Hunter (23 page)

She wasted no
time and pushed her ship towards it. She weaved between the
tentacles and as she was going past the entrance she saw the
beacon. Someone had tossed a black shroud over it so that it
couldn't be seen.

She ground
her teeth. She couldn't let everyone who followed her be crushed by
the tentacles just because of some foul play. Interfering with the
course beacons was strictly against the race rules; in fact, it was
almost the only rule.

Nova kept an
eye on the tunnel ahead and the other on a small mirror which
showed her the back of her ship. When she was ready she pressed a
button at her right elbow and a bolt of fire shot out. It careened
into the beacon and caught the black shroud alight.

Nova nodded
to herself. At least now there was something showing the other
racers where they needed to go.

She pushed
on. The tunnel got thinner the further she went, with more scrapes
decorating the walls. Her hands tightened on the steering stick. It
felt as if she'd been in the tunnel for hours, although it couldn't
have been more than a few minutes.

Just as Nova
was sure she'd been trapped in some kind of circular loop a glimmer
of light flickered at the end of the tunnel. Her heart fluttered in
her chest and she pushed forward on the throttle, desperate to be
out of the darkness. Metres away from the exit her ship entered a
small air pocket. Her vessel jumped and the roof smashed into the
top of the tunnel.

A resounding
scrape made Nova wince as she yanked the ship back on
course.

The shield
alarm flashed. The sudden collision was the last straw for the
shield and now it had started to fail.

Nova took a
deep breath. Flying the last half of the space-race without a
shield was practically suicide. She should just stop here and call
it a day. But she couldn't do that; she couldn't let Kero beat
her.

She burst out
of the tunnel and into a huge circular arena surrounded by a
cheering crowd.

"And here is
our fourth contender," Cambran's voice boomed through the empty air
and into Nova's receiver.

"Now
spectators, to add a bit of spice to this year's space-race the
organisers have added a thrilling arena element. There are four
racers before you, only three can go on. You may begin."

Nova looked
around in complete confusion. Kero was on the other side of the
arena. To her left was Demolition Dean, and to her right was
another racer. He looked like he had come from the Happy Hunters,
but Nova couldn't be sure.

"Since when
is there an arena element in the space-race?!" Nova yelled,
smashing her hand on the controls.

The other
racers seemed unconcerned. Weapons dropped from hidden compartments
in their ships. Normal racers did not have that kind of weaponry,
which meant that someone had leaked information, but hadn't told
Nova or her companions.

Anger burned
inside her chest as she glared at the other racers. There was no
way she could compete with their high fire-power. All she had was a
failing energy field and a couple of flame throwers. Her grip
tightened around the controls as she imagined throttling Kero. Her
face flushed red as she imagined losing the space-race just because
the others cheated.

A hatch in
Kero's ship lifted and two massive guns folded out to either side.
If they hadn't been aimed straight at her, Nova would have laughed
at how the guns dwarfed the rest of the ship. As it was, she was
too busy diving out of the way of the massive blue bolt shooting
across the arena.

Her biggest
competition was going to be Demolition Dean, as his guns were
lethal. There was an entire array of them, each pointing in a
different direction. For the moment, his attention was absorbed
with the unknown racer. The two of them were locked in a fight to
the death.

Kero seemed
intent on killing Nova while he had the chance.

Nova weighed
up her options, but it was clear there was only one thing she could
do.

She shot
straight across the arena towards Dean, with Kero's blasts
following hot on her tail. One shot from his guns with her shields
down and she would be blown into a thousand tiny pieces.

Dean's focus
was on the other racer. He didn't notice Nova flying at him until
it was too late. She lifted her ship just above his and slammed her
thumb down on a black button.

The emergency
release engaged and the sun-fuel from Nova's spare tank dropped out
of her ship and landed on Dean's.

His shield
was no match for the volatile fuel which ate the top of his
ship.

Dean smashed
his fist onto his emergency escape button at the last second. He
shot out of his racer a moment before the pilot's seat was drenched
in fuel.

He glared at
Nova through the face-shield of his space-suit. His face went red
as he yelled at her though she couldn't hear the words. He kicked
forward and swung his arms, trying to swim through the air towards
her.

"In a
shocking turn of events, Nova from The Jagged Maw has eliminated
Demolition Dean. That leaves Nova, Kero and Liam. The gates are now
open for them to continue," Cambran announced.

At his
command, two sections of the stadium swung backwards to reveal the
rest of the course.

Nova didn't
waste any time. She blasted out of the gates and into the open
space, leaving Dean and his wrath far behind.

Liam and Kero
came out of the gate at the same time and for a few moments they
were flying alongside each other in perfect formation.

Nova glanced
at her fuel gauge. With the spare tank gone, all she had left was
half a chamber. She hoped it would be enough to get her to the
finish line.

Kero was
still laughing as he pulled away from Nova. His ship was a newer
model and its top speed was faster than hers, especially without
her solar fuel.

As he moved
in front of her, Kero maneuvered his guns and fired a few parting
shots at Nova's ship. Only her exceptional reflexes saved her as
she ripped the controls up and out of the way of the
blast.

Liam wasn't
so lucky. The blast went straight under Nova's ship and into his.
His shields must have been down too because his craft shattered.
Shards of metal flew across the course, but by then Nova was far
past it. In her rear mirror she watched the explosion puff out,
leaving a trail of rubble.

