Space Race (Space Race 1)

by Nathan Hystad

  The entire area was encased in a dome, blocking the incessant wind and cold air that accompanied being this far from the cities on Mars’ ever-angry surface. The Corporation’s each had around a thousand people in attendance. There was a mixture of the executives and their families. SeaTech was noticeably absent, but no one spoke of it. Bryson Kelley was always a bit of an outsider, and since none of the other Primary Corps wanted SeaTech in their midst, they were probably amused he didn’t show.

  “You ready for this?” Luther asked the young man, and he straightened, wearing his jumpsuit with pride. A second later, he leaned over, dropped his helmet, and threw up on the ground.

  “I can’t race,” he muttered, wiping his mouth with his uniform sleeve. “I’ve been sick since last night.”

  “The food. I bet the bastards spiked his dinner.” Luther looked down the line, and I noticed Varn working very hard not to laugh a short distance away.

  “Are you sure, Holland?” I asked. The energy here was palpable. The Pod portion was the highlight of the Race. This and the finish line were the most pumped moments of the great Space Race, and we couldn’t afford a major loss today.

  He picked up the helmet and held it toward me. “You have to race the Pod for me.”

  I stared at him, then between the other two. Jade had a worried expression. Luther seemed confident as he nodded at me.

  “Damn it,” I muttered.

  We were standing on the stage behind Octavia with all eight teams. It felt so good not to be at the end. I glanced at Travis Brenner, the captain of Oasis, and he nodded at me. Slowly but surely, I was gaining respect from the rest of the teams, and that might benefit us in the end.

  “This marks the second elimination round in the Race. The first seven teams will move on.” Octavia paused for dramatic effect. “The last two will be dismissed.”

  The crowds of people cheered at this, and Varn lifted an arm before applauding along with them.

  “After today’s event, Space Race will continue tomorrow, with the next elimination event in around forty-eight hours. More on that to come, but two more teams will be removed.” Boos erupted from the crowd, but they sounded playful and jeering. “There can only be one winner of this Space Race, with the prize being authority over Proxima. Who will come out the victor? Will it be…Sage Industries?” She introduced each team to the gathered assembly, announcing who was competing in today’s Pod race. When she got to SeaTech, I expected full silence again.

  They shocked us all by applauding almost as loudly as Oasis. I stared into the crowd, seeing various people clapping from each of the nine Corporations. Jade nudged me with an elbow, but I stayed still, not wanting to jinx the moment. Octavia was even more surprised than me, judging by her expression while she introduced Barret, then Espace, then HyperMines.

  “And there you have it, good people of Earth, Mars, and anyone watching from the various outposts around the solar system. Let the Mars Pod Race ensue!” Octavia stepped from the podium, and the drones that had been filming her shifted their focus to the teams and the exuberant crowd.

  The people began moving toward their seats, some opting to take the transport ships to the various checkpoints along the track. Screens had been placed everywhere, ensuring all could witness the fast-paced affair from their positions.

  Here, Mars didn’t seem like a remote dusty planet, but a short distance beyond the fanfare and stages, it gave way to nature, with sweeping red dunes and rocky craters. The setting was perfect, with nine Pods vying for top spot.

  I walked with feigned confidence as we escaped the stage and headed for the starting line. Security robots created a block for the contestants, and the entire area had a feeling of congestion to it. The executives were thrilled to be present, and I wondered how many of them knew about the weaponry being covertly produced on this very planet. Did any of these people suspect that, within a few days, something monumental was about to happen?

  I couldn’t think about that. I had a Race to win.

  The starting line was flashy, with a kilometer-long platform stretching out to the first checkpoint. Each of the Rings was large enough to accommodate three Pods side by side, and I fully expected some of the entries to become competitive.

  Holland’s Pod was styled like Pilgrim, with a black nose and red body, the number eleven painted over the sides with white, and identical rings surrounding the digits. The Pods were compact, roughly the same size as the two-person taxis at the Corporations’ sites, but with a single central seat, and a thousand times the energy to shoot it around this track.

