Veri Special Motors VSM-1200 Naddoccie Cruocche/Painful Truth
With four 1200kW turbocylone ducted engines, the Painful Truth is almost embarassingly fast. At 1600kg, empty, and 3000kg fully loaded, any attempt at catching one by law enforcement requires specialized training and/or equipment. and that's before the rocket assist located under the rear of the car is engaged.
Many hyper-rich customers of VSM ask for a permit as an Escape Vehicle, and it's popular as a way to escape ambushes, since practically nothing can outrun it that's not military-class hardware.
"Hey!" "Hi, Piersa, what's up?" "Just came to see your new possession." "How come it's more exciting now that I have it?" "You actually have a permit to drive it the way it was intended. Amarat never qualified." "Amarat never got the permit, he did take the training..." "Oh, he never said..." "I imagine he wouldn't. So she's the driver now?" "Yes, while I play at the dignitary being ferried around." "And probably snog every time the engine's stopped too..." "Now now!" "If not more!" "Hey, I have a policy to keep my language clear of topics like that around mothers..." "That's not me yet, I'm just a prospect." "Congradts, if I haven't said yet." "Thanks, you did, twice, and so did Boo, but it's still unreal..." "Who's the daddy?" "What, you gotta ask? Denty here." "Denty?" Dentrag Aixpee, nearby, just groaned. "I keep putting dents in him during spars, so I call him Denty until he does better, then I'll call him by his proper name." "Congradts, redoubtable." "What, you know about that?" "I'm on the board, just like Amarat, of course I know." "What's a redoubtable?" "Someone who passed the Platinum Redoubt's Sun'ga exam." "Oh, you been keeping secrets from me, Denty?" "Well, no, not secrets, I was waiting for the actual certificate to come in the mail." "Oh, it's no mere certificate, but a plaque." "A plaque?" "Only at most two hundred hospitality professionals can be Fellows of the Redoubt, arnd-wide, at a time." "How many have there been, total?" "Six hundred, since the start of the program, exactly, which is why Denty here is getting a nicer than usual plaque." "What? How come." "Well, that's why you've not gotten it yet, we need to nominate a managing director, then that director will come to you with the plaque." "Any candidates?" "Amarat, of course. The board doesn't really help anyone else, for that matter." "Why do you say that?" "The board is him, me, his cousin and three of our mostly common exes, plus the adoptive father and mother of some of those exes." "Oh, do I know their parents?" "You've met them, when you flew in Nightsky House, they were Meihomei's guests then." "Oh, the fluffy dude and his slicked up lady? And they had three dolled-up ladies with them?" Linni groaned and ran his palm over his face. "Boo, you having with this?" "I'd normally not be caught dead taking sides, but my three-merits, dawn-standard in multiple kingdoms dad would bow to them, you have a deathwish?" "What, Marhamat-who-was-meritant?" "Marhamat-of-cherished-memory is the inclusive term." "Daddy to you, Marhamat the frigging legend to us, that guy?" "Amarat tries to stay on their good side." "Well, Amarat's unusually nice..." "Amarat's also currently the principal heir and Bameimeito of Kagomei, and ranks above his mother..." "I swear you people just want my head to ache. Amarat outranks Nameihomei?" "It's more like Amarat is officially Bameimeito and Nameihomei, Mikhala is just Nameihomei, for now, they share the responsabilities, when they can be shared, some of them just can't." "What?" "You can't be Nameihomei and Meihomei, for instance, so whoever is Bameimeito usually has to refuse some duties." "What, there's stuff Amarat is legally unable to do?" "He'd land in a jail if he tried to claim some privileges, and I'm expected to throw him in myself..." Shibue's body language showed what she thought of that notion. "There's always two signatures on any checks, right?" "Yeah." "If Nameihomei and Meihomei are the same person, the same signature signs both checks, and that's' bad, got that?" "What, but..." "Nameihomei doesn't sign your check, but she signs the Vision's check..." "Oh." "And Amarat's signing?" "No, he is going to sign as Meihomei, he can't sign as #2." "I'm sure some people were Nameihomei before they were Meihomei..." "Yes, but that's pretty rare, it's usually one or the other." "Going back to this set of wheels... It is a set of wheels, right?" "Wheels, and turbines, it is an aircar." "How fast does it go?" "With Amarat driving it, it's been clocked as the fastest thing on production wheels..." "What about flying?" "That's classified. Sorry, I know you're friendlies, and