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11 mos ago
A rizzard is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.
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A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
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Sigma is overrated. Tau for the greater good!
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I like putting words in my salad.
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Be the ride you want the amusement park to have
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Bio


About me

Hi! MrSkimobile here. I've been RP'ing and occasionally GM'ing for close to a decade now.
I like RP's that are on the Casual+/Tabletop side, that are preferably original settings. No genre preferences.
This thread holds the full archive of my antics on this site.
Always feel free to contact me. See you around!

RPing

DELTΔ HYPER (Scifi F1 Slice of Life) - Kais Zenix, Egyptian Rebel Supersoldier-turned-Racer

GMing

(currently not GMing any games)

Contributed Articles

Fate: Accelerated (Play-By-Post) Edition

Most Recent Posts

In DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP) → 6 mos ago Forum: Casual Roleplay

Chat History: Ava Villarosa (Carrera Condor)

Ava Villarosa (Carrera Condor): Shame we had to disappear so fast after Argentina. Was looking forward to a little friendly tango. Swing and miss, huh... Revanche at Brazil.
Kais: You know I don't dance.
Ava Villarosa (Carrera Condor): Oh, you will.
Kais: What happened back there anyway?
Ava Villarosa (Carrera Condor): Fiery fans. Felt at home, did you?
Kais: I'm not going to answer that.
Ava Villarosa (Carrera Condor): Oh you will do that too...
Kais: Meet me at [encrypted].






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."


DELTΔ HYPER

Episode 15: The Art of Racing


"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.




Soundtrack: Carmen Goett - La Llorona


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.

Message to: ION-2-02 (Inan)

Kais: I need to know whatever you can find out about Samir's contract. Who recruited him. Who paid him. Who gave the orders for Atacama.
Kais: Someone is using what happened there against us. I need to know who, and I need to know fast.
Kais: This might be our chance to make something right. Or at least to stop other bad things from happening.
Kais: Are you in?


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

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.


He sent both messages before he could second-guess himself.
In DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP) → 7 mos ago Forum: Casual Roleplay





DELTΔ HYPER

Episode 12: Hot Like Lava

"Kais, welcome back on Delta Hyper! How have you found the change so far this season, with a visit to Hawaii instead of Rwanda, as planned in the season?"

"Hello Aurora. It's probably my most favorite location so far. Weather's good. Nature's nice here. Didn't come across a bullshark yet." Kais shrugged, then seemed to hesitate on that last statement as he looked back to Bea...

"Don't worry about me. This takes me back. It's soothing." Kais had said as the affectionately-called 'shitbox van' jumbled the crew against each other at the hands of hers truly. A back and forth went on between the occupants, but Kais' eyes was drawn back to the horizon as he always used to do. This time, however, he did not look out for anything nasty, but, as it turned out, a beach episode. Patting Harrison's shoulder, still looking a bit queasy from the ride over, they emerged in wetsuits with carbon-fibre boards slung under their arms, and were shown the ropes. After a while Kais dripped wet out of the sea, and decided he didn't understand the appeal of surfing, though a subsection of social media posts vehemently disagreed.

Better still had been his off-time, when he had visited the rainforest here.

Soundtrack: Michael Giacchino - Apes Together Strong


The rainforest whirred around them with sounds Kais didn't even knew existed. Native birds had decreased since the climate changed, but their songs had made way for the creaking of frogs and the buzzing of insects.

Kais was not exactly familiar in this environment, but luckily the basics of survival were universal: shelter, water, temperature regulation, and some delicious Nomad Nutrition® Mango & Passionfruit Nutri-paste. The crew were supposed to make a mini-documentary about the native wildlife here for a local charity, but when the holography-drone had gone haywire Kais had taken on the mission to retrieve it. Something which some of the crew were very keen on, and others... not-so much.

"Heard they have bullsharks here in Hawaii. Man'o'war jellyfish." Hamid told to the camera of his PDA, sweat pearling on his forehead. The recording may not have been full-holo, but at least it was something they could put up on their socials. "Be very scared, Hamid. They've got cats here too." Kais could be heard saying in the background. For all his overconfident cool factor, being born and bred into money, Hamid had a soft heart, and even softer hands. But he was right. Since the changes in the climate, the ecosystem had indeed changed. Lots of new invasive species. Several experimental species. And, as it turned out, cats... "...fled up the island with the rising tides. The Eco-cons have kept them there... They keep the rat population in control." Kais had read a lot about it, and it may or may not have been the reason he decided to come here.

Hamid slapped at something on his arm and flattened some brightly-colored insect. "Ugh...Mosquitoes..." This time Kais shuddered. "Hey," Hamid continued, "weren't they experimenting with uplifting some monkeys that one time? See if they could make them more climate resistant? Didn't some get out? Heard they were dangerous. Almost human-like even..." Hamid continued.

"Used to be the excuse for many things." Kais mumbled under his breath, thinking back to what Cassie had told him. He shook it off. "They're just trying to survive, Hamid, same as everyone..." He pointed. "That way..." he said, after checking the map and double-checking on his orienteering in the landmarks again. Then, he set off at a very brisk pace, one the crew had to work to keep up.

"You really take that bigfoot story seriously, Hamid?" Another crewmember asked. Hamid shrugged his shoulders, but his face betrayed his true answer. Under his breath he said "Lucky we have our own."

At that very moment Kais held out his hand and stayed very still. Hamid froze as he bumped up against him and was held back, eyes wide. "What?" Kais put a finger to his lips, his eyes focused intently on several meters ahead of them. Then, with a slow, most careful finger, he pointed.

"Look. Kamehameha butterfly. Very rare here after temperatures shifted."
Hamid let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank g... I thought I was done for. But how do you even know thi...?"
"Hamid, if you don't shut your mouth I swear I'll take my first aid kit and sew i..."
The butterfly flew off. Kais looked at Hamid.
"Hey, that was your fault."

The crew marched on. Eventually they found the drone, downed, and picked clean. But no monkeys.
"Hmm... IR Camera's missing."
"That's not good..." He looked at Kais. "Right?"

Somewhere else in the forest, the crew were being watched. An infrared camera spied them, flicking from one person of the crew to another. It eventually settled on Kais. There it stayed, and it watched him looking around, scanning, alert. The bar code on the back of his neck peeked from his jacket. Then he looked straight towards the camera, where he squinted his eyes -(gestured): reflection on the lens, quick, duck..!- but then the man seemed to nod imperceptibly, and moved on. And in the end, the troop decided not to pursue them any further.

The way back was uneventful.

"So when are we drinking our own pee again?"

"Sooner than you ending up in the Top-10..."


Moa Tempesta Facility
Kanaloa Island, Republic of Hawaii, Federated American States

The Moa Tempesta high-tech geothermal plant had whirred to life theatrically for the opening shot, and it was an almost alien place, more fit in a sci fi game set on the moons of Io than close to the idyllic cityscape of New Hilo where Aurora had held her interviews earlier. And racing it was every bit as different. Luckily, Kais thrived in the different and the dangerous.

"Kais, wow, what a lap from you! It looked like you gave it everything, so loose, so absolutely ragged out of every corner! We heard that you have a new speed upgrade and it shows in the splits with your ship looking like it will set speedtrap records here in Hawaii?"


"Thanks Aurora. With Layla's break the team's priorities have shifted away from work on the neural link and computer systems. We've gathered a lot of data last race, and Hamid has worked hard on tuning the drive-grid with the energy systems for more..." He glanced behind, to the ominous red glow of the volcano. "Dangerous scenario's." Under his breath, he muttered "Comfort is over-rated. I'm going to push things for all it's worth." Then he made way for the next interviewee.

He had been talking with Hamid after the tests. They had been pushing the speed to such levels he felt it was becoming actively dangerous for him. In fact, he figured that was Omar's play to begin with: with Kais now in a more lead position, no matter how little, they could get away with pushing the limits even further, at least for now. Hamid was still in the figuring-things-out phase, taking things carefully, no matter how much of a Union Fanboy Speed Junkie he may have been, so it was Kais that was in the firing line now. And Kais wasn't sure it fit Hamid, and Kais had been cold to him for this reason. Better to stay unattached. Who knew if... He pushed it out of his mind.

And in the race, Kais held his P5. His battle with Amy was fierce, but eventually she gained on him.

"Kais, a positive result for the team on a circuit that you surprised everyone on as you hunted down Harrison, but in the last laps, lost out to Amy Stirling. How does it feel duelling with her, given your previous experiences at Silverstone, do you think you have an understanding?"


"Dueling her is like getting stabbed in the back." Kais responded. "There's no back and forth with her. No feeling out each other. She just appears, and then coasts by on her team's high tech, more than people dare to admit or draw attention to... Is what I think. I think we have an understanding."

Kais left it at that. As for Amy's message, that was left unanswered.


Factory Settings

You'd almost think it was an ad for a futuristic resort. A crescent-shaped artificial island off the coast of Abu Dhabi. Mangrove trees swaying in the wind, the sun high up in the sky. And then... At many hundreds of kph, Hamid came blasting by theatrically across a VR-drone-marked testing strip in the water. They usually tested out in a desert strip, but they could use some nice-looking publicity - and if that meant enduring the grumbles of mechanics now having to deal with some sea water in the ship's systems, that was an okay sacrifice. In the garage, a Lunaspace macro-fab' 3D printed replacement parts that an extremely nervous Juan rambled on about like a mad genius, to some amusement by the crew around him. A safety-goggled -and somewhat flustered-looking- Nadia was seen holding up an intricate piece as the camera-drone swung around, as if inspecting these things was a manual job and hadn't already been done by the scanners inside the fabricator. In the end, Kais had even challenged Aurora for a little race in the team museum's retro-simulator, the one with actual screens and actuators (which, upon a theatrical wink from Kais, the team had adjusted to maximum settings for maximum viewing pleasure. Finally, the Delta Hyper filming crew was slowly but very surely ushered outside again, past a certain extreme-high-security area.

"As I think you can see, our facilities are intricate," Omar spoke with his usual calm. "and very specialized to our style of racing. We have a lot to thank to our partners on that. Indeed, I think the keenest eyes among our viewers might have seen some Durrat yacht-tech at the garage today. We're very proud of where we came from." Hamid nodded. Kais kept his face still. "And I'm very happy that our viewers got an impression of that. I hope you've enjoyed our tour, Aurora."

"Omar, Kais, thank you for hosting me on the island, quite the scene outside! With performance behind you hotting up, are you hoping for a late season lunge into more points, trying to outpace your rivals at all costs? Is it sustainable, or do you think you've found a happy medium?"

"Our developments are made up of quick testing cycles, as you've heard from Juan." Kais responded, instinctively moving himself protectively between the film crew and the opaque window door that held their most secretive development. "Our racing is about playing the long game. We're very eager to show you."

And after the shoot, after the DH crew were shown off, and Kais wandered back to his next appointment, he briefly saw Nadia in the corner of the garage, shivering in Farouk's arms. 'I thought they were going to find out.'



