Chapter 2
A Colossal Accident
The drive from the Taylor's western Toronto suburban home to Canada's AdventureLand takes about 45 minutes in good traffic. A hot and gorgeous Canada Day guaranteed that it wasn't going to be one of those good traffic days. Highway 401 traffic, combined with extra Highway 400 traffic added an extra 45 minutes to the journey. Despite this, the Taylor's arrived at the park only a few minutes late, and surprisingly, in a pretty good mood. As it turns out, being an executive to the theme park did have its advantages, for the family got to bypass the long lines in the parking lot and at the gate, and were immediately granted admittance to the park. Upon entry, Mike Swaize, the park's public relations director, met Scott and his family, and once pleasantries were dispensed with, he led them to the new thrill ride.
The coaster was more magnificent than anybody could have ever imagined. Colossus was, from the outside, what might be considered a regular rollercoaster. The red tracks piped in blue dazzled the eyes as it glistened in the summer sunlight. The ride consisted of five cars in a set, with each car seating four people. The seats were painted according to the row of the ride. Red cars were at the front, followed by orange, yellow, green and blue. The idea behind the colors was to show how intense the ride was going to feel to the rider, with red being the most intense and blue being the least intense, relatively speaking. What set Colossus apart from other roller coasters was the extreme height of the ride, as well as the blistering speed with which you sped around the track. At its highest point, Colossus reached a soaring 50 meters into the air and if you were lucky, you could see the CN Tower for a split second from the peak. Altogether Colossus had four inversions, one cobra roll, and three corkscrews and reached a maximum speed of 95 km/hr. Despite that being the normal highway speed, the riders feel as if they're going twice that speed due to the lack of the comforts that car manufacturers build into the modern day automobile. Running at full capacity, three sets of cars or 60 people can be out on the track at once, hopefully keeping lines short. If the ride proved successful, Colossus would become the crown jewel of the park, boosting the slumping attendance of the two previous summers.
After Scott and his family had traveled to the back of the park and arrived at the Colossus, they were met by the Park's System manager, and operator for the inaugural ride, Kevin Craig. Craig was average height and had a rather heavy physique, but what he lacked in stature he made up for in genius, for he had been the chief designer of the entire computer system for the coaster.
"Good morning, Mr. Taylor and welcome to 'Colossus'," said Craig. "I trust that you're ready to ride?"
"Well actually, I'm not much of a rollercoaster enthusiast,” Scott explained, “though my 12 year old daughter Katie certainly is. I'm more of a down to earth, remain alive kind of guy if you know what I mean."
"Of course sir," Craig replied, “Would you rather your daughter be the first to ride instead?"
"No, no. Even though I hate riding them, I also don't want to look like a coward in front of my family and all of these people. I'll ride it and then you can let the real coaster fanatics have a crack at it," Scott said pointing to the scores of people already lined up waiting for their turn to ride Colossus.
"Well sir, I can assure you that this ride is completely safe. It has been tested numerous times before the launch here this morning. It had a complete and final inspection today and the ride's computer system was even upgraded yesterday morning. It also has numerous fail-safes built in, so, should something unexpectedly go wrong, the ride would quickly come to a complete stop so the problem can be fixed. If you'd just step this way and I'll give you a run-through of what you should expect to experience during the ride," Craig said, leading Scott and himself onto the ride's platform.
"After being strapped into the shoulder harness," Craig continued, "the computer will give me a 'go' or 'no-go' for 'launch'. Should I get a 'go', you will be launched straight up the first hill accelerating to a speed of 50 km/hr while reaching a height of 50 meters. We call this the 'The 50 at 50'. Upon reaching the crest of the hill, you speed down the track, accelerating to the top speed of 95 km/hr. Once at the bottom of the hill, you will enter one of two consecutive inversions. After the second inversion you will immediately enter the first corkscrew followed by two minor hills. By this point, you will have slowed down to a brisk 80 km/hr. Following the hills, you will enter what is known as a cobra roll followed closely by one of two consecutive inversions. These inversions will be smaller than the 1st two. The last thrill you will get will come after the second inversion when you go through the final two corkscrews. After that point, the 'fun' part of the ride is basically over, and all that is left are a few minor hills before returning to the platform. Overall the ride should take around two minutes and 15 seconds to make one complete circuit of the track. Should you 'survive' the ride, there should be no permanent brain damage, maybe a little dizziness, but nothing serious," Craig said with a laugh. "Are you ready?"
"No, but if you want me to ride this, you better get me strapped in fast before I change my mind," Scott said.
"Certainly sir, right this way."
As Scott was being placed onto the ride and final preparations were being made, onlookers watched with anticipation. Some of these included Audrey and Katie, as well as Elliot Ravenwood, the CFO of the park.
"Hello Audrey," Ravenwood said.
"Oh, ET, I didn't know you were going to be here," Audrey exclaimed.
"You know me Audrey. I just had to see if Scott would go through with this or whether he'd wimp out like he always does," Elliot said, chuckling to himself. "In all seriousness though, your husband ordered me to be here to in his words 'view the ride that's going to solve all of our problems'. Seeing all the stress that he's been under lately, I didn't know whether he was joking or being serious. So, for my job's sake, I had to tell my wife, that we'd have to forgo our trip to the cottage, and come to the park to witness Scott's ultimate success. Let's just say, my wife, where ever she is, is a little less enthusiastic about us being here than Scott is."
"I know the feeling," Audrey replied. "The funny thing is Scott hates roller coasters. In fact, it was all that the ride operator could do to get him to go on it. I don't know if it's a 'macho guy' thing or if he really believes that the chief executive has to be the first to ride a new attraction, but there he is, looking as strange as usual."
"Break a leg honey!" she yelled, waving to her husband as he was being strapped into the shoulder harness. "Anyway, I just hope he doesn't throw up or have an accident," she told Elliot.
"Speaking of accidents Audrey, did you hear about the terrible hit and run on the 407 around 7:00 PM last night?" asked Elliot.
"Read about it, I saw the aftermath of it. I didn't know it was a hit and run, but it was a terrible accident. The van was faced the wrong way, the whole front end was smashed in and the windshield was totally shattered. I certainly hope that cute, little blond girl doesn't lose a parent because someone was driving too fast or even worse, driving drunk on the highway."
As Audrey finished her sentence, the Colossus was launched into the air. The sound was similar to a fighter jet taking off and the speed with which it left the platform awed the audience. Over the top of the hill, around one loop, two loops, everything was looking great. But just as the ride immerged from the first corkscrew, disaster struck. There was a loud crash, followed by a second, third and fourth one. For a few seconds, the sound of metal scraping on metal could be heard before the cars left the track and careened into a man made pit below. As they hit the ground, a loud boom rang through the amusement park and debris flew everywhere.
"Scott!" Audrey shrieked as she began running toward the platform.
All those waiting in line stopped as they looked on in total shock. After the car hit, there was complete silence, everyone but Audrey frozen in place for what seemed like an eternity. They were all waiting t
o see whether Scott survived the crash or not. With the ever lingering silence the verdict seemed bleak. All the people could do now is wait for the emergency crew to arrive, and hope.
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