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CHAPTER 34

Distracted Driving

Giichi put his foot down, the Aquila Saur sports car roaring down a straight on his private race track at the Azerian Palace. Meter markers whipped past on his right side, as he pushed down on the brake at the right moment. He handled it with perfect finesse, not a hint of tire squeal or skid marks on the pavement as the car's nose lurched forward, Giichi's head tilting with it. The red and white rumble strips shook the car's suspension as he tagged the apex, before he slammed the gas down again. Pit lane approached on the right, Giichi pulling back into it. He guided the car towards his stable of cars, parking back in the Saur's designated spot. The car's engine cut out, Giichi reaching for the straps on his racing helmet.

"Back already? You only did a few laps with that car." a tuxedo-patterned cat servant walked up to the car's window, a smile on his face.

However, Giichi frowned back at him. "You don't need to stay here, Wakil. I can look after myself." Damn guy had been pestering him all day. He went back to undoing his helmet straps.

Wakil—used to waiting on his charges hand and foot—was no doubt confused by this request, fearing punishment if the prince's needs were not attended to closely. "Uh...as you wish, Prince Giichi. But is something wrong? You've driven your cars all day, but you haven't smiled once while doing it. I thought you did this because you enjoy it."

Giichi ripped off the helmet, glaring at him.

"Very well then." Wakil looked like he wanted to sigh, but held it in. "Please call for me if you need anything. Also, Queen Kula requests you go to bed soon. Your driving disrupts the sleep of everyone in this palace, and she doesn't wish to enforce a curfew on you."

At those words, Giichi looked outside through the stable's open doors. The fiber optic cables in the cave's ceiling twinkled to mirror the night sky outside. Wow, it really was late. He hadn't even noticed, not even remembering when it got dark enough for him to turn on the car's headlights.

Giving a short bow, Wakil turned around and left through the rolling garage doors, his dress shoes clacking on the smoothed concrete floor.

After making sure he was alone, Giichi produced a diagnostic tool and connected it to a port underneath the steering wheel. A hologram screen displayed lines of code, while a virtual keyboard below awaited commands. To an outside observer, it looked like he was going over the car's status. Instead though, this was a program he was working on himself. But it wasn't for playing around with the car's torque or suspension or gearing or anything like that.

Instead, this little program... He smiled. Well, I may sound arrogant, but it could change the course of the civil war.

Getting captured hadn't been part of his plans, but it wasn't every day he had an opportunity like this to penetrate into the Royalist capital's systems. And it wasn't the first time he'd messed around with the city's systems, either. Gerrant's street racers used to call him Speed King when he raced on the sly around downtown, always keeping his identity hidden under a red racing suit, complete with a red helmet with blacked out visor. What could he say? A private race track wasn't enough for him as a teenager. He wanted real wheel to wheel racing.

But it would have been impossible to secretly come and go from the royal chamber if he hadn't done a little playing around with the city's surveillance systems, not to mention forging identification and registration on the cars he used out there.

What he was doing wasn't teen pranks anymore though. It was an order of magnitude greater than fooling around with some security cameras and locked gates, or fudging data in a DMV database. One of his goals was still to get out of here, but he'd also bust the whole system wide open for Separatist hackers to infiltrate. They'd know everything that was happening here twenty-four seven, down to knowing if a fly landed in someone's fancy coffee drink.

And in addition to that, there was the biggest prize of all: the research data from the labs under this palace, originally taken from Thaal-Ja. He needed to get it into the hands of the Separatists. They wouldn't be behind on their weapons and technology anymore!

He chuckled as he kept working on the code, but his smile faded, tempered by the challenges ahead of him.

Sure, he'd broken into the city's systems before, but eight years was an eternity in the life of a computer system, so he likely wouldn't be able to attack the same ways he'd done before. Heck, they'd probably learned lessons from the methods of infiltration he'd used before, and sealed all of the old holes he'd found his way through.

Also, working on this code on any machines or devices in his room was a no go. They weren't hooked up to anything anyway, it'd look suspicious if he were writing computer code on them, and no doubt they would be periodically checked for anything that looked fishy.