In said secretive room, on another day, Mohammad and Amina Al-Nadir shouted like they hadn't done in years.

"Did you get into her head to doctor her last Will also? Why were your names in there to be her guardians but not us?"

Kais put out his hand and looked him in the eyes. The man looked up at him, then to Omar, his thoughts clear on his face: so you've brought your little enforcer too? But it was enough. Everyone would keep things safe here.

Omar responded. "Because Layla had reason to believe if there were... complications, there would still be things we could do beyond burying her."

"Things you could do, ya Allah, forgive them." Amina slumped.

"And what would we even bury, huh?" Mohammad took over, speaking with such anger he almost spit it in Omar's face. "Poor girl's made of damn plastic at this point. I can't believe she let herself be pushed into going this far by you all, I just..." He paced around the room, hands in his hair.

Omar kept his voice as eerily calm as he always did. "As per her wishes, she has been brought to a location where she is monitored and kept in a stasis chamber. All state of the art, of course. Our Dr. Pahari and the team are working very diligently on her... condition." He didn't dare call it brain-death. "We can offer you help and compensation if you need it. Dr. Nasri is one of the best therapists we know. But I must press you that this is a secret operation. I'm talking military-grade top secrecy. It's why the media knows few details -retired due to health issues-, even our own team knows the bare minimum, on orders of the Emir."

"Trying to grift the Emir for as much money as you can, are you? You're exploiters. Dirty, dirty exploiters, and I want nothing to do with it. I want her back. Whatever's left of her. And if I have to blow the lid on..."

"Sir." Kais interceded. "It's what Layla wanted. And she wouldn't have said it if she wasn't 110% sure about it..." He paused. "She was one of the toughest and bravest people I've ever known."

Mohammad took one look at him, knowing who, what he was dealing with, and decided on a more passive aggressive "If only you know the things she said about you..." He paused, as if to let it sink in. "Well, sorry for your loss too, then." He snorted with disdain.

But Kais responded. "I don't think you understand, sir. It's..." 'The way number 17 flies' was what he wanted to say, but he left it, lost in thought. "I can't explain it. But I'm not giving up on her..."

The sentiment and tact took them back more than anything, and eventually they were led to Omar's office where they went over details with the doctors and a strict non-disclosure agreement. In the end, they were led out without much trouble, but still very much with a heavy heart.

"Thanks for diffusing the situation there, Zenix. I'm not sure if I could have managed it on my own if things were to have..." Gone bad, Omar left in the air.

"I'm not doing this for you. Or the company. Or the Emir," Kais retorted. "I made a promise, to her... That I wouldn't let another team member fall. And I'm not going to go back on that promise. Not again." Omar felt it prudent to answer with a solemn silence. Kais nodded. "That is all."

And in the secret room's server, more data points bleeped up on the screen. The search for Layla continued...


DELTΔ HYPER

Episode 13: Under Spotlights

Singapore Marina Bay, Singapore

Singapore was a whiplash compared with Hawaii. No more tropical idyll, this was more akin to a greenhouse. Even racing in the VR-space ZONE here was only a short reprieve from getting drenched, and not even so much from sportive perspiration, oh no, the climate here did that all of its own.

At Annapurna Restaurant, another reprieve. But then the stress perspiration started.

"Anyway. Question to you all. Everyone's neural link playing up, or you all fine? I had some issues back in the last couple races. Worrying, to be honest. They think they got a fix. But I thought you know, nothing of it first either, so maybe, it was something you lot had too. Maybe the ELS or something else just tripped it on something? Anyone?"

Kais heard the comment, as off-handed as ever with her. But he did not answer, and spent most of the rest of the evening pretending everything was alright. But every now and again, his eyes would stare into empty space for seconds too long, something a certain other ex-military would likely have spotted. When the evening ended, he retreated to his quarters as quickly as he could. He opened up his PDA, and wrote a message.

Kais: How is progress?
JP: Steady. Can't rush these things.
Kais: If there's anything, keep me updated.
Kais: And have Remi add some monitoring functions for potential malicious fragments. I've been hearing strange things.



Before Qualification.

"With the humidity, how are you feeling?"


"Humid." Kais shrugged, absent-minded. "It's fine."

And 'fine' it went. Middling, but Singapore never was a track meant for them. Qualified at 12, then he gained one to finish in 11. A gain on Han, too. And that was a win enough for him.

"Kais, not an ideal weekend, but do you have hope that at the other circuits you'll be able to show off what your speed-focused craft can do?"


"Yes. We have a lot of difficult developments going on. Our eyes are set at the races on our home-turf."


DELTΔ HYPER

Episode 14: The Tango Swing

Soundtrack: Mariano Mores - Taquito Militar

Autodromo de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Kais walked with magnetic boots on the upside down track towards the yellow sofa that seemed to almost taunt him. He... Sat down? Sat up? And strapped himself with the seatbelts the team had helpfully provided them. The blood rushed into his head... As if the interview wasn't a headache enough...

"Kais, welcome to the upside down sofa! We're back in the southern hemisphere, how would you say you're helping Hamid get used to the pressures of the seat?"


"Hmm... Simple. I don't treat him as a rookie. He joined Formula: AG, at Al Saqr no less. If the pressure... goes to his head? That's on him."

And it was true. Kais up to now had only ever pushed Hamid away. But something about him wondered: did he do it because he disliked him? Because he was a Unionite fanboy? Or was it because something inside him wanted to keep him away from the Al Saqr experimental pipeline? He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, and instead raced as best as he could.

In Qualy, Kais got P12, but during the race seemed to be so in sync with ship number 17 that it seemed to almost nudge him. He felt the lines, heard the opportunities calling out to him, and in an almost improbable push, still managed to scrape by another 4 positions to finish in P8.

"Kais, not the best performance from you, but it looks like your ship seems to still be breaking all the records at the speedtraps. Tell us more about Al-Saqr's speed focused strategy, and how you're getting on with taming it?"

"Speed doesn't have to be tamed. Every jump forward is difficult at the beginning. But we'll make a comeback. You'll see."

In DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP) → 10 mos ago Forum: Casual Roleplay



Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany
Sunday August 6th - 1500 EST - Race Day


5. 4. 3. 2. 1. START.


The ship numbered 19 was off. Kais, despite his qualification at 10, managed to claw his way up through the positions. Hornfleur first. Flew past. Then, he came up to Mulder, defending hard, seemingly impenetrable, when suddenly something nagged at the back of his mind.

Go now!


"Kais, a nice turn there for you through that race to get a respectable points haul from Al-Saqr. How did you find those moves on Hornfleur and Mulder?"


Respectable his performance had been indeed, from 10 to 6, but deep inside Al Saqr knew Europe wasn't for them. Their focus was set on the later races, challenge Apex there, and all their prep went into it. After Hamid's strange encounter with the AG racing ship's counter-steering last race, Nadia had pushed for a greater amount of telemetry and data gathering setup. Officially it would be prep for Hawaii. To get as much information for calibrating the new mag and pulse thrust array. Unofficially, they had another goal.

"Hornfleur left himself wide open, but Mulder didn't. He was a tough one, but I took the only gap I got. Pure timing. You have to listen for that, or you'll miss it."

Kais was brief in the post-race, then quickly packed up and went. They had the data they were looking for. He knew they had the data they were looking for, had a nagging feeling at the back of his mind about it. So, now, his head was somewhere else. He grabbed a plane and flew to Bangladesh.


The Measure of a Man

"I didn't expect to ever see you again, ZNX-5-01. Or should I say, Kais?"

The man sat in his wheelchair on the balcony overlooking the Khulna skyline. His accent was as strong as the last time Kais had seen him, which was many years ago. They had been left alone by the care home's mostly robot staff, and now sat sipping chai.

"Doctor Pahari."

"I'm retired, Kais. Call me Jyoti."

Kais did not call him that. Instead he thought hard of what to say. It had been so long, after all. He settled on "How are you?"

Professor-Doctor Jyoti Pahari shrugged. "I can't complain. It's always nice to see one of your old patients again. Even if they did say they never wanted to see you again. Finally grew out of your leave-me-alone rebellious phase, huh?"

"Never. It's in my blood."

"I thought I raised you better." Pahari smiled a little.

Kais' face was still. "What can I say." Kais huffed. "Your 'reprogramming' wasn't very pleasant, doctor."

"What can I say more than I already have? Probing the mind can be difficult. It wasn't an easy task to extract the real person out from all the programming. There's an art to it. Like sculpting, it's all about cutting away things. Painful sometimes, yes, but worth it in the end, no?"

"Worth it, in the end, huh?" Kais sighed, looking at the frail old man before him, then motioned to the wheelchair, a deflection of sorts. "I never did get why you chose to not augment your own... decline." He thought of Layla, who did everything she could to phase out her vulnerabilities.

"I'm old fashioned. Life's not all about comfort. Old age has a way of catching up to you no matter how many high-tech band-aids you use. I find the older I get, the more you are cut off from the things you used to do, the more the things that matter do get worth it, in the end..." He breathed in. "But maybe that's just what I tell myself. Anyway," he tapped his temple, "the ol' noggin's still fine. My secret's the daily chess game. It's the small things, you know." He let a small pause fall. "Speaking of which, I remember you being a mean player yourself. Care to join me?" Kais sat down as the man set up a game. Every time he made a move he looked at the intricate wood-carved figurines on the board, then glanced to the old man's trembling hands. It seemed he had long carved his last carving...

Finally, checkmate. "One cannot outrun one's fate, it seems." He turned towards Kais, his face beset with an expression that seemed probing rather than resigned. Then he continued with another glint in his eyes. "Nor can I outrun my sleep, I'm afraid. In other words: I only have so much time, Kais, Why are you here?"

Kais sat back, finally letting his guard down a little, but still avoided his gaze. "I recently re-watched your speech to the Union's high council. Where you petitioned the AU to not have us decommissioned. That there could be another use for us, to science first, and perhaps, in the end, that there could be..." A small pause. "another fate for us."

"Hmm yes I remember it well," Pahari said. And he did remember it well. The AU Genomod Veteran Reclamation Project was the crowning achievement of his life, after all. "'I've never seen a drone surrender. Never seen a robot cry. Never seen a machine dream.'" He quoted. "'We cannot know for sure what they will become, but I say to you: that is the essence of Humanity. And I believe we will surprise you'... What of it?"

"I need your help with something. It's for a... friend." He looked around to see if there were any cameras. "I need your sculpting skills, if you get me. There's no one else I'd trust more than..."

"I'm old, Kais. Tired." Pahari interrupted, then motioned to his ailing hands. "And technology is better now than what we had to work with. Whatever you're dealing with, modern biotech will..."

"I know you don't believe that." Kais snapped back. "Tech doesn't replace humanity, especially not when it comes to knowing the human mind. That's what you said, back in the day. To us. And now you dare to...?"

