The Chase

by Bradley Caffee

  Willis shot across the platform that exited the cube and through the red gate, setting off a tone announcing he’d broken the laser turning it from red to green, meaning his team was safe from recoding. He had done it. He had won. Another tone—Creed was through. A tone at the gold gate let him know Joanne was there.

  Willis turned to see who was finishing on the two remaining teams. The red laser of their unused gates beckoned. One would turn green. The other would remain red and mean recoding. He could see motion through the mouth of the cube, when suddenly a blue and a green uniform emerged. Jaden and Nico were right alongside each other. Sweat glistened off both of their foreheads. Jaden’s cheeks were flushed pink with the effort. Nico’s darker skin didn’t betray his strain, but his expression was all Willis needed to see. It was an expression of fear.

  A tone.

  The thud of collapsing runners who expended everything they had.

  Silence.

  The rest of the runners slowed to a walk seeing the race was over. Everyone surveyed each other silently. What was there to say?

  Nico stared at the laser at his gate. It was still red.

  Chapter Nine

  Gasps could be heard escaping from the mouths of several runners, including Perryn, who Willis could see standing on the track with her hand over her mouth and the beginnings of tears appearing in her eyes. The reality of what had taken place was sinking in.

  For the first time, Blue Team hadn’t lost. The team designed by the Alliance to prevent the truly elite runners from late career recoding had failed to lose.

  “This—this can’t be right!” Nico stammered. “The sensors must be wrong. I beat you. I had to beat you. I—I—I—”

  “Green leader, present your team!” Blacc’s voice boomed, breaking the stunned silence.

  “Chief Administrator, this can’t be right,” Nico continued in his stupor.

  “On your feet, team leader.”

  A slight whimper drew Willis’s attention over to the rest of the greenies. The other three members of Green Team stood there. A younger girl, whom Nico had recruited quickly after her arrival at the station, tried unsuccessfully to stifle the stream of tears that had begun to pour from her eyes. One of the boys behind her placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, but the tremor in his grip betrayed his own fear. Almost everyone got recoded at some point during the training. Even Creed had voluntarily been recoded after a serious injury rather than put his team in jeopardy. Willis supposed that they’d forgotten what it was like or that the doctors had removed the memory of it. Or worse, they remember it all too well.

  He’d been too young to remember his own single recoding. What was it like? Did it feel like dying? He massaged the bump behind his ear for assurance. He couldn’t allow himself to take his ability for granted. He didn’t have to face the obvious horror of recoding.

  The other runners retreated when Blacc approached the Green Team as though their coming fate was contagious. Blacc was flanked by several of the station’s doctors, all dressed in sterile-looking white lab coats. Willis had seen this sight many times, but this was different. This was not routine.

  “Green Team, you are hereby ordered to report to the lab for genetic re-modification.” Blacc pointed toward the door. “Team leader, as a top finisher you remain eligible to stay in your current condition should you choose.”

  The room stared at Nico who nervously tried to keep from locking eyes with anyone. A racer who finished behind the other team winners but ahead of the rest could elect not to be recoded. It was mandatory for everyone else on the team.

  Don’t do it! Willis screamed in his mind.

  “I—I—I—” Nico couldn’t manage to form the words.

  “Green leader, your decision.” Blacc was growing impatient.

  “I e-elect not to b-be recoded, Chief Administrator.”

  There was no response. Blacc simply nodded at the doctors who approached the greenies. The whimpering girl cried openly as the gloved hand of a doctor grabbed her arm.

  “No! I don’t want to!” she screamed. “We’re not supposed to lose. No! Nico, you said we’d never lose. You said we’d be safe. You promised.”

  Willis watched as Nico hung his head in shame while his teammates were escorted from the track, the girl half-dragged through the doorway to the medical wing. Her shouts could be heard for several moments after the door closed. A tear rolled down to the end of Nico’s nose and dripped to the floor.

