Chapter 8

“GO!” The announcer exclaimed. The crowd roared alongside the engines and the vehicles sped off as Kayla and Craig bolted forward with the racers. A heads-up display appeared in the main window of her chamber that Kayla could fiddle with to see different points of information: the stats of certain racers, their weapon choices, and the speed of whichever racer she was currently focused on. Gripping the stability handles to her sides, she leaned forward, her eyes glued to the action. As soon as they cleared the starting line, the smaller racers fell prey to the larger ones, which attempted to shove aside the more diminutive of the lot. Most of the smaller vehicles managed to dart out of the way, enjoying a slight advantage in agility; though one of the beijinkind racers took a massive hit and spun out to the rear of the pack before righting themselves.

Kayla bounced her feet and leaned so close to the edge of her viewing pod that she nearly smudged her nose against the glass. As the vehicles approached the first turn. A shimmering, translucent red wall ran across the track, and as the racers blasted through it the excitable, energetic voice of the announcer yelled, “a deep booming voice called out, “First Lap Advantages Activated!”

“What’s that now?” She heard Craig ask from beside her. His voice sounded weak, and it felt wrong in her ears how she could hear him as clearly as if they were sitting next to each other in a movie theater. She glanced over, noticing only now that had turned pale and was gripping his own stability handles for dear life.

“You ok?” she asked with concern, turning her pod to face his. He gave a weak thumbs-up without looking up from the floor of his own pod, and she hesitantly turned back to the race.

“Each lap gives the racers two advantages,” Glyph explained. The tiny image of them sat cross-legged in the empty space to Kayla’s right. Slightly comical, given that it looked like they were floating. They continued, “They receive one offensive or defensive item, and one augment like a speed boost. If they don’t use the advantages this lap, they lose them; so, planning what their advantages will be for each checkpoint is an important tactical decision. There are three checkpoints to clear each race.”

As soon as the weapons were available to them, the racers in the rear began firing them to make up ground. A passaro hen in the middle of the pack dropped a landmine behind her, which was triggered by a kaiseichan racer who couldn’t react in time. They spun out with the explosion, then used their speed boost to make up the loss, though their leaves flashed to black and red, indicating their rage. The racers whipped around what would have been an impossibly tight right turn, had they been reliant on rubber tires. Apparently, traction wasn’t as limiting to the hover pads.

As they rounded the turn, one of the passaro vehicles suddenly sprouted a pole from its right side, which extended vertically and planted into the ground. At the same time, a two-meter, concave disc made of pure white light materialized at the vehicle’s nose. It was a shield, meant to deflect attacks from the front. Kayla and Glyph gasped together they watched the vehicle spin a full circle using the pole as support. As it spun, the shield slammed into an unfortunate human. The passaro’s jet bike whipped around and released the human racer on the back swing, tossing them like a tennis ball into the open canyon. Kayla could just make out the racer’s scream of anger and terror as they fell to their loss.

“OOOOOOH!” the crowd gasped as one alongside the announcer, who continued, “That was Elias Torgue, our first elimination of the race! Sorry Elias, back to the lobby with you, courtesy of Tal Sweep! That rookie is definitely one to pay attention to!”

Kayla gaped as she watched the passaro, Tal, correct her vehicle’s trajectory and dart off after the other racers. The flashy move had cost her some ground, but it was still early and she seemed eager to make it up. Kayla drummed her fingers, the excitement demanding movement from her. She knew who she was rooting for, now!

The road ahead dipped through a cave on the side of the canyon. As the racers entered, their headlights became the only warning they had from stalactites and falling rocks. Kayla watched a boulder bigger than the cars themselves roll across the road, and a kaiseichan racer named Laurelis Buxia was forced to use her weapon, a missile, to blast it out of her way. The debris of which pelted into another kaiseichan racer’s side, causing them to lose control and crash into the side of the tunnel, the explosion of which illuminated the dark cave momentarily.