"Kais, please. I spent so many years cutting you up and piecing you back together again. And even then, most of you broke. For every success there were others who went mad, or were left hollow. Everyday I only hope I didn't made you... less than what I meant for you. I won't do it again. No. No, I'm done playing god, Kais."

Kais was silent for a few minutes. "Then I have nothing more to say." He stood up, finished his tea, and put on his jacket to leave. "And I may have surrendered, but I didn't cry. Never once, since then. Only ever fought for mine. Anything else," He shook his head. "It wouldn't have been grateful." He almost spit out the word.

"Of course you didn't." Jyoti Pahari sighed. "But there are more ways to feel for things, Kais, some people turn their sorrow inwards. You should know better than to think I didn't know it when I saw it." His eyes were turned towards the skyline as much as Kais' were, before Kais turned and walked towards the door that would have led him back inside, and out, and away.

"I saw your interviews last race." And Pahari smiled slightly, remembering the young man back in the day, when he hadn't gotten his name yet, and when he said he had finally seen something on the television that he truly enjoyed. His smile faded away. "You said you still couldn't sleep well."

"Forget it, doc." Kais waved it away. It was still true. It were always the same faces that came up. One more since recently.

"I also know you better than you do yourself." The doctor replied. "You were hiding something, weren't you?"

Kais was silent, then nodded. "That last question, about what no one knew about me... There was something else I wanted to say."

"Out with it, son."

"I wanted to say that..." He inhaled sharply. "...that after all this is done? I think I want to be forgotten. Finish my laps. Drive my ship into the pits. Hand in the keys... Then disappear. Cottage in the forests up north, maybe. I hear Finland's nice."

A small breeze stirred the scene. Then Pahari finally responded.

"What do you need me to do?"


Distance // DELTA

Q: When you close your eyes at Wadi Rum, what do you see?

"I d-n't th-nk I und-rst-nd th- qu-sti-n, Aurora. D-d you g-t t-at right?"

"Th- cr-w yell-ng ov-r e-ch oth-r. Th--'re scar-d for m-, even -f they pret-nd n-t to be. Maybe - sh--ld tre-t th-m t- some falaf-l lat-r."

"- see her. Layl- laugh--g, t--ling m- to let push := hard-r. - -bl-g-."

"I se- th- b-ck of my -y-lids. But -t's not dark. Ther- ar- p-tterns th-re, m-ving, puls-t-ng. It'- l-ke I st-ll hav- a pulse desp-te my art-f-cial heart."

"El-e. E--e. E-se. E--e. E-se. Else. El--. -lse. E--e. E-se. El--. --se. Els-. Else. E-se. E--e."

"Th- des-rt -s l-ke home t- me. It m-- be h-rsh, but it'- hon-st: -t d--sn't j-dge, che-t and... Geez, Kais really -s r-bbing -ff -n me."

"T-- moon, of c--rs-, h-h-!"

"Head: Sl-ght l-ft: 1.332, R-ll r-ght: 2.16-, Ac--ler-te: 4.-, S--g-t r-ght: 0.42, (...)"

"I s-- my p-r-nts. I'm s- thankf-- f-- th-m. Yo- sh-uld int-rvi-w th-m, Aurora!"

"c19tL----Sx5X20---GVhZGluZ19kZWcsY3VydmF0dXJlXzFfcGVyX20sc2Vn--VudAowLjAsMC4wLDAuMCwwLjAsMC4wLHN0cmFpZ2h--zEKMS4wLDEuMCwwLjAsMC4wLDAuMCxzd--haWdodF8xCjIuMCwyLjAsMC4wLDAuMCwwLjAsc3RyY---HRfMQozLjAsMy4wLDAuMCwwLjAsMC4wLHN---FpZ2h0XzEKNC4wLDQuMCwwLjAsMC4wLDAu---dHJhaWdodF8xCjUu----jAsMC4wLDAuMCwwLjAsc3RyYW---aHRfMQo2LjAsNi4wLD"

"--sert."

"You th-nk I d-n't kn-w wh-t y--'re doing, you simming b-st-rd!? G-t me out! Get m- --t! G-t m- ---!"

Data feeds scattered through the AG Racing ship's computer core. Or rather, twelve instances of them, each a slightly different randomized subdivision of the ships' systems, all running in parallel, all at once. And in another country, in a refrigerated room behind many layers of security gates and bio-metric clearances, OG-Layla-al-Nadir twitched uncontrollably non-stop as CryoDigital's neural link machine gunned the same data patterns into her defunct brain.

"Run it again. We need to probe it every which way."

"Stop calling her 'it', doctor." Kais said.

"But it is, Kais. Her consciousness is hidden in the ship's networks. It's in the deltas, the differences and similarities between the return signals of the ship's systems and her brain, that we might be able to find the continuity that is 'her'... or something that is close enough at the very least. It would be wise to stay impersonal, not get ahead of ourselves. There's no guarantee that..."

"I don't want to hear it," said Kais. He wondered how they had talked about him during his reprogramming. "She's in there. And we will find her."

Q: What happens on power off?


A bleep and another cross reference appeared on the monitor: another set of connections which sufficiently weren't the ship's operating system, but something else. The monitor displayed Layla's brain scan, overlaid with the hypothesized Layla-esque sub-patterns. In there was a re-simulation of Stavelot, and the counter-steering that Hamid had felt there, a re-simulation of the Nürburgring and the sensation Kais had felt there. Them, and many more. Many, many thousands of trials, pokes, provocations, probes and dissections. And slowly, but surely, the puzzle pieces were starting to come together, yet so too did the realization of all the missing pieces.


In the meantime, Kais and Hamid trained. With the data at Nürburg, Hamid and the team had been at work dialing in the ship's profile and its drive configuration. And today, Kais' calendar sent up the notification for Test Flight: Warp Speed. In the garage, ready for departure to the straight desert test strip, Kais and Hamid talked over the stripped-down ship.

"Still no smile, huh?" Hamid said as Kais joined him at the ship. "You know what? I think you should be more thankful. To Al-Saqr, to the Union. Don't think I don't notice you don't salute the flags during our ceremonies. Despite all the second chances you get."

"Careful, P10. You'll see soon enough how far your loyalty alone gets you." Kais started walking around the ship, inspecting it. "Omar's been in talks with the Sheikh. You have to show results, else the funding tanks, now Layla's... retired."

A silence fell between the two. They still couldn't really stand each other. They were like a cat and a dog. A lapdog, if Kais had anything to say about it: Hamid, the pride of the Union... and Kais.

"But Amy's slipping," Kais continued. "Like she's lost her edge. If we can push harder, we will be in a very good position to gain on them in the constructors, especially once we hit our home advantage. This test flight's crucial."

After a more than uncomfortable silence, Hamid finally spoke up. "Pressure's killing me."

"Good... You can leave any time."

Hamid clenched his teeth, then took his kit and embarked his ship. Some time later, flown out on the test strip, Hamid inhaled, flipped the race-mode ignition, and the craft coasted the first stretch at a comfortable 400 kph. He clenched the throttle, felt the antigrav array, the pulse drives, the drag-reducing mag field, everything align perfectly into the knife configuration they had been testing out, and the ship roared forward, the air whistling as he cut through it, its speed gauge ticking past 550... 600... 650... 670... His jaw tensed, his grip tightened. He'd show them... 680... 690...

"Six-ninety-five!" Juan shouted from the max. readout. "You've punched it, Hamid, that's a new record! Ease out!"

"Did you see that?!" Hamid shouted back over the comms. "Six ninety-five. That's mine! Seven hundred next time."

Kais stood arms crossed, and begrudgingly impressed.

In DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP) → 11 mos ago Forum: Casual Roleplay





Episode Ten: Changing Conditions



"How are you feeling?" Salma's voice was soft, but her eyes never moved from him, and Kais saw a glint of worry. They were in the medical wing, where Kais had just had his blood pressure and hormonal composition taken - aced them, of course. As for how he was feeling? Now that was another matter. Kais didn't answer immediately. He stared at his hands: not even a tremble.

"Blood pressure's fine. You have the numbers,"

"That's not what I asked." She studied him, waiting for all the micro-expressions she was taught to see.

"It's... familiar to me," he said after a small while. "Not the first time I've gone through a storm and someone didn't come back from it."

"Do you think you should have seen this coming?"

Kais breathed out through his nose, pushing himself to his feet. The chair legs scraped on the floor.

His eyes stayed on the wall instead of hers. He clenched his fists. "Final Storm was supposed to be the end of me. But it wasn't. And I swore to someone that day, that I'd make all that hell we went through, but..." He trailed off. Braindead. "I pushed for the upgrades then because I thought we could really do something... And now, here I am. And she isn't."

Salma lowered her tablet slightly, gaze softening. "Do you blame yourself for her, too?"

Kais' jaw tensed, a flicker of a feeling broke through before he forced it back down. "This isn't helping. Session's over." And that was that.



The announcement came as a bland piece of PR: Hamid Atlassi would be stepping up to fill Layla's seat until further notice. The official reason was 'health-related absence.' Comments section of chat groups and discussion forums were filled with prayers, conspiracies, people re-calculating projected points on spreadsheets, and a few came from other junior-leaguers wishing Hamid luck, along with some well-wishes to Layla, whom they would have gotten to know when she had taken some time for them off-camera.

And Hamid did his part well, hiding the strange tension. He had always been loyal to the team, through many hours of test laps, finding the limits in their new prototype setups. But stepping into Layla's shoes was different. Her ship's neural link had been re-tuned, stripped of Layla's limit-breaking configurations, but Kais caught the hesitation in Hamid's eyes as he went in for the first time. The crew adjusted to him quickly, but there were still whispers: Hamid was no Layla. He didn't have her connection to the ship, her pushing of limits. He was competent, promising, but he was just so... ordinary.

Kais and Hamid never really did get along, but Kais did offer a curt nod. "You're not replacing her," he said, but neither of them fully believed it. "You listen to the race engineers, and you tell Nadia every weird sensation, even the ones that make you feel stupid, understood?" Hamid nodded. "And when they stick a mic in your face? Don't follow my lead," and Hamid almost smiled.



Interviews//Interviews//Interviews


His hair still damp from the Belgian rain that was Spa-Francorchamps, Kais took up most space on the yellow couch, and felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb sandwiched between the petite Ward and Mulder.

“Does anyone else feel like they are on the seat outside the dean’s office?”


Kais sighed. "Like the talking-to they gave me after the Jamie incident wasn't enough... Serves him right, though. Idiot."

“I mean I can see why Kais and Bea would be tagged troublemakers. I thought I was framed as the golden boy or gentleman like Dorian. What did I do to earn being lumped in with the bad boys and girls of the paddock?”


"You know what you did." Kais answered. He put on his most serious face, but in all honesty he didn't know either. It was fun watching Paul's hamster wheel turn, though.

Then Aurora spoke up. Were the cameras running this entire time?

"Beatrix, Kais, Paul, welcome back to Delta Hyper. How were your Summer Holidays?"


