Speedtrap

Gilk and Tolona wanted a simple item that would let a Rocket Dog slow down his adversaries and let him pull ahead - a Speed Trap. They experimented with several designs - warped space that would create a quicksand obstacle, dispensers that would eject super sticky glue to mire an adversary in place, giant magnets, hook-and-loop fasteners that would tangle other dogs, and more - but each had a flaw. The warped space quicksand obstacle was too complicated, and sometimes failed near high gravity moons, the super sticky glue worked on a planet’s surface, but not on Gyroscopia, the magnets didn’t work on dogs that were traveling light without metal items, and so forth.

In the end, a simple low-tech invention - a scattering of spiked caltrops - was exactly the right design for the common Speedtrap. The multi pointed metal caltrops are annoying enough that a speeding Rocket Dog needs to slow down to avoid them, but not sharp enough to be dangerous. A scattering of them in front of a competitor will force him or her to stop and pick their way around the obstacles (Gilk and Tolona tested this in the design lab, using it as a practical joke on other Toba inventors - a joke that Gilk loved, but which didn’t amuse all the other designers and engineers!)

If you’re looking for a trap that can buy you precious time when racing and works in all environments from the futurist streets of Quantum Prime to the sky islands of Zenexia, the Speedtrap might be just the right choice.