cala, and the subsequent surge of 2.5m has overwhelmed much of the northern Netherlands, forcing over two million into Germany, with the European Union declaring a crisis...."

Collapse. Unravelling. The camera under the water now, as the ocean, before it, died, emptying into dust. Interspersed with images. Headlines.

"The Arabic Union today incorporated Egypt within its borders following a short but brutal war, stating that control of the Nile was critical, as thousands flee their homes, villages and settlements..."

"The third month of war on the Korean Peninsula, as South Korean forces repelled a chemical warfare attack in the east of the country, as the death toll continues to climb..."

"Forest fires have ravaged Chile, driving rainforests into ash...."

"In Mexico, the civil war has spilled into Texas and California, as protesters demand water, and the American government, already collapsing under President....."

"Conflicts within China erupted today, as the collapse of the rice crop has left hundreds of thousands hungry, and seemingly no response from the Beijing..."

"The Arctic Route has seen skirmishes between Canadian and Greenlandic vessels, the two allies brought to blows over control of the Northwest Passage, as the Arctic has been wholly ice-free for over five years...."

Takeover. Hostilities. Violence. Time ticks. It's hard to track because the years blurred. But from 2030 to about 2085, any one of the headlines could have been plucked.

"We're seeing.....images of widespread destruction, and reports of multiple tens of millions of casualties following the total burst event of the Three Gorges Dam...."

"Scenes of massive evacuation, as the Chadrahani NPP was damaged in a terrorist attack early this morning, and the residents of Mumbai have been advised to seek shelter, casualties are in the...."

"London today, after a catastrophic failure of the Thames Barrier was flooded, with estimates saying the damage could top...."

"Houses in New South Wales have been converted to closed oxygen systems to avoid smoke inhalation, as the wildfires outside of Canberra continue to rage, residents angry at the lack of government action as the air turns red and unbreathable...."

"Explosions have been seen at the Istanbul Park race and have injured twenty, as increasing insurgent activity in Turkey seeks control of the government following the collapse of water supplies, putting pressure on..."

"The massive forest fire in central Siberia is set to be the largest in human known history, as temperatures in Novosibirsk pierced 45C today..."

"The conflict in Bolivia today intensifies, as Paraguayan forces move towards La Paz, seeking to install...."

"We are in the third year of the conflict between ECOWAS and the Central African Alliance, and with neither side set to back down over water, oil and mining rights, reports of mass murder and starvation are continuing to proliferate, the casualty toll today approaching 40 million in one of the bloodiest fights in...."

"The squalid, tight conditions in the refugee camps have been a perfect breeding ground for the now rapidly virluent sickness, some dubbing it the Uzbek Plague, infecting over 70% of all residents in North Africa and Central Asia, being so virulent that it is even being found on Luna...."

"Fires rage for the eighth summer in a row in Los Angeles, as the northern half of the city evacuates, with local police left behind and struggling to restore order..."

"Some say the environmental damage from the rare earth tailings pond has contaminated the Karakoram Aquifer, leaving over fourty million without drinking water...."

Voices. Screaming into the void.

"Humanity feels like it's at a breaking point, and scientists ask, is there any way back? Widespread collapse is imminent, so where are our politicians? Where are the billionaires mining asteroids?"

"Screw the Moon, we need to save Earth, all of us, billions left behind!"

"What's there left to save? There's a dying planet, and we need to be more resilient, to the stars! We're finally mastering our bodies, changing our genome to survive higher heat, can't we work with that and find out what it would take to spread our wings from this place?"

"Can't take everyone with us, idiot!"

Anger. People always arguing. A message that rings to now that there's no clear way forward.

But a firebreak is.

And then, the coral snaps into frame as the camera passes by a broken chunk in cloudy, acidic waters. And suddenly, reforms and magically reappears.

"The work by the team at the University of Otago suggests that with implementation of the adaptive biopolymer, coral dieback could reverse by the end of the decade, reversing bleaching..."

More chunks of coral magically heal.

"Bioengineering has given wheat a new lease of life, growing in almost 20% of the water required to grow historic strains, and the open source patent has allowed for massive restoration of badlands across the Canadian Shield..."

"Massive investment into geoengineering is unlikely to turn the tide, but created massive rainstorms following a six month drought in Spain, proving the technology's use..."

"The intense heat of the Arabian Desert has been tamed, as new geoengineering methods have created frequent rains and pumped CO2 into former oil wells..."

"Efforts to create a rewilded Iowa have taken credence, as the Federated American States move to cordon off the former New Dustbowl state, with enormous tree planting efforts funded by...."

Hope. As the coral suddenly turns back into colour, from grey, to pinks, oranges, reds, aquamarines.

"In India, the release of the Bengal Tiger, after full extinction marks a turning point, their genetically engineered reintroduction shows that increasingly novel approaches are being taken to keystone species..."

"The project aims to restore Europe's glaciers, using mirrors and new satellite technology, combined with significant cloud seeing efforts....."

"Lab grown meat has been accepted by over 95% of blind taste tested participants, providing a vital source of protein, with the new Open Nutricor model being compared to the Haber Process..."

And then fish return. A flurry. The render looks real, about as close to reality as you could be, and with a neural link, you could reach out and physically feel it.

"Universal Basics has not been without its critics, but as the European Union introduces Day 1 of the trial, one has to ask, will their successes inspire others?"

"The Amazon Haven project, aimed to create a self-regenerating rainforest has been wildly successful, reversing centuries of forest clear cut in Brazil, creating an enormous carbon store within a decade..."

"Mara City has proven a runaway success, with many hailing the new African city as a hub for sustainability and a blueprint for cities to reduce resident impacts..."

"The ending of enormous mining projects in Indonesia as GlenHorzion was met with rapturous joy from the locals, as efforts turn to restoration and restoration in Sumatra..."

"Today marked a momentous occasion for the fossil fuel industry in the Middle East, as oil production stopped in Saudi Arabia for the first time in over a century and a half, as algal biofuel production replaces...."

"Czechia today celebrated the advent of a new border forest with Poland, seeking to create one of the most advanced rewilding schemes in human history...."

"The first summer of sea ice being found at the 74th parallel was celebrated by NGOs, as efforts to reduce global temperatures bear fruit..."

"Los Angeles today was declared a fire-free zone for five years in a row, as residents in the Inland Empire finally return following new rewilding of the plains...".

The music increases.

The lens pulls slowly forwards, a kaleidoscope of colour, and this is all on show.

The world is still hurt. Images show deserts where cities used to be. Fundamental shifts in human patterns. Destroyed American cities left abandoned for new. The grit of Buenos Aires. The shimmering glass of Singapore. The cyberpunk-like blocks of Tokyo. The neo-utopian New Hilo. London. Los Angeles. Tallinn. Paris. Auckland. Istanbul.

A world much the same, but a world that couldn't ever remain.

And here. The Great Barrier Reef.

And in amongst the coral, the presence of one, lone diver, in a green and light blue wetsuit.

"We hurtled towards collapse.." Harrison's voice narrated, the Aussie back in picture for this intro, face to camera, the rebreather see-through, revealing his face and his hair to all.

"But we survived. Finding purpose to protect our home. Overcoming. And looking after each other."

Harrison chuckled.

"Beautiful, isn't it? Bloody ripper! We got our coral back. And we then get to go race in it." The voice carried in echo, as he surfaced up, camera following, revealing the engineered bar of sand barely above the sea, the platform, and beyond it, the tubes that formed a granulation point for the Ballycastle Restoration Project.

"Welcome to the Great Barrier Reef."

---

Diving In

Soundtrack: Radiohead and Hans Zimmer- Ocean Bloom

And with it, the team would have been immersed in what was probably one of the most impressive, seamless introductions. Diving backwards off a small rubber dinghy, they were IN almost seamless into that same intro. From dire reminders, to optimism.

To a brighter world, light beaming in through the turquoise sea above.

Bea, Paul, Trixie, Kais, Nora, all five geared up with wetsuits, shown perhaps the pinnacle of something that wasn't quite Luna. It was one of the greatest achievements, because the coral reefs that had died here were being regrown, for thousands of kilometres and protected within an inch of their lives.

All of them wouldn't have seen it in person, outside of a fish tank, given how soon in the changing climate things it had suffered dieback. Pictures, but it would be the same way that people talked about the Great Auk. Which oddly, had been restored in the spate of recent bioengineering that Greenland got so good at.

This was an environment that to some of them, would be like Luna. An underwater paradise, but almost infinite. A hostile place, with no air bar those in their rebreathers cycling their own feed. Coral took hundreds of years to truly flourish, but the efforts to bioengineer and restore this landscape, supported by an enormous mining operation's dividend into a reverse osmosis and calcifying system had turned carbon dioxide into limestone rock.

It wasn't gonna work miracles, but then again, the challenge humanity faced in reversing significant climate change and environmental damage was enormous. Unequal, yes, but it took a global effort and once the threshold past 3C had been spent, some irreversible changes like sea level rise nearly flooding half the Netherlands and big chunks of eastern England, but worse still, mass extinction of insects, plants.

The pilots may have been shielded, but in a rare moment, they were in close contact to perhaps the healing from the past, rather than accelerationism, a restoration of a world that was nearly lost. A sea turtle and their family gracefully above them, casting a shadow of light down into the coral.

And with it, the team would have been immersed in what was probably one of the most impressive, colourful environments they'd seen. Red, pink, turquoise and amber coral contrasted against the crystal clear waters, shoals of fish sweeping through the tenderils of the coral, and. A sunken and mostly rusted out fishing boat formed the catalyst, the iron source for much of this particular reef in Muller Cay, with the rest creating itself. From here, what was once the destroyed ruins of the Great Barrier Reef began regrowing, and life returned with it.

If seeing the Earth from Luna was one thing that would open up the eyes of someone, this was likely to have a similar effect to those who hadn't ever seen it.

They had comms in their high-tech rebreathing apparatus, all adapted for pilots, complicatedly so for Bea, but they'd all likely be enjoying it without many a word to say.

Taking in that almost seeming feeling of being tiny, in amongst massive shoals of fish and even some jellyfish that had sprung up a little out of shot, a place that felt uniquely like a representation of the planet itself.

Surfacing back up, the small platform sat on top of a pile of coral, with lots of biopolymer creating a "pillow" for the platform to sit on, with a sofa right in the middle, a hologram of Aurora standing by it.

"Welcome to the Great Barrier Reef! How did you find that?" Aurora asked, a broad question to everyone, the sunshine intense against water, and smell of salt water ever-present.

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode Sixteen: Water Deep

---

Leave A Trace

The Reef was an unusual place to be, with half of the spit of sand occupied by the bioengineering plant, itself a coral-like built structure that seemed to almost be like the nail of the reef spitting out of the sea, and the other half, a pit box. Building a race track at a literal coral reef was absurd, almost insane when pitched, but it had brought a lot of eyes here.

A very different approach to conservation- if eyes wanted to stay away from environmental destruction, then the NGO behind this had certainly made a pitch that FIAR loved, and well, one thing led to another, and Australia was now represented by the Great Barrier Reef AGP. There weren't any fans given half of the circuit was underwater inside massive reinforced tubes, but the challenge presented by tight, sinewing corners meant that overtakes and the use of MAG banking baked into the glass walls turned this into a fairly mindbending treat for pilots. It meant overtaking was actually possible in spite of the layout, and literally turned the track width into a 3D format. Which, without a neural implant was nothing short of a mindfuck.

So at the back of the paddock where a group of boats sat, Delta Hyper had its couch moved, pilots now geared up before they went out for practice back in front of Aurora, who was as ever, keen to start interviewing. First on the couch was Beatrix Ward.

"Morning Bea! So, instead of a question, we'd like you to do something a little different." The Carrera pilot would be confused, as it immediately cut to the aurora-liveried new pilot in Nordic Call, in a clean, cinematic cut.

They weren't being filmed at the same time. But from the perspective of the viewer, they sort of were? Bellatrix followed.

"Bellatrix, if you've followed Delta Hyper, you know we like to keep you on your toes!" Aurora announced, sitting across from the Nordic Call pilot, Kais next in frame.

"So we spent the weeks between thinking, the audience have so many questions and you answer them on social media...." It cut from Kais to Paul, who was next in frame, who would see the item on the table in front of him.

"But we never asked, what would you like to leave with them? Have a look on the table for what we'd like you to do." Aurora asked Paul, the camera capturing that item in particular of what Aurora meant.

There was a glass bottle.

And on it, a tiny sticky note.

"Leave a message in this bottle you'd like for future generations."

Perhaps this felt very serious, very out of place, but this was asking the pilots a totally different question to the usual kind. About themselves, what they could cook, what they could make. This was actual advice.

Advice from people who had sacrificed literal limb, all of their family's wealth, time, energy, everything to be here, at the very pinnacle. The very top of racing in the world, who worked harder, thought more, took the risks nobody could ever truly understand.

What did they have to say for the audience of 2094?

"What did you write?" Aurora asked, knowing perhaps of all the questions she'd asked, in this place it felt the hardest to address.

Bellatrix Olympus. Nordic.
Road to Australia.
&
Australia Practice.
05-10-2094 to 20-10-2094

Nordic Call Factory

Terrace Meeting.
05-10-2094

It was not raining for once and what the locals considered a good day as they headed out onto a sheltered but open terrace to have an informal meeting about how everyone's weeks were going so far. Of course, the fresh air here was FRESH. aka. Cold by her mind.

Bellatrix was not used to the cold and it showed as she was hugging a warm cup of tea, blanket over her legs and close to the fire outside as the team enjoyed the outdoor meeting on a terrace for the fresh air. Even the warm coat and insulated leggings had not adapted her to go from a UK weather to a Nordic weather where snow practically needed a bulldozer in winter.

“Headaches, weird, my balance is off and my Augments need to balance with the new neural stuff, updated driver links, that stuff but I'll be race ready come Australia.” A mechadrie snaked out her back and adjusted her blanket but it was not as controlled as before. She was recovering from the AI in her spine adapting, the neural updates and so for the more advanced control set up and feedback systems of the top level AG racer were not gonna run properly off Junior AG tech.

Oh. They had been gentle and safe as they could but Bellatrix had needed a fairly serious upgrade to meet the new standards, it was not as bad when she got her first major racing mods though, and nothing like her own augments she had growing up. She could push through as long as it was not too demanding.

“A week at most, and you'll be meshed, it's only been 2 days. You're doing fine Bellatrix, you power through like Astrid.” The team Doctor said giving the update and responding, it was not detailed but this was just a general update meeting, he had been pressed, rushed but now it was mostly monitoring and such from his team. The ship engineers were not having such easy days.

