FOURTEEN

"Well," Talia said, cocking her head to the side as she listened in on radio chatter from the Gunder. "I have a fix on him."

"Him?" Arissa asked. "Which one and where is the other one?"

"I have Jack. Still searching for Kane." Talia squinted at Arissa. "It's interesting. I'm still learning about the nuisances of human behavior, but do I detect a bit of relief in you knowing that Jack is accounted for? Do you have significant thoughts about him?" She did some more processing, then added, "do you want to kiss him?"

"No." Arissa moved over to the holographic projection of the Gunder. "Which cell block is he in? It stands to reason that ol' one-eye is nearby."

"Double correction. Kane has two eyes; one is simply enhanced with cybernetics. Also, Jack is not in a cell block."

"Then where is he?"

"The infirmary." Talia shrugged as if the answer was obvious.

"What? Is he ok?"

Instead of tossing another accusation at Arissa and her kissing feelings, Talia simply gave Eden an inquisitive look. The girl gave a short nod in return, then said, "Yeah. That's love."

Arissa ignored the comment entirely.

"He's fine now," Talia said. "Server class prison ships have top-notch medical facilities. They want their cargo to die in the race, not on the way to it. If he gets a good surgeon, he might even come out of it with a full health exam and a clean shave."

Arissa eyes went wide at the use of the word. "A surgeon?"

"Don't worry," Talia said. "It's a robotic surgeon."

"No I don't care about that. What happened to Jack?"

"He's a prolific bounty hunter on a ship full of bounty. What do you think happened?"

Arissa took a seat in the pilot's seat and let out a sigh. "I hate just sitting here like this. I'm used to doing things."

"You're about to get your wish," Talia said. "The Gunder is on approach to Luminis City."

***

Jack searched for the snooze button, hoping for just a few more minutes of sleep. As his wits returned, he realized that the alarm was not an annoying beep, but the heavy clunking tremor that occurs when any ship makes an amateur landing. His eyes opened.

One of the two Federal Alliance guards standing over him said, "Let's go Mr. Popular. The Race is on."

Jack decided to go with insubordination and let the guards drag him out of the hospital bed. When he was good and ready, he let his own two legs take over the job of shuffling towards the most dangerous sport in the galaxy.

***

Kane felt like an ant as he plodded along, single file through the endless corridors of the Gunder. The P.A. system was—now that it wasn't screaming obnoxious chaos at the crew—playing the live entertainment broadcast of the pre-race program. An announcer went on and on about the redeeming powers of entering in the Afterlife Race, and how proud the mothers and fathers of the participants must be.

Kane's marching line of "redeemed" racers met with another, and they continued two-by-two towards the starting line. By some bizarre plan or mistake of fate, after the lines merged, Jack and Kane were now shoulder to shoulder.

"Nice shave," Kane said.

Jack rubbed his jaw. "So much for my rugged exterior. How was the ride?"

"Long. You've been clocked out for a little over a day. They must have really crushed your fluffy interior."

"Must have. Where's Jaeek?"

"Somewhere up there." Kane nodded to the front of the line. "I don't suppose you dreamed up some kind of plan while you were getting stitched up?"

"Nope. I'm assuming the ladies have figured something out by now."

***

"No," Talia said. "But I'm sure they've come up with something already."

"Improvising is fine," Arissa said. "How close to the race can we get?"

"Oh, you'll like that. Guess who just purchased front row seats."

"We can afford that?"

"Absolutely not," Talia said, "but a wealthy business tycoon with weak passwords can."

"You're a thief," Arissa said.

"Aren't we all?"

The Odin glided into its assigned place right over Luminis City at the starting line. Arissa and Eden crowded the forward window to enjoy the view while the excitement was still within eyesight of the Odin. Talia opted to watch through the ship's sensors.

Below, some racers were already marching out onto the docking platform to get into their pods.

"There are so many of them," Eden said. "I thought there were only about twenty-five racers."

"Incorrect," Talia said. "That's a common misconception. The race starts with approximately seventy-five racers depending on crime rates of the previous year, but since most participants are killed within the first lap, footage of the full fleet in action is extremely rare."

Arissa sighed.

Eden nodded. "Interesting."

The Odin's interior lights dimmed and the hum of various subsystems faded out.

"Talia?" Arissa asked. "Was that you?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"As you may remember we are wanted by the two most powerful tactical forces in the galaxy. I've done my best to minimize our detectable presence."

Arissa nodded, but Eden furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Wait. Don't either of you see a problem with that?"

The silence in the room answered Eden's question, so she explained.

"We're basically at a huge party right now. Is this really a good time to look shady and secretive?"

"Why don't you tell us what you're suggesting?" Talia asked.

"Hide in plain sight." Eden shrugged. "Join the party."

***

Jack nearly jumped out of his skin and off of the starting platform when the god-level boom sounded directly over his head. He was good at stifling any sign that something had snuck up on him, though, and any outside observer would only have seen a brief twitch. When he recovered his wits, he looked over his head to the source of the disruption.

"Oh," he said. "I was wondering where she parked."

Like some kind of guardian angel, the Odin was directly overhead; like some kind of rave, it was letting loose an incredible battery of spotlights, flashes, booms, bangs, and rhythmic thumps. Jack looked over to Kane, who said, "I guess they're happy to see us."

