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Flash Fic Redux - The Wide, Wide System Of Sports

Solar Sports Illustrated Issue 23, 2130 CE

Belting Out Rock Hits

It's half obstacle course and half astrophysics problem. To thrill junkies, it's quaintly referred to as "skipping stones." And like all great challenges, it is deceptively simple in its premise.

From a given platform, an individual plants their feet against the end of a solenoid activated ram and is launched out into the Asteroid Belt. A "skipper" squeezes into a specialized spacesuit, one which tries to strike the right balance between durability, life support endurance, and as little extra mass as possible. The goal is to reach a targeted platform on the far end of a course in the least amount of time. The suits have minimal thrusters and only a limited amount of fuel capacity. The challenge comes from trying to generate a series of gravitational slingshots around various asteroids to not only increase velocity, but also adjust one's orientation and heading to navigate the course. There is no computer assistance on the suits, no navigational aids other than strobing beacons which mark the course. Everything is done with the Mark I human eyeball, and an extraordinary amount of guts.

Unsurprisingly, given such narrow margins for error, it's a sport that has a lot of dead legends...

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Reaping The Whirlwind

As every schoolchild knows, Jupiter's "Great Red Spot" has a diameter roughly twice that of Earth. And as most advanced schoolchildren knows, there is a layer of Jupiter's atmosphere which contains enough oxygen (and other trace gases) to allow humans to breathe. It is these two facts that make the Cadmus Aero-Regatta such an exhilarating race. Six-man teams drop their boats into Jupiter's atmosphere, aiming for the edges of the storm, and go on one of the wildest rides in the Solar System. Reaching speeds of almost a thousand KPH at times, airship crews must ride the edge of the Great Red Spot for a single circuit, a task which can take up to a standard Earth week at times.

Sailing the edge of a storm twice the size of Earth for days on end isn't for the faint of heart. Jupiter's gravity is constantly trying to drag the hull down into its crushing depths. Static discharges which could power cities for a month have blown holes into airships, destroying sails and killing crew members with horrifying ease. And "hailstones" of diamond tossed up from lower layers of the atmosphere can shred flesh, bone, and composite so quickly, the average person wouldn't even realize they're in danger until it's too late.

But, as three-time champion Rohit Mainwaring said after he crossed the finish line last year, "It's such a fucking rush!"

(Originally written on r/humansarespaceorcs)

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