The Empire of Engines

by Dusty Gears

Officer Soarin

Long day of work, being captain meant I get to lead people and make them become a better person, now I’m stuck in this office while a brute handles training. If he didn’t have tenure I would kick him out. I do go out and train people on occasions but that’s rarely the caseI it makes me miss being a wonderbolt of the air force. I was busy finishing up my report until I heard a knock on my door.

“Come in” I said

“Good afternoon Captain”

I looked up to see officer Soarin in his uniform. He was a young tall man with navy blue hair with baby blue outlines, sky blue skin, blue officer uniform with his symbol on one collar and the wonderbolts logo on the other, blue jeans and leather shoes, and a scars on his right arm. Where Tirek shot him. He was looking happy and always but with a look of curiosity this time.

“Can I help you Soarin?”

“The New guy’s nice. He’s befriending Tirek”

“That’s what I’m hoping for”

“You think if he gets a friend he could forgive his brother and change his ways? It could help him. that’s what you like doing”

“Yeah”

“Hopefully he doesn’t end up like me” Soarin said as he raised his casted arm

“You only tried to befriend him because he’s brutal and lonely. Imagine being abandoned and snitched by your own brother, that could take a toll on anybody even when Scorpan bailed him out Tirek still wouldn’t forgive him”

“I guess I couldn’t relate, but how do you know if the new guy will reform Tirek?”

“They both have similar backgrounds”

“Wait! We have a criminal in the station?! Is that safe?!”

“Trust in your friend Soarin” Spitfire said smirking

“Your judgements are sometimes questionable” Soarin chuckled

“I know and I’m sorry for what I did to you, back at the annual stations competition”

“It’s fine, you needed a driver and I understand. You always had that drive for winning even if it didn’t follow moral judgment, it was one of the pros and cons when I first met you”

“At a bar when I needed the light” she said as she brought out a lighter with Soarin’s symbol on it

“You remembered”

“I even remembered you signed up to be under me just so you can show off”

“I needed a credible witness of my tricks and you were the highest I could get to”

“Sure”

“Yeah, makes you miss the good old days. Piloting fighter jets and all”

“Yeah, I just don’t know why they kicked me out”

“It’s a mystery but just so you know I will find out, I am part of the intelligence gathering division”

“Thanks Soarin”

“Don’t mention it Fire, do you… want to get some lunch?”

“For the apple pie or to hang out?”

“Both”

“Alright”

“By the way, how did you get him to open up?”

“He was asking if he could change Tirek”

“Should I warn him not to”

“Don’t. If you did then he would know we talked and I don’t want him to think that I betrayed his trust by telling someone his past. I want to keep him here, he has very good driving skills plus this could be a chance to help Tirek, also we could learn from him and get us to the dark parts of this town”

“Alright, I believe you”

-------------

After lunch we continued on our tour. He pointed out to many different people working on many different callers from around the area, each of them telling orders to different units, informing them of new threats, tracking the caller ID for locations. It sounds like a fun job, talking to people and telling them what to do, I’d be surprised if anyone tried prank calling the station. Who exactly would do that?

We concluded our tour of Section 1 and went off to section 2, the engineering division. He says this is where they make weapons and devices that can neutralize suspects and that’s where his shotgun was made. We entered through the door and it looked very innovative. Clean white walls, touch screen computers, people in lab coats and safety vests here and there and I see Dr. Whooves at the biggest desk.

“Excuse me Doctor” Tirek said to the man I saw from before.

“Why salutations Sergeant, how splendid it is to see you but it’s not, you used the shotgun at the driving field” Dr Whooves said.

“Yeah”

“Sergeant, I gave you the gun because you were strong enough to carry and aim it, that’s why I wanted you to test it for me”

“I know doc. But I did test it and it works fine”

“I see, well that is good news but who or what did you shoot this time?”

“He was aiming for my car” I said

“That is unfortunate, I hope that it didn’t cause serious damage” Whooves said

“I dodged every shot”

“How?! it’s supposed to have a spread shot like an ordinary shotgun” Whooves asked

“I’m just that good?”

