Attack
and Counterattack
A Speed Racer Fanfic
by "Freddo"
Chapter Seven:
"In the
-----------------------------------------------------
July 14, 1968
About Twenty-Five
Miles off
The
U.S. Navy Patrol Frigate Packard was
on a routine patrol of
The
Packard was a smallish ship; she was
equipped with a light missile battery, two light 4" guns, a depth charge
rack, and a good-sized sonar and radar array.
"I
can't believe we just went Defcon Three," said Commander Delbert
Montgomery, the African-American officer who was the ship's Captain.
"Believe
it, sir," said Lieutenant Conwell, the communications officer. "The
despatch came right from
"What
the hell could attack us here on the Great Lakes?" muttered
"Sir,
sonar's picking up a huge mass nine hundred yards off the port bow."
"I
wonder what it is?" said
"Whatever
it is, we're going to check it out," said
"Aye
aye, sir," said the helmsman.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The
racers had stopped at the checkpoint at Plattsburgh AFB.
There,
the race had been temporarily suspended while the IRC investigated the reports
of the recent violence from the helicopter attacks. They were taking time to
question the racers and authorities before deciding if it was safe to continue
with the race.
"I
don't know why they're doing this," said Speed as he left the tent where
the IRC officials had been questioning him. He threw his helmet down beside the
Mach Five and sat on the ground glaring at Sparky and Trixie.
Trixie
was outraged. "You DON'T know why they're doing this? You mean you don't
remember that I was almost killed out there? You don't remember that those evil
men shot down my helicopter? If it hadn't been for Nova, I would have been
killed out there! Why the hell are you so blase' about all this?"
"The
race has to go on," said Speed as he caressed the globe. "It'll work
out."
"Speed,
this isn't like you at ALL! What are you rubbing in your pocket?"
"This,"
he said as he held out the globe. "You touch it. Go ahead. It'll make you
feel better."
Trixie
looked at the globe and then she looked at her boyfriend and the strange look
on his face. Sparky looked at Speed and said, "Speed, I think that thing
is affecting your mind. Put it down and talk to Trixie in your right
mind."
"That's
right," said Trixie. "You'd better decide who you love more...that
globe...or me!"
"If
you knew the power of this globe," said Speed. "Come on...touch it.
We can be together...and you'll know it'll work out..."
Trixie
slapped the globe out of Speed's hand and ran off in tears. Glancing back, she
was not at all surprised when Speed decided to pick up the globe rather than
run after her to resolve their quarrel.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Trixie
ran on, crying angrily into her hands. She ran away from the racers and sat
down near a portable Air Force water tank trailer, beating her fist into the
dirt in anger and frustration.
I can't believe Speed
she thought. He used to be so
considerate, so kind...he'd do anything for me. He would fight all sorts of
criminals and risk his life to keep me safe. Now, he has that globe...and...he's changed. He doesn't even care any more. He's like an
addict with his drug. And he'd rather be with it than with me. Is that what
you're telling me, Speed? That it's over? That you'd rather marry that thing
than me? What can we do to get the old you back? Or is it hopeless?
A
cultured, controlled British-sounding voice interrupted her dark reverie.
"It is close to hopeless, my child, but, luckily we can still act."
Trixie
looked up. A kindly, but old British man with a curly mop of white hair, a
ruffled shirt, velvet jacket, and black slacks squatted near her to help her
up. "I've seen you before. You're..."
"The Doctor."
"You're
a medical Doctor?"
"One
could say that; I am a Doctor of many disciplines. I am aware you're concerned
about Speed and the globe."
"How
did you know that?" asked Trixie.
The
Doctor looked around. Then, he spoke quietly. "Let it be said that...I am
not of your world, nor of your time. I am a Time Lord, and I share their gifts.
Wildstar, Nova, and Racer X know who I am and why I am here. "
"But
you sound British!"
"
"That thing.
I'm so mad at him for even picking it up!"
"He
couldn't help it, you could say," said the Doctor. "It called to
him."
"What
do you mean by that?"
"The
globe is, one could say, sentient in itself. It contains an echo of its
master's malevolence that makes it something that can make decisions for
itself, in an odd fashion."
"Are
you saying it can think for itself?"
"Yes,
and it is calling to Speed. And to me. And to the R'Khells. And to the Master,
and to Nova."
"Wouldn't
it be safer for you to take it from him?"
"No,
it wouldn't."
"Why not?"
"I
told you it is calling to us. It is tempting each of us to join with it and
become corrupt; become its new master. The power increases exponentially
depending upon a being's sensitivity to the globe. It is tempting me to become
absolute dictator over the Time Lords, for instance. It is hard for me to fight
the pull of this object; it takes a great deal of my mental reserves for me to
fight the temptation. To the R'Khells, it calls...seeking to make one of them
into a new dark Lord, like Ekogaru was to them, so, it calls to Karnaz. It
calls to the Master, as well. The Master is already corrupt; in his hands, the
globe would be a fearful device of universal domination. He is the one in whose
hands it would be the most dangerous of all. And, it calls to Nova."
