SOLARIS DAWN

IN THE WING

Ody's group, traveling on foot under the cloak of night, left behind the scene of their crime at a brisk pace. The farther they traveled outside the city limits of Phoenix, the more ancient the scrapyards became, but their destination, which slowly came into view in the distance, was a bastion of life for them.

After settling in years ago Argos, Ody, and Glenn completely transformed an abandoned scrapyard into a desert oasis. Together, they installed repurposed concrete fortifications, converted large turbines into high-velocity fans for cooling, and constructed a covered area out of sheet metal. Nobody bothered them as they hid amongst the ghosts of the Arizonan countryside.

As the group trotted back into their compound's outer limits, Argos, Frida, and Glenn all turned their attention to Ody, who had been carrying the duffel containing their bounty tucked safely under his arm the entire way. He blinked slowly before understanding what they were waiting for and then hurried over to a large object covered in an old tarp. He whisked away the covering which revealed a Frankenstein-esque hovercar underneath, complete with a rolling cage, dual-disc steering system, four anti-gravity wheel wells, and an engine capable of maintaining a very small, but immensely powerful, fusion reaction.

This was the moment he had been preparing for all day, right in front of him, it was sink or swim. He straightened, exhaled, and popped the hood of his hovercar open. The fusion chamber easily slid into its assigned slot with just a few clicks.

Ody hopped into the cab and the various instruments on his dashboard began taunting him. Below the main set of dials were two slightly concave discs, positioned like a DJ mixing table, and two bare wires that made up the ignition. Ody grabbed the wires, touched them together, and in just a matter of seconds, a loud hum began to overtake the scrapyard, vibrating the ground rhythmically.

Ody's friends could feel the reverberations rise through their legs, and they stared as the hovercar slowly began to lift into the air. Dust, kicked up by the gravitational fields emitting from the wheel wells, flooded the air surrounding them. Ody eyed the engine heat monitor needle as it fell still on the two-hundred mark which denoted that the engine block had reached two-hundred million degrees Kelvin. Everything, surprisingly, seemed stable.

Frida bolted towards Ody and jumped high into the air while shouting and vaulted into the passenger seat of his car. "Holy shit, this piece of scrap is hovering! You fucking did it, you're actually gonna be able to race tomorrow, can you believe it!" She yelled over the engine's noise, throwing her arms around Ody. Argos and Glenn, who dove into the back seats, also began to shout alongside the impassioned young girl. Ody's cheeks flushed as he shrunk into his seat and basked for a second before snapping to attention.

"Well, nothing left to do but drive this thing. How about a few laps around the yard, huh? It'll be nice to get off the simulators and into the driver's seat at least once before tomorrow!" Ody exclaimed. Without a word of protest, he placed his hands on the dual-steering disks and took off into the night, the surprised yelps of his friends echoing out into the empty desert.

***

Upon returning to their hideout, as the hovercar's engine died down, Ody could finally relax his shoulders. His emboldened grin stuck to his face like superglue as he glanced around at his friends expecting the same. Instead of reciprocation, however, Ody was met with looks of absolute defeat.

Argos leaned over the side of the car, lurching, as he emptied the contents of his stomach on the ground. Glenn dizzily walked back to a couch at base camp carrying Frida as she grumbled in confusion. The smile Ody wore quickly fell away and he began scratching his head. "Sorry, guys, I uh... I guess not everyone is cut out for racing!" He sputtered. Glenn, meeting his eyes, eked out a half smile and waved him away.