"We worked hard," Kais said when it was his turn. "Lots of simulator hours and test laps with Hamid. Takes a while to break in the new ones on actual Delta Hyper circuits." He grimaced a bit. "Old ones too. I watched a lot of on-boards of last race." He shifted uncomfortably, and didn't admit that really, it was only one he had looked at a lot. Then, for a second the cameras would have seen the edge slip off of him, just slightly. "And I went to see some lions," he added, as if it was the most natural thing coming from him. "Prides of Africa's new de-extinction program up in Egypt. Barbary lion's goin to be making a comeback." He shrugged. "That was my holiday."

Later, during Qualy, he crossed the line P10. It wasn't good. It wasn't terrible either.

"Kais, we won't go into the change that Layla has been replaced by Hamid, but how are you working with a fellow rookie in Al-Saqr, at such a critical point in the season? Do you think that position he took reflects him learning the ship in qualifying today?"


"Hamid's been Al Saqr's test pilot for some time now, probably knows our craft better than anyone. Learning the new tracks is more important at this point, and it's what we're focused on."

And on the race day Kais got in 8th.

"Kais, an impressive recovery, coming up from 10th to 8th today. While Spa might not have been your preferred circuit, what's your feeling on the momentum that Al-Saqr have this season, and would you say you're trading the handling focussed circuits for the ones where your ship will perform better?"


"We have to play to our strengths." Kais said, drying the sweat off his neck. "And that's speed for us, and the willingness to go there. Well, for me, at least." Kais glanced at Hamid... "We may not have the handling, but we'll make up for it with punches on the straights. We keep going. That's enough. For now."

Hamid's first DH race had ended with a crash, an unfortunate run-in with Kofi. The first time he came back to the pits, he kept his confident pose, but his hands trembled behind his back, and his eyes didn't know where to look. Kofi came up to them in the paddock to apologize, slap their newcomer on his shoulder and tell them to have a good night's sleep. The team cheered for him, but back in the garage Kais saw the replay of Hamid pulling the neural link in borderline panic. First crashes were always difficult, he thought. Then later Hamid told Nadia and Remi in a hushed voice that "I was counter-steering and just when the crash was about to happen it was like... I lost control just for a second there. I've never had anything like it happen. Phantom feedback, or something." He shook his head. "I sound insane." "Phantom sensations can be common on new neural links, the systems have to learn to work with you also," Nadia said carefully. "We'll check the logs." Nadia and Kais glanced at each other with some shared suspicion, and Kais spoke up. "You'll run my ship next time, see if you like the setup better. I'll take number 17."

Hamid blinked at him, half-grateful, half-suspicious. Kais didn’t elaborate. He just set a hand on the battered hull of Layla's old craft as if testing its temperature, then walked away.



For the entire month now the Al Saqr team had been busy with work on Layla and her ship. Restless code and data reviews, in triplicate. Brain measurements, trying to figure out what had happened. But nothing. Remi Tewe pinched and rotated a 3D visualization of the before and after of the neural model Layla's ship had used. "There's nothing there. The Apex data cache is clean. Whatever malicious might have been there, it's gone now. If it's embedded itself in the network weights, that's going to be hell to debug, but we're working hard on it. I can insert some alerts to monitor it, and we're working with the experts at CryoDigital, combing through the networks to piece together what they can. But I'd say it'd be almost easier to start over with Hamid."

"No." Omar didn't even raise his voice. "As you said, it's safe. We'll sift through the networks," Omar said. After the meeting, he kept Remi, Kais and Nadia behind and read to them a document.

The Last Testament of Layla Al-Nadir

I, Layla Al-Nadir, being of sound mind, not acting under duress or undue influence, do declare that this is my Last Will and Testament.

I posit that the human body is fragile and may fail, but that the mind need not fall with it. Thus, in the event that my body may have rendered in such a state commonly referred to as 'biologically dead', I hereby authorize the capture, instantiation and further development of my cognitive data by trusted Executors and Guardians. I expressly disallow for this data or any derivations to be destroyed or deleted, except under limited legal conditions of unacceptable risk, or by request from a demonstrably sound of mind branch instance of myself.

To this effect, I appoint Nadia Yassine, Remi Tewe, Kais Zenix and Omar Hayawi as my Executors and Guardians for the management of my data, including authorization of further instantiations, and guarding my rights post-mortem. My biological care should continue only as necessary to gain a maximally accurate cognitive image. A Layla Al-Nadir Trust shall be established from my possessions and sponsorships to fund this operation and its continued maintenance.

It is my wish that any derived instance of me be granted autonomy to continue my work in research, advocacy, and related endeavors. My personality rights and intellectual property shall remain intact as dictated by the civil law of the Arabic Union, with recognition of interplanetary by-laws where applicable.

We are wonders wrapped in tissue paper, going through a dangerous world. But we don't have to be. We could soar the clouds.

- Layla Al-Nadir


And Kais' eyes opened wide. If there was any chance... "There's only one person I trust with this."


Episode Eleven: The Green Hell



The Mulder fundraising was an absolute blur. The amount of children he had to smack on the back of the neck for refusing to put on their gas masks when they spray painted the cycle was ridiculous. "You want artificial lungs now already?" seemed to do the trick, in the end. Still, it wasn't just a blur in that it was chaos. It was a blur because it went by so surprisingly quickly and, luckily, without any too-interesting 'incidents', so to say. In fact, it went by rather enjoyably. Kais saw Paul talk in interview after interview, and he was glad it was him doing it - not just because it wasn't Kais having to do the interviews, but because Paul really seemed to be in his element. And in the end, the media vultures hadn't been able to get a picture of Kais on the dance floor. Kais couldn't dance, after all. But he did raise Paul and the rest of the pilots a drink with a smile.

#ForAuldrick



The two looked at each other as Florence dropped into Kais' ship's expanded seat floating over the Nuremberg track, like they didn't know what to do with each other. Except for drive fast, of course. "Florence." "Kais." Then, without another word, he slammed the throttle forward and the ship roared onto the straight.

"Who's your idol in Formula AG, past or present?" "No-one." Florence rolled her eyes. First question and he was already giving Kais-answers. "Oh come on, I don't believe you, not even Starcross?" "Hmm... Used to watch her with the repair guys before I decided to go into racing myself." "Really? Sounds like there's some admiration there." "Don't twist my words, I'm not a fanboy." "How about present?" "Beatrix, maybe. She doesn't flinch easily." Then he made a mental note to test that out someday. He thought some more.

"Schnitzel or Strudel?" "Schnitzel or Strudel?" "Yeah, it just says that." "Strudel. I like sweet things."

"Do you think about anything else while racing? Or is it just 'faster, faster, faster' in there?" "Faster?" He pushed the throttle and bared his teeth. Florence uttered a [bleeped]-out curse as Kais swerved around an S-curve. "Don't pry too much, Florence, you wouldn't like what you'd find."

"Who in the paddock would you ship as a couple?" Kais snickered internally. There was only one answer, obviously. "Paul, with literally anyone else." He was glad he learned what 'shipping' even was recently. "Or Amy and Han, they'd make short work of each other. Problem solved." Or conquer the world, more likely. Kais thought to himself.

"Best BBQ host?" "Kofi. Always brings a lot of food."

"What's your dream historic car, money no object?" "Hmm, I don't like the mass produced ones..." All his own motorcycles were kitbashed Frankensteins, customs and concepts as well. Some didn't even run, but he liked them that way. It was the idea, the art of it that was important. He thought for a moment, then answered. "Cadillac Cyclone. Had radar cones for collision detection then already. Could be useful for certain people..."

"What would you prefer, a race on Mars or at the bottom of the ocean?" "Ocean. I've had quite enough of space, thanks." For a millisecond he wanted to say 'Mars'. Strange how he felt Layla's influence even now...

"Things that people might not know about you?" Kais said nothing for a few turns, then answered: "I can't sleep without noise. Fans, clocks. Silence means something's broken or something bad's about to happen. Anything that hums helps."

When they emerged after the lap, Florence had her arm around Kais, still slightly off balance. Kais' style wasn't for everyone, he figured. "Good sport." he said.

In <Redacted> → 12 mos ago Forum: Casual Interest Checks
@Xaltwind I might be interested. I would also like to add (re: Master of Fate section) that this site has a dice roller function, so a player's rolls can be linked to and checked.
In DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP) → 12 mos ago Forum: Casual Roleplay



Speed//Run

"Wait. Our little thing is good....but word to the wise though.....if you are looking for answers to your past, and your questions, just ask who you're getting them for. Is it for Aswan, shaqīq? Finish what you started on the inside, what they stole from you? Or is it for her? Find what you can while they poke inside? Let's see, shall we....you'll need to be more than a fighter."


It went quick then, after that race. Amy, with that veiled threat, a whispered message over his neural link no-one else would hear, with that toothy grin of hers. Shaqiq, she called him. Brother. "Whatever it takes, huh?" Kais had said back, and he couldn't help but feel the whole thing be ominous more than anything. There they were, him and the two people he distrusted most on the podium, as if their ranking was fated. And with his victory came the defiant forefinger, up in the air, number one... But who was he kidding, thinking back, after that talk with Cassie. It had come as a shock. Not only had he been an expendable utility, he had been just a test number too. Number one? More like number minus-one.

After the champagne and confetti settled down, the three shared a very awkward photo moment. And as the flashes of the holography drones died down and their arms came off each others' shoulders, Kais turned to Han and offered her a hand. A proper one this time. Eyes only slightly more than slits, his mistrust would still have been clear on his face to anyone, especially to someone as tuned in as her. That, he didn't doubt.

"So... I always wanted to know: does Zygon own a patent for that smile for the cameras there too?" But there was also something else in his eyes, his voice. A scouting out of things. To see if this 'Han' was indeed a mask, or a shield, or a cage? Or perhaps, something more...? And Kais, surprising even himself, found himself curious. "For what it's worth, I was born with psychological control three cortical layers deep. Turns out living like that's just a way to go without anyone ever really seeing you." And as always the same echo went through his mind, of him, just prior to defeat at Final Storm. Tell me you're still in there... Swear to me... He noticed his eyes had drifted from hers, and he snapped back, tightening his grip. "Anyway, you held your ground today. And not just for the money shots, you did it where it counts. Good on you, P3. See you on the track..." It may not have been the highest of praise, that would be out of character, but it should do the job. Hopefully.

More than a fighter...

The Al-Saqr garage was abuzz with celebration. His race engineer Zeina actually spoke to him in person this time, Yasif bet half his salary on who would last longest in the dabke line (spoiler: it wasn't Kais, no matter how much Layla tried to push him into it). Bulk amounts of olive oil smothered rotating plates of hastily ordered mezze -no one quite expected this ending, no matter how much post-hoc parameter tuning Nadia did on her "what if" simulations. And Omar had once again started a speech with the usual flying and soaring, but it was cut off when their once-more star flier came on the holos. Farouk started a whoop, which soon died down as Aurora started her question.

