⛭ Chapter 8 ⛭

Walking through every single seat in the passenger lounge felt like a hassle as they realized how difficult it was for them to even find somewhere to sit.

Searching the entire area took them up to the front where behind a locked door, it revealed a spacious amount of chairs that only had a few people and strange aliens sitting in them.

“That is the Raceblazers Lounge. It is a first-class room where winners of the Blazethon get to have the utmost privacy and privilege to have a place all to themselves when travelling to and from Revv,” stated Drift.

“How fucking convenient… They even have recliners in there,” replied Chelbie as she pressed her face against the glass door while fantasizing about being inside that room in comparison to the passenger lounge.

Upon looking closer though, she began to notice a familiar figure walk out of the lounge’s lavatory with their back facing her view.

It was Lucila Vanderhilt.

Heavy breathing began to froth from Chelbie’s mouth. Her heartbeats dropped like dumbbells after an intense workout. She just couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Ain’t no way my old rival, who broke my legs by the way, is gettin’ treated like an all-star. How the hell did she even get that far anyway? Shouldn’t she have been disqualified by now?”

Into saying this, Drift intervened into her ramblings.

“Are you saying you did not read the back of the page? Because had you done that, you would know that any injuries sustained from a match is not in terms of disqualification.”

Drift circled Chelbie, pacing itself through the air as she started to get agitated when she realized it was talking about the application she signed.

“Wait… You’re saying that I can’t report her for doin’ this to me? How is it that the rules for this racing competition are that messed up?!”

“What you have registered for is seen as normal in Revv. Under law, death by racing is not considered reportable since the act of choosing to race under these known risk factors is under the voluntary consent of the racer. If you want to opt out, you can.”

Hisa, seeing Chelbie with her head tilted in what looked to be dismay, was about to defend her case until she stood up more firmly than earlier.

“You know what? No, I’m not going to back out that easily. We’re goin’ to get to the bottom of this. Lucila can kiss her own ass all she wants, it doesn’t matter. I have stared death in the face twice to live and see another day. I’ll show her what I’m made of. That way she doesn’t do it to anyone else. All we gotta do is even out the odds.”

Staring back at her with concern, Hisa kneeled down as the conductor of the spacecraft echoed that they would start moving in two minutes.

“Chelbie, are you sure you want to go ahead and do this? I know what you’re saying but, I care about you. I’m not sure about all of this that you plan on doing either. Make the proper decision because this is what I was telling you before. Think about the consequences.”

Letting in a deep sigh, Chelbie responded to Hisa’s question with more respect about how she felt towards this situation.

“Yeah, I know it is very risky. I’m not afraid to face danger though. So many years I could have lost it and given up on my life when I was in that hospital. I’m not stayin’ back. Blazin’ is all about being able to power through any situation that comes your way. That’s what I intend on doin’. Fair game?”

A slow disinclined feeling made Hisa unsure about this idea.

That was when, suddenly, Drift then came around to ask Chelbie about something.

“If I may form an inquiry in regards to your statement, what is the fair game you are questioning?”

“Oh that? It is a thing me and Styra do whenever we are agreein’ to something. Think of it like a handshake. We make a truce and work out our differences together to come to a solution.”

Although Drift was automated as an AI to serve the passenger’s needs aboard the spacecraft, something about what she said caused the bot to make a strange crackling sound as it dropped towards the ground.

Coming from the power within itself, this small action caused it to bypass the hidden information in its programming that it had experienced.

“Did you say, Styra?” it muttered in a glitchy tone before powering out.

Chelbie nodded yes, noticing quickly enough that a deep secret lingered within this machine that it wasn’t able to tell them.

Within seconds of this happening however, a conductor who had heard Drift break, came into the scene while authorizing staff of the carrier to pick up the broken pieces off the floor.

“What happened here?” he asked both the two ladies who had been talking to it.

“It accidentally malfunctioned while helping us find a seat,” said Hisa.

“Make sure to report that to us immediately next time if you encounter anything like this. It is abnormal for Gizmechs to malfunction from a conversation alone.”

The moment Drift was taken away, Chelbie could see now that whatever data was stored in its code, Styra likely met the robot and likely formed an unexpected bond with it. The bigger issue arising from this ended up being what could’ve possibly happened between these two during their interaction?

Holding onto one of the steel poles which were made in the case that there were no seats available, Chelbie and Hisa decided to wait on answering these interesting questions as the space carrier lifted off towards the stars.

After all, if this was anything to go on, it meant that Revv had a lot more to deal with their original home world than they anticipated.