Conversation · Interfacing

Droplets of rain fall on the white-on-blue police livery of the motor carriage.

Wait, why am I even thinking about this? Wasn't I supposed to...

... do something important? Something murder-related? There's always something important. Doesn't mean you can't take a moment to admire this piece of machinery.

This is a Coupris Kineema, the Coupris MotorCorp's follow-up to their highly successful workhorse, Coupris 40, and the answer to the LUM's racing-bred 'Fevre' series.

With its air-cooled, rear-mounted twelve cylinder compression ignition engine driving the rear wheels through a four-speed manual gearbox, the Kineema is able to reach 100 kilometres per hour in 13.5 seconds. And go on to a top speed of 180 kilometres an hour.

Won't it roll over in the first sharp corner?

The high centre of balance is offset by a large battery bank mounted at the bottom of the cabin, feeding all the auxiliary systems and making the Kineema effectively a mobile power plant.

Turn your attention to the motor carriage itself.

Even at a standstill the uni-body Coupris Kineema looks sleek and dynamic. The cabin is tilted frontward to give it a more aggressive hunched look.

Someone has waxed it recently.

(Shrug.) "A motor carriage. One of many."

"Mhmh..." the lieutenant huffs. "No point in stopping then."

"I'd still like to take a close look."

"Sure, go ahead."

"What in there made the infernal whining sound that woke me?"

"You mean the coil noise?"

Come on, you know how it works... put it together.

"You mean when variable current passes through the coils on the electrical systems and the varying magnetic fields around them..."

He stares at you, intrigued.

This is your chance to impress the lieutenant!

"It causes vibration in the wires and as the frequency of the current happens to fall within the audible range"

"The resulting vibration creates the whining sound, that's right," the lieutenant finishes your sentence. "Very impressive."

There's respect in that curious look. Definitely.

"... the wires go bweeeeeeeeee and then neeeeeeeow?" (Loudly imitate the sounds.)

"Basically, yes -- although it's mostly about frequency range, not the wires making bwee-sounds. Still -- I'm impressed."

"What is 'coil noise'?"

"When variable current passes through wires that make up the coils on the electrical systems on this machine -- it causes vibration in the wires and the cores of the coils."

"When the frequency of the current in the coils falls within the audible range the resulting vibration creates the whiny sound you mentioned."

What a binoclard!

Whatever you do, don't make fun of the lieutenant for explaining this to you.

"Wow... how do you know all that?"

"I have pretty much maintained my vehicles by myself ever since one was assigned to me. You inevitably pick up some knowledge on the way."

There's pride in there. A trained driver, knows his ride.

"You are such a binoclard, Kim."

"I am not a binoclard, I am a driver... and a police lieutenant."

Poor choice of words. Lieutenant Kitsuragi obviously doesn't want to be a binoclard.

"Binoclard... binoclard..." he repeats to himself, eyes fixed on the ground.

Whatever high-school bullying memories you woke in your colleague, he doesn't enjoy them.

"Speak up, four-eyes, I can't hear you!"

"I'm perfectly proud of my glasses." The lieutenant adjusts his spectacles. "I need them for seeing. Anyway..."

"I'm sorry. I don't even know what it means. It just popped into my head."

"Maybe don't blurt out everything that pops into your head. Just some friendly advice. Anyway..."

"Mhmh, that's exactly what I thought."

"Of course..." His gaze wanders over your face.

The human lie-detector.

"What's it packing there?" (Point to the engine.)

"Hundred-and-thirty."

I reckon that's a seven-litre V12 there.

Man, that's got to be a major advancement over the KR18GU engine on the old Coupris 40.

"Oh, I thought it would make more."

"Believe me," the lieutenant replies -- sounding a little defensive -- "it's plenty enough. Kineema feels right at home on the raised motor tract. Hard to find something that could overtake it."

Harmel-Rioux 'Supersonique' -- a racing motorbike for the road -- could probably do it.

"Wait, hundred-and-thirty what?"

"Kilowatts," the lieutenant replies laconically.

(Let out a whistle.) "Momma's serving some serious macaroni."

"You lost me there." He is looking at you, perplexed.

"Hundred-and-thirty kilowatts is a lot of power, Kim."

"The Kineema is fast. Feels right at home on the raised motor tract. Hard to find something that could overtake it."

"It must be an advancement of the KR18GU engine on the older Forty models, right?"

"Yeah, you know it?" The lieutenant seems surprised.