"I
thought she was good?"
"She
is. But she was one of those three who personally brought down the Dark One who
made it. She, Aliscea of Pellias, and her husband Wildstar met him in single
combat in your future. That combat with him marked them,
leaving them open to the summons of his final malice. It was a great psychic
battle for Nova to resist the globe's call when she first met you, even though
she had to find it. For now, it would be safest in Speed's hands. Out of all of
us, he knows the least about how to use it, even though its call is hurting him
as well."
"So,
you want him to keep it so you won't be tempted?"
"Unfortunately,
that is the case."
"What
the hell is it going to do to him? It's making him a different person!"
"I
can deal with that...temporarily. For, that is enough time for him to continue
the race."
"They're
going on with this thing?"
"They
will, unfortunately."
"Why?"
"The
globe desires it," said the Doctor darkly. "To save Speed, we must
get to him as soon as possible. Come now. Follow me."
Not
sure of what would happen, Trixie stood up and followed the Doctor.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
R'Khells, in the meantime, were up to their own tricks
and plans. They were gathered around their own pit area off to the other side
of the large tent where the IRC was questioning the drivers.
"I
wish we could have brought down all of those 'copters," said Mehler.
"Unfortunately,
we couldn't quite do that," said Karnaz as he smoked from a hookah.
"We need to get rid of all opposition so we can get that globe for
ourselves..."
Not
far away, two figures squatted behind an oil drum. "Did you hear that,
Snake?"
"Yeah,
Cyanide. They want the globe, too. What a dirty trick. Everyone wants that
thing."
"Shh,"
said Cyanide. "They'll hear us. Quiet down, kid."
"And
do what?"
"Keep
listening, you idiot. What do you think?"
Not
far away, Mehler took a drag from Karnaz's water pipe. "I have the fleet
at the ready, Lord, in case we have more opposition from those fools."
"You've
shown our weapons, already. I wonder if that was wise."
"We
could use our space fleet to blast this continent to powder. In fact, we could
probably destroy this miserable planet altogether. What does it matter if we
kill five billion of a lesser species? The Terrans are nothing but pests. And
in this time, they have no Earth Defense Fleet to stop us."
"Could
we?" said Karnaz. "Remember, Wildstar has his ace in the hole."
"And
what is that?"
"You
forget that he has one very old space battleship up his sleeve? The battleship that defeated our legions years ago? The battleship that brought down His Lordship Himself?"
"Where's
he hiding the Argo, then? In the
trunk of his car?" sneered Mehler.
"No,
but if we just lay quiet, the Earth authorities will soon find it. It is not
far away. In fact, she is closer at hand than you think."
At that, Snake and Cyanide stole away
quietly to report back to Captain Terror.
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"We're
right over the object, sir," said a radar officer aboard the Packard.
"What
are you picking up?" said
"Got to be a Russky boomer under
the surface of
"All
right...ready depth charges. Battle stations."
Klaxons
went off aboard the
"Depth
charges armed and ready."
"Torpedoes armed and ready."
"We're
being painted by their sonar, sir," said the radar officer.
"What?"
"Whatever
is going on, they're awake...and they're moving...fast! Twenty-five knots from
a dead stop! And it's quiet! What the hell do they have on that thing, sir? Jet engines?"
"Pursue
it," said
"If I can, sir.
She's fading off the sonar, whatever it is..."
------------------------------------------------------------
Deep
underneath the surface of
In
the "sub's" main bridge, a chubby-looking man with freckles and a mop
of dark hair in a white uniform with green markings (among which were an arrow
down the shirt he wore) said, in a pronounced Texas accent, "She's fallin'
back, Sandor!"
"Great
job, Eager," said a somewhat cold-looking man without eyebrows who wore a
crewcut and a white and blue uniform. "The electronic counter-measures are
doing their job. They're not going to find our ship so easily. Kitano, keep her
on course."
"I'm
already doing that, sir," smiled a young man in white and green who sat at
the helm of the huge ship. "But when is Wildstar coming back?"
Steven
Sandor, the acting skipper of the space battleship Argo, took a deep breath. "I'm not sure. The Captain has a job
to do, like the rest of us."
"And
our job is?" said Homer, the ship's communications officer.
"To keep watch, like Wildstar and
the Doctor have asked."
"But
how can we do it if a frigate is chasin' us
around?" said Eager.
"Relax.
Soon they won't know we're here at all..." said Sandor with a smile.
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"Sir,
they've disappeared!" said the sonar officer on the Packard.
"Subs
don't do that," said
"Aye aye,
sir!"
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What will happen
next?
Can the Doctor save
Speed from the effects of the globe?
Will the R'Khells
recover it first?
What will the Car
Acrobatic Team do?
And, will the
Stay
tuned for Chapter Eight: "
TO BE CONTINUED....
To Return to the Introduction for "Attack and Counterattack" click here