“It's on schedule. Not perfect, but it will race. We made the custom pilot controls, pod and added tungsten mass to make it balanced and race legal.” The woman said with no preamble who was representing the engineers as most work.

“Marketing, how are socials looking? Same with merchandise, what we got for Australia?” The Team Principal who was hosting the meeting asked, he did not care if more senior people were busy, this was just to keep his finger on the pulse of the team. Someone dropped another log on the fire for their resident British woman, it was not even true winter yet. She would have an experience.

The meeting carried on.

…

Nordic Call Factory

Cardio Room.
12-10-2094

Her legs burned but Bellatrix did not quit as the rolling hills of Sweden lush in thick dark evergreens in sunshine and a nice pine smell hit her nose. It was certainly nicer than going out into the wet, cold and rather grey outside…but was that not the Welsh Borders year round! The trees smelt more air freshener but it was nice in its own joys.

Her ability to marvel at this simulated landscape was limited by the level she needed to push and the big target level / average power levels constantly telling her when she slacked off or her rhythm was interrupted by the virtual terrain changes.

Astrid was hard to read and rarely gave away much, quite reserved and very much engaged with Bellatrix on her own terms but it worked and had adapted to calling her Trixie which at least seemed a positive step rather than just Bellatrix. She stretched her out getting off the bike, feeling comfortable enough to also drop the active systems that blended in her arm and leaving metal visible to her shoulder under her work out gear from her left arm and lower leg ultra lightweight metal plating. The spine could never be hidden.

“Hey, nice ride Astrid.” She said feeling the burn but also the euphoria of hard exercise. 5 foot nothing yes, Bellatrix had to be in good shape as a Junior driver. Astrid cut straight to it and honestly while jarring she could get used to the peculiar nature of her co-pilot, she meant well even if they were very much different people and how they expressed it. “I'll mention it when I have my next appointment. Thank you.” Bellatrix said as Astrid was practically already turning away as the British woman finished. She had tried to invite her to join her for an afternoon tea lunch before the Finn was...the Finn... Someone explained Astrid just was like that.

Astrid was Astrid. She never let anyone change her. Bellatrix respected that.

She spent a few minutes sitting down and let her AI run diagnostics and poke at her limbs' data ports till they bleeped cheerfully reporting green and a 97.8% response rate vs prior averages. Not bad, she would be race fit come time. Now she really did need a shower probably at temperatures her ex would have considered a lava bath.

The metallic tentacles that had snaked around her wrist as they worked began to retract away again, for anyone else they would freak out likely. She had them for years, an extra limb that felt entirely natural.

Nordic Call Factory

Sim City Racing. Long days. Fast racing.
14-10-2094

The Simulated car was not real. Everything felt real including the pressure, the pain, G force and the thump in her back when the grav motors hit full force acceleration down the straight.

This was another session on the simulation as she practiced for harsh weather and heavy rain lashed the track, winds tried to push you and you had to dodge waves and time maneuvers perfectly. The exercise was a race but a race under the worst conditions they could make up. Motors had failed before, bad grid starts, penalty's and more had been thrown in to give the new pilot a trial by fire before she faced the real thing.

She was an experienced Junior pilot but they made her earn her way up from the start. That was honestly for the best and Bellatrix felt better as she beat each challenge or least got better, faster and her lap times were improving even under duress.

Darting through a gap she made an aggressive attempt to exploit the gap she had been working down the last two laps and spun out badly. She already knew what the debriefing would be, good run, smooth handling but too hard on the controls, she had over compensated and pushed the ship beyond its limits.

But this was why she was doing this. Again. And again. And again. Every mistake in practice, every mistake and error on sims was a lesson learned for the real thing when she could not make mistakes.

“Reset. We're gonna do a false start drill again.”

Bellatrix just nodded and closed her eyes, the sim Reset and did a mind bending and eye searing fuzzy change. The second time she learned to close her eyes.

“Ready. 30 seconds Bellatrix.” The voice said again as the sim paused and loaded the new scenario.

…

“Reset. Night race.”

“Reset. Low visibility”

“Reset. Defend the place from simulated Amy.”

“Reset. Keep in points.”

“Reset. Keep power below 80%. Manage engine temperature.”

“Reset. Manual mode. Ship to pilot link failure “

“Reset. I want a safe inter team challenge. We got Astrid for this one.”

“Reset. The test driver is P8. I want you to take them in 3 laps. Second half. Time your speed.”

“Close down. We were done for the day. Great work, we go over all this in the morning. Prepare to disengage from simulation.”

One of the people had to help her out and give her a hand before she found her feet properly again. She had been in sim racing for over twice a normal race, testing skills, endurance and her ability to keep coming back despite the knock backs, challenges and keep processing instructions. She had managed it but her mind and body needed an early night's sleep to recover before they did the detailed post debrief with the race engineers, planners and others.

Training had been tough for Junior, but this was a whole new level. However, Bellatrix was not a racing pilot because she quit when she felt tired or a muscle hurt. She kept going. Pain, stress and pressure was fuel. So Bellatrix would be back bright… early…maybe not so bright needing a strong coffee. But be back on it tomorrow.

She needed to be ready to give Australia her all and prove she had what it took. Back right at the bottom of the pile. She needed to earn her place back up the hard way. On the track at 500kph and threading needles of timing like a shark hunting its prey remorselessly and exploiting their mistakes the moment they made them.

Nordic Call Factory

Upgrades & Updates.
15-10-2094

“Hey boss, right over here, you sure about this speed package, seems pretty aggressive, but check her out. She is the best we can do and have her race ready.” The senior engineer hunched inside the car and she slinked out the seat, the men could not so easily work on this part of the ship now they had fitted everything and installed the custom seat etc.

“Thats what Bellatrix chose, I agreed and we need to shake up the pack. Damn that's a tight fit, my teenage daughter would not be comfortable.” The team principal said as he put his head into the driver's pod now fitted with a custom seat, control set ups and various systems which made the small space even smaller. The head up display was active and he tried to view it but looked fuzzy.

“Her ship, but I'm for stability. You have not seen the custom seat spacer bolts, weights and custom padding.” The engineer said humorously and helped her boss not fall over getting his head out. It could be disorienting working on these things. “All control inputs custom, based on Astrid's design and scaled down, got the legal bits fitted and gotta get her synced with it tomorrow morning.” The engineer finished.

The team boss chuckled when the engineer said they had built a race booster seat for the new pilot. The craft was a reserve that had belonged to Bjorn but now was entirely rebuilt, the paint now said “B.Olympus. NC.3. 2094. AG.” on its nose paint and rather standing out for the traditionally more Scandinavian team a Union Jack flag was painted neatly after it. “Sure, spacer bolts. That's what you called them. Good work I know we asked a lot of you, so once we got the sync test and it passed, give the crew a day off, and tell them we pay for a good meal for you in Australia.” The team boss finished as he hummed approvingly even if his eye line did not let him see the holo heads up display in the ship, it was done and the money and energy she had brought allowed them to make a pretty good speed upgrade. He could see the panel was still off and gleaming new parts sat in the anti grav generators pods still exposed with test kits scattered about the bay.

“Thanks Boss. They definitely need it. Booster seat, .. we called it a booster seat.” The Engineer laughed lightly and looked thankful but tired. One more morning and they would be done. Australian food and free beer sounded like a fun bonus and a day off to rest, relax and visit friends and family before they left. Really welcome.

…

Media Headlines

New Driver Official photo release.

Astrid and Bellatrix, Dream team or drama?
Nordic New drivers, exclusive photos.
New Driver, new Nordic?
Super rookie in the making? New promotional images released.
Former Blue Sheep driver seen in first official photos.
New Driver, but will the team work?
Bellatrix Olympus seen with Astrid, friends or foes?
Nordic released the first official team images for the new driver.
Nordics last ditch to save season.
What's new for Nordic people? Can they save a bad season?
Formula Junior joins Nordic. Too late.
Bellatrix Olympus. New Nordic pilot. A profile.

…

A03

Black Coffee problems.
17-10-2094

Racing Hearts. Chapters 1 to 6 now live.
A Fanfiction by starship2765.

Rated. Mature.
Tags. Astrid/ Bellatrix. Romance. Updating quickly. Romance. Astrid needs a hug. Beelatrix needs a hug. Eventual Smut. More to follow. Astrix ship. Did I say Smut? Yes, wait it's better with build up.

AG racing Gin queen Astrid Thorditter takes a nervous protege under her wing, showing her the frozen face hides a beating heart.

Bellatrix wondered if it was rather egotistical to look up your own fan fic but it was curious, thanks to Ren sending her the link and with multiple laugh gifs. OK, it was … scarily well written for the pace of updates. OK, go weird Lesbian fanfic, chapter 1…

She broke up with her girlfriend, Astrid was in a cheap hook up, oh this was good? The whole naked sauna room was so cliche she could not break out laughing. She had created an account under an anonymous email and did best to use public information to make sure to be not exposed.

She wondered if she should show the Finn, but decided against it. That would be awkward. Keep this little one to herself, oh.. oh. No. That could not be. Astrid brought coffee and fic Bellatrix took it black. No. Just no.

Cliche Lesbian scenes were well written, even the tattoo she never had and a dark family secret but take her coffee without sugar…black? He'll not. She had to fix this. This was a crime.

Comments. Chapter 6.
Bellblue56.
“Hello. Great writing, really fast updates! I'm pretty sure in an interview in a race magazine, like last year, that Bellatrix only likes her coffee sweet. *link* “

“Black coffee would be a bad ice breaker, even with gin in it. Make it sweet.

Kind regards, Bellblue56. “

Abba International Airport.

First Class Poster
18-10-2094

Bellatrix had her hood up as she passed the now approved wall sized poster off her leaving security zone to get her first class flight to Australia. The image had been created by a fan girl and boy working together to make a fan art that had been posted on Nordics social media. Everyone had jumped on it and official channels were now distributing alongside their own photos.

The fans had been sent some signed merch Nordic and personal by Bellatrix and given this and next season's premium Hyper Digital Definition access each. Between Nordic and Ren, she was pushed into a corner and just did it. It was easier and saved millions of lives.

The skin tight race suit with added panels was clothing and could be considered vaguely decent but it was very form fitting to extreme, futuristic and reinforced with panels in areas to accentuate her figure. Red hair was loose in the wind and her helmet was under her arm. They even remembered her eyes were gold and not just yellowish brown…

Truth be told they had done a great job but she just wanted to get to Australia and kept her hood up, ear buds on playing a pod cast and dressed comfortably as bright pink trainer heels flashed while she walked through to the first class lounge.

“Your ticket please” The slightly snooty yet well dressed gentleman said as he stood by the door in a smart suit with an air line lanyard on.

“Sure, God Morgan.” she had picked up a little Swedish over her time exposed to the language and people.

He checked the passport and ticket seeing her name and blinked at the woman with red hair in a hoody, leggings, trainers and carrying a well travelled carry on bag. The same woman who was on a large poster with a backdrop of a Nordic forest and a large team logo. The other poster set was far more … shapely. “God Morgan Miss Olympus, the Coffee is on your left as you enter, the breakfast is still being served for next 15 minutes and your complementary bag is near the barista.” He said politely and opened the door for her. He was used to rich people and made it comfortable for her. First class had its perks.

Poster in question.


…

Australia

Great Barrier Reef reborn.
19-10-2094

Bellatrix was in a place she never thought she would be as her momentum pulled her backwards off the boat and sank into the water. Her augments made her balance in the water a little weird and took a minute to fully achieve balance before she kicked off into what was once a myth. A sea of coral, bright colours and even brighter fish that swam between them. The entire place was alive in a way that was entirely alien and yet also represented one of the largest projects to help restore the world's natural wonders.

The wet suit and rebreather were not claustrophobic to the pilot used to such things now especially after Lunar, that had been a real mind fuck the first time, low gravity, masks and gear that was more space than racing equipment.

Drifting slowly she took some pictures to post on a waterproof camera as well as an underwater selfie. “Can you get a picture of me please?” She asked after a quiet 30 minutes just taking in the natural wonders and moving to get a nice spot. Her social media manager would slowly kill her with a blunt spoon if she failed to get anything back for Ren to use.

…

Delta Hyper where drama Queens Bellatrix thought as she surfaced and pulled off her rebreather mask. This Sofa…Sofas? Had appeared on the moon, under water before, in deserts and attic blizzards yet the damn things looked camera perfect every single damn time. What did they do with the sofas…

She let some others go first rather than remembering her unofficial promo art and wondering what her in a wet suit would do to those fans… She would never see the end of it probably. When her turn arrived she had managed to get her hair to look better and had got a comfortable spot on the island. “You sure have a thing for that sofa, it has more air miles than we do.” She said to break the tension before her real answer came. “This is a place I never thought I would ever see like this. Last time I was here we went on a boat tour. It's amazing and a wonder that we barely managed to save it from utter extinction. And yet. I'm swimming through it, in it, seeing it with my own eyes.

Thank you for letting us visit this place and it's been a day I'll never forget. Hopefully Nordics Call race weekend goes as well as this place is restoring itself. We have a new beginning now. For both.” She finished, she had to sell her team's now rebirth of a sort, a fresh start, break the bed press and the bad run. Give them new energy.

…

Pilots Group Chat

She had replied to pilots' chat a little but been so busy, then the mods and neural mods, plus cardio, health and more. She only really had time to glance at it rather than reply.

She doubted the poster would ever go unnoticed though.

Approx 10-10-2094

Bella. Thanks, it's gonna be tough, but I'll be ready for Australia. I. Not sure what I meant to say. Hi. Bye. Gotta see doc again.

Astrid. Trixie is new. Needed New ideas. The end.

Approx 20-10-2094

Astrid. *uploads an image of Bellatix trying to avoid being noticed next to her artistic fan poster headed through the airport.*
Her fans are too cheerful. And loud.

Bella. At least I have clothes. I'm happy to see them. The kid gave me a bracelet.

Astrid. loud. But fast in sims.
*Bella adds a heart emoji*

Bella. I'll take it..

Astrid. Check Callender. Meeting. Main Pit.
*Bella adds a thumbs up*

….

Astrid closed her phone and carried on to her hotel room they had booked into, the track side hotel was far quieter as this track had no huge fan stands too. Bellatrix was loud, a total clash to Astrid, but fast, new and hungry to prove herself. It could work. If loud got upgrades and results. That was acceptable.

Delta Hyper

Pilots interview.
20-10-2094. 11AM.

Beatrix went first as the others waited all fully suited up in race kit minus helmets and other smaller items. They had their full fire proof suits, G protection, built in bracing and whatever else people had chosen to have included.

