Skip to main content

story identification - Man accidentally becomes road warrior


This question reminded me of a similar short story that I believe I read in one of the various SciFi magazines, IASFM possibly, since I had a large collection of those, most from the 80's. It is definitely not "Why Johnny Can't Speed" although it is very similar.


It's set marginally in the future, or a semi-dystopian "future now" relative to when it was written. A man and his family are driving along the highway in a very standard family car hovercraft when someone in an obviously high-powered vehicle becomes aggressive towards him. (He is cut off, tailgated, something, I forget exactly what.) There is a sequence of detailed road combat - with the man and his family increasingly terrified at the situation - until the man finally manages to take the punk and his hovercraft out by throwing his and his wife's safety helmets out of the vehicle so that they get sucked under his adversary's hover skirt. He is then horrified to realize that he is now on the top-10 list of road warriors, having just picked off one of the highest-ranked members and thus earning his position. His car console lights up with messages of challenges from many other lower-tier warriors as the map shows them starting to converge on his location.


It differs from "Why Johnny Can't Speed" in that it's accidental (well, it's his fault, but he didn't realize what he was doing) that the man gets involved in the car wars situation, he distinctly does not have a combat vehicle, and there was no family death involved.


edited to change some details as indicated by comments



Answer



"Along the Scenic Route" by Harlan Ellison



This story takes the concept of "road rage" to a new level. A man traveling on a freeway is threatened by another car, and now they are locked in a duel (fully sanctioned by the State) using all the gizmos that technology can provide.




https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6425933-along-the-scenic-route



The husband wins, possibly by largely sheer luck as his car is severely underpowered compared to his opponent and all but wrecked. I believe he consequentially promises his wife that he won't duel again.


At which point the radio informs him that the opponent he defeated was one of, if not the top ranked duelists in his region. Subsequently he's shot way up in the duelist and has all kinds of high-ranked and wannabe duelists just lining up to try and take him down.



https://forum.rpg.net/archive/index.php/t-552818.html


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more