Tramp Wars: The Enemy

by Larry Roberts

  Back when he was just 5 and at the end of his first day at school. Mark had come home crying. His father had been home early that day after getting back from a trade trip off ship. Finding out that his son had been verbally abused because of his glasses, he had comforted him for a few minutes with a hug letting him cry it out as he made a decision he knew his wife would not condone. "Mark." He had said. "Those kids are just bully's saying those things because they know it will hurt your feelings. It makes them feel powerful when they make you cry. You need to take that power back. When someone insults you and tries to make you cry, smile and insult them back. Pick out some part of their body and in your mind make it grotesque (he had to explain the word to Mark) or funny and tell them about it." With his drying tears and the baffled expression on his face made his father smiled. "Look at my ears and picture them sticking out like an elephant's ears flapping in the air from an air-conditioning duct." He held his hands up to his ears and flapped them up and down making Mark giggle at first then laugh. "Now you try picking a part of my body, make it look funny and tell me about it." They had spent the rest of the day playing the insult game until his mother got home who at first only shook her head at his father then demanding they talk, sending Mark to play in his room. The next day Mark came home talking a mile a minute to his mother about his new friends he had played the new game with and all the fun he had, had. His mother had looked at him for a few minutes as his excitement wore down and then sat him down and explained that he was only to play the insult game with someone that insulted him first. Insulting someone who had not insulted him first, would hurt their feelings making him no better than the bully's that had made him cry the day before. It became a game his father played with him often after that when he walked in the door from work, coming up with some outlandish insult for Mark to return the complement, to his mother's dismay, though over the years it became less often as his father became Chief Tradesmen. Eventually Mark forgot the game with his father consciously, though his subconscious seemed to thrive on it the more threatened he felt.

  The man's mouth started going up and down as he looked around at the growing crowd. “I can fly acrobatics better than you boy and I will show you!” Climbing in he opened the plasma bottle and as the fans wound up Mark turned and walked away past the English Officers watching in the crowd. Relief flooding across him as his mind turned back to the Red Mustang. Not giving the man a second thought or the English Officers a second glance.

  Once in a while, his mouth did get him out of trouble as well.

  Chapter 27 Recon Death Trap

  Mark sat down in the sports car. It was almost 30 feet long with a 7ft wide low flattened fuselage and side strakes another couple of feet on each side. The side by side seating felt strange with the passenger sitting a bit lower than the pilot and slightly to the rear. As sports cars go, it was more in the muscle car category and the owner had seemed to try outdoing that with overhauls and additions over the years. Mark had even seen wings extensions and fins on the thing that looked so warped that he could not believe the owner would not leave them on and wondered where they had gotten off to.

  The seat engulfed him like a womb as the original owner came up to him. “You look like you are ready to fly but I would like to warn you about this thing. I have spent years building it up and I would hate for you to wreck it on your first flight.”

  “Oh, I don’t think there is much to worry about that. I have been flying aircars for a few years now. Did you see me do a little bit of flying before the auction?”

  “Mmm. Yap I certainly did Mr. Collins and if someone had to take it I guise I am glad it is you. Though I am a bit confused since I was told we could not have personal cars anymore.”

  “No Sir. I can‘t keep it. I was just trying to get you the best price possible as with the other cars, but as you can see I was not very successful on a few of them. No; I will have to figure out some why to sell these before we lift off. But until then I think I will take this for a spin.”

  “Ah! Well. About that. I think it would be a good idea if you let me give you a few lessons before you... Ah, what they say, ah no offence intended but before you solo.”

  “Mark it would not hurt you to take a ride with the Gentleman just to check you out on the controls and the cars eccentrics.” Mickey said.

  Mark smiled politely as he looked around. “Well thanks sir. I really appreciate that offer but I think I will be just fine.” What was this guy thinking he could show him anything about flying an aircar? Mark thought.

  The man frowned shaking his head. “Really Mark; it is a nasty one to fly since it fly’s nothing like the average fan car. More like trying to balance a big flat board on the head of a pin when you’re on manual so be sure to keep it on auto assist until you learn to hover it at altitude And with the rocket drive pack and lengthened sonic nose, it can go supersonic to damn easy but without the wings and control fins it is inherently unstable supersonic. Oh and sorry the wings and fins got thrown out with the trash. I got caught up on the job and did not realize that they had been moved.”

  “I was wondering about the wing extensions and fins but it doesn’t really matter since I have to get rid of it anyway. At least with the buzz after I got it, I shouldn’t have too hard a time getting some good money out of it. I will split whatever I get with you since you got screwed during the auction.” Smiling over at the man. “Don’t worry Mr. Huntington I will take good care of it and make sure it gets a good home. Tell you what; how about going for one last ride with me. I really am a good pilot.”