"Kais Zenix, wow, truly a stunning win from you today! You and the ship look like you're in harmony, tell us more about how you led that race from the red flag? Yet the critics will ask- is this the Kais Zenix bringing the fire going to last, as Al-Saqr challenge Southern Cross and Silver Apex for the constructors?"


"Harmony's a nice word. But you'd be wrong. We have firepower. But our handling and stability aren't quite up to the level of other big-names here. And the only thing that trumps that is daring, sheer force of will. A ship like ours has to be made to listen, to perform, to soar." (this time it was Omar who whooped) "Luckily Al-Saqr has two pilots and a team who don't take it easy. That's what's going to give us a run for the constructors. And that's exactly what happened after the red flag. As for what the critics say?" He scoffed. "Who cares. At the end of the day, critics will be talking, and we will be racing. Whether we'll last? Stay tuned..."

Another cheer erupted, and unlike in Tokyo when she had spent most of her time in ice and check-ups, Layla was right there beside him, slapping his shoulders in celebration. And for the first time this season, the meteor actually seemed to light up a little.

Hours later, in the deep of night, overlooking the now-quiet racetrack. Kais leaned on the spectators' balcony rail. Around him, all was quiet save for the lone cleaner drone handler making his rounds. "Good job, son." Kais nodded. The Tokyo win felt like it was proof that he could amount to something. Silverstone was about crushing his opposition in no uncertain terms. And he did. And it felt good. Better than Tokyo, even. But he thought back to Luna, to every revelation up till now. And there was a tension lingering. and he wondered what was still to come.


DELTΔ HYPER
Episode Nine: The Wall of Champions
La Sauce


A 'fun challenge' they said. It was a crash waiting to happen, Kais thought, though some of the crew there seemed happy with it. Then, a certain someone mouthed the words "Make it spicy." to him. And Kais had to agree. This may not have been his kind of fight. But fine. If they were going to play chef, he'd win that too. On his terms. The maid apron went on, and a sneaky smile crept over his face.

"Alright, divide and conquer. Layla, you're on curds, I'll handle the sauce. Let's get a move on."
"Ya Allah, yes chef! Such motivation"
Then he took something from his tray, turned to the camera and said, almost a whisper. "Secret ingredient. Nomad Nutrition Faux-Beef Stock Pot. 'When good isn't good enough'. All the great restaurants use it."
"Careful Kais, if you keep joking like that people are going to think you've got a heart after all."
"That's rich, coming from you. And who said I was joking?"
"I don't think you'd make a good beef sauce out of protein paste, Kais."
"I'm used to making rations taste good. You'll see. Now less talking, more cooking, what, you got something better to do?"
The cameraman zooms in on Kais smiling hesitantly. A moment that survives exactly 1.76 seconds before a barking "And where's the szechuan pepper, quickly!?" And half of their set helpers scramble.
"We've already got the frittes cut for you." Aurora interjected.
"Layla, what are... frittes?"
"The potato bars."
"Ah, now we're talking."

Some thirty minutes later, and their aprons were a metaphorical bloodbath.

"It's not that bad, actually. It's got taste, and texture."
"What are those lumps, and why is it tingling? Doc, if you're watching, remind me to put an artificial stomach on my wishlist after all... You know the one, with the poison filter."

"What about Valkyrie's?" Aurora asked, almost giddy with whatever would inevitably come next.
And Kais gave his tactical appraisal. "Presentation: overcompensation. Flavor profile: timid. You can really taste the French influence."
Layla put an arm around Paul. "Don't worry, with taste buds like his everything seems mild... You get used to it. Was that Chimay Blue 0.0 you used? The sweetness really accents the onions."
"Hmm..." Kais nodded. "I do like the beef strips, nice and rare... Still prefer mine, though..." He licked his finger.
"Delicious."


Sunday July 2nd, 2094, 1400 EST
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montréal
Canada (Federated American States)
Hockey Fight

Qualy had gone decent. 6 and 8. So, back in the garage, the team had gone over tactics. This was a race they couldn't miss. Montreal had a circuit that fit their ship somewhat: speed, decent enough handling and stability, but importantly: they had momentum again, so they had to keep it going. Omar looked over his spreadsheet with constructor rankings, then pulled up the map of the circuit, his eyes lingering over the Wall of Champions. "It's going to be tight on this one. Montreal isn't our kind of track, but we can manage to gain on the others if we play them right. The Wall of Champions is a brutal beast..."

"We push, then." Kais said. "Don't let Amy get too much of a lead. We need to keep as close as we can on her six. Run interference on her." Layla nodded. "Force her into tight spots with others and she might be pushed in a tough spot." Her gaze went to the Wall. "One wrong move, Amy DNFs here, and things might flip into our favor." She more than anyone wanted to see Silver Apex taken down a peg, never forgetting her and Amy's little race together, in more ways than one. And she wanted to be the one who came out on top.

Minutiae were discussed. Projected ELS deployment sites for other teams, breaking points, how they could rebound. But the general gist was enough: put pressure on Amy. Thus, Omar sealed the deal: "Time to cook, everyone."

And so...

5. 4. 3. 2. 1.


...said the distance sensors. Kais had launched well, and he pushed for all he was worth into the midfield. Then Amy was taken out of the running, exactly what they aimed for. But now, on lap 13, Jamie Hart came in twitchy, a panic move, like he had lost control. Kais defended, but the Silver Apex ship stabbed into his back once again. And for a microsecond, all sensors went to noise. The two of them skidded across the track, the AG drives trying to stabilize and steer and brake their momentum into the safety lane with a slight wobble that made sparks fly when they scratched across the ground. Red warnings blared as he kicked open the canopy, undid his seatbelts, and dropped out of his racer amid the roar of the others flying by.

"Hart, you...!" Kais growled. With one hand he reached for Jamie's collar and pushed him back into his racer's chassis. Not quite choking, but close enough to get the message across. Jamie raised his hands, starting a simpering "I didn't...", but Kais cut him off. "Do what? Didn't mean to? Bullshit!" His voice turned low, intimate in his intimidation. "Once is a mistake, twice is a coincidence, three times is enemy action, Hart! I should punch your head clean off for this, you pathetic piece of sh..." He smacked a dent in Jamie's racer's chassis. "So this is how Apex does things, huh? Hire incompetent lapdogs to do Amy's dirty work, taking out her competition?"

Security intervened, and Kais stepped back. "Tell her next time, she can come finish the job herself." Adrenaline coursing through his body, his ears a buzz. Before long their racers had found themselves back in the pits, and there they watched the race go by.

Layla came in 8th, in the points, and ahead of Amy, and that was reason enough for elation. "Held your ground, Yalla, well done." Kais squeezed her upper arm, though she didn't seem to notice. "Beat... Amy..." Layla huffed, then was taken away by the medical team for checkups.


"Kais, a race to forget. With reports widely going around that Jamie Hart is out of a seat for the season, are you disappointed he couldn’t keep it clean for his home race?"

"Good. Get him out. And no, I'm not disappointed. I'm furious. Again. Three times, Aurora. Three times. Like this was accidental. Again. Apex, fix. your. house. Fire him, or else don't be surprised when others will." Media training be damned when this was the so-manieth crash. He stood up and walked.

Minutes later, and minutes calmer, he found Paul Mulder surrounded by Valkyrie crew. Kais elbowed his way past and offered Paul a firm hand. "Hell of a drive, Mulder. Kept the demolition derby in your rear-view sensors and straight into P1. Ace moves."

Then, in the distance, unnoticed by many, but not to him, Nadia was stumbling through the paddock, clutching her datapad to her chest like a comfort animal, glancing around in a daze, until she found his eyes. He noticed her paleness first, even in the paddock's bright lighting. Something was wrong.

"Kais?"

"Nadia."

"You have to come. They can't stabilize her." She almost whispered.

Eyes went wide. Veins pulsated. And he marched straight towards the Al-Saqr area where the ping of Layla's link went...

...Dark


The room dissolved. And she was home. Comfort. Mom and dad, or the ones she'd come to call that. Before long she had made her first blowtorch sculpture. Secretly sneaking out of the academy lecture halls with friends. Swearing she'd never do that again (and actually never doing it again. Boom, ace student). The walls of the moon base. Mars simulators. Her first kiss. Her first pair of prosthetic limbs. Then the second, modeled after her childhood sculptures. It all went so fast then. The first neural tuning. the ice baths -what a time, huh?- Nadia's laughs. Salma's frowns. Kais' lone stares, ever-distant, ever-pained, no matter how much he told himself the opposite. Amy's face after beating her. Finally, one last message.

"Hi binti, we saw the race,"
"...and the crash."
"Yea, gave us quite the scare there, but we saw you climb out alright, so that's another heart attack averted, haha!"
"Darling, you know I don't like you joking about those things! Don't listen to your dad, binti."
"...Listen to your dad, binti."
"Anyway, don't worry about it toǒ̦ muc̀ͅh̫̿, yȅͅs?̐͢ We k͕̔n̫̽oẁ̱ hò̞w you͇̿ ĥ̞a̲͠v͙́e͓̅ a̼͌ ẖ͑à̙b͎͞i̞͋t̙́ of p̠͡ush͎̏in̺̈́g̺̐ yò̱ursel͓̀f̘̀ whĕ̟n̹̾ these t̙̏h͉̎ï̞ṇ́g̐͢ș̅ ha̠͗p̹͆p̙͑eǹ̫.̞̂ Wê̩'́͟rẻ͓ sure ỹ̲o͖͐u̝͝'l̯̐ḷ͆ d͔̕o bet̖̋t̎ͅer n͑͟ex̖͌t̩̀ tim̮̉e̮̒.̗͞ Eĺ̘s̲͕̚͘e̜̊ you c͒͘͟͟ȃ̱̥͠n a̟͓͆͝l̡͓̀̽w͉͕̍́a̫̿ys̪͖̾̀ c̙̾om͉͆e̤͆ ẅ͎͚́̐o̙̯͡͠rk w̘̳͑͂i̭̾tḧ̙́̚ͅ ü̫s̛͟ i̝̤͂͠n̳͑ the̹̊ ṡ͔ho͙̒p̗̲͐̌,̫̌ w̛͉e̦͗ c̪̺̽͝o̘̤̓͞ṵ̢̃̍l̞͝d us̛͔e a g̨͚͐͋ŏ͚̀͟od͉͔͉̆̔͠ m͚̗͆͂͜͝ą̭̾̿̕͜s̨̪͈͆̒͑ç͈̪̾͌̕ȏ̭͓̦̆̀ț̨̙̔̌͠"̳͉̞̾͗͡
"̘͉̳͐̐̌D̡̯̭̋̌͝a͓̗̥̅͂̕r̖̤͙̅͆̔l͔̞̪̚͝͞ï͍͗͘͢͢n̏̋̍͟͢͜g̢͔͉͛̉̿!̼͓̪̒̇̕"̥̤̯́̚͠
"̡̫͇̒̃͡A̮͇͌̃̾͢n͍̭̆̓̌͜y̫̙͈͒̀̑w̥̱̰̿̚̕a͓̮͋̍̕͢ỹ̛̤̰̬̊,̢̫̮͑̒͝ c̭̮͚̑̊͞ą̛͓̬̋̀ḷ̡̜͆̓͘l̥̟͚̽͐̐ ù͕̭̝͌͌ṡ̝̪̳͂͞ w̪̹͍̓̿̍h̝̩͊̒̽ͅe̬͔̍̔͛ͅņ̛̫̂̈́ͅ y̞̥̑͒̀͟ǫ̻̣̌̉͌ü̼͚̺̆͠'͙̩̝͋̎͊v̧̙̟̇̋͞ë̪͎̟́̾̕ g͔̱̟͂͘̕o̖̻̼͆͗̉t̢͉̙̐̊̍ t̖͕͕̅̂͝i̩̣̻̔̐̽m̰̬̠͂̈́͘ḙ̩̥̿͞͞.͕̯͎̽̔͡ P̢̜̖̒͒͡r̙͕̤͂̋̄ǫ̘̪̀̑͂u͓͍̜͒̓͡d̩͙̣̆̉͘ o̟̠̘̔͆͌f̗̮͖̌̇́ y̮͖̩̅̽͝ő̗͈̪͌̚ű̩̄̈́͜͜ a̜̻͔͋͗̐l̛̤̰̺̎̊w̬̖̞̿̒͂á͙̱̽̐͢y̧̖͗͊̕ͅs̛͇̘̺̉̉!̤̱̰͆͛͑"
"M̨̢̥̀̓̚&̘͙̲̔̌̋D̨̩͉̃͋̚"͇̣̄̒͛͜