you want only to know how fast it'll go, but the rules of classification are what they are." "Isn't Linni Under-for-class now?" "Which is why our friends should brace themselves, when someone thinks we mess up, someone's calling a tribunal into account, and that's messy." "What, Linni, a tribunal?" "Under-for-class is a high court for technology, you should know that, second-Flag first Kagomine Air Wing." "Shhh, that's only official after I return to duty, after the baby, or babies." "Haven't peeked, either?" "I should have twins, but you never know..." "Oh, wow." "Thanks, I'm still under shock, not just one, but two at a time..." "Going back, you're getting fleeted up?" "FFOF-06.5 Commander Air Wing/CAW." "So they can't bust you back below FFOF-06 Raptor without Meihomei's permission." Linni knew her temporary rank would be FFOF-08 unless she messed up quite severely, making her a tribunal in her own right. "I'm not even 35, I need an edict to assume a rank above OF-06 in a permanent fashion." "Impressive, I remember the last edict." "What, who?" "Your predecessor, although she was 33 and 8 months, Meihomei made a point to write the edict..." "What, Flora?" "Yeah, and it got a lot of people into conniptions. Amarat can tell you better, but I saw it firsthand, I even had to restrain a protesting aristocrat who forgot fisticuffs in the throne room were gauche and could result in his expulsion." "In the THRONE room?" "Of the Megamisma Palace, so he got a lesser sentence, he'd do that kind of stupidity in the Mei Palace at Innu, he was buying himself corporal punishment. The Kagomine Founders had some strict ideas about discipline." "But they didn't extend it to Megamisama?" "According to Amarat, who's no legal expert, but certainly an interested party, they always let the rules be looser anywhere but Innu because it was such a pain to change the rules for Innu, and the founders had put the strict gauge to maximum or close enough..." "And Megamisama is where Amarat lives..." "And works, and where the Bameimeito and Domei of Megamisama holds ultimate legal authority handed down from the ASOR-10 Telbun as part of the accords that transferred legal power from the Telbun-Sheriffate of Megamisama into the appopriate legal contemporary bodies." "Just how high a tribunal is he?" "He's been a Meritant, and the Fount of Honour, and a Telbun-candidate I believe the term for his authority right now is unbounded." "What?" "No one thought a namei would bother, of course, and especially bother as a non-com. He'd probably have more restrictions if he'd been the actual Telbun." "No, you're wrong." "What, his authority would be higher?" "No, he's legally been Telbun, for about six hours, that's why his authority is unbounded." Linni said, his voice the rasp of a key in a particularly tight lock. "And you know this how?" "I was there when he was sworn in." Linni said, quietly. "So was I." Shibue added. "Meihomei swore at least once an hour for the next three days when I saw her... She was not a happy kitten." "That's not supposed to happen?" "Most Bameimeitos don't ever use half the authority that comes with just being Bameimeito, Amarat can call Meihomei to Tribunal, something the most seditious Bameimeitos never dreamed of." "How does anyone figure?" "He's been raised to Telbun, and to Fount of Honour, the highest officer of valour, the greatest courage, the utmost integrity in the kingdom. When a Telbun looks at someone funny, if they're Kagomei, they know they should be ashamed. When the fount of honour tut-tuts a drunken rowdy in a bar, his relatives will disinherit him for not looking ashamed. Now imagine someone who's both, and the rightful heir to the throne, and a tribunal in his own right?" "You added tribunal in his own right because?" "Look, Amarat is currently tribunal as Domei of Megamisama and as Aumhivina Megamisama, his duties as Telbun grant him tribunal rights, his rights as tribunal of the order of Kagomei would give conniptions to a Nessun, and as he is all four tribunals combined, he would have Meihomei entering the courtroom without the Kagomine Crown Jewels, because if a tribunal of that rank calls you to account, you can't be throwing dust in their eyes." "What, without the CROWN?" "They'd be held in escrow outside the courtroom, under Rembrandt's faithful guard." "Has that ever happened?" "Heavens, no. Rembrandt's faithful guard is a new thing, and the only time a ruler of Kagomei ever let their regalia under his guard was during Prithyanka Dandelion's funeral. Which isn't a tribunal, but is considered to be equally solemn, so you can't barge in bearing a crown, either." "Her mother's funeral was 'equally solemn'?" "Well, that's