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

“Good. It’s all hands on deck.” Jade had a plan, but she wasn’t confident if it would work or not.

The freighter shot a beam of red energy at Luna Corp’s Racer, and it went dark on my screen. We were next. “Everyone ready?”

I received a spattering of mumbles.

“Captain, I’ve managed to do it. I have the results from the test, and can now read your mysterious message from afar,” R11 said.

The red beam hit us, striking the ship’s underside, and the power drained slowly. My dash began to dim, and the cabin lights faded until we were in the dark. The viewer was totally blank, since it relied on power to relay the cameras onto it.

I couldn’t believe the timing. “R11, did you create a backup? Can you still read it?”

“No, sir. The files are embedded into the protected drive connected to the Core. I cannot access them until we bring Pilgrim to operating order,” the robot replied.

“Then we have all the more motivation to finish this.” Not only was there a Ring waiting for us to pass to the next Race round, but we had contact with a distant alien world on the line.

“We won’t even know when the other teams have reactivated and are flying for the Ring,” Holland said as he bumped into his chair.

“Turn the Tabs on.” I initiated mine before standing and let the pale white glow direct me. Jade was already dashing through the corridor to Engineering, and Holland and I followed her.

The ships had been inspected earlier, checking that there were no advantages on board, and to keep it fair, the camera drones had recorded and displayed the results for everyone to see. It was an unexpected transparency, and it gave us hope we could win.

Anything with a modicum of power left was brought into the room, and the Core sat cold and dark behind the clear protective partition.

“Strip them!” Jade passed us each a tool kit, and we set to work while she opened a hatch in the smooth gray bulkhead, pulling a palm-sized battery unit out.

We had a couple of spare Tabs, as well as electronics that stored any energy from places like the bathroom and kitchen, and those were what we dismantled. Holland’s glowing screwdriver slipped, and he hissed as it dug into his skin. But he didn’t complain, just kept working.

“All right.” Jade slid the battery closer and began building a wire harness. By the time she had the functional but messy group of cables connected to the battery, we’d pulled apart four devices, and she started the transfer process. The first one was from the shower control, and the blue light drained from the charge level while entering the battery, storing it. “We need this to be past fifty percent for the next level.”

We knew this, but Jade reminding us was obviously part of her process. When we had all four loaded into the battery, it was at thirty percent.

“It’s not enough,” Jade said, already sounding defeated.

“I have an idea. We can use the Tabs,” I said.

“They aren’t meant to be dismantled, and it’ll trash them. I’m not positive I can make the modification to—” Jade sat up, glancing at the door. “I know what would put us over the edge.”

“What?” Holland exclaimed.

“R11!” She sprinted away, leaving us scratching our heads, and I finally understood.

The robot entered, the light of my Tab reflecting off his mechanical eyes. “I will give you my backup power.”

“Jade, if we do this, how long before R11 is up and running? He’s the only one that can read the transmission,” I said. “Unless you already completed the translation?”

“No, Captain. I have not made it that far,” R11 responded.

Jade looked between us both and shrugged. “Do you want to stay in the Race or not?”

I rose, my knees creaking at the effort. “Of course I do.”

“Then strap him in and drain the batteries.” Jade moved quickly, accessing the power source through R11’s panel. “Sorry, buddy. We’ll get you charged up as soon as we’re able.”

“Do not worry about me. I could use the rest,” he joked, and his eyes dimmed, his head lolling to the right as she disconnected the device inside him. Once we had that attached to the battery, her harness worked its magic, filling the power to sixty percent in a few minutes’ time.

“I wonder how the other teams are doing?” Holland asked nervously.

“We have the advantage,” I bragged.

Jade frowned at me while detaching the battery from R11’s still form. “We do?”

“Sure. We have Jade Serrano.” I gave her my biggest smile, and she rolled her eyes.

“That’s not helping. Holland, we need to connect this to the secondary power system, which will reboot the Core’s peripheral functions. Once we accomplish that, the Core will begin to charge itself.” She said it with so much certainty, it had to be true.

We opened another hatch in the engineering room’s bulkhead, and I held my Tab light up for them to see while they worked on the giant board. Once Jade affixed a series of ten minuscule wires to various sections on the board, she stopped, reaffirming she had them in the proper locations. She mumbled the colors and numbers to herself, and I smiled, watching her work. It was obvious this was her calling in life.

“Why are you so smug?” she barked.

“I’m not.” Here in the dim engineering room, during one of the most stressful moments of the Race, she was all I saw. The curly dark hair, the way the shaved part underneath accentuated her neck. I tried to shake the cobwebs loose and concentrate.

“Here we go.” She tapped a switch on the battery pack. Nothing happened.

“Did we mess up?” Holland asked, scanning over the contacts like he was aware of what he was searching for.

Then the panel began blinking, a square of yellow in a tiny indicator light near the top corner. Then another. Then over a dozen.

“This is it!” Jade set the battery on the floor and hugged