  Each team had similar Pods, with varying designs and color patterns. Sage Industries was an olive green, with the number 1 smack dab on the top. Small wings protruded from the Pods, and the thrusters behind were silent and still. That was going to change.

  Jade threw her arms around me, planting a big kiss on my cheek. “I believe in you.”

  “So do I.” Luther bumped knuckles with me, and Holland looked nauseous.

  “You’re going to cream them. Remember my tip about Varn’s pilot. She’ll have his bad habits. Flying low to the ground, turning too sharply. Use them,” Holland offered. I’d spent some time analyzing the Primary Pod races with Holland over the last few weeks, and we had numerous strategies for each of these eight contestants. I glanced at HyperMines, who were currently in last place. Their pilot was a large guy with a thick beard and animated eyes. He shoved his helmet on and slapped himself on the head with a gloved palm three times, barking along with the movements.

  Being at the starting line made the entire region seem gigantic, and I glanced past the Pods to the runway that led to the first Ring. The checkpoint glowed bright orange, and the floor powered up, ten-foot-wide hexagons lit with an inoffensive blue. The show was beginning.

  I stood calmly, gazing at the Ring, and pulled the helmet on methodically, flipping the visor over my eyes. “If anything happens…”

  “Hawk, nothing bad is going to take place today.” Luther clapped me on the back, but I knew how dangerous the Pod races could be, especially with the top speed they could attain.

  I paused at the doors, turning to stare at my teammates. “Thanks, guys. I won’t let you down.”

  “You couldn’t possibly,” Jade said loudly over the noise. The other Pods were beginning to fire up, their drives vibrating and shaking the hulls. Thruster coils glowed hotly, creating potential energy, and I entered the Pod.

  I was grateful for the practice session with Holland near the islands back at SeaTech. It had been so long since I’d competed, but sitting there, holding the controls—the way the straps bit into my shoulders, the feeling of the rumbling power under my body—I was home.

  I tapped the earpiece. “Testing. You hear me?”

  “Loud and clear,” Holland replied from outside the Pod.

  “Good.” I linked the Pod’s console to Holland’s PersaTab. It would give them views of the cockpit, as well as my vital signs.

  A hovering platform lowered near the edge of the runway, and the teams began climbing aboard. “Time to get comfortable,” Jade said into my earpiece. Each squad had a station in the central region, directly amidst the track, where they could watch the competition and talk to their racers. The platform carried Jade, Luther, and Holland to the target, and it was instantly much quieter, five kilometers from the crowds.

  “I hope this dome holds,” Luther said.

  “Can you cut the chatter?” I asked. “Only Race-pertinent discussion on the earpiece, please.”

  “Sorry, Hawk.” Luther had started calling me by my old nickname, and it no longer bothered me. Maybe using the moniker again would call up some of that childhood racing magic I’d always seemed to have surrounding me.

  SeaTech’s station was isolated from the rest of the teams, giving them distance so no one had the advantage of spying on each other’s instructions. Barret was located to their right, with Orion, the fifth-placed team, to the left. Holland told me he couldn�
�t spot the Sage Industries booth, but we imagined Varn Wallish was giving his pilot the “You better win or else” speech right now. I found it ironic that he’d been hounding me about not racing the Pod, when he himself was delegating the role. He’d been good, but never as good as me.

  The race clock would begin the moment the first ship entered the Ring at the end of the runway.

  I didn’t want to be the first one through. That was my move. I wanted them to be complacent. I’d have ample opportunity to catch up, and a second wouldn’t make a difference in the grand scheme.

  I cut the chat feed, ready to give myself a pep talk. It was what my grandfather would have done, and I didn’t want to break tradition. “The Race is thirty minutes, so play it smart. Don’t push yourself at the first five checkpoints, because that’s what they’ll be doing. Then when Sage or Luna, or whoever is in the lead, thinks they have it in the bag, crush them.” I clenched my fingers into a fist, and I was ready.