the words of the edict Amalthea-who-is-Meihomei wrote herself, I know better than to go in there without a flock of lawyers. Ideally a fleet-sized flock. Or better yet, dodge exile by running away, away-I-say." "A fleet?" "That's hyperbole, but let's just say I wouldn't be sparing the Sums either." "If you run and let me to hold the bag, I'll be so angry, Linni." "Obviously, I'll want you to run away with me, which is why I want you to quit your job as Meihomei's principal lifeguard, no chance of getting you out of the country otherwise." "Lifeguard isn't a motherly profession, you ever thought of telling her she should have your kids?" "I did, she's not said yes yet, however..." "Neither did I say no, which means you can keep on working on convincing me, Peacock-boy." "Consider me working to convince you, my wife." "Hmm, how do I tell you're working on it?" "You have to be looking into my eyes..." "Oh, do I?" "Easy enough, when you're driving us around in that monster, between weaving between traffic obstacles, at least..." "Monster? I think not, it's more like a sleek engine of transportation." "Engine of motion..." "Agile beast of burden." "Hummingbird of the roads." "Butterfly of the skies." "Racer of the dawn." Amarat dropped the line like it was hot. "What?" Shibue looked shaken, 'of the dawn' had emotionally charged connotations in five kingdoms. "It's a painful truth, but hear me out, the dawn barely outraces this machine when you put it into the higher turbine gears..." "Shots fired!" Linni nodded, but added: "However, I'm not betting against the vehicle Natalia Dell'Auro got from Galatea Dell'Auro for, and I quote: 'protecting her from those that'd keep her away from her mummy.'" "What?" "Galatea commissioned the design, and Natalia got the first prototype, then replaced it with the next five prototypes, then the first production model. And, Shibue won't unleash the engine properly while I'm inside, but I've seen her pushing 1100kph." "I've driven it to 1250kph, but 1300 risks the engine." "Driven?" "Yeah, driven, it'll do 0.8 of the speed of sound in the air in a dive." "What, in a commercially produced vehicule?" "Yeah, I mean, pursuit vehicles that are dedicated series are rated up to six times the speed of sound in air... Production is much more complicated, and expensive, but also lets you drive them around, which is fun." "But drops the speed by five-sixths?" "Most civilian traffic control can't handle this baby going full ground speed in the air, let alone uncork hypersonic, which is why you need a military flying license for one..." "What, you actually drive faster?" "No, I said you're outrunning traffic control when you fly it, which means, depending on the country, you're flying so fast you're automatically in violation..." "How many tickets are we talking about?" "Nellun has a budget for my tickets, and docks me sweets for a month for every one..." "When's you're next donut?" "827AK." That was twelve years in the future, also, possibly hyperbole. "I was there... you'd have been out of budget long before..." Linni piped up. "Sometimes friends are family are the worse... Ok, ok, I hafta admit I will repay my sweets budget this year, not the next decade, sorry to make you excited about being a bad boy who drives recklessly and furiously." "It looks like something a reckless driver dreams of at night..." "Like the congealed dreams of a nightmare driver, yeah." "It is quite unsafe if you don't know what you're doing... But Shibue can teach the class, so Linni's safer than if I was driving." "I'm just fine getting from point a to point b, whatever, anyways." "Your poor hair!" "What?" "Your hair, it never looks good blown, I'm not sure why..." "Aw, that slays me, herevallin." "Just stringy, not your fault, but you have thin hair." Shibue and Amarat both looked at Linni at the same time, and the difference between his hair and his sister's seldom showed as clearly as right now. "How come you got thicker hair than I do?" "I got a third of mom's, maybe, and that's being generous." "And I didn't?" "Your dad's hair was never his strong suit, your mom's wouldn't have looked out of place next to Shibue though." "Yeah, and how come you..." "I got all my hair from the Dandelions, mom's hair makes Auntie Amalthea's look like it's going on strike for not being paid by the strand." "But your dad's?" "Was pretty thick, if compared to anyone but mom's. He did have male-pattern-baldness late in life. If auntie amalthea let hers grow, she'd have some that reached the floor, she did before the funeral." "The FLOOR?" "I've not seen her with hair that long, but I did see pictures. She could dress in just her hair, no dress needed."