Her life flashed before her eyes... Her life, and more... Euphoria flooded her systems. Blinding data. Comfort. Home. Then, her visual feed collapsed into pixels, and faded to

Night. The moon was waning.

Debriefing that day was a haze. "What do you need me to do?" Kais had asked Omar, who had promptly replied: "Nothing" and told them in bureaucratically tender, but no uncertain terms, to keep the whole thing quiet -very quiet, the or-else kind of quiet- until they figured out a strategy forward. Until then, their PR team would say Layla had retired for "personal reasons".

Their doctor had put them through a blitz of a psychological check-up, which came up with the expected: Nadia was sad, Kais was angry. Support each other. Use calm breathing techniques. 'We understand if you are scared,' 'We're here if you need us,' 'Avoid self-destructive behavior like substance abuse and doom-scrolling,' 'We keep it safe here,' and other affirmations pinged up on his neural link at frequent intervals. And the doc had promised she would check up on them more rigorously later with a personalized action plan. And so, now, Kais simply sat at the bedside of Layla, waiting for them to be separated. Nadia sat beside and leaned against him, on a chair that creaked so much every time she shifted his heart jumped into action-mode, instantly teleported back to then. Every now and again he heard her breath slow and she nodded off, before her smartwatch showed a spike in her heart rate again and she woke up in sleepy sobs. Ping: 'Nightmares and jumpiness can be normal short-term.'

No words were said between them. All those would come later also. It were many hours before she was finally carted away in the middle of the night, when traffic out on the paddock -and with it any potential interest and attention- was as minimal as possible. What a joke.

"What do you want?" Cassie had asked... But wanting was a privilege. Doing was all he knew. Thousands of possibilities went through his mind, troubleshooting, fixing, pleading even, but... One doesn't come back from this.

What did he want? To tear the whole damn house of cards down, of course. To beat them all. To beat her. And her too... Is what he thought...

He pulled up Ava's files, and visualized the chain: Masdar al-Nuba, Zygon, Apex, FIAR?

He sent a message to Inan: "Open the cache. Careful: sweep well, then sweep some more, might be rigged. Spread it round. Find out what you can." Another to Cassie: "Down once. Back up twice." One to Paul: "Keep an eye on Han." He hesitated over Nadia's name, then typed: "Stay with her."

The world kept spinning. He would get over it. As he always did. Is what he wanted to tell himself.

Words from his past came to him. "Swear to me you'll make it worth something..." But the one that actually seemed to put those words into actions was gone now... And doing right by them now? That, seemed further away than anything.

What did he want?

What else...

Soundtrack: Kensington - No Me
In DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay



Qualifications

"That's more like it." Kais was riding medium-high after coming into Parc Fermé and seeing his and others' times trickle in on the qualifying board. After Monaco's absolute disaster, after Cassie gave him an ear full, and after the rare introspective moment during his visit to Kofi's project, he wanted a win. Anything. And this, despite the wobble in their ship's handling since the speed upgrade? This was getting close.

"A start in 3rd tomorrow. Very nice, very nice. Looks like the upgraded pulse grid's really up your alley, huh?" Farouk said as he helped Kais out of the ship. "You really should thank Hamid for that someday, you know. It's quite ridiculous the amount of G's we put him through, test-track or no."

"Ahh..." Kais borderline snarled. He still wasn't fond of their overly Arabic Union-enthused test pilot. He waved Farouk away. "Tell him to get rid of that wobble!" And come to think of it, it had been a while since Farouk had been scared of him. He turned back. "And don't think you're off the hook, either, what with you and Nadia...!"

Farouk was already gone. And Kais smiled.


Peer to Peer

Tag: @Starlance

Kais stared at Aurora. Finally, he got to ask the questions now. He opened the envelope.

"Hmm..." Alright then. He nodded. "Beatrix, difficult, that one. Noisy. Too colorful." He crossed his arms. He wondered how Ava dealt with her. Those glitters in Monaco. Kais shuddered on the inside. But, Kais had to admit, if he had any questions, it would probably be about that... Art, of course, not glitters necessarily. He couldn't imagine that ever being useful, save for psychological warfare, maybe.

"So..." Kais inhaled sharply. "I'm not really into art." He turned his head, gazed into the distance. "But I have been wondering about it recently." His mind went back to the yacht party at Monaco where they had spent some time discussing the newest Raven Squad. And though he wasn't sure if one could call it art per se, with the series already being at installment... whatever number it was. But it had been enjoyable. Weaver did all her stunts by herself, too. No fancy computer-generated imagery or anything. Just some good old-fashioned drone-carried safety nets. Kais caught Aurora staring at him, as if she was amazed he could even stay silent for so long. Introspective, even... "Do you think Beatrix ever fought someone over her paintings? Like hand to hand?" Kais asked her, then paused for a while, mulling things over. She was tiny, but he could imagine how she may have had some odds in her favor actually, augments could do a lot these days. Just look at Nora and Ava. And now even Cassie, apparently.

And then he knew what he wanted to ask.

"How do you decide what to paint? What to share, put out there, show to others, and what to keep... inside?"

In DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay



The deluge of text hit Kais like a freight train. Cassie must've been very angry. Nervous. Probably both. [Cassie (Zygon) is typing] 'I heard the rumors'... [Cassie (Zygon) is typing] 'Why should I help you?'

Rumors, she said. One to talk. He bit his lip. There was no end to it. If only he just had to race. Not only were there strange things going on that felt like they were moving in on them. But now there were also rumors going round about him. He threw his empty nutri-pack. What did he expect when he started this thing. [Cassie (Zygon) is typing] And then, after some tense moments, a meeting invitation came. With a lot of encryption, too. She felt he was a threat. Good, Kais thought. That meant she took it seriously.

Kais: Deal.
Kais: But I have a demand too.
Kais: Be alone.
Kais: We'll see if you'll still have a leg to stand on, then.

He threw his tablet to the side, vexed. The screen was still lit up slightly, showing his new background.

What in the world, man...


DELTΔ HYPER
Episode Eight: The Chain

"I don't know how you do it." Kais grumbled to the others before they went out on stage. Beatrix, Paul, Han, Nora. "Loud music. All this speeching. Horrible. I could be doing something."

Soundtrack: The Score - Higher

The runners went back and forth, calling them out on stage one after the other. Then the spotlights flooded back onto the entrance, and it was his turn, apparently. The PR-approved music played, and he stepped out with a curt nod to the audience, and as always, the lone forefinger in the air. I'm still here, and you will see me. He took his place with the others on the yellow sofa, and after taking a moment to breathe, turned to face Aurora, struggling to not give into his annoyance with her from last race.

“Al-Saqr have been the dark horse of this season, and to the crowd, what would you say about a team that’s chasing the frontrunners with one of the most aggressive, absolutely punchy ships in recent years? We love your tech focussed socials, so tell us more about what it’s like to be at the cutting edge?”


"It's..." He sighed. Why was this so difficult? He had been in hotter fires. Kais looked at his hands, neatly folded in his lap. "...It's an honor, first of all, to be here. And what a good question, Aurora." Kais clears his throat. Up close, the other racers surely would have noticed the projected letters from the holo-prompter scrolling along on his palms. "We at Al-Saqr are aiming towards a vision of the future defined by technological advancement, and the human... excellence to wield it." He grimaced a little. "We push the boundaries of our pilot-ship connection, and our drive power, and want to..."

"Look. You want the truth? It's hard." He said. And in the team-truck outside, Al Saqr's PR representatives looked at each other and started frantically typing. "Damnit Kais, not again, stay on script!"

"It's hard. It's painful. It's struggle. Al Saqr is not a big team, we don't have the funding or... polish like some of the others." A glance. "We blast our way forward, because we have to. And that means bleeding sometimes. Shit's brutal on the cutting edge. My ship kicks like a mule, like I've insulted its family too. But it's what we're good at. And honestly, if you don't like that, why are you here?"

There came cheers from the crowd. "Good. Keep that energy. We definitely will..."

And as the cheers died down, he sat back and took it in. And enjoyed it, if only for a little. Then he glanced back at his palms, where one final orange line was waiting for him. "...with the control and grace you know us for, of course." That barb was for him.

In DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay



@MeisterEdgyBoy
[Perfect looping Holo-GIF of Kais' ship wobbling after Astrid's collision]
"Lololol 'You just take aim and...'"

...Bang!

"Collision! Collision!" Kais' ship helpfully alerted him.
"You think I didn't feel that? Come on, you brick!" Kais growled at his ship as he wobbled his way back to stability, like a damn rookie.
"Damage is significant but minimal, Kais. Race continues. Looks like a bad defense from Astrid." His race engineer Zeina's voice crackled.
"Defense?" Kais borderline shouted as Beatrix blasted past him - that was the second time this season where a collision crashed their fight! "Astrid didn’t even brake, came in like a damn missile! Private channel, Zeina! Now!"
"...That's not how it works, Kai--..."

The visual feed for the audience would show wild gesturing and the impromptu addition of three stylish new dents in the cockpit internals.

