Memories of Bysorrn: Wazaat the Shepard Kid?
Cadrina Ellen Shepard never claimed to be the best driver in the galaxy. But in her youth, there was a mode of transport she was quite good at using…
It was a clear early morning at Palturma Beach on the planet Bysorrn as children from across the community gathered at the local park to play in the sand pits, swings and obstacle courses. Their families were with them, watching and participating in their revels. The human summer season was just beginning. The skate area was populated with human and non-human youngsters comparing and showing off their rides. Pogo rods, orb boards, skate blades and free-wheel bikes were put through their paces as the human children of Systems Alliance personnel tried to assert their claim over territory only to be matched by their non-human counterparts. The competition was fierce but civil. They stood and watched a dark skinned human boy as he was about to go into another trick maneuver on his bike. Suddenly, a blond and blue streak blew past them, startling the boy into nearly losing his balance. Everyone's attention turned towards the nearby skate pit. There were sounds of pressurized air blasts coming from within, not the usual rattles, rumbles and scrapes that come from wheels.
The turian and salarian children were curious; the human children stared in amazement. The blond girl that passed by was standing on top of what looked like a flat, bone-shaped, black and white hovering board as she scooted up and down along the sides of the con-plast skate pit.
"Who was that?" asked a boy.
"Is that what I think it is?" commented another youth as she looked on the hovering board with envious eyes.
The boy on the bike studied the girl on the board intently. She was fair skinned and wearing blue jeans, a metallic blue jacket with some kind of black padded harness over it, a helmet and protective shoulder and knee pads. The boy recognized her as the girl who moved in just up the road from his house. Her father was assigned to the coast guard with the turians while her mother was stationed at the local precinct.
"I know that girl!" he announced "My dad's posted with her mom down at the police station!"
"Yeah, but who is she?" asked a young turian.
"Shepard, that's her name. Cadrina Shepard."
Cadrina popped up over the edge of the skate pit closest to the children, her knees bent in, holding her hovering board with both hands as she took to the air. The sound of air coming from the fans inside her board hissed and changed in pitch as she came back down to earth. She spun around to face the pit again and released her grip, stood and braced for contact with the ground. She quickly disappeared back behind the pit's edge once again.
"That's the Shepard kid?"
The envious girl was able to get a good look at Cadrina's board as she passed.
"Woooow, she's on a Skyboard!" the girl fawned "Her family must have some serious creds!"
The non-humans seemed impressed by this unusual device's ability to make use of anti-gravity mass effect fields on such a small scale, yet another example of human ingenuity and engineering. The human children knew all about the Zephyr AGX-02 Skyboard. Created by a sky diver who was experimenting with mini turbo prop fans trying to bring the experience of sky surfing closer to the ground, he was getting nowhere until he discovered the wonders of element zero and its ability to emit and change gravity fields. The Skyboard became the must-have for all earthbound skateboarding enthusiasts despite its somewhat prohibitive cost, coming close to that of a used aircar.
The children would be truly envious if they were to learn that Cadrina's late grandmother was best friends with the sky diver and, on her eighth birthday, presented her with the very first production Skyboard off the assembly line. Cadrina practiced riding her Skyboard for two years, picking up tricks from fellow riders. It was her favorite way of getting around and found it was helpful in breaking the ice with new children. Aware that she had the attention of everyone in the skate area, Cadrina began to show off the results of all the practice she put in.
Cadrina accelerated to one corner of the skate pit, picking up speed. She then went up the incline and flipped over above the edge. Secured in her Skyboard's white foot sockets, she reached down and grabbed the edge going into a full handstand. Before gravity pulled her back down again, she proceeded to pivot about the edge on her hands twice, tucking in her knees and bring her Skyboard back into contact with the skate pit surface.
"Whoah, didja see that?" exclaimed the boy on the bike.
Cadrina's newfound fans were enthralled. Even the stoic turian boy's jaw began to slacken as he watched. Cadrina guided herself to the far end of the skate pit then put in another burst of acceleration. She glided down the length of the pit and up over the edge at the opposite end. She then reached down, grabbed a handle on the front edge of her Skyboard and pulled, unfurling a black tensor guide strap. Cadrina bounced slightly as she hit the ground outside the pit, her board compensating for proximity. She now glided around the periphery of the skate pit, steering herself with the guide strap.
"She's heading towards the boardwalk!" a salarian girl pointed out.
