Page 54 of Hyperspeed
There’d be no penalty, of course. I could already hear the officials spinning it. They’d say it was just bad luck. An accident. Maybe his wheel brushed mine. But with my tyres gone, I could have clipped him too. There was no way they would pin it on Rev.
And that made me furious.
The logical part of my brain told me the officials were right. But the fury was louder.
When the podium came, I refused to go, because I was stubborn. But Jax dragged me with him against my will. Something about being a good sport and clapping for the top three, not just the winner.
So I stood beside my team, wearing a fake-ass smile and clapping a little too aggressively.
The top three climbed the podium. And right in the middle?
Rev.
He didn’t smile when the planet’s president handed him a trophy, because of course he didn’t, but a hairline fracture appeared in his cool exterior the second an unfamiliar melody filled the air.
“What’s the music?” I asked Jax, because he knew everything.
“Iskanya’s national anthem,” he replied. “Word is, the CRF dug through galactic archives just for him.”
Rev’s dark eyes turned glassy under the floodlights, his expression softening with something raw. I’d expected them to play Zyphar’s anthem—his current home, just like mine and most of the other drivers’.
But the melody that rose was older, sadder. A song from the Iskari’s ruined homeworld that no longer existed.
And yet, he still didn’t look happy. Even after the lengths the league had gone to to include him. He just stood there, mask in place, like celebrating his first win was beneathhim.
Fuck him.
Rev was an ungrateful bastard, and I’d make sure he knew it.
Right after I took a damn shower.
Close Encounters of the Thirst Kind
Rev
The drivers’ locker room at the paddocks wasn’t anything fancy. Just some metal lockers, a cubby with fresh towels, and some wooden benches down the middle. At Solar Flare Speedway, a glass door in the corner of the room hid a set of four showers.
The rooms were clean enough, but people seldom used them for more than a quick change. Unless you were Zylo, who regularly dropped trou in the middle of Zenith’s garage. I’d become desensitised to the sight of his cock and balls on display, but I don’t know how Saelix wasn’t walking around bow-legged.
Unlike Zylo, I didn’t whip my equipment out in public, so I joined the handful of drivers who chose the locker room. I’d bumped into Jax a few times, and we’d talked about this and that while getting ready, but never Kai.
He probably demanded a private space at the rear of Nexus’s garage, complete with a solid gold toilet to shit in. Probably had one at all the tracks, so his highness didn’t have to mingle with the peasants before a race.
I’d seen him in the crowd from the top of the podium. He’d smiled, but it had seemed strained, almost crazed.
It was his eyes that had given him away, and I wondered how many looked beyond the surface to realise it. Flames had danced in his hazel eyes, and they’d looked like molten gold under the sky’s solar flares. He’d looked like a celestial demon, and if looks could kill, I’d have been obliterated.
Knowing Kai, it was only a matter of time before he’d corner me, to rage about his DNF and place the blame on my head. After all, he was the professional, and I was just an ignorant rookie.
In reality, I’d been close to him on the track, but not enough to shove him off. Nexus had asked for an investigation, and Tavoris had reviewed the footage with the officials. By the time the race was over, they’d all come to the same conclusion.
It was pure bad luck on Kai’s part. His tyres had melted in the heat, just like many other drivers’, and he’d started skidding just as our wheels touched. A complete accident. So Kai would have to put his big boy pants on and deal with it.
Entering the locker room, I was still in a daze.
I’d just won my first race in the Astro Space League.
It had been tough with the heat, but Iskari regulated heat differently than other species. For me, the track had just felt like a warm day in the summer, even at its hottest. Thankfully, the solar flares had settled towards the end of the race, and the track had cooled down enough that we hadn’t been at risk of getting stuck.
