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

“And what’s the heir apparent doing in a dive like this?” Kira asked as the waitress arrived with the last of our food. Kira gave her a sidelong glance and nodded. “Never mind. I forgot you liked to sample the workforce.”

Holland started to get up, but Jade held him back, standing in his place. “And what makes you so special? I think I smell the perfume of envy. Maybe limit it to a single spray next time.”

Kira smiled wider. “I’m the pilot that should be leading this team, except Bryson Kelley is a fool. Why would he bring in outsiders to the Race when he has the elite right here on the Islands?”

“Clearly he’s met you, because that would make the decision a lot easier,” Jade told her. A crowd was gathering behind Kira, and I couldn’t gauge if they were with Holland or the jealous pilot.

“He’s using you. Bryson knows he can’t win, and if he utilizes some washed-up nobodies from the other Corps, he’ll have an excuse why he finished last in the Race. It’s common sense.” Kira turned to the people behind her, and some of them smirked alongside her. “Hawk Lewis? The kid wonder from a million years ago? You haven’t raced since I was in diapers.”

The comment didn’t even faze me. We were outsiders, and the employees’ freedom and lack of rules had given them a sense of entitlement you didn’t often see. Not among the common workers.

“You have a point. I take it you’ve won the Primary Pod Under Eighteen Cup four times? You know, to beat my three trophies?” She could dish it, and I wanted to see if she could take it.

Her pale cheeks turned red with anger. “You have no right to interfere with our future. We want Proxima as badly as Mr. Kelley himself.”

“I doubt that,” Luther said between bites. “Why don’t you scatter and let us be?”

Kira glanced at her allies lining up beside her. “Maybe you should… ‘scatter,’ old man.”

Luther smiled. He was twice the size of any of her friends, and highly trained. I hoped this wasn’t about to get physical, but Luther was far too calm to be goaded by the mohawk-wearing youth. “Holland, can you pass the sauce?”

“You better watch your backs, Team SeaTech,” she muttered.

I kept eating and wiped my fingers on a napkin before finally standing up. Luther was right behind me, or rather, protectively perched in front of me. “Listen, we’re on the same team. We win, you all win,” I told her.

“If you don’t realize that this is just a huge diversion, then you’re a fool,” a new voice said, and everyone turned to glance at the bar. An old man sat with his back facing us, his hands clutching a small glass filled to the brim.

“Cut the crap, Bard. No one wants to hear your conspiracy theories tonight,” Kira called.

“When the aliens come and kill us all, remember me in your last moments,” he said, spinning slowly on his seat. He locked gazes with me and nodded. His face was scarred, rough white stubble jutted from his chin and cheeks, and his hair was messy and combed over his bald head.

“What’s he talking about?” Holland asked.

“Don’t listen to Bard. He hasn’t been the same since the accident.” Kira glanced at the others, who were returning to their seats as the tension began to dispense in the breeze. Kira lost her bluster too, and walked across the bar, leaving us alone.

Jade slunk to her seat. “I kind of wanted to punch her.”

“So did I,” Luther admitted.

“She’s wrong, guys,” Holland whispered. “Dad wanted the best, and he saw something in each of you. He has a way of hiring the right people.”

I raised an eyebrow at that and picked up another little sandwich. “He has some supernatural skills?”

“No, not like that. He’s… Dad never makes a bad decision.”

Bard was still watching me from the corner of his eye, and I decided to pay him a visit. His mention of aliens had sparked my interest. I’d seen dozens of men like him during my career: mentally unstable, perhaps from an injury, drink, or synthetic drugs that slipped illegally across Corporation borders.

“Excuse me. I’ll be a minute.” I crossed to the bar, and Bard shoved a stool out for me.

“Finally, someone’s here to buy me a drink,” he said.

I waited to sit. “You’ll talk?”

“Pop a squat, son.” He slid his empty glass at the bartender. The big man glanced at me, and I nodded, giving him my permission to serve us.

“What were you saying earlier?”

He rapped his own head with gnarled knuckles. “I say a lot of things.”

“What happened?”

“I’m a diver. Was a diver… Compression leak at a thousand feet below the surface. I was without air for seven minutes before they hauled me up. Don’t remember the rest. Ever since then, things have been a little fuzzy,” he said.

“You mentioned aliens.” I pictured the text scrolling across the screen on Capricious, and squinted at him.

“Them bastards are on their way.”

“Who is?”

“I dunno. Aliens. They’re planning something. I swear on my Gammy’s grave.” He took a drink.

“Where did you hear this?”

“I have my sources. Since I haven’t been able to work, time’s something on my side.”

I was intrigued. “They didn’t throw you out after the injury?”

“Nah. SeaTech takes care of their own. Gave me a nice setup too. I’ve been tracking Board communications—all public, of course—but I’ve decoded messages in them. Seems to me that Sage Industries and Luna Corp realize the aliens are coming, and if they do, Bryson Kelley has to as well.”

“What kind of messages?”

“They talk of a timeline.”

“What is it?”

He glanced around and stared into his empty glass. “I can tell you, but it’ll cost my tab.”

I looked at the bartender and sighed. “Sure. Spill it.”

“Thirty-seven days,” he said while getting a refill.

“Until what?”

He shrugged. “That’s the mystery. They all point to that date.”

My thoughts turned to the Race, and I guessed it might coincide with the finish line. If