Flight and Flying (Friday, July 14, morning)

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin stood in front of the Flight Club shed with his hands hidden in the folds of his robe, looking every inch the confident Jedi. He didn't realize that he was imitating Obi-Wan's way of standing.

He gave a short nod to the class as they assembled in front of him. "Welcome," he said. "My name is Anakin Skywalker, but most of you know that. You can call me Anakin or Master Skywalker--I don't really care." Secretly he was hoping someone would call him Master Skywalker, but he wasn't going to mention that. He looked at the students and continued. "Today, we're going to fly podracers." He cleared his throat and opened the door. "Well, in a simulator, anyway." He gave Peter a small smile. "The last one I built was made for, um, much smaller people."

Inside the shed were two 6 foot-long simulators sitting side by side. Anakin walked over to one with evident pride. "Okay," he said, pointing at the controls, "everything you need to fly a podracer is located on its handlebars. You push them forward to go faster, pull back to slow down, and pull one or the other towards you to turn." He pointed at the buttons in the center of the console. "That controls the engines," he said. "You push the big button to light them up, and on these two models, you can push it again for an extra burst of speed." He looked at the class. "Which burns your fuel very, very quickly, so save that until you need it."

He raised an eyebrow. "Normally, these things are attached to giant engines--like 6 or 7 meter long engines--but these aren't real, and the simulator won't really give you the noise that's normally associated with the podracer. But the simulator has been programmed to go very, very quickly." He pointed to the simulator on the left-hand side. "This one, properly piloted, can get up to 950 kilometers an hour. The other can get up to 900. To fly a podracer at those kinds of speed requires iron nerves and split-second reflexes."

He clasped his hands in front of him. "Okay. Today you can take a turn learning how the simulators work, then pair up to fly against each other." He gave them a slightly predatory smile. "Since there are nine of you, the person without a partner will get to fly against me. I built the real version of this podracer," he patted the left-hand simulator, "and used it to win a race when I was nine years old. And I won't give you a head start."

Comments

Individual tries in the podracers

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

You're going in a giant circle in the middle of a desolate desert planet. There are cliffs and canyons, angry natives shooting at you, and fellow (simulated, naturally) pilots trying to run you off the course.

Please try to squash yourself against a canyon wall.

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly skipped over to the simulator and hopped in. She played with the controls for a bit to get a feel for how they moved before hitting the button to light up her engines. Once they were nice and warmed up, she pushed the controls all the way forward and took off with a whoop of excitement.

She kept the speeder at full throttle all down the first straight away and looked to be good heading into the first turn. Except she forgot to slow down and ended up slamming into a canyon wall.

"Aw, suck," she said when the simulation ended.

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin smiled. "Not bad for a first try," he said. He lowered his voice. "I managed to stall the thing out at the starting gate when I was racing." In a more normal tone, he said, "You have to start preparing for the turn right when you see it coming--you're moving so quickly that you only have about a three-second window before you're canyon goo and that's hard to explain."

He grinned. "Want to try it again?"

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

"Yes!" Molly said with a huge grin.

As she waited for the simulator to reset, she worked the controls again, practicing for the turn again. "Prepare for the turn when I see it coming," she repeated.

Once she was comfortable, she hit the power button again and took off with another whoop. Again, she kept the podracer at full throttle for the straightaway, but this time she managed to slow down enough to make it through the first turn.

"Woo hoo!" she yelled happily, but forgot about the natives shooting at her. One of them hit one of the engines and the simulation ended as the pod spun off into another racer and they both exploded.

"Man!"

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge bounces, happy to *finally* get a chance in a podracer- he'd missed out during weetiny weekend, after all. He starts up the engines and takes off through the course.

He makes it around the first couple of turns- though the second one was a close call- and is so busy avoiding being shot at that he misses the other podracer slamming in to him in an effort to knock him off course. It works.

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"The other racers are kind of evil bastards," Anakin commented.

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"Yeeeah, I noticed that," Bridge says, making a face. "Maybe next time I should try it with the gloves off," he wiggles the fingers on one hand. "Might improve my reaction time."

