Space Race (Space Race 1) Page 4

  “Is that so?” I asked quietly. Why was he telling me this?

  “Anyway, you don’t have to worry about that.” He turned, sticking out a clear tablet. Words began scrolling across it, and he shoved it at me. “Drop your thumbprint here, and we’re settled. The moment you touch it, the payment will be sent.”

  The contract was moving so fast, I couldn’t make out the words, and I glanced up at him.

  “Disregard the mumbo-jumbo jargon. Just use your thumb,” he said, and I sighed as I tapped my print on the screen. “Terrific. Take care, Lewis. If you need a recommendation…”

  My PersaTab chimed, and I pulled it from my pocket. It showed a deposit into my account. “Rog, this is half of our agreed-upon amount!”

  Sweat beaded on his cheeks, and he dabbed at them with a stained cloth. “You were late, Lewis. You risked the lives of the team, not to mention the sale to SeaTech. If they’d been trapped there, do you really think the buyers would have followed through?”

  I assumed they’d be extremely pleased to have the existing crew gone, along with their knowledge of the mines. These Corporations always wiped the employee base when somebody took over. It was a common occurrence. With modern knowledge management systems in place, no one needed experienced workers when they had the data in the computer networks.

  But I didn’t say any of that to Rog, not while I still had his good graces. “Rog.” I lowered my voice, treading closer to him. I wasn’t an overly imposing man, but he still stepped away from me, keeping his distance. I tried to loosen my bunching muscles and softened my frown into a smile. “Oasis owes me what’s due, and I can’t allow you to pay me less. My ship—”

  “Capricious? You call that hunk of junk a ship? Arlo, you’re done. Oasis doesn’t want to see you again. If you have any complaints, register them with—”

  I was on him in a split second, my forearm digging into his thick jowls. “This isn’t fair. I have bills to pay, Rog. Give me the rest—”

  Electricity shot through me, sending my limp body to the floor. I twitched, unable to do anything but stare at the ceiling lights. I groaned and turned to the side, where a waist-high robot loomed above me, electrical currents arcing through its extended weapon.

  “See yourself out…Hawk.” Rog spoke with malice, rubbing his neck. “And don’t show your face around here again.”

  The door closed, leaving me alone with the robot, and it took another five minutes for me to regain feeling in my limbs. I returned to Capricious with my tail between my legs. There was no winning against a Corporation.

  My fingers and toes tingled, but otherwise, I was okay. Well, maybe my ego was bruised, and I had less money than I needed to maintain my ship or to keep the lights on for another month. My return to Earth was off to a dreadful start. I hoped my luck was about to change.

  ____________

  I lived in an apartment block in Oasis territory, like all the employees of the Corporation, but when I arrived at home, my thumbprint didn’t register on the exterior doors. I walked back, peering up at the enormous building, and laughed.

  “Something funny?” an older woman asked from beside me, craning her neck to follow my gaze. She clasped her bag a little tighter. It’d been a few weeks since my last shave, and I hadn’t changed out of my weathered uniform since yesterday. I still had on the Oasis jumpsuit, dark gray with a cactus on the shoulder sleeve.

  “I don’t live here anymore. Did you know that Oasis sold part of the company to SeaTech? I guess that means I’m out on the street,” I told her.

  Her expression softened. “You think you’re the only one? They’ve sold off numerous divisions recently. You didn’t hear that from me, though. I doubt any of us’ll be around before long.” She looked me up and down and pursed her lips. “I have a feeling you’ll do okay, young man. You have an air about you.”

  “Thanks.” I started to turn away, but a question popped out of my mouth. “Have you heard of the Race?”

  “Space Race?” she asked from the doorway. Her thumb hovered over the pad and it flashed green, granting her access.

  “Sure, the Corporation’s attempt to distract us commoners,” I muttered.