That was why he'd modified this car diagnostic tool to be his hacking device. But he wasn't going to save his code on this tool. No, that would be checked too. Instead, he planned to hide pieces of his infiltration program inside his cars. The vehicles within this garage spanned decades of automotive history, and so did the computer code that ran all of them. Some of the manufacturers represented weren't even in business anymore. No one else here had the encyclopedic knowledge needed to dive into all of the cars' systems. So no one would figure out what he was doing, so long as he was careful.

He typed on the virtual keyboard, programming more functions, variables, and classes at lightning fast speed, the code flitting by right in front of his face. He had to work fast. While it wouldn't look out of character for him to spend this much time with his cars, it would look suspicious if he spent more time working on this tool versus driving. Good thing his words per minute were high...

The tool indicated an error on a line somewhere. Giichi narrowed his eyes, scrolling back up, trying to find it, but to no avail. Then his watch vibrated. He checked the time. Don't have time to look now. How annoying. He needed one long, uninterrupted block of time to effectively code, and doing it in short bursts like this wreaked havoc on his concentration. He kept running into errors he didn't have time to fix.

Also, it would be a pain in the butt putting all the code back together once it was done. He would've written himself a note but it would be found. He needed to keep it all straight in my memory, but his memory was already slipping.

Nonetheless, he saved his work to the hard drive within the Aquila Saur, pulling out the cable and slamming the door shut, moving over to the McRae Sagittarius rally car.

Slipping his helmet back on, he ignited the burbling rally engine behind him, wheeling it out through the garage doors. Stopping next to a keypad before going onto the track, he input a series of commands on the buttons next to a small screen. The screen updated:

Layouts - Rallycross Long

Conditions - Wet

An alarm tone sounded across the track. Holographic barriers vanished while new ones popped up, laying out the track into its new configuration. Dirt sections replaced some of the asphalt portions, providing a mixture of surfaces to keep things interesting. Sprinklers popped up next to the track, turning the pavement from gray to black, the dirt into mud. The alarm tone ceased; the track was ready now.

He pressed down on the pedal, the engine behind him whirring to life, pushing the little boxy rally car onto the wet track. Though it had a wild amount of wheelspin and fishtailed in the wet conditions, Giichi wrestled the wheel back and forth, keeping the pesky little beast under control as he sent it into a straight line. First turn was coming up, the pavement soon becoming a muddy hairpin. A bit of a tricky transition, considering the road surface changed in the middle of the curve. Could upset the balance of the car if he wasn't careful.

At the correct meter marker, he slammed on the brakes, sending the little box into a slide. He countersteered, pressing the gas to keep the car in a consistent slide. There was a slight rumble as the tires dipped into the mud. He kicked up plumes of the stuff all over the place, splattering the windows with thick globs. Wasn't long before the car was as filthy as a pig. Gonna be fun cleaning this car later. Almost feel bad after sis had it shined up for me... The all wheel drive system kept him in firm control, as he flew down a muddy straight, digging fresh tire tracks in the muck.

It went like this for a few more minutes before he returned back to the pit lane. Instead of ruining the nice clean floors in the stable with his muddy tires, he opted to park the filthy Sagittarius outside. Taking off his helmet, he plugged the diagnostic tool into the car's port, trying to bang out another set of code.

However, the code wasn't flying from his fingertips to the screen as easily as before. The words on the screen blurred together. The variables were getting muddied in his head, as were the connection details and the names of his classes. He blinked several times, bringing the text back into focus, but they blurred again a few seconds later. Closing his eyes, he shut the device and disconnected it from the Sagittarius. It was tough shifting his brain between coding and driving, instead of getting to stick to one or the other.

How the hell am I going to finish working on my hacking program like this? Maybe I should take Wakil's advice.

He stepped out of the car, closing the door. A few blotches of mud fell off the door, hitting the pavement below. It would be best to clean this car now, because the mud would be dried in the morning and harder to get off then, but oh well. He needed his rest. Sure, he could've called a servant to handle the job for him, but Giichi preferred to clean his cars himself.

