“What did you buy, ECHO?” Z1P_ZAP asked.
“A magnet,” she replied.
“A magnet?”
“Yeah,” she said, “I figure I might be able to stop one of you from falling off a track by drawing you closer to my pod. It only works for five seconds with a thirty-second cooldown time, though, so we can’t use it unless we need to.”
Not a bad idea, A11_4_ON3 thought, but again, he wouldn’t say it out loud.
While he waited, he thought about what racing had been like when he was in their crew. They’d been good—really good. They’d won almost every race they entered. In races with weapons, they would watch each other’s backs, taking out anyone that was trying to nudge them out of the way. In races without weapons, they’d still move as a squad, blocking other racers’ attempts to pass by. They raced in cars, boats, planes . . . one race had even had them in giant hamster balls rolling toward the finish line.
A11_4_ON3 couldn’t quite remember when things started to go wrong. Maybe he’d gotten sick of taking second or third place so that someone else on his team could take first. He remembered thinking about solo racing a lot near the time of his departure. It seemed easier, simpler. All he had to do was take first. He didn’t have to worry about keeping track of teammates or cleaning up their mistakes, making sure they were safe.
He’d done well as a solo racer too, maybe not as well as they’d done as a team, but well enough. There was one aspect of solo racing that he loved above all else—when he won, his victories were his own. He didn’t have to share the position of first place with anyone else. His victories were his doing, and no one could take that away from him.
The next race loaded, and immediately he felt his heart sink when he saw the track. Not only was he going into this race without any upgrades, but the conditions of this race were far different than the volcano.
The pods were lined up on an ice sheet, but that was about all he could see of the track. There was a blizzard raging over this race. He could feel the wind pushing the pod, threatening to flip it over. At high speeds, it could present a serious problem. During the last race, he’d noticed how realistic the physics of this game were. All it would take was a strong gust to lift a pod off the track, send it airborne, and cause a disaster for the driver.
“Gamers,” A11_4_ON3 heard the Game Runner say, “welcome to the second race! Only three teams remain, and one more will be eliminated at the end of this track.” He couldn’t see where the voice was coming from because the snow ruined any visibility. “As you can see, this race takes place on a glacier. Once again, if you fall off the track, you will be placed in the lowest possible finishing position. Unlike the volcano, this track is slipperier than you’ll be used to. And be careful of the wind gusts—they can whip your pod around faster than you might think. Everyone ready?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Let’s get started!” The countdown from ten started.
“Okay,” ECHO said as the racers revved their engines, “everyone stay close to me. If you start sliding close to the edge of the track, I’ll engage the magnet and keep you close. You should follow behind me the whole time.”
A11_4_ON3 looked at ECHO’s pod. There was a large, silver cylinder, which he figured was the magnet, fixed to the top of it now.
“I’ll be on your left,” Z1P_ZAP said.
“I’ll take the right,” STR33T_WIZE added.
“Sounds good,” ECHO confirmed. “Z1P, we’re going to have to go a little slower. STR33T doesn’t have the speed upgrade yet, and we definitely need to stick together through this.” She paused for a moment. “You’re welcome to stick with me too, A11_4_ON3. You’d have to stay behind me though. I need to be able to see where I’m going.”
A11_4_ON3 didn’t like the sound of that. Not only did it mean that he couldn’t take first, but it also meant that he wouldn’t be able to see where he was going. He’d have to trust ECHO to take the whole team to the finish line by herself.
THREE TWO ONE GO!
“I’ll pass,” he said, slamming down on the throttle.
This time he was prepared for the force of the pod accelerating so quickly, but the Game Runner hadn’t been kidding. The wind was stronger than A11_4_ON3 had anticipated. As soon as he was in motion, he found he actually had fairly little control over his pod. The wind pushed it to the right, so he steered left to compensate, but when the wind suddenly died down, his pod made a sharp left. When he compensated for that, the wind picked up again and pushed him to the right. The snow was so heavy that he could barely see what was around him. It was all a blur of white. Each time he swerved, he worried he would fly off the edge of the glacier.
Even when the wind wasn’t affecting his driving, his turns weren’t as sharp as they had been in the volcano. Rather than turning, he was really only able to slide around on the glacier.
In his rearview display, the few other racers he could see were having as difficult of a time as he was. Pods were slipping and sliding all over the track. He caught quick flashes of red—his three teammates, trailing a bit behind him, and they were having trouble staying together. He saw ECHO’s pod pinballing off of Z1P_ZAP and STR33T_WIZE. Each time she hit them, they bounced farther and farther away from each other.
“You need to straighten out your path,” ECHO said.
“What do you think we’re trying to do?” STR33T_WIZE responded.
“It’s impossible to just go straight,” Z1P_ZAP chimed in. “I keep turning or drifting.”
“Stay as close to me as you can,” ECHO reminded her teammates. “If you need me to engage the magnet to keep you close, just say so.”
A11_4_ON3 had to admit that he wasn’t faring much better than his team. He hadn’t even reached top speed yet. The drifting forced him to keep lowering the throttle to get control of the pod. Every time he tried to speed up, the wind pushed him around the track as if he were a flimsy leaf.
It was hard to tell who was in first place. He knew that at least one green team member was out in front of him, but he’d only seen one blue pod in his rearview—no way to know where the other three were.
There was one advantage to this course—there weren’t any obstacles in the middle of the track. A11_4_ON3 hadn’t expected any in the first race—always the easiest in video games—but he had suspected that the second race would have some sort of obstacle: rocks or jumps, something to increase the level of difficulty. As far as he could tell, this course was just a straight line, nothing in the way.
It took a while, but eventually he was able to figure out how to drive through the blizzard. All he had to do was hold back from pushing the throttle to top speed—it was just too fast for these conditions. Now that speed upgrade almost seemed like a waste of credits. He found he was able to anticipate the severity of the wind by watching the snowfall. If it was coming straight down, the wind didn’t affect his pod, but if the snow started flying sideways, pushing him, he had to steer into the wind to compensate.
Other racers popped in and out of his view. He’d see them to the right or left, sometimes behind him. They’d swerve and turn, trying to make up for the push of the wind, but they all eventually faded away, disappearing back into the snow.
“I think I’m getting the hang of this,” STR33T_WIZE said.
“Me too,” Z1P_ZAP added.
“Good,” ECHO replied. “We don’t know what else will happen before the end, so still stay close.”
A11_4_ON3 assumed that his teammates were behind him, although he couldn’t see them through the blizzard. He focused on his own driving, wanting to take the highest possible finishing position. While that may not have technically counted as working with his team, his taking first would still benefit them. Each time the wind picked up, he lowered his throttle to regain control of his pod. When the wind died down, he pushed his pod as fast as he could for as long as he could.
Suddenly, A11_4_ON3 felt a new sensation in his pod; rumbling, just like he’d felt in the volcano. At first he wasn’t sure if it was the wind picking up again or if this was some new challenge, but that question was answered when he saw cracks shoot down the middle of the track ahead of him.
“Oh, great,” STR33T_WIZE said. “What’s going on now? As if this wasn’t hard enough to begin with!”
A11_4_ON3 knew exactly what was happening. “The glacier is breaking apart.”