“He just got lucky” Tirek said

“I see, well knowing sergeant he wouldn’t use up frozen gas ammunition even when being mobile and in control of the vehicle I have to say that maybe the gun’s dysfunctional. It is a shame I’ll have to fix that but for now you can use this” Whooves said as he showed us another shotgun

“I labeled it the sonic shotgun” Whooves said with pride

“Minority Report” I thought

“What does it do?” Tirek asked

“You must spin the barrel around the handle to create clicking sounds. Those sounds will echo and vibrate into this chamber where the sound waves will oscillate and increase speed of vibration. Once you pull the trigger the sound waves will rush out of the chamber, through the barrel and out causing a sonic boom” Whooves said

“Wha….” I thought

“In Easier terms. The clicking sound will shake this chamber violently until you pull the trigger releasing the sound waves causing a sonic boom. I could tell from the look on you face Mr….” Whooves inquired

“Turismo, James Turismo” I said as I shook his hand

“Doctor Time Turner Whooves”

“So you were able to engineer the same weapon used against us?” Tirek asked

“Precisely Sargeant” Whooves said

“Wait, this weapon was used against you? How?” I asked

“There was a robbery and a suspect used a weapon the discharges sonic booms against us” Tirek said

“Since that incident I have experimenting with different theories, trying to comprehend the science behind such a device until now” Whooves said

“Good job doctor and what may be the precautions in using the shotgun?” Tirek asked

“Don’t rotate the barrel too many times or else the sound waves will build up in the chamber and if you don’t release it on time it will become a sonic grenade that’s 6 times as powerful as an ordinary grenade explosion but more silent and instead of burns and debris it’s the ripping of skin” Whooves said in a serious tone

“I’ll keep that in mind”

“One more thing sargeant, do you want me to continue fixing your past equipped shotgun or dismantle it?”

“I suggest you keep trying to fix it”

“Understood”

That doctor sure knows his words and expressions. We left the science division and went towards section 5, the intelligence gathering division. We went through the entrance and it showed a number of people walking in casual attire and all of them were sitting behind desks. I looked around to see lots of people on boards with some of their names crossed out and some with red highlights. We weant over with someone with scars on his right arm. I think I heard Tirek sigh.

“Hello Officer Soarin” Tirek said

“Good afternoon Sargeant, how are you today? I heard gunshots in the training field…. Again” Soarin said with his eyes looking down

“Yeah…. I need you to give a tour around the division. I have other matters to attend to right now”

“Keep up the good work Tirek”

“.... I’ll see you around” Tirek said as he left

“Issues” I thought

“HI, name’s James Turismo” I said

“Officer Soarin” Soarin said

“I heard about what he did to your arm” I said to Soarin

“It was a mistake I made”

“Whatcha mean?”

“When I first saw him I was part of the counselling and interrogations division. I was assigned to his case as to reform him while he was in prison. I think it was working and by the time Scorpan let him out he wasn’t fazed on being offered a position here. I continued working on him but I think he got irritated so much that he judged my methods of coaching and raced me, that was when I got shot. Since then I was removed from the division because Spitfire thought it might be too dangerous to continue my case with Tirek. I moved to division 5 because it rarely calls you out to the field. I think Tirek regrets that day, he took my job for me so that’s good”

“How do you feel about the whole mess?” I asked

“It’s not a mess, it’s just a complication. I feel happy that Tirek took the initiative and that you’re trying to befriend him”

“How did you know?”

“Spitfire told me”

“Do you have some history with the Captain?”

“You could say that”

“I bet it was a lot of fun being with her”

“How can you say that?”

“She’s stern but she’s also caring, I’m thinking that’s why she opened up to someone like me”

“She has odd judgements sometimes but those judgements saved lives. I’m proud to work under her”

“This guy has a strong charismatic aura” I thought

“So you wanna show me around?”