Since he was tired, Giichi decided to sleep in the private studio apartment in the back of the stable, instead of walking all the way back to his bedroom in the palace. Yawning, he cradled his helmet at his side as he walked past the rows of vehicles in his collection.

With a snick, the door unlocked as he pushed it aside and flicked on the lights. This room wasn't as big or as luxurious as his palace apartment, although since the stable wasn't historical construction, he'd been allowed to add more of a personal touch here. It reflected the old world Cornerian style he'd been going for with the rest of the stable, with bare brick walls, wooden ceiling and rafters above, along with tawny brown tiling underneath his feet. Wooden furniture filled the space, the cushions upholstered in dark red leather.

A spoiler from a blue G-Zero machine hung on the far wall over the bed, with the autograph of David Kirkwood on it, himself a famous G-Zero racer. Giichi's parents had David flown out here years ago to give Giichi a few racing lessons. The guy was from Corneria, although he was a house cat, so he was allowed in the palace. Curiously his ears were folded forward, and he spoke with a strange accent. He muddled words together, like 'did not' became 'dinnae'. Everyone thought it was charming regardless though. Next to the wing was a photograph of Giichi at ten years old sitting in a small G-Zero go-kart. David himself stood over Giichi in his peculiar tweed vest and strange plaid cap, the gray cat smiling and waving to the camera.

Simpler times, weren't they? When all he had to worry about was what luxurious pursuit he could enjoy next, like his parents paying hundreds of thousands of credits to fly this G-Zero legend all the way out here just to teach him how to race.

Ah well, maybe he could just go to sleep and dream of simpler times like that once again. Under the spoiler, the large bed with crimson sheets called out to him. He stripped out of his race suit as he approached, letting the pieces fall to the floor, as he placed the helmet on the nightstand. Before long he was fast asleep under the covers.

~X~

Some time later, Giichi felt something pressed against his forehead, like some type of bar. His body slumped forward against it, as he sat in a chair. Sitting in such an awkward position for too long ached his joints, his body stiff.

Uh...wasn't I in bed before?

He opened up his eyes. The first thing he saw was a car's gauge cluster, only a few inches from his face. His forehead was pressed against the steering wheel. Was he sitting in one of his cars? He blinked a few more times. The rev counter gauge displayed the name Compadre HD2 at the bottom. That was a Cornerian muscle car he had owned in the past, but it had never been in his collection in the stable. Instead, he remembered buying it on...

"Corneria?"

Giichi moved his head away from the wheel, leaning back into the oversized bucket seat. He looked around. Wait, I really am back on Corneria! This is the Cornerian Technical Institute! Red brick dormitory buildings stood tall around him, scattered amongst parkland with large trees and various sculptures produced by students in the art program. His old dorm was right in front of him.

Okay, what's going on here? He pinched himself in the arm, feeling pain from the spot. This isn't a dream. You can't feel pain like this in a dream. I knew something was up when my bad posture was causing me aches.

He checked the car's clock and calendar. What?! Ten years ago?! This is back when I was in college. The date... That's...the day the Andross invaded!

As if on cue, distant explosions sounded from the direction of downtown Corneria City. Fighters whooshed over his head, hurrying to meet the enemy. Laser blasts filled the sky, red and green bolts streaking over his head. Air raid sirens bellowed across the campus.

Giichi stepped out of the car, gazing up with his mouth agape. At the time, he thought this was the worst day of his life, but then two years later he would later have to face civil war on his own planet...

"Giichi!"

The sand cat jumped, falling over his own tail to the pavement. Nail stood there, dressed in urban gray fatigues with black body armor, wielding a kinetic carbine with a red dot sight on it.

"I've been looking everywhere for you." He jumped into the Compadre's passenger seat. "Get us to the spaceport. There's an Azerian ship waiting to pick us up."

Giichi stared at his bodyguard, dumbfounded. What does this mean? Should I do what I did when this actually happened?

"Now!" Nail shouted, giving him one of his infamous glares.