The suit was custom fit and it was snug but comfortable with her protective under layer though she did not need the back bracing that some pilots had. That came naturally. Boats, that naturally perfect drama Queens of a sofa is ever present and Aurora was perfect as ever, the media had done their magic.

The media did their build up but of course there was a bait and switch. From the grand track to the small boats and seemingly wasn't a little scene. To the pilots and all manner of strange questions asked. Then. The message in a bottle..,

Bellatrix found the other questions easy over the last few weeks, bar the ones someone had asked about explaining why her relationship had ended. That was hard to answer without breaking her word to keep quiet… damn it. They must have followed her closely on social media to have worked that out and they way they achieved it.

But future advice? She tried to inspire her Saplings, future racers, boaters, bikers and riders, but advice? What did she know? Belltatrix was only previously a young junior and hardly a wise old woman with an arm chair and a cup of tea waiting.

She wrote carefully, neatly in a flowing hand she tended to reserve for signing paintings that the confident racers one weakness. The ones she was too scared to show. Then the crash, she had been sent flying off the track, but fear had not won. She had got back into the ship even when she felt scared and when others would have quit.

“Acorns grow into Oaks, Saplings will grow, but you cannot give up. Things get better. Even when they seem darkest. We seen huge but we started small. B. Olympus. X.” She wrote and put into the bottle and popped the cork but let the cameras see. She knew the game, and knew when to play to their advantages.

"Will be fined for throwing these in the water, they protect this place better than Amy holds a first place. Not that i blame them, id be extremely proud of this place too." Bellatix said as she worked her bottle sealed and gave it a kiss to play for the cameras. They wanted their drama and their pound of flesh. That was the price you paid for being an elite pilot. "Or Amy, but we all want the podium top spot. Sorry, not Sorry. We came here to win, and to the best pilot it will go." Bellatix said with a little effort to soften things, she had serious mods and major metal work running through her body from hip to shoulders and more. Sometimes she had to reinforce, she was not some scare super soldier prototype and was a human being, who happened to be very good at AG racing and also... lucky. Skilled as every pilot was. They needed a little luck too.

Belltrix did not want her fans afraid of her. Especially the younger ones. They would be the next generation of AG pilots or whatever else they chose to race.

Group Message from: Kais Fenix

Group Message to: Paul Mulder (Valkyrie), Beatrix Ward (Carrera)

Kais: This isn't a social call. I need to know if either of you have experienced anything strange with your ships. Glitches. Memory bleeds. Unexplained system behavior. Data leaks.
Kais: I'm asking because I think someone is using our augmentations against us. Feeding us information designed to turn us against each other.
Kais: Amy knows something. About all of us. And I don't think she's the only one.
Kais: If we're going to figure out what's happening, we need to stop being isolated targets.
Kais: I think we're all in more danger than we realize. And I'd rather face it together.
Kais: Let me know if you're willing to talk. I'll make sure it's somewhere secure.

Paul reread the message and wondered what was going on. He remembered Amy’s comments at the dinner in Singapore. The other veiled questions and hints about neural interface issues. He remembered Dorian had answered for them. Paul knew that it was out of character for Kais to send him a private message at all. Paul knew that for Kais to send a warning and ask for a meeting was unprecedented. He couldn’t help but be curious. Valkyrie might have had a stroke of luck with their neural interface upgrades. They had not really revealed that information to the public. It was not a secret per say but they didn’t feel the need to warn their competitors about upgrades either. They might have unknowingly dodged a bullet. But it made Paul wonder what might have happened if Alexander had not taken the security breach by the former CEO so seriously.

Paul didn’t have to think very long before he was texting Kais back.

Paul: I am not sure what kind of help I can be. I am willing to meet with you. Name the time and place.

---

Alexander was grateful to be back in Germany. The ships were being taken completely apart and being inspected, repaired, and put back together. The new engineers from the research and development team were lending a hand and making some minor tweaks and adjustments since they needed to strip the chassis and rebuild from the frame up to ensure they found all the damage from the riots. Dorian’s ship revealed some damage to the frame which is why they struggled to get it repaired well enough to handle. Bullets had hit and warped a section that helped calibrate the antigravity skirting. They had to completely replace that section of the chassis on Dorian’s ship. Paul’s was in better shape but the engineers and mechanics were worried about hidden damage which was why both ships were being stripped down to the frames and carefully inspected and rebuilt.

Alexander got out of the way of the engineers and mechanics and simply ensured that they had everything they needed. It was quickly becoming apparent to Alexander that their engineering needs were just going to increase. Cavan had been keeping him updated on the design team’s progress. It had quickly become apparent after assigning some of the interns to study the changes coming to Formula AG in the next season that his engineering and research and development needs were quickly outgrowing their existing space. He had to revise the existing engineering facilities to include dedicated sections to their research and development partners, Shinichi Bionics, Banshee Microsystems, Radian Security Systems, and Meridian Aerospace. They needed the research and development teams on hand working collaboratively on the ships but they were quickly running out of space to house the various projects happening. He had gotten a call from Lipusv about a shortage in funding as some funds had to be reallocated to other projects due to government oversight and priorities. Now Alexander was in a quandary as he faced yet another impossible decision to make. What would be the best way forward for his team? Did he go after more money to hire more people, expand their research and development space, or a new materials development space? The research and development happening on the new ship design was quickly reaching a bottleneck where projects were having to be scheduled for time in the materials lab. Alexander hated choices like this when he needed all three. So he decided to work on all three.

Alexander pulled Katherine and Mabel into a meeting with him.

Alexander: “The team will be facing setbacks unless we can solve some of these issues that they are facing. Progress on the ship is slowing because we are lacking design personnel, a special lab designed for testing new materials as they are developed, and research and development space. The research and development teams need more space, more specialized labs, and more people. Thanks to new budget cuts through government regulations reallocating some of our European Union funding, we will need to make up that shortfall. I want to craft a plan to address all three needs.”

Mabel was taking notes on her tablet as she listened to Alexander and gave him her full attention. Mabel nodded along as Alexander listed the problem.

Katherine was sitting with her tablet in her lab like Mabel as they met with him in his office. Katherine was listening to Alexander and was surprised that he had called her to help him with what she thought of as a logistics issue. She was confused as to why she was here. That had nothing to do with her. Her job was managing the team’s image and the marketing associated with the team. Her job was public relations and marketing.

Katherine’s brow wrinkled as her confusion was mirrored on her face. “Why am I here? I am not part of the logistics department. I handle the media and marketing for the team.”

Alexander turned his focus to Katherine and gave her a knowing smile.

Katherine saw his Grinch-like smile and got worried. What kind of insane project was he about to throw her way.

Mabel saw that smile and knew what it meant. She laughed, grateful it was aimed at Katherine and not her. “Bless your heart, you had to ask didn’t you.”

Katherine was surprised at Mabel’s response and her worry deepened.

Alexander looked very pleased with himself. “Well Katherine, I am so glad you asked! I am so grateful that we have such amazing employees like yourself. Our employees are always going above and beyond the call of duty. They get out of their comfort zone and do whatever it takes to help the team. Which is why I want you to head up a team dedicated to raising funds to build a new collaborative research and development space with extensive and speciality testing labs necessary for developing new antigravity technology. Some of our funding got pulled. We need to focus our funding and be strategic about our current problem while you and your team work on finding us some new marketing revenue streams to bolster our available research and development department. We need to work on this now or we will be behind with the new FIAR regulations go into effect.”

Katherine looked as gob smacked as she felt. “But Alexander! I am not in the sales department. I work with advertising and media for the team!”

Alexander looked smug and very pleased with himself. “Yes, which is why I believe you need some more help. You need to promote someone to help you. Or you need to expand your executive assistant’s role.” Alexander gave her a warm look. “Katherine, I know you understand sales. I need some help with this. I can’t think of anyone I trust more to help with this. I need you to bring me some new leads for sponsors or interested research and development partners. We need to find some way to fix this funding shortage while we begin breaking ground on a new research and development center with expanded materials development and testing labs. Our team has quickly outgrown our existing space. The development team is needing more engineering personnel. Progress is going to slow down and halt unless we can fix this issue. It will take some time to build the new labs even with today’s technology. We have to find an appropriate site here at headquarters with enough space and then cut through all the red tape and permits to begin building. In the meantime, we can try to secure more funding while the project gets started.”

Alexander turned his focus to Mabel. His elderly assistant simply smiled at him and nodded. Alexander could only laugh and smile.

Katherine was watching with her jaw hanging open. She was still reeling from the bombshell that he wanted to drop such a big task in her lap. She was confused as it seems Mabel already understood whatever it was Alexander wanted from her but he had not said anything.

Mabel caught Katherine’s confusion and gave her a warm smile and an encouraging pat on the shoulder. “It’s okay Katherine. You lead a team for a reason. Delegate! That is what good leaders do. You have a team member who likes the outside business sales stuff. Turn them loose with orders on what to look for. You got this.”

Katherine was calming down as she realized Mabel was right. She did have a great team. She knew exactly who she was going to assign this part of the project. Her Vice President of Marketing was the perfect guy for this task. It would be a good opportunity for him to show off his skills and see if he had the potential to step into her shoes one day.

Mabel gave Katherine one of her mysterious trademarked smiles. “You are still wondering what Alexander wants me to do. That’s easy, what I have been doing. He wants to start headhunting more talent to staff the development team once the new facilities are built and we can expand the team. My job is to research potential new talent and get him dossiers on them and the best way to recruit them.”

Katherine blinked and looked over at a smug looking Alexander. “But you didn’t tell her anything!” Katherine protested, sounding a little like a little girl.

Alexander gave Katherine a smug but warm smile. “That is why I fought so hard to keep her as my Executive Assistant. Mabel always knows what I need before I do. She is exceptional at her job and anticipating what I need.”

Katherine was reeling and still needed some time to process this request. “I will get to work on it. I need some time to process how to tackle this latest insanity. Why can’t I tackle stuff I am trained for like Dorian flirting with the Prince of Monaco or Paul getting caught with his pants down in public.” Katherine rose to her feet and left the office shaking her head.

Alexander watched her go and waited for the door to close before he burst out into laughter. “I love giving my staff the room they need to grow.”

Mabel just rose to her feet with a secret smile on her face. She knew he had no clue that her thoughts were along the same lines. Alexander had come a long way from the grumpy closed off distrustful man she had met when she had been tasked to him all those years ago. She couldn’t help thinking about how far he had come as a leader and manager.

---

---

Bea Welcome to the madhouse, Bella.

Paul Hello Bella! Welcome to the group pilots chat! So tell us, what is it like working with Astrid?

Bea @Astrid Do we get told why switch now or are you sticking up for Bjorn like a good teammate?

Paul @Bea It does make you wonder if they call her Astrid the crank or something behind her back.

---

Diving In

Paul found himself in a wetsuit and diving on the Great Barrier Reef. The world beneath the waves was like being in a whole new world. Color exploded around him as he dove and swam with a cloud of colorful fish. He followed the brief instructions and training they were given on how to dive protectively and safely. They had been given instructions on how to dive and view the coral without harming it. Paul was fascinated by the colors and textures of the underwater environment. He was absolutely enthralled and was grateful he had been given the opportunity to dive in such a special place. It was remarkable to see how much the reef had healed and recovered. It was hard to think they had almost destroyed and lost this amazing environment forever. Paul had a new goal in his life. He would take formal diving lessons and begin diving in locations where he traveled. He couldn’t wait for practice to get a glimpse of the amazing colors from a new perspective.

Leave A Trace

Paul walked up to the table. There was a glass bottle with a sticky note on it. The note read: “Leave a message in this bottle you'd like for future generations."

Paul knew exactly what message he wanted to leave. He quickly took the pen and began writing.

Paul’s message read: “Don’t forget the lessons of the past. We almost destroyed our planet. See the beauty in our world and protect it.”

Paul smiled at Aurora as he shared with her what advice he had passed on. “I was inspired by my experiences here and in Hawaii. I told them not to forget the lessons of the past. We almost destroyed our planet. I think they should look for the beauty in our world and protect it. We need to remember that humans are part of the natural world and we depend on it. We do not stand above it or apart from it.”

---

Paul, Alexander, and the team spent their practice time dialing in the repairs and adjustment to the ships. They made sure any environmental factors that affected the ship were tweaked as they worked on getting the ship ready for qualifiers.

The recovery effort done already was incredible, but in the moment, surrounded by the colorful beauty illuminated by the sunshafts from the ripples on the surface and the lightness of the water, moving through which felt as easy as walking to her, Bea didn’t care. With a GoPro on her mask, she suspected this 30 minute dive would lead to dozens of hours of art streams and a stack of paintings big enough to make it hard to walk through the hallway in her house, and a quiet vow to be back next year.

She waited her turn when they surfaced. She was going to keep an eye out on the other pilots just in case someone decided to be funny and push her back in, but instead found herself glancing to Kais, trying to read anything she might find in his face despite knowing it was a fool’s errand.

”Welcome to the Great Barrier Reef! How did you find that?”

”I’ve been looking forward to this since the team signed me last August.” Bea shrugged, still grinning. It was a shame Aurora was only present in holographic spirit, but that only meant she wouldn’t have to feel bad about flicking water off her hands at her mid-shot. ”Yeah, just absolutely stunning. Have to look now so we don’t get distracted by the scenery during the race.”

---

”Morning Bea! So, instead of a question, we'd like you to do something a little different.”

”The last time you said that, Kais and Layla set my face on fire with poutine.” Bea deadpanned, calling back to a simpler time.

”Have a look on the table for what we'd like you to do. Leave a message in this bottle you'd like for future generations.”

”You’re not actually about to toss that into the sea, are you?” She chuckled as she picked up the provided pen, continuing with a grin. ”I thought the whole message of this leg of the season is to leave as little behind as possible?” She wrote slowly, the quasi-armored gloves of her g-suit designed to keep shape under load and deal with the throttle and stick, not fine motor control.

”What did you write?”

”Call me captain obvious...” Bea said, her shrug barely a lift of the suit’s shoulders as she stuck the sticky note to the outside of the bottle and turned it to face the camera as she left.

---

Fri 22/10 19:58 Alejandra (HR) [Batt: 32%]

> So how did we survive Cassie’s visit?
> She seemed keen, but demanding.
> Can I ask or would that be inappropriate?
> Juan doesn’t like the amount of money it would cost to buy her out on top of the pay. Pablo has been beating the 5th place drum even louder ever since she asked for the tour. León and abuelita went pale when Juan told them how many of Ava’s sponsors would go with her since they are actually hers, not the team’s. Made him look at yours as well.
> Guilty.
> Can’t blame you.
> So you’re telling me I need to learn to coexist with Elise?
> You should do that either way, but we’re talking to Ava.
> She’s making demands, but if we’re going to have pilots who can’t get along, might as well not be two rookies.

