do that, do you want to see the course from inside the ship, at 700kph?" Ricio asks Andee with a satisfied grin. Andee snaps his eyes from the ship's features to Ricio, jaw-dropped and emotionally staggered, and remains frozen on the spot unable to answer. With a big smile Ricio grabs Andee's shoulder and messages it a bit in a friendly gesture.
"Listen man, there's no shame in being scared. And if you decide you don't want to see the city, I won't judge if you turn and run back home." There is a tinge of sarcasm in Ricio's voice. It snaps Andee out of his stupor.
"No way! I'm ready. I mean-I just-lets go! Wow! I mean wow!" And Andee shouts and starts jumping like a champion as if he's won the greatest race of them all. Ricio folds his arms and watches pleased. Andee has finally overcome his shock and awe, and is now exuberant with energy and joy. He jumps in the navigator's seat and Ricio shows him how the buckling and restraints work, locking him tight in the seat. Then Ricio jumps next to him and a minute later, the seats rise, the clam-shell closes, and the Silver Sickle shoots off in a cloud of dust like a speeding rocket.
Andee's face is almost split in two with a gigantic smile as his body is shoved into his seat from the acceleration. He is beaming with joy. His head bobs and rocks as the ship undulates over the uneven terrain at 600kph. Long hills feel like bumps at this speed. Andee's eyes are huge as he watches the world flash by faster than he could have ever imagined, then suddenly he is thrown forward as Ricio breaks, and then sideways, when Ricio turns hard to the left, and up the Long Mesa into the long vertical turn into the crags.
For the rest of the ride Andee is beyond giddy with joy. He is astounded by both the pilot and ship's agility through the maze like Crags. He is awestruck at the sight of flying over the waves and is transfixed by the 700kph speeds down the long straight.
The dunes and the low canyon are like a dream, and the east hills fascinate him to no end. Berryfruit trees are the tallest plants they have in the Township, but these fat baobab trees are out of this world. Massive. Some of them wider than Ricio's ship is long, and giant. At least ten times taller than the tallest berryfruit tree, but with very few branches and only up top, all radiating out forming a canopy like an umbrella.
On the way back towards the Bitani stands Ricio pulls the ship off the course and comes to a stop near a sheer stone wall at the southern base of Table Mountain.
"So what do you think?"
Andee can't crack his smile. In fact his face is so stuck in a beaming grin he can't even talk.
Ricio laughs. "I love it. I had the same look on my face on my first ride through the course. Are you ready for the city?"
Andee nods.
"There's only one thing. I can't show you how we get up there. I need you to put this helmet on. It'll block your view. I'm sorry man. It has to be this way." Andee takes a deep breath and nods in agreement.
"That's fine. I'm OK with that. This ride was amazing enough. I never thought I would experience this, so thank you."
"Is this enough? You want to forgo the city?" Ricio asks.
"I wasn't expecting this. I'm really thankful. In fact I didn't even consider how I would get up to the city, but, I'm sorry. I mean, you don't have to, but I really, really want to see it, even if it is just a small portion."
Ricio smiles. "OK, put that helmet on. This racer is illegal in the city proper, so we'll have to head straight for my garage. I'll show you my house. And then maybe I can show you the city."
"Yeah, that's great. It's more than I ever dreamed. So whatever you can do I'm grateful."
"Helmet on. Lets go."
Andee pulls down the helmet over his head. His whole world goes black. He then feels himself being pushed into the back of the seat. Then down into it, followed by some turns, left than right, and so on. Hardly two minutes go by and the ship comes to a stop. He can barely hear Ricio as he tells him to take off his helmet. He grabs his sides. Pangs of nerves whirl in his chest. His brain flashes with wild exotic phantasmagorical images of what he has in the past envisioned the city would look like. He's ready, but also overwhelmingly nervous. It's a moment he always dreamed off, but deep inside never believed would happen. He is almost afraid to pull up his helmet.
