by Alex Schuler
“No. The last time I talked to them was when we were packing up to leave Pittsburgh. Why?”
“The auto workers have gone on strike. It’s all over the news. Things are getting rough out there.”
Ted paused and looked at the dozens of faded buildings off in the distance. He recalled the conversation he’d had with his parents when he made the decision to follow Rusty back to DSU. He wondered why Rusty cared.
“He’ll be fine,” Ted said flatly. “I have more important things to focus on.”
Rusty was about to speak when Vin and Sam walked up. Athena was parked close by and the Ashton team was busy making their final preparations for the race. Ralph Lorenski waved excitedly toward Ted. Ted gave him a slight nod but only smiled once he spotted Sam. She was in full Ashton team gear with her aviators perched atop her baseball cap.
“Rusty.” Vin held his hand out and gave Rusty an enthusiastic handshake. “Today’s the day.”
“Indeed it is,” Rusty replied.
“Win or lose, I can tell you this is a great day for the transportation industry.” Vin pointed to the bleachers stacked next to the operations center. “Word has gotten out.”
The stadium seats were filled to capacity, with dozens more in the standing-room only area leaning against the protective concrete barriers. Ted had been so focused on preparing Cyclops he hadn’t paid attention to what was going on behind him. He cupped his hands around his eyes and scanned the crowded stadium.
“What’s that group up there?” Ted pointed to the top two rows on the left side of the bleachers. A dozen people sat together in matching white collared shirts. “Is that Ford? GM?”
“GSI,” Vin replied.
“GSI?” Rusty asked with surprise. He scratched his beard and gently nodded. “Interesting.”
“What’s GSI?” asked Ted.
Rusty, not without a hint of annoyance at Ted’s apparent ignorance, answered. “Grant Systems International is a technology company based in Redwood City, California. They have call centers, data warehousing, networking solutions, and a whole host of software and consulting services. GSI are the ones that provide the mapping software used by a bunch of public-facing companies as well as the Marines and other U.S. military branches.”
“Where’s Detroit?” Ted scanned the rest of the stadium but couldn’t see any other people grouped together in matching clothes. “They have to be here somewhere.”
“I was told there are a total of three people from Detroit,” Vin said. “Ford, GM, and Chrysler each sent one person.”
“I don’t get it.” Ted frowned and looked at Sam. “Don’t they understand how important this is? Especially for today’s challenge.”
“Their loss,” Rusty replied.
Sam maneuvered her way past Vin and Rusty and led Ted to the backside of the Humvee, away from Vin and the DSU team. Lori looked on knowingly but said nothing.
“Don’t focus on Detroit, Ted.” Sam gently ran her fingers along the collar on Ted’s shirt. “Let’s just get through today.”
He smiled as he gazed into her twinkling green eyes. She had this ability to immediately calm him. He was about to speak when he glanced over his shoulder at Lori, who was now staring from several feet away, smiling. Ted pulled Sam to the far side of the vehicle.
“Do you recognize this air base?” he asked. “This is where we flew out from with Kyle.”
“Really? I was so nervous about the flight I hadn’t noticed.”
“Wish I’d known. It might have helped us prep a bit more.”
“Always looking for an advantage, aren’t you, Ted? Anything to win.”
“At all costs.” He couldn’t help but laugh.
“I told you, slow and steady wins the race.”
“You did.” He grinned. “Ashton versus DSU. The tortoise and the hare once again go into battle. I think this is going to be a close one.”
“I agree. Is your hardware all patched up?”
“Yes. We’re ready to go.”
“I’m happy for you, Ted. Truly I am. And thanks again for the birthday getaway. As much as I hate birthdays, you made this one special.”
“It was my pleasure. But you should thank Kyle for breaking Cyclops.”
“Kyle wasn’t the one holding my hand at Burning Man.” Sam ran her fingers across the back of his hand. “Besides, I like to think that maybe it was meant to be. Fate.”
