Garage, Floor 1, Palace of Power.

Down in the huge garage of the Palace of Power, Mason led Kevin toward a small wagon-style car with personalised plates saying, 'MASONCAR.'  By inserting the key into the lock on the driver's side and turning it 45� to the left, Mason unlocked the four doors and the hatchback of the car (which obviously had power locks).  Mason walked to the front-passenger side of the car as Kevin opened the driver's side door and entered the driver's seat.  Throughout the whole of VideoLand, as in the British Isles, Australia, Japan, and a few other countries on Earth, one drove on the left side of the road.  Thus, the driver's side was on the right of the car, and the passenger's was on the left.  When Mason had gotten into the passenger side, Kevin closed the door and locked all four doors and the hatchback by pushing down the lock device on the inside of the driver's side door.  Using the power window control, he turned off the power windows, forcing the windows to remain sealed unless he turned them back on.

            Mason handed Kevin the key, which he inserted into the ignition, on the right side of the steering column, with the following four spots:  LOCK, ACC, ON, and START.  Kevin adjusted his seat using the electronic seat control on the right side of the seat.  He and Mason put on their seatbelts.  Kevin used the electronic mirror control to adjust the right and left outside mirrors properly.  He manually adjusted the inside rear-view mirror.  He asked, "Has this car a cold-start engine?"  A cold-start electric engine was analogous to a fuel-injection gasoline engine; the accelerator pedal did not generally have to be pumped for either to start properly.

            "Yes," answered Mason.  "Extra point for asking."

            "Why are an automatic gearshift and a manual gearshift present simultaneously?"

            "Very observant.  The car has both a manual and an automatic transmission.  The gearshift selector lever on the floor is the manual gearshift.  The gearshift selector lever on the steering column controls the automatic transmission.  There is a switch on the steering wheel.  It switches between automatic and manual."  The automatic selector was on the right side of the steering column.  It had the following choices:  PARK, REVERSE, NEUTRAL, HYPERDRIVE, OVERDRIVE, DRIVE, 3, 2, 1, MANUAL.  The standard gearshift was between the seats.  Its selections were:  REVERSE, AUTOMATIC, NEUTRAL; 1, 2, NEUTRAL; 3, 4, NEUTRAL; 5, 6, NEUTRAL; 7, 8, NEUTRAL; 9, 10, NEUTRAL; and 11.

            "I notice," said Kevin, "that it's set for automatic.  How can I set it for manual?"

            "Pull back the selector lever for the automatic transmission," said Mason, "and pull it all the way down to 'MANUAL.'  Then, switch the switch on the steering wheel to MANUAL."  Kevin used his right hand to pull back on the automatic transmission selector lever.  He kept it pulled all the way back as he pulled it all the way down to MANUAL.  He then pressed the right side of a switch on the steering wheel, thereby switching from the automatic transmission to the manual transmission.  "Now that you're using the manual transmission, take the floor gearshift out of 'AUTOMATIC' and let it go to the centre, where 5 and 6 are."  Kevin put in the clutch fully with his left foot and used his left hand to move the gearshift out of 'AUTOMATIC.'  He released the shifting-stick, and it went to the point in the middle of the 5-mark and the 6-mark, where NEUTRAL was.  "Now, start 'er up," said Mason.  Kevin kept the clutch fully pressed in.  He switched the key in the ignition from LOCK to ACC, and then again from ACC to ON.  He then moved the key to START.  He held it there for a half of a second, then released it.  The key sprang back to ON.  The electric engine was running.  "Now that you've activated the engine," said Mason after a moment, "back us out of here."

            "Ten-four," said Kevin.  With the clutch still pushed in, he put his hand on the gearshift and pulled it to the left.  It stopped before he got it past the intersection between NEUTRAL and 1 & 2.  "What's wrong?"

            Mason smiled.  "A safety feature I forgot to tell you about, Kevin.  My fault.  Pull up the ring on the gearshift before pulling the gearshift to the intersection between NEUTRAL and REVERSE & AUTOMATIC, and pull it up until it is fully in REVERSE."  Kevin used his index and middle fingers to pull up the ring just underneath the gearshift handle, then pulled the gearshift left so he could engage it into REVERSE or AUTOMATIC.  He shifted it immediately into AUTOMATIC and then pulled the lever up to REVERSE.  The parking brake, which rested to the left of the clutch (the parking brake was activated by a foot-pedal and released by a handle), was engaged; Kevin put his right hand back on the wheel, put his right foot on the foot-brake, reached down with his left hand, pulled the brake-release-handle, fully disengaged the parking brake, and placed his left hand back on the steering wheel.  He checked the electricity gauge; it was full.  Remembering something, Mason snapped his fingers.

