Shake Your Bones

With the threat of imminent radiation exposure looming, MRC was decidedly lighter than usual. Colors were stitched, and Cloudbuster's portside sonic disruptor was rebuilt in the wake of last mission's disastrous mid-flight ejection. Skunk's plans to pilot Star Hustler were dashed when his bombardier never showed, so instead he took out his favorite zippy wet weather fighter: Pestilence; Wombat filled in on Cloudbuster duties. Nosepicker arrived just in time for launch, and in doing so ascended to become the 2nd most prolific SCUL pilot of all time (behind Skunk). Our destination tonight: Joyride's fort in the Brookline System to celebrate with snacks and various replica ships his successful completion of yet another solar orbit.

As launch time arrived, the weather looked promising to hold out, or at least only get us a little wet. Joyride navigated, leading us on a beeline route through Harvard and Allston en route to his fort near Packard's Corner. In the Allston System we showed the civilian populace how it's done, riding like pros through the heaviest of transport activity with grace and finesse. We arrived at Joyride's fort, where we were greeted by a small crowd consisting of Birddog and some houseguests visiting from India.

Pilots immediately commenced test flights of Joyride's curious collection, which included a replica pennyfarthing, boneshaker, and quadbike. Nosepicker and Wombat disappeared on the quadbike, taking it for a spin down Commonwealth Ave. into the darkness of night. Pilots took turns riding the pennyfarthing, which was surprisingly easier to handle than Moneypenny, while others risked life and limb riding the all-wood boneshaker, which certainly lived up to its name. Our fun was spoiled when two ST cruisers showed up less than ten minutes later after an apparent noise complaint (seriously?!), so we shifted into silent running mode and continued our experimentation for a little longer before going inside for celebratory refueling.

Inside we were treated to savory samosas and delicious cookies by Birddog, and Joyride gave us a tour of his bike "dungeon" in the basement, where he keeps a massive collection of salvaged bikes he's rescued from the scrapper over the years. Skunk and Epoxy became enamored with a collection of antique stereographs, while Nosepicker and Dr.Claw tried to figure out the trick to opening several enigmatic lock puzzles. Yoyo showed up as we were preparing to leave, and decided to join us on the ride back to base.

We departed close to bar-o'clock, and again followed a beeline path back toward base, this time crossing the BU bridge. Skunk and Nosepicker played musical ships, trading Pestilence and G.I. Jane back and forth several times along the way. We traveled up Brookline Street into the Central Constellation, passing hoardes of civilians spilling out of TT's and the Middle East into the streets, where the majority of hi-fives on the night were collected. We made it back to the launchpad 100% dry — not a single drop of radiation fell throughout the night — satisfied with an albeit technically failed mission well executed. WE WERE DETERMINED TO GET SOAKED!