Author: admin

Road trips are never as fun as they seem to be. Being stuck in a car for five hours at a time with nowhere to get more water or go to the bathroom is exhausting and not something that I actually enjoy doing. I mean, why would I sit in a car for twelve hours to drive not even halfway across the country when I could fly in half the time?

I should have stuck to my morals and not said yes to road tripping with my friends over the summer. I caved and said yes when my friend said she got general servicing at the best mechanic in Raceview. I understand what a car service from that mechanic means and I knew that the safety of the car would be absolutely top-notch. I value my safety a lot and so I said yes in a moment of weakness. I should have also thought about the hours I’d have to spend cramped in a car pumping out recycled air and singing songs that I don’t like. I’ve already mentioned the lack of toilet stops and water, which probably deserves to be mentioned again because it’s so annoying.

Despite the road trip being the bane of my existence, I do have to give credit where credit is due. The annual car maintenance undertaken by the Raceview mechanic was second to none. The car went up so many mountains with tight turns and windy roads with complete ease. Not once did I feel unsafe during the drive and I definitely owe that to the good work of the mechanic. Other than the great condition of the car though, the drive was torturous. 

If any of my friends think I’m getting up at 4:00 am ever again to drive twelve hours away then they are kidding themselves. It’s just not going to happen – whether they like it or not.

From the local scenery, Maphira could tell this was an auto shop located in Moorabbin. She’d been in the area enough times to recognise some of the buildings across the street, meaning that she didn’t just know the suburb, but she knew exactly which car service shop located in Moorabbin she had been brought to.

They led her to a strange theatre at the back of the auto shop, like a medical theatre where people could watch the procedure except for car repairs instead of surgery. In the seats above her, she spotted a man in dark robes with a gold mask depicting an elephant, along with a few lesser-looking Conclave members. She assumed the masked man would be the Great Mechanist Vai had spoken of – the leader of the Conclave of Mechanists.

“Bring the test subject forward,” said a man who stood by a computer. “Let’s get Project Bender underway. It is time for my child to take flight.”

“Yes, Dr McBane,” said Vai. “Where do you want her?”

Dr McBane, the once-Premier of Victoria? He was the Conclave’s top scientist behind this project? Already, Maphira had learned a great deal. She had to see this through, though. What else could they reveal to her in their arrogance?

“Put her against the wall there, with the chains on, please,” said McBane. “This is no simple car air con regas being done here today. No, it is much more complicated than any mechanical work. Now, bring out Project Bender!”

As they led Maphira toward the wall, she grabbed her radio piece and put it in her ear, ensuring her hair covered it up well. Set to Mr Chowski’s broadcast, which was currently just playing classic tunes, she was ready for whatever the Conclave could throw at her.

And now, finally, she’d get to see just what this Project Bender was all about. With any luck, maybe she could stop the whole thing before it even got started.

I stepped back and looked at my car, my pride and joy, the cherry-red apple of my eye… wrapped around a lamppost.

         ‘Well that’s not very good, is it?’ chuckled the tow truck driver, crossing his arms next to me.

         I turned, very slowly, to glare at him. He put his hands up in mock defence.

         ‘Oh, don’t mind me, just got a job to do.’

         ‘And yet,’ I said. ‘Here you are.’

         ‘Well, I’ve gotta wait for the coppers, don’t I? Can’t go shiftin’ evidence around before they get here to decide just how much trouble you’re in.’

         I turned away from him, glaring at my car instead.

         ‘So what was it?’ he asked. ‘Bit of the drink? A little too much candy?’

         ‘A duck, actually’ I turned back to him. ‘I swerved to miss a family of ducks.’

         ‘Right, right…’ he nodded. ‘Well, I hope those ducks know a good mechanic around Bentleigh, because I don’t know that your insurance are gonna be too happy to pay for all that.’

         ‘Probably not,’ I sighed. ‘They’ll probably just pay me out and scrap it.’

         ‘A right shame, that,’ he shook his head. I could only nod.

         ‘What is she, a ’79?’ he asked. ‘I hear the electrics are a beast in those. ‘I have a buddy who does auto electrical repairs, near Bentleigh actually, and he–’

         ‘Sorry, could we not?’ I asked. ‘I’m actually still going through a lot, right now.’

         ‘Oh yeah, too right,’ he apologised with a slight bow. ‘Because she’s a ’79?’

         ‘Because I was in a car crash.’

         ‘Oh yeah, gotcha, spot on too, that,’ he nodded, sticking his hands in his coveralls. ‘Did you need an ambulance, or…’

         ‘I’m fine.’

         ‘Yeah, yeah, no doubt, no doubt…’

         I took a deep, shuddering breath, wondering how exactly this man had given me more of a headache than my airbag had.

         Then the sirens arrived.

‘You know, I have no idea what the aircon actually looks like.’

         I glanced over at Drew in the passenger seat, slowly chewing on a brownie. He’d asked me to pick him up from a dental appointment, and I still owed him for helping me move a couch a few weekends back.

         ‘What?’

         ‘The aircon,’ he said, pointing at the vents in my dashboard. ‘I don’t know what the whole thing actually looks like.’

         ‘Well, it’s…’ I frowned as I realised I had no idea either. ‘It’s just a standard aircon, I guess.’

         ‘But you don’t know,’ he pressed. ‘None of us do.’

         He took another bite of the brownie.

         ‘I’m sure that mechanics would,’ I rolled my eyes. ‘We could stop in at one of the car repair shops near me, if that would help you?’

         ‘What if they’re lying?’ he whispered.

         ‘What?’

         ‘The mechanics.’ His eyes flared wide. Another bite.

         ‘Why would the mechanics… what are you talking about?’

         ‘You know, I heard of a mechanic near Adelaide who regasses air conditioning systems in cars,’ he nodded, more or less having the conversation with himself at this point.

         ‘So?’

         ‘So, what gas is it?’ he asked, fixing me with a conspiratorial stare. ‘What exactly are we breathing?’

         ‘Air, you moron. It’s air.’

         ‘But what kind of–’

         ‘The breathable kind!’ I snapped, stopping slightly too hard at a red light. ‘The gas is just the refrigerant. It just needs to be repressurised every now and then to make sure the system is working right.’

         His eyes widened even more, as he pressed himself against the door.

‘You,’ he hissed. ‘You’re one of them!’

‘A mechanic?’ I frowned.

Before I could stop him, he’d unclipped his seatbelt and thrown open the door, running as fast as he could through the intersection, away from me.

‘Drew!’ I called after him, shaking my head. With a sigh, I reached over and pulled his door shut. 

As I leaned back, I noticed he’d left his brownie on the seat behind him.       

I shrugged and took a bite.