“Like what?” I asked her.
“Robots were programmable, but admittance was exclusive. They didn’t want a disgruntled site supervisor to override their commands and do anything hasty. The procedures took another decade, and mostly it was the Primaries working with the Board’s ethical and business committees. Eventually, the CEOs were the only ones with the proper codes to control their robots.” Jade glanced at R11, who nodded in agreement.
“Talk about micromanaging,” Luther muttered. “How many robots does the average Primary have under their wing?”
“I’d guess ten thousand,” Jade said.
“SeaTech is fewer, with seven,” Holland said. “But our footprint is far less than, say, Luna or Sage.”
I thought we might be getting somewhere. “Okay, so Frank Under could control Sara?”
“That’s right.” Luther spun in his chair, checking our radar.
“What about the Board?” Jade asked Holland.
“How do you mean?” Bryson’s son sat down in his chair.
“Does the Board have the codes as well? I imagine Octavia would want them backed up, in case something were to happen to the CEO. They couldn’t have the robot’s control vanish with the loss of a single human.”
“I don’t know that. Dad never discussed it with me.”
“This wasn’t Stin, that much is certain.” I sighed, relieved to learn that we might still have an ally in the robotic hive mind. “We’re almost home. We’ll keep Sara disengaged, and R11, Jade has manually separated your contact points.”
R11 sat in his chair, his side hatch open. Wires were loose; a small board lay on the console next to him. Jade had spent a full day calibrating his hardware.
“I understand. Can you grant me control of my limbs again, if there is no longer a risk of being overrun?” R11 asked.
“It’s up to the captain,” Jade told him.
“Fine.”
R11 looked up at me. “Captain.”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry for choking you. If you decide to throw me out the airlock, I’d understand. All I ask is that you power me down first.” He sounded so pathetic, it made me smile.
“Nah, I’ll keep you around.” I returned to the pilot’s seat. “Okay, we have one more day and we’re home. Everyone get some rest, because we won’t know when the next chance might come.”
____________
I’d taken my own advice three hours later. Luther stayed up top while the crew took to the bunks. Holland drifted off quickly, and I assumed Jade had as well. She inhabited the second bunk room alone.
Holland’s even breathing lulled me into a dream state in the dark space.
I was in a Pod Sprinter again. This one was my old Sage Sprinter.
Instead of the usual Pods beside me at the starting line, there was a lesser version of the Darlor Pursuer, along with a mini Squid and a Kvan Sabre, as well as a Hidan Arrow. To my right, I spotted one of the Stin ships, molded into a Sprinter form.
My dash chimed, and I glanced at the countdown. My grandfather’s voice carried into my headset. “Fly like a hawk, Arlo.”
The numbers flashed: 3, 2, 1, and the first checkpoint ring appeared. Instead of a hollow glowing circle, it was Earth in all its blue and green brilliance.
The Race was on.
I woke up some time later, the vivid dream still fresh in my mind.
Holland was gone.
I changed and found Jade making coffee. “Sleep okay?”
“For a few hours.” She looked rested.
“Good. Any for me?” I asked, desperately needing some caffeine.
“Sure.” She poured me a cup.
I blew on the coffee and took a sip. “Almost home.”
“It’s like we just left,” Jade said.
“We had to put our faith in something. That’s the thing about failure, though. We dust ourselves off and dive right back in. It’s like a race. You don’t give up. You finish, and you learn from your errors. We won’t let that happen to us again.”
Jade smirked and walked past me to the corridor. “But I thought you never lost. How did you learn from that?”
“Even when you win, there are things you can improve on. Unless I perfected my run, my grandpa considered it a loss. He’d make me watch the recordings for hours, and I’d have to replay them the next day, showing him where I could have enhanced my time.”
“Sounds like he demanded a lot from a child,” Jade said.
“Nah. He was right. I was sloppy. When you win that much, it’s easy to grow complacent. He made me strive for more.”
“Then you should be thankful, because he set you up for success.” Jade was about to leave, but she stopped and stared into my eyes. “I don’t know what will happen, but I’m glad we got to work together, Arlo.”
“So am I.”
“Do you ever think about the future?” she asked.
“Beyond tomorrow?”
Jade nodded. “What if we do survive? Do we work for SeaTech?”
“Good question. I suppose that depends on whether or not Bryson finds his wife.”
“I’ve always been a planner. I prefer knowing what my next day, week, month, or even year looks like,” she said.
“Then you must have freaked when you left Luna Corp.” I went into the Racer’s corridor, walking with her toward the cockpit.
“It wasn’t easy. It helped that I’d already separated from the decadence of my uncle’s dome, but still… leaving the Moon and going to that interview at SeaTech changed my life. I was used to being at my desk, working on technologies for Luna day in and out. Until they discovered I was the one who leaked that accident report.”
“Take it from someone that never has a plan for his life. It’s not as fun as you’d think,” I said with a laugh.
“You seem pretty content,” she told me.
“Is that so? I’m good at faking it. I worked for Sage, then hid in the Wastes with no idea what to do next. When I was hired at Oasis, it was out of desperation. They gave me accommodations and a consistent route, and that worked for me for a couple years. Finally, they gave me the