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

Peter was absolutely geeked out at the opportunity to fly one of these again, even if it wasn't real. He hopped into the simulator, pressed the big button, pushed the handlebars forward, and took off.

Fortunately for Peter, his reflexes were incredible and he was slightly familiar with podracers from when he was weetiny. Unfortunately for Peter, a simulation meant that he was in no danger and his spider-sense wasn't working. Still, he probably should have been able to avoid the inside wall on the second turn. But he didn't. And so his race was over.

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Hitting walls is bad," Anakin commented, "but you've got nice reflexes. Want to try it again?"

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"Are you kidding?" Peter asked. "Of course I do!"

The simulator reset and he took off again just as before. His turning looked wild, but he managed to avoid the walls and debris until he was cut off on the final turn. And then he met the outside wall.

"Jerk," he muttered.

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[multiplez]

It was kind of like video games, which Z had played more than her fair share of in various foster homes and slightly seedy arcades. She could do this, she thought. She managed to dodge the first few potshots at her and avoid a racer trying to drive her off course, but this meant she missed the turn and slammed into a wall. "Darn it!"

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"It's totally fine," Anakin said. "It's not real. Want to try it again now that you know where that wall is?"

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[multiplez]

"Yeah, okay." Z drove recklessly, but this time she managed to make it a bit further before another podracer slammed into hers. The simulation ended as both exploded.

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[x5-alec.livejournal.com]

Alec got in the sim, looking forward to trying it out. He took hold of the controls, pushed the button for the engines and even hummed very quietly to make up for the lack of engine sounds, waiting as they warmed up.

Straight out of the starting line he was nearly shoved into the wall by a rival podracer, but recovered easily thanks to quicker than human reflexes. He seemed to have not too much difficulty with most of the turns, but was taken out by a well-placed shot from on high and crashed into the ground in the final stretch. "Damn," he said, annoyed at not even making the finish line.

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Not bad for a first try," Anakin commented. "Really. Want to give it another go?"

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[x5-alec.livejournal.com]

"Oh yeah," he said, grinning as it started up again. This time he rounded the turns tightly, still humming to himself, and except for some jostling by other podracers, he got to the last stretch again without crashing.

Remembering the native, he kept close to the wall until he was halfway down the stretch and then punched the engine button for the extra burst of speed to get him across the finish line.

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

Dean climbed into the simulator, deliberately trying to take slow deep breaths to fight the urge to hyperventilate.

No big deal, he told himself. It was just a giant video game; his butt wasn't leaving this seat and this seat wasn't actually leaving the ground, no matter what it looked or felt like.

He could do this -- he'd always been good at video games. As long as he kept looking at this as just a big game...

Still, Dean had an excess of adrenaline running through his system as he started the run, which led to his attempt being rather like a podracer version of panicked flailing, that through probably more luck than skill managed to get him almost all the way through the course before smashing into a wall.

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin had been watching Dean closely. He hasn't seen anyone look that uncomfortable in a cockpit since Obi-Wan that time on Ithor--which had totally not been his fault.

When the sim went dark, he approached Dean. "You did really well for a first run," he said. "Want to try again?"

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"No," Dean answered honestly. He took a deep breath. "But I will." He managed a shaky smile. "Just a big ol' video game right? Like racing cars, just without wheels."

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

Alanna was very relieved that her body was going to stay firmly on the ground. To say that she was bad was an understatement. It's kind of hard to fly well when you're going at five miles an hour.

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin stared. "I had no idea that a podracer could hover like that," he said. "If you push the accelarator button, you can actually, you know, move forward."

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

Alanna whimpered. "The only moving thing I've ever been on was a horse! And a ship, but I try to forget that seeing as how I get sea sick." Faithful got tired of the whinning and hit the accelarator button for Alanna. Somehow, the girl managed to avoid the first canyon wall she was about to hit. She didn't get so lucky the second time.

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[twohalvesofaphd.livejournal.com]

Zack meeped underbreath and fiddled with the controls. "So how fast do these things go?"

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"The one you're in? 950 klicks an hour if you push it." Anakin grinned. "Cool, huh?"

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

[twohalvesofaphd.livejournal.com]

"Push what?" Zack flailed.

This mightn't have been the best thing to do while his hands were near the controls.