Talros smiles. It’s a little lopsided today, like he isn’t completely thrilled. “Confidence, Jovie. And demand respect. No more letting others take advantage of you.”
“It’s not like I did it on purpose,” I admit.
“Verity and Elwin and everyone else took advantage of your kind heart and amiability. This is your chance to start fresh. You are worthy of respect. Understand me?”
I nod and swallow against an unexpected ache in my throat, knowing this is likely the last time I’ll see Talros. “You’re a good friend.”
He draws me into a hug and squeezes me hard. “Please don’t make me have to burn the last of my credits to come save you.”
I playfully swat his side, but he doesn’t let go.
Talros chuckles. “Alright, alright. I’m just teasing. Have fun. You deserve it.”
I lean back and pull up my digital ABR ticket on one of my gauntlets. “Don’t settle just to avoid loneliness. That will just be a different kind of misery.”
“Yeah.” Talros waves as I cross the hallway and get in line with other women taking the shuttle to the lunar base.
A woman in a dark blue uniform trimmed in silver and sporting an ABR badge with wings scans the ticket on my gauntlet and motions me toward a door. I walk down the ramp and get a glimpse through the glass at the shuttle that will carry me to my future. It’s a beautiful silver LTS-495 called Half Moon. It catches a glint of sunlight in a way that makes my heart skip a beat.
Several staff members help future racers into hibernation cells stacked in rows around the perimeter of the shuttle. A woman guides me to a pod with an open door. I’ve been to Catalyst Five before but never in a hibernation pod.
“Please,” she says, lifting a hand toward the cushions. “It will go much faster and allow you to get some rest and nutrients before the races so you can enjoy them to your full potential.”
She’s a kind-faced brunette with blue eyes. I want to trust her, but I’m suddenly confronting the reality that my life is about to change, and it’s making me hesitate.
“If I don’t win, do I get to do what you do?” I ask.
The woman eyes my gauntlets. “You would likely be assigned to ABR shuttle maintenance. But yes, if you aren’t picked, thereare many options for employment. It takes a lot of people to operate the race events and produce the shows that air daily on the holo.”
“I won’t have to come back to Earth?”
She shakes her head. “You can request other options if you wish. We do have intergalactic agencies that help get males interested in the games. Perhaps you could work for that transport’s maintenance crew. That will be up to Ohni, who is the new ABR lead coordinator. Now, if you will please, get in. I have other racers to get set up.”
“Sure.” I climb into the pod and let her belt me in. She connects an intravenous port to an arm, which makes me drowsy. As I drift off to sleep, she packs my bag into a chamber beside me and closes the glass door over my body. Blue light fills my hibernation cell, paired with a soft whir. The moment it locks, I slip away into waves of restful sleep.
I wade through the heavy darkness, savoring the silence and the relaxation spreading through me. After some time, the ink warms, and a beacon of green light grows in the distance. Gunfire lances through my tranquil space.
What the heck? What’s happening? Wake up, Jovie. Something’s wrong!
A man runs toward me. “I can’t. The engines are down. The ship’s not responding! I need help!”
Am I dreaming?I’m not sure. Instinct takes over. “What’s the problem?”
He starts to run past me, then stops, sees me, and collects me with muscled arms, crushing me against his toned body like an overdramatic soap opera. “There’s no time!”
It’s not Talros. The man doesn’t have identifiable features that I can lock on to. The image is hazy.
I have to be dreaming.
Still, panic surges through me when the warbling alerts sound. I squint back in the direction we’ve come from. “Tell me what’s wrong! Let me help!”
“There’s nothing you can do. It’s too late.”
“Hey, fucknut! Get your sexy ass in the game and focus! I would rather go down fighting than accept any situation is hopeless! Talk to me!”
A glass wall I don’t see coming shatters around us, and we fall head-first into the void. The man who carries me lands on something metal and straightens. His eyes are electric green. Strings of pale green light zing through the air, fading out into the darkness of space. “You saved me.”
“What?” I try to push back, but he won’t let go. “I didn’t do a fucking thing! You caught me. And who in the hell are you? Where are we?”
