BWAAAAAH! BWAAH! BWAAH! BWAAAAAAAAAH!!!
The sound of an airhorn snapped me awake. I didn’t even realize I had been asleep, but I immediately began flailing in my seat, thinking that some kind of alarm was going off. Out my windscreen, I could only see ribbons of the dawn’s faint daylight above me. The rest of my vision was clouded by dark grey fog.
I was in the Veil.
Crying out in horror, I clutched for my yoke and cranked it back as hard as I could, stomping on my hydro switch to fire my thrusters. I clamped my jaws shut as hard as I could and held my breath, waiting until I had rocketed up about five hundred feet before I leveled out. I kept my mouth closed for as long as I could, though. A gas mask would have been incredibly handy at that moment. Unfortunately, I had no such thing, and if any of the toxic fumes from the Veil had seeped through my hull, I’d be dead if I breathed it in. After a short minute, I let out my breath and sucked in another one. My heart was hammering away inside my chest. I waited a second, drawing air through my nose to see if I could smell anything. There was nothing. I smelled nothing wrong, and my lungs were functioning just fine. I wasn’t dead.
Groaning loudly, I flopped back in my chair and began gasping loudly, letting the adrenaline slowly ebb out of me. “Too close,” I wheezed. I was seconds from slipping all the way into the Veil. I was asleep, too…which meant I would have been a goner for sure. If it hadn’t been for that horn, I’d be just a flaming heap of slag on the surface by now.
I cut my throttle and leaned forward. Who was it that had honked at me? I saw Darby about league ahead of me, silhouetted against the coming dawn, so it couldn’t have been her. I rolled a bit to starboard and gazed into the dim light. Below me, motoring on towards the dawn, was the Alpha Red. It was Rigel.
Rigel had saved my life.
How long had I been asleep? The light in the sky suggested it had been at least a couple of hours. I was honestly amazed that the Kicker had maintained such an even keel without me steering it. By some miracle, I hadn’t bumped the yoke in my sleep. I was lucky that my ship was well built. I was also lucky that Rigel had been there to wake me. He had made remarkable time, really. Of course, I had basically told him how to solve the New Eden clue and move on. He knew to go north from there, because that was where Darby and I had gone. He must have caught the crate and solved the clue right away.
I tried to push away the small pang of insecurity that prodded me as I thought about that. I couldn’t be mad at him for such a silly reason. I couldn’t even be mad at him for getting a ship and joining the race without telling me at all. Not anymore. In truth, if he hadn’t done it, I would be dead right now. He had saved me from becoming another name on the Wall of the Fallen, another of the Silvers to enter the race and never finish. By saving me, he had also saved Zanna and Echo. He had saved Nichols from a fair amount of heartbreak, too. When I had the chance, I would hug Rigel as hard as I could, and when the race was over, I would have Zanna make him all the tomato soup he could eat.
As I throttled back up, Killian passed above me, his small blue ship zipping by me to join Rigel and Darby. I hit my thrusters for another moment to catch up to them. As I came along the starboard side of the Alpha Red, I reached up and switched on my interior light, making sure Rigel could see me as I waved and smiled at him. He didn’t turn on a light, but in his bubble-covered cockpit, I thought I could see him wag a finger at me, scolding me for letting myself get so close to death.
As the sun drew higher, the four of us soared on into the widening ribbons of golden light. I couldn’t talk to my friends around me, but we did engage in some aerial games to keep ourselves occupied. We took turns leaping over one another, we blasted clouds apart, and Rigel made a move that was more daring than I would have expected from him. Utilizing his new ship’s agility, he rolled over upside down and brought himself right over the top of the Cloud Kicker. Staring up out my windscreen, I could see Rigel, strapped in his cockpit, grinning down at me from just ten feet above.
Altogether, the last few hours of the trip passed relatively quickly. I was right about the sunlight. It definitely helped my body feel more awake. My muscles were still sore, and I was getting thirsty and hungry again, but I was ready for whatever was to come next. As Shiloh came into view, though, my newfound energy reached a new high.