Both men took their places besides neighboring pods. Jack reached for the door, but received only a stinging electrical shock for his attempted entry. He jerked his hand away from the craft.

"OUCH."

Kane grinned at his partner's misfortune. "I never thought I would hear you say ouch."

"Well, it hurt. Why can't I get in?"

"I think we're supposed to stand for the federal anthem."

"Hilarious," Jack said. "We're all paying tribute to the government that's sentencing us to recreational execution."

Kane shrugged. "It's better than what they did in the old days."

As a choir of young aliens sang about unity and triumph, Jack took the time to analyze his pod. It seemed identical to every other pod on the platform. That made sense; the things were mass-produced on an assembly line because of the high number that was destroyed each year.

The tops were sleek, rounded, and smooth, since the race took place within the planet's atmosphere and aerodynamics actually came into play. The backs and underbellies of the speed machines were less polished and hosted a great deal of exposed systems. Jack found himself wondering why there wouldn't be at least a touch of armor on the tail end of the craft, but then he realized it was all part of balancing the game. Leaders were more likely to get shot to pieces, so the pack would stay tight; the entertainment would remain intense for the duration of the broadcast.

Each pod had triple-burner ion engines, rigged in a triangular formation. For such a small craft, the engines packed enough power to kill an inexperienced pilot without any help from his opponents. The propulsion wasn't Jack's concern though. He wanted to know about the weapons. There were a few different beam arrays and cannons. It was difficult to say which ones would be activated early in the race and which ones would go live just before the final lap.

Apparently, Kane was getting better at seeing Jack's thoughts. Either that or Jack was getting worse at concealing them. Kane leaned over and grumbled, "I'm guessing they turn on in order from smallest to biggest."

"Makes sense," Jack said. His words were drowned out by a roaring crowd and an onslaught of celebratory explosions. The anthem had just concluded, and the doors to every pod on the platform opened automatically. With nothing more to say, Jack and Kane twitched quick "good luck" nods to each other and entered their pods.

The door sealed behind Jack and a brief skirmish against claustrophobia ensued. Jack powered up his pod and asked, "Talia? Can you hear me?"

There was no response. Jack impatiently drummed his fingers on the pod's dashboard, waiting for the A.I. to hack the comms and bring everyone together.

"Talia?" Still nothing. "Come on. Get it together."

***

"Come on, Talia." Arissa groaned.

"I'm trying but I can't exactly blast a signal out into the universe," Talia said. "This takes finesse."

"Please hurry," Arissa said, her eyes growing wide with anticipation.

"How much time do I have?" Talia asked.

Arissa and Eden watched the enormous holographic projection of the countdown as it went from three, to two, to one.

Go.

***

Jack felt G-force like he hadn't in a long time as his pod's engines warbled to life and sent him bounding forward with intense acceleration. Being a man with pent-up aggression, Jack immediately pulled the triggers on his twin-stick controls, but nothing happened. He had been hoping to pick off a few racers at the break, but no such luck. The weapons had yet to be activated.

As anticipated, though, many participants that had not been prepared for the raw power of triple burn engines failed to turn quickly enough after ignition; they slammed into the outside bend of the first curve after the finish line. It was heavily armored for this exact reason. Jack weaved his pod through the fire and debris, threading the needle over and over.

A chorus of static blasted into Jack's pod, followed by a horribly garbled transmission. It cleaned itself up with incredible speed, and the next voice that Jack heard, unfortunately, wasn't Talia's.

"Hello, Jack," Arissa said. "How's it hanging?"

Jack flinched at a nearby explosion. "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Are the other guys still alive?"

"So far, so good. Connecting us all now."

"Make sure you encrypt the hell out of our transmissions," Jack said. "I doubt the F.A. would approve of the formation of any alliance, other than their own."

"No," Arissa said. "I was going to put us on loudspeaker and make Eden say something like 'here I am, come kill me now.' I'm patching us in now." There was a brief blip. "Kane and Jaeek, can you hear me?"

They responded in the affirmative. Jaeek sounded like he was tumbling through a living nightmare.

"Take it easy, buddy," Jack said. "Slow down and fall back so no one cares about you. Kane and I will keep on your tail so no one else can jump on it. Everyone ready? Doesn't matter. Let's go."

Jaeek's pod inarticulately fell back towards the rear of the pack. As soon as Jack spotted him, he formed up. Kane was quick to follow suit. From his vantage point, Jack could see that Kane's pod's armor already had a scorched gash along its starboard side.

"Looks like you need a new paint job," Jack said.

"You should see the other guy."

"Gentlemen?" Jaeek asked. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we supposed to be winning the race?"

"Not yet," Jack said. "For now we hang back and cover our own asses."

"Looks like some of your opponents have the same idea," Talia said. "I'm tracking eight more decelerating to your position."

"I guess this is a funny kind of race," Jack said. Every single light in his cockpit started to blink red. The pre-recorded voice of a cheeky man played from all speakers.

"Ah, ah, ah. Slow is boring and we need action. Accelerate within five seconds or, well, you'll blow up."

The controls returned to normal. Jack accelerated.

"Anyone else get that message?"

"Sadly," Jaeek said.

"Yeah, me too," Kane added.

"Looks like we have to put on a show. Follow my lead."