I"
"Uh-uh, look they're showing the ships in the 1st lineup! Oh my god, look at 15! It's a junker! It looks like it was made out of parts from Old Man Tom's junkyard." After a pause. "You think the pilot is Carpati?"
"Doubt it. We haven't had a Carpati in the races in a long time." Andee answers mater of fact.
"Hektor's Carpati."
"That's what I hear, but where its he now?"
"I don't know. Maybe living the good life up in the City--but even with a junker I hope the pilot is Carpati."
"He's not, I'm sure of it."
"You can't be sure."
"If he was everyone would be talking about it, no?"
Mykee just shrugs his shoulders in response.
"Plus, I've seen junkers piloted by Bitani before, especially in the prelims." Andee continues.
"I thought all the Bitani were rich."
"Little brother, I have no idea what goes on up there in their mountain top cites, but many of these preliminary racers pilot some real junkers."
Looking away from his binoculars and at Andee. "How many cities are there?"
"I don't know." Andee answers still focused on the videodrome through his binoculars. "Supposedly just this one, but Old Tom has seen another."
"Weird. Why don't they tell us this in school?"
"That's a question I've asked many times?"
"Is that why you quit school?"
"One of the reasons." As Andy answers, Mykee looks back through his binoculars.
"Hey-hey, look at Ship1, Oh My God!"
"Wow, that is beautiful!" Andee muses to himself.
"I thought this was just a prelim race? Who's this guy with such a fancy lightship?"
Holding on tight to their binoculars both brothers are locked on the giant hovering videodrome far bellow. An image of a young guy, with his blonde hair sweeping over sideways to one side, like a lazy crest of a rooster, and dressed from the neck down in an all white leather pilot's suit, appears on screen. He raises his helmet high up in the air as the shot cuts away to the crowds cheering before they focus back on the young man celebrating glory.
"Is that the pilot?" Mykee asks bewildered. "Dude, the guy is the same age as you. I didn't know 16 year olds could be pilots."
"He might just look young, and by the way, I'm 17 now."
"Look, his name is Ricio Bret. That's definitely Bitani."
"What else would it be?"
"No way he's 20. I thought the rules say no one under 20."
The image cuts to the announcers.
"Little brother can you lip read?"
"No."
"Maybe I can." Andee focuses on the lips of the two sharp suited announcers, but it's futile. He then focuses on the montage running on the background screen between the announcers. It shows the young man piloting his beautiful lightship, training, his crew working on it, and so on. Eventually the video montage turns into a photo sequence and stops on an image that looks like a family photo.
"That looks like his family... maybe." Mykee blurbs out. "The old guy with the beard. You think that's the dad?"
"I guess. Hmm, that's odd."
"What's odd?"
"He looks familiar."
"Who? The dad? You know who he is?"
"No, but he does look familiar."
"Look-look they're showing his lightship again. It's got a white light-pillow beneath. And it sparks, look! It's like little lighting bolts. That's really odd. Light-pillow's are usually either red, green, or blue, and look like flowing water not lightning. You think that means it has more power?"
"I wish I knew?"
"I believe it does. I think the secret is in the light. I think that's how they float. That light is like..."
"Like what?"
"I don't know... like an energy. And it makes the ship float and move and everything. Man, that thing is huge, its bigger than the other lightships. Look, now they're showing the other ones."
The brothers watch quietly as the specs of each ship is broadcast on the giant viewer.
"Hmm... only 9 racers. I hope the next race has all 15 spots taken." Andee blurbs out loud.
Out of the 9 lightships 1 and 15 are the most unique, each for different reasons. Lightship1 is all white, clean, shiny and brand new. It is decorated with sparkling silver racing stripes and designs. The front is broad and round in the shape of a sickle on its side, with both points pointing backwards. The body extends from the center of the sickle in a long sleek and elegant shape of organic curves accented by grooves and rounded flares. The very back turns into a flat horizontal fishtail-like feature with pointy tips on the outer edges. The pilot's egg-shaped bubble is encased in the center of the body. It has all around views both above, and below around the seat. The ship floats a meter off the ground on a glowing pillow of hazy, sparkling, white light with occasional electric arcs between it and the ground. The light seems to be the mechanism keeping this ship in the air. It is without question the most elegant and impressive of all the lightships in the lineup.
