View source

{{IMPORT
|page=DayAtTheRaces
|wiki=Dark City
|status=0
|log=Project:Dark_City (import)
}}{{Dark City}}
[[Our Heroines]] sit down at a restaurant overlooking [[Chute 404]]. Over lunch, they discuss what they know and what to do while [[Sonia Wight]] makes some scientific readings of the [[Chi Energy]] in the huge [[Power Line]] they are actually lunching inside. It seems that the [[Power Line]] somehow coexists with the [[Level Chute]] in the same volume of space. The [[Chi Energy]] flows downward, and is active and full of currents and eddies.

[[Our Heroines]] decide to take some time off by going to the racetracks on [[Level 53]]. They take an [[Indy Cab]] through another [[Level Chute]], to check if that is also a [[Power Line]] and find that the flow in this industrial chute goes upward, and is much more sluggish and slow. [[Sonia Wight]] comments that this compares to blood flowing from and to the heart and lungs, which draws a nod from [[Ayrtan Davis]]. She also takes the time to bet big on virtual ponies, and finally hits the jackpot. Lucre aplenty!

Arriving at the [[Grav Race]] track in [[Sector 666]] of [[Level 53]], Mistress[[Alexandra]] is mistaken for the star of the [[Pontifex Corp]] [[Sexy Soap]] [[P-Max]] and ushered away by racetrack personnel to a luxurious box. She watches the game from there and bets on her favorites, [[Qirex Kombinat]]. [[Phoenix]], [[Sonia Wight]] and [[Ayrtan Davis]] spend some of Sonia's new-earned cash on a box of their own, even if this one is not as luxurious.

Once seated, [[Phoenix]] starts to interface with the [[Qirex Kombinat]] team's car, to feel the full force of the [[Grav Race]]. [[Sonia Wight]] is more interested in the [[Technomagic]] functions of a [[Psiborg]], and starts to interface with [[Phoenix]] in order to see how she does what she does. But [[Phoenix]] had been [[Marked For Death]] by [[Demon Alpha]], and [[Sonia Wight]]'s attempt to set up a psychic link directs her straight through to the demon. Somehow, she is gazing out of the eyes of the demon as it sits in an abandoned [[Level Chute]] and sucks up [[Chi Energy]] to reform itself. After failing to return her mind to her body, [[Sonia Wight]] sends a message to [[Phoenix]], a vision of how she was almost crushed by the manifesting demon in the [[Shining Brite]] nightclub, in the hopes that [[Phoenix]] will realize it is a plea for help. [[Phoenix]] is too tied up in the [[Qirex Kombinat]] car to act, but sends [[Ayrtan Davis]] to help [[Sonia Wight]] disengage. Sensing that [[Demon Alpha]] is on her track, she desperately throws out a virtual decoy to put him off the track, but is only partially successful.

[[Demon Alpha]] follows the decoy, which leads it straight to the [[Qirex Kombinat]] car that [[Phoenix]] is tracking. Sensing its approach, [[Phoenix]] shuts down the car magically. But the demon is still around, [[Ayrtan Davis]] can tell that it is seeking for another car to possess. Deciding to take the fight down to the racing circuit to spare the spectators, [[Phoenix]] forms ethereal wings of fire and takes to the air while [[Sonia Wight]] teleports straight into the cockpit of the pit-stopped [[Qirex Kombinat]] [[Grav Race]]r. Just in time too. A [[Feisar Ab]] [[Grav Race]]r fumbles and flatlines  and the wreck provides the demon with a perfect host to possess. The race is on.

[[Sonia Wight]] interfaces with the [[Qirex Kombinat]] [[Grav Race]]r while [[Phoenix]] rides shotgun on the outside. But the demon seems more resistant to her [[Psibolt]]s this time; she is having little effect, while the demon sprays them with machine-gun fire  not enough to do more than burn a little of the cars shields, but the back blast is enough to scour [[Phoenix]] and tear her bomber jacket to shreds. She is now all naked in the racetrack wind, with all the racetrack cameras playing over her supple young body. [[Sonia Wight]] has to focus all her energy just to stay on the track. Desperately, she goes for a [[Time Compression]] effect. Thankfully, [[Demon Alpha]] is distracted by a [[Hyperion Industries]] and a [[Zaibatsu Mishima]] racer  two cars who jostle and fight one another for a chance at a clear shot at the demon, and all the publicity that can give them.

With the additional time now available, [[Phoenix]] starts a furious barrage of [[Psibolt]]s, while Sonia jockeys for position and passes over a few choice [[Power Up]]s  the [[Power Surge]] turns [[Phoenix]] into a living, ecstatic [[Power Line]], and the feedback hits [[Sonia Wight]] like a bolt of lightning, instantly turning her on. This race is getting '''hot'''.

In her private box, Mistress[[Alexandra]] gets an offer she cannot refuse: as a comment on this new deadly development on the racing circuit. Her sultry voice goes on the air, and the audience loves it; ratings go through the roof right away.  She also rouses the audiences support for these humans fighting the [[Technodemon]], and the [[Chi Energy]] of the game begins to shift to [[Our Heroines]].

Failing to race the [[Qirex Kombinat]] vehicle, [[Demon Alpha]] manages to get in a shot with a  rocket pack  not solid enough to cause any real damage, but sufficient to jar the car and send [[Phoenix]] flying  [[Sonia Wight]] can only save her by activating the repair docking clamps to bolt her to the underside of the car. There she hangs, naked and bound in the raging firestorm. Her glowing ethereal wings grow even larger and more radiant around the car, and she can deflect the brunt of the next series of attack from the demon. The car is still bumped, however, and suddenly [[Demon Alpha]] zooms past. Only he is more surprised than [[Sonia Wight]], who immediately takes the chance to ram him  using the full power of the [[Qirex Kombinat]] tractor engines and heavy hull to smash right into him. This fills Phoenix with jubilant energy, and suddenly her [[Psibolt]] reaches peak power  it is as if a huge ball of flame explodes on the racetrack, and suddenly the demon is destroyed!

Coolly zipping through the [[Power Pit]], [[Sonia Wight]] goes on to win the race; [[Phoenix]] uses her psychic blasts a few times, but after the fight with the demon, the rest of the race is no real challenge for [[Our Heroines]]. At the goal, Mistress[[Alexandra]] comes down to deliver the prize, while the [[Qirex Kombinat]] staff claims credit for the victory and excuses the sudden change of drivers  paving up the victory for all that its worth.

Then a man named [[Herlod Ritz]] appears  a representative of [[Pontifex Corp]] who offers her a lavish contract to be a representative of their virtual [[Sexy Soap]] star, Vampire[[Alexandra]]. They withdraw to discuss the details of the deal, and he lays it on heavily  money and perks just for doing cool things and going to lavish parties.

[[Sonia Wight]] and Phoenix are offered contracts by [[Qirex Kombinat]]. [[Sonia Wight]] has some strange and immediate demands that she keeps secret from [[Phoenix]], but they postpone any major decisions. Then they have an immediate post-victory photo session. Fueled by the passion of the victory and the feedback from their psychic link and all the [[Chi Energy]] that [[Phoenix]] has absorbed, they quickly succumb to the moment. With the nubile and naked [[Phoenix]] all over her, encouraged by the photographers, [[Sonia Wight]] soon sheds her own black leather outfit and opens herself to her friend and to the camera eye  she is simultaneously watching it all on TV through her [[Cyber Secretary]]. Her last thought is ''TV shapes perceptions which shapes reality  whatever is on TV is real. '''This is the real thing.'''''.


----
[[Episode Guide]] | [[Experience Summary]]
{{Dark City navbox}}