and goes back to the previous subject.
"So what happened with Gono?"
"Nothing."
"Then why you here?"
"Because it's cool up here. You know, this is the best seat in the house."
"I do know. Why do you think I sit here? Everyone else just wants to party. I'm here for the races. You can almost see the start, well not really, but it starts down there, right around that hill. After they start, they all come up the old road directly at us, and then past us just below, through that vertical turn, before they head back down towards the Crags. Lots of crashes happen here."
"I know little brother. This used to be my spot before you inherited it."
"Really? How come you never sit here anymore?"
"Like you said, in the past it was more about hanging with my friends and partying."
"And now?"
"Things change."
Mykee nods, then with a more somber voice asks a completely different question.
"Did you ever come here with dad?"
"I did." Andee answers shaking his head in agreement.
"No way! Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"You never asked."
"Punk off!"
"Hey, hey, come on man, you're too young for that. What's the need for dumb language like that?"
"Sorry, but now I'm mad."
"Why?"
"Because..." But Mykee cuts himself off.
"Because dad and I came up here to see the races?"
"Yes." Mykee responds with a pout.
"I'm sorry little brother. I know you never had your chance. A day doesn't go by that I don't think about him."
"Me too."
"Hey, you know why I don't sit here any more?"
"Your friends?"
"No. This was dad's spot."
"Now you're just messing with me."
"No. I was young. Real young. Maybe only four or five when dad first brought me here, and this is exactly where he sat. Right here, in fact right where you're sitting. He sat there and held me in his arms."
"You're serious?"
"Very serious."
"And you never told me this before, because..."
"I don't know. We don't talk about dad. I didn't want to say something and..."
"I understand."
"You do?"
"I think so. I was really young. I don't even really remember him, but I do remember his face. I'll never forget his face."
"Neither will I. Hey, you want to know something else?"
"Sure. What?"
"The way you're leaning back, notice how comfortable it is?"
"Yeah, of course."
"That's not natural."
"What do you mean?"
"Dad stated coming to this spot when he was a kid, like us. He found this spot way back then, and used greystone to carve that lounge shape in this old crevice. That's why it's so comfortable."
"If you're messing with me I swear I'll kick you in the crotch, and ring your bells for the next three days."
"Why do you think I'm making it up?"
"Dun'no. But it's making me mad."
"This is our spot man, yours, mine, and Dad's, forever."
Mykee looks away. He seems agitated, uncomfortable.
"Lets not talk about it then, but see, that's why I never said anything before."
Both look away for a moment. The sounds of drums and sirens echo in the distance. It's pre-start. It means there is a half hour of music, introductions, and clips of past races for those watching the giant Videodromes down in the markets. Andee, Mykee, and the rest on that outcrop, have to settle for the faint echoes that are the actual sounds coming from the south side of the mountain. That's where the Bitani stands are, at the start and finish line of the race. Carpati are not allowed anywhere near the Bitani stands.
"Is this why you always wanted to watch the races from here?" Mykee's voice startles Andee interrupting his thoughts.
"Wha-wah? Yeah, well, I don't know."
"I get it. It's just that... well, in the market you can see the pre-start on the Videodrome, and hear the announcers and all that. They tell you who the racers are... and you know. Here... we're just high up on a rock."
"But I though you loved to watch the races from here. You were so excited when I started bringing you."
"Well yeah, last year, after years of begging you, but now..."
"I see."
"It's cool from here too, and sometimes people have the portable Vidrom's but..."
"See that guy right there, he's got one." Andee points forcing Mykee to turn and look over his shoulder at a guy with a flat panel display in hands.
"I know, but look at that crowd around him." Mykee counters turning back.
"Ok well, you don't have to come. I'm sure Old Man Tom would be happy to take to the stands in the west market next time."
"No I mean... well... I didn't know dad used to come here. That makes it a little different."
"Maybe that is why I come here, because of Dad, but the views are pretty good. And we both have binoculars so we'll see the lightships most the first half of the circuit, except for the canyons and caves in the Crags. Plus, I know all the racers. You want to know anything about them, just ask."