He pushes it up. Some light spills in from underneath. His seat is already lowered under the ship. The first thing he notices are the gleaming white floors. They luster in a white shine. Those floors are the cleanest thing he has ever seen. He lifts up the helmet completely. He looks at his surroundings from under the ship. He is in a large white room with mechanical parts all around. Some just strewed around here and there. In one sense it almost reminds him of Old Tom's shed. But this place is spotless. And the parts are gleaming like new steel and bronze. There is not a speck of rust or dust anywhere. He steps out from under the ship, and for a moment he chokes on his breath. He stares ahead dumbfounded, but then quickly looks back over his shoulder. The Silver Sickle is behind him. He just stepped out of it, but in front... there is another one. Another Silver Sickle! Andee stares at it discombobulated. He turns to Ricio, his eyes round with both shock and amazement. Ricio smiles.
"So what do you think of my garage?" Andee is speechless for a moment and struggles to point to the other ship.
"Is that real?"
With a satisfied laugh. "That's Silver3, and this..." pointing to the ship behind them, "...is Silver2. Unfortunately, I smashed up Silver1."
"What? You have three of them?" With a meek breaking voice.
"Had."
More shock. Andee is simply out of his element. He can't imagine owning one lightship, even a junker like ship15, yet here this guy has three. Or at least had three, but he still has two identical copies of the most beautiful and advanced ship he has ever seen. It's just too much.
"This is my garage. Where we work on the ships, where we get them race ready. My crew is off today. Everyone is off today in fact, except for my father, thank god. I can show you more of the garage and then we can go into the main house." Ricio waves his hand, gesturing for Andee to follow. He does, still discombobulated, his eyes flickering, looking around trying to absorb it all in.
The place is spotless. Walls perfectly smooth and straight. Corners sharp and in perfect lines. His whole life all he's ever seen is adobe structures. Nothing in an adobe building is straight. Everything is rounded and undulating even the floors. But this place... precision perfect, crisp, clean, and white. In the dusty Township everything is coated in orange dust, but this place is gleaming, shining mirror white. He's never seen anything like it.
Ricio gives him a quick tour, but it is as if he is speaking a different language. He is describing some of the parts, their function, and the function of some of the other rooms and devices in the main space, but none of it means a thing to Andee.
"Lets go into the house." Ricio nods with his head and Andee follows. The white wall in front of them opens up seamlessly. It looks like magic to Andee. They climb up the few steps and enter near the end of a white hallway. It's made of large rectangular white panels that look like giant glistening tiles. No decorations, just the clean rectangular glossy bricks that make up the left wall, floor, and ceiling. The other wall on the right is all glass and overlooks a small emerald green courtyard, filled with neatly trimmed plants Andee has never seen before. Everything is bright green, speckled with red, yellow, and purple flowers. Beyond the courtyard, far into the distance he can see the Crags, and beyond them the Great Salt Sea. The outcrop has a high vantage point, but the view from Ricio's house is twice as high. He can't help but stare for a while. Ricio stops next to him.
"I understand why you like watching the races from the outcrop. When I was younger I used to watch them from right here, from our back yard." Andee nods not knowing what to say. But then notices something.
"Hey, where's the wall?"
"What wall?" Ricio reacts perplexed.
"The huge blackstone wall surrounding the city?"
"Ah what? Oh-wait, yeah. That's right. From your view it
looks like a wall. It's not a wall. It's the foundation to the city. I only looks that way from down below."
Rico opens the glass and steps out onto the green patio. Andee follows. They walk to the edge and it is only now that the waist high glass balustrade is visible. Andee leans past it and looks over the edge. Looking down, the wall is not quite vertical. It has a slight inner angle. Below it, the sheerer stone wall of table mountain protrudes out a bit, and then far below it, at the very bottom of the slope, is the complex with the Bitani stands. Even from so high up they are much larger than the Carpati stands. They straddle the start on both sides, and look modern and well kept, although the details are hard to see from so high.
Andee looks back at the edge of blackstone under his feet and shakes his head in disbelief. 'And this whole time, my entire life, I though this was a wall.' He hears his own thoughts, and even the tone of disappointment within them, of having had it all figured so wrong.
"Lets go back in." Rico nods at Andee pulling him out of his thoughts. With a deep breath Andee quietly follows. After they enter the white hall, Ricio takes him to the room at the other end. It's a large open space with massive glass walls overlooking more green spaces outside, but with a larger view to the Crags on one side, and the Great Salt Sea taking up most of the view.
"This is