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#1 of Infinity and Beyond
THE ARRIVING
15th June 2007. Near the eastcoast of Florida, high in the midnight sky.
"Height ninethousand" the pilot was speaking clearly as he took a look on the armatures through the black glasses of his helm. Wearing his army suit he shifted a little in his seat. "Engine two shows signs of power fluctuations, ah, nevermind just stoped" he tiped at a few buttons before he looked ahead through the big windows of his heavy cargo plane. Clouds wherever he looked. Appearing, rushing past the window and fading away. "Man, thats thick like the pea soup of my wife. If i could atleast see the coeastline" another look at the armatures he was trying to get a clue of his exact position. With a quiet sigh he turned his head slightly "You alright there?. Did not hear anything of you for a while".
Leaning against the metal hull of the cargo area stood a person, wearing a pitch black racing suit which covered the whole body. His figure showed that he was a male, everything else the suit kept hidden. "I'm fine" answered the strange person. He was not the only cargo getting transported. Inside a big wooden box was the most important cargo, waiting for the arrive. Suddenly the plane began to shake hard and the person took a hold at the box as he felt forward. "What's going on?" he asked, trying to get on his feet again.
"We just lost engine two" the pilot answered in a more or less relaxed tune." I will put off engine three aswell and stabilize the plane" he hit a few switches and pushed the lever in the midle to get on full throttle. Slowly the shaking stoped and everything went normal again. There was a transmission comming in , he just listened before he turned his head a little back again " Some guy called Alpha wants to talk with Knight, quess he means you".
Knight took the call at a radio near the big hatch at the rear of the plane "Thought that i told you to stay out of my life".
An old male voice sounded through the speaker "Just wanted to wish you luck on your new life".
"That you just did" he spoke with serious voice. He don't wanted to have any contact with that guy. Burry the last few years of his life.
" I know. You was always like a son for me. Pass gut auf dich auf" with a little crackling sound the transmission was over but the shaking was back again.
"What are you doing there?" he asked while he got a hold at the radio.
The whole cockpit was gleaming in a deep red. The pilot was pulling the steer back as hard as he could while the armatures showed a rapid loose of heigth. " Got a problem with air secure. Better had announced the flight. We go down for sure, prepare to jump in thirty seconds. Will get her up one last time" he yelled as he tried to start the engines again by hitting the switches over and over.
"What about you?" knight asked while he slowly made his way to the other side of the cargo area and grabed a parachute bag.
"Hah" chuckled the pilot a little "Will be fine when i get a place to land. If they don't shoot me down before". Slowly the plane brough it's nose back up and further, then the pilot pushed a button to open the hatch.
Green light flashed up at the hatch opened and the wooden box felt out of the plane. Knight jumping out aswell, following it. He could barely view the box through the thick clouds but he knew he must be close to it. Then the clouds disappeared, revealing a city of lights and nearby the beach. Finally he reached the box and pulled on a row which activated four big parachutes. At the rough slow down, he felt of the box and activated hastily his own parachute before the ground got too close.
The boxed opened with a crack as it hit the ground of a cornfield. Inside was a car as black as it's driver but aside of it's colour it looked rather usual. Knight was about to land nearby the car and with a few clicking sounds he jumped down, his parachute carryed away by the wind. Quickly he went over and got inside the car, taking a few deep breathes while his eyes looked around at the deep red luxury interior. He touched on a display at the center console and a little keyboard folded out.
The display lightened up and showed lines of codes appearing, first slowly then faster till he could not follow them anymore with his.
The display went black again before big white letters appeared, followed by a young female voice "AIMEE online". The letters disappeared and new one replaced them, telling the driver to wait a little as the voice continued. "Status report. Software succesfully loaded. Hardware undamaged. Satelite linkup established. Download in progress...completed. Please enter security code manually to leave safety modus and activate the full programm".