"OK, so who's in the first lineup?"
"You know that's not what I meant."
"You said you know them all."
"Stop screwing around. You know it's only the final race that counts. It's 10 laps, and every pilot is a legend. The first races are all single lap and half the guys are first timers, most of which don't even finish."
"OK, then how do the lightships work?"
"What? How would I know?"
"You saw Hektor's ship up close. I've never seen that."
"Listen little brother, next time they bring Hektor's lightship to the West Market, trust me, we'll be there, watching the races... hell, from on top of the ship."
"Ha, that would be funny. They would so kick us out if we did that. Hey, why haven't they done that again?"
"Display a lightship?"
"Yeah."
"I don't know."
"You're so lucky."
"I guess I am."
"And you didn't notice how it works?"
"Sorry little brother, but no."
"I just don't understand how they get to float in the air like that. Nothing floats in the air. Even bats, they have to flap their wings, if they stop they fall like rocks. Even the tiny insects, they all have to flap their wings, but lightships, they just float... like magic."
"So do videodromes and the pylons." Andee reminds Mykee.
"I know, but how? How do the Bitani do that?"
"Sometimes I think you're more interested in how they work than the races."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing, other than disappointment."
"You don't think I'll ever be able to figure it out?"
"No other Carpati has."
"Are you sure?"
"Can't be sure, but I've never heard of a Carpati that knows how these ships work."
"How about Hektor?"
"He didn't know how it worked, he was just a pilot. He had a whole crew of Bitani who took care of the ship."
"But he was Carpati?"
"Maybe?"
"No, he was."
"The Bitani say otherwise."
"Since when do you trust the Bitani?"
"I hope you're right..."
A loud echo of what sounds like some kind of siren interrupts Andee. "Ah there it is! That's the horn for the first race." Andee continues excited as the yellow warning light starts flashing on all the pylons. It is then followed by a sequence of flowing lights, starting from the top of the pylon this time with red followed by orange changing to yellow, white, then light green, and than to a hard solid green at the very bottom. This will be the color sequence that will initiate the start of the race.
"Only a few minutes now and we'll see them coming round the hill and r
ight up at us." Andee blurbs becoming more and more excited.
"I wish we had a Vidron so we could see who's racing."
"Hey little brother, look down there." Andee points down past the south edge of the outcrop, below their lounge. In fact this is the point where the circuit takes a sharp turn back down after a straight shot up the mountain on the Old Road. It's a treacherous turn, infamous in fact, called the Tombstone Turn. It redirects the race back down at an extremely seep-near vertical fall before it straightens out with the contour of the base of table mountain, into the Flatlands. There the lightships, now moving at near full speed of over 600kph, head into The Long Curve in front of the Carpati viewing stands, circling around the outside of the West Market, before the course heads into the Crags, which is full of canyons and tunnels.
From their lounge, Andee and Mykee not only have a perfect view of the climb up the Old Road, but also of the steep Tombstone Turn which is literally on the south wall of their vertical stone outcrop. It's a sharp U-turn that forces the lightships sideways, literally 'riding on the wall', to head back down the dizzyingly steep slope towards the market. The people on the outcrop will lose sight of the ships for a moment since the ships turn on the vertical wall just below their feet, but from their lounge, Andee and Mykee will have a perfect lateral view of the action happening about 20 to 30 meters below them.
Mykee is frantically trying to follow Andee's pointing finger.
"Where?"
"Down beyond the market, between The Long Curve and stands, down on the left. That giant videodrome, hovering across from the west market. It's visible from here now. It's a bit at an angle, but I bet you can read the names of the racers on there."
"You're right! It's never been visible from here before."
Mykee jumps on his seat excited, puts up his binoculars and scans the area. Andee does the same.
"You got it?"
"Not yet not yet." Mykee answers with feverish urgency in his words. "There, there, I got it!" He adjusts the focus wheel on his eyepiece. "I see'em. I can read the names." A moment later. "Don't recognize a single one of them."
"Neither do
Lightship Chronicles Chapter 1 : First Horizon Page 4