That was enough to shake up Giichi, as he climbed back into the driver's seat.

They raced through the surface streets towards the nearest highway, the sand cat weaving his way through the traffic like it was all sitting still. He didn't wait for the lights to change green, earning him loud honks and the finger from the drivers he cut in front of. Nail braced himself with the seatbelt and the grab handle over his window, not even seeming to register Giichi's aggressive driving. All the same his head was on a constant swivel, looking for threats. He did this all the time while they drove around town, even though this was Corneria and it was supposed to be a far safer world than Thaljista. Giichi thought Nail was just being paranoid. That is...until today.

Deja vu...what the hell's going on?

Nail cranked the car's radio, turning to a local news station.

"This is Neil O'Brien, here at the city center! This city has become a war zone! I see Venomian transports flying overhead, parachutes of Venomian ground troops! They're filling the sky! But...but...what's this? I hear a loud rumbling... Wait...oh my god! It's pushing over the skyscraper! It's falling towards us! Philip, hurry, we need to—!"

A burst of static cut off the broadcast. Meanwhile, Giichi caught a glance of downtown, spotting a giant Androssian mecha that had pushed over the aforementioned skyscraper, nothing but a giant cloud of dust where it used to be. I hoped I'd never have to see this again. He wanted to cry.

Cornerian fighters swooped overhead, engaging the Venomians. Explosions lit up the sky, the booms reaching them a few seconds later. Though the Cornerians took some kills here and there, the Venomians kept coming, wearing down the Cornerians through sheer attrition. It wouldn't be long before they owned the sky.

Pulling the handbrake, Giichi made a hard left onto the highway's on ramp...and then he slammed on the brakes. Traffic was backed up all the way to the top of the ramp, the entire expressway filled to the brim with stopped cars. People ran between the rows of vehicles, Giichi noticing many of the cars were abandoned. This traffic was going nowhere.

"We'll have to run the rest of the way." Nail zipped off his seatbelt.

Giichi looked at him in astonishment. "But that's two whole miles!"

"Would you rather be tired or dead?" Nail leaned over, glaring at him.

Shaking his head, Giichi leaped out of the driver's seat, locking the door. He turned back, giving a sad look to the Compadre. Even ten years later, this moment still pained his heart.

The two of them made the long trek down the highway, the small streams of people growing into massive crowds the closer they made it to the spaceport. Nail had to muscle his way through the Cornerians to get inside the building, dragging Giichi along behind him like a child.

Most of the people were heading towards the public concourses, but Giichi and Nail's final destination was the private terminal, where their evac waited. As the crowds thinned out, it created a strange silence, except for the explosions outside. No one manned the security checkpoint outside the terminal. Nail sprinted straight through the weapons detector with his carbine in hand, setting off red lights and alarms, but no security officers appeared.

Nail shouted into his personal wrist comm as they ran. "Extraction One! Myself and Subject Five are in the private terminal! Are you ready for takeoff?" He received no reply.

That's not what happened ten years ago. An ominous feeling washed over Giichi. They answered his call. What's going on?

They hurried through the deserted private terminal, the silence replaced by pleasant muzak piped in through speakers in the ceiling. Water flowed down a waterfall, the centerpiece of a massive indoor garden under a huge circular skylight. High end shops and restaurants lined the wall around the garden, so far untouched by the chaos outside. The dissonance was eerie.

At last, the two of them reached a door leading out onto the tarmac. Their ship should be waiting on the other side. Nail shoved it open, briefly blinding Giichi with sunlight. As his eyes came back into focus, he saw their evac.

Extraction One was a smoldering pile of wreckage, burning and billowing black smoke into the air.

Giichi's heart thumped like a jackhammer. This isn't right! We escaped on that ship!

All of the other ships on the tarmac were on fire too, tarring the sky black with their smoke. Venomian ships flew past overhead, unchallenged. They had air superiority now. Giichi remembered Star Fox arrived to save the day later, but that would be several hours from now. What would he and Nail do in the meantime? That even assumed Star Fox was coming in this alternate reality...

