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

There were two ships behind us, so not only had we avoided being last, but we’d passed HyperMines and Barret.

Harding’s icon was gone, and I had Holland turn the feeds on again.

“We’re not sure what Captain Lewis just pulled, but he beat the odds. SeaTech is currently in seventh position. As for Harding, they’ve been eliminated, and that’s a surprise to everyone. Captain Luis Cooper must be very upset,” Baru said.

Yon was smiling ear to ear, and he set a palm onto his bald head. “As predicted, the top five Corporations finished in the proper order, with Sage in the lead. All the teams are safe until Mars, when two will be cut after a grueling Pod race. Wind, dunes, and a unique gravity will all be at play. Can an underdog move ahead in such an event? Maybe Espace or… dare I say it, SeaTech. This portion of Space Race is brought to you by Orion’s DX-28 Drone. With a DX-28, you get security and surveillance, as well as peace of mind. Link your PersaTab to learn more.”

I turned it off as Jade returned. “Arlo, you’re brilliant.”

“I’m pretty sure Varn was using the same trick to look superior. I only applied the concept to our advantage,” I said.

“You’re being humble. It was a solid plan,” she admitted.

“It was also risky,” R11 said. “Blowing one coupler can result in other failures, not to mention prolonged—”

“Drop it, R11. Let’s take the small victory and concentrate on surviving the next few hours.” I saw five more checkpoints between our position and Mars, but at least all nine of us would be Pod racing. The individual team clocks stopped as soon as they entered the Mars Ring, meaning if Sage entered first, they would leave first, with the time difference between them and the next team, and so on. I wanted to have every advantage I could.

Espace was in sixth, and that was who I mentally targeted. Adrenaline coursed through me, and I was optimistic for our chances.

The Race was on.

____________

Fifty-five minutes passed, and we entered the second Ring in the same position. To my surprise, there had been a few shifts above us, with Lotus moving ahead of Luna Corp for second place. Orion and Oasis had also switched slots, with my former employer taking fourth.

It was too early to panic, and we were very slowly gaining ground on Espace. Their Corporation owned the area formerly occupied by France, Great Britain, and half of Germany, specializing in ThermaSuits and medical devices.

I read up on Captain Clara Dupont as I flew us toward the third Ring, finding her resume to be impeccable. She was a doctor, with ten years of overseeing their entire mining operation’s welfare, and was their highest-ranked pilot on the two-year search for a captain. It shocked me to hear that teams had anticipated this event for a while, keeping it under wraps from the common citizens until recently.

Bryson made all his moves, trying to sneak closer to the top ten, which was almost an impossible act. But he’d done it, and now it was time to show the world what SeaTech was capable of.

I closed the file on Clara and opened the public one on myself. It was concise and to the point, with an old photo of me from my early days at Oasis. I hardly felt like the same person.

“I’m going to take my sleep shift,” Luther said, walking up behind me. “Try not to mess with my battle station while I’m gone.”

“Battle station?” Holland asked.

“Sure. That’s what I’m calling my station. Every ship needs one.”

“I’ll take some shut-eye too,” Holland informed us, and the duo exited the bridge.

With a quick glance at the dash, I noted we were still two hours from the next Ring. While much of the Race was intuitive and exciting, there were going to be a few stretches for us to hone the ship, and repair any issues with the Racer. It was why Bryson had prepared us for the lulls.

“Arlo, the boss asked me to install something in the ship’s communication network.” Jade’s voice had an edge to it.

I left the pilot’s seat, with the ship on auto. “And what is it?”

She peered over her shoulder as I approached, and brought a schematic up on her screen. “A project I was working on in my spare time at Luna Corp. It essentially uses the Core’s waste particles, recycling them and utilizing them as a booster on the incoming and outgoing ComNetwork.”

“For what purpose?”

“We’ll be able to send and receive messages from extremely vast distances.” She smiled as she said it, and I guessed she’d been working on this project for years.

“Did Luna support this?” I was surprised they’d let her out with the details.

“It wasn’t theirs. Just something I tinkered with after hours.”

“Not much of a social life on the Moon?” I started to laugh, but when she didn’t respond, I stopped. “Sorry. Go on.”

“In theory, we should be able to send communications with this for up to a hundred light years, but to do that, you’d need more than the remnants of energy from a Core. With the proper design, someone could set up a tower or a station, and it would act as a hub between systems.”

And somehow Bryson had heard about it. “How did he know you created this?”

“He asked what types of things interested me in our interview.”

“You had an interview?” I asked.

“Sure. Didn’t you? I was told there were ten candidates from around the world speaking to Bryson about this position.” Jade stared up at me. “Wait, you didn’t have one, did you? The great Hawk Lewis was hand-selected by Bryson. I should have guessed.”

“Don’t get mad at me. I didn’t ask for any of this,” I told her.

“It doesn’t matter, because I’m the best, and I secured the job.”

“That’s right. Now, why would we add this to Pilgrim?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Bryson requested it.”

“Does it fall within race protocol?”

Her hand tilted back