"Hey!" "Hi, Piersa, what's up?" "Just came to see your new possession." "How come it's more exciting now that I have it?" "You actually have a permit to drive it the way it was intended. Amarat never qualified." "Amarat never got the permit, he did take the training..." "Oh, he never said..." "I imagine he wouldn't. So she's the driver now?" "Yes, while I play at the dignitary being ferried around." "And probably snog every time the engine's stopped too..." "Now now!" "If not more!" "Hey, I have a policy to keep my language clear of topics like that around mothers..." "That's not me yet, I'm just a prospect." "Congradts, if I haven't said yet." "Thanks, you did, twice, and so did Boo, but it's still unreal..." "Who's the daddy?" "What, you gotta ask? Denty here." "Denty?" Dentrag Aixpee, nearby, just groaned. "I keep putting dents in him during spars, so I call him Denty until he does better, then I'll call him by his proper name." "Congradts, redoubtable." "What, you know about that?" "I'm on the board, just like Amarat, of course I know." "What's a redoubtable?" "Someone who passed the Platinum Redoubt's Sun'ga exam." "Oh, you been keeping secrets from me, Denty?" "Well, no, not secrets, I was waiting for the actual certificate to come in the mail." "Oh, it's no mere certificate, but a plaque." "A plaque?" "Only at most two hundred hospitality professionals can be Fellows of the Redoubt, arnd-wide, at a time." "How many have there been, total?" "Six hundred, since the start of the program, exactly, which is why Denty here is getting a nicer than usual plaque." "What? How come." "Well, that's why you've not gotten it yet, we need to nominate a managing director, then that director will come to you with the plaque." "Any candidates?" "Amarat, of course. The board doesn't really help anyone else, for that matter." "Why do you say that?" "The board is him, me, his cousin and three of our mostly common exes, plus the adoptive father and mother of some of those exes." "Oh, do I know their parents?" "You've met them, when you flew in Nightsky House, they were Meihomei's guests then." "Oh, the fluffy dude and his slicked up lady? And they had three dolled-up ladies with them?" Linni groaned and ran his palm over his face. "Boo, you having with this?" "I'd normally not be caught dead taking sides, but my three-merits, dawn-standard in multiple kingdoms dad would bow to them, you have a deathwish?" "What, Marhamat-who-was-meritant?" "Marhamat-of-cherished-memory is the inclusive term." "Daddy to you, Marhamat the frigging legend to us, that guy?" "Amarat tries to stay on their good side." "Well, Amarat's unusually nice..." "Amarat's also currently the principal heir and Bameimeito of Kagomei, and ranks above his mother..." "I swear you people just want my head to ache. Amarat outranks Nameihomei?" "It's more like Amarat is officially Bameimeito and Nameihomei, Mikhala is just Nameihomei, for now, they share the responsabilities, when they can be shared, some of them just can't." "What?" "You can't be Nameihomei and Meihomei, for instance, so whoever is Bameimeito usually has to refuse some duties." "What, there's stuff Amarat is legally unable to do?" "He'd land in a jail if he tried to claim some privileges, and I'm expected to throw him in myself..." Shibue's body language showed what she thought of that notion. "There's always two signatures on any checks, right?" "Yeah." "If Nameihomei and Meihomei are the same person, the same signature signs both checks, and that's' bad, got that?" "What, but..." "Nameihomei doesn't sign your check, but she signs the Vision's check..." "Oh." "And Amarat's signing?" "No, he is going to sign as Meihomei, he can't sign as #2." "I'm sure some people were Nameihomei before they were Meihomei..." "Yes, but that's pretty rare, it's usually one or the other." "Going back to this set of wheels... It is a set of wheels, right?" "Wheels, and turbines, it is an aircar." "How fast does it go?" "With Amarat driving it, it's been clocked as the fastest thing on production wheels..." "What about flying?" "That's classified. Sorry, I know you're friendlies, and you want only to know how fast it'll go, but the rules of classification are what they are." "Isn't Linni Under-for-class now?" "Which is why our friends should brace themselves, when someone thinks we mess up, someone's calling a tribunal into account, and that's messy." "What, Linni, a tribunal?" "Under-for-class is a high court for technology, you should know that, second-Flag first Kagomine