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She mentally agreed. There could be nothing out there that could best a dragon.
The driver continued. “You’ll be happy to hear you’re in sixth place.”
That was surprising. Onnika leaned forward. “Oh? How did that happen?”
“We went through a wormhole,” Aidan supplied. “Brought us right here.”
“I missed a wormhole?” She frowned dramatically, popping out her lower lip.
“It was nothing special.”
“What did it look like?”
“Just a slight visual warping.”
“Still, my first wormhole and I didn’t even get to watch. You’d better call me to the bridge if there’s another one.”
“You really haven’t seen a wormhole before?”
She shook her head. “No. They’re rare, from what I understand, and—wait, aren’t they unpredictable?”
“Most of the time. Especially if they’re natural. I believe this one was constructed by the commissioners.”
“I didn’t know you couldcreatea wormhole.”
“Many worlds have been working to develop the technology for some time. I guess someone finally figured it out.”
“But how did we get to sixth place so fast? We were ninth when we started this phase. Wouldn’t the ships before us have taken the wormhole too and still gotten here before us?
“I suspect some didn’t trust the wormhole’s trajectory. We passed another ship while you were…resting.”
She grinned. Actually, she’d been working, but he didn’t know that yet. She hadn’t finished inventorying everything and planned to surprise him when she did. She’d made it back to his room before he returned from his duty on the bridge, and because she didn’t want to spoil the surprise, she’d messed up his desk again. Not that he’d have noticed anything else but the sexy nude goddess on his bed beckoning him with the crook of her finger. He’d practically ripped his clothes off on his way to get to her.
“We were the last ones to enter the wormhole before they closed it, but we still have a decent head start,” Aidan told their group, “so let’s make it count.”
The outdoor arena came into view, nestled in a wide valley. She hadn’t realized they’d been on a hill, driving down a slight decline until a cliff suddenly dropped off to one side of the ever-shrinking roadway. The angle of their descent grew steeper by degrees. If the driver wasn’t careful, they could slip right off the road and go tumbling down. He didn’t seem concerned, but Onnika found herself wishing this vehicle had restraints of some kind.
When the road turned bumpy, thrashing them about, she held onto Aidan for support. He put his arm around her protectively.
The arena rested at the base of the hill, a flattened gravel circle with many decorative columns around the wide circumference with curved permanent seating around the northern curve, currently empty. Thousands of people milled about the grounds, preferring a closer view. A huge crowd of race-hoppers and spectators had lined up to watch their arrival, their expressions feverish and excited.
As the vehicle pulled to a halt, they were greeted by uproarious cheers. Someone held a poster of Onnika’s likeness, an image captured before her spacewalk, no helmet, looking proud and determined.
Another poster simply stated,We Love You, Onnika!
“Somebody has amassed a following,” Aidan teased.
She wasn’t the only one. There were posters dedicated to Aidan, Priya, and Asher as well, along with various other competitors.
Zeek griped, “They just haven’t figured out who the real star is.” He hiked a thumb at himself.
Asher piped up. “You want fans? Try doing something more exhilarating than puzzle solving and code breaking.”
“Thanks, but I’ll leave the dangerous stunts to the intellectually challenged. Offense intended.”
“Aww,” Onnika cooed. “I’ll be your fan, Zeek. Even though you basically just called us all morons.”
“I didn’t mean you, Onnika. I was talking about the silver brute over here.” He tapped his chin, looking thoughtful. “Although, youaredating Aidan, so…”