  “I’d say Oasis is investing to win. They’re creating the best team they can. Even poaching some outsiders. You didn’t hear it from me, but it sounds like they’re banking on the Proxima rights to keep their heads above water. Ironic, isn’t it?” She opened the door and stepped a foot in.

  “Do you think they have a chance?”

  She seemed deep in thought. “Doubt it. Not with Luna Corp and Sage Industries competing. No one stands to win against those behemoths. But…”

  “I didn’t hear it from you,” I finished with a smile.

  “You learn quick. See, I told you that you’d be fine. Take care.” The door slid shut behind her.

  The sun was low in the sky, but the desert remained hot, and heat waves rolled over Capricious in the distance. It was the largest vessel parked near this complex, and I was glad I kept my personal effects on board, instead of in the cramped apartment unit. All I was leaving behind were some freeze-dried meals and a couple of shirts. Capricious was my real home, my baby. And judging by the sounds she was making on the trip over, I’d been neglecting her.

  Before I lowered the ramp and set foot onto my new house, my PersaTab was beeping. I pulled the clear device out, and my mother’s image hovered above it.

  “Arlo, we need you to come home.” My mother didn’t ask for much, and sending them money was always a sore spot between us. The recording ended, and I played it again, noticing her posture. The way her shoulders slumped, and her chin drooped as she spoke. Something was wrong.

  I’d been planning on sleeping in my bunk for the night before figuring out what I was going to do next, but now I had a mission, a purpose, and I let that encompass me. I needed the distraction.

  Capricious bumped and clunked as I lifted her off the landing pad, and I rose into a useable transfer lane, flicking the hull’s commercial lights to life. Few vessels moved through the Oasis-owned skies, telling me things were more dire for my previous employer than I’d thought. It made me smile. I set the ship on auto-pilot while I shaved and showered. The simple act quickly put me into a better mood.

  I stared at myself, almost not recognizing the man in the reflection. Major Barnes was right. I had been a kid with the world at his fingertips, and I’d given it all away. Losing my mentor, my hero, had changed everything, and now I wondered what my life could have been like if I’d stayed in the circuit. I dried my short brown hair and sighed, trying to rid myself from thinking about what-ifs. Longing to change the past wasn’t a healthy train of thought.

  The trip to Sage Industries’ zone took an hour moving at the top speed allowed on suborbital commercial flights, and I climbed back into the seat, switching to manual controls. Capricious lowered as I adjusted my lights to a recreational ship’s marking as I descended for my parents’ building.

  Sage was the top dog. Among the Primary Corporations, they’d been leading for as long as the ranks had been established, meaning they not only owned forty percent of what had once been known as the United States and Canada, but also half of Mars and all of Enceladus, among a vast array of the Kuiper Belt. To put it bluntly, they were a powerhouse.

  Their biggest competitor was Luna Corp, but to most of the population, there was one true Primary, and that was why I’d started the circuit under Sage’s brand. That was because of my grandfather’s endorsement and I knew it. It had started out so fruitful.

  My luck eventually ran out.

  My parents’ building was pristine on the exterior, like most things within Sage’s region. The city was predominantly used in manufacturing girders for housing construction and infrastructure on their moons and Mars, with over two million people working on the processes each and every day of the week, trading off in relentless shifts. Both of my parents worked at one such production site, with my mother in data entry and my
father supervising the lines.

  Robots rolled along the grounds, snipping at foliage, sweeping the sidewalks, and doing whatever else the round metal drones did twenty-four hours a day. The parking lot was full, and I had to use the overflow for commercial deliveries. Only people in Sage’s cities could afford Pods, though they were owned by Sage, of course. Everything was leased by the company. When you were laid off like me, you were cast aside.

  It was strange being here. It had been five years since I’d been back. I was usually out of town for any sort of holidays. I had a good excuse, living on Capricious for ninety percent of the year, so my parents never made a big deal about it, but after recent events and my mother’s few words, I knew it was time to return. Arlo, we need you to come home.

