Carrak must be ready to clobber her,he told himself with a chuckle. Better get it over with and givethem a little bump.
Revving his jets, he steadied his aim, thenjumped, calculating the distance carefully so that he would impactthe colossus without any danger of making it lose its balance. Eventhat little nudge would teach Zia a lesson, he knew. She thoughtshe had experienced jolts in the simulator, but in a real mech, theeffect was a thousand times stronger.
He sailed into the air, soaring above her fora few seconds, then speeding downward toward her left side. Whenshe raised her huge left arm to deflect him, he adjusted his jetsto modify his course. Just as he reached the right side of hermech, he reversed, so that the hit, while jarring, was minimal.
She squealed over the intercom, halflaughing, half screaming, and Rem grinned proudly. Once he hadlanded safely, he sat back and enjoyed the moment. On his viewscreen, he saw the giant’s hatch open, and Zia and Carrak emerged,using jet boots to lower themselves toward the ground. Zia waved athim to join them.
Apparently, it was lunchtime.
She’s gonna spend the whole timebragging, he decided as he unbuckled his harness. Leave itto her to turn the whole thing into a game. Like our lives aren’treally on the line, and Alluva isn’t waiting in the wings tocapture her. I guess this is what you get when you cross a partygirl with a mech warrior.
And at least she isn’t crying anymore. Thatwas rough. So let her brag about her colossus as much as she wants.Even though we both know the truth—my skirmisher can kick anygiant’s ass. Even the Quito giant!
* * * *
By the final afternoon before the challenge,Zia had mastered most of the basic moves of the colossus as well assome of the more advanced ones, such as reversing course quicklywithout toppling. She had even fired paint blobs at Rem, coatingthe Quito skirmisher with green and blue.
As payback, Rem had dealt her somebone-jarring blows, and she was getting a little tired of it, notto mention sore. She had tried three times to fire paint at hiscameras while he was in mid-jump so he couldn’t correct for hermovements on his way down, but he always positioned his mech so thecameras were protected by an arm.
They were nearing the end of their finalpractice session, and Zia knew what was coming. Carrak had orderedRem to topple Zia, and while she knew he was too much of agentleman to really enjoy it, she also knew he’d do it, if only soher first experience with that humiliating tactic didn’t come atthe hands of an Alluvan warrior.
Assuming of course that Zia made the finalcut and was allowed into the challenge match. Carrak still hadn’tmade that decision, but Zia was fairly confident, if only becausethere was zero competition. All of the other giants wereunavailable, their pilots too sick to climb out of bed. If Ziacouldn’t fight alongside Carrak and Rem, then a skirmisher would besubstituted for the second giant. The rules allowed for either sideto use a lesser mech in place of the one specified by the target.But doing so would put Malara at an even more hopelessdisadvantage.
Still, Zia knew Carrak was considering it,because a healthy Malaran pilot had become unexpectedly available.It was Gannor’s cousin Annyak, who had piloted the prowler in thefirst challenge. Her condition had been so critical, she had beenreceiving oxygen by artificial means since the last battle, andso—ironically—she had not been exposed to infected particulates.Her pre-lungs were healthy, and her body was healing quickly.
If Malara needed her, she would be ready.
“But she’s a prowler pilot,” Zia hadprotested when Rem told her the news. Then he had explained thatmost Malaran pilots cross-trained to a certain extent, except ofcourse on giants. Annyak couldn’t hope to dazzle, but she couldperform basic moves on a skirmisher, and her aim and courage wereexemplary. She would be a good addition to any warrior team.
The question now was, which would be better?A mighty colossus with a novice pilot, or a skirmisher with anexperienced one? Zia knew Rem believed skirmishers to be as useful,at least to a point, as giants.
Luckily, it was Carrak’s decision, and Carrakworshipped her colossus as much as Zia adored her own. She wasfairly sure the general would choose her over Annyak, but wanted toincrease the odds as much as possible, so as she awaited Rem’sfinal maneuver, Zia adjusted the intercom so that Rem couldn’t hearher talk to Carrak.
Against Carrak’s objections, the doctors hadinsisted that the general conduct Zia’s final lesson from ahospital bed on the observation deck, where her condition could bemonitored and her meds adjusted as needed. It added a realisticelement to the maneuvers that Zia was trying to appreciate, eventhough having Carrak inside the giant with her had been a source ofgreat security.
But she needed to show them all she could dothis on her own, so she summoned her courage and asked Carrak overthe intercom, “If Rem can’t topple me, then is the job mine?”
Carrak gave an audible sigh. “He willsucceed, Quito. Do your best, but do not feel discouraged if youfail. He is an outstanding pilot, and he has the benefit ofexcellent training. In time, you could learn to counteract hisstrategy. But today, you must learn an equally important lesson—howto survive being toppled. It is unlike anything you haveexperienced over these last four days.”
“My goal in life is to never, everexperience it. So let me try to outmaneuver him. Please?”
Carrak was silent for a moment. Then sheadmitted, “He would be quite shocked if you could do that.”
“And then you’d let me participate in thechallenge?”
Carrak hesitate again, and her tone wasguarded when she finally asked, “What is your plan, Quito?”
Zia’s heart pounded.
