Hmm! Thanks; the math is tight, and now I feel embarassed for not realizing that I could separate that out.

I *think* I want to do this...
vec_scale(my._speed_x, pow(air_fric*2, time)*pow(0.5, time));
...so as to retain resolution (just off the top of my head, 0.996/2 is identical to either 0.995/2 or 0.997/2 due to the fixed point math). However, either way, I'm still (essentially) hitting different speeds on different systems.
Anything obvious jump out, here?