  The city was inland from the West Coast, the Pacific Ocean twenty kilometers away, but I could almost smell it on the breeze. The air was humid, such a difference from the dry, arid Oasis that was anything but its namesake. Their building was one of five in this sector, each of them made of a blue reflective glass. They were all identical, and it took a moment to orient myself and recall which of the towers they lived in.

  When I found the entrance, I moved aside as a family of six was being escorted out.

  “We didn’t do anything! You can’t—” The man’s words were silenced as they were shoved into a Corporate transport, the lights on top of the hovering vehicle blinking red.

  An armed guard by the ship stared at me and started to approach when his partner exited. I quietly slipped around him and into the complex before the door closed. The transport lifted off, flying without an alarm into the air.

  I took the lift to the twenty-third floor and got off, seeking their unit. I didn’t have a chance to knock, when the door opened, and I watched my mother. She was so small, her hair pulled into a severe ponytail. Her eyes were red-lined, and I saw how gray she’d become. What had happened to the vibrant woman I remembered making me study each night for my pilot exam? Who’d cheered me on during every event, and had celebrated my victories with love, keeping me humble the entire time. The woman who’d smiled no matter how grim the circumstances.

  “What is it?” I asked, searching past her for my dad.

  “They took him.”

  I barged into the small but tidy unit. “Who? Dad?”

  “They went to his work and said that they needed people to manufacture on Mars. They gave him one day, and then he was gone.” She broke down and was crying now. I hugged her, feeling how fragile she was in my arms.

  “Sage is forcing Dad to work on Mars? For how long?” I asked, fury boiling in my veins. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not since the treaties had been signed and implemented by the Board four generations ago.

  “They didn’t say. He was told they’d compensate us, but I haven’t seen anything yet.”

  “When did they take him?” I asked, suddenly ashamed of my lack of communication with my family.

  “Two months ago,” she whispered.

  I flopped to the compact couch that faced their kitchen. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

  “Because you were working, and I didn’t want to worry you. I know how upset you become, and…”

  There it was. One moment of weakness, and it always came back to bite me in the ass. Everything would have been fine if I hadn’t screwed up five years ago. Well, it didn’t matter, because I had peace of mind. “I’d do it again,” I muttered.

  She sat beside me, and set a chilled hand on mine. “I know you would, son, and I’m grateful that you have a heart. You were born for another time, that’s what your grandfather used to say. An era where heroes roamed space, helping those in need, not looking for ways to squeeze every dollar from a hunk of moon rock. He would hate to see how it’s gone.”

  “Maybe if Grandpa hadn’t left on a foolish trek, he could have witnessed it for himself,” I told her.

  “Your dad’s father was anything but foolish. No one could have anticipated the dangers in the mission.”

  I closed my eyes, not wanting to discuss this again. “Have you talked to Dad?”

  “No, but I’ve read reports from the production line. They want a structure of some sort. And from the manifests, it’s not another warehouse.”

  This piqued my interest. “What is it, then?”

  “The supplies are odd, but I’ve compared them to everything I could without being noticed. There’s nothing in Sage Industries’ files that’s even similar.”

  “That you have access to,” I said.

  “Right. I don’t know what they’re doing, but your father is up there helping Sage build something big and dangerous. You should see the catalog…”

  “Are you okay? Do you have food?” I asked, reminded once again of how gaunt she was getting.

  “I have enough, Arlo. It means the world that you came to see me. You look too skinny, but you’re as handsome as ever. And your hair…is that gray in it?”

  Her comments weren’t meant to be passive-aggressive, I knew this, but they caused me to peer into a mirror across the room. I stepped toward it, and spotted a couple of gray strands in my otherwise dark brown hair. I shrugged.

  “How’s work?” she asked.

  I grunted, standing to check in the cooler. I pulled a glass of water and passed Mom one. “Oasis screwed me. I’m out of a job.” Maybe I shouldn’t have told her at that moment, but the words just spilled out.