---

Hydraulic

The feeling of being harnessed in. Above, a burning sunshine, canopy open, arms out, harness clicked. Below, 30 meters of elevation dip and spiral.

Formula AG was not as vicious as UFC, constant as hockey, team-based as football, flair based like basketball, stats based like baseball. It felt like a fuse of all of them. A body pushed to a limit, analysis, but more than everything, courage when it mattered. A machine could pilot any ship faster than any of them. But when a neural link came into play, it didn't feel like being fast, it felt like being between the blinks of an eye.

The subtle, gentle breathe out.

The screen back at the pit box. A render of Jen's brain, far more than any normal brain scan, if a machine could tell you the overall mood, passive feeling, anything, this would be it.

One of a gladiator.

---

Soundtrack: M83 - Water Deep

The circuit was a relentless one. With a corner going left at the short straight, the track dived into a massive funnel that dived straight into ocean. A massive open straight was flanked by ballistic-grade reinforced glass on either side as a tunnel that sat in amongst the initial research area of the coral regrowth, the long back straight bumpy with broken sight lines that led into a fiendishly hard hairpin, the K-Bend, named as such due to some random engineer that had proposed it stayed away from the enormous lump of coral beyond it that almost seemed to make a living blob of organic mass. The sunshine was strong enough to create sunbursts into the track, but no vison system they had adjusted to it perfectly, beyond the LED-like lighting that illuminated the walls and the reference point to the floor. Uniquely, given it was a tube, it meant that overtakes could be literally taken inverted through MAG tracking that was placed in straights encouraging absolutely rogue behaviour, and as such, Great Barrier Reef was probably the easiest track to overtake and snatch positions on. While normally that would benefit ELS, the bumps and surface being incredibly rough, along with the type of hairpin made low speed stability key.

The hairpin was tight and went left, testing stability and control in each ship, a massive bank that was enough to rival Argentina or any other circuit, spiralling down and then back up towards another right hand hairpin after a long straight, a more open, gentler affair than the last, but still, winding out. Another long, left turn wound the track back around and surfaced at the back of the Cay, before turning again and diving under a small section of water, and like that, spitting back towards the start straight on the opposite side of where all the magical science happened that had started the regrowth of the coral. Simple, fast, winding, almost like a motocross track, but given most of it was about 20 meters below sea level, and the ability to snap a shot of an AG racing ship at full tilt with a shoal of fish in the background beyond glass (without AI or photoshop), made it rather extraordinary.

But for the pilot that had set all purple sectors, it was another demonstration that Jenny Lowry was proving she was no fluke.
"P1, Jen, mega lap, all attack through there."

"Woo!"

She was being hunted by Nora, the local favourite. And Beatrix Ward. Amy was not close at all. But tomorrow would change all of that.

---

Interviews

The interviews took place within an underwater dome, with fish and coral visible outside, at a stewards viewing point onto the circuit itself, moored slightly offshore from the spit of sand itself.

"Bellatrix, we heard that Nordic Call brought upgrades, and it looks like you've delivered. How are you feeling coming in and instantly making an impact with points?"

"Beatrix, a solid P3 effort, and while stability may not be Carrera's strong suit, do you think you can hang onto another podium?"

"Kais, not the result we'd be hoping for, but it seems like Al-Saqr are looking forward to the speedier circuits of the grid. Are you looking to limit damage at Muller Cay?"

"Paul, it looks like you were breathing down the neck of Cassie Neves's time on that qualifying run? It seems like you're so tight knit, how have you found your laps here today?"

Bellatrix Olympus. Nordic.
Pre Qual company Admin and pre race checks.
20-10-2094

Nordic Call Factory

Marketing meeting.
20-10-2094

“Look, I know you're all jet lagged and everyone's busy, but Marketing and print need answers before the deadline for the shoot, printers and so we can have them shipped ready for December limited release. “ A figure from Marketing came from a screen back in Sweden, several others floated as holo images and others were physically around a board room table in Australia, Sweden and one in London.

“Fine. The sooner we can resolve this the better.” The Teams Principle said, annoyed by the distraction but they needed to quickly nail some details down. “Astrid, others we have nails down and planned, same with our pit series we plan. But we got a few open slots left and Bjorns dropped now, February is in hospital and August never was answered the first time round. “ Came back from one of the Marketing drones.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes that she had to be here and a message telling her off camera from Ren but also agreeing this was a waste of half an hour for her. “Look, I get it. You want me to take at least one slot. Details.” Bellatrix dropped the polite english stereotype for upper class clipped and direct approach.

Astrid nodded, “unless it involves me, I'm leaving.” And she left when no one said she was needed, that sorted that out as Ren pressed for more. “Yes, oh. You're including me now, I'm her social media manager and it fits with my plans.” Her French accent shows its Parisian and some of the less wholesome reputations of the city.

“The suit. Remake the fan campaign.” One said from a screen that was rather small.

“No.” Belaltrix said as soon as mentioned.

“Sunmer. We do nice dress, team colours, or a fjord shot..” Ren answered back as she watched Bellatrix's not safe for work responses privately.

“We need some sell, damn, come on. We already have others willing.” Drone 3 added.

“And my clients not one of those,” Ren said back. “Bella. You go. I'll sort this out.”

“Great, tasteful… no horny goblin stuff” Bellatrix said before she left going straight down to see her Ship sat its Cradle as they did everything to check it over between practice and the qaul tomorrow. It was sleek, her name painted below the canopy and her flag with a now race number on the side.

Bellatrix plopped down and watched, giving the crew a wave. “Just stay out of the way, no offense, we need to do a ton of work in less time than is healthy.” The engineer said as they were having to check how the ship took the upgrades with barely enough time to fully test them. Astrids was out of sight across bay 1 with her own crew. Panels were pulled, whole systems exposed and various cables, ducts, systems were being worked over by a herd of ant-like engineers who had a rather large bin full of energy drinks.

“Good with me.” Bellatrix said as she sat mentally preparing for tomorrow in the busy garage with a keep warm mug of herbal tea. If Astrid had her own prep.. it was whatever she did and her own affair.

She enjoyed just watching right now. Her hotel room was quiet, empty and not even her former partner to send her silly memes and book recommendations. That all ended, but this has begun… So not all downhill. She could bug her younger brother. Older sister prerogative.

Texts.
20-10-2094

Annoying Brother. X.

B. Entertain me…

AB. Its…god what time. No.

B. I'm sitting watching a ship as people argue if I should do a bikini shoot in Sweden. Your day cannot be stranger. Distract me from this madness.

AB. Again. Brother. TMI. I'm happy to be the boring one, gonna be in Orkney next week. Poster, Bella Trixe pixie fairy need heals.

B. Im 5 foot. Not 5 inches. I'm perfect. You're stretched.

AB. Sure, stay safe, that crash on Lunar scared the shit out of us.

B. You know il always try.

AB. Yeah, still. Mum was not sure she wanted you to race again.

B. You know that's never a question. I love this even if it's terrifying at times. I love it more.

AB. Also yes. Go win Pixie. Win and prove the assholes you do not deserve this wrong. I really have to go, I'll catch the race on record.

B. Every damn time Little brother! See me be awesome!

AB. You know it can drink. I've been taller than you since you were like 12 bellapixie.

…

She closed the app after a few gifs where replied to, mostly harmless back and forth until she headed to her room to rest.

….

Qauls..
21-10-2094

Bellatrix was nervous as she pulled on her race suit for the first time in a live race, the first ever time as a top flight racer on a super licensed AG pilot. Nordic logo and sponsors clearly visible with B.Olympus on the back having reduced her name down to a more manageable size.

Her helmet sat to the side, gauntlet, boots… all was brand new and could feel the heavier duty safety features for the higher speeds. For this race she had an emergency alarm in the ship and so just in case a pilot ever went off the track on a very rare chance that also used pressure to push air out the helmet and allow you to breathe as it displaced water.

No pilot hoped to use whatever version of the system each team went in for. Water at speeds they traveled at would be like solid concrete.

…

“And this is Nordic 2, Bwllatrix Olympus lining up for her hot lap.” The commentary said excited to see what the new driver could do. The lap or two before she had been holding off, warming the car up and testing all the systems before she engaged the new upgrades fully to life and felt the G of force into her back as the Anti Grav suddenly jumped up a notch.

“Full power. Online. Ship status. All green.” The AI voice responded in a new accent than before, that was weird to get used to and confirmed her visual display before she streaked past the like at over 250kph into clear track.

Clear track. Bellatrix had delayed her run doing the tests and that worked out to advantage now as she had opened up clear air. The G forces hurt and felt the pressure but this was when she felt even more alive, the most connected to everything and the machine she was in charge of.

The circuit was a strange one and a mix of multiple types, the whole tunnels and lighting were utterly unique. It is disorienting, the lights, the tunnel going under water and part of the challenge. Looping through she banked up the walls and slammed the smooth line though it was a light glimmer turning into lines…

Light. Light. Blinding light as her visor auto darkened into the bright light and resisted very urge to hit the brakes and instead slammed the accelerator instead and entered through a high speed set of curves with a smooth set of turns exploiting her lack of racing traffic.

“great. Keep it up. Above target.” The race team passed to Belltrix who pressed a button on a wheel to confirm without having to think to talk. She was above, not sure on place but she was beating her target and hopefully might be able to give Astrid a run.

It ached a little as she slammed the brakes and then right into a high speed acceleration dancing the car like it was on ice. This was exhilarating as she was over half way through the race track's fast lap. The gantry flashed over her eye line in a fraction of second with multiple icons that turned into blurs at the current speed.

The final section she floored it though, heat with a fractional build up and giving her a blip but she did not have to manage the heat on a hot lap and just carried on, no stopping, no slowing and was passing through the line before she knew it with P10 flashing on her Hud. P10… she was at P10? It took several seconds to believe it as Bellatrix throttled down and pulled aside to let another hot lap pass, a reddish blur of a ship. She had to look after the upgrades and the tech as it was rather more prototype than standard race load out. Heat management was not perfect and they would work on a refinement tonight.

…

“Yes. P10, great lap. Pull into bay 2 this lap.” Someone said over the radio and she acknowledged the instructions gliding the ship smoothly into the pit lane. “Thanks, it's not 100% solid yet, but wow is this fast. "Copy that. You sure its 10?” Bellatrix replied and glided past the other team's bays to her own.

"Its 10 on the main board, its real." They replied more softly and confirmed the result that was showing on the main boards and the teams displays.

…

The Interview.
21-10-2094

Bellatrix was still in her race gear as she headed to the interview with most of the suit tied about her waist, a tank top with Nordic logo and a matching cap with the team logo on. She looked the part and crews had told her to wear the race suit. Look like a real pilot to anyone doubting her. Taking her sunglasses off, she entered the dome and smiled with her red hair tired back bouncing in an easy braid. “Thanks, I'm happy to be here, I see you have the air conditioning.”

Bellatrix was drinking from a bottle of water and paused. The heat was… oppressive for a woman who was from Wales and spent the last few weeks in cold Nordics, not the tropics. “I must say, thanks to the engineers, and the factory team, they deserve the credit. They have worked some crazy hours to pull this off and bring this upgrade to life.” Bellatrix finished her first part with a mention to those who deserved the recognition.

“Its not over till last laps tomorrow, im not counting my points yet, but it's been a beautiful place to have my first race and im really happy with where i have qualified.” She was not gonna count her success until it was delivered, anything could happen on the race track.

She kept it simple and answered a few smaller questions that came her way. But all in all it was a pretty easy interview.

…

Stratagy Meeting. Board Room. Above Pit lane.
21-10-2094

“Right, lets get down to it. P10, and P16, we could do far worse and we got a decent ship about the track even if stability is a must here, speed is better for the long run.” The race strategist said with a nod to all about them in the small track side board room over the pit lane. “It's how we get Astrid up, and keep Bella on the points.” They finished as the big holo map came up with various information, the places and who was between the two Nordic drivers as well as who might hold up Bellatrix.

“We push, surprise early, Bella is new, car is new. Take early advantage. While fresh, defend later if the ship is risking over heat.” Astrid said what was a long one for the famous woman of a few words to many.

“I did not come here to sit in the back field, if we can take an early advantage before the fast movers open a lead.” Bellatrix added, she was new here and only on her first race but no one joined this sport to slow down. They had a new car, they had a great place for a newbie Pilot, but why should they not try and push faster, further and take it to them than defend all races.

“Even if a Podium is unlucky, we can race like we mean to take it.” The Team Principal said with a nod and a small smile. He wanted this, he wanted them trying to take even if they did not succeed. They would not progress without taking risks.

“Astrid, can push up, she can hopefully clear the back traffic and link up, Bellatrix holds and tries, but if you have to, just hold around 10 till we can get you two ladies supporting each other.” The race planners looked at the holograms and agreed with the table around them. They had a chance to get some decent points on the leader board and going to take it.

“This track needs stability, it's a fast one but watch the power. It's easy to spin out. Overheating, we should get a hang on.” One engineer said with a swig of an energy drink and a small yawn. “We have one. Maybe two goes on emergency coolant, after that it's on the pilot to keep it out of the red zone.” He finished and was snacking on a breakfast bar.

“No pressure guys, just keep the prototype from having a melt down.” Bellarix said sarcastically but did not mind really, the ship was an upgrade and way better than anything she used before. But just would be a rather more particular machine to keep in check.

“To plan, first 10, race plan?” Astrid cut right to the heart of the matter as they built their race plan, what codes would be and what to do about certain racers who might be behind or in front of each pilot. "We all want sleep." Astrid said bluntly, but that was Astrid. She did not sugar coat things or pretend.

The two pilots they had where polar opposites but they both could race.

…

Pilots Chat.
21-10-2094

---

Bea Welcome to the madhouse, Bella.

Paul Hello Bella! Welcome to the group pilots chat! So tell us, what is it like working with Astrid?

Bea @Astrid Do we get told why switch now or are you sticking up for Bjorn like a good teammate?

Paul @Bea It does make you wonder if they call her Astrid the crank or something behind her back.

Bellatrix. Astrid. Is .. different, but I'll soften her up to join me on my game night stream one day.

Astrid. @Paul. New needs. New came. End . Bella sang in the sauna. Disney… Chaos personified.
No. I am a rock.

Bellatrix. And water erodes rock. Slowly. Race, lets all finish in one piece yeah. We doing exploding kittens this week, its way less horrific than it sounds.