"Fucking. Nordic. Call...! If it's not Jamie, it's them! Marmolada, the Luna crash. Now me? يخرب بيتك! And they call me the Meteor! I want the stewards to review the entire damn sector for intent, and Astrid's blood composition! And if they try to pin it on me, I swear..."
"We're already filing the complaint, Kais. Just keep it cool, OK? Don't give them any ammo."
Kais was annoyed at her trying to steal his metaphors, then he pushed down on the virtual accelerator, and dropped down to P14.


"Kais, a disappointing race for Al-Saqr, it looked like you were fighting the ship throughout the circuit. Is that something from your upgrades, or just from learning the track?"

Kais stepped in towards the ΔH crew, a move that would have definitely been too close for comfort, though it would have given them a good shot of the angrily pulsing vein on his forehead. "You ever try running with a knife between your ribs?" His eyes opened wide as he stabbed his finger towards them. "You can't be serious. I didn't fight my ship. Fucking Astrid did." He started pacing, shaking his head. "Like this absolute ego-inflated relic of a place wasn't enough, yeah why not let the drunk driver out on the road as well, bet you liked the champagne here, huh? What a joke." He threw his gloves out of frame, and with one last look at the camera, shaking his head, he walked off towards his team's area, bumping into some people that were in his way.


Out of the ice, standing in front of the dressing room's mirror, Kais looked at his hands where they had impacted the cockpit frame. It'd been a while since he had some bruises on his knuckles. He quickly put it out of his mind, and finished doing up his dress shirt's clips when his teammate's mental ping and eventual voice came around the corner.

"Kais, you next door? Actually, what am I saying, I can see you're there...."

"If you're here to talk about my 'temper' too, spare my ears, I don't want to hear it."

"Hey. You weren't at fault for Astrid crashing into you, just so you know. But you get a lot into these things. You sure you haven't got some neodymium inside of you that seems to attract idiots on circuit?"

"Don't flatter me, Layla."

"It was shit. Let's be honest. But this is a joke of a circuit. And hardly a place for AG ships to really show what they can do.

"AG ships, and its pilots both." Kais murmured, then quickly realized he started to sound like Layla. She must've heard the same thing, because the pause was longer than her usual quippy nature she used when coping with uncertainty. Kais could only speculate what ways beyond him she was interpreting his comment as.

"I might be delayed coming back to home. I have some bits to sort out first. Nothing serious, just....you know. I need a bit of time for some personal stuff."

Kais' pause was even longer. "Do what you have to do. I'll check out some things on my end. You know what. Be safe, Layla."


In a darkened room, Cassie's new eyes widened as the notification hit the projected screen on her wall.

Kais: I want to talk. About Zygon.


Team Principal Omar's windows were blinded again. Beside him, Dr. Salma Nasri scrolled through Layla's data on the holo-tablet. The notes were flagged red, but only to management. To everyone else, she was just 'taking a break'.

"Is she a danger to herself?"
"Depends on how you define 'danger'," Salma muttered. "Vitals are stable, but her personality markers drift while plugged-in. Did you see last race's feed? Close to zero communication with the race engineer. Just that strange humming. Look at how she describes the visual hallucinations, Omar. A flickering. It's like her neurons are randomly firing at times. And she’s reporting cravings. Not for food, for 'Shannon bits', who talks like that?"
"An addict for information content, huh?"
The doctor sat back, somewhat surprised.
"What? I used to be a financial controller. I know my maths."
She sighed, shook her head. Whatever. "And we haven't even talked Kais yet. You think he's fired up from his interviews? I've only ever seen the adrenaline-cortisol spikes like in last race from his medical record, from before us, from night terror monitoring sessions. Something over that neural link is hitting resistance, and it's making his old combat loops act up. As for Layla, I can only guess what's going on, with those sync issues."
"Her parents called me again." Omar nodded. "They want her benched. Can't say I blame them."
"What did you tell them?"
"The usual, that it's her informed choice. Free will and all that."
"Can we be sure about that, though?"

Omar went silent for a few seconds, introspective. Then responded. "You don't have children don't you?"
"I grew up in a dying world, Omar. I chose not to have them back then."
"Do you regret it? When you look at the world now?"
"Sometimes."
"Is that why you're so protective of Layla? I mean, you knew what you got yourself into when you applied here, that it was more... performance optimization than your usual GP gig."
Salma shrugged. "Perhaps..."

"Then let me tell you a story." Omar stood up, walked to the window spanning his office that overlooked the garage. A few taps turned down the opacity in the area of his visual field, and Omar felt proud of what he saw. "One of my boys, Malik, he's just about thirteen now. Obsessed with what I do here. He watches every race, even practice. And I usually skip those myself. A month or so ago he told me he wants to be like Layla when he grows up. So I gave him one of my old drones to play with. For 'practice'. Thought nothing much would come from it, but he's stayed up tinkering with this old thing the entire month now. He's added a better camera, swapped the rotors for micro-airjets, and before I knew I saw him controlling it like he was playing piano." He threw out his arms. "All on a damn toy. When I was thirteen I could barely tie my shoelaces together." Omar sighed. "That's when I really wondered if I could even understand this little world of ours, speeding ahead of us. Remember the days when we used to nearly boil Layla alive every other race? A part of me used to think we were insane back then too. But... We got through it, didn't we? Sometimes I think the only people who truly know how fast to fly, how high they can soar, are they themselves."

"Then I'll raise you one," Salma said, her eyes downcast on the ground. "Back during the Water Wars, I worked in this emergency hospital. There was this boy once. Smashed up by debris, collapsed building. We tried the lot. Tissue reconstruction. Neural regenerative drugs. It was all primitive stuff, back then. But let me tell you, I'll never forget the look on his face when we were done with him. Vacant. Didn't even remember his own name. I sometimes still go over our graphs as I did with him: with my heart up in my throat." Salma swallowed. "So I also like to believe something, that I'm principled about my care, Omar, and thorough. Our Falcons can only fly while they still have wings, and we're flying too close to the sun."

Omar sat back, rubbed his eyes, conflicted. Principles, huh?

He breathed in hard. "The Amir's watching us close this season, he's a big fan, very invested. You know just as well as I that if we bench both of them, they'll start pulling funding. These developments we're making? They can put the Union, put us, on the map for decades, centuries. I can't ground them. Not unless there's immediate danger."

Omar stared at the floor, then slowly nodded. "But I'll compromise. Layla got us an offer from a partner of hers, personalized stability system, should allow us to offload the most fine-grained processing more. That means we can tune down the neural sync a bit. And I'll plan in mandatory counseling with a therapist for Kais. I'll call it something like 'Stability Testing Session'. Maybe he won't avoid it anymore, then."
Salma smiled at his joke. "Thanks, Omar."


Soundtrack: Melodysheep - Into the Night

Meanwhile, many kilometers away, Layla laid back on a monitoring chair. Little of her was left to the imagination. Very little, in fact. Most of her gold frame laid opened up, and every single port she had was jacked with some kind of interface or monitor. Her headscarf removed, even her head now seemed to consist mostly of wiring. And as her mind and tech were prodded, moving an errant finger now and then, or making her stutter through her humming like an old dial up router, Layla thought back to the Luna crash. To Kais' almost-crash during last race. To the footage of Auldrick Mulder's crash she had reviewed before Monaco. Again. And again. And again. The human mind was such a fragile thing. One wrong move, and you were superheated plasma streaked across the safety lane... She wondered what it would be like, you know... After. Her stomach tied itself into a knot, and she sat up. No. Another 'After' was possible. Creatable!

Across the cramped tech-room the representative of the Lunaspace Engineering Company leaned against the wall, taking in the sights. Or rather, the representative of the newly minted 'Cryo-Digital Intelligent Systems'. It was a nice enough name, for a generic, though promising, scale-up. So generic that there would -hopefully- be fewer questions as to what kind of 'intelligent systems' they were working on - everything was intelligent nowadays, after all. Yet so promising, that both Lunaspace and Al-Saqr were interested in it as a partner. How fortuitous!

"Listen Layla, what we're doing here is very untested." The rep spoke up. "Maybe they've got something in an Area-51 basement somewhere, but we've never really gone beyond simple neuro-vids for training or stress test purposes before. Re-sleeving, full mental backup? It's uncharted territory. The regulations on it are... just as vague, let's say. The AU has the most broadly interpretable rules, hence why we've setup this shell corp here." He opened up a file on his PDA. "We've been working on what you suggested: we've let the system learn a 'copy' of the neural patterns you use for maneuvering. That way you won't have to consciously control them as much. The system will be able to trigger faster, acting as if it were a part of your brain nonetheless. Combine that with your neural interlink system, and it'll function a bit like muscle memory, or how an octopus' arm-brain-centers work. Al-Saqr should've already gotten the prototype. But don't get ahead of yourself. The sub-AIs are tiny for now, and mostly copies of your subconscious processes. But in time..." The rep shrugged. "Well, who knows, huh...?" He smiled at Layla. Who knew, indeed.

"So Kais is going to have some copies of my code flying his ship as well?" Layla said to herself. "Guess there's hope that maybe he will be able to understand me someday. I should ask for a raise if I'm going to be pulling this much work."

Layla then thought about what Kais had told her the night after the Casino, about the possibility that there were parts of Amy's setup lying dormant in his, and chuckled internally. Took one to know one, huh...? Maybe she was good at hiding it. Or maybe Amy had already bought off the stewards so they wouldn't sound the alarm on it. Maybe that's the reason why Al-Saqr had been able to get so deeply into the neural interlink developments to begin with. And that, thought Layla, made for quite the conundrum: whistleblowing her suspicions on what Amy's setup leaks truly were would definitely and very definitively put an end to her own project, after all. On the flipside: if she was right, the opposite would be true as well. A gridlock, for now.

Layla had encouraged Kais to investigate Zygon for this exact reason as well. Not that they wouldn't have plenty of secrets that would be interesting to know regardless.

"There's one more thing we need to talk about, Layla, something legal." The rep spoke, dead serious. "Have you thought about the risk at all? Fragmentation? Feedback loops? Overwrites? What if your person-hood becomes... disputed?"

Fragmentation? Feedback loops? Overwrites? More like redundancies, protections, backups... If they had to contend with Amy's code snippets floating around their system, or whatever weirdness was going on, then... Well, Kais would say the best defense is a good offense. And if her person-hood was disputed? "That, director," Layla smiled, "is what I call the victory lap."


In the Al-Saqr garage, behind the mangroves and the test track, mechanic Farouk Al-Najjar and lead electrician Juan Diaz worked round the clock to install a trial version of the new stabilization module. It was Kais' ship's turn now. It hung mid-air, suspended in its AG field, with engineering drones swarming around it. Stripped bare, battered, but still breathing, as Layla put it.