  “Oh, dear. Here I am complaining…”

  “Mom, it’s okay. I’ll find more work.” I thought about the alien communication I’d seen on the way to Eris, and the odd virus that had sealed Veera’s fate, and I wondered how I could continue with the daily monotony again.

  “You will. You have a fighter’s spirit, son.”

  “Do you mind if I stay tonight?” I asked softly.

  “I’d like that.”

  We settled into a casual conversation while my mom fixed us a meal. She used her ingredients sparingly, and eventually, we were seated on the couch, with warm food plated on our laps.

  “Have you seen any protests?” I asked her as I ate a limp bean.

  “No, but Sal at the office said he saw over a hundred people on the beaches, talking about rising up and petitioning the Board.”

  “Do you think it can be done?”

  She set her fork down. “How could we do anything against the Corporations? There’s no point.”

  “There are people out there doing big things,” I said. “Have you heard of Liberty?”

  My mom’s expression morphed into something fearful. “Don’t say that name here.” She whispered it, her voice almost inaudible, and pointed to the ceiling.

  “You don’t think they’re listening, do you?” It wasn’t that I thought someone like Sage Industries wouldn’t stoop to breaches of privacy; it just wasn’t financially feasible for their bottom line.

  “You never know.” She poked at her food. “Can you drop it?”

  “What about the Race?” I was curious how much Sage was promoting it to their people.

  “It’s all anyone’s talking about. They’re extremely excited. If we can claim the rights to Proxima…”

  And there it was. We. Sage and the other Corporations convinced their employees they were part of the organization. “What would it mean to the workers?” I was genuinely curious.

  “Mr. Under had a press conference and said it would mean better living conditions and more time off for Sage Industries employees. He’s already planning on expanding into Proxima when he wins the rights,” she said, sitting up proudly. This was the same woman who’d just cried over them taking her husband without a say.

  “Proxima. Here we are years later, and not mining the system,” I said.

  “You should still be with Sage, Arlo. The best pilot they’d ever…”

  “Can we not go there?”

  She nodded, giving me a grim smile. “I understand.” Her gaze drifted to the wall, where some of my trophies lined a shelf. She�
��d always been so proud of my achievements. The day I quit, I think a part of her broke inside.

  We ate and chatted amiably. Suddenly, I was determined to head to the Islands tomorrow to see this Bryson Kelley. Maybe he’d hire me to do some hauling for him and get me off-planet for a while. I’d also need to negotiate an advance from him, but since he’d gone to the effort of sending the Protector, Major Barnes, to meet me on the Belt Station, I assumed this was a possibility.

  When we were done and the dishes were put away, I made the couch up, my feet dangling over the end. I’d heard rumors throughout the years about a place you could go when you’d amassed enough money. Occasionally, someone within a Corporation did it, receiving a large bonus for discovering something of value, or creating a technology that made the company’s rank increase. Until now, I’d only thought of them as that: rumors to keep workers striving for success, but I hoped it was more. I’d do anything to save my parents from their daily misery and set them up at this utopia.

  To accomplish this, I needed allies and a job. My thoughts kept drifting to the strange ship, alone in space, self-destruct settings triggered. At the end of the day, I didn’t even have my own home. But I reminded myself that I did have a single prospect, and that was enough.

  I stared at the ceiling with a blanket pulled down to my stomach, and decided I wanted nothing to do with Sage Industries or the Space Race. But SeaTech awaited.

  Four

  I woke up, earlier than my mom, to the sunlight peeking through the living room windows. I stretched my stiff back and stared at the view of the other nearby complexes. A bus transport arrived, letting out a night shift group. They walked slowly, dispersing toward their homes.

  The light reflected off something metal next to me, and I saw the trophy. First Place: Under Thirteen. Lunar Juniors. My name used to scroll across the lower digital readout, but I assumed the batteries had died years ago. This dusty old shelf displayed a lot of my past.