"New plan." Nail turned back to Giichi, not missing a beat. "We escape the city via ground. The Venomians will be too busy capturing the city to pursue us further."

"Are we going to be okay?"

"You have to do the best we can with what you've got, Giichi. You have to adapt to the situation."

Me? Giichi raised an eyebrow. But aren't you the one taking charge?

They ran back the way they came, making it back to the decorative garden under the skylight. Nail's ears flicked backwards, and he looked up. A dark shape blocked out the light coming in through the skylight, growing in size fast. Nail grabbed Giichi and jumped into the waterfall pool, the sand cat gasping as he was pulled underwater. A muffled explosion reached Giichi's ears, the water briefly glowing orange. As much as Giichi wanted to come back up for air, Nail held him under, the two of them waiting. Giichi fought to rise up, but Nail held him tight. Just when he couldn't bear it any longer, Nail released his grip. Surfacing, Giichi gasped, and then he looked around.

Everything was on fire. A Cornerian fighter had crashed through the skylight and skidded down a hallway, burying its nose into a bookstore and scattering the paperbacks and hardbacks all over the floor, all of the paper spreading the flames further. Alarms rang in the terminal, the fire suppression system coming on and drenching everything. Fortunately, it looked like that would contain the blaze before it could get too bad.

"Halt!" The voice had the harsh, slithering tone of a reptile, giving them away as Venomian.

Nail shoved Giichi back beneath the lip of the fountain, although at least the water was low enough to where Giichi could sit in it without his head being under. He closed his eyes, covered his ears, waiting for the gunfire, but strangely none came. After a strange silence, he opened his eyes again.

He was looking through the red dot sight on Nail's carbine, pointed between the Venomian soldier's eyes.

The hands holding the rifle were Nail's gray furred arms. What?! What is this?! Why isn't he shooting?

The Venomian opened fire, but most of the laser blasts went wide, striking the faux rock walls of the fountain around Nail. The enemy soldier dived for cover behind a nearby knocked over table, and through Nail's eyes Giichi could see him reaching for his radio.

Come on Nail! If he calls for help, more will be coming!

Yet Nail seemed to be frozen, not bothering to fire or even adjust his aim. Giichi could hear the Venomian talking into the radio now.

Shoot him, come on!

At last, Nail finally changed his aim, laying the red dot on the Venomian's head, which jutted out from behind the table. Except... It felt like I did that. Like I'm in control of Nail. I can feel the gun through his hands. The dot remained on the lizard's skull, only one trigger pull needed to send him to the afterlife. But...

Since I'm controlling Nail, I have to fire the gun. Oh shit...

As if in slow motion, the Venomian started to stand back up from behind cover.

No! I don't want to kill anyone! But if I don't, Nail's going to die...

The Venomian brought his weapon to bear, the seconds stretching on into eternity. He could see down the barrel of the lizard's rifle, pointed at Nail's face.

Giichi screamed, as he willed Nail to shoot. The bullet struck the lizard in the head, sending him toppling backwards, like a puppet with its strings cut. The Venomian didn't get back up again.

Opening his eyes, Giichi realized he was back in his own body again. He stood up from behind the lip of the fountain, turning around. The soldier had died, just as he'd seen through his bodyguard's vision.

"He didn't hit you, did he?" Nail asked. "I heard you scream. Are you okay?"

Giichi didn't answer, too shocked at what he'd done to even move.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor, from the direction the Venomian soldier had come in. The buddies he'd called were coming.

"Get down!" Nail said.

Giichi took cover behind the lip of the fountain again...but once he was in cover, his vision returned to Nail, his carbine aimed down the corridor. Because of the flames, he could see shadows of more Venomian soldiers approaching from around the corner. No...I have to shoot more people?!

The first Venomian appeared, this time not waiting to fire. Red laser blasts filled the air around Nail's vision, highlighting everything crimson red. Giichi grit his teeth, screaming again as Nail opened fire. Nail shot Venomian after Venomian square in the head with ruthless efficiency. While Nail had to do this to protect Giichi in the past, watching it through a gun sight made each kill much more personal and visceral. The bodies piled up on the floor fast. Even worse, he could see another group of soldiers coming down the hallway behind the first group. The volume of fire was too much even for Nail, as he ducked down behind the fountain next to Giichi.

