Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly by Conrad Wesselhoeft

“I’d like to invite you to join us for war games this Saturday at White Sands.” “Look,” I say, glancing around for my jeans.

Sergei’s a superb UAV pilot, technically the best we’ve ever seen. “Last night, we watched you knock Sergei out of the number one position on Drone Pilot. “Arlo, we’ve been following you on the leaderboards for some time,” the man says. Hump and grin, hump and grin-only God knows the mind of a high desert poodle. Call me in a year.”Įl Guapo leaps onto the bed and thrusts his shaggy hips at me. ” I roll out of bed and whip a T-shirt off the floor. “What are you,” I ask, “the CIA or something?” “Beat who?” “SergeiTashkent, of course.’” Now he has my attention. “Nice job yesterday on Drone Pilot,” he says. “It’s an honor to speak with a world champion,” the man says. I have exactly two minutes and twenty-seven seconds to piss, slap water on my face, get dressed, and eat breakfast.īut first I’ve got to deal with this tool.

with success being getting to school before the 7:29 a.m. On a blackboard, you can write it this way: But my body knows all the moves, how to cut the corners. In five seconds, I’ve accelerated to Maximum Efficiency (ME). On the other hand, once Kenya Man starts rapping, I’m up, moving fast. On the one hand, I give myself Maximum Sleep (MS)-sleep to the very last mil- lisecond. Damn, just what I need, a recruiter calling me at this hour. I’m Major Keith Anderson, United States Air Force. Probably the only stan- dard poodle in all northeast New Mexico. He’s the grin- ningest, humpingest dog in the world. I shove him, and he tumbles ass-over-floppy-ears onto the floor. ”Įl Guapo-“The Handsome One”-arches his back and starts to hump me, his way of saying good morning. “Am I speaking with Arlo Spencer Santiago?” “Uhhhhhhhmm. Scramble and find my phone wedged under El Guapo’s ass, punch in.īut instead of Cam or Lobo on the other end, it’s some space cowboy.Įverything about the voice sounds like a jail door clanging shut.

Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly by Conrad Wesselhoeft