Magnum didn’t hesitate to answer. He held up four fingers.
“All on you right now?” Ben asked.
Magnum nodded.
“What about when we got into that tussle with the Scalpers yesterday?”
Another nod.
“Do they work?”
“What good is a gun that doesn’t shoot?”
Ben felt equal parts surprise and embarrassment. He was surprised to hear the big man speak and embarrassed at having asked a dumb question.
“So, why didn’t you use them on the Scalpers?” Ben asked.
“Waste of bullets,” Magnum said with a smile.
“Do you have ammo for all your guns?”
He nodded, and Ben let the conversation lapse. Magnum was different, but not dumb. He had skills of his own that were different from what Ben and Nance could do. Perhaps he was conning them. It was possible, Ben thought to himself, but there was something so genuine about Magnum that it was hard to believe he had a deceitful side.
“Maybe you can teach me,” Ben said.
Magnum smiled and nodded. It was, in Ben’s opinion, a good sign.
Chapter 10
It took two days to reach the canyons. It was late on the third day when they found Kim Beaudry. She was gearing up for a race. The taverns were busy and a section roped off for pilots and their kites was being watched by bouncers.
“There she is,” Ben said, knowing that there was no way Magnum would get past the bouncers.
“Look, I’m going over. I think you should stay here,” Ben said.
“Why?” Magnum asked without a trace of resentment. He sounded genuinely curious.
“Because there is a lot of betting on these races,” Ben explained. “The tavern owners make a lot of money on gamblers and they don’t want anyone influencing the outcome of the races.”
“Okay,” he said.
“You’ll stay here? Right here?”
“Yes,” Magnum stated.
“Great. Okay, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Ben left the big man and headed toward the rope that blocked off the pilots. A bouncer stepped into his path and held up his hand.
“Sorry, no one but fliers beyond this point,” the man said, clearly not sorry at all.
“I need to speak to Kim Beaudry,” Ben said.
“You’ll have to wait.”
“He’s okay,” Kim said coming up behind the bouncer. “I’ll vouch for him.”
“He stays on this side of the rope,” the bouncer threatened.
“No problem,” Ben said.
“It’s been a while,” Kim said as she moved near the rope where Ben was waiting. “Who’s your big friend?”
“That’s Magnum,” Ben said. “I guess you saw us?”
“That dude is hard to miss,” she said. “Looks like he could take on half the bouncers and come out on top.”
“He saved me from some Scalpers recently,” Ben said. “How are you?”
“Can’t complain,” Kim replied. “I’m flying.”
“Speaking of, I have a proposition for you.”
“You’re kidding, right? Come on, Ben. That old wreck of yours will never fly.”
“It will. I have her all put together. I just need some Zexum and a pilot.”
“You can’t trade junk for Zexum. How do you plan on getting that?”
“I’ve got a lead,” Ben said. “Will you at least come see the Echo?”
“Look at this place. There are more fliers than ever before. I can’t leave. I’ll lose my spot in the races. It’s hard enough to get on the board as it is.”
“Come on, Kim. You want this. You want to fly a real ship.”
“That wreck you have hardly counts.”
“It’s been a long time since you’ve seen her. I’ve made some improvements.”
“Sorry, Griminski, I’m not your girl. Good luck, though. I hope you find someone willing to risk their neck in that old hulk of yours.”
She turned and started away.
“Kim, wait! Please!” Ben said loudly.
She kept walking and the bouncer came back. He eyed Ben suspiciously. Kim returned to her kite frame, which was on the ground. She wouldn’t snap her silk sail onto it until right before the race, but she checked every fitting. Ben watched her for a moment. She was tall and thin, with wiry muscles on her arms. Her flight suit was snug, perhaps even a few sizes too small. He noticed that the sleeves had been cut off, and the pants cuffs were split and patched. The whole outfit was patchwork, like most clothes on Torrent Four, and the suit even had some old bloodstains that couldn’t be removed. Still, there was something fierce about Kim, something rugged and strong that Ben was drawn to.
