Arc One: Awakening

Chapter 8: Drift

Buzz saws wailed through the garage and contended with the vigorous swing of hammers. Sparks spat from engines and murky smoke infused the docking bays. A group of drivers rushed to reinforce a collapsing vehicle platform while others watched, smirking and all but declaring their victories as their rivals struggled with the pre-race maintenance.

"Looks almost ready," Cas huffed, mopping the sweat from her face with a rag and tossing it onto the side with the rest of her utensils. "Good job with the design."

Rhena rounded the back of the car and beamed, specks of orange and gold paint smeared on her freckled cheeks. "I'm glad you think so. Took me weeks to pick out the right colours."

"Only because you're so meticulous about this stuff. I'd have just picked any colour I could find and slapped that on." Cas stooped down to inspect the polished sheen and patted the bonnet. "Let's hope she runs as well as she looks."

"I trust in your engineering," Rhena said. "You haven't let us down yet."

"There's a first time for everything."

Stirring shudders rattled the bulky unit housing their apparatus, and Cas secured the lock. The rumbles strengthened, and as signals blared from the centre of Azuris, Rhena drew her into the nook of their booth.

It'll be gone soon, she repeated to herself, squeezing her eyes shut. It's just another quake.

"You're okay, I've got you," Rhena said, tightening her embrace. Around them, the world blurred, nothing escaping the violent convulsions. Passing minutes cooled the jolts until they'd settled to tenuous jitters, and she encouraged the shivering woman upright. "There we go. Wasn't too bad, was it?"

Cas gawked at the aftermath. Several clawed machines dangled from the overhead poles at perilous angles. One had severed during the quakes and merged with the smouldering wreckage of a car beneath, drivers lamenting their costly loss.

Brief fires flitted from tumbled flame torches. The recovery teams sprinted to contain them and towed away cannisters of fuel to safer locations. Racers and engineers slowly returned to their work, rubbing at scrapes and bruises.

"They're getting worse," Cas said, the thrum of her heart pounding in her ears.

"It's probably just land shift. Gets pretty bad this time of year with the cold snaps coming in," Rhena reasoned. "If you've finished worrying, we are on the cusp of being the first vector racers to get the triple trophy, so we need to focus."

Arms crossed close to her chest, Cas searched the dunes beyond the racetrack. Refractions fluctuated in the searing air, distorting the horizon and obscuring the grainy hills until they merged and split with each flicker. In the distance, mountains shed loose boulders that plunged in swarms of sand and tremulous roars. "You don't think it could be some sort of creature, do you?"

"What kind of creature?"

"I don't know. Something big sleeping beneath the surface."

"Monsters under the dunes are all stories to stop folk getting curious and wandering out when they shouldn't," Rhena shrugged, dappling paint over the faded spots. "It's land shift. That's all."

Cas wanted to insist that land shift never caused shocks so frenzied, and that it was often predicted with almost pinpoint accuracy by their weather watchers, but she knew that she'd have some other excuse to wriggle her way out of discussing it. "And what if it's not? What if it's something dangerous?"

Rhena closed up the paint jars and stored them underneath the tool cabinet. "Then we'll find out when it happens," she said, taking her by the shoulders and turning her away from the world outside. "No point in fretting now when there isn't a way of knowing what it is or what to prepare for."