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Malstrom


UAZ-469

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MMMM!

After several years of writing fanfics, this is my first attempt at a truly own work - which is actually heavily inspired by a series. ;)

It's a short 3-chapter-story from last year, that I'm translating to English with the help from a beta reader. There's currently only the prologue available, but the rest is following.

Critics and opinions, positive and negative, are always appreciated. :)

Now let's start, shall we?

 

malstrom_by_neonspider-daslccz.png

Description:
The married father Karl is looking for a bigger car because of the family increase. But the financial situation is difficult, why he visits a friendly workshop owner after all other dealers offered only vehicles far above his budget. When he also doesn't find what he needs, he wants to move away disappointed until his friend shows him a sensationally cheap car in good condition...

Fandom: Prose
Genre: Drama / Sci-Fi
Rating: P12
Pairings: None
Warnings: None

Beta reader: Silvermoon42
Cover made by neonspider.

___________________________________________________________________________

 

The red glowing numbers on the digital instrument approached slowly, but steadily, the 300 km/h-mark. The needle on the speedometer had remained at 180 km/h for a long time, but on the other side of the dashboard it bravely worked its way up to the red area. The driver fixated the revolution counter longing, his free hand tightly holding the gearstick, waiting to shift into the fifth gear. The engine's mighty roaring lulled him like the lovely singing of a caring mother, while a barely audible demon demanded, no, ordered, to floor it and never let it go. The adrenaline-filled driver over-fondly followed that instruction, as the car promised him eternal happiness in the ecstasy of speed. Even if this should become the last journey of the machine, he would get out of the car shedding tears of joy, build an altar at home and pay tribute every day to the vehicle's architects for the hell ride of his life. Who would have thought, that the "fastest crock of the star ocean", how he was mockingly called by the dealer, would ever grant so much driving pleasure? No car had accomplished to tremble his body out of enthusiasm before. Although it might originate from a model of over 90 years ago which only possessed 112 horsepower at most; but the manufacturers, deceased long ago, had managed to create a reasonable monster out of a - for the time - overpriced and obsolete family car.
Despite the many unfortunate incidents which finally led to the temporary production stop.

But the driver knew that the car wasn't at fault. All those who didn't fulfil the merciless demands of the metallic beings were promptly overtaken by their judgement, and the punishments were draconic. The thought alone, to stop the distribution due to the concentrated incompetence of the unworthy owners, appeared to him like blasphemy. All the more happier was he to have heard, someone had shared the same obsession one year ago, so that he had built a copy of the vehicle and kept everything original save for the necessary modifications on the engine.
The driver didn't care that the car allegedly had at least one dozen previous owners. For him it was only confirmation of his conviction: the beast needed a strong hand, a person, who understood, to tame it, to extend it over the limits. And that the car had rose from the ashes like a phoenix after every accident and met the driver one day at an inconspicuous car showroom, could only have been destiny, equal to love on first sight. How dared the dealer to think, to let the misunderstood creature scrap due to the bad rumors! The fortune he had to pay was more than worth it to the buyer.
Fifth gear.
Merely one second the engine allowed itself a break, before he roared once more with might and accelerated the car beyond 300 kilometers per hour.

This wide country road in the darkness of the starry night was truly the perfect place to indulge in the cravings of the vehicle. A well-built route, surrounded by wide grass steppes, lined by only a few trees and from a length which could compete with the lonesome ways in the Australian outback. Exclusively the full beam lit up the dark asphalt, right reddish-golden, left white. He mastered the rare, light curves with gentle steering movements and although the tires quietly screeched, as well as the car body bent, he felt their firm hold on the asphalt. Where the way led? This didn't have to interest him, because only the needs of his wheels were important. Moreover, what spouted the artificial intelligence of the car on the clear profile loss and blistering? The car didn't let itself slow down from such a trifle! On and on, faster and faster it wanted to run, and he wouldn't stand in the way. Only he and the car, completely alone on the street, united in a single being, the vegetation on the edge during the flyby nothing more than shadows – one couldn't even think about stopping. Even when the AI anxiously announced that the chassis threatened to break down if the load change proceeded too fast, it didn't concern him. He was no failure like the previous owners! Today he would prove that he was chosen to steer the vehicle to its fate.
He looked expectantly at the speed indicator: 320... 330... 340... 350... The driver grinned, cackled and laughed, as he shifted into sixth gear.
It didn't stop. The vehicle didn't want to stop. As long as the fuel didn't evaporate and the street didn't end, it would go on forever. The AI attempted to initiate an emergency braking, because it supposedly had calculated, the car would kill him if the driver didn't stop now. A plan, that was thwarted with an angry "Get lost!" without further ado.

It nevertheless allowed itself to announce a slightly sharper curve in few kilometers which unfortunately required a slowing down. The disappointment about it, to bring the car's flight of fancy to a sudden end and therefore offending it, was abruptly covered by bliss, after he saw that he had really broken the tempo record of the quickest vehicle with a naturally aspirated engine.
The driver stepped on the brakes gently, observed how the number reduced – and stopped short. Why did it suddenly go down so slowly?
The artificial intelligence sounded the alarm. The simple exclamation that the brakes have melted, dismissed the owner first as nonsense, because the car was flawless. When he discovered, however, a strange glowing on the asphalt with the help of the side mirrors, his hackles raised. This couldn't be true! Had he committed a mistake which was promptly punished by the car? The driver spoke frightened to the vehicle, he will make up for it and asked for forgiveness.
The brake power heavily weakened, he shifted a gear down to use the engine brake. The vehicle became slower, the front bent and the driver breathed a sigh of belief in the firm faith to have turned away a disaster.
All of a sudden, however, a powerful jerk went through the cockpit and the driver hit the steering wheel with his forehead. Dazedly holding the sore place, he recognized, how his perspective… was tilted. The riddle's resolution broke finally as the artificial intelligence said with panic in its voice:
"Chassis broken! CHASSIS BROKEN!"

Scratching on the asphalt, the driver screamed and saw the curve faster than expected coming up to him. What had he only done which could incur the wrath of the car? The tires still lived, so maybe he could save everything, if he slightly moved the steering…
Ear-deafening bursting noises told him straight away that the vehicle had another opinion. The contact with the street ultimately lost, the car slid, sparking on rims like on ice by the steering movement and flew with more than 200 km/h towards trees on the edge.
With the driver's door ahead.
While the AI refused to demonstrate the evident, it limited itself to tell him reassuringly that it had served him always with pleasure and longed for being able to do it even longer, but this would now be regrettably the end. Disregarding the talk, the driver asked himself, not being able to give off a sound, one single question:
Was he only another failure, like those before him?

Even before he would inevitably get smashed into the trees together with the car, he discovered heavy damages to the barks – and heard a sweet comforting voice:

"Let go. It is over soon."

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