Why? Why do I have to do the killing?! I wish this was just a nightmare, but it feels too real to be one!

Something splashed into the water next to them, a baseball-sized object. Giichi identified it as a grenade, floating calmly under the waves. Oh no...not this now! The seconds stretched into eternity, as he watched Nail's hand hesitate to grab the grenade on Giichi's account. If I don't throw it back, we die, but if I do— Oh hell with it!

Giichi reached under the water, tossing it back again over the fountain as he and Nail ducked under the water again.

"Shit!" one of the Venomians cried out.

The explosion rocked the entire building, shattering what was left of the skylight over their heads and sending shards of glass falling to the floor, the broken pieces floating through the water past them. When Giichi rose above the water again, he could hear the moaning and crying of the Venomians. The epicenter of the blast was easy to see, considering it had left a small crater. Around the crater, several of the Venomians had died instantly, while the ones who were alive rolled around on the floor, howling out in pain. He swore he saw some of them missing their limbs too. The smell of acrid smoke and burning flesh filled his nose. Even though the fire suppression system worked to erase the scents with copious water, those smells lingered on in Giichi's mind.

"Well done, Giichi." Nail patted him on the back.

Giichi didn't hear him, staring at the results of his handiwork. All of these dead bodies, blood mixing with the water from the sprinklers... Like it or not, he was responsible for all of them, even if Nail pulled the trigger. But that grenade... He'd thrown that back himself. Couldn't even use the excuse of doing it via Nail's hand. It was self defense, of course, but why did it have to come to that to begin with?

Giichi slumped, sitting in the fountain, as tears slipped out of his eyes and mixed with the water.

~X~

Giichi's eyes opened, an alarm going off next to him. He silenced the clock, looking around. He was back in the stable's apartment.

Maybe it was a dream, after all? But I don't know. It felt too real. It hurt. I was drowning in the fountain when Nail pushed me under too long. My cuts and bruises burned.

Giichi pat himself down, rubbing his hands over his body, though none of his injuries from the 'dream' appeared to have transitioned to real life. Aside from a lingering headache, there weren't any other ill effects on him.

But I could feel things as Nail felt them. I was taller. My muscles were bigger. My hands larger and stronger. My stamina unending. My eyesight sharper. And now I know what it's like when he has to defend me. I thought I knew before, but it's different when I see it through his eyes. I'm grateful he doesn't have feelings like a normal person now. How could he deal with that every day, otherwise?

...Wait though, Nail's still dead, isn't he? I saw Wolf push him off that cliff, after he tortured him... He clenched the bedsheets in his fists. Kula...if you'd left Thaal-Ja to rest, he wouldn't have died. Just like so many other people. I'll make you regret everything you've done for this stupid dream of yours!

Giichi reached over to his nightstand, and picked up his watch. He froze. No, this couldn't be right, could it? He looked at the date again. An entire week had passed since he'd gone to sleep. What was this?! I've got a feeling that 'dream' is connected to this. Kula...did she have something done to me while I was asleep? He looked around his little apartment. This was supposed to be a sanctuary away from the palace proper, and yet someone had violated that while he slept. Not like there's anything I can do to stop them though, aside from never sleeping again.

On the small dining table next to the apartment's kitchenette, he noticed a silver tray with a lid. An enticing, familiar smell enemated from it. There was an envelope next to the tray as well, which Giichi opened.

Thought you'd want some food after sleeping in. Enjoy!

- Kula

He opened the tray, revealing a steaming set of maldari strips, like at breakfast with her the other day. They were piping hot, like they'd been pulled out of the oven minutes before. He frowned, putting the lid back. No thanks, sis.