  Projections of the Pods darted from the starting line, and the crowd went insane. The holograms disappeared as they passed through the Ring, and of course, the demonstration had SeaTech dead last.

  “Use it to your advantage,” I whispered. The dash glowed gently, and I ran through the basic pre-race routine. Everything was in place.

  The Ring ahead turned blue, and a giant countdown hologram sprang to life fifty yards from the Pods. We were hovering ten feet in the air, the Pod thrusters glowing with stored energy. I could hear their power through the cockpit speakers, and my heart sped up, beating far faster than the descending numbers. I hadn’t raced since I was a teenager, but despite that, I was ready for it. I was eager. Hungry.

  “Ten, nine, eight…” The crowd joined in, screaming out in excitement.

  “Three, two, one…” I said softly, and the Pods sped toward their target. The Ring turned orange again, and suddenly, the track was covered in Rings, each with a glowing number above it. My Pod shot forward, me staying in the middle of the pack.

  “Arlo, the map’s being sent.” Luther set to work, plotting the order out, and within seconds, he had the route designed. It appeared on my dash, and I only risked a quick glance.

  I would have gone for the most direct route in most cases, used to going full speed, based on unrealistic corporate delivery demands. For this race, that concept would work, but only if there weren’t eight other teams vying to finish in the fastest time.

  The Rings glowed brightly as I stared beyond the initial target. It was almost dusk, as the sun had fallen beyond a ridge ten kilometers in the distance. The committee had chosen wisely to showcase the contrast of the ships against the night sky.

  The first Ring flashed as the nose of the Lotus Pod entered, and the crowd went crazy. I could hear them through my earpiece, relaying from the team’s location.

  Number eleven charged through the checkpoint in fourth. That was a prime position. I shifted the Pod, rushing below Orion in third. Surprisingly, Sage had fallen to sixth, and I grinned as I pictured Varn freaking out in his booth a short distance away.

  The controls vibrated in my tight grip, and I looked up, seeing the tail end of Luna Corp right above me. “Remember, slow and steady.”

  My Pod leveled out, coming to fly beside the opposition as we entered the second Ring. Lotus’ number three Pod tore ahead, thrusters blinking and maxing out the craft to insane speeds.

  “Arlo, you need to push it,” Jade said. “Lotus is too far ahead.”

  Those boosts couldn’t last forever, not with the size of the Cores allotted to the compact space. “I’ll be fine.”

  Ring three was four hundred meters from the crater-filled surface. I glanced at the contest footage and thought the Pods looked like old-world spacecrafts, momentarily burning toward the atmosphere before we adjusted trajectories, each of us attempting to take on the checkpoint from a different angle.

  I checked the radar, where Barret and Espace were lobbying for position. I used my reverse camera and saw their Pods strike one another briefly, Espace’s hull sparking at the impact.

  Espace came out unscathed, dashing ahead of Barret, who seemed to be struggling now. I checked the streaming coverage and saw the contact in slow motion. It looked like a wing was damaged.

  “That’s someone gone.” We only needed one more to lose their position to continue in the Race, but as Barret slowed, trying to avoid a spinout, the rest seemed to spread apart, taking it more cautiously. “I see how it is.”

  “Arlo, Barret’s behind. They’ve been damaged. I think the others are playing easy, in hopes they can still knock you from the Race,” Holland told me.

  “They can try, but I’m not going to give them the satisfaction.” I pushed harder now as I entered the next Ring in third position, with Orion right behind me. I checked the clock, and ten minutes had passed. There were twelve checkpoints remaining, with the last quarter getting closer and tighter as they looped low to the ground and through a narrow valley.

  “Gun it. Destroy them.” Luther’s voice was loud in my ear, and I imagined my big teammate pounding a fist into his other palm.

  I focused, urging the Pod to go faster while staying controlled and decisive. I passed through the next point, closing on the twenty-second gap from first place.

  Another tense ten minutes passed, with Barret’s damaged ship still flying the track. I’d remained in the same position but had gained some ground on second.

  “Why is Barret not landing?” Jade asked.