“Time to move along,” the bouncer said. “And don’t come back.”
Ben went back to where Magnum was waiting. He searched his pockets. Normally he didn’t trade in traditional money. It was better to barter in the salvage yards; credits were too easy to steal and too hard to use with people outside the cities. Still, over the years he had collected a few credits and held onto them for emergencies. On the other side of the tavern, a transport was carrying spectators to the finish line.
“Come on,” Ben said to Magnum. “We’ll meet Kim at the end of her race.”
He had just enough credits to pay the fare for the two of them. Magnum seemed thrilled by the ride. It was an open-air repulsor transport. Basically, a cargo sled that had a few seats mounted on it. Still, it was faster than walking, and the trail down to the bottom of the canyons was steep.
The ride lasted twenty minutes, and Ben knew it would take them half a day to walk out. When they got to the finishing area, the canyons opened up into what looked like a starship graveyard. There were hundreds of old ships that had crashed on a fast, rocky plain. They were rusted and stripped, but Ben wished he could spend a week exploring the old wrecks.
There were merchants selling drinks from pushcarts, and a large spectator section. Ben and Magnum joined the throng of people. There were screens with live video from the flyers and a race display that showed who was racing in each heat. Kim hadn’t started yet, but her race was next.
Magnum watched the crowd more than the screens, and even when the racers appeared in the long, straight final section of the canyon, he paid more attention to the spectators. Ben saw a glimmer in the big man’s eyes. He wasn’t sure if it was excitement or amusement.
All around them people were shouting or crying. Some screamed in rage as their favorite pilot failed to win. Most were drunk. Ben was amazed at just how many people had money to waste betting on races and guzzling watered-down ale at a kite race.
When Kim lined up with four other pilots for her race, a camera showed them on one of the screens. Ben felt his body tense. He hated the thought of someone he cared about being so careless. It wasn’t that Kim wasn’t good enough to fly in the kite races, but Ben felt protective of her. He didn’t want to see her get hurt. The crowd was calling out their favorite pilots, and bookies were taking bets from the spectators. When the buzzer sounded, the pilots ran toward the edge of the canyon and jumped off. To Ben, it felt like someone had yanked his heart from his chest and tossed it over the edge of that high canyon wall with the racers.
Chapter 11
Falling was a sweet sensation that never lasted long enough. Kim had to force herself to focus on the race. The first few seconds were critical to establishing her place among the racers. Her kite caught the wind, and she pulled the front down so that a gust of wind shot her forward.
Only one other racer took full advantage of their launch off the canyon wall. It was a rival, a pilot with some skill and a penchant for danger. His name was Culley, and he wanted to win at any cost. Kim had hoped to put some distance between herself and Culley, but they were neck and neck, with barely enough room to navigate the narrow slot canyon.
She was slightly lower than Culley, and when he angled down she was forced to pull back, letting him take the lead. It wou
ldn’t do any good to maintain her position if he dropped down and kicked a hole in her kite sail. She let a bit of air bleed out of her kite, and Culley sped ahead of her, the other three racers closed in behind her.
Kim angled up, moving to where the canyon was wider and the winds were more forceful. She could feel her kite racing forward, the lines that held her twenty feet below the billowing sail pulled taut as she swung back from the kite. It was easy to see the canyon below her, but harder to look ahead. She forced her head up, battling the wind and the pull of gravity as she swung through the canyon.
Below her, a racer caught a current that took her low. She shot past Kim, but lost too much altitude. The current waned and she was forced to land. Kim had made similar mistakes early on in her racing career. It wasn’t enough to stay alive in the kite races, you had to stay aloft long enough to finish the race. Landing wasn’t an automatic disqualification, but the canyons ran for miles and there was little hope of a flyer on the canyon floor catching enough wind to get liftoff. And even if one did manage to get back into the air, they were usually hopelessly behind with no chance of catching the leaders.
