Flying Car Island: Page 3

Eventually the black Vimana disappeared out of sight. Bodaway floated like a hovering oak leaf down upon the refueling station. He reached over and grabbed the ethanol nozzle and inserted it into the side of the Vimana. The bar-code number on the side of the craft registered with a laser scanner, so nothing was needed for further payment. Although Bodaway did nod to the young dark haired woman working inside the glass enclosed registry.

With a whirr of the Vimanas turbines the old man was off sailing high above the tree tops again. Bodaway knew that if he followed due south and east he would eventually hit the western shore of the mainland, or crash into the ice cold ocean. He preferred the former but prepared mentally for the latter.

Racing past one long prairie after another Bodaway reached a huge stretch of scattered trees and thorny wildflowers. Rolling alongside the greenery like a giant brown and mustard caterpillar was a huge herd of Woolly Mammoth. Nico had mentioned to Bodaway about certain possibilities he'd heard of, all speculation, things like Bigfoot encampments and megabeavers! But mostly these stories seemed like grandiose picture painting by his friend. Now, with his own eyes smack against the reality of these giant tusked mammals, he began to rethink the outlandish ideas Nico waved about with hubris. Now he realized, he was maybe telling the truth? The giant herd of Mammoth paid little regard to Bodaway and his red flying car as he sailed lower to the ground to get a closer look. The beasts had massive tusks that stretched several feet in front of their large fur covered faces. The old man laughed to himself as he noticed a younger Mammoth trotting alongside another huge beast as if trying to catch up. The bigger Mammoth turned to the side to watch the youngster. The creatures eyebrows, each the size of a an overweight Shih Tzu lifted in arches expressing surprise or maybe even admiration.

Bodaway recalled Nico's observation, "After the Wooly's genome had been fully sequenced, scientists on the island discovered they were more closely related to Asian than African elephants. So even though the creature has been extinct for ten millenia, they brought it back to invigorate the elephant population. They are sort of the Bison of the elephant family. They lack the domesticated flaws bred into other animals throughout the years of mankinds meddling."

Bodaway responded, "So isn't resurrecting a species from ten thousand years ago also considred meddling?"

Nico smiled, "Of course, the difference being that the latter was seen as a way to make up for past mistakes made by humans. The question is, did we reconcile a previous mistake? Or did we just create another? You know Bodaway, it will be easy for you to get to the island, what with your kayak experience, but leaving in the Vimana, well, that might be something new to you."

"How do you mean Nico."

"Well, Beringia is the last place on earth with any remaining advanced technology. Do you really think they'll let you just fly off the island to the mainland? Take care when you try to make your escape." Nico warned as he sat down to eat some baked rat and dandelion. "Have you tried my rat?" He bit off a piece of pink meat with his canines, "Ah, this is the stuff."

Bodaway left the herd of Mammoth and continued on his journey to the southern edge of the island. He raced past massive boulders that had been, only a few decades earlier, beneath the sea. Now they were covered in purplish green lichens and tiny Douglas fir saplings. The rocks looked like chipped teeth to him, like the earth had tried to take a bite of the woods.

On the horizon the sun lobbed great big orange baskets of color off the ocean and into the cliff crevices that framed Beringia's edge. The voice of Susan Sarandon came back on through the Vimana's speakers, "Bodaway there are three other vehicles approaching your path. Should I redirect to find an area with less traffic?"

"No Susan, stay on the original course." He looked around the cabin of the flying machine. Nothing in the rear window, but off to his right, just running parallel to his own machine, Bodaway spied three black Vimanas, racing furiously to keep up with him through the woods. The coast was fast approaching, he could feel the eyes of the other pilots on his vehicle, but there was no turning back now. "Susan, play Ain't No Rest For The Wicked by Cage The Elephant, then switch all systems to manual." The memory in the Vimana held five million songs from over one hundred years of human audio recordings, it had everything.

As the song came on it sent goose bumps down Bodaway's arms. The vehicle rattled a bit in the wind, now that the compensating auto-spoilers were disengaged. His blood red Vimana 3000 launched over the final cliff face and raced down plummeting toward the ocean. Bodaway pulled up and the very bottom of the craft just skirted a wave, splashing beads of briny water on it's bottom side. The three black Vimanas raced after him, staying high above Bodaway and the waves. He began to bob and weave between giant swells in the waves. Beringia was surrounded by the churning and broiling of a Pacific ocean that caught cold and hot winds from the extended polar ice caps and the sweltering up drafts of the blacken earth of the mainland.

Bodaways Vimana careened along it's side tilting dangerously to the side. Beeps and alarms were set off and Miss Sarandon's voice came on the speakers again, "...sorry to interrupt Bodaway, but the Vimana seems to be under extreme duress. Won't you please turn the auto-system back on, and perhaps enjoy some sage tea?"

"Hells no Susan, we've got work to do sister!" With that Bodaway gripped the wheel even tighter. He looked up through the moon roof and saw that now there was only one of the black Vimanas above him. Bodaway punched the ground pedals, pulled up on the manual thruster lever and shot upward like a missile directly at the black Vimana. The two ships came  closer and closer until Bodaway flew close enough to knock the other Vimana into his vapor trail. The black Vimana swaggered and staggered and finally crashed front first into the ocean. Steam rose up in a jagged column and the lights of the black Vimana lit up the dark blue ocean with swords of two bright turquoise beams.

Bodaway laughed and tapped his fingers on the wheel of the Vimana 3000.