Beyond the Milky Way

3.3: Practice

The Earth team learned of the customs during the welcoming ceremony and feast. Thirty races ran in an Earth's time span of a year, on the fourth day of the week. Each team earned points unless they could not finish the race. Weapons and ammo were used merely to cause damage to the IR itself. Any intentional injury caused to a crew member would lead to disqualification, and a potential trip back to their home planet. Majority of the races were circuit events, consisting of ten laps. The remainder were sprints on Buno's open terrain, to a designated finish position. Participants had four weeks after the feast to prepare and practice for the initial race.

The Earth team conducted their first practice on the oval track that hosted the opening race. Keith nodded his approval as the Silver Stallion docked in the bay. Bradley descended from the pilot's pit and helped his partner out of hers.

"What you think? Not bad for a first run, eh?"

"That was... awesome! The simulations fail in comparison to the real deal."

"The actual real deal will be in less than a month. Hopefully, your sights will be set by then, Lindsay. Bradley, a tad too much swaying but once you get used to having others on the track, it'll calm down." Keith critiqued. Lindsay held her grumbling to herself as Bradley nodded. The others crowded around the two.

"We've been working on some things here. Yoji put together this system in the bay computers. It'll connect to the system in the Silver Stallion soon, maybe tomorrow." Malik attempted to explain.

"What would it do?" Lindsay asked.

"It'll give out any information on a IR. The system already installed was set up to give you some basic info. I simply upgraded it to a lock-on system and calculated more data."

"So... I need to know about a IR, I just lock-on to it and..."

"The information will load to the bay computers." Yoji continued.

"That's pretty cool..." Lindsay admitted.

"But, that's not the best part! So, everyone knows the oval tracks are basic, easy peasy stuff, right? But, what about those sprints? Well, the system will also be able to download the info on those tracks. As soon as you guys line up, Brad can activate the GPS system. We can take those coordinates, look it up and we'll have a map for that race." Malik smiled.

"Why not just download everything to the Stallion's system?" Steve asked.

"The coding to do what I did was hard enough! Besides, we're the communications team."

"And, I don't mind being useful, relaying stuff to these guys!" Malik continued to beam at the pilot and artillery specialist. "Oh, Lizzie! One more thing! Once we pass on the info to Brad, he can relay it to you."

"Which... helps me... how...?"

"Well, he'll only pass on the primary component of the IR to you. The Stallion's system can automatically switch to the best ammo according to the material. You would have to manually enter that information though."

"Oh! But, still! Less work for the win!" she smiled at Yoji. Keith cleared his throat and caught everyone's attention.

"Excellent work, Yoji and Malik. They will have less to worry about, now. Hopefully, this system can be applied tomorrow; I'd like for them to go through a test run with it, then."

"We'll see what we can do, boss..." Malik answered.

"Good. That's enough work for today. You can all go home, now." Keith dismissed the team. The group nodded as they got together their belongings and headed out the bay. Lindsay looked back and grinned as Bradley caught up with her. She stretched and yawned.

"Pretty impressive of Yoji to come up with all that." Bradley smiled.

"Yeah. A good thing he was picked, right?"

"Yep!"

"Man, I could go for a long, hot bath..."

"And a cold one after that!"

"Ha; you said it, partner!" she agreed with him and the two laughed.

"Was that an invitation?"

"What? Taking a bath and then drinking a beer...?"

"W-What?! No to the bath part! Oh, you're so funny..." Bradley shoved her when she snickered.

"Nah. I don't have any in my room, anyway."

"PAS could fix that problem."

"It could but... I heard Buno's ale was pretty close to one of our domestic beers."

"I dunno; don't think I can trust that. I mean, they proved they can duplicate our food at the feast. I'll stick to what I know!"

"Really? We've got to broaden our horizons, Brad. We're gonna be here for a while."

"Don't you think that alone is enough broadening?" he offered her a subtle smirk. Lindsay gave him a small smile with a laugh.

"Alright, touché, I guess," she shook her head. The journey from the bay to the housing building wasn't a long walk; the two entered the building and waited by the elevators. "Guess I could never convince you to join me at one of the bars, huh?"

"Nope! Now, you get your PAS to get some Budweisers? I'll be in your room in a few minutes!" he winked. It was enough to make her snort.

"You're horrible!" her laugh changed into a yawn.

"Aw; tired?"

"Yeah. Maybe that ale will have to wait until tomorrow. Think I'm gonna take that bath and go to bed."

"Next time on hanging out and drinking Earth beer?" he stressed. Lindsay laughed.

"Fine, yes; Earth beer, silly human! And, yeah; maybe tomorrow," she wanted to continue talking to him when they got on the elevators. But, the group that surrounded them promptly got on as soon as the doors opened. Bradley squeezed in and gave her an apologetic look. "I'll catch the next one! Good night, Brad!"

"Night, Lizzie." he nodded before the doors closed. Lindsay sighed and moved to the next elevator as another group waited. She studied the lobby and spotted a sign that pointed around the corner. Written in alien and English: "Hot Springs Spa & Treatment".

"Oh... that bath's gonna have to wait..."