  Blacc stood for a moment staring at the racers who stood as though their feet were glued to the track surface. “All right, you sissy-pants runners. Dismissed. Shower up!”

  There were no hugs or high-fives. The runners silently filed out the door to the dorms. Willis watched as the wide-eyed Blue Team slowly approached Jaden, who was getting up off the floor after diving through his gate. Willis almost expected one of the Blue Team members to reach out to touch Jaden to ensure he was there. As much as the greenies didn’t appear to know how to react to losing, the Blue Team seemed even less familiar with failing to lose. Without a word, they joined the flow of sweaty racers leaving the track. Willis was the last to turn to leave when a hand grabbed his arm.

  “Your little newbie friend has shaken things up a bit, hasn’t he?” Blacc squeezed Willis’s arm a second longer, and Willis saw the amused smile on his face. “This should be interesting.” Blacc let go of his arm, and Willis tried to walk casually as he hurried to catch his teammates.

  “Coward!” Willis could hear Walker’s voice before he entered the common room. Normally, the hours after a recoding run were the most relaxed of any on the station. With another recode a month away, much of the competition between the teams was laid aside, if barely for an hour or two. Today would be different. How is Perryn doing with this? Willis was surprised his mind drifted to her first.

  “I finished in the top five. I don’t have to be recoded,” Nico complained as he came into Willis’s view. He was trying to be tough with Walker standing over his chair, but his eyes betrayed his fear—and his guilt.

  “The Chase begins as a team event. Win as a team. Lose as a team,” Walker growled.

  “But I don’t have t—”

  “Shut up, traitor. You are no leader. A leader belongs with his team.”

  “But—” The rest of Nico’s words never made it past his lips as Walker shoved her hand over his mouth. With one hand she shoved his face backward while lifting the edge of his chair with the other. The sudden crash caused the room to pause to acknowledge the incident.

  “Walker! Discipline yourself.” Creed was suddenly there, breaking the silence. Creed had been far worse in his abuse of other runners, but he took pride in seeing his team maintain their discipline. Willis believed he liked to think that he was shaping them to be the perfect runners. Willis waited until Creed and Walker cleared out before approaching Nico.

  “You had to know that was coming,” Willis said. “Walker believes teams should stick together no matter what. She would have allowed herself to be recoded in a flash if her team lost.”

  “But—but I didn’t have to.” Nico was almost whispering.

  “No, you didn’t. But you can’t blame her for having principles.” Willis extended his hand, helping Nico to his feet.

  “Nico, you all right?” Jaden’s voice came from behind Willis.

  “What do you want? Come to gloat over your win?” Nico frowned and balled his hands into fists.

  “Hey, man. I wanted to make sure you were okay. That’s all.” At this, Nico moved toward Jaden as if to grab him, but composed himself before doing so.

  “Where did you come from anyway, newbie?” Nico meant it as an insult, but Willis secretly hoped he would answer.

  Jaden’s brow furrowed for a moment, and then his face relaxed. He smiled. “Maybe some other time, friend.”

  “I’m not your friend, newbie. Stay away from me. Stay away from my team.”

  “I hear ya. Glad to see you’re all right.” Jaden turn
ed and walked away to rejoin the Blue Team who sat in uncomfortable silence at their table. They appeared as though they didn’t know what to do with themselves. It occurred to Willis that they’d never gotten to join the group in the common room after a recode. They had always been taken away with the doctors.

  “Take it easy, Nico.” Willis turned his attention to the fuming green leader. “It’s not his fault. You were trying to win as much as he was.”

  “Yeah, but he doesn’t have to come over here and rub it my face. Stupid newbie. Where does he get off talking to me?”

  “Willis?” Jez called to him. Willis turned to see his team gathering in a pod of cushioned seats. Toad was slouched in his chair with a smirk on his face. Kane sat hunched forward, his elbows on his knees, gripping a hydration bottle. Jez stood and was waving Willis over. The team wanted to talk, or at least Jez did.