The canyon curved sharply ahead, and it took all of Kim’s strength to steer her kite toward the inside wall. Below her, another flyer didn’t give himself room to swing out during the turn. The kite was safely in the middle of the canyon, but as it narrowed through the turn, he swung out on his harness and crashed hard into the solid rock cliff face. Fortunately, the current carried Kim ahead and she wasn’t forced to watch the pilot’s kite get ripped to shreds as he fell to his death.
Flying took skill and knowledge, but it also required nerves of steel. A thousand things could go wrong. Panic was the ultimate enemy. Kim was constantly forced to adapt and improvise as she raced her kite. And flying a real ship wasn’t much different. There were always unexpected conditions waiting to catch her by surprise. Flying was about successfully dealing with whatever outside forces came into play. That thought was in her mind when Culley suddenly changed directions, angling up hard. Kim almost didn’t see the flock of birds in time. They were flying up and out of the canyon, and as she got closer, she saw that they weren’t birds at all, but bats. There were caves in the canyons and bats were known to come charging out just before sundown. It was one of the reasons she hated races late in the day.
The squeaking, chirping bats rose up like the blast from a shotgun. Kim barely managed to sling her body to the side of the canyon to avoid the bats. Her kite wasn’t as fortunate. Two of the little beasts shot straight through her kite sail. The silk ripped easily, and she felt her momentum slow. Behind her, the bats filled the canyon and she didn’t have to see the third racer go down to know that only she and Culley were left in the race. She only hoped the pilot behind her had the sense to land rather than try to fly through the horde of bats.
Flying with a ripped sail wasn’t impossible, but she had to be careful. She couldn’t risk the stronger air currents higher up that would rip her silk sail to ribbons. Instead, she angled her kite down, to the midpoint of the canyon. She was still about a hundred feet off the ground, but moving more slowly. The shadows were deep inside the canyon, making it harder to see. She couldn’t focus on the race or what her opponent was doing above her. Safety was her main concern. She might go hungry for a few days if she lost the race, but if she crashed, she could be out of commission for weeks. An injury would be hard to overcome, but losing her kite would end her career.
She couldn’t help but think about Ben as she navigated the twists and turns of the canyon. Why had he shown up suddenly, she wondered. He was the most gifted builder she had ever known. He had fabricated her first kite, although he loathed the races. They had known each other as children, before Torrent Four had slaughtered their families and forced them both to live on the edges of society with their dreams just out of reach. They had reconnected as young adults just long enough for sparks between them to fly. Ben had begged her to stay with him, but she needed freedom. She needed to fly.
Shaking her head to cast the painful memories away, she did her best to refocus on the race. She was losing altitude and considered taking her kite down for a safe landing when she caught sight of Cully in the distance. His kite had taken a hit. The portside frame was dented in, the sail billowing as he struggled to keep himself aloft.
In a split second, Kim changed course, angling upward, despite the stress it put on her own sail. She rose up slowly until she heard the distinct sound of silk ripping. Without a clear conscious thought, she leveled the kite. She was gaining on Cully, who was continuing to lose altitude. They flew past the marker that indicated the final mile of the race. In her mind she made several calculations. She was gaining on Cully; there was enough distance to overtake him before he reached the finish line. Her only fear was that she wouldn’t be able to get above him. She had to get close, hold back, then get above him. From there she would be clear of danger, but if she were to get caught beneath him, there was no telling what he might do.
In the air, it was odd and felt incredibly dangerous to get close to another person, craft, or object. A collision in midair was almost always fatal. She let herself get close enough to Culley that she could see the patches on his flight suit, then she angled up. Her kite responded. She was rising, he was descending, under the right circumstances she would pass above him and win the race. But the conditions suddenly changed. A strong wind current buoyed Culley, stalling his descent. At the same time, the current put too much stress on Kim’s sail and it ripped several more feet. She no longer had the lift or speed to rise above Culley. With no other options, she turned, gliding beside him. They were neck and neck as the finish line came into view.
