well where two people could sit side by side. In front was a very high-tech computer control panel.
“It works on magnetic repulsion, and it’s going to be the next big thing,” Jack told Grace. “Eric here is my test pilot.”
Jack gave her a quick history of the swing-lo. Although magnetic repulsion had been around for a while — high speed trains in Japan ran on it, as did the Bullit-Buses and Bullit-Trains in America and Europe — he had done something no one else had yet managed to do. He had amplified the force so that his swing-lo could actually fly.
“This idea of personal flying vehicles isn’t new,” Allyson added. “Guys like the physicist Nikola Tesla were working on it back in the early nineteen hundreds. He even had funding from John Jacob Astor and everything. They predicted it was how people would commute, but they never made it work. Now, over a hundred years later, we think we’ve got it.”
“It’s just a tiny bit unreliable,” Jack admitted with a quick grimace. “But we’re almost there.”
“In what way unreliable?” Grace asked nervously.
“You’ll be safe,” Allyson assured her. “We’re just playing around with the altitude.”
“Put this on and make sure you’re belted in,” Eric said when they sat side by side in the vehicle. He handed her the same helmet she’d worn on the motorcycle.
Kayla, Mfumbe, and Katie headed back to their own motorcycles, but Allyson and Jack remained, watching as Eric switched on a series of buttons and toggles. “This is prototype five,” Eric told Grace, speaking in a friendly tone, as though nothing was strained between them. “You should have seen the first one; it looked like a hunk of junk because Jack had only scrap metal to work with. Now with the funding, he can buy some decent lightweight materials.”
“I should be out looking for my family, not fooling around with some spaceship,” Grace fretted. She knew there was supposed to be an element of fun in all this. But what right did she have to be on an adventure like this when they were missing?
“We are searching for them,” Eric said. “We’re going to see what Jonathan Harriman can tell us. He said he would contact you, right? Well, there’s no way for him to do that now. So we have to do it for him. You’ll get around a lot faster with us than on your own. And if you relied on the Global-1 cops … believe me, you’d get nowhere.”
Eric pushed another button and the swing-lo elevated abruptly to about five feet off the ground. Jack and Allyson came alongside. “We’ve made some big innovations, Eric. You can put the roof bubble up now and she goes a lot higher. There’s a gauge to the right that will tell your elevation above sea level. If you get the chance, see how high she’ll go.”
“How high is too high?” Eric asked as he strapped on his helmet.
“We don’t know,” Allyson admitted. “But the craft will start to shake when you’re too high.”
“Oh, swell,” Eric quipped sarcastically.
“Just bring it back down and the shimmying will stop,” Jack assured him. “But don’t keep it shaking too long.”
“Why? What will happen?” Eric asked.
“Just don’t do it and everything will be fine,” Jack insisted.
With a nod to Jack and Allyson, Eric pushed the throttle forward and the swing-lo whirred forward, traveling toward the wide garage door from which they had entered. Grace gripped her seat anxiously. She found it strange to be traveling so close to the ground, and yet not be touching the earth.
The garage door had been opened, and now the craft entered. Immediately the doors shut and the elevator car began traveling upward. When it bumped to a stop, the door on the opposite side opened. Eric turned on headlights that illuminated the area around them. Instead of using the narrow alley the motorcycle had come down on the trip in, Eric steered to the left and came out into a gated children’s playground.
“Going up,” Eric
“It works on magnetic repulsion, and it’s going to be the next big thing,” Jack told Grace. “Eric here is my test pilot.”
Jack gave her a quick history of the swing-lo. Although magnetic repulsion had been around for a while — high speed trains in Japan ran on it, as did the Bullit-Buses and Bullit-Trains in America and Europe — he had done something no one else had yet managed to do. He had amplified the force so that his swing-lo could actually fly.
“This idea of personal flying vehicles isn’t new,” Allyson added. “Guys like the physicist Nikola Tesla were working on it back in the early nineteen hundreds. He even had funding from John Jacob Astor and everything. They predicted it was how people would commute, but they never made it work. Now, over a hundred years later, we think we’ve got it.”
“It’s just a tiny bit unreliable,” Jack admitted with a quick grimace. “But we’re almost there.”
“In what way unreliable?” Grace asked nervously.
“You’ll be safe,” Allyson assured her. “We’re just playing around with the altitude.”
“Put this on and make sure you’re belted in,” Eric said when they sat side by side in the vehicle. He handed her the same helmet she’d worn on the motorcycle.
Kayla, Mfumbe, and Katie headed back to their own motorcycles, but Allyson and Jack remained, watching as Eric switched on a series of buttons and toggles. “This is prototype five,” Eric told Grace, speaking in a friendly tone, as though nothing was strained between them. “You should have seen the first one; it looked like a hunk of junk because Jack had only scrap metal to work with. Now with the funding, he can buy some decent lightweight materials.”
“I should be out looking for my family, not fooling around with some spaceship,” Grace fretted. She knew there was supposed to be an element of fun in all this. But what right did she have to be on an adventure like this when they were missing?
“We are searching for them,” Eric said. “We’re going to see what Jonathan Harriman can tell us. He said he would contact you, right? Well, there’s no way for him to do that now. So we have to do it for him. You’ll get around a lot faster with us than on your own. And if you relied on the Global-1 cops … believe me, you’d get nowhere.”
Eric pushed another button and the swing-lo elevated abruptly to about five feet off the ground. Jack and Allyson came alongside. “We’ve made some big innovations, Eric. You can put the roof bubble up now and she goes a lot higher. There’s a gauge to the right that will tell your elevation above sea level. If you get the chance, see how high she’ll go.”
“How high is too high?” Eric asked as he strapped on his helmet.
“We don’t know,” Allyson admitted. “But the craft will start to shake when you’re too high.”
“Oh, swell,” Eric quipped sarcastically.
“Just bring it back down and the shimmying will stop,” Jack assured him. “But don’t keep it shaking too long.”
“Why? What will happen?” Eric asked.
“Just don’t do it and everything will be fine,” Jack insisted.
With a nod to Jack and Allyson, Eric pushed the throttle forward and the swing-lo whirred forward, traveling toward the wide garage door from which they had entered. Grace gripped her seat anxiously. She found it strange to be traveling so close to the ground, and yet not be touching the earth.
The garage door had been opened, and now the craft entered. Immediately the doors shut and the elevator car began traveling upward. When it bumped to a stop, the door on the opposite side opened. Eric turned on headlights that illuminated the area around them. Instead of using the narrow alley the motorcycle had come down on the trip in, Eric steered to the left and came out into a gated children’s playground.
“Going up,” Eric