Chapter 5

It was the last day before the truck was to arrive and pick up the finished racecar. Excitement was in the air. Many of the interns were outside enjoying the sun now that their parts of the project were complete. Some of the team hung around watching the last minute adjustments but a few still had work to do. Much of the conversation revolved around how badly the other race teams would lose because their car was so fantastic. 

Vincent Frodes was heading up the finalization team, which meant that he was trying to finish uploading thirty-seven updates to the car’s computer. As the team leader he shouted out orders to several of his team to facilitate their latest attempt to make the necessary changes to the car’s software. He stood proud in his navy blue t-shirt that said ‘Team Leader’ in bold letters across his chest.

Unfortunately the computer kept kicking out the new version of the software and the whole process had to be restarted. After the fifth attempt the action was getting old. The decision had been made that if the updates didn’t take on the latest attempt, Vincent and a few team members would have to follow the truck to keep trying until they were successful. Several members were hoping the computer would kick out the flash just so they could go on a road trip. Getting to travel to the race’s starting location would be fun.

The only other team that was still trying to work on the car was the weapons team. They had originally been called the Offensive Disabling Weapon Team, which of course had been abbreviated over time. They all wore red t-shirts that each had a large missile with fiery propellant being expelled printed on the front along with the words ‘Watch Your Back, I’m Gunning for You’ and with ‘Weapons Specialist’ printed on the back.

Unfortunately both the finalization team and the weapons team needed to work inside the cockpit area of the car. Silvia, who currently sat in the passenger seat, was getting very agitated by a boy named Dennis who was trying to follow Frodes’ instructions. To accomplish his task he had to keep leaning over almost completely on top of Silvia to play with the corded access that they thought might be causing the problem with their upload. He came very close to touching the fiery missile on her t-shirt.

She had her own job to do and it involved installing the last of the electrical interface for the mechanical arm that stuck out of the roof of the car. She was the perfect person to do the work because she was so short that she barely had to bend over to reach beneath the dash.

The robot arm was a strange looking addition to the car’s roof. Their design was comprised of a squared off human looking arm. Where the hand was supposed to be was a harness with an angled sleeve. Other small devices protruded from that central hub but the one item at the center caught everyone’s attention. A silver bulb approximately ten inches long and fifteen inches around stuck out through the hub with three large suction cups surrounding the head.

A mass of thin wires ran from the hub and the silver tube and were stretched towards a spool that was attached at the top of the wrist joint of the arm. It was clear that the silver tube, presumably the laser, had the capability to leave the ‘hand’ and stretch as far as the spool would allow. The design of the arm allowed not only 360 degree access around the vehicle, it could also reach almost four feet when it was extended, allowing side access of the vehicle as well as over the roof of a nearby car.

Katrina and Dillon both stood on ladders plugging in stray wires. Their red t-shirts stood out in stark contrast to the bland eggshell color of the fuselage of the car. Silvia yelled something from inside the cockpit area telling Dennis to stop touching her. After a while it became a kind of game to him. He was enjoying the close confines of their workspace, unlike Silvia.

When Dillon connected the last wires he told Silvia that she could start the computer initialization process. She picked up a small case from the ground just outside the door and connected to the cars computer interface via bluetooth. She typed furiously for a few seconds and put the case back down on the ground. After that she beat off the boy named Dennis again while she kept track of the wireless interaction on the cockpit screen that could only be viewed by the passenger.

Katrina and Dillon went over to the refreshment table off to the side and each took a bottle of water. Katrina noticed Silvio Brenant who was sitting off to the side holding his customary briefcase. They were all so used to the sound of his wheezing that they didn’t notice him much anymore.

Dr. Jenkins had warned everyone when the car’s body had been attached that from that point on there could be no pictures taken of the racecar. Brenant had confiscated one phone when one of the interns had tried to sneak a selfie with the finished car. She heard him tell the owner of the device that he could have the device back once the race was finished. Katrina made sure to keep her cell phone in her pocket.

She was pretty sure that the only secrecy revolved around the weapon. No one had complained about pictures when the tech for the engine was being built, and now that the body was on all of the cars should look pretty much the same.

Once the car’s computer was allowing software updates to be uploaded Dr. Jenkins called everyone over to where Silvia and Dennis sat, still in the car.

“Well, I’d like to thank you all for participating on this project. I know everyone here put their hearts into their work and I trust all of the knowledge put forth. The trials will begin tomorrow in Kingston, which is also where the race will officially start. Now I want you all to understand that although we are calling this a race it is not a contest about speed. It’s a race based on the endurance of the vehicle in everyday driving conditions.

“The driver will have to negotiate across country to an as yet undisclosed place in a desert on the west coast. Every night the racers have to stop at a designated place for the night, and the time that they arrive at each stop will determine the time that they leave the next morning. The idea is to test all of the new technology that each team is using. The cars will have to drive through the rain, heat, face terrible traffic conditions, and deal with cold damp mornings. Once the lead cars arrive at the desert they will have to negotiate the sand until they reach the finish loop in the desert.

“The finish loop is the same as a finish line but it’s positioned up in the air on a dais. So every car must carry ramps to get through. The concrete hoop has electronics embedded that will identify the car that passes through first. If a car is eliminated before the end, the owner cannot truck it to the hoop and hope to win by tossing it through. Once disabled the team is out of the running. The winner must drive through the hoop. It is an obstacle that will make the driver, and passenger, think about how to accomplish their win. Remember, this is an engineer’s race, not a speed race. According to contest rules, any way through the hoop will be allowed as long as the entire car passes through.

“Now for the most interesting part. Since the race is not based on speed and the investors want a little drama to make the whole affair exciting, every team was allowed to build a low powered laser weapon system to use to attempt to disable other cars. Each car’s body can convert light into electricity as a way to supplement the car’s power supply. It is made up of two layers that are separated by epoxy. If a layer heated enough to thin the epoxy in the middle and the two layers touch, the car will shut down ejecting the car from the race.”

