Visit turns into Car Chase.

        I was sitting in a classroom, remote desktop to my car. (Yes, it was that sort of dream.) Apparently my home application server was being routed wirelessly to my car, and that in turn to my ultra portable notebook computer, which was in turn connected to an interactive projection system in an elementary classroom. I was trying to be careful to avoid any of my more graphic illustrations (like for Meteorus’ tales) so as not to disturb any of the children. I had the folder previews all turned on, as I am a very visual person that way, so had to rather carefully navigate around my folders. I was giving some sort of talk on how I worked. (They had just read one of my children’s stories.)

        Suddenly the alarm went off. My car was being stolen. I excused myself and ran out to the parking lot. The thieves had ripped the doors off of the car because it kept opening them to make driving difficult. They managed to get the car on a trailer and started to drive away with me running after them. I started the tracking application and activated the annoying music system, but the thieves just jumped out and climbed into the cab of their tractor.

        A dual box trucker stopped and asked if I wanted to follow them. I tossed my notebook into the truck and climbed in after. Some of the kids had followed me, and asked why I didn’t just cast a spell to stop them. I tried, but nothing happened. “Sorry, that only works in my stories.”

        We drove off after the bandits. The roads we were on were mountainous and narrow, but we managed to stay close to my car. We kept trying to get some law enforcement involved but were rapidly drawing away from their jurisdiction, and I wasn’t part of a reciprocal enforcement agreement in the county the thieves were heading towards.

        The point of view kept shifting on the notebook, I had a news chopper overhead that I could tap into their feed. As the thieves started up a particularly steep incline, I was able to start my car and roll it all the way to the back of the trailer. This shifted the balance of the rig and caused it to fishtail. It was a lot like playing a video game, shifting the car forward and reverse to add to the swing of the trailer.

        “I want to stop them, so we can catch them, otherwise I won’t have enough to replace everything they damaged on my car.”

        “Don’t worry, I know a shortcut, we’ll head them off.”

        “Aren’t you worried about your cargo.”

        “Solid iron ingots, not an issue, they’re all gonna get melted down anyway.”

        That actually made me more worried as the trucker floored it and headed down onto a frontage road. We shot through a tiny picturesque town (I shot a couple of reference photos as we raced through.) There was a couple of people outside the café who waved at us as we drove past.

        “We got him now!” the driver shouted as he pulled onto the road ahead of the thieves and proceeded to block all lanes with his double trailers.

        “I don’t think he’s gonna stop in time.”

        “No worries, I’m insured fully.”

        I jumped my car off the trailer and the thieves truck was actually able to stop before it hit us.

        “I don’t think I can repay you.”

        “Sure you can, just make me a character in your next book.”

        I blinked at him. Raised my camera and took a couple of photographs.

        “Book after next, the next one is at the publisher all ready.”

        “Deal.”

        We jumped out and tackled the thieves, well, two of the three of them. Other drivers joined the chase to capture the third one.

        “I never expected that you would be just like Karyl!” One of the police officers offered when he arrived to take the thief from me.

        “Well, he’s a lot tougher than I am, trust me.”

        “Actually,” the trucker offered, “you’re just like him. Or he’s just like you, that was just like being in one of your novels!”

        “Well, thanks to you, I think Karyl Emmet Fuller has just found a new friend.”

        Goofy tidbit: Karyl Emmet Fuller is the name I just gave to an Undead Priest character in World of Warcraft.

Ad astra per technica,

FF