Torch: U.S. LXX Winter 2020 | Page 23

MODERN MYTH · Torch: U.S. · Winter 2020

23

you inside prototype 6. It's a gorgeous vehicle, crimson and fiery, so sleek you wonder what its maximum speed is. Maybe you'll find out.

Pol opens the exit, pushing you and prototype 6 through. "Autopilot engaged," a robotic voice says. "Plotting route. Please choose your final destination." You randomly select an option, figuring you can fly back on your own. With that, you're off, prototype 6 flying through the air.

It's exhilarating. Prototype 6 glides, scenery zipping by. Soon though, the speed feels slow, and you feel the hidden power within the vehicle, the temptation to increase the speed. After all, you have to show up Damien as much as you can.

Suddenly, your vehicle stops, hovering casually, and you hear the robotic voice announce, "Arrived at the destination of Lyon. Please choose continuation options." You stare, noticing the STOP AUTOPILOT option. Selecting it, you lurch as the vehicle begins to descend. Experimentally pressing the gas pedal, you jerk upwards. Letting go, you zoom forwards. Gleefully, you play around, fairly confident at your skill. Then, you begin the drive home.

As the gleaming spires of your home city come into view, you wonder again at the capabilities of prototype 6. You haven't tried the maximum speed yet, after all. So you smash the gas pedal, surprised when a tower is suddenly right in front of you; you jerk quickly at the wheel before smashing the pedal again, and you shriek with glee at the fun of it all. You're swerving smoothly around the buildings until you accidentally nick one.

As you fly wildly, you find the vehicle moving more and more on its own, ignoring your turns of the steering wheel and smashing of the brakes.

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

Across town, Maximus Bolt yawns in his office, preparing for an end to another simple day. Then, of course, his phone rings. 

"Hello, this is Bolt Securities, how may I be of assistance?"

"Max, would you keep an eye on my son? He took prototype 6 out for a drive, and he hasn't returned yet. Yes,

that's the one built

for speed and heavy

damage whose

AI likes to

transform

into a fiery

horse.

I'm sending

you the

tracker

information

now. Oh no,

it's zig-

zagging

strangely.

Max, I'm

counting

on you—"

Maximus

hears a ding

as his phone

receives the

coordinates.

The numbers

keep jumping.

Screams sound in

the distance. Looking out of his window, he sees the partially transformed

legs of prototype 6 prancing through the air.

Readying his lance, Maximus whispers an apology to Adrian. Then, he opens the window, aims and throws. 

The sky-blue projectile smashes into the scarlet prototype, encasing it in a shrinking net. As the fully transformed beast fights, the net constricts before exploding into a shower of light.

Maximus sighs. Things can never be easy, can they? He'll have to remember to send flowers to the boy's funeral.

Original myth was Phaethon

driving the sun chariot of Helios.

"The sky-blue projectile smashes into the scarlet prototype, encasing it in a shrinking net. As the fully transformed beast fights, the net constricts before exploding into a shower of light."

fiery, so sleek you wonder what its maximum speed is. Maybe you'll find out.

Pol opens the exit, pushing you and prototype 6 through. "Autopilot engaged," a robotic voice says. "Plotting route. Please choose your final destination." You randomly select an option, figuring you can fly back on your own. With that, you're off, prototype 6 flying through the air.

It's exhilarating. Prototype 6 glides, scenery zipping by. Soon though, the speed feels slow, and you feel the hidden power within the vehicle, the temptation to increase the speed. After all, you have to show up Damien as much as you can.

Suddenly, your vehicle stops, hovering casually, and you hear the robotic voice announce, "Arrived at the destination of Lyon. Please choose continuation options." You stare, noticing the STOP AUTOPILOT option. Selecting it, you lurch as the vehicle begins to descend. Experimentally pressing the gas pedal, you jerk upwards. Letting go, you zoom forwards. Gleefully, you play around, fairly confident at your skill. Then, you begin the drive home.

As the gleaming spires of your home city come into view, you wonder again at the capabilities of prototype 6. You haven't tried the maximum speed yet, after all. So you smash the gas pedal, surprised when a tower is suddenly right in front of you; you jerk quickly at the wheel before smashing the pedal again, and you shriek with glee at the fun of it all. You're swerving smoothly around the buildings until you accidentally nick one.

As you fly wildly, you find the vehicle moving more and more on its own, ignoring your turns of the steering wheel and smashing of the brakes.

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

Across town, Maximus Bolt yawns in his office, preparing

for an end to another simple day. Then, of course, his phone rings. 

"Hello, this is Bolt Securities, how may I be of assistance?"

"Max, would you keep an

eye on my son? He took

prototype 6 out for a

drive, and he hasn't

returned yet. Yes,

that's the one built

for speed and heavy

damage whose AI

likes to transform

into a fiery horse.

I'm sending you

the tracker

information

now. Oh no, it's

zig-zagging

strangely. Max,

I'm counting on you—"

Maximus hears a

ding as his phone

receives the coordinates.

The numbers keep jumping. Screams sound in the distance. Looking out of his window, he sees the partially transformed

legs of prototype 6 prancing through the air.

Readying his lance, Maximus whispers an apology to Adrian. Then, he opens the window, aims and throws. 

The sky-blue projectile smashes into the scarlet prototype, encasing it in a shrinking net. As the fully transformed beast fights, the net constricts before exploding into a shower of light.

Maximus sighs. Things can never be easy, can they? He'll have to remember to send

flowers to the

boy's funeral.

Original myth was

Phaethon

driving the sun

chariot of

Helios.