“Fate? Don’t get all preachy on me, Sam.” He looked back at his team to make sure they weren’t watching. He leaned down and kissed Sam, happy they had been able to grab this moment. “See you on the battlefield, turtle.”
“May the better man win, rabbit.” She giggled, stood on her toes, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Good luck.”
Ted could feel Sam begin to let go. He pulled her forward and gently kissed her again on the lips before she stepped back, popped her aviators down, smiled, and headed back to Athena, a few yards away.
He walked back around Cyclops to join his team. Vin was nowhere to be found, having already left. He glanced briefly at Sam as she walked away.
“I’m heading to the big top.” Rusty pried the top off his mug and chugged down what was left of his coffee. “I want everyone inside in ten minutes.”
Lori waited until Rusty was several yards away before she turned to Ted, crossed her arms across her chest, and raised an eyebrow.
“What?” he asked, doing his best to play stupid.
“How serious is it, Ted?” she said. “I’ve seen the way you two look at each other for weeks. I’m not blind.”
“Blind to what?” Nico asked.
“Seriously?” Lori shook her head and looked at Harry, still sitting on the ground buried in his laptop. “I swear, one of these days women will rule the earth. Men are clueless. Clueless!”
Ted kept his mouth shut. He was thankful to be interrupted by the sound of a whirring Segway as Steve Wozniak rolled up. He circled the Hummer once before coming to a stop in front of Harry. Harry looked up at his idol but said nothing.
“Well?” Steve asked, a wry grin spread across his face.
Harry slammed his laptop closed and used the bars across the Humvee’s grille to haul himself upright. Sand fell from the folds in his faded denim jeans. He wiped his hands across his light gray Apple hooded sweatshirt and nervously adjusted his glasses.
“Woz up?” Harry asked cautiously.
“Me!” Steve replied. “On my Segway!”
Steve leaned back and burst into laughter. His Segway immediately responded, and began going in reverse. Steve struggled to steady himself and, feeling somewhat embarrassed, rolled back to Harry’s side.
“Best of luck today, Harry Palmer.” Steve chuckled and leaned sideways, quickly zooming around Harry on his way to visit team Ashton.
Harry stood motionless for several seconds as he watched his idol speed away. He glanced down at the rainbow logo emblazoned across his chest and smiled.
“He knew my name.” Harry spun around and looked at Ted. “He knew my name!”
***
Hours later, the inside of the big top was quieter than it had been during the past two events. Many from the eliminated teams had already gone home, and cooler temperatures had minimized the need for the giant air conditioners. The fans were running, but their motors were much less noisy than the huge outdoor compressors. The competing teams that remained were sitting at their stations, eyes fixated this final time on the overhead monitors.
The leaderboard showed Virginia Tech as being in first place so far, with MIT five points behind in second place. Oshkosh was the most recent to complete the course and finished third overall. The massive MTVR struggled on the narrow city streets, having to perform most tasks two to three times. Every other contestant had failed to complete the event. Ashton and DSU would be the final two competitor
s. Ashton’s Athena was just starting the course. DSU would bring up the rear.
The Urban Challenge had proven to be the most complicated of the three tests by a large margin. What seemed simple on paper had vexed every team. Despite being only three miles long, and containing tasks similar to the first Qualifying Stage, the addition of fixed and moving vehicles and pedestrians, as well as having to navigate narrow streets, was more than most could handle. One entry failed to identify a gate at a railroad crossing and was completely T-boned by a freight train. Another simply stopped and exploded.
Rusty’s hunch about DARPA throwing a twist into the mix proved correct. One of the intersections included a pickup truck that would be pulled out at the last minute via cable. Three of the competitors failed to adapt to this surprise and ended up disabling themselves due to high-speed impact. The crashes forced DARPA to repair or replace the truck prior to each new test run.
The clock at the front of the tent read 4:37 p.m. Nerves were high at the Ashton table but even higher at DSU. Lori had banished all pens from the area, to prevent Ted and Nico from nervously playing with them. Rusty refused to sit, and paced back and forth endlessly. Harry was on his fourth bag of potato chips and third Red Bull.
