Editing Vek's Journal on Randal (section)

=='''On Randal'''==

I came to Randal a while ago at the call of my cousins Arloxedra and Carissa.  Its always nice to see family.   Even better to meet them for the first time.  They needed some information on a race of creatures in millions of realms out near chaos and I was happy to provide it.

Afterwards I went and looked the place over.  I set Kindof down on a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Vulsar Galaxy, if you can believe it.   I've seen versions of that in a lot of realms, most notably a few places in the King Random's Deck.   I visited those.  Now, I was born in Chaos and  even I thought those were weird places.  Im inclined to do a commentary on the deck from the point of view of a family outsider.  [[Vek's Commentary on the Diners of Amber-King Random's Deck]]

So that brings me here.

The Guide told me about the city of Tentar, the center of the racing world.  It spoke of the vehicles, the betting, the celebrities.  It spoke of the nightlife. Its the nightlife that interested me.  

First off I paid for an All -Access Spectator ticket and came in the C gate of the Tentar A Arena.  Its a huge place.  According to the program it has 23 different tracks.  Mostly small venues.  My ticket gave me access for all the venues but not the field.

I found vendors by the entrance.  I purchased A Arena pants, and few randomly selected team jerseys.  I let Kindof steal a copy of the download program and analyze the races.. It seemed delighted and took it upon itself to send a ream into the planet's data net and start filtering information.   In time it gave me the odds and projections.  I was wearing a sporty hat with some kind of animal tail, a wildly colorful large goody bag with tigers and vehicles,  a colorful and light jersey that had a very chaosian-looking Fire Angel as the team mascot, pants with A Arena logos in purple a green.  I was a shockingly cacophonous display of colors, shapes, and team slogans.  I'd have made a Dufiro of Color turn its head.  Here though, I blended in.

I watched early morning races, learned the nomenclature. Sitting in the stands it seems it was bring you own provender.  I brought out a tall bottle of Bajas rum and shared it with those around me, making many friends.    I found an arcade among the vendors and spent a while in a VR chair learning how to ride the low slung bikes favored here. From there I went to one of the unused tracks where classes were given for a nominal fee.  After an hour in the seat the instructor told me I was a natural.  I told her they were not greatly different then the motorcycles I was used to.  She said she would love to see what I was used to.  I had been in the world only a few hours and I already had a date.

I found a dealership in one of the high priced concourses.  My All-Access pass gave me access to the concourse and its high priced vendors just not the luxury seating with the fancy views and the good champagne.   I looked over the bikes and let a salesman try and pitch his woo at me.  I found a nice street model with a variety of bells and whistles.  During his sales pitch he showed me the similarity of the street bike to the race bikes listed in the registry.   He explained to me that the rules stated that all bikes had to be within a certain few degrees nearly identical.  “Stock”  I was familiar with the concept. 

I asked him to show me the Terror's Trio team bikes on the registry.  Pointing out Carissa's bike I said I wanted the street version of that one. He said I surprised him for being a fan of such a newcomer but that she had a great future.   It was curious though.  Three such newcomers showing up on the circuits, not having grown in the ranks of the sport.  He suggested she must come from Star Fleet. it wan't my place to tell him the truth.  I ordered a race version and asked if him how I got registered to race.  Chuckling he took me over to his desk, kicked up his feet, and said that wasn't hard to arrange if I knew the right people and could pay the price.  I poured a collection of gems on his desk and set a tall bottle of Bajas whiskey next to them. he became very cooperative.  

In advanced societies it amazing how quick one can gain credibility with a small pile of gemstones.

After the salesman and his manager, and their accountant, and a friend from the bank examined the stones they established me an account and gave me access. For a fee of course.  Once it was clear how their monetary system worked I took the time to drop two more piles of stones on the account.  I was flush as far as Randal was concerned. 

I ordered a paint job for the street bike and ordered the racing bike put painted and put on hold till I acquired a garage.