Hands went into the air as though this were some class session. Frodes, the team leader, spoke instead of raising his hand, “What would happen if the car got into an accident?”

“The design allows pieces of the layer to crack and break off without making contact between layers or damaging its ability to supplement the car’s power.” Dr. Jenkins said. “So, in a less than ideal situation where one car is trying to avoid being attacked by another car and gets into an accident, they can fix their mechanical issues and continue the race.

“Which brings me to my final point. Each team entered into the race is allowed to have a passenger to operate the weapon. Part of this is for safety reasons. It would not be realistic to have the driver be also trying to operate the weapon. And the other reason is to allow more than one person to drive. If for any reason the driver is incapacitated, the passenger will take the driver’s place, either intermittently or permanently.”

Vincent Frodes, who knew of his status on the team as the uncontested leader, stood apart from the crowd of interns around him in preparation of being called. His smile stretched across his face as though he already knew the answer.

Katrina and Dillon watched his demeanor with smirks on their faces. Dr. Jenkins began to announce their choice as Katrina brought up her water bottle to her lips for another drink. Dillon was watching Katrina drink as he lifted his own bottle. In a small way, she thought she wouldn’t be in the running with Frodes being the obvious choice. Silvia’s conviction about one of the weapons team being chosen was still in the back of her mind but she knew that Frodes was the obvious choice.

“We have chosen Katrina Morgantree to be the alternate driver!” Dr. Jenkins announced. In an instant, Katrina was choking on her water while Dillon’s sprayed out of his mouth in his surprise.

Dripping, coughing, and sputtering through it all as Dr. Jenkins called out to her again Katrina was not in Jenkins’ line of sight and he called for a third time. “Katrina?”

Katrina put her hand in the air to register that she was indeed present as Dillon slapped her on the back to dislodge the remaining water from her lungs. Finally when she could take her first breath she arched her back so that she stood straight again and said “Here” in a squeaky voice.

“Ahh, at last.” Jenkins said with a smile.

Frodes looked shocked that he hadn’t been chosen and shrank back into the crowd. He looked very dejected and hurt.

Silvia, on the other hand, had watched the doctor speak and was horrified that her design partner had been chosen after all. Just then a beep sounded out from the car’s dashboard. It stole Silvia’s attention for a second. The software package and initialization of the bluetooth handset had finalized. The weapon was ready to be used. That was the straw the broke camel’s back. Everything was complete for Katrina to become famous and ride off into the sunset with equipment she had helped design and build. She stood out of the car and shouted, I can’t believe you chose her over me!” before storming off. This got everyone’s attention. They watched her stomp away angry.

“Here is an example of what can happen in this field,” Dr. Jenkins said. “The education that you receive in a classroom never prepares you for the realities associated with working in your chosen field as an internship does. Here you have confronted how to handle stress, disappointment, rejection when your designs are not used, and dejection when the investor has different plans for the device you built. There are times where others around you will move forward on a set of plans that you felt were a waste of time. Being an intern is where real life is taught in your respective fields. I’m sorry that Silvia feels left out, but all of you are a team and we need every one of you on this team to win this race, no matter who gets to sit in the passenger seat.”

Katrina walked up towards Dr. Jenkins with a smile, even though she was still dripping wet. Jenkins held out a baseball cap that had the words “Weapons Mission Specialist” written on it along with the same image of the missile that she had on her shirt.

“Most of you are probably wondering why the shirts and hats that we have had printed throughout the project don’t say MIT anywhere on them. This race is an attempt to introduce new technology, but the race itself, using our designs on public roads, is not strictly legal. In fact, this race is called an invisible auto race for that reason. Therefore we cannot advertise any association that could negatively affect the school. And even though the car itself is done you still cannot discuss any part of this project with anyone.

“The racers will be followed by a crew of support staff to further ensure their invisibility. If any accidents happen along the route, these crews will clean up the sight and box up the car and take it away leaving nothing behind for any kind of law enforcement investigation. If any of you are uncomfortable with this, please speak to me before we leave here today.

“A lot of you will be exposed to this same kind of scenario in the future. As engineers, when you work for any kind of corporation, they rarely disclose what the object that you design and build will be used for, sometimes the uses for a particular design aren’t fully appreciated until years after they are built and may or may not be used for their originally intended purpose. In truth, if you’re hired and you get paid for the work, then you have to let it go. Today we are letting go of our baby. We can be proud of the work we’ve done and we can sit back to watch the race and see what other organizations have done to create their racecars.”

Katina had finished wiping off all the water on her face.

A student among the crowd of interns raised their hand. “We can watch the race?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you.” Jenkins said. “I mentioned the crews that follow the racecars; well there will also be a film crew for each car. The footage will be uploaded to a secret location that the investors have set up somewhere and it will be put into a kind of reality tv show format before being released over the internet. We’ll be able to watch the entire race.”

Katrina looked horrified while the rest of the students began to clap and cheer. She turned to Jenkins. “You mean to tell me that I’m going to be on tv? I don’t think I can do that.”

Jenkins turned to her and said. “You don’t have to worry about anything. The show’s focus is not on you but on the cars’ journey across the country. You’ll be in it from time to time but for the most part you’ll just be someone in the car. You have nothing to worry about. Now Mr. Brenant has a uniform for you and you need to go pack before we head out. You’re leaving with the car in an about an hour. Oh and since Miss Thruwell has stormed away, I believe you’re going to have to have Dillon pack up everything to maintain the weapon while you’re on the road. He’ll be going with you. I’ll let you tell him the good news.”

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Next Chapter: Chapter 6