“Excuse me.” Ted released a loud exhalation as he stood up.
“Where are you going?” Rusty asked. “We’re next.”
“I’ll be back before we start.”
He didn’t wait to hear any reprimand from Rusty, sliding past Nico and Lori and walking over to Ashton’s table. Sam was head down at her workstation when he arrived. Her aviators and baseball cap were on the corner of the table. Ted pushed them aside so he could take a seat on the tabletop beside her computer.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Oh!” She looked up and smiled broadly at the sight of him. “Hi. Honestly? It’s been fantastic. Athena hasn’t missed a beat yet.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“One test to go. That dead-end street. It’s been a challenge for everyone.”
“I still can’t believe TerraCrusher was able to get out of there.”
“They took five tries and still clipped two parked cars. I’m sure that cost them in points.” Sam turned her gaze from Ted to her screen. “We’re almost at the end. Sorry, I need to focus on this.”
He spun around and faced the overhead monitors just in time to catch Athena turn down the dead-end street. The room instantly hushed as all eyes settled on the displays at the front of the tent.
Everyone assumed the last test in the Urban Challenge would be the easiest. It seemed simple enough. Drive to the end of a dead-end street, turn around and leave. The test, though, turned out to be much more complicated and was a culmination of everything that had transpired up to that point. DARPA had lined the road with many obstacles, both on and off the street. One driveway had a car that would back out without stopping. A parked van’s door would randomly open in front of the approaching vehicle. Everything from utility poles to an open manhole cover stood ready to confront each combatant.
Ashton’s Prius hummed along at twelve miles per hour, its engine off as it coasted along on battery power. Ted watched with mixed emotions as Athena easily conquered the first half of the street. Every surprise DARPA unleashed failed to derail the vehicle.
“I should get back to my team.” He stood up and watched Athena grind to a halt in front of an unexpected van door opening. He turned and sighed as the Ashton team cheered. “Good luck, Sam.”
His head hung low as he snaked his way through the different team tables. He couldn’t bear to see Athena ace the test any longer. As he made his way back, he overheard two people discussing a damaged sensor. Out of curiosity, he looked up at the monitor showing the view from a helicopter. Athena was stopped at the end of the street, motionless. Ted quickened his pace to rejoin his team.
“What’s going on?” Ted asked Lori.
“The van’s door is malfunctioning,” Lori said excitedly. “It swung wider than it should have and hit the sensors on the Prius. She’s all confused now.”
He didn’t bother to take his seat, instead crouching between Lori and Nico. The DSU team, like everyone in the big top, had their eyes glued to the chopper feed. Ashton’s Prius was on the move again. Barely. It appeared to be attempting to make a three-point turn, but it was unable to complete the final piece. Athena rocked back and forth, repeating and resetting her position.
“It’s like she’s in a loop.” Harry tore open a fresh bag of chips and popped open a Red Bull. “I wonder how long until DARPA gets mad.”
Three minutes ticked by before DARPA finally issued a two-minute warning over the loudspeakers. Vehicles competing in the Urban Challenge were disqualified by either self-inflicted damage or becoming stuck and unable to solve the test. DARPA had been generous during this phase of the competition, graciously allowing competitors many attempts at each part of the course. TerraCrusher took twenty minutes to navigate the dead-end street, and never got a single warning issued. There had been dozens of small errors and do-overs, where the vehicle would back up and repeat a section until it got it right. It was evident to everyone that the Prius was now stuck.
Almost as if the car heard the warning, Athena suddenly came to a halt. Thirty seconds passed, and the Prius remained still. Ted stood up and looked across the room at the Ashton table. Teams were not allowed to transmit changes to their vehicles once the test started. All they could do was watch. He could see Sam and Ralph in a huddle, talking to Vin.
“Look!” Harry said. Athena began to move backward. The Toyota turned its wheels left until Athena was facing the end of the street. “What’s she doing?”
“That’s my girl!” Sam cried out from the Ashton table.