His racing suit had been folded and laid up over one of the dining table's chairs, the helmet resting on the table next to it. Maybe some more driving would help him calm down, and then he could keep working on his program afterwards. Slipping his gear back on, he stepped back out into the stable. The Sagittarius rally car was parked in its usual spot, cleaned up like he'd never given it a mud bath. He frowned at the sight. These invisible servants… Giichi was grateful for them as a kid. But now they were intruders, spying for Kula. Maybe he should request they leave him alone, and he'd take care of his own chores. Less chances for them to snoop on him.

After he retrieved his diagnostics tool, he headed towards the next car he planned to hide code in: the blue Aquila Favonio, the Hyoodin's predecessor. Hmm...I wonder where Panther is. I haven't seen him since the night we first arrived here. Nothing good can be happening to him if Sable's involved though.

He opened the gullwing door, slipped into the driver's seat, and soon he was speeding out through the garage door and onto the track. The scowl was still on his face as he took the first corner. It was hard to believe doing this used to make him happy.

He wished he could spend all of his time working on the code for his program, but he still had to keep up the appearances that he wasn't plotting anything. Taking his eyes off the road, he glanced at the glove box, where he'd stashed the diagnostic tool. Returning his eyes to the road, he took another sharp turn. If only he could write code at the same time he was driving, it'd make things so much faster. But even he wasn't that good...or was he?

I know this track well enough to do it blindfolded. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but...hmm... He glanced at the glove box again. Screw it, it's a bad idea, but let's give it a try. I'm the only one out here and there's wide runoffs all over the track. Also, I usually don't drive one-handed, but maybe I can compensate for that by slowing my pace.

Sparing one more glance at the road, he reached over, undid the catch, snatched out the small computer, and mounted it to a harness next to the wheel. He did it in time to prepare for the next turn. Between the fourth and fifth turns he was already hooking it up to the car's connector.

Another straight gave him a brief respite to write some code. He glanced at the screen, then returned his eyes to the road, typing with his right hand while he kept his left hand on the wheel, changing his grip to compensate for only using one hand. In the ten or so seconds to get to the next turn, he'd already written a small subroutine without even looking at the screen. Wow...didn't know I was that good. I wonder if I could do it through a turn.

As the next corner approached, he handled the wheel with his left hand, right hand fingers typing the keys on the small keyboard. He was still maintaining the ideal racing line. As he cleared the turn, he looked back to see what he'd made. Damn, I banged out another little subroutine. I didn't even have to think about what I was typing. What the hell's happening to me? It's like...like I've got two brains in my head now...one focused on driving and one on coding.

Frowning, he decided to see if he could go around the entire track while writing code. He passed the line for the next lap, and typed lightning fast as he handled the wheel at the same time. His fingers danced across the keys, almost seeming to do it of their own volition. Giichi glanced at the seat next to him. Was it his imagination, or could he almost see another Giichi sitting in the passenger seat? Like a shadow of himself, typing on the keys.

By the time he'd completed the lap, he'd finished an entirely new class for his program. Creepy. Can I do this while sticking to my regular pace then?

He found out he could. He'd produced more code over the past few laps than he'd done during all of his little sessions typing code in between driving each of his cars...and all of it was error free. Giichi kept driving, writing more code as he went, but his mind was buzzing.

I may be good at coding but I know I'm not this good. It's like I'm possessed. He watched his coding hand seem to move of its own free will, entire classes appearing right before his eyes. And come to think of it, in that 'dream', I also felt like I had two brains in my head...my own and Nail's.

"Ugh..." Giichi winced, rubbing his forehead. Headache's coming back again... Saving his work, Giichi pulled the Favonio back into the stable. He swung by his apartment in the back, grabbing some painkillers from the bathroom and swallowing them with a swig of water. His pain was not eased, although these things did take time to kick in. Still, ooof...this was one killer headache coming on right now.

As he stepped back into the main apartment, the front door shut, the sound of footsteps walking away outside. Giichi noticed another envelope on the dining table. Annoyed, he opened the note, but saw it wasn't Kula's handwriting.

Giichi,

I must meet with you urgently. Please meet me in the library in the palace's residential section.