Fortunately, the canyon was wide enough for the two of them to fly side by side without the risk of crashing. But Culley wasn’t content to simply win. He began to angle closer to Kim, who in turn moved closer to the canyon wall.
“What are you doing?” Kim shouted.
“Winning!” Culley shouted back.
The wall was getting close and Kim had no choice. She dropped down. The move gave her just enough speed to get ahead of Culley, but the vindictive flyer wasn’t giving up. Kim looked up. The rip in the sail was on her left side and reached almost from one side of the frame to the other. She felt fortunate that it was still strong enough to keep her aloft.
The sounds of the crowd cheering her on reached her. Kim didn’t race for the acclaim, but occasionally it felt good to realize that people she didn’t even know were pulling for her to win. The fact that they really only cared about the bets they had placed was not lost on her, so she didn’t let herself depend on their praise. But occasionally, when things came together, and she pulled victory from the jaws of defeat, she let herself bask in their praise just a little.
Without warning, everything changed. Culley, who had been above and behind her, followed her down. He couldn’t overtake her, so he brought the front of his kite down onto the rear of hers instead. The frames smashed together, Kim’s sail ripped completely in two, and the kite suddenly angled up, slowing her momentum significantly. Cully swung forward on his harness lines, tangling in her own. They were caught together, hopelessly ensnared, and going down.
Chapter 12
Ben watched in horror as Kim and the other pilot crashed together. They were only fifty feet above the canyon floor, and somehow they used their ruined kites to slow their fall, but nobody would deny that it was a crash landing.
The pilots were only a few hundred feet from the finish line, and the spectators waited silently to see if anyone would emerge from the wreckage. Ben wanted to run out and help his friend, but before he could fight his way through the crowd, Kim appeared. She was limping, but she was free of her kite. Ben watched in awe, with the crowd screaming behind him. He felt Magnum move up beside him as the other pilot, Ben didn’t know the man’s name, came crawling from the wreckage of their kites.
He had no chance of catching Kim, who was movin
g resolutely toward the finish line. Ben looked at the kites. The silk sails were ripped to ribbons, and the aluminum frames were bent. Ben knew their integrity was compromised. If Kim attempted to simply straighten the frame back out, it would probably snap under the pressure of flying.
“She won,” Magnum said, joining the crowd in applause as Kim limped across the finish line.
Ben could tell from the look on her face that his friend wanted to hurt someone. The horn sounded to mark the end of the race, and the crowd surged out from the stands. Most were heading toward transports that would carry them to the taverns for a night of drinking and debauchery. He moved toward Kim with several other spectators who wanted to congratulate her. Ben knew that the crowds rarely had the opportunity to speak to the pilots. And most weren’t there as fans, but simply to engage in a gambling obsession.
To his horror, several of the excited spectators grabbed Kim in a familiar manner for pictures. She looked at Ben with a pleading in her eyes that he recognized.
“Come on,” Ben said to Magnum. “We have to get her out of there.”
Magnum moved suddenly with a purpose. He pushed past people effortlessly and took hold of Kim’s arm in a protective manner.
“Clear out!” Ben shouted. “She’s through. Give her space!”
The rabid fans, most of whom had won significantly because Kim had finished the race on foot, hurried away. Night was falling, and the canyon was getting dark. The stars were just beginning to appear as Ben reached Kim’s side.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Fine,” Kim responded gruffly. “Thanks to your friend.”
“This is Magnum,” Ben introduced him again. “How’s your leg?”
“Just bruised.”
“You didn’t twist your ankle or sprain your knee?” Ben asked.
“No, I’ll be fine,” she insisted as she looked back toward her kite. “Damn it.”
“Let’s go see what we can salvage,” Ben said.
They walked slowly back into the dark canyon. Normally, Ben didn’t like to be out at night. The Scalpers and other outlaws always seemed bolder in the darkness, but he wasn’t completely unprepared. He carried a small portable charging device that also had a flashlight. He turned it on as they approached the wreckage.
Kestrel Class (Kestrel Class Saga Book 1) Page 5