//------------------------------// // Shadows of our Past (Epilogue) // Story: Day to Live // by FALG //------------------------------// There was a lonely road, silent. Nothing but the whisper of the wind and the movement of water was heard. A stranded bird stepped on the road, looking for something to eat, but to no avail. A buzzing sound was coming from far, the little bird looked at the source, where he could only see a tiny blue dot. But a few seconds later, the dot turned into a imponent machine which passed next to him in a blink of an eye, with the force of the wind sending him stumbling backwards. He quickly learned the lesson, and flew away from the place, in search of better luck. The RedBull X2010 was speeding down the Special Stage Route X. On the wheel, Sebastian Vettel was focusing on the road. His team booked the place to practise for a long while. And he was going to make the most of it. Or at least try. His team knew that he was a F1 racer, not a jet pilot. The speed the car reaches is beyond normal human capabilities. So they added a rev limiter that makes the throttle go offline for seconds, so that Vettel can't reach dangerous speeds. "I still disagree with this decision Adrian," he said over his communicator. "If I want to overcome my weakness with the top speed, why do you put a limiter to prevent it?" "You want to run when you can barely walk," said Adrian Newey, chief technical officer of Red Bull Racing. "This car is not to be taken lightly. You have to gradually learn to withstand it's high speeds." "This is stupid." Sebastian turned at the first curve, the angle was good enough for the car to keep a constant speed. The limiter never acted on the curves. "I need a quicker strategy. I need to get better now!" the german was starting to feel impatient. "Take it easy son, you are doing well. I don't see why do you need to get better, you already won against that pony, why try harder?" "This is beyond just winning or losing. I just want to be better than her. That time at Nordscheleife, she showed me she is a rival to fear. And if I want her to keep being the loser, I have to augment my endurance now!" "Sebastian, you're delusional, stop thinking about that and calm yourself. Besides, you will not go any faster with that limiter installed, that thing should put you in place." "You're right..." Sebastian said, as he looked under the wheel, and fidgeted around with some circuits. "With this limiter I won't." He pressed the pedal with full force just as he was entering the second straight, and the power he lost while he concentrated on the wires, was recovered in an instant. "What the? The limiter is showing no signs of disrupting the throttle, what the bloody hell did you do?!" "Just played around with the wires I think?" "Vettel, this is preposterous, get back in the pits and don't overdo the speed. You can get killed!" "Well," he made a quick pause as he braced himself to the wheel. "We'll see about that." "SEBASTIAN!" The gauges in the X1 have reached the point where the limiter should have activated, but instead they kept rising dangerously. The world around him started to blur and darken, he pressed the throttle even more, but it moved no further, it was at it's max. He was falling asleep, but he had to keep going or he wouldn't defeat the pegasus again. Even more darkness, the world was so full of it that it was already embracing him. He tried his best but he finally succumbed to the void, and as he fell, his right hand dragged something with him. Sebastian woke up in a rush. The memories of him crashing left him without breath, covered in cold sweat. Adrian was in a chair nearby. "I am not sure if I should feel happy or sad that you woke up," he said. "What happened?" the driver asked. "You crashed the X1, that's what happened. The security devices we installed have saved you from death, but this was a complete dissapointment." Sebastian lowered his gaze in shame. If he hasn't been stuck up in his hopes of getting better, this wouldn't have happened. "All those years of work, all for naught," Adrian continued, and sat on the bed where Vettel was. "I just want you to know I am not mad at you, I'm glad that you are alive. But I am terribly dissapointed." "I'm sorry. I just wanted to become better." "Well, if you want to do that, you will have to follow my orders from now on. I know you want to toughen up your endurance, and in time, you will. But you can't force things." "I understand. It won't happen again." "Good. Now, I have two things to tell you. The first one is this," Adrian gave Vettel a paper, an invitation for a very prestigious race which wasn't the Formula One, it was something else. "I'm pretty sure your pony friend and the hedgehog will appear there. It's an open event and everyone can join, but there are several who are getting specific invitations. I think you can settle your things with her there." "This is team-based, who will run with me?" the german asked. "I have someone in mind already." "But what about the car? I can't run on Heidi! She's not good enough against Rainbow!" "We still have another X1 but that is just a scale model for the museum. And we will repair the one you crashed, however, you won't be running in the X1 anymore." "Then which will be my car?" "That's the second thing I wanted to tell you." Adrian casted a deep glance at him, trying to point out the obvious answer. Once Vettel caught up with that, he grinned. "Promise you will take care of it," he begged. "This is the biggest thing we have in Red Bull." "I will. I promise." "Good, don't make me regret this. Get some rest now." Adrian said as he left the room. Once he was left alone, Sebastian Vettel's grin turned into a malicious smile. He started to laugh silently, while he played with his fingers. "Now you're mine..." he muttered. To be continued...