Knight typed the code as advised and entered it. Waiting for a sign he leaned back into the seat, his paws at the driving wheel. Just a short moment later the armatures began to gleam in a blue light and the engine began to purr in a deep tune which slowly went higher and higher, like the needle showing it's rounds. As it reached the redline it droped down together with the sound of the engine.
Again the display began to gleam, showing a little black kitty yawning wide with closed eyes. "Hey youuu" the female voice was back aswell, it was the little kitty. "Quiet a long sleep, not the mention the wake up into a cornfield...a cornfield! Next time we should travel first class" pawing a little at the screen from inside she was looking up at Knight. "Oh well, what do you think about a little drive to get all wakeyyyy?" her little paws changed into four big wheels on which she drove swiftly from left to right on the display.
His head followed her a little before he shook it "Alright AIMEE but stop that please, makes me all dizzy!".
She stoped immediatly and licked at the display with a smile.
THE STREETS NEVER SLEEP
A little bit later that Night at Heartwood harbour the sound of hiphop came out of a greater ware house. Inside of it were many people dancing in the midle to the beats while other prefered to take a look on the many tuned cars which where parked aside eachother. Aside one of those cars, a silver sixtynine Stingray, stood an older brown wolf in blue jeans and matching vest, Nigel his name. He was no driver like the other people, not anymore since his accident. He grabed his left leg as it began to remember him again. People noticed it as well and tryed to look away or simply ignore it, knowing that Nigel never liked it when people asked about it, or even wanted to help him. Maybe he was old, but not weak. Still able to walk, to run, to drive just a little slower as before. Since he stoped racing himself, his business had shifted to manage the races every night and everybody knowed him.
Just as the pain went away he felt a vibration, over and over again. It was one of his scouts trying to reach him on his mobile. Nigel leaned back against his car as he took his mobile out and took a short look at the display. He answered the call "What's up Alex?".
"Whooohooo" yelled a male voice from the other side of the phone. "Three point eight seconds! The sound! That Style!" all excited and way too fast was Alex talking.
Nigel got not even the half of it "Alex cool down okey?. Now tell me again, slow and understandable".
A few deep breathes came through the phone then Alex began to explain again. "Just got beaten by a newcomer in Little Italy, can tell you, he was far away before i was even started. You should realy check that driver, already sent you a picture of his car. Better be quick before Ghost shows up".
"Will do so" Nigel said and took a look over the crowd. "Ghost is actual busy enjoying the party. Don't think there will be any problems tonight. You should come too" he turned around opening the door of his car and got in.
For a moment Alex went all silent. Maybe he had missheard it and wanted to question but there came not much just an unsure "Wha..".
"Bye Alex" he said and put his mobile aside, starting his car and driving slowly through the crowd out of the warehouse.
At the same time near Little Italy was Knight driving along the wide and empty street. Listening the sound of the engine he was thinking of that red NSX he left behind a minute ago. It was over before it had even begun. He was hoping a for a real challenge and AIMEE seemed too as she watched a few pictures she had made of the NSX.
She got bored of it and turned around to stare up at Knight before something got her attention. "Ping" she said.
"Ping?" he asked and received a nod. "What you mean AIMEE?" waiting for a more detailed answer.
Showing a GPS map of the location she answered him "Got a ping coming closer, quickly, direction zero two zero zero. Estimated time till contact, five seconds".
He reached a crossing and steped on the break hard as a silver Stingray showed up sliding a donut around him before it stoped right in front of him, flashing the lights. Knight prepared for a race and waited for a sign. There came none, instead he could watch the driver getting out of his car.
Nigel had already seen many cars but never such an Mercedes. It must be an older car, the shape it was telling him. He stared a little at the silver star on it's hood before he went closer and around the black car before he stoped at the driver door. "Nice car you have indeed. I would like to see you drive, what do you think about a race?" he asked, waiting for an answer. Getting the one he wanted to hear as the unknown steped on the gas shortly. "Good" he said with an smile "But not tonight. Tomorrow is an important race going on. Start is right behind the old fire station in downtown. If you think you are good enough you could make yourself a name by winning it". Nigel pulled his card out of his vest and held it against the driver window "My card, just call me when you want to come". He waited for the driver to open the window slightly, but the driver did not. Nigel smiled and put his card behind the wiper "More the silent person i quess. Don't forget to bring twelve fifthy with you, cash, or you can't start. You will get them back and a lot more if you win". Still smiling he walked back into his car and drove away.
