Space Race (Space Race 1) by Nathan Hystad (book recommendations for young adults .TXT) 📕

want your meat saucy with the best hops in town, then this is it,” she exclaimed.

Jade scrolled the menu icon on the table, and it appeared, floating in front of us so we could all read it from any direction. We ordered a sampling of appetizers and mains, and a couple of minutes later, our beer arrived. Holland watched the waitress walk away with so much obvious affection, it was dripping off him.

“You two a thing?” I sipped the beer, the hops stinging my tongue.

“Nah. She’s… I don’t have time for that,” Holland said.

Luther drank half the beer in one swallow and set the cup down loudly. “Kid, if you don’t make time for that, then nothing in this universe matters. Take it from me. If I’d have known I’d be forty-seven years old on a team with you guys, I’d have done things a lot differently.”

“No family?” Jade asked, and I realized we were practically strangers, even though we’d spent the last week in close quarters.

“Never made the effort. I wanted to, early on; then I put my head down as I was promoted. Eventually, I was in charge of security at Lotus, and that’s when I understood the true realities of our planet. This is no world for having children.” Luther peeked up at Holland and downed the rest of his beer as the first plates came.

“What do you mean?” Holland asked. “The world is glorious, and space… well, that’s a marvel in itself. We’ll expand outwards—that’s what Dad’s always wanted—and you’ll see. Generations will carve out the future.”

Jade scoffed. “Sure. Workers to make the Corporations luxurious homes and offices. Everything that’s done is on our backs.”

“Are you saying you’ve been mistreated?” Holland asked her, and she brushed her curly hair to the side, displaying the series of black rings in her ear.

“One for every person killed in a Lunar incident,” she said somberly. “That’s what they called it.”

Holland looked down. “I’m sorry.”

“This party took a turn for the worse.” I motioned for the waitress. “Let’s have another round. Maybe some of that orange drink we had the other day.”

She was off in a flash, with a jump in her step. If I was to judge their compatibility based on enthusiasm, she and Holland would make a decent pair.

“Surely Luna Corp wasn’t so bad,” Holland mumbled, nursing his beer.

“My brother was on their expansion project a few years ago. Another manufacturing plant on the Moon.” Jade stared at a distant spot in the bar. “And when the project was rushed, without care for the workers’ safety, he was crushed under a ten-thousand-kilogram girder. Twenty-three people lost their lives that day.”

“Wait, I heard about that.” At the time, it had been unusual, because the Corporations rarely disclosed anything of that caliber. They preferred to keep their secrets buried under a carpet. I imagined most of their floors were highly uneven at this stage of the game.

“So did I,” Luther said before biting into a bun stuffed to overflowing with pork.

“That’s because I leaked it. I knew what I was doing, but no one caught wind of the origin until a few months ago. Some bastard supervisor discovered the log after all this time. Software upgrade I hadn’t accounted for. Long story short, here I am!” Jade’s smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“What’s better? Sitting in an office on the Moon, or cruising in our Racer?” I knew which option I’d choose.

“Fine.” Now the edges of her eyes creased. “Damn it, Hawk, do you always have to be so optimistic?”

“I’ve never been called optimistic before, so I’ll take it as a compliment. Maybe the CEO-in-training and this entire SeaTech place are finally rubbing off on me.” I lifted the glass, and the others joined me as we clinked them together above the various plates. “To Space Race.”

“To Space Race,” they chimed.

Luther looked pensive, and he leaned in when he spoke. “This”—he wiggled his finger around—“isn’t real, is it, Holland?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“SeaTech. Tell me this is a show. A masquerade to hide the harsh realities from the newcomers, right?” Luther’s eyes were dark.

“Are you suggesting we’re deceiving you?” Holland laughed, slapping a palm on the table. “You guys don’t get it. Bryson Kelley is an idealist. This is his dream. To take the Primary Corps by storm, and to do it while building a solid foundation with his entire team. This is our legacy.”

The words sounded rehearsed, imitated from his father, but I saw the passion behind them and wondered if he wasn’t telling the truth. Why couldn’t someone want more for his people? Why wouldn’t a CEO want to take his measures and bring them to another system, start fresh, and create something better than whatever we currently lived among?

“Damn you, Holland, but I’ve drunk the nectar, and you have me by the tail. Now all we need to do is win this race, and I’ll see it with my own two eyes.” I took a veggie, dipping it into a white sauce.

“The Space Race crew themselves,” a woman’s voice said from across the bar, loud enough to cut through the music and idle chatter.

“Oh no,” Holland muttered.

“Why am I dreading this?” Luther asked, pushing his chair out to find the source of the voice.

“Daddy didn’t come to show off his playthings?” she asked.

I had a good look now. She wore dark leather pants with a vest. The woman spun toward the bar, lifting two fingers in a peace sign, and a SeaTech patch was sewn on the back of her top. Her hair was pure white, short, and spiked in a mohawk, and her eyes were clearly modified to a bright pink color. Her face was narrow, and she carried what I assumed was a permanent smirk. The bartender placed two drinks on the bar, and she shot the first quickly, and the second with slightly more grace.

“Team, meet Kira Nerolf. Pilot extraordinaire.” Holland waved his hand with a gentleman’s flourish, emphasizing his words as if announcing