The city was just as magnificent as I had remembered. It wasn’t pure white like New Eden, but it did seem…shinier. The mid-morning sun glinted off the skyscrapers as if they were plated with chrome. High rises and other massive complexes were fitted neatly together in concentric circles, all expanding outward from the large, grey dome in the center of it all. From my previous visits here, I knew the dome was called the Citadel, but I had no idea what went on there. On the north side of the Citadel, was the Archon Tower, a colossal spire that was furnished with the best quality materials anywhere, and was home to the wealthiest people in the entire Dominion. Gideon Chambers and his son Jonah lived there. The top five floors all belonged to them. Such were the perks of being an Archon.
The structure of the city itself was also different from New Eden. Shiloh was round, but the outer edge had ten “spokes” protruding from it. They were separated by about a hundred feet each, but nearly all of them held towers of their own, swanky apartments and lofts with the best views in the Dominion. Or so I’d heard. Two of these spokes were dedicated to the city’s docks, and that was where I could see all the citizens gathered in an enormous mass.
“Oh, great,” I muttered. I couldn’t lie to myself. The recognition was a nice feeling, but having an audience to watch my every move made me even more self-conscious and nervous than I already was. Reaching up for my radio cord, I jacked it into my helmet, immediately startled by the loud voices that came through.
“- we’ve got coming in, Lex?”
“Well, Reed, I’ve got a transponder tracker right here,” Lex replied. “Those would be Darby Quinn, Killian Hardwick, Rigel Campbell, and my personal favorite, the Blood Racer! Elana Silver!” Lex let out an excited whoop.
“Oh, I bet you’re happy about that one,” Reed chided.
Lex laughed. “You bet I am! I’m glad to see her still in the front of the pack.”
“Well, don’t forget who’s ahead of her,” Reed said. “Audra Carina has already been here for over a half an hour. That is a pretty significant lead, especially when it comes to solving these clues.”
“You’re definitely right about that one,” Lex agreed. “These clues just keep getting more and more difficult…and more dangerous.”
Reed groaned. “That is absolutely true, my friend. This is probably one of the most dangerous I’ve ever seen in - how long have we been doing this?”
Lex pondered. “Uh…twelve years.”
“In all of our twelve years of hosting this wonderful event,” Reed finished.
“It’s been twelve years, but we’ve only actually hosted the race four times,” Lex said. “Just clarifying for you folks at home.”
Reed sighed. “I think they understood what I was-”
Rolling my eyes, I switched off of the civilian band and over to the tower frequency for Shiloh. It took me a second to find it, but I remembered pretty quickly. For some reason, radio channels always stuck with me. Part of being a pilot, I guess. “Shiloh tower, this is the Cloud Kicker. I am on final. Request permission to land.”
The response was immediate. “Granted, Cloud Kicker. Take cradle number nine. Quadrant one.”
“Copy,” I replied. Quadrant one? It took a moment for my memories to come back. That what they called the first spoke that made up the docks. I unplugged my radio cord and rolled to port, diving down to get level with the city. Behind me, Darby, Killian, and Rigel followed suit. The tower had split us up, though. Darby and Rigel were in quadrant two, and Killian was directed to the cradle right next to mine.
We landed in unison. As my turbines powered down, I peeled myself out of my chair and stumbled out of my side hatch, practically
mowing over the middle-aged dockworker that was there. “Sorry!” I shouted, waddling my way past him. My legs were taking longer than usual to function. I had been sitting down for too long again.
“You’ll be refueled right away!” he shouted after me. As the cradle began to retract toward the city, which was much faster and smoother than it was in Adams, I broke into a run toward the docks, letting my eyes fall onto the horde of people there waiting for me.
They were all dressed splendidly. The wealth of this place was immediately shoved in my face. People wore multiple layers of clothing, despite that fact that it was a relatively warm morning. Jewelry flashed in the bright sunlight, blinking like crazy from all over the crowd. Several people even had small, furry dogs with them, and pets were something only the most financially cavalier could afford.