Ps. Who uses a Sauna in this weather? Nordics be strange.

…

Bellatrix might be chaotic, loud and play to the younger fans but she was a serious methodical and very much tough racer on the track, not flashy but once she got on the hunt, Bellatrix did not quit and kept the pressure up until a crack was found.

…

Hotel Room.
21-10-2094

The views from her room near the track were insane, the vistas and view was beyond beautiful but she was not really looking at that. Bellatrix tossed and turned that night before the race, she might present a good media face and on the track use her fears as fuel. However right now she felt the same as she always did in her first race. Doubts, fears and nervousness. She even had a glass of wine to try and calm down while she did some breathing exercises but that relief was temporary.

This team was strange, they brought a portable sauna…to what felt like a giant open air sauna, that would not be giving her rest right now.

The only relief would be getting in her ship and letting those fears be redirected into racing.

The track was a weird thing. At every other circuit, the limit was dictated by the ability to turn without getting thrown off the racing surface. Even in banked corners, there was a top lip one could go over if they screamed in too fast.

Not the barrier Reef.

Here, with most of the track in tunnels with MAG tracking all 360 degrees around, the limit wasn’t understeer, but what the repulsor packs could handle without bottoming out on the wall.

Having to wait for recovery in the tunnel was a very good psychological motivation to not overcook it.

”Anti-glare is getting its arse kicked today.” Bea noted as the canopy’s tint - an upgrade over helmet tint to make everything in the cockpit more readable - reacted to the rapid changes in ambient light as her ship ducked in and out of the tunnels on her outlap, the tunnel lighting creating an annoying stroboscopic effect as she rushed past that she barely even registered.
”Radiators are getting a workout as well. Hot air outside, cooler inside.”

The circuit was a wild one, the tunnels a nightmare to defend at and making for an additional dimension - literally - to consider when positioning the ship for the next corner.
”Three.” Alistair called out, Bea aligning the ship on the tunnel wall according to the three o’clock marker on the ‘clock face’ projected onto her HUD - a software modification developed just for this track, using the ship’s accelerometers to figure out tilt and keep the floor guide in the tunnel always at the 6 o’clock position. Yes, she could have simply known which way she was turned through the neural link. ”Exit 12, toward six.” He kept calling out directions, corner by corner. Carrera Condor was bringing rally-style pace notes into Formula AG, and they would argue ‘til their throats were sore that it was legal because it was the race engineer passing information, not a driving assist.

”Sector one time is good.”
”Temps within limits.”
”Closing radiator cowl is available.”

”Sector two purple.” The small aerodynamic improvement paying off. Same gamble as Singapore, but with less risk.
A double-tap of the mic in reply, the ship winding through a difficult section.

”Nice one, Bea. Looking like P3.”
”Nice. Oh, I think my head will be spinning tomorrow night.”
”Ivan can do a rush job of implanting a gyro.”
”No.” She snapped back without any heat.

---

DELTΔ HYPER

Episode 16: Diving Deep

---

”Beatrix, a solid P3 effort, and while stability may not be Carrera's strong suit, do you think you can hang onto another podium?”

”I bloody hope so.” Bea laughed, ”Stability is one thing, but the track also doesn’t mesh too well with my driving style.” It was one thing to make snap defensive movements on a normal circuit. Harder on a track where competition could literally go over her head. ”It’s amazing to run through, but I’ve got my work cut out for me tomorrow.”

---

Compared to the first half of the season, León or Felix seated between Ava and Bea had become the new normal of Carrera Condor press conferences.

“Bea, Australia is one of the less forgiving circuits for stability, yet you’ve put the ship on the second row. Was that a case of adapting your driving, or do you feel the ship is finally meeting you halfway?”
”The ship's definitely improved, I don't even want to imagine trying to do this with what we started with. If I ever feel masochistic tendencies, I might try it in a sim.“ She grinned, ”With the upgrades over the season, I don't have to spend as much time keeping it pointing in the right direction-“ She caught herself, raising a finger. ”Poor choice of words after Brazil. I don't have to spend as much time keeping it steady and can actually focus on racing.”

“Ava, P8 puts you right on the edge of the midfield again. Do you feel you’re extracting everything from the ship in qualifying, or is there still something missing on low-stability tracks like this?”
”One small mistake in qualifying has big impact, one small mistake in a 45 minute race is barely a footnote. That's it.” Ava shrugged.

“Bea, after the last two races, did you approach this qualifying with a more conservative mindset, or was this still about extracting everything regardless of risk?”
”We tried to be conservative in Brazil, didn't work.” She shook her head. Behind his water bottle, León’s knuckles went white.

“Question for Bea: You’ve now qualified ahead of ships that, on paper, should be stronger here. Do you see this as proof that Carrera Condor’s upgrade path is working, or was this more about execution than raw pace?”
”I think it's execution across the board. No offense intended to my teammate,“ She quickly clarified, sounding honest but detached. ”But if it was ship pace, we'd be closer together. If you look at the qualifying order, the only team where both drivers are close together are SuperCat and that's because they're P19 and P20, because Kofi and Vladimir are driving actual rubbish bins.”

“There have been concerns about funding if further accidents occur. Does that affect how aggressively you allow your drivers to race?”
”As if Bea would ease up if ordered.”
Bea snickered at that. ”Never have I been more offended by something I agree with this much.”
”This is something we've addressed after Argentina, and trust our pilots to stay on top of it. Brazil was by no means insignificant, but Bea kept the ship in one piece.”

“Ava, with the second seat still officially undecided, do weekends like this feel like auditions, even if the team says otherwise?”
”Every race is an audition. You're only as good as the last one.”

“Bea, given the ship’s known weaknesses, how confident are you that P3 is defendable over a full race distance?”
”Pfff... I don't even know how I put it into third in the first place to be honest.“ She shook her head and León’s peace of mind. ”This place is Hell to defend at, it's not like Monaco where you can drive the speed limit and people will still struggle to pass you, your biggest asset here is the person behind the person behind you. I guess I've shown the ship does have the single-lap pace here, add Ava's better consistency over the race duration and a good result definitely seems possible here.”

“Cassie Neves was spotted touring the Carrera Condor factory this week. Can you clarify the nature of that visit? Furthermore, with Elise’s Junior Series performance exceeding expectations, is the team prepared to promote from within?”
”We're still weighing our options. Our PR department will likely have more for you in the next weeks.”

“Looking ahead to high-speed circuits like Bonneville and Wadi Rum, do you see those races as opportunities to reset the narrative around this team?”
”That's three races where we have a leg up on Zygon. We hoped for that to be where we break away from them and secure P5, but at least we can use them to close the gap.”
”Unless they try a Montreal again...” Bea murmured loud enough for the mic to pick up.

“For Ava: Your race pace has often been stronger than your qualifying this season. Is that something you’re consciously leaning into, given the characteristics of this circuit?”
”Same answer as the first question.”

“There’s been a lot of talk about mistakes lately. Bea, does a result like this change the internal mood, or is the pressure still very much on going into the race?”
”Pressure's always on. The only time there isn't is when you're driving a shitebox.” She shrugged.

“Ava, you’ve been praised internally for consistency. Is consistency enough right now, or do you feel you need a standout result before the end of the season?”
”I would prefer a standout result.”
”She doesn't cost the team money, that's a pretty big plus in her favor right now.”

“For the whole team, how did the wall callouts come about?”
“They have to babysit Ward because she keeps fucking up!” Someone yelled in the back.
”Argentina happened because of a communication breakdown. Now we’re communicating and you’re still whining.” Bea shrugged, ”You’re such a woman, make up your mind.”

As everyone packed up, Ava lingered. ”If other teams start pushing us because they think we’ll back out rather than risk damage, I’m blaming you.” She said to León, Bea nodding along in agreement as she passed.

---

ChadJPete: Bro, she didn’t have to call the cats out like that.
Xinny: [link]
Cookiesaurus: poor TP looked in mental pain the entire time. 😀
Sol_de_Mayo: You could see a piece of his soul die when Bea said she doesn’t know how she put it in P3.
Mate0: That’s either a flex or a call for help and I have no fucking idea which it is.
Briat77: If she wants masochism, she should try being a CC fan.
Xinny: [link]
Briat77: [link] This guy didn’t need it.
AndesAG: That doesn’t count, that was a robot. 😀
Javi: “Every race is an audition. You're only as good as the last one.” Shots. Fired.
CloroxEnjoyer: I am SO fucking confused by the relationships in this team, someone please explain.
User420: A love-hate relationship? They love to hate each other? 😀
Hotstuff: not leon having neves over to get villarosa to get her ass in gear
SuperCatUnofficial: @MadBea A wheelie bin can still finish a race without incidents. 😛
MadBea: That’s fair, you get this one.

---

---

Pilots Chat.
21-10-2094

---

Bea Welcome to the madhouse, Bella.

Paul Hello Bella! Welcome to the group pilots chat! So tell us, what is it like working with Astrid?

Bea @Astrid Do we get told why switch now or are you sticking up for Bjorn like a good teammate?

Paul @Bea It does make you wonder if they call her Astrid the crank or something behind her back.

Bellatrix. Astrid. Is .. different, but I'll soften her up to join me on my game night stream one day.

Paul @Bellatrix That is… very polite and politically correct. Now tell us how you really feel! 😀

Astrid. @Paul. New needs. New came. End . Bella sang in the sauna. Disney… Chaos personified.
No. I am a rock.

Paul @Astrid I can see the Disney Princess reference. I must admit Karaoke with the pilots would be interesting. Do you think we could get Kais to actually sing?

Bellatrix. And water erodes rock. Slowly. Race, lets all finish in one piece yeah. We doing exploding kittens this week, its way less horrific than it sounds.

Bellatrix.Ps. Who uses a Sauna in this weather? Nordics be strange.

Paul @Dorian I feel like we are missing out on team building fun here. Cards Against Humanity with wine after the race?

---

Just like racing on Luna there was some extra safety gear to get used too. Paul and Dorian had been put through safety drills in the case the racing track tunnels were flooded. The ship was not designed to be submerged in seawater. It was airtight for the moon, but not rated for the pressures of the deep ocean. They had been put through emergency evacuation drills on how to get out of the ship safely in an underwater environment. They had been drilled with the portable short life rebreathers that had been designed into their helmets for this race. Their race helmets for this one honored the track and showed pictures of the recovering coral reef and all the colorful wildlife that called it home. Paul had felt very comfortable after all the free diving training he had done to increase his lung capacity. He was excited to be able to use what he had learned in such a beautiful place.

Paul struggled a little with the long straights as their ship was a little slower than some of the other teams. He loved the tunnel track which gave him more ways and opportunities to overtake other pilots. He was a little disappointed to qualify in P5. It was not a bad position but he had hoped for better. He understood why he was there though. The track was structured with long straight sections that favored speed. The all around mag tracking while it allowed pilots to be more creative, it also was an energy suck. Paul was hoping that after the repairs to the ship and dialing in the ELS changes the team had been working on in practice and qualifying he would get the opportunity to use the unique track design to his advantage. He would just have to do his best during the race and see what happened. After Argentina, it was clear that you never could count your winnings before the end of the race. Dorian was in a decent position as well. Hopefully they could at least maintain or gain some positions to help the team points situation. He was looking forward to racing against the new pilot from Team Nordic Call. He had heard of Bellatrix but he had never met her in person.

---

Interviews

Aurora: "Paul, it looks like you were breathing down the neck of Cassie Neves's time on that qualifying run? It seems like you're so tight knit, how have you found your laps here today?"

Paul: “The team has worked hard to repair the ship after the damage it sustained in Argentina. We are still adjusting and fine tuning it after repairs. I am in a good position to challenge some of the front runners. I am excited for this race. It is such a beautiful spot. I am loving the all tunnel mag track. I am really excited to see how that works for overtakes and passing during the race. It should be a fun race.”

---

Sunrise at Sea

The coral waters were lapping at feet on the little pontoon, one of many that were built to provide accommodation and somewhere to stay, temporarily of course, while the AG circus was in town. On them, biopolymer houses all sat, light enough to be modular built by drones in the space of a day, strong enough to last a Category 4 hurricane if it came to it, and dissolve into ocean water within months, though often, they were then recycled into actual housing through treatment and stabilisation compounds. The pontoons were made of a smooth, but tactile plastic, that felt not all too dissimilar to vinyl laminate.

Cassie woke as the alarm triggered, her modesty covered with black underwear, her uncovered olive skin showing the signs of modification as she called out to her alarm to cancel. People lived like this in the wider region, she reminded herself. She had a luxury stay at least, that she could point to, as she heard her phone chime in with the scheduled call with her agent.

"Accept." She yawned, the coffee machine grinding and whirring alive, immediately rendering her usual brew, from Jeju to Cascais, exactly as her nutritionist accepted in terms of how much caffeine it seemed to prick her with.

"Morning. Is it like....fuck I have no idea of timezones anymore." Cassie should be used to this, as she heard Joao's voice stutter in and interrupt.

"Yes, it is....very late here. Cassie, I have bad news."

"Oh." She added, hearing a seagull go past her window, as she brushed her hair aside, wondering what it was. The money? It had to be.

"Carrera opted to stay with......their current pilot." Oh. That was a surprise.

"Ava? She's good but....really? I thought her and Bea hated each other." Cassie replied, as Joao chuckled, as she leaned back against the worktop, stretching out a little before beginning her usual joints routine.

"Maybe they still do, but, it seems they wanted a South American in the team more badly, and money overrides feelings. Even in Buenos Aires. But, on the plus side, your contract at Zygon is amazing. And your recent performances are turning heads. The team may still be a frontrunner next year. Rumour has it that Southern Cross are putting it all on the line this year. So, let's just keep going. Next contract here, we can renegotiate better terms, right?"

Cassie sighed, breathing out, knowing there was no way to change that deal. No way to be less greedy. No way to put the numbers back in a box. And only one commitment to make.

"Fine. Thanks for the update. Yeah. You aren't getting your percent for me moving then. But you'll get it for the next deal."

"Of course. Sorry to drop this on you. Speak soon." The line cut, as Cassie shut the window, and a yell could be heard.

---

Coffee Morning

Max sat there with feet in the lapping waves of the sea, watching on into the horizon, sitting there with Kofi, who he'd struck up a conversation with and was now sharing a coffee with on the dawn of the race. Sitting at the edge of the pontoon at the sunrise. He'd been the only person awake in the morning, and after a short jog around the floating paddock, Kofi was always someone to catch up with. Even if the topic always came back to the future.

"Retirement then? I mean, you've earned it."

