Spacebound Chronicles

Chapter 10: Child of the Wind

The Phoenix gear provided by Clark’s Geek Cave was, as Scott soon learned, indecently faster than the ones available at Reep’s Workshop in the spaceport. The avatar provided, too, was much more agile and cybernetically enhanced to lock his sight on the competitors.

Not that there were any competitors currently in sight. While most others were flying above the dusty veil that covered the first portion of the Canyon, Scott followed the diminutive stream beneath it. One of the many things him and Joey had figured out during their training days was that the bottom, at least in that early trail, was considerably straighter and less tortuous than the top.

Another thing they had learned was that, to their surprise, the game mechanics did not seem to take air resistance into account, which meant one could sacrifice aerodynamics for maneuverability. That very knowledge was possibly the only thing ensuring his advantage over Carol, one of the few rivals who followed him into the fog and who now needlessly tried to keep her body narrow.

He began his ascension after the crispy bush that looked like a bunny, knowing a wall would come soon after. By the time he emerged from the dust veil, rejoining the bulk of the high-flying contestants, there was the wall. There were many ways to bypass it, and while most chose to go over it, Scott angled his flight for a round hole in the rocky surface.

This time, however, things were harder than the practice sessions. He was faster, with less time to comfortably aim, and while sometimes Logan and Jude would cross that passage side by side, now there were way more than two people disputing for a chance to go through there and gain themselves a few seconds.

With the corner of his eyes he could see the racers flocking around him as they approached the wall. Some of them accepted they would not have a shot and arched up for the longer way past the obstacle, but Scott proceeded relentless, the stone wall drawing closer and closer. On his peripherals, he saw Carol’s blue jets aligning to him on his right…

Then a sudden crash from the left.

With a pained huff, Scott felt his body toss towards Carol, some other competitor strong-arming him out of course and stealing the pole position. On an even more pressing matter, the rocky surface was too close, and he was too fast. As soon as he was reoriented, all available thrusters were turned on the opposite direction, screeching to a sudden halt centimeters away from the wall.

Not all other contestants, however, counted with such reflexes. As Carol and a red-faced red head, the man responsible for his deviation, crossed the hole, the mass of contenders followed. The contestants were too numerous to fit into the narrow stony jaw, causing many to ram into the rocks into a disintegrating blast of colorful fire.

Clenching his teeth, Scott knew there was no time to fly over. He would have to hustle for a spot into the hole to have any chance of retaking the lead, and so he did.

 Engaging full throttle, he shot into the bulk of competitors funneling through the hole, kicking and punching, ultimately pushing a girl into her own fiery demise against the inner edges of the hole, causing a chain of detonations that obstructed the passage for good. Scott’s own Phoenix unit almost added to the mayhem, but aside from a lot of heat he came out unscathed on the other side, not wasting time thinking about what had just happened.

Along the Canyon spreading ahead, racers now flew with wider gaps between themselves. Still far on the horizon, but growing constantly closer, he could see the silhouette of the lonely tree that ended the journey. Also ahead, though not that far, a blue and a red trails swirled around each other as Carol and the red head who costed Scott’s lead fought for an advantage over each other.

Maybe they would distract each other enough for Scott to catch up. It would be hard, but with his knowledge of the incoming shortcuts, it might be possible. Now, anyways, there were many others between him and the leaders.

With renewed determination, Scott shot past a set of yellow jets, the two green ones, and watched as a purple Phoenix pushed a white one into a stone pillar. Scott had no problems avoiding that pillar, but unlike the purple competitor he did so by going right rather than left, and once the obstruction was left behind, both of them exchanged a glance. Scott knew the purple racer was about to repeat his cheating move.

He did.

As the purple beams drew closer, ready for a collision that would toss Scott into the stone walls of the Canyon, his mind jumped to the Ruckorr attack on his first day of flight. In the verge of contact, Scott’s Phoenix jets powered down, gravity pulling him out of harm’s way as purple guy shot right past and into the wall himself.

Now only three competitors separated him from Carol and the Red Rider, as he decided to call him, and his moment was coming. The two tied leaders adjusted their flight to continue following the Canyon’s natural advance, and the two players right behind them followed, stealing a grin from Scott. None of them seemed to realize there was a much faster way through the caves, and that could cost them the race.

But the fifth racer, the one immediately ahead of Scott, knew. His yellow jets shot into the tunnel’s entrance, and Scott followed suit. The yellow track helped illuminate the dark path into the earth, and Scott knew those shafts were too narrow for an overtaking. He could try, but odds were it would result in both of them dying. No, he would wait until they were outside.

For now, he merely followed the yellow Phoenix, which helped him dodge a stalagmite and later announced their arrival at a fork in the caves. They both went left, then further down underground, and up to another left on the next fork. There was only one fork left, and then they would be one straight line away from sunlight.

