Earth Racer

Earth Racer

I’m not sure how I got elected the PR person. I guess of the three of us, I was the only one who didn’t have a solid role to play in the actual racing, and they wanted me to feel like part of the team.

Oh, I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Carol Petty-Foyt. The oldest of three children who are the direct descendants of racing royalty. My sister Alison is the grease-monkey - give her an engine, and she can pull it apart and put it back together again in no time flat.

Then there is Michael, or as he is popularly known now, the Earth Racer. If there was ever you wanted someone in the driver’s seat of a car with everything on the line, it’s him.

Which worked out really well when the Archons came, and demanded someone represent Earth in their races.

Well. “demanded” might be a bit strong. The Archons aren’t the bad guys. They are more like referees, charged with making sure we’d have a fair chance of keeping our planet under our own control.

The species we actually race against for our planet are called the Dar’ones, or just “the Dark Ones”. And thanks to what the Archons showed us of what happens to planets they win, well, it didn’t take much to get Earth on board in terms of doing whatever we could to prevent them having our planet.

And once everybody realized it would involve racing, Michael was the obvious choice, even among other racers.

However while everybody knew the consequences of losing, nobody knew that winning would have a price as well.

And it would be Michael that paid it.

We discovered that price after the first of the twelve races when Michael, instead of wanting to celebrate his victory, pulled my sister Alison and I away from the crowds and dragged us back to our house.

That’s when he told us about the special boost that had been given to him for the races. He, being a rule-abiding guy, checked with the Archons, and got the go-ahead to use the boost. But the boost came with a cost. By a process I cant even begin to understand, the boost draws a fraction of Michael’s maleness as its source of power. So by using the boost, his right hand is now a woman’s hand - slender fingers, no hair, and even the nails look like a woman’s.

Michael was so freaked out, he asked us to keep his change a secret, and vowed that he’d find a way to win the remaining races without the boost.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep that vow.

We discovered that when after the second race he got out of the car and limped to meet us.

Eventually, I was tasked with telling the world he’d suffered a very minor issue with his left foot, but it wouldn’t prove a handicap in the next race.

I suppose that was at least technically true. His left foot now was as feminine as his right hand, but some thicker socks allowed him to not need a special shoe to keep racing.

At this point, I wondered if my brother would stop racing, maybe find someone to take his place. But to give him all the credit in the world, he decided the risk of losing was just too large to risk anybody else.

Which brings us to today. Any time now, the last race will be over, and barring some kind of mechanical failure, Earth will be safe forever from the Dark ones.

But unless I am very much mistaken, the person who will step out of the winning car wont be Michael anymore, but a girl named Michelle, and she’ll be a girl all the way through.

Racing isn’t always been known for it’s acceptance of women, much less what Michelle has become, but I’m hoping saving the Earth counts for something, and people will not turn against her once her secret is out.

Since, at least as far as I know, Michael never even dreamed of being a girl, the adjustment ahead is going to be difficult, to say the least.

So I’m posting this ahead of time, in hopes she gets the support she deserves as the savior of Earth, and not negativity because of her gender change.

So spread the word, wont you?

End.



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