"Yeah. I mean, I miss family. And SuperCat isn't going anywhere. I have no idea who's replacing me. But I'm sure they'll have fun trying to get it anywhere. Team needs more money. More than others...." Kofi said, openly, as Max didn't reply, listening to the older pilot, breaking the conversation back.

"You feeling good about Valkyrie?" Kofi asked, as Max chuckled, looking to the horizon, sighing, wondering if he had made the right choice. After all, Carrera had a falling out recently, who knew if he could have gone there. Joined Beatrix. But alas, Valkyrie was his choice. And it seemed only like the team would improve.

So he felt confident enough in himself. Enough to back it, in spite of the chaos so far.

"Yeah. I guess so. New future and all that. I'll have to replace Dorian Hornfleur. Hell of an expectation." Max got there, as both of them chuckled, Max shotgunning down the rest of his flat white with that thought.

"But you wouldn't have gotten there if you weren't good enough. How many other pilots would dream of that seat in Europe? And yet, here you are. The Knight connection helped?"

"Nah, he didn't really. He's Estonian anyway...."

"We all know that's bullshit, brother is FAS through and through. It helped more than you think." The Ghanian replied with a joke, wrapping an arm around him. "Look. The expectations will be higher. But, enjoy. And enjoy it all. Just remember that, no matter how corporate it is. Europe is no joke. They have paperwork for paperwork." Kofi joked with a pearly smile, as Max joined in too, the sigh following as they looked to the horizon.

"Maybe. I don't know. Hard season so far. Just gotta keep it in front of Nordic Call. That's all that matters for the fans." Max chuckled, shaking his head. "Whole continent wants us to beat those Swedish bastards so bad." Both of them laughed, the rivalry always present, and Kofi enjoying what he could while he had the chance in the last few races, enjoying the endless horizon of ocean beyond the floating polymer houses.

---

Brain Storm

The man ran into the Silver Apex pit box, from out of the back of the engineering, as if he'd discovered the existence of DNA, or gravity. The Latvian seemed almost flustered, knowing interrupting the boss was a bad idea. But for this, it was worth interrupting.

"Peter, I need you to look at this. It's...." The tablet was open as the black-haired Latvian passed the tablet across, Peter sighing, before looking at it, before the Irishman's eyebrows raised.

"Oh." With it, he followed the tech, Linas Kalējs as his little label indicated from his holgraphic lanyard. It was a short, but brisk, quick walk that didn't need attention. Peter was an insanely busy man, but even he knew what this meant.

The room was soundproofed, as Peter swore, the data projected out, both sitting in chairs next to each other.

"How long?" He asked, looking through it, the contents not exactly seen of quite what they were looking at it. At a guess, it had to be Amy's brain scan.

"It's not critical. Not yet. But she's suffered a significant deterioration in qualifying. The neural link isn't talking to microsectors 24 and 54 of her prefrontal cortex here and here, because it's returning null." Linas had worry for her, looking through her other vitals as Peter took it in, not a neuroscientist, but aware that there wasn't anything more critical.

"But is it clear for now?"

"Yeah. We can't run the link like we want. But it'll do today, we need to tweak it to use a different area. She's going to have memory problems if we keep hammering it." Linas replied, as Peter looked on as he put his hands into his face, sighing.

"We're in deep shit. This can't go on like this." Peter said, as Linas sighed.

"We'll do everything we can. We've got copies of her neural profile. But she has an unauthorised one elsewhere too, like I told you. I told you that we couldn't trust her."

"So we're already screwed. That leaks out, and anyone who finds out....."

"Yes. No news from anyone I know that works in the field around Al-Saqr. They're like ghosts."

"Someone gave it to them. Are we sure the system is sealed?"

"As sure as we can. We ran tests, the only exception was.....here. If she made copies, it's someone with the servers, systems, tools we have. It's idiosyncratic. It can't be worked with. Not unless she dumps her mind out."

Peter looked at the date, the profiles of which were blank.

"She overrode us then. Personal reasons.....I wonder who else is in her head." Peter asked, as Linas looked confused, before swiping in.

"What do you mean? Literally? External influence?" Linas asked, as Peter swiped away from it, putting the tablet down.

"It's no secret I pay you to do what you do in a field that would be cutting edge elsewhere. And may I remind you, bending regulations. We'll need to regenerate what we can. Or worst case, revert to a slate. She'll miss a race and kill me for it. Best case, she won't know. But if she doesn't want to or wants to side-track us....then it might be possibly till season's end. We need to play this carefully." Peter almost spoke as if she was a thing, an object, but then again, memories and brain scans were like that.

What version of Amy was he referring to? The one that won races, and the one that was alive in a shell that resembled less of Amy now than it had five years ago. A thought he shared with nobody but Linas, who had a clear road to do whatever he considered needed. A practical neurolaboratory that zero other simulation tested. A real life example of what human beings could be. And unlocking the ultimate premise of humanity, the soul itself. A heavy task, but he and his team were the best in the world, even if the research plaudits didn't come their way.

"And what about Jenny?"

"She signed up to this of her own accord. Told me whatever it takes to help the team rein in Southern Cross. And given her qualifying, it looks like she's incredibly neuroplastic. Tracks with her work before." Peter added, flicking through to the other pilot of the team, as Linas nodded.

"We'll keep an eye on her. But yes. Wanted to let you know." Linas replied, as Peter stood, walking to the door.

"We'll look after our own. But we need to get to the bottom of this. We cannot afford it now. Not with those Oceanian bastards breathing down our neck. Not here." Peter added, and with it, was out, and away, wanting to put fist through polymer, but instead, reserving his anger for the raceday.

This was a bloody hard season.

---

Water Fight

The feeling of clambering into a ship never got old, as Nora slid on the coral-themed helmet over her head, the suit and ship painted a beautiful shade of neon green and blue, a blend that reflected seaweed and the sea itself, albeit with enough indent to remain different to the outside itself.

"Radio check."

"Clear."

"You clear on strategy?"

"Take first. Ship's still set to growl?"

"Yiis, Nora. The setup's aggressive. Careful out of three and four."

"Yeah, yeah."

The response seemed almost without thought. The harness clicked in, and her arm took the canopy, the prosthetic leg in a matching yellow opposite to her navy suit, as she exhaled. The Interior Circuit must have been wondering how someone like her was P2 on a grid like this, but all bets were off now. The arseholes in her past were gone. Now there was nothing but aggression. Fight to make a legacy. Fight to get every point on Stirling. And make history.

The books were screaming, and despite everything, Nora was now screaming, yelling internally, and if the Southern Cross telemetry alerts didn't constantly go off when she was warming up, you could just tell from the comms. This was someone who was ready to make hell for anyone in her way.

A future champion had no other choice.

---

"And that completes the line up, and well, Rosie, what can we say about the Great Barrier Reef apart from, what a spectacle this is! A circuit many people thought was a novelty, it provides a range of overtaking opportunities, and well, you'll never find a circuit like it. A short, simple track, and well, who is your money on?"

"Honestly? The way Nora Kelly seems be performing, she seems to be a fan favourite, and while there are none here, virtual AR tech means they're there in the bleachers and screens, cheering on fans despite how far we are from the Australian coast! But, my gut says that Jen Lowry seemed to be imperious yesterday, and as we know, once she qualifies well, she rarely relinquishes. But who can say. There's so much competition even at the end of the season, and I imagine Makara and Stirling will put on a fight."

"Well, as we make our predictions, the ships are all warmed, and we're seeing the crews all head back to their pit boxes, as we get ready, for the Great Barrier Reef AGP...."

The sunshine, the tension. The feeling of going under.

The championship in the balance. All of it, all on the line.

The feeling of sweat trickle in spite of the cooling on max, in the searing sunshine that mixed in coral with saltwater on plastic.

---

Soundtrack: Rise Against- Help Is On The Way (Gladiator Remix)

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

And it was a launch. A great start from Ben Hale and it propelled him past Max and even his team-mate, while further up, Amy already slipped back past Harrison after losing out on Turn 3, fighting with him already, the front shifting little but positions near constantly in trade. While many would have written off the simple layout of Australia as just a fast, repetitive circuit, the ELS opportunities presented by how bumpy the ocean floor was and ability to almost work in 3D for a good 50% of the circuit made overtakes easy, and harder to fight. Making up pace relied on consistency, and remarkably, due to its short size, was one of few that meant backmarkers, including Kovalenko and Mensah were lapped by halfway into the race.

Jenny had peeled away early, fending off a fight from Bea with little issue, which meant that Nora was prime to take back her position. Behind, Paul and Cassie would fight, the gap down to nearly nothing in the delta between them. They were almost inseperable, and inside her ship, Cassie wanted revenge. She was out for blood, she wanted Valkyrie to hurt. She wanted to make a point. They didn't replace their stargirl with a starboy that easy. Outside the ship, she may have been playing up to a standard but was ultimately just half decent, much like Paul- here, Paul was not allowed the possibility. But he was making it so.

And it went on. And on. A few times, a rare break. But a catchup, that didn't change much at all. Well....

Then Dorian broke down at Lap 40, a failure that carted him out of his 9th place position and suddenly, oepned up everything into a massive shitshow between 8th and 12th. In fact, almost all of the times were near enough the same on long lap averages, so overtakes were rampant- held up by a damaged Harrison who had taken a knock in his fight with Amy while the Silver Apex pilot had been lucky to avoid any significant damage whatsoever. Behind was Bellatrix, who was in and out of points fighting with Kais, Han and Ben Hale of all people, ranging from 12th up to 8th, basically, turning it into absolute chaos. While everyone would be obviously watching the fight between 2nd and 3rd, the real fight felt like it was scraping over points, especially given Nova and Nordic Call's new pilot had a chance. And what a chance it was for Bellatrix, who seemed to take like a duck to the submerged, tubular circuit.

Nora kept on fighting, going lap after lap, tangling. Every time that Cassie tried to get in, it was like the two of them spat her back out, and focussed back on their own fight. Cassie might have wanted the momentum to make sure Bea didn't get points, but ELS had a habit of excluding other people from intruding on fights.

But it wasn't enough. Not against Beatrix Ward. Even at home, even the virtual crowd going, she was skating a ship that felt like it was on ice versus whatever Beatrix had decided to bring.

A top tier performance, all things considered, one that Nora's home advantage and skate-like ship could not manage. But behind, the fight between Cassie Neves and Paul Mulder had also raged on. They'd traded places, hell, even Amy had tried to poke past Ava to get in on the action, but Ava had held her own and proven back to the team Brazil wasn't a fluke. She was part of the team's effort to score points, because while chasing Zygon felt like an impossible task, they were giving it a hell of a go.

Bellatrix finally got into her rhythm. And by some miracle, towards the death, would prove her talent even with a ship that did not belong in points. She would find 9th, following Harrison on a last minute move on Kais, and going to the line to take her first race completed with two points in a backmarker ship. Paul would similarly, win his fight with Cassie, and while catching Nora was not possible, it was yet again, an incredible performance, consistently putting himself in the top four in the last four races.

But all eyes were on the front of the grid.

"P1, Jen, what a result! Kept it clean, made it look easy!"

"Woo! What a result, wow, this circuit is incredible!" A voice of relief. Jen Lowry was proving herself to be the best pickup Silver Apex had made in years, breaking their curse of their second seat, but more than that, putting the ship where it deserved to be when their main pilot wasn't pulling the course. It was a hard ship to pilot, but when party mode was available to build an early lead, Jen seemed imperious in holding pace, and well, due to other factors.

---

Cooldown Room

The room felt humid, hot, and tense, as if the pilots themselves were literally cooling off, which, in some sense, they would be.

Nora leant in, watching. "Well.....okay, you got me there. Proper.....yeah." She chuckled, smiling back at Bea, the punkish Australian calming down a little bit back home, Jen watching her initial fight with Bea in interest.

"Look at us know, eh? Told you we'd be fighting at the top someday! And it looks like you got your second podium at last. Proves it wasn't a fluke!" Jen giggled, the footage cutting to her on top of her ship as she got out at the end of the race, as a shoal of fish swam by, hands over head with a cheer and to build momentum before backflipping from the glass canopy of her ship to floor, stealing a Daniel Ogier celebration in the process.

The marshal came in and gave the signal that they all needed, as Jen nodded to Nora to lead out first to what was a rapturous roar from the virtual crowd, followed by Bea, and then finally, her.

On the top step of the podium, Jen could feel the champagne bottle struggle to do anything, given it was under a little bit of pressure at depth, but it didn't make splurging the alcohol at others any more difficult, as she grinned to camera, enjoying what had been a breakout half year at Silver Apex, and under the waves, beginning to finally find her footing in her career. She was of course, completely unaware of the chat Peter had to deal in earlier....

Soundtrack: Metrik and Grafix - Waves

It was of course, inevitable as the ceremony completed and they headed upstairs, back above sea level, that Jen would ditch the main layer of her suit and also, backflip into the sea, perhaps with her best friend, and perhaps, in a rather throwing-back manner to their early SCUBA dive off the coast of East Yorkshire, but in far warmer, far more beautiful surrounds, as the camera switched back to the inevitable questions.

---

Delta Hyper Interviews

Aurora was once again at the Delta Hyper interview booth, mic set up for the pilots, still likely in suits, or at least, down to the undergarment element of it.

"Bellatrix, what a stunning way to make a debut! We know that Nordic Call hasn't had a good time of it lately, and you already look an improvement on your predecessor. You seemed to be in and out of the points, how did it feel fighting with veterans of the sport at such a difficult circuit?"

"Bea, what an epic fight you and Nora gave us. It seems like you're so much smoother out there, you seem to be. It seems you might have upset a local comeback, but, how does it feel to be scoring a podium again, especially next to someone you're best friends with?"

"Paul, an impressive turn of results, but it seems Dorian has had nothing but bad luck! Tell us about your fight with Cassie, how that felt, and how you pushed each other? Cassie's ex-Valkyrie, so I imagine the rivalry felt quite personal?"

"Kais, a valiant effort but it looks like it wasn't enough today. Tell us, what did it feel like, constantly switching and changing positions with the various ships around you?"

---

"Well, it was easy I guess. Just held my own, stayed calm. The fish were very pretty but I didn't get distracted, and yeah, we're putting the pressure on Southern Cross!" Jen chirped, the pixie-haired pilot grinning, posing for pictures as the other interview pressers flooded her for more.

"Honestly, Beatrix just got me there, she's so raw and I love it. And title chances? Well, who knows. I thought it was written off, but I'm excited. Watch your six, Amy!" Nora chuckled, laughing off the intensity a little, the flurry of more interview questions set off by that last statement alone.