Aside from their various status symbols, every face in the crowd was alight with excitement. Signs were held up over heads, displaying names and ship call signs, some of which even had my own name on them. One in particular, which I saw as I ran past, had the words “I bleed for the Blood Racer!” scrawled violently in deep red paint.
As I passed them all, I tried to suppress the smug feeling that rose within me. These people were the wealthiest in all of the Dominion. They didn’t want for anything. Whatever they desired, they got. Here I was, some nobody from Adams, and they were cheering my name. They were going crazy for me. As rich as they were, their affections were for me, Elana Silver, a tokenless kid from the Gap. It was a novel sensation.
There was a path cleared from the docks, one that cut a swatch through the pulsating wave of spectators. I took off as fast as I could across it and weaved around the Mother Stone, which was the only piece of Terra to come off the ground during the Ascension. I only knew this because the carved inscription on the thing detailed the rising of Shiloh. I had read it both times I had been here, trying to distract myself for the reason of my visit.
Shaking my head, I focused my attention back to the race, which was leading me around the backside of the civilian crowd. Plenty of them were shouting at me to get my attention, pointing somewhere to my left. Killian was just joining me, and he also noticed the audience.
“What are they pointing to?” he asked, swiveling his head around. “Is it where we’re supposed to go?”
I shrugged. As we couldn’t be seen talking to any bystanders, we decided to take our chances and dash in the direction they were gesturing to. It turned out to be the right call, but when I came upon the scene, I felt my heart skip several beats.
Spanning between the two spokes that made up the docks, reaching a hundred feet to the other side, were three thick, metal cables, swaying precariously in the wind. They were welded to the docks themselves, ensuring that they wouldn’t come loose. In the center of each cable, fifty feet from where I stood, there were some kind of box-like objects attached to them. A long red ribbon fluttered next to each one, placed to catch the attention of the racers. I only had to look for a moment before I realized that we were expected to crawl out onto these cables, and collect whatever was in that box.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumbled.
“Are they mad?” Killian said incredulously. “It’s as if they want us to die!”
I began making my way over to the base of the cables, where a well-dressed man waited stoically with sheets of paper and bits of charcoal. He was probably only in his mid-thirties, but with his slicked, black hair and fancy suit, he held himself like one of the old dignitary men from Rainier, like he was entitled to my respect just by being there. This was one of the race arbiters. They existed make sure contestants were properly completing the challenges.
“Don’t worry,” I told Killian, having to shout over the noise of the crowd. “I’ll go out there and get it.”
I grabbed a piece of paper and a sliver of charcoal from the stuck-up man. Immediately, Killian did the same thing. “No, I won’t hear of it,” he said simply. “You won’t be putting yourself in danger for my sake. I’ll go.”
Sighing, I pointed to the second cable next to mine. “We can both go. It won’t hurt to have a backup of…whatever it is.”
Killian nodded and jogged over to the second cable. With my heart pounding like a drum, I tiptoed closer to the edge of the docks, listening to the ravenous chanting of my name that was going on behind me.
“Sil-ver! Sil-ver!” they bellowed. I did my best to let their words encourage me, to fill my empty adrenaline glands. Ultimately, though, seeing Rigel way over on the other end of the cable was enough to get me moving. I stuffed the paper and charcoal in my pocket and pulled the goggles down over my eyes, hoping they would help. With a shaky breath, I dropped down to my hands and knees, reaching out for the cable, which was about as thick as my forearm.
Immediately, terror gripped me deeply. My fingers clutched the cable so tightly, I would have sworn they dug into it. It suddenly struck me just how much danger I was in. The only thing below me was some patchy cloud cover and the Veil itself, lurking several thousand feet below. There was a light wind rushing up around the curved bottom of the city, and it was hitting me as I slowly placed a second hand in front of my first. The wind was probably only about seven or eight miles per hour, but in my panicked brain, it felt like a hurricane gust blasting against me. I immediately wished I had let Killian go instead of me. As I glanced over at him, though, he seemed to be experiencing the same fear I was. His hat had fallen from his head, tumbling into the abyss below, and his long hair was now blowing around behind his head. With his wide eyes, he looked kind of funny, to be honest. If I was anywhere else, I might have laughed at him. Instead, I was too busy trying to keep my teeth from chattering. The air, aside from scaring the hell out of me, was also a little chilly at this altitude.