THE NEW JOB
The morning was perfect, sunny, warm and just a few white clouds at the sky. The beach looked dreamfull aswell, many surfers already riding the waves that early and along the street nearby drove a yellow cab with destination of the former Cho's Fishrestaurant. As it stoped a slender red vixen got out of it, wearing a pair of light blue flared throusers and a simple white top. In her black paws she held a briefcase in the one, and a newpaper page in the other, taking a look on it with her brown eyes.
She looked up from the page, the over at the old restaurant, the smell of fish slowly reached her nose. "Fish, bet my boss will be cat" she throught and slowly walked over to the entrance. The smell of fish got stronger every step and as she got closer the fish seemed to get older aswell. She tried to open the door but it was closed, taking a view through the dirty windows she could just see more dirt everywhere inside. "Must be wrong here" she said to herself with a sigh which made her nose catch the hint of motoroil aside of the stinking fish. Still she would have liked to turn around and walk away, but she needed the job badly, so she decided to give it a chance.
Her nose guided her over to a garage at the side of the building, a look inside showing the same chaos all over there aswell. Except of a shiny and very new red Silverado standing inside of it. She walked inside the garage "Anybody there?". No answer came, so she walked deeper inside, taking a closer look around. Two heavy doors, locked and sealed with chains and additional locks was left in darkness and a metal stairway guiding up to the second floor was nearby. "Hello?" she asked again. Just about to walk past the truck over to the stairs and nearly felt over something. A look down let her see two legs in worker trousers coming out from under the Silverado, a long orange and striped tail was there aswell. Whoever it was, was asleep and she decided that it was time for a wake up. "POLICE DON'T MOVE" she yelled.
"Welc" was all he could say before his head hit the underside of the truck with a loud DONG "Ouch. That gives a dent for sure".
She giggled, looking down and viewing a tall tiger coming in sight on a rolling board. He looked not very strong, but still well build. His fur was dirty with oil, his white chest showed it best, even his face had a little on it.
He looked up at her with his deep blue eyes while rubbing his head with one of his oily paws. Then he smiled at her "Welcome, we have not opened yet but as you already woke me up, how can i help you?".
She tried to hold back another giggle as she viewed him rubbing his head, smearing more oil into his fur. " I was looking for Danny, came for the job" she answered him and went with a paw insed her briefcase.
"Oh, looking for Danny? Think you've found him" he got up from his board and reached her his paw "Danny from Danny's Garage".
First she wanted to grab his paw but then held it back, don't wanted to get hers all oily aswell. Instead she took out her papers "My name is Trix. Still need a mechanic or is the job already taken?".
"You are the first showing up" he said, pulling out an old rag to clean his paws. "I'm curious, how it came that you wanted to be a mechanic?" asking he looked straight into her eyes.
Trix put her papers on the truck and went over to the driver side "Always felt attracted by cars". She opened the hood from inside walked over to take a look at the engine. "Most people just buy a car to get from one place to another " she said, her fluffy tail wagged from left to right all excited by the view on the engine. " If they would know how much parts are needed to work together perfectly. A tiny loose screw could make the engine blow up" she closed the hood again and smiled over at Danny " I love cars, nothing better as the sound of an smooth running engine".
He liked the answer he got, very much "Just found my new mechanic. If you want to work for seventhoused per month".
She thought he was kidding, he had not even taken a look at her papers. Besides, it looked not very much as if he realy could pay so much. But there was that new car which was maybe more worth as the whole garage. "Got it, you talk about YEN" she was sure he did but that would not even make her able to pay her appartement every month "We are not in Japan you know".