"Can't say I'm unhappy, P5 is a solid result for us and the team, and yes, we will keep trying to look forwards up the constructors, rather than down. I'm definitely feeling more at home with the ship, so yeah, no more talk, just gonna keep it locked in and hope to keep doing well." Cassie gave a very PR response, but, after all of it, she had no room to be creative. She was exhausted.

"Very happy with that, feels like I built on the South American tour, no? But yes, ship was far better than simulations showed, and with Amy, Harrison and everyone fighting behind me, I felt like I could just hold my own race." Ava was chirpy, and any race she beat Amy Stirling, was a great one. Speaking of....

"Not my best, but just....." Amy hated excuses. She really had to remember the one. What was it? "Yeah, not there today, once I lost to Harrison at start, Ava slipped in and she defends well. We didn't have the ship for Great Barrier Reef, but massive kudos to Jen, who is pushing hard!"

"Yeah, absolute bummer really, took some damage from fighting with Amy too hard, but, nothing like a good scrap down under! Just gotta keep heads high, we're going into speedy tracks, and that's where we shine. We'll do better." Harrison replied, smile as ever, teethy in spite of consistently low points, rather than race wins.

Ben was next in, the NOVA Racing pilot having had an exceptional race, and almost being in contention for points at one point with how hard he'd pushed. "Well, yeah, it is a shame to lose points, but I think it proves our ship and setup is getting there. Super proud of today, just didn't happen, but next time I'll get there!" The young pilot replied, a grin to hand as Astrid was up next.

"Well, she is quite a talent! I think everyone will hear her name more, she finds tenths and already knows how to fight other pilots. That is good." Astrid cut zero bullshit, but, was actually quite happy, upbeat even, producing more than a single sentence of words. Which was high praise indeed.

"Yeah, 15th sucks but the other teams around us just had so much more in their package today, we had to recover. But we're at Bonneville and I am hyped for that, what a race that is!" Max smiled, media friendly as always, despite being that low in the standings.

"It has been horrendous luck, I am so upset. Nothing the team can do and it just happens, but sadly, you win some, like Hawaii and Monaco, and you lose others. We had to retire the ship and I am sure the engine will be looked at, just yeah, bad luck." Dorian replied, dejected, annoyed he'd lost yet again, another points position. For such ultra-reliable ships, he certainly was having a bad time of it.

Paul had gotten in an early workout in the hotel gym. After the issues that the team had encountered in Argentina, Paul was wary of pushing his security very far. He would have loved a run along the beach but he knew working out in the hotel gym would be easier on his security team. They could secure the gym for him and control who came in and out much easier. Paul was surprised when Alexander came to join him for an early morning workout. Paul found himself pushing harder in Alexander’s presence. The man greeted him with a warm good morning and simply went to the treadmill and began his run. Paul was a little surprised that Alexander maintained such good physical conditioning after being out of the sport for so long. Paul moved from the treadmill to the other machines to get some weight training in. He kept his workout light since it was a race day.

Alexander wrapped up his workout and had a towel provided by the hotel wrapped around his neck and was wiping away sweat. Alexander’s breathing had already settled back down so he could talk without sucking in air. Paul had finished his workout and had put his own towel to good use. He was surprised when he wiped his face to look up and see Alexander giving him an intense look.

Alexander smiled at Paul and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. “I thought you might want some company. I appreciate you making things easier on your security staff. I wanted to see how you were doing. You do know that what happened in Argentina will not happen at every race? You can go sightseeing. Your security is there to handle fans that might get unruly or violent. Australia is very different from Argentina. Don’t let that experience stop you from interacting with your fans or exploring the world, Paul. One of the best perks of being a Formula AG pilot is traveling the world and getting to experience things that few others do. If this is bothering you, feel free to talk to Dr. Ingold about it.”

Paul probably looked as surprised as he felt. He had not known that he had been subconsciously trying to avoid the same situation that they had faced in Argentina. He had only been to the fanzone for his contracted time where he usually went out and about and ran into fans as he explored the areas around the race. Paul had really enjoyed his diving experience on the Great Barrier Reef. That experience made him want to explore more of Australia. Maybe he would come back and explore the outback some. It wasn’t until Alexander brought to his attention that he realized all the ways he had changed his behavior since Argentina. He felt his shoulders relax and the tension he had unconsciously carried across his shoulder releasing.

Paul: “I didn’t even realize that I was acting out of character for me. I hadn’t realized how much that experience impacted my behavior. I think I was unconsciously trying to protect my security guards from injury after 4 of them got hurt getting to the airport. I didn’t want to make their job harder. I have been a bit of a recluse lately.”

Alexander gave him a knowing smile. “Well now that you are aware of it, you can decide what to do about it. Good luck today. You are in a great position. This track doesn’t favor us too much. You have your work cut out for you. Try to relax before the race.” With that Alexander gave Paul a little salute and disappeared through the door.

Paul stared at the door Alexander had disappeared through. He opted to go back to his room for a shower.

---

Paul thought about what Alexander had said. He explored his feelings about it as he meditated. He consciously went through a routine that Dr. Ingold had developed with Agnes where he relaxed one group of muscles at a time releasing tension and stress. He was calm and relaxed when a knock broke him out of his meditation.

Paul got up and walked over to the door to open it. He looked through the peephole even though he knew his security were monitoring the hallway outside his door. He knew no one would get close unless they had been cleared by security. Paul was a little surprised to see Dorian.

Paul opened the door and motioned for Dorian to come in. Dorian was looking dapper in a high tech workout outfit. The high fashion high tech gear came from one of the team sponsors, Hood Tech Sportswear. They were sponsoring the Junior team but had approached Dorian and Paul with smaller individual endorsement contracts. Paul was still undecided about the contract. It looked like Dorian had decided to sign. Paul had to admit their gear was nice.

Paul: “Good morning Dorian.”

Dorian gave Paul a rakish grin. “So I gave your suggestion some thought. How about wine with cards? We might be able to find some trivia card game or I could teach you how to play Whist or Belote?”

Paul threw his head back and laughed. He had forgotten that he had made the suggestion in the pilots’ chat.

Paul smiled at his teammate. “Well I already know how to play Belote. It is popular in Belgium too.”

Dorian grinned. “Well then, we have a date for later tonight after the race then. How are you feeling?”

Dorian’s smile remained but his voice had taken on a more serious tone.

Dorian: “You have seemed tense and a little distracted since the race in Argentina. You know that not everywhere we go will be like that. You don’t have to stay on alert all the time. That is why we have guards.”

Paul was surprised to be hearing the same thing from Dorian that he had heard from Alexander. “I didn’t realize it had affected me so much till Alexander pointed it out.”

Dorian tilted his head as he gave Paul an odd look.

Dorian: “Of all the years I have been doing this, that was certainly one of the more touchy situations I have found myself in. Just remember that is not the norm. Usually the people can’t wait to greet us and get to say hello. Most Formula AG fans are very friendly, usually a little too friendly. Try not to let it change the way you interact with your fans. I don’t know how much attention you have been paying to social media but some fans have noticed you have not been spending as much time in the fan zones. Some of the media and bloggers are speculating that you are showing signs of tension and stress. They are throwing out some pretty wild conspiracy theories. They can take on a life of their own if you don’t counter them.”

Paul’s eyes widened. He had not realized it had gotten that far. He would need to check in with Chelsey, his agent to see what she might have lined up to help combat this recent spate of press. Paul gave Dorian a bright smile. “Thanks for the heads up Dorian. I didn’t think you cared about my reputation.”

Dorian gave him a bright smile “Je suis excité!” Dorian almost bounced in place like an excited teenage girl. “I have learned that good things happen for me when I am around you and the fans are happy. It helps me get more endorsement deals if we are both doing well in the press. I haven’t exactly been placing well in the races. Endorsements by proximity to you are good!” Dorian gave him a bright unapologetic smile.

Paul just shook his head and chuckled at his teammates' antics. “Alright cards tonight. You bring the wine since you are the designated wine snob between us! You know I would rather have a good Belgium beer.”

Dorian wrinkled his nose up at the thought of Belgium beer. “Non wine. I will however agree to Australian grilling. They make an excellent steak. Then I shall trounce you at Belote.”

Paul gave Dorian a playful push on his shoulder. “You hope you mean!”

Dorian smiled at him and waved as he headed back out the door. “We shall see tonight!”

Paul smiled as Dorian shut the door behind himself. He found his mood brighter and he was feeling less tense. He then turned to getting ready for the race. He went back through the turns in the track one more time before getting into his racesuit.

Water Fight

Paul was wearing a special race suit that had been designed just for the Australian GP. It was a special fabric that was fire resistant but also could double as a diving suit. The helmet had a special rebreather built into it that would pull oxygen from the water for him to breathe if the tunnels flooded for whatever reason. It was simply a precaution but it meant his livery for this race was somewhat different. His race suit for this race had a dark gray background with beautiful golden colored coral with fish in various shades of blue swimming across it. The helmet mirrored that motif with a decorative fin running down the top of the helmet. It was a fun and majestic look that paid homage to the work that went into revitalizing and saving the Great Barrier Reef. BioCHO had a prominent logo on the hood of his ship for this race. They wanted to remind all Formula AG fans that they were an ecofriendly company. Paul had once more been preloaded on electrolytes to help him with the physical toll of racing and the heat.

He had just finished going through his prerace checklist with his engineer Carmella when he heard Alexander’s deep rich voice come across the team comms.

Alexander was sitting in the floating paddock the team had been assigned with the rest of the pit crew. He had a headset on and was looking out over the ocean and the sea of monitors that would allow the team to track what was happening during the race.

Alexander: “Okay team let’s review our strategy. This race is going to be about maneuverability and energy management for us. Paul we have precharged your ELS capacitor to help you out but energy management is going to be crucial for us here. Without the boost from ELS we are going to have a hard time staying competitive on the straits here. Dorian, we did the same for your ship. Dorian if you can even just maintain your position, you will pick up points for the team. You have Ava to battle it out with if you want to advance. That is not going to be an easy fight for you. The newcomer Bealatrix is behind you. We don’t know much about her yet, she is a wild card. Remember to save your ELS for overtakes and straights. Engineers even though the race is underwater, heat management might be an issue in a closed environment such as this. Pay attention to it and ELS management. Be sure to warn the pilots of any issues you see happening. Pay attention to the field and help them identify overtake opportunities. Keep track of the competitors and what they are doing. Let’s help our pilots out. Alright everyone! Let’s have a great race!”

Alexander smiled as he heard cheers echo back to him through his headset. He nodded to the team members near him. He did his best to look confident and like he knew what he was doing. He had been impressed with Dorian’s engineer. He had really stepped up with suggestions for the development team. He had brought some great ideas to them that they were mulling over how they could implement solutions for. Cavan had already given Alexander a favorable report on Remy. There was a calm, excited energy running through the team as the time to the race started ticking down.

---

Paul was ready. He was calm and composed and his hands rested on the control yoke and the throttle.

Five
Four
Three
Two
One
Go!

Paul hit the throttle and his ship jumped forward and almost collided with Cassie as aggressively shut him down, throwing down the gauntlet early. Obviously this was personal to Cassie. Paul had to hit his brakes to avoid colliding with her. Paul fell back behind Amy. He tangled with Amy for a few turns before he used the tube mag track to his advantage. Paul let out a joyful whoop as he executed a half pipe maneuver going up and around Amy dropping back down in front of her. Paul triggered his ELS on the next straight to catch back up to Cassie. Paul spent the remainder of the race changing places with Cassie in an underwater ballet. It was late in the race when he heard Alexander give Dorian the order to retire and save the ship. Dorian was having engine issues. Dorian had nothing but bad luck for several races now. Paul didn’t have time to think about the ramifications of that. He was busy defending his position against a very aggressive Cassie Neves. Cassie kept Paul from making any progress on trying to push for the podium. Cassie kept him defending to the point he had no room to gain on Nora Kelly in front of him. Paul and Cassie put on an epic show for the fans of amazing overtakes. Paul went upside down over Cassie’s head at one point and waved at her through the canopy on the way by. It was a tough race but Paul enjoyed the battle with Cassie almost as much as he enjoyed battling Bea at Spa. The final lap had Paul finishing in P4. No podium this time but still good points for the team. It was a shame Dorian had been unable to gain any points or even finish.

---

Delta Hyper Interviews

Aurora was once again at the Delta Hyper interview booth, mic set up for the pilots, still likely in suits, or at least, down to the undergarment element of it.

"Paul, an impressive turn of results, but it seems Dorian has had nothing but bad luck! Tell us about your fight with Cassie, how that felt, and how you pushed each other? Cassie's ex-Valkyrie, so I imagine the rivalry felt quite personal?"

Paul: “I enjoyed dueling with Cassie. It was almost as much fun as battling it out with Bea at Spa. Cassie threw down the gauntlet right at the beginning. I got the impression this was personal for her.” Paul gave a charming lopsided smile as if to say did we think anything different of Cassie. “I loved this track and can’t wait to come back and race here again. It’s so beautiful. I was honored to be given the opportunity to dive on the reef.” Paul wanted to give credit where it was due. The Australian people had a real gem of nature in their backyard. Paul shook his head sadly. “I feel bad for Dorian. He has had truly bad luck the last few races. I am sure the team will be investigating what happened and why to try and prevent it from happening again.”

---

Media

This is Lauri Ivan with Victory Racing Lap News. The rumors we have heard coming from Miller Motor Racing have been confirmed by Team Valkyrie AGR Sport. Max Wedgewood will be piloting for the German based team next year replacing Dorian Hornfleur who is retiring at the end of the season. Max Wedgewood will be joining Paul Mulder whose season has certainly turned around and even put Team Valkyrie in contention for the Constructor’s cup. Remember folks you heard it here first. Don’t forget to follow us for all Formula AG news.

---

This is Lilly Stryker with TMZ. Team Valkyrie has released a press release that they have secured the contract for Max Wedgewood who will be joining the team at the end of the season. Wedgewood will be replacing Dorian Hornfleur who is retiring. Dorian has had terrible luck lately. Is it bad luck or just proof he is right to retire? Don’t forget to follow us for all the latest news. This has been Lilly Stryker with TMZ.

---

@PrinceAlexus
This is Hans Keller with Gossip. Fans welcomed newcomer Bellatrix Olympus to Formula AG as she joins Nordic Call. Fans are already calling Bellatrix the Princess of Formula AG for her style. Fans are curious what the other pilots think about the newcomer. What will the newcomer think about this fan moniker? We will be sure to ask when we interview her next. Don’t forget to follow us for the latest in Formula AG News.