Lightship15 on the other hand has no bubble at all. The pilot is completely exposed, with only his suit and helmet protecting him from the heat, wind, dust, and sand at speeds reaching 600 kilometers per hour. He does have a front windscreen, and metal flares encapsulating him for some protection from the elements, but he is still mostly exposed. The center body of the ship is a long thin cylinder with the pilot startling it, leaning forward as if riding an Earth speed bike. At the front and back there are two cylindrical light engines forming T shapes at both ends, both of different sizes. The front one is wider, but the rear one is thicker. The ship looks like a hodgepodge of formerly crashed parts hobbled together to create this masterpiece.
The rest of the ships are variations in between. Lightship4 is a simple teardrop, larger in the front and tapering to a sharp point in the back. It's the color of rust, because it is completely rusted. Lightship5 is made up of two four meter long parallel cylinders that house the engines, and produce the purplish-blue glow beneath. Between them, the pilot's bubble is attached to both cylinders by flexible arms. The ship is all black including the perfectly spherical bubble in the center, but it does have a triangular metal mohawk pointing backwards as a fin. The solid black metal bubble has one vertical window up front from top to bottom, and a cross window wrapping horizontally from one side to the other forming a perfect glass cross. Lightship6 is shaped somewhat like a classic streamliner locomotive. The center is vertically taller than wide from front to end, flanked by its engines on both sides making the bottom half wider. The pilot's bubble is right up front in the "nose" of the ship. Lightship8 is similar to ship4, a teardrop shape but with elegant classic lines and groves, and freshly painted in bright yellow. It's a nice clean ship. Lightship9 looks exactly like a seed, like an almond, a blue almond with a bubble at the very back. Lightship10 is the smallest and a perfect round saucer with a transparent bubble in the middle. Lightship13 is the second biggest after ship1, cone-shaped, but a flattened cone with winglets on either side up front, and one long horizontal wing staring from the middle, from behind the pilots glass bubble, extending all the way across the tapering flat back. The ship is gray with black racing stripes and accents.
"Who do you think is going to win?"
"15" Andee answers mater of fact.
"You're joking, the junker? I think it's going to be 1."
"A fancy ship is no guarantee. A good pilot in a junker will outrace a mediocre one in a the best ship. Its not just about speed."
"Except for the Long Straight after the Salt Sea. That's all speed."
"Yeah, but I prefer the twists, turns, and blind corners of the canyons."
"Most of the course is pretty hardcore, especially the Crags." Mykee answers shaking his head in agreement.
"Lightship graveyard, that's what some people call the Crags. That's why there hasn't been a race without a crash in more than four years."
"Well, the crashes are pretty cool."
> Another echo of what sounds like a distant horn goes off. The yellow warning lights on the pylons flash three times.
"Here we go, they're lined up." Andee blurts out.
"I know, I know, I've been watching the videodrome this whole time."
The pylons light up bright in a kaleidoscope of colors.
"Signal for the countdown is up." Andee blurts out as he stares at the videodrome through his binoculars. Above the old road the pylons fade to dark for a moment and then the top red light shines bright followed by the sequence.
"Red, orange, yellow, white, and greeeen!" Mykee counts down the lights to start.
"They're off, little brother, they're off! They should be coming around the corner any second."
"Nah, it'll be a minute." Mykee answers as he takes away his binoculars.
"You and your precise measurements." Andee speaks from behind his binoculars still watching the videodrome. " Lightship5 is pulling ahead with Lightship13 right behind. It looks like it's going to be Lightship5 coming around the corner any minute."
"Man, 1 is falling behind. It's already in fifth position." Mykee resigns disappointed as he focuses back on the videodrome below. "Here they come, here they come!" Mykee shouts as Lightship5 is first to round the corner.
At more than four kilometers away, the ships look small but they can be clearly seen. Lightship5 and Lightship13 are up front fighting for first spot with the rest on their heels. Junker 15 is already trailing last behind the battling cluster.
"Look! Look!" Mykee shouts out. "It's ship1! It's ship1! He's pulling ahead! He's passing. He just passed ship10, and he's coming up on ship6."
"I see it brother, I