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

The drone drifted away, spinning in slow circles. “It’s dead, and by the time they send another one out, we’ll be behind the security system again.” Jade looked pleased with herself.

I took Holland’s seat and went limp. “That was close. I can’t believe they masked this attempt behind such an elaborate stunt.”

“It’s the Board. They’re used to thinking outside the box and manipulating people. Dad’s going to have a few things to say about this,” Holland said. His nervous bout had ended, replaced with anger at the invasive attack.

“Guys, Luna and Sage are off, heading for the Ring, and I’m pleased to announce we now show on the radar.” Luther had returned to his battle station, and with the added power to the ship, all our consoles were turning on.

“Everyone in position. We’re making a run for the Ring as soon as we possibly can.” It felt vindicating to prevent the Primary’s or Board’s invasion of our network. I bet no one had expected us to find out. By all rights, our cameras shouldn’t have been working yet, and if I hadn’t experienced a potential breach several years back, we would have been sitting ducks.

The Core charged slowly, and I stared at the center dash display, at the various main components from the ship’s system. “Jade, when is it safe to hit it?”

“Looks like Lotus is in the game!” Luther bellowed, and I saw the icon on the map. That made four, and then five. Oasis blinked, and we were in a tight sprint.

The first two ships were crawling for the Ring past Saturn, and my viewer finally turned on, exhibiting the ringed planet through the void. “Why aren’t they flying faster?”

“I suspect they solved the reboot differently, focused the power on the thrusters first. That’s good in theory, but it holds the rest of the ship’s reset back,” Jade informed me.

“And us?” I wished I had a countdown to full power. Watching the small icons inch toward their goal caused some serious anxiety.

“Lotus is moving.” Luther sounded worried too.

“Arlo, I suggest we hold. I know what it seems like, but we’ll have a better shot if we delay, and wait for at least eighty percent power.” Jade knew what she was talking about, and I wanted to trust her judgment, but it was tough staring down the cut line of the Race when we were so close to the end. Two more days. That was all I needed to manage.

“Damn it! Oasis is moving too.” This from Luther again.

“Arlo, we can’t lose. Dad will…” Holland was desperate. We all were.

“Trust me, team,” Jade said softly. The bridge was filling with restarting beeps and chimes, and even the lights were up to full power. But they took far less energy than the Core drive.

My fingers drummed impatiently along the pilot’s chair’s arm. Future projections shot around my mind while we waited. Each of the four icons was distancing from us. Surely we had enough in the tank to thrust past them—at least past Oasis, who was currently in fourth.

“Don’t do it, Arlo.” Apparently, Jade could read my mind. “Steady.”

I glanced at the readouts, seeing we were around seventy percent.

“We need some math here. At eighty percent, it’ll take us four minutes to get through that checkpoint. It looks to me like our competitors are speeding up.”

Jade was firm in her resolve. “Not enough.”

Another five minutes passed, and Luna Corp was only four minutes from the Ring. We couldn’t win, but I could be damned well sure not to be eliminated.

Orion and Hyper were on the radar again, and Hyper had started moving, making us and Orion the only two not heading toward the target.

“Seventy-nine. Be ready, Arlo,” Jade warned, but I was already prepared.

Every bone in my body was focused on getting us to the Ring before as many other Racers as we could. We’d managed to fend off the data breach, and we’d show them we couldn’t be toyed with. We had our pride, and SeaTech deserved better than the treatment they’d been given so far.

“Eighty!” Jade shouted it a split second before I hit the thrusters, sending Pilgrim in a mad dash for the finish line. We quickly passed HyperMines, and Oasis not long after. I almost felt bad for the other teams, with three of them being cut, but if it wasn’t us, I’d sleep well tonight.

“Gaining on Lotus!” Luther was boisterous, a laugh in his tone.

I gripped the left arm of my chair as we sped through the short distance. The space station was filled with important people, the entire Board and most of the Primary lead staff, and now we were proving we deserved our position in the Race. Luna Corp entered the Ring, and I noticed Holland didn’t have the competition feeds on, which I was grateful for. It would only distract me, not to mention drain valuable power.

Sage continued to accelerate, and Varn Wallish adjusted his trajectory in an attempt to block me or send me wide of the target, but I held the course, coming within ten feet of clipping his ship.

Pilgrim entered in second place.

Twenty

“That was invigorating,” Holland said. Instead of celebrating in the lounge tonight, we’d decided to stay on our own floor.

I sipped my coffee, needing the boost after such a draining event. “I would have loved to have seen their faces while we fended that drone off.”

“Me too. Any chance they’ll confront us about that?” Jade asked.

“Doubt it. That would be like admitting their guilt.” Luther answered the door, allowing in a robot with a rolling tray filled with food of all kinds, and a full stock of unopened bottles on the lower level. “Who’s this from?”

The plain-faced robot paused, accessing his banks. “Octavia Post.”

“Tell her thanks.” I stood up, stretching my back, and walked over, kneeling at the trolley. Jade must have been thinking the same as me, because she left the suite and returned a