Athena began to back her way out of the dead-end street. The exit was painfully slow. The sensor arrays on the back of the Prius were not as sophisticated as the front-facing ones. Slowly but surely, the Toyota snaked its way through the obstacles that had challenged it earlier. After several minutes, the Prius cleared the street, paused, and then turned around and headed back toward the start of the course. The damaged front sensor caused the vehicle to wander side to side until it finally reached the finish line.
“Wasn’t that illegal?” Harry asked Rusty.
“It was,” Rusty replied. “The dead-end street test mandated the vehicles turn around with a three-point turn before leaving.”
The leaderboard went black. Two minutes passed before it flashed to life. When it did, it showed that Athena was now in first place. Rusty slammed his fist on the table and marched off toward the operations center at the front of the tent.
“Okay, now there’s going to be blood.” Harry tossed some potato chips into his mouth and looked over at Ted. “Did you see his temples? They were close to exploding.”
“We need to get Cyclops ready.” Ted sat down next to Harry. “I doubt DARPA will care what Rusty has to say. We need to win this thing.”
Two minutes later, the loudspeakers requested DSU to prepare to launch. Rusty stormed up to the table, obviously angry and flustered.
“What’d they say?” Ted asked.
“They said the truck door malfunctioned and hit the Prius after it had successfully maneuvered around it. There was a debate whether they should allow Ashton to do repairs, but in the end, they were so impressed that she navigated the course in reverse they decided to give them a pass.”
“Well, it’s DARPA’s competition,” Ted said. “They do set the rules.”
“Rules are meant to be followed!” Rusty banged his fist on the table. “They had no right to change them. I reminded them that Cyclops was also damaged, courtesy of a DARPA chase vehicle, and we had to go through hell to get it repaired to compete this week. They told me Ashton had aced the test up until that point, so there was no reason to spend hours or days having them repair it. The test
was almost over when it had been damaged.”
“They sort of have a point.”
“Don’t take their side, Ted. Giving Ashton some goddamn ingenuity badge is bullshit. Bullshit! This isn’t the Boy Scouts!”
“Not under you, Sarge.” Ted did not wait for Rusty to respond. He turned and faced his teammates. “Okay, troops, let’s nail this.”
***
Cyclops proved to be a beast, acing every challenge as easily as Athena, but at a faster speed. Their only problem had been the roundabout. The Humvee swerved to avoid another vehicle and crested the concrete curb in the rotary before continuing on. Rusty wasn’t sure if DARPA would penalize them for that or not. By this point, he was so disgusted with DARPA’s scoring system all he wanted was for Cyclops to be flawless.
“Here we go.” Ted stood up and began pacing back and forth behind Lori and Nico. “The last test.”
The Humvee stopped and took a left turn to enter the dead-end street. The road was very long, with few obstacles set along the first hundred yards. Cyclops accelerated to twenty miles per hour.
“Going a bit fast?” Sam asked.
Ted turned around, shocked to see her standing at the end of the table. He could feel his whole body lighten at seeing her. He jumped from his chair and walked past Lori so he could be closer to Sam.
“Of course,” Ted replied. “Are you hare to see us beat you? See what I did there?”
Sam laughed and rolled her eyes. She moved closer to Ted and slid her arm around his waist. He responded by gently pulling her closer until her head was nuzzled against his chest. Lori, facing straight ahead at the screens, had a huge grin across her face.
“Here comes that stupid van,” Harry said.
Cyclops slammed on its brakes and swerved to the left to avoid the van’s door. The door was still malfunctioning and continued to swing open wider until it slammed into the side of the Hummer. Cyclops stood much taller than Ashton’s Prius. The top of the van’s door, still covered in bits and pieces of Athena’s sensors, stopped several inches below the Humvee’s roof, safely out of reach of the gimbal. As Cyclops roared by, the bottom of the van’s door caught the Hummer’s back wheel-well. Weighing over four tons, DSU’s vehicle ripped the van’s door off its hinges and soldiered forward.