I've had an essay on WOC fauna sitting in my draft folder for ages. I really want to do an essay about all the neat critters that inhabit the world of Cycle 9 (cannon and HC).
In the meantime, here's a sketch I did for Carstober 2025 that depicts a few of the critters mentioned in chapter 9:
Unhinged Cars or Planes Headcanon Wednesday: UV markings
I Headcanon that most vehicles can see farther into the ultraviolet spectrum than humans, with the specific range of wavelengths comparable to that of most song birds/birds of prey. Different sensors within the windscreen allow a vehicle to see objects in the visible spectrum (i.e. the "human vision" pic in the image below), the UV spectrum only, or a combination of the two (the "bird vision") pic.
A flower in visible light and the same flower if you could only see UV radiation.
I was inspired by a video talking about UV markings on a pigeon, like the .gif above. Really cool stuff that lends itself well to Sci-fi.
But...let's kick it up a notch. X3
Every vehicle has three different types of UV markings on their bodies: Their factory Coat-of-Arms, model, and gender.
The Factory Coat-of Arms is an elaborate pictograph unique to each factory and it is almost always located on a vehicle's hood, roof and front left fender (left side fuselage for planes and helicopters, port side bow for boats and subs). Below are how I Invision the Coat-of-Arms for Cadillac, Oldsmobile and Hudson. The colors aren't true to life, I only had three marker colors on hand.
These cannot be removed by grinding or sanding (they regenerate after a week). Certain types of paint can mask them, but ultimately they'll bleed through. Model markings (not pictured) are often woven into or around the pictograph, and are written in Angelic Base, the language of the angels. Few folks outside of mechanics and doctors can actually decipher the language.
Gender markings are present on vehicles of reproductive age (11+), and the color of one's coupling panel in (UV light) denotes gender (yellow for females, purple for males). On the body metals surrounding the coupling panel is a ring of Angelic Base writing that will change color and pulse if a vehicle is aroused.
I'm working on some additional sketches, but wanted to post this as close to Wednesday as I could... OTL
Also, if you haven't checked out my Doc Hudson fanfic, give it a read!
Should have this chapter edited and posted very, very soon.
Cycle 9: The Present
“Let me guess: Ghost could commiserate on her level.”
Doc nodded, looking troubled. “Yeah…” He bit his lip and looked away, his gaze lingering on the butte for almost a full minute before he continued. “Ma…didn’t go into ALL the details about what Ghost dealt with growing up, but if what she DID record was any indication…his folks made Spinney and Claire look like saints.” His expression darkened. “They ran a big moonshine ring on Pine Mountain; one of the largest in the area. When I used to run ‘shine, we’d call that a ‘big bucks, big risk’ enterprise. You could make boatloads of money…but the ATF would put in the extra effort to try’n find and bust ya because it made ‘em look good.” He pushed himself a little higher on his front suspension and smiled proudly. “Granddad’s still was a great example.”
Lightning was rapt with attention. Not really a student of history—at least the non-racing parts of it—the whole idea of vehicles risking their lives to make and smuggle whiskey through the forests and mountains of the eastern US was quite appealing. Not as appealing as dinosaurs, but still something that he could have seen himself participating in had he been manufactured in Doc’s time or before.
“Usually, in that sorta enterprise, the folks in charge are responsible for makin’ the shine. They rely on runners—or ‘trippers’—to transport it to a market,” His expression faltered. “Whereas Granddad paid folks to run his shine, Ghost’s folks ‘saved money’ by siring, or adopting, children that they then groomed into runners.”
Lightning stared. “W-what?”
“Yep.” Doc’s chrome twisted in a snarl. “On Ghost’s seventh birthday, his folks ‘celebrated’ by loading him down with as much ‘shine as they could fit in him, and made him run it to Morristown.” His expression darkened. “They didn’t even wait for his plating to harden.”
Lightning swallowed heavily. He remembered his seventh-year growth spurt, and how much pain he was in for most of it. He could barely move, let alone drive. Loading someone down AND making them run their engine hard during that stage was borderline torture.
“Ma trusted him completely after that; told him everythin’ about what was goin’ on with Sam, and Spinney an them.” He smiled, sadly. “She…considered him a friend, and she was certain that Ghost felt the same way.”
“So…is that why they hooked up?”
Doc’s mouth became a thin line. “Them hooking up was a solution to a problem. The only solution…” Doc added quickly. “Spinney had spent years thinking of ways to ruin my Granddad without making himself, or his family, look like the instigators. I don’t think he was originally planning to use Ma as a means to that end, nor Sam for that matter. But Sam bein’ sterile, an the two of ‘em hittin’ maturity in the same year, presented an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up…”
“And…I bet he knew that your Grandpa’s temper would get the better of him once he figured out what Spinney had done…”
Doc nodded. “Ma was trapped; Sam was trapped. The only way out was to expose Spinney for the liar that he was. But…how do you expose someone who’s so well-respected about town? Who covered all o’ his bases ten-fold?”
Lightning shrugged. “I dunno. It seems like an unwinnable situation.”
“That’s what it seemed.” Doc nodded, in agreement. “However, there was a solution hanging over them the entire time…”
“An affair?”
“Yep.”
“But…how would that actually help? Wouldn’t it give Spinney even more ammunition to…” Lightning’s voice trailed off. “Oh!” He exclaimed with a jump.
“Figured it out, did’ja?” Doc grinned.
“Spinney would have to eat his own words AND he could never accuse her of adultery because it would prove he was lying!” Lightning looked very proud of himself. “But…” his eyes flicked over to his mentor. “I mean, heck, they could have just done up some formal, surrogate paperwork, right? Make the whole thing legitimate from the start…”
Doc shook his front end. “The only legal means of reproduction in Georgia, at the time, was natural siring. “That’s why they didn’t think of it right away; both Ma and Granddad were raised to believe that any sort of infidelity was wrong. Granddad, especially, would have been loathe to condone such a thing seeing as he cut off his own Ma and Step-dad for it.”
Lightning’s eyes widened in surprised.
“And…as much as Ma was cross with Sam about everythin’…she did love him. That’s a fact. And Ghost…” His expression softened. “Ghost was a gentlecar, though and through. He knew Ma was really goin’ through it, and as much as he thrived off making connections with folks, he…” A pause. “He wasn’t the sort of person to take advantage of someone else for personal gain…”
Lightning canted his body. “But…you never knew him…”
Doc didn’t say anything for a long time. “When you live as long as I have, and seen what I’ve seen, you start to realize that the universe has a very twisted sense of humor.” He chuckled, darkly, and fell silent.
Lighting looked even more confused, but when Doc didn’t explain, he asked. “OK…but…” He shook his front end. “They had to get together at some point. What changed?”