Ahead of me, Rigel was crawling slowly and steadily along the cable, looking like a large housecat stalking a bird. I did my best to mimic his movements, and tried everything I could to block out the thunderous crowd behind me.
“Come on,” I said to myself, trying to draw a steady breath. “Little more. Don’t lose it. Do not…lose it.”
Placing one trembling hand in front of the other, I wrapped my legs around the thin metal beneath me and pushed myself with them, inching forward little by little. Rather than a lithe feline, though, I felt more like a decrepit caterpillar, fidgeting its way toward a leaf. But, as long as I wasn’t falling to my death, I didn’t really care how goofy I looked.
After what seemed like an hour, I had finally made it to the center of the cable, which was much more unsteady. It swayed a good two feet from side to side, threatening to throw me off of it. As it was, my arm muscles were burning badly from the effort, and my abdomen was threatening to seize up like an old engine. Every tiny movement was enough to make me worry about falling. Looking down into nothing was beginning to make my head spin. As I pilot, I thought I would be immune to such things, but I had always had an aircraft attached to me, even if I was flying it from the outside. Here, I had no control, no ship to depend on.
As Rigel approached me, I focused on his face. It felt like ages since I had seen him, and I would much rather look into his hazel eyes than into the dark grey of the Veil.
“Hey, Ellie,” he huffed, somehow managing a crooked smile as he laid flat on the cable. I slowly mimicked him, giving my arm muscles a much needed break.
“Hey,” I said back to him. “Thanks for the horn.”
He nodded, smiling again. “Any time. Thanks for the clue.”
“My pleasure.”
“I, uh…I stole some hazelnuts,” he said, adding a mischievous giggle.
Amazingly, I let out a laugh. I don’t know how he did it, but he could always manage to make me feel a little better, no matter what situation I was in. A familiar warmth began to slide over me, despite the chilly air that blew across my skin. With Rigel here, I felt okay. I wasn’t nearly as afraid anymore.
“I knew you would,” I told him.
&nbs
p; He sighed. “So what are we supposed to write?”
I looked over at the box that marked the center of the cable. Contrary to what I had initially believed, it wasn’t a box at all. It was a thick, brass plaque that had been welded to the cable. It bore a long series of numbers etched across the face of it.
Hooking one arm around the cable for safety, Rigel reached into his pocket and retrieved a crumpled paper and a wedge of charcoal. “You read, I’ll write.”
I nodded. “Copy.”
Looking down at the plaque, I saw that the numbers were in groups of three. Other than that, though, I saw nothing that linked them, no common theme. Despite my confusion, I read them off to Rigel, who hastily scribbled them at the top of his paper. As we collected the numbers, I watched Killian as he finished writing and began shimmying back the way he had come. Also on his cable, coming from the opposite direction, was John Deseo. On the third cable, I could make out the spiky blonde hair of Grace Buchannon as she approached her center plaque. Everyone was catching up to us.
As fast as I could, I rattled off the last few sets of numbers, waiting for Rigel to list the entire series back to me before we were satisfied. Behind me, another male was approaching, crawling upside down toward the plaque. I decided I’d follow Rigel back to where he started from. I expected to see Darby there, waiting patiently on the docks as we returned, but she was nowhere to be seen. Immediately, part of me began to worry that she had gone on ahead, leaving me to tag along with someone else.
No, I thought. She wouldn’t do that.
I had to put the thought out of my mind as I clumsily maneuvered my way over the giant plaque. Rigel had returned the paper to his pocket, and was attempting to turn himself around on the cable. Straddling the steel line, he reached behind him with one arm and grabbed ahold. He then repositioned his legs, somehow swinging one over to have them both hanging on the same side. Then, he flattened himself out on the cable and put one leg back over it, straddling it once again. I was impressed. After this, I knew I would never be able to say anything against his coordination skills.
The Blood Racer (The Blood Racer Trilogy Book 1) Page 14