            "What?" Kevin asked.

            "Nothing urgently important," said Mason.  "Just something I'll have to do later at the office.  Let's go.  Back to the right."

            "Sí, señor {Sé, sáy-nyór} [Spanish] (Yes, Mr.) Mason," said Kevin, having learned Spanish (and other languages) very well.  He put his left hand on the back of Mason's seat, settled his left hip farther back in his seat than his right, and looked out through the back window.  Without looking, - as if by instinct - he quickly - not too quickly - released the foot-brake.  He then placed his right foot at a position in which the right side of the heel of his shoe was resting on the floor and his toes could push the accelerator.  He pushed the accelerator in a little bit, held his foot at that position, - also as if by some unknown instinct - and slowly released the clutch.  At the point at which the transmission was being 'connected' to the engine, - the friction point on the clutch pedal - he pushed the accelerator in a little more, and released the clutch a little more slowly.  At the friction point, the car had started to move backward.  When the car had started moving backward, Kevin had turned the steering wheel slightly to the right.  He kept the clutch near the friction point, since he had to stop in a few seconds.

            As the back half of the car moved completely out of the parking place, Kevin increased speed slightly as he turned the steering wheel farther to the right.  He straightened out the car quickly as the back of the car became perpendicular to the back of the car to the right of the space in which Mason's car had been parked.  Also at this point, he released the accelerator, pushed in the clutch, and put in the brake pedal.  The car stopped when the rear was even with the right side of the parked car.  Still with the clutch and foot-brake fully engaged, he shifted by some instinct into 2.  Reminding himself that the final driving test for his licence might require starting off in the proper gear, he quickly shifted to 1, the slot above 2.  He then released the foot-brake, put his right foot back in the same heel-on-floor-and-toes-on-accelerator position, pushed in the accelerator a little, slowly released the clutch to the friction point, pushed in the accelerator a little more as the car started forward, and fully released the clutch.  "Please go no faster than twenty-five kilometres per hour in here, Kevin," instructed Mason.  "We surely wouldn't want to ram into any other car coming out."  Kevin nodded, glanced to the right, glanced through the windshield, glanced to the left, glanced through the windshield, glanced at the speedometer (which read a steady 20 kilometres per hour), and directed his attention back to the front.  Suddenly noticing that he had seen something unusual, Kevin glanced back to the instrument cluster.  He saw an altimeter!

            "What is an altimeter doing in here?" asked a baffled Kevin.

            Mason smiled.  "This is a flying electric car," said he.

            "That explains it," said Kevin, nodding.  "I've seen some commercials about these.  A strange thing is that the only company makes them is FODR of MegaLand."  He thought of something.  "Metroid might be cloaked above the Palace.  If we go into the sky, they might decloak and attack."

            "Why would they have to decloak?" asked Mason.

            Kevin said, "That's how it is with the Romulans and Klingons in Star Trek, after whom Ludwig obviously got the idea for making a cloaking device.  The Romulans can't fire or have shields up while cloaked.  And they're only completely vulnerable for an instant after decloaking."  Kevin stopped at a T-junction in the garage in the aforementioned manner:  putting his right foot on the foot-brake and his left foot on the clutch.  He switched on the right turn signal.  After one or two seconds, he determined that no one was coming.  He took his foot off the foot-brake, then slowly released the clutch.  When the clutch reached the friction point, Kevin pushed in the accelerator a little, and the car started moving forward.  When his foot was completely off the clutch, Kevin turned right onto the crossing lane.  He turned successfully into the centre of the leftmost lane.  With both feet off all the pedals, the car moved at about 8 to 13 kilometres per hour.  He prepared to stop at the garage security door by placing the back of the heel of his right foot on the floor in front of the foot-brake, but he did not actually touch the brake.  He stopped on a downhill slope in front of the garage door with his right foot on the foot-brake and his left foot on the clutch.  He shifted to NEUTRAL.  He released only the clutch.  He engaged the parking brake by pushing down on the setting lever with his foot.  After Kevin had engaged the brake, Mason detached his seatbelt.  The lawyer unlocked his door using the standard lock device on the door.  He opened the door and got out.  He took out his wallet, got his ID card, and showed it to a gentleman at the garage-door operating station.

