Racer Story

Something that I really want to work on... especially after watching the new Knight Rider ^^. It's a conflcting world between cars and humans.

He looked out at the busy city. It was an amazing sight from there, just sitting on the edge of some abandoned road, right on the ledge of a huge drop off. As he sat there on the hood of a Car he could see everyone rushing about, looking far too busy to worry about much of anything else. It was as if the city itself was a rushing, pulsing heart. It made his thoughts wander off to somewhere else.

But as he sat and pondered the engine under him suddenly came to life, roaring like a lion breaking free of a cage. It cause the whole Car to lurch forward slightly, startling the man on it’s hood. In response he stood from the sleek, sloping black hood and turned to look at the Car.

"Seriously?" he grumbled and the engine quieted.

The engine seemed to grumble in return before the Car actually responded. "Well," came a cool male voice from the Car’s black body, "I simply think we should get ready for the race."

With a sigh the man turned away from the Car and walked slowly to the edge of the drop off. He couldn’t help but let his thoughts drift off again. He thought about how things must have changed so much… from how they used to be. While robots were just now slowly being developed, Cars had gone on to evolve all on their own.

No longer were they things that you could turn on and off. They were living, breathing, and growing creatures that functioned just as a human being would. They could talk and have actual personalities and just like humans, no two were alike. No one really saw it coming, but suddenly, Cars had grown to stand as equals to the human race.

Nonetheless, such a drastic change never goes without conflict. For while Cars evolved humans began to lose their jobs to these four-wheeled creatures. No longer where they slaves to the human race and they stood as presidents and CEO’s of these massive car companies. They were no longer bought and sold and due to the "Anti-owner" law all Cars had to be compensated for their time as transportation for humans. Mechanics, car builders, gas station attendants, all the way down to deliverymen lost their jobs to Cars.

For many years all transportation came to a halting stop. A Car was no longer a possession, they had their rights and they came to demand them. It was almost thirty years before Cars and humans would collaborate again. Now that things had been settled for the most part both sides decided they needed each other. For even though Cars had come to stand on their own that had once been created by human hand, whether they liked it or not. So as long as they respected one another, they could live without complications.

For these reasons, racing was completely banned. But some Cars still found their fleshy counterparts to know what was right in a race, and remembered the feel of being driven and a race by themselves wasn’t enough. Nonetheless, with two brains competing against and together at the same time, racing became a massive strain on any driver willing to try. If a human couldn’t take it, both flesh and metal suffered from the consequences.

And Duke had learned this quite well. So while standing on that ledge he subconsciously moved his hand to pat his left leg, which, in response, sounded much like that of patting the hood of a Car.

"You’re probably right Brayden," Duke finally said, turning away from the long drop off. As he walked towards his sleek, metal friend the driver’s side door opened and the engine rumbled.

Duke sat in a daze as his friend drove them to their secluded spot. It had been a while since he had even been behind the wheel of a Car and it was almost too frightening for him. Nonetheless, he had a race to get ready for and Brayden couldn’t have him any way but confident.

"Are you capable of racing?" came a simple question as if through the radio.

With the question in the air Duke turned to look out the window as everything passed by in a blur. "I think it’s time," he replied before turning back to look into the Car. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

As they pulled up in this abandoned parking lot there was utter silence. After all, there weren’t many Cars willing to join a human in a race. For while a human would get a year in prison for such an act, a Car was usually stripped down and ‘replaced’. Nonetheless, it was almost in a Car’s nature to race, whether they would admit it or not. The pair was sitting there for a few moments before Brayden decided to speak up.

"A life with out chance isn’t worth living," he said, but it was cold and hesitant. He knew the cost of racing and sometimes Duke wondered if he was really doing it for himself, or for something else.

A little while later headlights could be seen coming up behind the Car. As the other pulled in just a few spaces over from Brayden it was quite clear that it wasn’t like the Cars. It was a very old car; over two hundred years old, with finned fenders and a two-toned paint job, a signature look of an old 1955 Bel Air. Unlike Brayden, it was what Cars had come to call ‘dead-wheels’. They couldn’t talk, or even function with out someone behind the wheel. Most racers used these cars, if they could get a hold of them. Most of them were taken by Cars to build new, smart Cars. So quite clearly, Brayden wasn’t pleased when the old thing rolled up next to him.

"She’s here," he sternly remarked, his engine rumbling as if to scare the other thing away.

Duke smiled at Brayden just before the car door opened. He slid out and was met by his fiery haired friend. "Hey there hot stuff," the girl said, clearly in jest. "How’s that thing treating you? Has completely poisoned your brain I hope." Brayden’s engine roared loudly in protest, but the short female simply stuck he tongue out at him.

Duke laughed. "Now, now you two." He said, turning his head slightly over his shoulder to look back at the angered Car, "can’t you ever play nice?" He then turned to look back at his friend. "You really shouldn’t pick on him like that Sam."

"What?" replied Sam with a shrug of her bony shoulders. "You really want me to talk to him like a human? He doesn’t even make a good pet, cause even they come where they’re called."

Again Brayden’s engine roared and he quickly turned to face Sam. "F**k you," he growled. Bust Sam wasn’t phased.

"I’d say those were strong words for a car," she snapped, "but a car shouldn’t even be talking!"

It was quite clear that these two weren’t simply going to laugh all of this off once the quite had set in; the both truly hated each other. It was to be expected after all, since Sam’s father had lost his job as a mechanic to a Car. Her father, grandfather and so on, they had all been mechanics, now her grandfather was dead and her father was glued to his chair, drinking and staring off into space. Duke didn’t have that problem, his family had all been doctors and lawyers, people that weren’t effected by the Crisis of ’38.

"Would you two shut up!" Duke finally shouted, causing the other two to back up slightly. "Can both of you just get along for two seconds?!"

Brayden and Duke had a common respect for each other. It wasn’t that Duke was at a higher standing than he was, it was just that when Duke sounded angry, Brayden was the first to listen. They were good friends, for not knowing each other all that long. But Sam was furious, as was apparent by the massive scowl on her face. Instead of saying anything else if front of the Car however, she pulled Duke over to her car, where she knew Brayden would never follow.

"Look," she stated, "I know that he’s got Max’ engine and all that, but that doesn’t make him Max." With a sigh she turned to look at the sleek, black Car just beyond her own. "Max was a Car, just like Brayden, I know, but at least he was nice to everyone. He didn’t like cars like mine, but he was nice enough not to say so. Just face it Duke, Brayden isn’t Max, same engine or not."

Duke was silent for a moment as he looked over his shoulder at Brayden. They didn’t look alike, or sound alike; they just had the same ‘heart’ under that hood. Duke saw it as fate; he and Brayden had just randomly met. They discovered many things about each other and even though it didn’t seem possible, Duke found that his friend’s engine was now Brayden’s. It was as if, from that moment on, they were bonded. And in some weird, backward way, Duke found that Brayden had as much love for racing as Max had.

It was dangerous for a car to admit that he or she had a passion for such a thing, like a black man wearing a KKK hood. If said to the wrong person of Car, they could be turned in and replaced.