- Miyu Wadi

"Miyu?" Giichi raised an eyebrow, looking at the note again. She'd introduced herself earlier when he'd first arrived in Gerrant along with Panther, though Giichi did not recognize her. He knew all the palace's staff from years ago before the civil war, and she hadn't been amongst them at the time. Looked like she'd become a personal attendant to Kula in his absence. What could Miyu want with me?

Changing out of his racing suit and into some more ordinary clothes, he sighed and set off for the library.

~X~

Sable's heels clacked on the stone floor, as she walked through the tunnels beneath the palace. It was cold down here, the panthress pulling her arms tight around herself as she walked past the original stone foundation laid by Azer himself, the construction much rougher here compared to what had been built above. Little had changed about these tunnels besides adding electrical lighting, looking out of place to the stone laid two centuries prior. It was almost like walking through an archaeological dig.

Far too musty down here for my tastes. It's not fit for nobles. She pulled a coat tighter around herself, folding her ears back. But then this is where all scientific advances of the Azerian Kingdom originate, so I still must visit here every once in a while.

A metallic door opened up in front of her, revealing a small conference room. Queen Kula sat at the head of the table, in addition to several other sand cats, dressed in white lab coats.

"Denu, report," Sable said, as she took a seat.

One of the scientist sand cats stood up, holding a tablet in front of him. Denu was also part of the House of Azer, although he was born via one of King Ubar's brothers, and thus of lower standing. That's why (along with the other scientists) he was down here conducting scientific research rather than up above handling political affairs.

"Giichi is resonating well with the Luru technology," Denu said. "Mind you, this first test was a minor one, but he does show promise. The Nail in the test… Giichi created him. That wasn't part of the simulation. We might have another Pilot after some more training."

"That's great, isn't it?" Sable smirked, looking at Kula. "It only makes sense, due to your shared lineage, right?"

"Yes, I suppose so." Kula gave a sad smile. "I would have preferred to tell him what we were going to do to him, though. After all, I told him I was going to show him something before, but then you convinced me to take him in his sleep instead."

"Ah, but I believe Denu said the results would be more accurate if he were put into the test without forewarning, right?" Sable asked.

"Maybe you're right, but..." Kula leaned forward on her arms, ears rolling backwards behind her as she looked down at the table. "...he's still my brother. I love him, even if he stands against me. I don't want him to hate me like Razir. I didn't ask to be born first."

Sable cared little about what was going on between her and her siblings, but held her tongue.

Kula sniffled, wiping her eyes. "How about the mysterious individual in the photograph? Are we any closer to finding their staff and blue gem?"

Sable's ears lowered. Little had changed on that front, much to her chagrin. "Nidi is still leading sweeps of the outer territories. Unfortunately, it's difficult to search for one specific individual there, since we have little presence in the area. Also, it would be risky to commit more resources to this mission. We are already strained holding onto the territory we have now, plus large maneuvers out in the wastes would get the attention of the Separatists. We don't want them to know what we're up to."

"I suppose it makes sense." Kula sighed in defeat. "How about Star Wolf? Did you convince them to steal Corneria's gem?"

Sable clenched her teeth, holding back a snarl. She curled her fingers, her claws leaving small gashes in the wooden table. "They...turned us down. I don't know of any other PMCs in Lylat who are capable of and willing to undertake this mission."

"Then I suppose this mystery person is our greatest hope right now." Kula held up the picture Nidi gave her earlier. It showed the cloaked individual holding up the mysterious staff that mirrored Thaal-Ja's Calling, the bodies of desert bandits piled up around them. She put the photo on the table. "I suppose that's everything for now. Let me know if Nidi has any more luck."

"As you wish, Queen Kula." Sable stood up, bowing to her, as did everyone else.

Everyone waited for her to leave the room before they started leaving themselves. While the scientists went back to their subterranean labs, Sable headed back to the surface, concerned.

This is a balancing act. Nidi can't take too long to find that staff, but it ruins my own plans if it's found too soon. I hope that old coot Taraksh is as good as they say. Panther, you need to hurry and finish your training.