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Distracted
Apr. 23rd, 2006 01:45 amWe lined up on the beach before dawn, all hustle and bustle in the overwhelming cold and fading violet of morning.
We were there to fly around the world, each and every team hoping to win the race.
Dr. Matthews and Dr. Chang were giving instructions to their trained flock of geese, and inflating their anchored hot air balloon.
The Jerusalem Robotics Cabal were sewing air-sails into their mechanical spider, whispering to it in a calming voice. At the judge's insistence, they sheepishly removed all weapons from their robot.
Brian the Broker was hovering on his weird tiny disk of light, with his mad huge smile on his tiny rodent face. I always wondered how he kept his balance on that thing.
Laura Cambric had her Elephant-Bird saddled, and perched atop it like Hannibal on his elephant. Her back was perfectly straight as usual.
The Great Brain of Austin was suspended in her nutrient tank, making a billion calculations every second. The nutrient tank was perched atop a huge titanium catapult, powered by hydraulics and guided by lasers.
And there I was with nothing but sixteen thousand paper clips, a magic bugle, the first Marilyn Monroe edition of Playboy Magazine, and a genetically modified Nomura's jellyfish.
When the judge's gun fired into the air, everyone took off except me.
I really should have planned out how to use all this crap to really fly, but I just got distracted. Now I'm quite a few hours behind everyone else and no closer to launch than I was before.
Any advice?
We were there to fly around the world, each and every team hoping to win the race.
Dr. Matthews and Dr. Chang were giving instructions to their trained flock of geese, and inflating their anchored hot air balloon.
The Jerusalem Robotics Cabal were sewing air-sails into their mechanical spider, whispering to it in a calming voice. At the judge's insistence, they sheepishly removed all weapons from their robot.
Brian the Broker was hovering on his weird tiny disk of light, with his mad huge smile on his tiny rodent face. I always wondered how he kept his balance on that thing.
Laura Cambric had her Elephant-Bird saddled, and perched atop it like Hannibal on his elephant. Her back was perfectly straight as usual.
The Great Brain of Austin was suspended in her nutrient tank, making a billion calculations every second. The nutrient tank was perched atop a huge titanium catapult, powered by hydraulics and guided by lasers.
And there I was with nothing but sixteen thousand paper clips, a magic bugle, the first Marilyn Monroe edition of Playboy Magazine, and a genetically modified Nomura's jellyfish.
When the judge's gun fired into the air, everyone took off except me.
I really should have planned out how to use all this crap to really fly, but I just got distracted. Now I'm quite a few hours behind everyone else and no closer to launch than I was before.
Any advice?
