Space Race (Space Race 1) Nathan Hystad (ebooks children's books free .TXT) 📖

Marley Cage from Lotus is world-renowned for her experimentation on energy transference, and it helped secure five percent higher flash rates from a Core coupler. These guys are all pros. My counterpart at Luna Corp basically lived on a ship, while I worked on things in the office, trying to maximize mining equipment’s effectiveness. I don’t know if I can defeat them, especially if they already understand the parameters.” It seemed her points were valid.

“But have any of them received alien transmissions from fifty light years away?” I smirked, and she seemed to relax.

“Not that I know of, but it’s possible. Speaking of which, where are we on that project, R11?” Jade walked over to the robot, and I joined her as he responded.

“Close. I’ve made great progress and expect a trial run tomorrow.” R11 peered up at us as the screen continued flashing with equations.

“Tomorrow? You might actually be able to read the message?” I asked.

“Sure.” R11 added some lightheartedness to his commentary. “Or I could let you read it.”

“Okay, this is great. We’ll finally learn what the message says, and why these people are choosing to communicate with us.” My hands trembled at my sides as I considered the possibilities. “In the meantime, let’s finish through the Ring and park for the night. Maybe we can speak with the other teams.”

Luther lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “You want us to converse with the enemy?”

“More like info-seek. That a problem?” I asked him.

“Not for me. You’re the guy who loses his cool every time you go near one of those guys,” he retaliated, and I couldn’t argue.

“I’ll talk to Travis Brenner of Oasis. Holland, you see if Chen Wei’s pilot from Lotus will discuss anything with you. I mean, you did beat them in the Race, after all.”

Jade pointed at herself. “And me?”

“Luna. You said you knew Marley. Convince her to blab over a drink.”

“What about Luther?” Holland smiled.

“He’s going to meet with HyperMines. They were the lowest ranked next to us at the start, and you saw how they were disregarded at the introduction event. Try to be charming. Pretend we should stick together and see if we can’t both advance to the top four.”

“Sure. I gotcha,” Luther said.

The Ring was coming up, and I was surprised that there had been any shuffling of places over this section of the Race. Oasis had dropped to the bottom at seventh, with Hyper taking sixth. I expected Brenner to be irritated on the station tonight, but that might work to my advantage.

“Has anyone heard about Eclipse since this all began?” I sped for the end checkpoint, passing through in third position. It would have to do. If we completed the next task before the last three teams, we’d be moving on for the final leg.

The team had heard no new information, including R11, who checked for any active feeds from the elusive Eclipse. “Nothing, Captain Lewis. But I did see someone sharing a video of their work conditions in an Orion mine in the Belt. Apparently, it was tagged with Eclipse’s name, but was quickly removed.”

“Keep the search running continuously in the background, R11.”

The nearby space station was one of a kind. I’d been there before, but only on the hauling decks, not the hotel side. It was made of five separate rings, connected through corridors to an elongated central heart, making it look like five wheels with spokes.

The lowest was larger than the top four, used to receive materials and supplies from haulers like Capricious. We were being told to head to the top level, where the Board and Primary CEOs frequented when staying near Saturn.

Lotus and Sage were already parked inside the station’s hangar, and I entered through an invisible energy field, directing Pilgrim to our designated dock.

“I hope they’ve already left,” I muttered, not wanting to talk to Varn this minute.

The hangar smelled brand new, and I spotted cleaning drones wiping the smoothed corners of the ceiling. It was huge inside, much bigger than you’d assume from viewing the station at a distance, and bright. Luther squinted as he emerged from the ship, and R11 waited at the top of the ramp.

“R11, if you learn anything about the translation, hit my PersaTab straightaway. Understood?” I stepped aside, letting Jade by me.

He gave me a mock salute. “I will not fail you, Captain.”

A woman in a black suit abruptly led us through the luxury deck. She ignored most of Jade’s questions, stopping only when we arrived at the hotel sector. The doors were programmed to our thumbprints, and I wondered what else they’d extracted from us.

We had all the major amenities on Pilgrim, but I was looking forward to a sound night’s sleep on a pillow-top mattress, not the cramped bunks we were living with on the Racer. I couldn’t let myself grow too used to this level of treatment. The Race would end soon, and I’d be back to Capricious, hopefully hauling for SeaTech—unless Bryson hadn’t been insincere with giving me an executive role. I hadn’t given it much thought and didn’t know what my select skill set would offer him in a boardroom. But with the hefty paycheck I was getting, things were looking up, if the world wasn’t coming to an end in the largest civil war ever known to mankind. That would put a bit of a hamper in my future plans.

We all parted ways, and I dropped my bag at the foot of the bed. Everything was white inside. White linens, white floors, white walls, and in the bathroom…white tiles. It was too bright, and I turned the lights down, dimming them to forty percent.

I zipped out of my jumpsuit, dropped it in a hatch across the room, and took a few minutes to shower. The water pressure was glorious. I stood under it, the hot steam removing weeks of tension from my body.

And it came to me. If anyone knew about the revolt, it was Bello and Grid in the Wastes. If