Danny laughed and shook his head "I know, was talking about dollar, you know those green papers with pictures of former presidents on it". He viewed her jaw drop a little which amused him, but he tried not to show it, as she had not realized her reaction herself yet. He walked over to her and reached his more or less cleaned paw out again "Do you take the job?".
She don't cared anymore if his paw was dirty or not, hers could atleast get not darker as they already was. She took his paw with a quiet hard grip and shook it "When you want me to start?".
Finally she let go of his paw "Right now. There must be a box around here with workersuits. I'm sure one of them fits you".
"Alright" she answered with a smile "And what is planed to do today?".
"Let's see" he said and walked over to the stairs "The old restaurant needs to get cleaned badly, then the garage. The truck needs a new painting too, got a few tuning parts for it aswell. Do with the truck what you want, it's yours". He went upstairs "I'm going to take a nap, had not much sleep before you woke me up" and went through the door.
There she stood, with a new job, a new car and pinching herself once in her arm, feeling the pain proved her that she was not dreaming. Besides of the car, she would earn a lot of money and wanted to show that she was worth every cent, so she began to search for those suits.
Just as Trix finished with the zipper of her new yellow suit she walked over into the old restaurant and began her work. One hour, two, took her quiet a while for the whole restaurant, still she enough time left to even make a new signboard for the garage and place it at the street. She was sweating a little but there was too much work left as that she could allow herself a break. The garage took some time aswell but for her it felt just like thirty minutes cause the cleaner it got, the closer she came to her time with the truck.
"Finally" she said, done with the clean up. Now she wanted to work at the truck but first her curiosity was guiding her over to the sealed doors. Every now and then while she cleaned the garage, her eyes stared over at them, now she had the time to take a closer look.
The chains were too much, but they were a little loose so she could open atleast the doors behind a few. The room behind was too dark to see anything and she could not enter it, but she knowed that there must be something. No one would seal a room where nothing is inside. She tried to get atleast with her head a little further but before she could get a better view a light flashed up, bright enough to blind her for a few moments. Then she heard footsteps, still blinded she closed the doors quickly and turned around, hoped it would not be Danny. Closer and closer they came, as her sight came back aswell. A little blurred she viewed the shape of somebody who was definately not Danny investigating her truck. Slowly the shape turned into a brown wolf wearing an elegant pair of black trousers and a white shirt.
"Hey there" he said in a friendly tune and stoped in front of Trix which looked a little bit confused."My name is Callaway and i'm looking for Danny" he said before his eyes viewed the big red letters on her chest. "You are Danny?" was his question.
She blushed a little, needed to talk with Danny about that writing later. "Danny sl...is out of house. I'm Trix" she could not tell him that Danny was upstairs, sleeping nearly the whole day.
He crossed his arms and took another look around "If Danny shows up, please tell him that i was here and want to talk with him about business. He can find me at heartwood harbour after midnight, just has the follow the bunch of cars that drives around there".
Trix gave him a nod with the friendliest smile she had "Will do so Mister Callaway". Talk about business could not be bad at all. Maybe a few customers, would atleast get the garage running.
"If you want, you can come aswell. There will be a little party" he smiled back at her and turned around to leave the garage "And call me Nigel, everybody does".
Her eyes followed him till he was all out of view. She was sure that Danny would like to hear the good news, when he woke up. But now she needed to work at the truck before it got too late.
The evening came quicker as she wanted. All exhausted she went along the floor looking for Danny. It was not too hard to find him. The door of his office stood slightly open and out of it came little rumbling sounds. Entering the office, she viewed Danny laying on a couch, sleeping deeply and drooling a little on his arm. Trix giggled a little and tried to be as silent as possible as she went over to the desk and writ a note for him. Then she left the room and took the keys of her truck out, whirling them around her finger, she was eager to drive with it to the party but first she realy needed to take a bath.