The First Run

"With its first step, the machine stopped and stood upright in place."

The First Run is a Web Original Hard Science Fiction Short Story by H-M Brown. It is written as a fictional article about the first-ever test run of a piloted giant robot in New Jersey. Set Twenty Minutes Into the Future, the reporter undergoes culture shock when traveling to the farmlands of Southern New Jersey and meets a pair of brothers who created the giant robot. From there they share their theories and ideas to the reporter before making the historic attempt.

Story is available via this link.

Here there be spoilers!

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Tropes used in The First Run include:

• Applied Phlebotinum -- The prototype runs on a experimental 12-stroke battery/engine hybrid that runs on saltwater.
• Arbitrary Skepticism -- The Reporter really didn't believe there were farmlands in New Jersey.
• Homemade Inventions -- Scraps from junkyards, trucks, telecom stations, old fighter jets, all recycled.
• Humongous Mecha -- The prototype.
• Joisey
• Twenty Minutes Into the Future -- The fake article was written on August 15, 2023.