Thursday, February 23, 2017

Microstory 524: Trackstar Uses Chemicals to Enhance Speed

No one in the world is faster than Alderic Krusen. That statement is meant to be taken literally, not as hyperbole. Just two months ago, when the track season began at Red Mountain East Tertiary School, Krusen was an unexceptional athlete, by his coach’s standards. He was good enough to make the team, but certainly no star. His parents saw his joining as an opportunity for him to stay in shape. They describe him as having grown up as a very active boy, running all over the neighborhood, unable to contain his own energy. They were worried, as exhausting as it was to keep up with him, that he was losing that as he grew older. He started getting more into video games, television, and other more sedentary activities. They thought he needed to get out more. He wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about the prospect, but he seemed trust their judgment, and was willing to give it a shot. Things changed just over a month ago. Krusen began to show signs of obsession. He would frequently skip class to workout, or run laps, and could often be seen training at night. His teachers gave him a little flexibility, not so that he would perform for his school, but because they collectively believed it to be in the best interests of his emotional state. What they didn’t know was quite how far he would take it.
Even after all this hard work, he was still not one of the best on the team. He was still not the fastest. And it was becoming clearer every day how important to him that was. His behavior began to change more. He started distancing himself from his friends, and failing to come to class almost altogether. He continued to pass tests, and do excellent on his home assignments, but he no longer showed any interest in academic studies. And then one day, it happened. He teammates describe a completely different person walking onto the field that day. He was dressed differently, sported a new haircut, and even carried himself unlike the old Alderic Krusen. He had managed to change how people perceived him in nearly every way, and he knew it. He invited himself to a practice race that he was not scheduled to be a part of. The student he was replacing didn’t seem to mind all that much, so the coach let it happen. The buzzer went off, and the racers did too. Krusen just stayed put, crouched at the starting line, featuring a full game face. He wasn’t exhibiting overconfidence; it was more like it didn’t matter to him when the race was supposed to start. He was going to run when he was good and ready.

The other racers were nearly halfway through their first lap before Krusen finally took off. At first, he was running at about the same speed as he normally did. Then he was moving faster, and then as fast as their top runner. Then he was moving even faster. And then he was moving faster than the previous record-holder for the fastest person in history, Velita Giese. And then he was moving faster than physics says any human should even be capable of running. Spectators say that he would have lapped his teammates twice, and crossed the finish line, by the time they finished their first lap. They were not able to find out, though, seeing as that the other races were too astonished by what was happening to keep going. For one brief moment, Krusen was ecstatic at finally having won a race. Then he looked around, then at his watch, and his face changed. He lowered his head under his shoulders, having presumably realized his mistake. After questioning by his coach, his favorite teacher, his parents, and even detectives of science, Alderic Krusen revealed that he did not complete the race on his own. He had first injected himself with some kind of unique drug that increased his speed. He turned the performance-enhancing drug over to the authorities at SDS, absolutely refusing to reveal its source. Insiders say that scientists are currently analyzing the drug to determine its properties. What Krusen did was illegal, but it could have potentially astounding applications in a number of fields. We will update when results are released from the laboratory.

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