  “No thanks. I don’t think I could stand to fly second seat. Besides this monster has already tried to kill me a dozen times before I learned to fly it and I really don’t want to push my luck. The reason why the original Scout Fighter’s rep was so bad. No I have never taken it above about half thrust, half speed and half the altitude it can do and still scarred myself half to death so I probably am better off without it. No; good luck. Just remember it is a fighter and keep it on autopilot until you get the hang of hovering it at altitude.” He said again and then the gentleman walked off. Mark could not help feeling sorry for him as that was just how he felt about his old car. That no one could fly it as well as he could. A fact the big man sitting in the left seat flying his old speeder around the pit trying to do acrobatics was proving. The Sports aircar doing some damn strange maneuvers that were definitely not intentional. After tumbling through the air for several hundred feet out of control and almost crashing into a nearby ship the white faced pilot finally regained control to fly around in roughly a gentle turn for several minutes before making a nice slow turn in the opposite direction and heading out of the Port as it was joined by an SUV with a woman and several kids.

  Taping the start button, the Mustang shuddered a little as a fusion bottle was energized to Marks amazement as the screen lit up with the tell tails and readings on the chamber. Just taking it for granted that it had the usual plasma bottle battery power source and stared at the screen as the core settled down to a low hum. At first Mark thought it was just letting the core warming up before energizing the fans and waited for the sound of the fans to start spooling up. But when he could hear no fan wine for a good half minute he tapped the dash menu looking for some way to engage the fans. Finding nothing he went to the manual and again nothing about fans anywhere. And then he saw it as plain as the nose on his face. A whole section on gravitation coils complete with their placement on the speeder. Looking over the side of the cockpit he could see no fan shroud covers running down the side of the stubby side strake. “Mickey. This is a gravity coil car.” He whispered.

  “Yes Mark. Did you not realize that when you bought it?”

  “Aaa. No.” He could feel his heart beating trying to get out of his chest. “No. I just took it for granted that it had fans like everything else.” He slowly pushed the power lever forward a little and nothing happened. Turning around in the seat he looked for the original owner but could not
find him. Suddenly wishing he had not been such a putz and listened to the owner. Kicking himself for being mad at the owner for keeping the big red sports aircar such a secret and not flying it when he was around. But then it would not have taken long to have figured out that it was not flying on fans.

  "Mark that is the power for the thrusters. Luckily they are off or you would have destroyed the aircars behind you and crashed through the ones in front of you including the million credit limo before climbing up and out. The armor on the fighter would have protected you but destroyed everything you hit. The lift controls are on top of your thruster throttles. Your thumb stick controls the direction of your lift coils, leave it in the detent position unless you get a large mass in a different direction from strait down for trim. You twist the hand grip from side to side for the amount of power for lift. But you best leave it in auto for now until you have time to learn how to control it as Mr. Huntington said. The maneuvering thrusters and coil trim controls are all on the handle of your main right hand stick." Mickey said as everything was listed and highlighted for Mark to see easily.

  "Oh come on Mickey how hard can it be. Lift is lift. Why should it matter whether it is fans or coils? Mark flipped the auto controls off and twisted the left hand grip of the throttle lever for what would have been a good blast of air that would get him above and away from the surrounding cars so he did not have to worry about hitting anything when the wind caught the big bird. The big Sports car shot strait up into the air. Backing off on the power he became weightless as the Mustang went ballistic. As the little ship slowed and finely stopped in midair and headed for the ground, Mark fought with the stick in his right hand to keep it level. He started adding a little lift and then more lift slowly with little effect other than a little weight. “Mark add power please. You are far from the ground were the coils do not have as much effect and need more power. ” Adding a lot of power again he was pushed down in his seat and was accelerating back up increasingly faster as the big red and black sports car headed off across the space port as he tried to balance it with the main control stick under his right hand. But even though the car's belly was facing the way he was moving the coils were not slowing the car down the way a fan blowing massive amounts of air would have.

  "Mark. Use the thumb control to angle the coils in the direction you are going to slow you down. No too much, not like that. Mark maybe you should engage the auto assist on the controls.” A switch lit up on the control yoke. Pushing the switch marked auto assist. The Mustang leveled out as the thumb stick moved under Marks thumb and started slowing them down giving him a chance to gain control and turn around back to the pit. “As you can tell Mark, gravity coils fly different than fans. Unlike the constant speed fans that all you do increase the fanblade pitch to add lift and the motors add power automatically to maintain the fan's speed while lift increases with the mass of the air flow acting as a buffer. Grav coil effects have no mass or inertia to speak of and even slight inputs of power can lead to great changes of motion."

  Mark suddenly remembered someone seemingly in his now distant past comparing the car to balancing a board on the head of a pin and Mark suddenly really wished he had taken Mr. Huntington up on his offer.

  "Using auto assist you should be able to land with a little practice and a few hints from me, as well as you can with your fan car. But you really need to read the manual first Mark. A few hypnotic ground school lessons with me would be a good idea as well.”

  Landing rather unsteadily, Mark spent a half hour reading a dozen manuals along with a few hurried ground schools with Mickey’s help as he laid back in the seat before trying again with much better results. Finely calling Diane he begged her forgiveness then asked when she was getting off and for her to meet him on the truck deck to go for a ride. Then spent the intervening time practicing landing and take offs with even more of Mickey’s flight schooling until even going in and out of the truck deck at speed was second nature. Finely he landed to let the guys look it over or better yet drool over it once he told them it had coils instead of fans. He even hovered high enough for them to inspect the underside. The proverbial (See man, no fans.) Inspection.

