By Nathan Veyon
Any ship on approach gets to see the giant ring I call home. It’s a beautiful structure, gleaming brightly against the backdrop of space. Great place to live, but honestly—a circle is the worst when you’re trying to evade someone who wants to space you.
Robyn whipped around a corner. She tried to activate her comms but had to grab the skimmer’s handle to dodge a booth selling cheap jewelry. Glancing behind at her pursuers caused her to clip another stall. Fumbling with her comms again, she finally activated them. “Call Tinker!”
A click sounded in her ear. “Robyn, is that you?”
“Hey, Tinker. I—”
“Have you seen my repulse skimmer?”
“Yes, I’m riding it.” She dodged a group of tourists.
“You stole my skimmer!”
“Borrowed.” She plowed through another group. A few of the asteroid miners scrambled to safety just in time. “Now tell me you added a mod I can use to get these thugs off my tail.”
“Why do I hear yelling?”
“Because I’m in the markets on the lower deck and people aren’t moving out the way fast enough. Now. Would you please tell me how to activate the rockets or something?”
“Rockets? Why would I put rockets on it? I was testing frequency modulations to see if it could generate a stronger field to boost the height of travel.”
“Great, so that’s what this does.” Robyn stabbed the extra button on the control panel.
“No!”
Robyn flew into the air, clearing one—two, three—booths.
“Press it again. Press it again!” Tinker screamed in her comms.
Robyn pressed it just as the skimmer plummeted back toward the deck. The force thrust her into the seat. Her body felt like it had just left zero-g.
“Oh! I see. You don’t actually stay in the air.” Robyn checked behind her. The thugs were still pursuing her, but she’d gained some distance.
“No, the field just can’t handle the distance from a solid surface. The best I could do was get it to jump.”
“Great, I can work with that.”
“Wait, what? You’re going to crash my skimmer and get yourself killed in the process. Robyn, don’t you dare press that button.”
Robyn swerved off the main road, driving straight toward a storage unit. Pressing the jump button, she left the ground in a beautiful arc. Her world went glittery as she passed through a holographic billboard. For a brief moment, she was the face of single planetary women looking to marry diligent station workers. She came out of the bright lights headed toward the roof of the storage unit. But she was dropping too quickly. Heart racing, she tapped the button and skipped twice before stabilizing.
“I think I’m getting the hang of this, Tinker!”
He moaned. “Please just get it back here in one piece.”
“Stop whining. It’s for a good cause.” She missed a landing and flinched as the bottom of the skimmer crunched against the station deck. Hope Tinker didn’t hear that.
“What was that and who are you saving now?”
“Nothing, and the good cause is saving me.” Robyn veered down another road. “I made some unsavory types quite unhappy, and I needed a fast getaway.”
“What did you do?”
“I might have spaced their leader.”
“What?!”
“Don’t worry. I gave him time to put on a suit before I ejected him.”
Two quick jumps to make it to the next level. People gawked as she sailed over a railing and took off down another corridor.
“Why were you even there? And why did you take the skimmer?”
“I’d heard they were planning a kidnapping—needed intel. And stop worrying about the skimmer. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
“Tinker, your skimmer ran out of power.” The downed ride made horrible scraping noises as Robyn dragged it to the workbench. “You really need to fix that.”
Tinker stormed in. “Of course it did. How many times did you press the button I told you not to press?”
Robyn opened her mouth.
Tinker kept going. “Do you think the laws of thermodynamics don’t apply? Or how about conservation of momentum?”
“No? But I’m sure you’re gonna educate me.”
Tinker ignored her. “The battery was not meant for that kind of usage. Repeated high power draw could have damaged the power supply’s anode. I even created a special composite for that power supply.” He dragged the skimmer to the back of the shop, still muttering to himself.
She addressed the now-empty room. “I guess you didn’t want to know that you were the one they planned on kidnapping.” She spoke a little louder. “I’m sure you would have enjoyed working for them more than me. You’re welcome.”
The only sound was some banging from the back room.
Robyn shrugged. “Guess I’ll find something to eat.” She opened the fridge. “Skimmer’s not the only thing that needs to refuel.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
*thumbs-up*
It made me laugh! Good chemistry between these two…
Nice twist at the end. She’s my kind of woman.
That was a fun, exciting story! Love the setting :D
lots going on there… had my head spinning.
Love it, Nathan! Great characters, as always, and I really enjoyed the vivid setting. My favorite parts were Robyn jumping through the billboard and dragging the skimmer back at the end. XD