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

eyes that worried me the most as he grabbed my shoulders and hauled me into the room. “Arlo! It’s actually you!”

He ushered me inside, and what I saw was madness. The walls were filled with screens, with images from the Race paused on some, videos from each primary newsfeed on others. There was a satellite still of Earth, focused on central HyperMines, in the heart of what used to be known as Africa.

I tried to comprehend what I was seeing, but the information was overwhelming. I just smiled, keeping my calm. “How have you been doing, Jinx?”

His nose had been broken a few times, and it pointed an inch to the left. He scratched it, as if sensing my thoughts. “Me? I figured it out! Can you believe it? All these years of study, and they told me I was off my rocker.”

“Figured what out?” I asked.

“The great mystery.”

Jinx had always been a bit of a conspiracy nut, but he had a knack for acquiring things. I assumed he stole them from the mines, or the city, but after touring the city tonight, I doubted anyone at Orion really cared. The place was a cesspool. They needed to shut it down once and for all. He’d helped me out of a pinch with spare parts for Capricious over the years, and when they didn’t fit, we’d altered them—which might have been part of the reason she’d broken down repeatedly.

I didn’t really want to hear his theories. At my last visit, he’d been studying radiation levels, claiming the meds they provided to counteract the effects actually gave the Corporations control over the general masses. I’d attempted to talk him out of that one, knowing full well he needed the drugs to survive here.

“Have you seen the Race?” he asked.

“Are you doing okay?” He had a small cot in the corner, and a door on the right. It was ajar, and the light was on inside. “You’re eating? Taking your rad pills?”

“Sure. Sure. This is big, Arlo.” He slapped his palms together loudly. “Have you seen the Race?”

“If you’ve been watching, you know I’m one of the contestants.”

“Yes. And doing a kickass job, I might add. But have you seen it?” he repeated.

“I don’t understand.”

“No one does. Look.” His finger jabbed at the first paused screen. It showed Espace during the second leg. Three drones hovered nearby.

“What? Captain Durand’s ship. What’s the big deal?”

He laughed, and the sound sent shivers down my spine. “Arlo, my friend. I always liked you. Are you sure you want this burden? Are you one of them now? Racing for a Corporation, working side by side with a CEO’s progeny? If I show you this, I can’t unshow it. Once you understand, everything will change.”

I studied the image. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. “Jinx, you’re not well. I think you should get some help. We can move you to SeaTech…”

“None of that matters. Do you want to see this or not? You can leave, take your battery pack, continue on your little Race, and never be the wiser. Until…”

“Until what?”

His laugh and smirk had faded. “Until they come.”

The question begged to be asked, and I didn’t even have a choice. It fell from my lips. “Who comes?”

“Good. I knew you’d be into this.” Jinx zoomed in on the image, and I spotted a dot of light that looked out of place among the stars. “Be patient.” He continued to alter it, the resolution still high quality. Stars were being blotted out by something, and the light’s shape was slightly more defined. Jinx seemed to be enjoying himself, adding to the suspense by taking his time. The object took form, and it made sense. It was a spacecraft.

“I don’t recognize that.” The thing was small, judging by the scale. “Is it a backup drone? Something for the Race?”

His grin returned. “Arlo, look at it. This is unlike anything on record, and it’s been everywhere throughout the Race.” He flipped to another video, and another on each screen, showing me expanded images of the vessel. Some were clearer than others, but it was obvious it was the same ship, or at least the same design.

“What are you implying here?” I asked.

“There’s more.” He started to show me other sites, images recorded over the years where the craft was in the background. A tiny speck, always present. Near Saturn. At Mars. Orbiting Eris. Pluto. When it got to Earth, I stumbled back.

“Are you saying an alien race is watching us?”

“Very good. The first instance I found was from seventy years ago, during the second-phase construction of the Belt Station.” The picture appeared on the last screen, where the ship faded in the distance. It was a little blurrier in this one, but obviously the exact object.

It was black, almost impossible to see. “If these things have been hovering around, our sensors would have picked them up by now.”

“No, Arlo. We only scan for readings our technology emits. We don’t target other things, because otherwise, every little radio wave, radiation beam, and communication would appear on our radars. We’d have red screens, making it impossible to differentiate what we were really targeting. They don’t use our power system.”

My breaths grew shallow as I took in the news. “What do they want?”

“Who’s to say? But know that while you’re speeding around in that Racer, someone not of this solar system is watching your every move.” His eyes focused on me, his posture straight while he said this.

“Okay, I know there’s more to this you haven’t said yet. Let’s hear it all.” Jinx would have a hundred theories fabricated, but I needed him to focus. “And by all, I mean the most plausible scenario, not something outlandish.”

“These are aliens. They’ve been sizing us up for years. Probably far longer than my evidence suggests.”

“What do they want?”

This made Jinx cackle again. “What do you think? Our destruction. You know how valuable this system is? And we’ve left it ripe for the picking. What