Air Wing." "Shhh, that's only official after I return to duty, after the baby, or babies." "Haven't peeked, either?" "I should have twins, but you never know..." "Oh, wow." "Thanks, I'm still under shock, not just one, but two at a time..." "Going back, you're getting fleeted up?" "FFOF-06.5 Commander Air Wing/CAW." "So they can't bust you back below FFOF-06 Raptor without Meihomei's permission." Linni knew her temporary rank would be FFOF-08 unless she messed up quite severely, making her a tribunal in her own right. "I'm not even 35, I need an edict to assume a rank above OF-06 in a permanent fashion." "Impressive, I remember the last edict." "What, who?" "Your predecessor, although she was 33 and 8 months, Meihomei made a point to write the edict..." "What, Flora?" "Yeah, and it got a lot of people into conniptions. Amarat can tell you better, but I saw it firsthand, I even had to restrain a protesting aristocrat who forgot fisticuffs in the throne room were gauche and could result in his expulsion." "In the THRONE room?" "Of the Megamisma Palace, so he got a lesser sentence, he'd do that kind of stupidity in the Mei Palace at Innu, he was buying himself corporal punishment. The Kagomine Founders had some strict ideas about discipline." "But they didn't extend it to Megamisama?" "According to Amarat, who's no legal expert, but certainly an interested party, they always let the rules be looser anywhere but Innu because it was such a pain to change the rules for Innu, and the founders had put the strict gauge to maximum or close enough..." "And Megamisama is where Amarat lives..." "And works, and where the Bameimeito and Domei of Megamisama holds ultimate legal authority handed down from the ASOR-10 Telbun as part of the accords that transferred legal power from the Telbun-Sheriffate of Megamisama into the appopriate legal contemporary bodies." "Just how high a tribunal is he?" "He's been a Meritant, and the Fount of Honour, and a Telbun-candidate I believe the term for his authority right now is unbounded." "What?" "No one thought a namei would bother, of course, and especially bother as a non-com. He'd probably have more restrictions if he'd been the actual Telbun." "No, you're wrong." "What, his authority would be higher?" "No, he's legally been Telbun, for about six hours, that's why his authority is unbounded." Linni said, his voice the rasp of a key in a particularly tight lock. "And you know this how?" "I was there when he was sworn in." Linni said, quietly. "So was I." Shibue added. "Meihomei swore at least once an hour for the next three days when I saw her... She was not a happy kitten." "That's not supposed to happen?" "Most Bameimeitos don't ever use half the authority that comes with just being Bameimeito, Amarat can call Meihomei to Tribunal, something the most seditious Bameimeitos never dreamed of." "How does anyone figure?" "He's been raised to Telbun, and to Fount of Honour, the highest officer of valour, the greatest courage, the utmost integrity in the kingdom. When a Telbun looks at someone funny, if they're Kagomei, they know they should be ashamed. When the fount of honour tut-tuts a drunken rowdy in a bar, his relatives will disinherit him for not looking ashamed. Now imagine someone who's both, and the rightful heir to the throne, and a tribunal in his own right?" "You added tribunal in his own right because?" "Look, Amarat is currently tribunal as Domei of Megamisama and as Aumhivina Megamisama, his duties as Telbun grant him tribunal rights, his rights as tribunal of the order of Kagomei would give conniptions to a Nessun, and as he is all four tribunals combined, he would have Meihomei entering the courtroom without the Kagomine Crown Jewels, because if a tribunal of that rank calls you to account, you can't be throwing dust in their eyes." "What, without the CROWN?" "They'd be held in escrow outside the courtroom, under Rembrandt's faithful guard." "Has that ever happened?" "Heavens, no. Rembrandt's faithful guard is a new thing, and the only time a ruler of Kagomei ever let their regalia under his guard was during Prithyanka Dandelion's funeral. Which isn't a tribunal, but is considered to be equally solemn, so you can't barge in bearing a crown, either." "Her mother's funeral was 'equally solemn'?" "Well, that's the words of the edict Amalthea-who-is-Meihomei wrote herself, I know better than to go in there without a flock of lawyers. Ideally a fleet-sized flock. Or better yet, dodge exile by running away, away-I-say." "A