  Not now. This was a time for relaxing, and his team already wished to strategize. He took one more peek at the Blue Team. He would give his team a few minutes and go check on Perryn.

  “Get a drink, Nico. Try to relax a bit. You survived today.” Willis patted his shoulder then turned toward Jez. He hadn’t meant it as a blow, but the grimace on Nico’s faced showed Willis how much his words crushed him. Nico wasn’t much of a leader, but he cared about his team.

  Jez didn’t even let Willis sit down before she began.“Willis, we need to talk about the newbie.”

  He settled into a fourth chair in the pod noting that Jez had placed it closer to herself than either of the guys. “I don’t see why,” Willis replied. “I think Creed is more the issue. He almost had me today. Black Team is getting better, and we can’t let them peak in time for the elimination races later this year.”

  “Will!” Jez glared and dropped her eyebrows.The heat of her stare made him look away. She used the shortened form of his name when she required his attention, and she wanted it now. “Blue Team is supposed to lose. They’re supposed to protect the rest of us from recoding.”

  Willis shot an uncomfortable glance at the table of blueys. Had they heard that? “Not so loud, Jez.”

  “I don’t care. This is all wrong. Nico is a waste of a runner, but he’s right to be upset. Someone needs to put what’s his name in his place.”

  “Meh,” Toad croaked. “Give it another race and things will get set straight. The newbie will get recoded and learn his place. Maybe we’re lucky, and he’s been recoded ninety-nine times already. That’ll take care of him. Anyone catch his coding number?”

  “I tried to see it.” Jez was suddenly somber, lowering her voice. Willis noted how serious she appeared. “I saw nothing.”

  “You mean you couldn’t see it,” Willis corrected. Kane looked up.

  “No, I mean there was nothing to see.”

  “That’s not possible. Everyone in the system gets recoded at some point. Most are recoded many times before showing up here. There should at least be a number showing who his parents are.”

  “Willis, I swear to you. He has no coding number.”

  Somewhere, deep in the medical wing of the station where the screams could not be heard from the common areas, the three Green Team members endured the house of horrors that made up the recoding experience. Needles, tissue samples, and the wrenching pain were nothing compared to the sensation created when a consciousness was removed from one physical brain and implanted into the waiting copy nearby. For a split second, every recoded racer got a good look at their mutilated former body. The doctors would remove the specific memory of it, but the terror could never be forgotten. Each would awaken a day later in their room, in a body with negligible improvements, wondering if they were even the same person.

  Chapter Ten

  What am I doing? Willis turned down a hallway he’d never walked. The intermittent blue lights that lined the walls made his uniform appear strange. He was used to his red barracks, but he found himself up earlier than most racers and walking through the Blue Team barracks seeking out Perryn.

  He wasn’t sure why, but he’d woken with the overwhelming urge to speak with her. Jez hadn’t let up for hours the night before. Jaden had done more than send the greenies to the medical wing. The whole station was talking. He guessed some part of him had to know what was being said among the Blue Team.

  She’s probably not even awake. He stared at the outside of her door. Reaching for the touch pad next to her door, he hesitated.

  Schwipp. The door suddenly opened to reveal a bleary-eyed Perryn on the other side. The whites of her eyes burned red and dark patches hung under both eyes. She stared as if gazing at the wall behind him. She was headed somewhere and noticed him when he took a startled step back.

  “What? What are you doing here?” Perryn’s voice cracked as she spoke.

  Had she been up all night? “I-I thought I’d stop by.” The response was lame, but he hadn’t been prepared to speak. He realized in that instant that he wasn’t sure what he intended to say when he came to her door.

  “Stop by?” Perryn sounded more annoyed than inquisitive. “You never stop by. Nobody ever stops by, especially in this wing.”

  “I know,” he admitted, glancing at the floor.

  “In fact, you’ve pretty much never talked to me before I made team leader.” The accusation was harsh but true.

  “Umm—yeah. I know. I—” He stopped. “I thought I’d see if you wanted to talk.”

