It was Friday. I was still tired and angry after Wednesday’s meeting (the Suntree? Seriously?) and the fact work was moving into overdrive wasn’t helped. Samuel was breathing down my neck, just as I imagine someone was breathing down his.
I’d managed to get both Max and Anna on my job, but we weren’t even close to done yet, which was beginning to become an issue.
Fortunately, it was race night. I was a little anxious to get going, pacing the starting area slowly.
We were waiting to see if Pitch would turn up this time. She’d skipped last week’s Run, but that had been under some unusual circumstances. Torrent was leaning against a brick wall, talking to Mr. Tock. The wall was giving him about as much response, but he kept at it. I don’t think Torrent wanted a reaction, just to talk.
Glass was the opposite, occasionally trying to get a raise out of Mr. Tock and me. Telling jokes, manufacturing crude things to say, prodding until she found a button to press. She hadn’t got anything from me yet, but she’d come close a few times. It was impossible to tell with Mr. Tock.
I was her target tonight, withstanding the endless light banter Glass seemed capable of producing. She kept calling me “Queenie”, which was mildly irritating at worst. She, like Torrent, seemed to be fine left to her own voice and words.
After my 50th or 60th pace, Pitch strolled in. She was short and covered in a thick, black material, which made her look strong and squat. Raised tyre grooves ran down her arms and clothes. She had bulky plates covering her joints, shoulder guards the largest of all. Her hands ended in a sandwich of the black material, fingers splaying oddly from underneath.
My view was obstructed by Glass doing a running embrace, wrapping her arms around the shorter woman’s head. Pitch returned the hug very briefly and then broke out, standing with legs apart.
“What’re we all waiting for?” Pitch said, voice strong and no-nonsense.
Glass laughed. “Why, you!”
Pitch huffed. “Maybe, but I’m here now. Let’s get this going.”
Today’s course was straightforward enough; we were gathered at the top of a hill, under a signal tower. First one to reach the intersection just past the base was the winner. The hill was a few hundred meters high, but the slope was gentle and houses clustered all down the side.
We moved to our starting positions, clustering together. Small bits of data shifted between us, syncing our clocks. A count-down appeared on my helmet. The others would have something similar.
The soft tone of the helmet read the numbers as they ticked. I checked the others, watched their positioning and guessed at their goals.
“GO!” said my helmet, voice suddenly raised. My tiredness meant I didn’t kick off as fast as I could have and then everyone was in front of me, leaping the chain fence boxing the tower in. I followed, wheels pushing me off the top as I somersaulted, landing to coast for a few meters on my wheels, before I started running properly. We were in someone’s backyard now, the group splitting up. Mr. Tock and Glass slid around the side and clambered fences, breaking for the road. Torrent was just behind them, grabbing the corner to swing himself around. Pitch was climbing up the house itself, hanging off only a hand at points. I followed, leaping and hauling myself onto the roof.
Pitch was jumping the gap between houses now, landing solidly on roof after roof, using her Special, a tar-like adhesive on her hands, to maintain her grip after any risky jump. I wasn’t so equipped and thus had to go slower, take the jumps more carefully, but I was keeping up, the occasional terraced roof providing space to use my superior acceleration.
I kept catching glimpses of the three below, of them vaulting fences and using the road as much as possible. Mr. Tock and Torrent stood out, brass and reflective green catching whatever light they could. Glass was only visible when she directly crossed a light source, her progress difficult to keep track of.
I kept following Pitch, looking for an opportunity to slip ahead. It came at one of the drops between housing levels; her jumped pulled her up short. I used my Special, compressed air pushing me over a much larger distance than I could’ve made unaided, sending me sailing over Pitch as she pulled herself up over the lip of the roof. Nearly too far, in fact, as I only just had time to bunch again for the next jump before I ran out of roof.
Pitch and I had the advantage in distance; crossing roof to roof meant we could take the shortest possible path. The problem was the three on the ground had flat terrain to cross, no leaps to slow them down and they were pushing the accelerator hard.
As I crested the next roof, I saw another problem. This house ended over the street, nothing to jump to. I could double back, or land and attempt to climb on the other side. Either way would lose me time, but I couldn’t jump the gap. It was just too far.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Pitch had picked a much better route, swapping to the other side of the street now.
That bloody fall was deliberate.
I took the challenge, dropping to the fence of the house I was on and then onto the road, pushing to get across the gap as fast as possible. I jumped and rolled down the thick brick fence of the house on the other side of the road, running down the top as far as I could. I cleared this section of houses to see the three on the road pass horizontally in front of me, hands down to prepare for the next corner. Pitch was crossing at another narrow point, leaping from roof to streetlight to roof, avoiding touching the street at all. I leapt from this fence down to the road, falling behind.
Damn, damn, damn.
Then I saw it; a park. It was surrounded by a slightly overgrown brick wall like the neighbouring houses, explaining why the Runners taking the roads hadn’t turned down it. Between plotting turns and keeping and eye on the competition, especially Glass, you could be forgiven tunnel-vision. I slipped through the entrance and sprinted across the grass, dodging benches and equipment as I rapidly accelerated. I needed to gain as much time as possible on this stretch.
The park ended all too soon, another brick wall closing it off to the street. I jumped to a bench and then the wall. Fortunately the road on the other side was barely more than an alley, letting me jump to the neighbouring roof and return to the straightest path.
We were nearing the end now, the lights that were our target within view. Only a couple of blocks. I zoned out all the other racers, falling into my own tunnel-vision. Roof to roof to roof, aiming for the terraces to build up as much speed as possible, houses passing by in a blur underneath me. The last stretch was only doable by road, so I slid off the roof only to find myself just ahead of a pack. The road Runners were jostling for position in the last hundred meters, powering legs as fast as they could manage. I was close now, so close.
Pitch dropped onto the road in front of me and rolled, coming to her feet and running.
Where the hell…
It didn’t matter. I was faster and she had to accelerate again. I plunged into the light first, crossed the line.
Victory was mine, tonight.
—–
Vy liked tonight’s race. She’d watched the whole thing smiling, feet on the desk. After she’d run it through the filters and started the upload, she watched it again in real time.
“Clean, no Dogs, a little bit of excitement. Nice Run.”
I wasn’t really there, eyes shut and head rested on her couch, cardboard box for a pillow. It had been a relief to get the Run over with, even though I had been looking forward to it a lot.
I felt a poke in my shoulder and opened my eyes to see Vy’s face looming over me. “Got a moment to talk about the Festival, Ziska?” she said.
I groaned. “It’s the stupidest bloody idea.”
“But we’re going to do it, right?”
“Excited for the money?”
Views always spiked after a Festival, part of the reason we kept them so rare. No point flooding the desire.
Vy smirked. “As always.” she said. “But you alright to do it? You look kinda like hell.”
“Ah, I’ll do it.” I said and then passed out.
Running Silver 