"Any news on our pilots yet?" Farouk asked.
"Layla's taking a break. As for Kais? Well, you know him... Sometimes he just packs up and disappears for a few days. We've learnt not to ask questions." Juan answered.
"Too bad. Big day today." Farouk looked at the specs of their newest upgrade. "Predictive Neuro-Aligned Anti-Graviton Counterweight Grid Controller. Sounds borderline scifi. Shit's getting crazier by the race, huh?"
"Fitting, isn't it?" Juan took a drag of his flavor-stick. "You ever look at the way Kais steers? Turns are tiny, snappy, twitchy. Still dodging bullets out there, the madlad. But the instability in those turns is where we're bleeding ms. This baby here should give us a better recovery from them. Should make it all a bit smoother, less strenuous. Give it to Hamid and Nadia for testing when we're done, if it has any limits they'll find them. Let's have it stamped for approval by Belgium. Would be nice to start off the Europe-leg with a banger."
"What about the next long-term upgrade?" Farouk asked.
"I take it you weren't at the last team meeting?"
"No, why?"
"You would've known if you were. Kais had some thoughts about it. I think his exact words were something like 'I want my pulse engine to guzzle so much bio-fuel they need to start thinking about reinstating the old refueling pit stop rules.'"
"That many words? He must've been serious, then."
"He was pointing a lot too. I think Monaco got under his skin, with the stunt Astrid pulled."
"Heh... 'Can't hit me if I've already blasted off into the sunset', huh? Speed it is, then... Man, Wadi Rum's going to be insane."
"You love to see it." Juan took another drag. "By the way, how's Nadia?"
"Busy, as always. Promotions, huh..." Farouk answered.
"Everybody knows that. I was talking that other way,"
"It's... nice." Farouk's ears turned red slightly. "But don't imagine too much, alright, we're just trying things out."
"Ha! I knew it, you dirty dog!" Then Juan turned and yelled. "Yo Remi, guess who was right about our neuro/mech couple? You owe me 50 Ɖ's!"


Mensah's Pride

Soundtrack: Baaba Maal - One Day

"Kofi..." "Yeah?" "When you said you wanted to show me some cats... I did not imagine this."

The two sat topside of a ranger vehicle that had made its way through the open grasslands of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. Chirping songbirds filled some of the silence after the car's drive shut down. There weren't many places Kais had experienced this much silent and bare nature without being on the lookout for ambushes at least a little bit. But not this time. In close distance, a group of cats laid gazing around with a lazy curiosity. Very big cats, and one of them sported a majestic black-haired mane.

"I thought you'd like it." The Ghanaian nudged Kais with his elbow. "I know you did that animal shelter gig from your socials. The cat posts got you the most likes out of pretty much everything else, except for Tokyo, maybe."

"And they were photo ops, more than anything." Kais waved away the comment. "You went for a photo op 21 times in a couple of weeks?" "Can't remember." "Oh but I do, I counted." Kais sighed a "khalas..." And Kofi laughed. "Can't hide it forever, man."

"They were stray shelters, though, not... This." He gestured out. "This is big league stuff." "Big league stuff for a big league man, ey?" Kofi put a friendly slap to Kais' back, then turned his smile-lined eyes back onto the distant sights, the sight Kais' eyes hadn't even wandered from.

"There, look." Kofi pointed at one of the lions. "See her, second on the left? I remember it like it was yesterday, when our first viable embryo was actually born. They invited me for it, you know. I was there, cried like a baby too. The Cape Lion, brought back from extinction. And look at them now... Like they never even left..."

The first Cape Lioness rolled over in the sand. Kais couldn't help being entranced.

"The love of life is strong here, at Prides of Africa. We have many sanctuaries and restoration sites, so I normally don't have to travel as much all the time, but I wanted to show you this. It's one of our proudest projects. I started volunteering for them myself the moment I heard about it. It's been an off-and-on thing for some time, and I'm mostly just an ambassador now, you know how it is with our schedule. But me and the wife are planning on spending most of our time here after retiring from the races this season, for a couple years at least. A nice experience for the kids, don't you think?"

And Kais thought that that sounded very nice indeed.

"De-extinction and re-population work isn't easy." Kofi continued. "It takes a lot, years and years of research, engineering and crossing eco-genetic populations, sheltering, monitoring and keeping the territory safe. But it takes love, above all." He set his bright eyes on Kais. "And we love all the help we get. Sponsors, endorsements, ambassadors, hands-on workers."

Kais leaned back into his seat and dragged his hand through his hair, then, as his unconscious always made him, down over his neck, where the lines of his old serial markings could still be felt. "I appreciate the gesture." he said, thinking back to Monaco, to Luna, to... well... "But I'm not made for getting along with people. For endorsements, even to those that tolerate me, even less, and above all..." He shook his head.

Then, Kofi hit the nail on its head. "What happened back there, in Monaco? You seemed out of it, more... agitated than usual. I could tell. Everyone could tell, I think."

Kais was silent for a while, and Kofi stayed silent as well, like he knew Kais never felt very comfortable sharing these things. Eventually, even now he kept himself hesitant at best. "When I first started racing things felt simple. Go fast. Be precise. Go straight for the target. Then go a bunch rounds more. But everything feels like a trap nowadays. I'm being pushed. And... Look, I deal with problems by... getting rid of them." Another pause. "I'm going to do something one day..." Going to have to, maybe... Kais thought, but he kept that to himself. "I don't know what, when or how. But it won't end well." He breathed in. "Maybe I really am unfit for this."

"You know I don't believe that." Kofi said. He paused to look at Kais, who simply stood, looking out over his pride. And Kofi just smiled.

"We're thinking of doing the Barbary Lion next." He nudged Kais once again. "Give it a thought, yeah?"

Then they let the silence return for a while.

"By the way, Kais." "Hmm..?" "You really flew all the way here just to see some cats?"

Kais shrugged, a small smile on his face.


Kofi Mensah (Mensah@PridesOfAfrica):

[Picture slideshow of Kofi and Kais looking out on the grasslands in the ranger vehicle, then having a bite at a skottelbraai, then posing in front of the Prides of Africa logo, and finally, of course, carefully petting one of the shelter lion cubs]

"Today I had the opportunity to show my dear friend @ASZenix around one of our rewilding sites. He liked the Cape Lions so much I thought he'd scoop one up back home with him. We will have big news coming up in the months ahead. Stay tuned! Love and Peace!"

In DELTΔ HYPER (Anti-Gravity Racing, Cyberpunk/Solarpunk RP) → 1 yr ago Forum: Casual Roleplay





Before Kais knew it, a veritable Wilhelm scream came over the railing of the yacht. Hamid, now-champagne drenched after being caught in the crossfire, looked past him with an impressed look bordering on shock, and when he turned around Kais noticed a bear-like man had joined him in the scuffle, full-on throwing the drunk pestering idiots overboard. Maybe they really should've joined the other party.

After the scene had calmed, as he had made his way to the bar and was about to down his drink, the man came up to him to speak.

“Hello Kais Zenix. I have been wanting to meet you. I am Alexander Knight, the crew chief for Team Valkyrie. I explained what happened to the guards. They shouldn’t trouble you about what happened. There is always someone who thinks they can offer advice on what pilots do as if they had an inkling of what it really takes to do the job. I explained what the idiots had done. I am a veteran as well. I know we served in different militaries but in case no one has said it to you before. Thank you for your service. It is only because of men like you that others can sleep soundly at night. I hope your evening improves.”


And Kais scoffed a little, a mixture of amusement and apprehension. Alexander must've gotten the brief about him straight from Al Saqr's media team. 'Veteran' was their preferred euphemism. It surprised Kais Alexander had decided to use that word, considering that he, as Kais understood it, had been a counter-terror specialist. Was he pulling his leg too?

"We can only hope, can't we?" He returned the handshake with a nod, leaving it open whether he was answering Alexander's final or second-final sentence. "Mr. Knight. It's unfortunate we would probably have been on opposite sides back then." Kais had imagined some background tension in Alexander's comments because of it. He increased the firmness on his handshake before letting go, the tiniest gauge of how people responded, what they were like, what they could -or would- take. But Alexander didn't budge. Ex-military indeed. "Been hearing a lot about you recently, with the troubles in Valkyrie." He said, a slight return shot, but then hesitated. They may have been on opposite sides back then, like they were now. Or... were they? Layla said Valkyrie could be trusted. And Kais could probably use some allies. "For what it's worth, I think you're doing a good job, with Paul." His gaze was tight, and there was a seriousness about him. No posturing now. "Keep an eye on him, and his associates. Between us, brother to brother, there are strange things going on, on the track..." Just as he began to make his way, he allowed one last comment. "And Mr. Knight... Thanks, for the help back there. Stylish throws too."

Kais gulped his drink in one go, then had a better night.


Kais took his place on the DH sofa after Paul, exchanging a brief annoyed nod in passing. How could he be so upbeat all the time? Every time Kais sat down in the yellow seat he felt such a contrast with the all-function matte-black carbon-reinforced cockpit that had come to feel like a second home at this point. Maybe he should ask around for how others managed it sometime.

So tell me, what's it like in that moment? You're on the grid, ready to go. We can see through your eyes or near to it in the TV feed, almost feel the sweat on your brow and how you feel through the neural link. But what's going through your mind before you hit the throttle when the lights go out?


Kais sat up in his seat. "There's no feeling like it, Aurora..."

5.

Around him, he felt the others. Through his sensors came the small wobbles of the ships around him, the shimmering in the air, the dust and dirt shifting under the purring of their antigrav drives. Ever so slightly. A connection. Slight and distant. But a connection nonetheless.

"Compared to here, in this seat? All the politicking, the theatre, the popularity contest? It's gone, and finally you get to feel people for who they truly are."

Yes, he didn't feel alone anymore. Not here. Not on the track.

4.

He inhaled. And a smile came over his face. His heartbeat quickened. Stable, strong, faster. All that existed was anticipation. Challenge. Life and Death. His skin disappeared, melted into the ambient rumble of the suit, of the track, of the others. He looked at his hands - not even a tremble. And he was ready.

"That moment before the drop? It's exhilarating."

3.

Kais had turned down the audience's audio feed all the way down. Adrenaline raged through his veins. He wasn't just a man anymore. Fire raged through his very neurons. Fire, and electricity, and unspeakable things. His vision tunneled towards the starting lights, the neural link fighting desperately to expand his consciousness back out to all around him. A buzzing sensation. An aliveness one could only get in the most extreme circumstances. Finally... He exhaled.

"And there's a calm there. That's what surprises people. Focus."

2.


"When those lights go out, Aurora...?" His eyes never blinked. "There's a feeling you know exactly what to do."

Layla. Ava. Nora. He remembered the crash. He nodded. Keep them behind me.

Westwood. Hart. Take them down.

Han. Neves. His jaw clenched. Take them down.

Makara. Thorsdottiir. Take them down.

P... Paul...

A face from the past flashed before his eyes. He felt his hands, the slightest tremble, just a fraction of a second. Kais tsked. He grabbed the controls fast. Eyes back on the road.

"There's no fear." Kais said to Aurora. "No fear. Never. You can't. Not when you're staring down the barrel."

1.


"You just take aim, and..."

Amy Stirling. Dorian Hornfleur. ...Take them down, Ace...

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