Pax Galactica - A Space Opera

Chapter 1 - Deathraces and Ennui (II)

Technically the track was supposed to max out at 24 racers, but nobody objected to squeezing in another two. Their ranks would thin out on their own soon enough.

No two of the 26 racers now lined up in neat rows at the starting line was identical, or even all that similar. Each was a unique work of engineering art and was decorated with all the un-self-conscious flamboyance of a 7-year-old. Part of the appeal of Deathracing was designing and constructing your own personalized racer and making it look as asinine as possible.

The bike portion of Decker's own racer sat atop two long, sleek, perfectly balanced hoverpods. On the back was a single over-sized rocket engine surrounded by layers of defensive fields to keep it from instantly melting the pilot. Loss of field integrity leading to a pilot being lit up by their own engine was a fan-favorite.

Decker had flown his racer unadorned for many races, but after a great deal of peer pressure he made a small concession to decoration and stained it red ("the fastest color").

Everyone had mounted their racers and waited with tensed muscles for the starting sound. Finally the three distinctive tones counted down and the race was on!

The road activated. A translucent blue force-road began to snake forward at high speed of its own accord and the racers immediately sped straight for the edge. With computerized precision the road stayed exactly 10 meters ahead of the racer in first place. This meant the twists and turns couldn't be properly anticipated. They had to be reacted to with a second's notice as they suddenly appeared in front of the racers. The road would also narrow and widen randomly, making dead center the most valuable real-estate.

And twist and turn it did. The force-road opened up with an immediate vertical loop. Three racers that weren't able to come up to speed that fast wiped out at the apex, falling to the ground. The racers were largely unharmed but the pilots were badly mangled. They turned off the pain and laughed and joked where they lay.

After stretching out for a bit the force-road began to disappear behind itself at the same rate that it grew forward. This meant any stragglers would fall off.

The force-road began to spiral around upward, in ever narrowing loops like it was ascending a mountain. There were 23 racers left. Thane had pulled ahead to an early lead. Decker was hanging further back. He didn't like to draw that kind of heat early on. He let a few of the idiots kill each other and thin out the herd before he made his move.

A woman flying a eccentric twin-engine mono-pod racer, painted to look like a shark being hit by G-forces, attempted to ram into Thane and take her spot at the center of the road. Thane, in his silver "Saturn Starlifting" themed three-pod design, saw her coming a mile away and pushed back. He rammed her all the way to the edge of the road, pushing her over, before sliding back into his old place.

The woman fell to her death off the road, which had already looped over 100 meters in the air. Several of the holoscreens focused on her fall, replaying it over and over again. The crowd applauded.

Two more pilots directly behind Thane, in more standard two-pod designs, began ramming each other over second place until the force-road suddenly narrowed and they went tumbling over the side together.

More applause. M stopped watching at this point, but she dutifully stayed in her seat.

The force-road reached about 200 meters and began to wrap around into a single unbroken circle, like an old 2d race track. Here is where the fighting began in earnest. Decker dodged and weaved, never getting too far ahead and becoming a real target, avoiding conflict as much as possible.

The others certainly didn't. A clown-dentist themed twin-pod rammed a bird-covered three-pod all the way over the edge before being pushed off itself by a brightly-colored twin-pod with attached flying kites.

A three-pod that looked like an ornate gentleman's pirate ship smashed into a two-pod that looked like a giant human hand so hard that both blew hoverpods and crashed in a mangled, twisted, intertwined wreck the killed both pilots. Another two more racers crashed into the wreckage before the whole thing fell to the ground as the force-road disappeared beneath it.

Only 14 racers remained.

The force-road shot down in a steep arc and then suddenly began to zigzag treacherously. Decker saw his moment. He began to leap-frog between the zags, cutting half the distance from his trip but having to trust fate that the road would still be zigging and zagging when he landed.

This risk paid off. Hopping two zags in this way he was able to jump from 8th place to 3rd. He jumped back to the center of the force-road just in time, as it ceased to zigzag and began to arc upward again.

Instead of fighting one person for first, Thane was fighting two. Decker had come out of nowhere.

Without any kind of warning one of Decker's hoverpods blew out entirely, belching smoke and throwing the racer badly off-balance. It immediately began to lean hard to one side, bringing Decker's head dangerously close to the force-road as it blasted along at high speed. Only a well timed shift of his body weight kept him from being smeared across the road like so much jam.

Three more racers pulled ahead of Decker. He barely noticed. He was fighting for his life. Decker half-stood in his seat and pushed his body as far as he could to one side. The racer leaned back the other way a little, at least enough to get him out of immediate danger.

Decker knew that if he jumped out now he'd fall to his death as soon as the force-road disappeared, that's if no one hit him first. His only option was to finish the race in what remained of his racer.

The crowd loved every second of it. Most of the holoscreens not showing Thane in the lead now showed Decker struggling along in his damaged racer.

The force-road began to twist again and now it was spiraling downward. Decker was barely able to make the turns.

While Decker was fighting to keep his racer from killing him there was a battle royal going on over first place. Five different racers jostled back and forth, fighting over the center and trying to knock each-other off. Thane managed to keep the center even amid the chaos, and when the force-road narrowed his rivals went flying off the sides.

Decker, far enough behind to have more time to react, managed to keep his racer within the bounds of the badly narrowed road and now he was in second place.

Just as the road was widening back out again another racer, a mono-pod made to look like a starship, began bashing Decker from behind, hoping to finish off the damaged racer and steal second place.

Decker slowed slightly to bring the two racers in line with one another. Then, when the pilot of the starship racer tried to take advantage of this to ram him sideways off the road Decker cut acceleration entirely. With nothing in the way to stop it the starship racer went flying off the force-road.

Decker sped back up.

The force-road made a hard, angular turn and it took everything Decker had to make it. His racer spun around again from the momentum, this time it was fully upside-down.

Decker tried to shift his own weight and flip the racer back up, but it was impossible. Without the second hoverpod this was the position the racer naturally wanted to take. Decker was forced to just hug his body against the racer as best he could and hope he didn't get ground up into meat against the force-road.

There was another vertical loop and a horizontal loop. With one last wicked sharp turn the road reached back down to the ground and manifested a finish line.

Far ahead of anyone else Thane took both loops with ease and passed the finish line to the cheers of the crowd. Decker, sweating, his hands screaming and raw, was able to just barely get his machine past the line behind him. Decker immediately brought his racer to a stop by swerving to the side and jumped off. 

The crowd lost it. They were three times as loud as they had been for the winner.

Decker was exhausted, barely able to keep his footing. His lungs burned with every breath. His eyes stung with tears. Adrenalin was pounding in his head.

He was alive.