fleet?" "That's hyperbole, but let's just say I wouldn't be sparing the Sums either." "If you run and let me to hold the bag, I'll be so angry, Linni." "Obviously, I'll want you to run away with me, which is why I want you to quit your job as Meihomei's principal lifeguard, no chance of getting you out of the country otherwise." "Lifeguard isn't a motherly profession, you ever thought of telling her she should have your kids?" "I did, she's not said yes yet, however..." "Neither did I say no, which means you can keep on working on convincing me, Peacock-boy." "Consider me working to convince you, my wife." "Hmm, how do I tell you're working on it?" "You have to be looking into my eyes..." "Oh, do I?" "Easy enough, when you're driving us around in that monster, between weaving between traffic obstacles, at least..." "Monster? I think not, it's more like a sleek engine of transportation." "Engine of motion..." "Agile beast of burden." "Hummingbird of the roads." "Butterfly of the skies." "Racer of the dawn." Amarat dropped the line like it was hot. "What?" Shibue looked shaken, 'of the dawn' had emotionally charged connotations in five kingdoms. "It's a painful truth, but hear me out, the dawn barely outraces this machine when you put it into the higher turbine gears..." "Shots fired!" Linni nodded, but added: "However, I'm not betting against the vehicle Natalia Dell'Auro got from Galatea Dell'Auro for, and I quote: 'protecting her from those that'd keep her away from her mummy.'" "What?" "Galatea commissioned the design, and Natalia got the first prototype, then replaced it with the next five prototypes, then the first production model. And, Shibue won't unleash the engine properly while I'm inside, but I've seen her pushing 1100kph." "I've driven it to 1250kph, but 1300 risks the engine." "Driven?" "Yeah, driven, it'll do 0.8 of the speed of sound in the air in a dive." "What, in a commercially produced vehicule?" "Yeah, I mean, pursuit vehicles that are dedicated series are rated up to six times the speed of sound in air... Production is much more complicated, and expensive, but also lets you drive them around, which is fun." "But drops the speed by five-sixths?" "Most civilian traffic control can't handle this baby going full ground speed in the air, let alone uncork hypersonic, which is why you need a military flying license for one..." "What, you actually drive faster?" "No, I said you're outrunning traffic control when you fly it, which means, depending on the country, you're flying so fast you're automatically in violation..." "How many tickets are we talking about?" "Nellun has a budget for my tickets, and docks me sweets for a month for every one..." "When's you're next donut?" "827AK." That was twelve years in the future, also, possibly hyperbole. "I was there... you'd have been out of budget long before..." Linni piped up. "Sometimes friends are family are the worse... Ok, ok, I hafta admit I will repay my sweets budget this year, not the next decade, sorry to make you excited about being a bad boy who drives recklessly and furiously." "It looks like something a reckless driver dreams of at night..." "Like the congealed dreams of a nightmare driver, yeah." "It is quite unsafe if you don't know what you're doing... But Shibue can teach the class, so Linni's safer than if I was driving." "I'm just fine getting from point a to point b, whatever, anyways." "Your poor hair!" "What?" "Your hair, it never looks good blown, I'm not sure why..." "Aw, that slays me, herevallin." "Just stringy, not your fault, but you have thin hair." Shibue and Amarat both looked at Linni at the same time, and the difference between his hair and his sister's seldom showed as clearly as right now. "How come you got thicker hair than I do?" "I got a third of mom's, maybe, and that's being generous." "And I didn't?" "Your dad's hair was never his strong suit, your mom's wouldn't have looked out of place next to Shibue though." "Yeah, and how come you..." "I got all my hair from the Dandelions, mom's hair makes Auntie Amalthea's look like it's going on strike for not being paid by the strand." "But your dad's?" "Was pretty thick, if compared to anyone but mom's. He did have male-pattern-baldness late in life. If auntie amalthea let hers grow, she'd have some that reached the floor, she did before the funeral." "The FLOOR?" "I've not seen her with hair that long, but I did see pictures. She could dress in just her hair, no dress needed."
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