  Dian finely showed up with Mark starting to get a little worried but once in the Mustang they were out the hatch and climbing for the sky. Mark was still learning to fly the thing as he headed out across the city setting up a 300mph cruise at 30 thousand feet, he sat back and took a breath. “How do you like my new car?”

  “Nice. I watched you buy it. I also watched you fly it for the first time.” Then slapped him across the arm, hard. “You could have killed yourself! She yelled. “What were you thinking?”

  “You watched me at the auction on the ships screen? Oh yes, Tom said something about that. It makes sense, a lot of people had cars at the auction but then it must be a slow news day. Well you’re in the car with me aren’t you? Why?”

  “I trust you and besides if you crash you will need medical help fast.”

  “Oh so you’re my ships medic for this test cruise. Well then welcome aboard Doctor. Where do you want to go?” Mark asked not caring but with his mind on getting something to eat.

  “With you I will go to the Stars baby.”

  “The Stars?" Mark looked around at Diane and smiled. “Now that is a good idea Hun. I saw a commercial about some fancy restaurant on this planets Prime Space Station. Mickey can we make orbit with this or was that just company brochure sales shit in the manual about being a space craft?” Expecting Mickey to say, (“Hell No.”) as he looked at Dian for her negative reaction to his joke.

  “Yes Mark, all the tanks are topped off and the craft checks out 100%. Mr. Huntington took very good care of his pride and joy car. The planet’s prime civilian space station will be in rang for orbital insertion in 3 minutes. Do you wish me to plot a course for the station?”

  “What about getting back. Accelerating up through the atmosphere is one thing coming back down through it is another completely different beast. I was just joking Mickey”

  “Mark I would not have suggested going up if I did not know you could get back down. This model Mustang is actually the Imperial military’s reconnaissance strike fighter complete with hard points and wiring for torpedoes and cannons with cosmetic changes for the civilian market. Mr. Huntington was able to acquire and install the re-entry armor though I cannot ascertain its condition at this time. Everything else he has replaced on the fighter has been in AI shape so I believe the armor should be as well. Later models where civilianized at half the weight with all the battle and re-entry armor missing, fans replacing the coils and fan ducts replacing the cannon bays. One reason it has such a bad reputation for accidents is its original military design to allow highly trained pilots to do sever maneuvers interring planetary atmospheres under enemy fire. It is not designed to be flown by the average Joe Blow. But yes if you follow directions you will have no problems reentering and landing back on the Star Queen in 3 to 4.5 hours.”

  “What do you think Dian? How about dinner on the station with a view of the planet?”

  “I told you I trust you but bucking space in this thing scares the pee out of me. But then we don't have to worry about Chet or his buddies trying something again. Ok: just do it before I change my mind.” She grabbed Marks arm across the central consol.

  “Ok, Mark you will need to acknowledge the new course please. I have filed an electronic flight plan to the station with the flight center.”

  The dash screen flashed an orbital program flight plan confirmation request. Tapping the confirmation button on the screen the car started pulling up into a gentle climb as it changed course turning around to the right to head east. “Boy that was anticlimactic Mickey. I take it we get to the station next week.”

  “Mark please use your brain. You have worked out orbital trajectories before. Just because this is a fighter with boosters does not mean it has to use them. Speeding through the atmosphere at supersonic speeds is a waste of reaction mass ev
en if we do have a fusion bottle for power. We are on course and on time to rendezvous with the space station in 30 minutes.” a course profile appeared on the screen. “As we gain altitude we will increase speed and acceleration. So sit back and enjoy the most romantic ride you will ever take baby.”

  As they rose through the atmosphere the stars came out, the sun set behind them and the planet reseeded below. Eventually they reached an acceleration of 3 g’s but that only lasted some 6 minutes and then they dropped into freefall. Weightless, Mark unstrapped himself to drift up to the canopy and pulled himself over between the center console and the canopy to join Dian as she unstrapped herself. Surrounded by the brightest stars, a hundred orbital structures and the Gas giant in the distance and the planet's lights stretched out below, the two became confide members of the hundred mile high club with Diane joining several times, once plastered naked against the clear canopy. Then as Mark was trying to join a second time the radio burst to life.”

  “Station Approach control to Star Queen Recon boat 1; down load approach course now. Contact docking control within 5 minutes. Acknowledge receipt please.”

  Mark turned letting go of Dian with one hand with his still inside her as he reached around to push the transmit button on the control stick. “Thank you. S. Q. R. 1 out. He said between breaths.” Dian wrapped her legs around Mark to keep them from drifting apart.

  Five minutes later after a hurried one minute, mostly dressed and back in the couches Mark keyed the mike with a little bit more composer. “Station docking control this is Star Queen 52’s Reconnaissance boat 1 on a test run from Center City Galactic Star Port. Commander Collins requesting docking instructions.”

  “Commander Collins, please state reason for docking and time to departure.”

  “Station control. Pre de-orbit reentry boat check and dinner at the Planetary view Restaurant if time permits. De-orbit departure in 90 minutes.”