Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.
Fun Fact
BuzzFeed published a report claiming that Tumblr was utilized as a distribution channel for Russian agents to influence American voting habits during the 2016 presidential election in Feb 2018.
A pair of all-wheel drive Porsche 959 Rally racers have been shredding through the Arabian Desert as part of the Classic cars competing in the 2024 Dakar Rally.
It took 6 documents, 3 meetings and final approval from K'laxi Administration itself, but Mzurr got approval for the ride along. Ever since learning about them, he was fascinated with the Humans and their hobbies. Having hobbies itself wasn't odd - Mzurr loved to read and build tiny models of the Fleet's famous ships - but the Humans had a hobby built around their ground transportation that simply mesmerized him.
Rally Racing.
The fact that they took ground transportation and decided that the real fun was stripping it down to a Minimum Viable Vehicle, and then adding in combustion engines more powerful than Mzurr thought was possible and then operating them as fast as they could - without driving aids - though forests and unimproved roads and all the biomes of Earth just...made him...want to try it.
His friends said he was insane. "Leave the Humans to their suicidal hobbies, they're insane," they jeered at him. "They're probably so numb to existence that it's the only way they feel alive"
"Yeah, that's probably it." Vinny said when Mzurr related the story to him later that week. It just made him want to do it more. When Vinny mentioned that he used to navigate for a friend of his and that his friend would love for an opportunity to show someone interested how it worked he knew then, he needed to make it happen.
He started the process of getting permission. At first they thought he was joking, then they were worried for his mental state, and finally they decided that it must be because he worked so closely with the Humans on their ship refitting projects. He was around them all day and naturally some of their insanity would rub off on him.
Even so, Medical said that so long as he understood that he was in the Humans care, and was warned to under no circumstances exceed 3g, he could physically handle the ride. The K'laxi Administration declared it to be Good for Relations and it was approved.
In the weeks preceding the "Special Stage" Mzurr got outfitted for the race. With the humans not even trying to hide their dissapointment, it was determined that Mzurr couldn't participate in a real race. Instead, he'd have a ride along on a Special Stage that was still timed and measured, it just wouldn't count to the team's total points.
The K'laxi didn't have Nomex, so Vinny reached out to a few suppliers and they jumped at the public relations opportunity to make a fireproof racing suit for the first off world Sapient that wanted to Rally.
They didn't have helmets that would fit either, but they decided that one of their pilot helmets was "probably close enough" and he was issued his very own helmet, complete with his name in the raised and rounded K'laxi script and the strange angular script of Vinny's language.
Finally the day arrived. At the request of Fleet Command and with permission from Vinny's friend Anthony, Mzurr was outfitted with recording devices and sensoriums so that the experience could be recorded and played back to any K'laxi who was curious about it. His translator was wired into the car's radio - "It will be too loud to talk normally" Anthony explained - and he was zipped into the custom fireproof suit. It felt odd against his skin and clearly the Human tailor had tried their best, but it still was billowy where it should have been tight and tight where it should have been billowy, but it would do.
When he got out of the ship - which had special permission to land at the Rally Stage and was just as excited to land somewhere they weren't normally supposed to as he was to race. - he got to see the car for the first time and was suddenly gripped with waves of sanity washing over him. "This is insane" he thought to himself "It's so small. Where's the rest of it?"
Anthony bounded up with that heavy predator lope that Humans do when they're on their homeworld that makes most other species nervous. "Good! You're suited up. Ready to get buckled in?"