fandomhigh | Flight and Flying (Friday, July 14, morning)

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."

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Peter hit his button and waited for the signal. When it sounded, he pushed the handlebars forward and took off.

Molly pushed the handlebars all the way forward at the signal as well and took off with a whoop of delight.

Peter sped forward up to the first turn, which he took a little wide. It wasn't as bad as it had been earlier, but it still wasn't a proud turn. His cry of "Waaaaaaahoooooooooo!" wasn't very proud, either.

Molly had been getting better at the turns so she was able to cut inside him and pull ahead. "WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Once he pulled out of the turn, he gunned it again and closed in. "See how fun you think it is when I beat you!"

"You wish!" Molly called as she throttled forward as well. They were almost even going into the next turn where she again was able to keep control of her speed.

Peter noted that he was really going to have to work on his turns as he went too wide again. He came out of it hoping to catch up enough to get within striking distance for a turbo boost out of the next turn.

Molly was getting a real feel for the turns now, so she tried to get as far ahead of Peter as she could going into the next one.

Going into the next turn without getting any closer, Peter tried something risky. He pushed the big button again as he started the turn. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he cried as his racer accelerated far too close and parallel to the cavern wall for his taste. He cut the boost as he pulled ahead.

As soon as they cleared the turn though, Molly hit her button and shot past Peter again. She left it on long enough to get a good lead on him before turning it off so she wouldn't run out of fuel before the end.

Letting his engine cool off as Molly pulled ahead, he hit the button one more time. He closed in just as they were approaching the finish...

Too late though as Molly sped across the finish line just as Peter was close to pulling even.

"Woo hoo! I won!"

"Woo! I didn't crash!" Peter cheered. "Good race."

"It was!" Molly said, smiling broadly. "Thank you and congratulations on not crashing."

Flight and Flying (Friday, July 14, morning)

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