The small group of children scampered along to keep up with Cadrina, wondering what she would do next. Cadrina left the skate area and sped along towards a series of stools lining the edge of a walkway overlooking the ocean. Making sure no one was seated, she then jumped up on to one of the stools and began hopping on each one down the line using the back end of her Skyboard before hitting the ground again.
Cadrina leaned and swerved to avoid pedestrians as she went down the boardwalk. A large, wide divider wall was coming up. Cadrina noted how the base of the wall had a curved slope she could take advantage of. Once the way was clear, Cadrina engaged her Skyboard's turbo fans and headed straight for the wall. She went up its side until she was several feet in the air. And before coming down, she disengaged her foot from the front end of her board and passed the tensor strap around behind her back and to the front, her board pivoting on its rear foot socket. Cadrina's foot snapped back into the front socket as she was groundside once more. The children couldn't keep up with the avid Skyboarder and allowed her to gain distance on them. They saw her cut across the grass on to another walkway further inland.
Cadrina scooted down the walkway, content that she would shortly have some new friends from the group of admirers and was now in the mood for a bit of mischief. She looked ahead and saw a high hilltop; there were no people along the route. Cadrina grinned as she knelt down, grabbed and extended the rear tensor strap on her Skyboard. She stood upright and pivoted to face forward, her board's microcomputer adjusting to its new orientation. Certain that she wouldn't run into anyone, Cadrina squeezed the tensor strap handles tightly, leaned forwards and pressed a button on the handle on her right hand. The Skyboard let out a loud blast of air as Cadrina rocketed towards the hill faster than she had gone in all of her previous stunts. She hit the bottom of the hill and swiftly made her way to the top. Just as she was about to reach the summit Cadrina bent down and jumped, using her Skyboard's fans for an added boost. She drew her knees up to her chest, still holding the tensor straps that partially retracted. Her maneuvers culminated in a 720-degree backflip over the hilltop. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Cadrina in that moment she was airborne. As she went into her second flip, she saw that there was one person walking underneath her, looking straight up at her in surprise. Caught up in the moment, she crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out to one side of her mouth in response before she landed.
Cadrina glided along the sidewalk facing forwards still, steering with the straps. At one point, she hopped up on to the railing on the side of the sidewalk and pirouetted along its length to avoid some people, the Skyboard's fans alternating as they came near the railing. She came down and then moved to the edge of the road. Cadrina could smell the ocean air and recalled that this road passed by a café on the beach. She was heading there to hang out and see if she could see her father passing by while on his rounds. The road ahead dipped downwards. Cadrina stood taught as she proceeded down the hill and picked up speed. Down at the bottom was a parked air car. The café was just behind it. The few people nearby stopped in place and stared as they saw Cadrina heading right for the aircar. A couple called out to her, warning her of the danger. But she looked determined as she leaned forward on her Skyboard. Just as it looked as if Cadrina would crash into it, she suddenly jumped up several feet over, standing and spinning in midair like a top. The Skyboard's fans gave off one more blast as they slowed her spin and descent, landing her safely on the other side. The onlookers gave a sigh of relief.
Cadrina powered down her board and unhooked her feet from the sockets while still holding on to the strap handles. She pushed release buttons on the handles and the Skyboard was raised into the air as the straps retracted. With minimal effort, she then folded the Skyboard in half until the fan exposures touched and locked. She swung the folded board behind her using its handles, the magnets on her harness caught it, spun it into position and secured it in place with another self-locking mechanism. She shuffled a bit as she accustomed herself to standing on steady ground and wearing a bit of extra weight on her back. As she began to turn about, one onlooker on a bike called out to her.
"Shepard!"
Cadrina looked over to him. It was the boy from the park; he had secretly followed the rest of the way. He had a stunned look on his face.
"…you are like… amazing!"
Cadrina squinted happily. "Thanks!" she answered as she turned and walked towards the beachside café.
END
Author's Thoughts and Notes:
I had imagined some kind of chase/riding scene for years to a piece of music by Larry Fast (Synergy): the Phobos part of Deimos and Phobos Go to Mars from his album Cords. Listening to this music again while thinking up a high-tech ride for ten year old Cadrina Shepard to use inspired this little action piece. If you decide to listen to this song as a soundtrack to the story, it begins just as Cadrina first passes the other kids.
Since writing First Contact, I've had a flood of story ideas about Cadrina Shepard and her early years with her family that I envisioned as an anime series - I'll write some of them up as I can get chances to. Keep sending in your reviews/comments!