The Veruppa itself was a steam bike, from ten years ago. Was it coincidence that the brain which powered the construct belonged to a creature that was pronounced extinct in the year the bike was sold? Kent certainly did not think so; he proposed to call it the Fatalis, after the aforementioned species of saber-toothed cat that was hunted off the face of the earth.

Brenda thought that was just silly and told Kent to let the bloody thing choose its own name, and promptly started the engine right on the spot. Miraculously, it sputtered to life, then proceeded to stall. It went something like “vuhroooop-p-p-p-pah”.

The name stuck.

When it neared completion, it was truly a monster. The former bike was a mere skeletal image of it’s current incarnation. Had it kept Kent’s suggested name instead, it would have fit perfectly. The fork that held the massive front wheel were saber-teeth, and pipes ran all along like sinew. Rivets dotted all along its back like a grim parody of the beast’s vertebrae. Also, it roared.