---

Team Valkyrie AGR Sport proudly announces that Max Wedgewood will be joining the Valkyrie Team at the end of the season. He will be replacing Dorian Hornfleur who will be retiring.



I look forward to working with you Max! Welcome to the team!

Nana2050:It is a shame that Dorian has had such horrible luck.
Hater101: It is not bad luck. It is past time he retired.
Papabear34:Dorian is a class act. Sad to see him go.
HydrofoilHaterI agree Dorian is deadweight at this point.
ThrusterJester:It is hard to believe that everything happening to Dorian is simply bad luck. What gives? I mean they do have engineers and mechanics working on the ship right?
QuantumQuokka: And Valkyrie is back to being a dumpster fire.
Bertha:I couldn’t agree more. Paul seems to be declining after the Argentina race. Did they really have damage to the ships or was it a convenient excuse?
ValkyrieFan56:Insiders confirmed the damage to the ships. Should have been repaired for this race though. So why did Dorian have issues?
MulderMuse:I dug the livery for this race. Just beautiful.
Paulmulder4eva:Paul looked fabulous in those colors.
OfficeDrone#12:Rumor has it Cassie Neves was after blood.
RumorMill:Are they giving Dorian plausibility for a terrible season?
DantheMan: I believe Knight has more integrity than that. However, there are so many technical issues happening during races. What is going on in engineering at Valkyrie?
LegacyStan94: Shit happens during a race.
Superfan2075:Paul finished in P4. He had a great race. It would be nice to see Paul and Dorian both score points in a race for a change though.
DadBod89: Yes! I loved watching this race! So exciting.
GeorgeFly:They should definitely do this circuit again. I loved watching the race.

Bellatrix Olympus. Nordic.

Race Day
21-10-2094

Australia

Daddys Girl.
21-10-2094

Bellatrix paced while she was meant to be donning her race gear and was half dressed, most of her suit was on but missing the various gauntlets and additional G force protections added to the suit. Hitting the call again she finally got an answer on the 3rd try. Her dad, he was a former fighter pilot and peony had a few tips about operating in a 360 degree environment.

“Dad…dad , I need help. This race is running in tubes, its 360 degree, AG, ive never really run on tubes like this, help me?” it came out in a burst of information as she paced on holo putting on the additional layer that protected her chest and back during impacts. “Anything can be useful right now. Team explained everything but… help.” She added mid locking straps into catches.

“Honey, slow down Trixie. Deep breath OK.” Her father said with a tone of pride he was being asked by his very successful daughter but also calm and used to pressure. “OK, its tubes, you're running in a 360 degree track. So. Break it down, you have 4 sections, you can cross between, and move to block the ones they need. It looks like you'll lose and gain a few places Trix, so wait for their mistakes if you have to. Just put me on camera and I'll draw this out on the holo.” He just said and started to give the fastest 5 minute version of how to sustain air speed in an aircraft with energy vs mass and exploit mass and momentum in history. A former fighter pilot though he had lived this stuff.

“i gotta be out in a minute… You sure im ready for this… im… im not sure im ready “ She said and looked over a lot more like the much younger self who wore a right pink helmet inna cart when she lost.

“Trixie. We love you, if not for this government contract bullshit id hug you, and then push you out that door and tell you to kick their ass, so go kick it. You earned it. Show them.” He said and made the gestures as he showed the holo channel was tuned into race live, premium package with several live feeds of the track and the talking heads etc.

“Thanks Daddy.” She said softly, closing the call and walking out into the busy crew bay fully fitted out and in full race kit complete with the mounted air system for her helmet and additional cold pack systems to keep her suit cooler if the ship's systems could not do it. “Ready, take me to my ship good sir and lady.” She said far more confidently approaching two crew who immediately did a quick pat down of her suit to ensure it was all good to go before they started to help her strap in.

Australia

Suit Up..
21-10-2094

“Hey Bellatrix, you need this one, we did our best with the tint, and the windows are tinted, but we are not sure how much lag there will be, especially on the fastest sections. Temp management is OK. Not iddeal, but ships are the best we can do right now.” Sif said, handing over a helmet in the current strong pink was decorated with dark blue and gold details in the team's new colours. The new visor plate was noticeably thicker than the original to compensate for the added extra tints and rapid change system.

“Thanks, looks better than one in practice.” She said and walked her way into the main garage where both ships were sitting in the centre of chaos around them, each team was readying and doing everything for their pilots and ships. “Come on, let's get you in.” Sif said and helped Bellatrix down into the seat, the small cock pit was cramped with all the control surfaces, the booster seat it was teased lifted on risers plus the additional pilot protection systems for Australia race. It all made it a small space.

“So, you know the controls. Relax as you sync up, the emergency systems are automatic, but if not pull the red cord hard. It will activate manually. The power will level out during the warm up lap, its fine if its jerky, it will be smooth to race.” Sif Finished as the chief engineer personality set the harness, locked the helmet into the neck and back bracing and tapped twice on the helmet a minute later. “Ready, I'll lock down the canopy and you're ready to switch to AG hover.”

The cockpit was quiet as Bellatrix waited for the team to clear and Radio to conform. The wait was only a few minutes at most but felt like forever. The gentle hum of the engine was ticking over and the HUD showed 39% of ideal running envelope. It would fully warm up and be ready for the real start. “Race control. Green to go. Nordic 2 go. Nordic 1. Hold 30 seconds.” The calm Australian who released the teams and the cars began to fill out the grid ready to begin.

Australia

Five greens on the board. Go. Go. Go.
21-10-2094

“Go. Go. Go.” Came over the radio and as instructed earlier Ren saw lights flash green on her main HUD, that second she hit the power and felt the kick as the ship jumped forward at speed and glanced to each side and ahead with small twitch, racers front, to each side and what she did not look behind. There was far too much going on ahead of Bellatrix to focus on anything behind her right now, the whole first few laps were always the most dangerous in her view, close-up, tight racing and so much to gain, lose or crash.

“Good start. P10 hold. P10 Hold. Remember 360, 360 racing.” Radio said with a calm tone. “Copy, kais is matching me tight, he is bold.” Bellatrix replied as she moved to defend as well as line up on 9th ahead of her. “He is known as Chaos, for good reason.” The voice said and gave her his track profile while she let loose the new speed upgrade on the straight.

…

“AG drive 3 looking a little hot, can you ease up on that?” Radio asked as she was running through the tunnels, the auto visor worked better than before but still blinded her for a fraction of a second as she exited and brought it high on banking to try and make a pass at the ship ahead but had to back off and defend from her tail again on the next bend. “Negetive, too much 360, we on the points, we cannot give up now, of i ease up il drop back. Tell Sif to find me more coolant, or a way to get air flow on 3.” She said and kept her steady grind to cut 10ths off the car ahead and narrow down the gap till she could pressure them or take it via sheer speed advantage. Every laptop Bellatrix got that little bit smoother and faster on the circuit. Even with the traffic and the challenges of mixed defense and offense her average lap times were improving bit by bit as she got more comfortable in the ship. “Copy, heat will be higher than planned.”

“Confirmed. I will be a back marker if I do not risk it. Going mute for a few laps.” Was her last message before she mentally muted them to concentrate on the coming tense battle for the next place up. She needed 100% on the race.

…

“How's Bellatrix doing?” Astrid asked as she was more to the rear, she had come in lower in quals and was stuck dealing with the back markers more than the mid pack. “9 to 12 is currently estimated. It's too mixed up to be sure. Current 11, moving up to 10.” Radio replied and confirmed the screens.

“Good.” Was all Astrid said famously a woman of few words as she bore down on the ship ahead and began to close to try and get a good angle in the next few turns.

…

The mix was brutal, one ship had bottled the pack up and now closed multiple ships in a sub 2 second window. The already intense competition in mid pack had found new heights. Places where now traded mid lap and regained, ships where running fractions of a second gaps and racing was now probably one of the highlights of the event.

Her family were probably watching from afar and glued to the TV screen if they were able to watch due to time differences and work. She was glued to her small window ahead, hud and the various info panels that were slowly displaying more warnings and alerts than before.

The final moment came when Belltrix saw an opening, it could lose her most of her places but at this point, she was committed. Following Harrison Bellatrix took the chance to make the jump on Kais and passed the more experienced driver with a clear and clean pass going in a burst of Aurora themed pink and pushing G forces until the hurt running high and fast into the bend over the recommended speed with multiple red icons about stability flashing in her eyes, over speed, over heat and AG 3 was a pulsing orange on the HUD ships overview in her minds eye. The ship was too hot, the coolant was used up , just a few laps left and dug deeper into her resolve.

“P9…P9! Confirmed. Amazing first race. Points.” The excited crew was cheering in the background as the Pink shape blurred down and slowed back for the final parade lap in, finally able to back off the speed letting the warning icons begin to glow less ominously and frequently on main Hud. “Bring it in, nice n easy, no need to crash on the way home.” They said cheerfully as beers were being cracked open in the pit garage.

Australia

Post Race.
21-10-2094

Bellatrix staggered when she got out the ship once it lifted into the docking cradle that held it once the engine and AG motors sound was just the tick of heat expansion and leaned against the column of the pit box, the Ship was terrifying but awesome and also utterly exhilarating at race speeds, even if it was not the best on the grid it could race and it could challenge for the mid pack. Compared to her old Blue Sheep team, it was not like she had the top 3 ships in the championship anymore but this was an opportunity she could never have declined. “Damn good, that was one of he'll of a race.” One of the crew called out as they headed to shut down the race craft and another started to put on protective gear to open panels that would be red hot inside. She already used two shots of coolant, the constant over takes and defense had pushed her and its to the limit several times. The fans probably loves watching it though, aggressive racing, all the way to the end, no forgone conclusions.

“Drink” and we get the suit off.” Sif said, walking over and her fully rebuilt lower body took the woman's increased mass without complaint, Bellatrix had some mods for a 5 foot nothing, it added mass. Not fat, sheer mass of metal.

“Da.”She just said and took the water as her face engineer unlocked the helmet and the neck collar to the side. “So hot, busy, that was a close race. Woah, feel a little shaken.” Bellatrix said between actions and help to be unarmoured like some kind of Knight.

“G forces, you will be fine in a few minutes, balance used to be heavy. Great result for team, Astrid came in near the rear pack but she kept out the bottom. We take that.” The woman said she helped her pilot. “Get me a cold pack here now, double time. That ship was in the red zone for the last 10 laps. I do not want to send her to the hospital after the first race.” Sif shouted to the crew to get some urgency for her Pilot who has been pushing the mid pack at best averages craft to its limit this race.

Australia

Delta Hyper Prep.
21-10-2094

Bellatrix was a little later than some to media call but she was not taking the heat as well some pilots especially as such an intense section of almost constant hull to hull racing, a rapid and variable defense and offensive changes to position even per large corners. This track was made for show, to make pilots work for every place and fight for every place the whole way. It to

Stripped of her suit she had close fit dark blue athletic shorts, a pink and gold team tank top with the required formula AG cap and her left shoulder to hand, left leg to her bright pink trainer clad foot was fully on show, the camouflage system took energy she felt she needed to save after that race. Pale, Wales will do that to you and her red hair tied back into a braid to keep out of the heat. It took a few minutes to get the outer layers off and all the additional g force panels as well as the air system for her helmet plus floatation gear Bellatrix had to have for this race.

“Move… magic time ma Bell. Sit down. Stay still, head stright. You look like a dinsey peasant.” Ren said as she pushed through very French straightening her cap and pushing her down to sit legs swinging on a tool chest, the French woman did a sub 5 minute make up job for the cameras and then walked with her to the media area. “Polite as always ma Ren” Bellatrix joked talking lightly heading to the media event, she hooked an arm and pulled Ren to the media event.

Australia

Delta Hyper
21-10-2094

Bellatrix approached the media area a little later as she had to get out her suit and cool off a little before she felt ready for the interview. Taking a second to breathe, smile and walk on with a small apology to the audience. “Applgies, my team insisted I cooled off first. I'm not best with heat.” She said smoothly with her upper class English accent and sat down resting her flesh and blood leg over the metallic one, a tap of her foot made the heel light up like a kids shoe, but with grown up design and comfort.

“It was frankly terrifying, exhilarating and more at the same time, but id not swap this for anything. This track is probably technically one of the most interesting of the year being its often in 360 with total freedom of movement. I'd have liked Silverstone, but this place is historic in its own way.” Bellatrix paused as she spoke and took a breath to also think how she wanted to word the next part. “We were running so close, im not sure what place I was at some points, I hope the fans enjoyed the excitement. We going to come back even better for the salt flats.” She said trying to be media and family friendly, Ren had been heavy on being personable and not just some famous person on the screen. The fact her augments were on show was more tiredness than anything, so a little extra personality to compensate for looking so… altered. "Also may i take a liberty, my Family is not able to be here for my first Senior AG race, but i did it! Love you guys."

The fact Astrid, as later seen on replay, said more than a few words about her success was… a huge thing and a major effort to build a bridge to her new team mate.

Australia

Beer! Post Race.
21-10-2094

The hotel bar was busy after the media phase as Bellatrix walked arm in arm with some of her former Junior AG team competitors, her first points on the first race meant beer and a loud cheer from the person she raced alongside and others who knew her. “Cheers, you gave me a chance at the Junior championship by getting promoted.” Was called out and even one beer in the English Pilot felt it but decided she could get drunk tonight and enjoy it. It was only once you scored your first points.

“Hey, beers on me, be nice” Bellatrix replied laughing as the gathering was a little loud, energetic but far from destructive and they quickly ordered food, drinks and someone found controls for the music playing some energetic Euro beat in the bar. "Yeah, you on the senior credits Trixie, us mere Juniors are not."

"I know you own a 2032 hyper car, 1 pf 1, poor yeah." She came back and the party was in full swing. The team would not be back in pit or fit state, probbly until Monday Lunch time.

Media

“AG racer's debut race scores points.”
In a stunning Debut Bellatrix Olympus newly signed by Nordic Call came in 9th, Veteran team mate Astrid came in 14th, a gain on her qualifying but not enough for the points this week in sunny Australia…

“Nordics new Pilot hits ground running”

“Bellatrix Olympus, Australia, P9. An analysis.”

“First points, can Nordic's new Pilot replicate that in America?”

“Bellatrix Olympus,New Pilot, secrets and rumours. Facts now available on Patreon"

“Nordic make steps in the right direction?. P9, P14 Australia. Can they capitalise?”

“Replaced. An exclusive interview with former Team Nordic pilot Bjorn Waldgard. No limits. No censorship.”

“Australia 360 racing. The results.”

“Pilots podcast. AG racing. Why should mid-season transfers be banned. Our take.”