            While opening the garage door, the man asked, "Why are you going out in this weather, Perry?  It's hell out there!"

            "I know.  I'm using my waterproof, electric, flying car," explained Mason.  "I'm finishing up with a student."

            "Good luck," said the garage manager.  "I'll be waiting when you come back."

            "Thanks."  Mason put his ID card back in his wallet and put his wallet back in his back pocket.  He re-entered his car.  When he closed the door, Mason put on his seatbelt and locked the doors.  Kevin put in the foot-brake with his right foot and released the parking brake with his left hand.  He released the foot-brake about half-way so that the car would roll out.  When he got the car out, the garage manager closed the door.  Kevin fully put in the foot-brake and clutch and shifted to 1.  Keeping the clutch in, he released the foot-brake fully so that the car rolled down the slope.  Once on level ground, he re-engaged the foot-brake.  The road was slanted so that rain would slide off.  "The car," said Mason, "will go up at any speed over zero kilometres per hour.  It's preferable, though, that you speed up to at least 55 kilometres per hour before you pull the car up into the sky.  It can be a little bumpy to do so before then."

            "Okay," said Kevin.  "I'll speed up to 90, then rise.  That okay with you?"

            "Yes," said Mason.  "I usually pull up at 90.  Start off in gear 2 if you'd like.  I allow my pupils on the last day of testing to drive as they might instinctively or comfortably do without taking off any points.  Besides, this car starts off well in 2."

            Kevin turned on the windshield wipers on speed number three, due to the rain, and switched on the low-beam lights.  The light-switch was a twist-switch on the end of the turn signal switch, which was on the left side of the wheel; the wiper switch was on the right side of the wheel.  He shifted to 2.  He then released the clutch halfway between the friction point and being to the floor.  He released the foot-brake, then finished releasing the clutch.  The car moved up to 19 kilometres per hour.  Kevin rested the right of his right heel on the floor and pushed in the accelerator with the tips of his toes.  The speed increased.  At 50 kilometres per hour, he quickly took his foot off the accelerator, fully pushed in the clutch with his left foot, took the gearshift, moved it from 2 to 3, and released the clutch while pushing in the accelerator.  He rested his left foot on its heel in front of the clutch (covering the clutch, not riding the clutch).  From the beginning to completion, he made an extremely smooth shift into 3.  He did the same thing from 3 to 4 at 65 kilometres per hour and from 4 to 5 at 80 km/h.  At 90 kilometres per hour, he pulled back on the steering wheel.  The car rose.  At about 120 to 129 kilometres per hour, he made a smooth shift from 5 to 6.  "When do you want me to stop rising?" asked Kevin.

            "At about 1.52 kilometres high," said Mason, switching on the air stabilisers.  These air stabilisers made the air pressure in the car the same as on the ground without making the car explode.  At 1.52 kilometres high, Kevin straightened out the car so it was flying straight.  At 180 kilometres per hour, Kevin shifted into 7 extremely smoothly.  Mason said, "Speed up to about 250 kilometres per hour and set the speed control if you want.  We're probably in for a quiet ride.  At 250 km/h, press ON, then SET ACC."  Kevin set the speed control.  It was patterned as follows (the controls mentioned on the left were on the left side of the steering wheel):

            ON                        RESUME

                                          SET ACC

            OFF                      COAST

            "ON turns on the cruise control devices," explained Mason after Kevin had set the speed at 250 km/h.  "OFF turns off the cruise control devices.  SET ACC sets the present speed and speeds up the car to a higher set speed.  COAST slows down the car to a lower set speed, and RESUME resumes the speed after you stop.  Pressing the clutch or brake automatically cancels the cruise control, but pressing the RESUME button will move the car back to your set speed.  You can accelerate with the accelerator without messing up the set speed; when you release the accelerator, you just return to the previously set speed."  He smiled.  "I have a toy with which Dr. Wright's been experimenting.  Watch this!"  He pressed a switch.  On the outside, the car sort of melted� out of view.  On the inside, the atmosphere sort of melted out of view, but, then, it appeared as normal.  [� - In reference to the visual effect that occurs during the cloaking and decloaking processes, the verb 'melt' will always be in italics.]

            "Wow!" said Kevin.  "What did that do?"