  She paused as if to consider if she had the strength to argue with him. “Come in,” she sighed. Stepping aside she allowed him to enter. Her room was the same as his and as spartan in its arrangements. The smell was different. It was an antiseptic sort of odor.

  “Someone clean in here?”

  “They sterilized it after Diego died in recoding,” she said coldly. Willis winced when she said “died.” He’d never considered it dying. “I guess they thought there’d be another day for the smell to go away before I woke up.” She twirled a finger to the space around her. “When Jaden arrived yesterday, I had to move into Diego’s room.” Perryn dropped her gaze and wrung her hands, seemingly embarrassed.

  “So, about Jaden—” Willis hesitated to change the subject, but he saw his opening. “What do you make of the guy?” He sat down and hoped she would do the same. She was content to lean her blue-clad shoulder on the wall by the door. Her brown eyes looked down at her feet as if considering the question.

  “So that’s why you’re here. I thought you wanted to check on me.”

  Willis straightened instantly. “I—I did. I mean, how are you guys doing after winning—er, not losing? Jaden truly shook things up.”

  “I didn’t sleep if that’s what you mean. To be honest, I don’t know what to think of him.” Her expression darkened. “He showed up late, right before the run. No one knows who he is. No one knows where he came from. Then, there’s the race.” He noticed her blinking quickly to keep tears from escaping her eyes.

  This is a mistake. Perryn must be afraid to say what she was thinking. He’d seen more emotion out of her than most racers, but this might be pushing her too far. “At least you didn’t get recoded,” was all he could think to say.

  “That’s it.” Her voice rose. “You’d think I’d be happy. All I’ve fought for was to get on a team that was good enough not to lose so I could survive until I’m too old to race. We’re not all like you. You’d think I’d be celebrating, but all I feel is guilty!”

  “Guilty?”

  “Yeah, guilty!” She stood up from the wall and pointed at the door. “You think I didn’t hear your little leech of a teammate last night? We’re ‘supposed to lose,’ and we didn’t.” She took a step forward.

  He spotted the same fire in her that he’d noticed a few days ago.

  Her gaze pierced him as she threw her arms out to the side. “And what now? Am I supposed to have hope? Am I supposed to think it’ll happen again? I’ll tell you what will happen. We’ll lose. Just like we always do.”

  Her face got serious as she s
tooped to meet his eyes. “And you and your privileged friends can go on with your happy life with things back to normal,” she whispered. Willis almost wished she was shouting again.

  “That’s not what I want—” He held both hands up in front of him.

  “Shut up. I don’t want to hear it.” The threat of tears returned to her eyes as the fire in them dimmed. She turned away from him to the wall, swiping at the wetness in her eyes with her hand. “Please leave.”

  Willis opened his mouth to speak, but he thought the better of it. Standing up, he moved toward the door, pausing for a moment behind Perryn. He stared at the back of her head, noticing the subtle, natural waviness of her long brown hair. He’d never seen it down like this. Normally, she pulled it into a functional ponytail. He started to put a hand on her shoulder and tell her things might get better, but he withdrew it. She’s right. They’re built to lose, and I’ll never know what that feels like.

  The corridor was far livelier as Willis exited Perryn’s quarters. Dex was returning from an early workout. He’d always been an earlier riser, preferring to get time in the gym when he wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. “Hi, W-W-Willis,” he stuttered, giving Willis an inquisitive look. “What are you up t-to?”

  “Congratulating your team leader on a victory for her first time out.” Willis supposed it the least objectionable thing he could say.

  “Yeah. K-kind of nice to sleep in my own bed last night.” Dex smiled and walked on. Dex was a good kid. Willis pitied him. He was transferred so young, and Willis suspected he bore the weight of so many of their losses after critical falls.

  He’d be a great racer if he could keep on his feet. He breathed a sigh of relief when he reached the main passageway. No one there. Good, no more questions about why I’m in the blue barracks.