  “Best guess? Someone’s planning to strike Arlo. Sacrifice their position to take him down, and then Barret will still place, giving them the final seven they want to continue. Without SeaTech,” Luther responded.

  “He’s right.” I saw it now. Sage Industries had passed three more teams during the last five-Ring stretch, and Espace was drifting behind them, almost being guided to the front. Oasis moved to the side as they arrived. It was so obvious. “They can’t do this!”

  Three checkpoints remained. “Arlo, you have to watch your back. They’re joining forces.” Luther’s warning wasn’t necessary. I’d expected the other Pods to make their move.

  “Wait. There are a couple of things you can do,” Jade told me. Lotus’ Pod thrusters burned hotly ahead of me, and Orion was right on my tail.

  I smiled as she listed them off, and listened intently while trying to catch first place. Lotus entered the Ring and turned sharply, with me taking a slightly larger loop.

  “You could just stay out of the way, finish in a respectable position,” Holland said.

  I’d had enough of these Corporations. “No. We’re going to win this race.” I scanned the maps, knowing which ship was likely to act. “Espace is coming for me. No one cares about their part in the Race, and they’ll do as they’re instructed.”

  “I see them coming. They’re going to fry their couplers at this rate,” Luther said.

  Sage took over second, and Espace’s sleek Pod entered the Ring. And as we expected, they made a beeline for my Pod.

  Two Rings remained. Lotus was roughly fifteen seconds ahead, with Sage gaining ground on me, but all eyes were on Espace. Their pilot continued to use the overdrive, the blue thrusters pulsing as they were pushed to their limits.

  The moment the Pod settled into my trail, I hit the vents. Steam and water shot from the sides of my Pod, turning to ice crystals. They battered the hull of Espace, and as hoped, she turned too hard trying to avoid the cloud. I took satisfaction at being able to return the favor from their early hijinks in the Race. The valley had come up quickly, and she had to veer even harder left to avoid a crash into the protruding red rocks.

  “It’s not over yet!” I called back, finding Sage had replaced Espace as my tail.

  “Sage won’t sacrifice themselves to take you out,” Luther muttered, and the Pod with the number one painted on its hull flew over, trying to clip my wing.

  I’d anticipated the attack and shifted at the precise moment. The valley narrowed here, and the seco
nd to last Ring was only two hundred meters away. Rocks from each edge of the range met the Ring, making one path through, and with Sage and SeaTech side by side, we risked tearing a wing off on the hard edges.

  “Come on.” Time was running out, and Sage veered over again, trying to intimidate me into moving. Instead of stooping to Sage’s level, I slowed, and Sage continued sliding to the left. Their wing clipped an overhanging rock, and the Pod began spinning out of control.

  I raced past the battered Pod and entered the second to last checkpoint.

  One Ring. One Pod ahead of me.

  I’d had numerous races just like this when I was young, where I’d been forced to test myself in the final minutes of the contests. I’d rarely lost, even coming from behind. The years of experience filled my veins, calmed my mind, and the controls felt like an extension of my body.

  I glanced at the footage on the live feeds as Sage threw all their energy into a spherical shield and bounced hard, skipping the forty meters to the Ring. Orion shot past them in third. Luna was back in fifth, which was surprising given the hype around their young Pod sprinter.

  “Looks like Sage’s pilot is going to be okay,” Jade acknowledged.

  The drones hovered over the crowds, and everyone was now shouting their support for Lotus. I didn’t think Orion was near enough to cause damage to our Pod, and I did everything in my power to maintain a straight trajectory. The final Ring returned the Pods to the starting line, and the roar of the corporate executives and their families was echoing into my earpiece.

  Luther patched something through. “Check this out.”

  “Baru, did you ever imagine anyone cheering on SeaTech? Where has Hawk Lewis been all these years? The once phenom childhood racer is giving SeaTech a real shot at victory over Lotus on their home field. This could go down as the greatest Pod Race in history.”

  “Only if he wins, but something tells me Lotus won’t make it easy,” Baru predicted.