The Cherry Car

A road trip around Vekllei in the summer is an experience that makes life worth living. In some ways, it is a spiritual detox than reinvigorates a person with the intimate, elusive premise of the Vekllei spiritual enlightenment. In others, it is a way of returning to the earth, and understanding the human place in the principles of Upen.

No matter your intention, be it holiday or rediscovery, the very best of Vekllei is on display. Liberated of the desacralising effect of routine, the villages and factories you’ll zoom past take on new and extraordinary light. Removed from it, you see better how society works. The complex web of logistics, from roaring trains on adjacent rail lines to squinting at a passing nuclear flying wing through the sun roof, are now aesthetic indications of petticoat society.

The All-Atomic Auto Company betrays its name instantly by not offering a single reactor-powered vehicle in its entire catalogue. Indeed, commercial reactors are so heavy that they are only realistically mounted in truck frames, even in Vekllei’s insensitivity to cost. You simply cannot fit a fission reactor into a small auto. At least, not yet. In fact, in countries where costs are concern, it is feasible that reactor technology as we currently understand it will never be economical in the frame of a small auto.

The AAAC is actually an industrial concern of several Vekllei venrouive bureaus negotiating commercial atomics with the future. These include famous companies like General Reactor, which are at the forefront of global reactor technology and compete directly with Raytheon, and Common Battery. Several lesser known, unglamorous companies also contribute to the cooperative concern. Astrotransmissions supply transmissions and Montre-Rayon Foundry provide composite steels. The AAAC has an internal design house, but most of its staff are poached from appliance manufacturers.

The result are a series of small, playful cars with colourful paints and a friendly look. They’re sleek and fun without being toylike, and recall remarkable household appliance designs like Fettener Kettles or Vekllei Supernational television sets. Although AAAC autos are not yet atomic, they are almost entirely electric and fueled by Vekllei’s atomic and geothermal plants, legitimising the concern’s name partially.

The flagship of AAAC is the Cherry, the first mass-market vehicle the company has brought to international market. Several stereotypical errors were made introducing it to the non-Vekllei world, including the unusual name and even more unusual tagline — “The Future Car for an Eternal Summer.” In Vekllei, summer is a feminine, fragrant season of warmth and rebirth. The way it was transliterated makes it seem like a reference to the world’s rapidly destabilising climate and ecosystem, which is inching the globe towards economic collapse.

The car was a flop in the States, but saw moderate success in Europe. In Vekllei, it is one of the most common cars you’ll find in autopools today and is a favourite among road-trippers circumnavigating Vekllei’s diverse coast.