Except on that last fork the yellow jets chose the middle tunnel. The mistake almost lured Scott along the same way, but he fought the impulse to follow and forced himself into yet another left. As daylight became visible up ahead, Scott thought he could hear the screams of the stray competitor finding the Wasteworm nest.

Poor bastard.

But there was no time to feel sorry. As soon as he emerged from the caves, Carol and the Red Rider came right behind. That shortcut was meant to ensure a victory, but it merely allowed him to catch up with the previous leaders, his advantage down to fractions of a second that could slip away in one bad move.

“Hey! Not fair!” Carol screamed behind him.

He could make it. Blue Tree Hill was right ahead, the shining leaves now as clear as day. All Scott had to do was pull up and out of the Canyon, its dead end already in sight.

And near the end of the Canyon… something else. Something he had never seen before, in all his practice. Rajaptors with their furs painted in ceremonial patterns stood in a circle around a bonfire in which a large fire burned.

A pitch-black fire.

And in the fire, there was a man.

“s**t!” Scott screamed as a red fireball covered in dark purple blazes raised from the Fiery Man, aimed at him.

The projectile hit hard, covering the avatar on fire and killing his Phoenix jets. As he fell from the sky, he could see Carol’s blue thrusters, closely followed by red ones, declaring beyond any shadow of a doubt that Scott had been defeated. Now, with the decision narrowed down to Carol or that unknown bastard, all he could do was cheer.

Cheer and maybe, just maybe, help.

The Fiery Man had shot another fireball aimed at the other two, and the close miss led both of them to diverging strategies. The red man pulled aside, closer to the edges of the Canyon, where he would be a less attractive target.

Carol decided to blindly charge up to the tree.

That naturally led her into a speed advantage, but as the Fiery Man turned to her, hands raised, Scott knew speed alone would not save her. With the last breath of his pink Phoenix jets, he aimed his fall into the bonfire, feeling the total acceleration and the winds whistling past as the burning monster drew closer…

Then there was only fire. Fire enveloped him, dark fire, red fire, pink fire… In a glorious explosion both Scott and the Fiery Man were gone.

Back in Clark’s Geek Cave, Scott removed his helmet, a cold fist twisting his guts. Some people cheered as his sacrifice was reprised on a screen, but their voices echoed distantly. First, he could only contemplate that he had lost. Then he could only wonder if Carol had won. She was still in her rig, and as much as he looked around, he could find no one that resembled their red bearded adversary.

“And we have a winner, ladies and gentlemen!” the cheesy announcer declared. “Congratulations to Caroline Bennet, Station 29!”

Bit by bit, each remaining player removed their helmets, some departing immediately, some filing around Carol’s seat to congratulate her on the win. Scott remained on his seat, merely conceding a nod and a tight, forced smile to her when he caught a glimpse of her looking his way.

As the group dispersed from around Carol, she stood up and walked over to his booth, where he brooded lonely.

“I guess I owe you thanks, Logan Spacebound,” she offered him a smile and a hand to shake.

“Congratulations…” he shook her hand, but his face could not muster a smile, “Miss Voidex. I assume you’re calling me out on that wager?”

“I barely remembered,” she waved it off. “But you did promise.”

“Sure. My friend is Joey. Joey Butcher,” he murmured.

She just stared at him, a faint smile on her face.

“You know, Top 500 or not, it was you who just saved my ass, so I guess I owe you my brand-new gaming rig.”

“Are you saying I can… have it?” his eyes shined, but she just burst into laughter.

“Easy now, dear,” she shook her head. “You still got your ass shot by a mob…”

“It was a boss, actually,” he argued.

“A low-level one! Make no mistake, that rig is mama’s!” she used her thumbs to point at herself. “My old one, on the other hand… That could be yours! If you don’t mind Hello Kitty stickers.”

“Are you serious?” he stood up, the ground.

“Very serious!”

“Yes! Of course I want it!” his face lit up.

“Cool!” she pulled her phone from her pocket. “Give me your address and I’ll have it shipped this week.”

“You know,” he said as he typed. “Joe and I were talking about grabbing a pizza after here, you could join us.”

“I don’t get the feeling your friend likes me very much,” she said, taking her phone back. “And you know, I have a five hour drive ahead of me and I can barely wait to take my fancy new gear for a spin!”

“Scott! That was insane!” Joey came running. “You kamikazed the Fiery Man!”

Carol cleared her throat.

“Oh yeah, congratulations, Carol,” Joey said. “But, man, that was…”

“If you guys don’t mind, I’ll go collect my prize,” she excused herself and turned to leave.

“Carol!” Scott called. “See you around.”

“Maybe. Out there in the stars.”