            Mason said, "It's an experimental cloaking device.  Unfortunately,. . ."  On the inside, the atmosphere performed the same melt-and-appear sequence again.  On the outside, the car melted back into view.  ". . .it doesn't last very long, yet."  Kevin was watching where he was going.  "Now,. . . LOOK OUT!!!"

            Kevin said, "What is. . . yaaaah!!!"  Until he began talking, he saw nothing.  At the sight of a thin, blue beam of energy shining, he slammed his feet on the clutch and foot-brake, stopping the car in a near-instant.  "Whew!  We almost entered that warp zone that opened a second ago!"  Kevin and Mason wiped their foreheads.  Kevin shifted to NEUTRAL.  He set the parking brake; the car hovered in the air, as it was supposed to.  He then rested his feet on the floor.  "Can you call the police?"

            "Yes," Mason said.  He picked up a car phone and dialled Tragg's office.  "Hello, Tragg.  Will you do something for me?"

            "Maybe," said Tragg mildly.  "If it'll beat this blasted boredom.  What do you want me to do?"

            Mason looked at the trip odometer.  "There's a warp zone up here about eight kilometres north of the Palace at an altitude of 1.52 kilometres.  Can you check it out?"

            "It may be against the Homicide Department's will, but okay.  I'll send up the whole Vice Squad, Homicide Squad, and Larceny Squad."

            "Thank you," said Mason.  Tragg hung up.  After that, Mason hung up.

            "What'd he say?" asked Kevin.

            "He said he'd send up Vice, Homicide, and Larceny.  Must be something unusual for him to send most of the VideoLand Police Department out here."  He looked into the sky and examined it carefully.  He did not see anything. . . except that a part of a cloud was blurred ever-so-slightly.  "That cloud up there. . . part of it appears blurred.  Could something that's cloaked be in front of it?"

            "Maybe," said Kevin.  Just as Mason was about to do a scan, Lt. Arthur Tragg, Lt. Andy Anderson, Lt. Steve Drumm, Sgt. Brice, and Hamilton Burger approached Mason's car in Tragg's FODR.

            "That must be the Tragg," said Mason, seeing the words 'ANTI-HOMICIDE' written on the car's side.  Tragg linked up the two cars as Mason pressed a button near the climate-control buttons.  "That is another special feature of this kind of flying cars," said Mason.  "They have special docking devices."  Tragg, Anderson, Drumm, Brice, and Burger were on the right of Kevin and Mason.  Kevin let down the right windows; Tragg put down his left windows.  "Hello, Tragg," said Mason.

            "Hello, counsellor," said Tragg mockingly.  "I'm glad that, this time, you called on the good ol' police force to handle things for you.  This may be too dangerous an undertaking to be attempted alone."

            "Save it, Tragg," said Anderson.  "Mason is one of the bravest men in the universe."

            "Thank you, Andy," said Mason.  "Want a ride, Hamilton?"

            "Why, thank you, Perry," said Burger.  Burger unlocked his door, walked out onto the docking device, locked the door, closed it, and entered the back right door to Mason's car when Kevin unlocked it.  Burger shut the door and Kevin locked it.

            "We'll handle this, Perry," said Drumm, "but you can follow if you want."

            "Thank you, Steve," said Mason.  "It is probably not going to be so much better in weather anyway, so I might as well come along for the ride.  See you later, guys."

            "See you later, Mason," said Brice.  "Have fun."  Mason waited for half an hour.  By the end of that half-hour, every police car of Vice, Homicide, and Larceny had entered the warp.

            "Look over there, Hamilton," said Mason.  "Is my vision lying, or is that cloud blurred slightly?"

            "Either the vision of both of us is lying," said Burger, "or you are right.  I can hardly see any disturbance at all."

            "That could be a cloaked something," said Kevin.  He looked back at the warp.  "But this warp seems much more intriguing."

            "Want to see how well this young man can drive, Hamilton?" asked Mason.

            "Why not?  Go ahead." said Burger.  Kevin put the heel of his left foot on the floor in front of the clutch.  He pressed in the clutch fully with the end of his foot.  He pushed in the foot-brake, reached down with his left hand, and pulled the parking brake release lever.  He shifted into 2.  He then released the foot-brake.  He slowly released the clutch.  When he finished releasing the clutch to the friction-point, he put his foot on the accelerator.  They entered the warp zone.