Kero was
already far out in front and gaining more distance with every
second. Rage rose in Nova's stomach when he had the nerve to swerve
back and forth across the course, taunting her.

They couldn't
be far from the finish line, how could she possibly catch up
now?

Then she
smiled. Kero was too busy watching her to keep his eyes on the
course.

Nova saw it
first. Initially it was just a tremble but then the small moon of
Grenn began to fall out of orbit towards Kero's ship.

Kero was
completely oblivious. His ship was seconds away from colliding with
the moon when he swerved to the right.

Nova chuckled
and pushed the throttle. She zoomed forward and lifted up, over the
top of the way-ward moon, well out of its reach.

Meanwhile,
Kero's ship turned right around so that it was going backwards down
the track in an effort to stay out of the moon's path. The moon
followed after him for at least one hundred metres before he was
far enough away that it lost touch with his gravity.

Nova was far
out in front. She could see the finish line in the distance,
surrounded by spectators. She pushed the throttle as far forward as
it could go and pressed the red sun fuel button but there was none
left after she'd destroyed Demolition Dean. Her engine roared under
the throttle, zooming faster.

Something in
the motor snapped and smoke poured out of the control panel. She
choked on the fumes as tears streamed out of her eyes. She blinked
away the sting, keeping her eyes locked on the finish line. The
entire ship rattled around her. Loose bolts fell to the floor with
metal clunks and still she pushed faster.

The line drew
closer. She dare not glance behind in case there were other racers
right on her tail. Alarms blared through the ship and red lights
lit up the controls.

She tore
across the line just as her engine gave a final shudder and cut
out. The ship fell out of the air and crashed onto the floor of the
dome, spewing smoke.

Nova slammed
her fist onto the open button and the glass case retracted,
releasing a new plume of smoke into the air. The fire crew were
already running towards her with extinguishers. She stumbled out of
the ship and was inundated with cheers.

She threw her
helmet off and it clattered to the ground as she gasped for breath.
She rested her hands on her knees and gulped for fresh air. It
cleared the smoke from her lungs and the fog from her head. A grin
spread across her face. She drew a deep breath and then stood with
her hands held wide.

The crowd
roared.

Her face was
plastered onto the holographic platforms scattered throughout the
stadium. Normally she'd keep her identity and face hidden but this
was one time when she wanted to be known. The screens replayed the
highlights of her race; the deadly right-hand corner was reshown at
least four times as she walked from her ship to the winner's
podium.

"Incredible,
ladies and gentlemen. Nova from The Jagged Maw has won the four
hundred and fifty-third bounty hunter space-race. And she's done it
in what appears to be a modified seven-fifty racer. Incredible,
just incredible," Cambran boomed.

Nova stood
next to the winner's platform and waited for the other racers to
finish. According to the score-board, twenty racers weren't going
to finish, how many of those had died wasn't mentioned.

Tim and Tom
came out of the stands to join Nova. Their round faces flushed red
and their white hair stood in tufts as if they'd spent the whole
race pulling it out. Tim grabbed hold of her hand and shook it
wildly, while Tom placed a thick hand on her shoulder.

"What a
race!" he gushed.

Nova felt the
corner of her mouth twitch up in a smile.

"The Gunners
are gonna be furious!" Tom said.

"The way you
took over Kero." Tim shook his head. "Just phenomenal."

Nova
shrugged. "If he hadn't been showing off he might have seen he was
dragging a moon out of orbit."

The three of
them chuckled.

It would be a
long time before the stragglers crossed the line, so when the first
ten were home the official winner's ceremony commenced.

Nova climbed
up to the top of the podium and lifted the gold trophy. It would be
housed in The Jagged Maw for the rest of the year until a different
guild won it back in another race.

Nova's heart
fluttered in her chest. She was overcome with pride, joy and
relief. All the months of training and hard work had paid off. The
only way it could have been better was if Kero had been crushed by
the wayward moon. She couldn't help a smile from splitting her
face.

That night
she celebrated with Tanguin and Aart and many others from The
Jagged Maw. Aart was sour for the first five minutes, but it didn't
take him long to lighten up and regale them all with his epic race.
He waved his hands through the air and held his audience captive as
he told of how close he'd come to overtaking Nova and winning this
year's cup.

Nova
chuckled. She knew as well as anyone that Aart hadn't even been
close to her. She didn't bother correcting him. Let him have his
fun.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Nova sat up in her bed and rubbed her tired eyes.
It felt as if a thousand grains of sand had fallen behind her lids
and scratched her eyes to pieces while she slept. The light stung
as she forced her eyes open and stumbled out of her sleeping pod to
the pilot's chair.

"You're
finally awake," Cal said as he hovered around the corner and into
the command pod.

Nova looked
down at her unkempt self. She was wearing the same clothes as the
day before, her hair was a tangled mess, and she had no idea where
she was currently parked.

She buried
her pounding head into her arms and rested on Crusader's dashboard.
"I wouldn't say that just yet," Nova whispered from between a gap
in her arms.

"That will
teach you for enjoying so many Saturn Smoothies," Cal said. He went
over to the food generator and pressed a few buttons. The machine
whirred into action.

"As I
recall," Nova said, lifting her head. She squinted at Cal through
bleary eyes. "You were matching me drink for drink. It's not my
fault I don't have an instant detox function."

"Ah, well
that's where you're wrong," Cal said. He hovered over to Nova with
a small glass in his hand. Amber liquid sloshed from side to
side.