“I would like too. Follow me”

“He showed me around the division where everyone was sitting by computers of in briefing halls sharing work on how to catch some of these criminals. I actually looked into one room and it showed a picture of some kind of archaeologist, and I thought King Tut form the Adam West’s batman was funny enough.

“Hey Soarin, could I ask you something?”

“Go ahead”

“You counsel people for them to reform right? You don’t let them live their sentence?”

“Indeed, did you come from a jail where they let their prisoners stay quiet? That’s not humane”

“Yeah”

I continued through the halls and noticed that there were noticed boards everywhere, this place really wants us to memorize these people’s faces. What’s more is that every office seems to have really big whiteboards. If I continued looking they were covered with faces, lines and knives. Old school and cliche ways of hunting people.

“Is your office the same with the others? Big whiteboards?”

“No I have a smart board”

“.....”

“Think of it as a giant ipad”

“.... I see”

“Lastly we have the main briefing hall. This is where all the cops gather around and discuss potential targets for investigation”

“It looks like a giant auditory room with a giant table”

“The holo-glass. It’s a device that’s as thin as glass and can project 3D images with great details on certain topics”

“HOW?!”

“The table releases laser beams in different areas of the tables and that stop at certain distances and colors casting the illusion of solid objects. Then the projectors around the room will project light into the laser beams causing a mixture of different wavelengths which causes images to appear”

“That’s amazing”

“You’ve never seen this kind of technology?”

“NO”

“No need to shout, well this is new so I shouldn’t be surprised”

“Is this all”

That concludes the tour, would you like me to show you the dorms?”

“You guys sleep where you work?”

“Some of us do, it let’s up respond faster to the station but if we have different places around the city it helps have a greater radius on the speed we respond”

“Okay”

We headed to section 6 the dormitory of station, I have to say it was quite roomy. I looked to see a large building that looked like an ordinary lodging house but once we went inside I was breathless. The rooms were a combination of all sections. Clean white walls with terminals and tables, one giant holo-glass in the middle of the living room, a wall dedicated to criminals who haven’t been caught and people walking around in their pajamas.

“This place is lively”

“Section 6 acts as dorms and recreation”

“Interesting”

“Let me show you your room”

He lead me to the fifth floor as the first was for officers and the second was for second-in-commands while the other two floors were already filled. I looked around my room to see a very generous living space. Kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, study desk and TV. The place looked very clean as if no one used this before. I looked out the window to see the entire station full of lights I checked my watch to see it was 6pm.

“Well I’ll leave you to it”

“Just one more thing”

“Yes?”

“Why did you become an officer?”

“It’s a funny story actually”

“May I hear it”

“Why the sudden interest?”

“The Captain told you I’m trying to befriend Tirek, something you couldn’t do and paid the price, but after all the time we spent together you didn’t warn me to stay away from Tirek as if you know that I can change him, unless you knew something that the Captain said”

“I don’t know what you mean, I simply have faith”

“On someone you don’t know”

“I think it’s getting late, I should go”

“Did. she. Tell you something?”

“I didn’t meet with her today”

“I’ll know when you’re lying to me Soarin”

“Please drop this”

“Tell me why I should”

“Please stop this, I don’t want to fight you”

“We don’t have to if you tell the truth”

“I have to go” Soarin says as he rushes away

--------------

I left the dormitory as fast as I could and hid behind a car. I was about to bring out my phone but I saw lights headed this way. I stayed still for a while to the lights died down. I immediately called Spitfire. A man with such detective skills can’t be an ordinary criminal. Just who exactly is this guy and what was he arrested for.

“Hey Soarin, whatcha need?”

“Exactly who is Turismo?”

“Why the sudden interest?”

“He found out we talked”

“How?!”

“He deduced it”

“....”

“Who is he?”

“An illegal street racer”

“I’ve never met a racer with good deduction skills, is there anything more?”

“No”

“Can I look into him?”

“You have my permission”

Author's Note:

the dark parts of town, what could that mean?
Interesting