Page 3 of Hyperspeed
Laughter erupted from Sam. “There we go.”
I reread the details again. And again. “An Iskari is racing in the ASL?”
When I looked up, Sam nodded in confirmation.
“I questioned whether it was an error at first. Y’know, some daft intern rushing to submit the info last minute.” He leaned forward, barely containing a smile. “But I was having a beer with one of Zenith’s designers last night—”
“Did you fuck him?” I cut in.
“Is that relevant?” Jax glared at me in disapproval.
“What? It’s polite to ask.”
“Oh, is it?” he deadpanned.
“Anyway,” Sam continued. “He was tight-lipped at first. But put a few beers in him, and he opened up like a moonflower on Nyxara.” He winked, and we shared a high five while Jax rolled his eyes. “Turns out they signed the Iskari a few months ago, but kept it hush-hush. No one knew until they submitted two days ago, right before the CRF’s deadline.”
“Cheeky.” I turned back to the screen.
His bio was fine, I guess. His success on the underground racing circuit was cute, but he’d never competed in any official league. Not like most of us.
How would he perform on the track? I’d never seen an underground race, but I knew they were dangerous. Full of reckless drivers hoping to be spotted by an ASL scout from a professional team. They weren’t exactly legal, but the Unified Space Enforcement turned a blind eye.
I’d heard that the scouts didn’t attend regularly, likely too scared of being spotted and booted from their well-paid positions. But if a racer’s name made the rounds and impressed the right people, they were occasionally signed.
Vortex had signed Dray’s teammate two years ago after scouting him. He was a mess at first, but he’d mellowed out, finding his place amongst the other drivers on the grid. He sometimes still pulled a careless trick, though, trying to prove he could play the game with the rest of us.
Would this new rookie be the same?
I stared at the blank grey square above his bio, missing the usual mugshot. “Where’s his photo?”
“Dunno.” Sam shrugged. “They’re not mandatory; most just add them as part of the process.”
“Maybe they didn’t want anyone to know what he looks like,” Jax suggested. “I mean, they waited until the last minute to add him to the roster. A secret from the press?”
Sam hummed in contemplation. “An Iskari racing in the ASL. Who’d have thought?”
Whowouldhave thought?
Sam and Jax traded theories like it mattered. Like this rookie’s name meant something.
I didn’t care if he was an Iskari or the head of the Intergalactic Government. On the track, it wasn’t about species or stories, it was about speed and skill. And no one outpaced me.
Revvak Arathiel could eat my dust with the rest of them.
The Stars Have Aligned... Poorly
Kai
Practice went by in a blink, fast enough to leave me wanting more.
Meanwhile, the paddock couldn’t shut up about the rookie who didn’t bother to show. But his teammate Zylo was there, a big fanged smile pasted on his mint-green face as usual. By the end of the day, I had yet to set eyes on Revvak, so if he’d practiced, it was long after everyone had left.
The next morning, I arrived at Vortex Canyon for qualifying, pumped to get into my new vehicle. It was perfect, just like last year’s, and the year before that.
But this time the designers had added a glove-synced system. It allowed me to adjust things like thruster output or shield intensity with a single hand gesture, giving me more leeway to focus on the track. On the competition.
Fuck, it drove like a dream.
