[color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Outro to Brazil[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] "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!" [hr] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Closing Montage- Brazil[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [b]Soundtrack: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgI9FNht8qw]Nia Archives & Clipz - Maia Maia[/url] [/b] 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. [hr] [center][h1][b]Thursday 12th October, 2094 Nordic Call HQ, Luleå, Sweden [/b][/h1][/center] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Cardio in Lulea[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [center][h2][i][b]Astrid Thorsdottir[/b][/i][/h2][/center] 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. [hr] [center][h1][b]Thursday 12th October, 2094 The Ranch, Carrera Condor HQ, Buenos Aires, Argentina [/b][/h1][/center] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Remembering Reya[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [center][h2][i][b]Ava Villarosa[/b][/i][/h2][/center] 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. [hr] CORAL /// OCEAN //// DEEP [b]Soundtrack: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcdJSZ_t5rk]Tourist - So[/url] [/b] 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. [i] "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..."[/i] Climate catastrophe. Unwinding. [i]"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...."[/i] 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. [i] "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...."[/i] Collapse. Unravelling. The camera under the water now, as the ocean, before it, died, emptying into dust. Interspersed with images. Headlines. [i] "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...."[/i] 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. [i]"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...." [/i] Voices. Screaming into the void. [i]"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!"[/i] 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. [i]"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..." [/i] More chunks of coral magically heal. [i]"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...." [/i] Hope. As the coral suddenly turns back into colour, from grey, to pinks, oranges, reds, aquamarines. [i]"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..."[/i] 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. [i]"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..." [/i]. 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." [hr] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Diving In[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [b]Soundtrack: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2fPALLCuAM]Radiohead and Hans Zimmer- Ocean Bloom[/url] [/b] 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. [hr] [color=gold][center][h1][i][b]DELTΔ HYPER[/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Episode Sixteen: Water Deep[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [hr] [center] [h1][b] Round 16 of Formula AG Friday 20th October, 2094 Practice Ballycastle Complex, Muller Cay, nr Australia Great Barrier Reef AGP 1100 AEST [/b] [/h1] [/center] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Leave A Trace[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] 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.