I have always enjoyed writing but find it hard to find the time to motivate to do it often. Finding the Freewriters group here on Hive has been a great inspiration to get started. I don't know how I ended up with a moustachioed pod-racer with a pet cat-bird companion but I don't think I could have without being forced to think on my feet. Anyway, here goes!
High-temperature (5 minute free write - 5 minute editing) 29/11/2021
The sweat seeped through her moustache and dribbled down her neckerchief as she frantically worked her wrench. With a grunt she pulled all her weight behind and pulled. With a vicious hiss the steam escaped as the valve freed up and the pistons began to fire again. "Hop on," she beamed back at Dougie. "Meow!" replied Dougie and hopped on Mercy's shoulders - clamping hard with her gnarled claws and sharpening her beak on polished leather of her jacket. With a flourish Mercy Bellwether leapt into the seat of her pod-racer and fired up the engine. The scorching heat of the outer moons glistened off the tops of the dunes. Engines screaming, a fellow competitor buzzed past and showered her in sand. Mercy’s brow furrowed and her jaw tightened as she disengaged the clutch and felt the exhilarating thrust of the engine take her back off. "I'm right behind you" she whispered absent-mindedly as she set off in pursuit. She'd had worse setbacks than this before and she wasn't going to let a piston jam get between her and the fat prize purse at the finish line. Her podracer bounded over the ridge of the next dune, leaping dozens of feet into the air. She swore she could see the worried, beady eyes of the competitor below glance up as she sailed over their head and thumped down with a bone shuddering impact just inches ahead of the vehicle. She whipped the tail of the racer around sending a curtain of sand hurtling into the air behind her obscuring the vision of the trailing pod. When the sand settled there was nothing but the rear end of the hapless stragglers racer sticking out from a dune. The driver's curses faded into the distance as Mercy pulled away and Dougie howled in delight.
Image credit: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1173744?utm_content=shareClip&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pxhere