Alpha One - Chris Burton [94]
The Race Marshall watched Hilliard closely and witnessed the events leading up to the crash. His observations echoed those of Jake Carter. “I agree. A tragic accident, down to pilot error. There will be an inquiry, but you will be free from blame. Try not to think about it and get some rest. Tomorrow we have three more races and you are still in a great position.”
Jake woke early on Sunday morning after a restless night, with long periods lying awake with his head pounding out the events of the previous day. Hilliard was dead and he felt partially responsible. How is Steve feeling? He started the whole bandwagon rolling. His actions brought about the chain of events, which lead to Hilliard’s death. A human being who, less than twenty four hours before, drank coffee and joked with his fellow candidates as they waited for the first batch of candidates to arrive from their opening race. Hilliard was a close rival, in many respects their only close rival, but did he deserve to die?
The Top Gun supreme gathered the remaining twenty-three candidates to make some carefully chosen words about the events of yesterday.
“Enson Hilliard ultimately paid the price for breaking the rules and for taking his piloting skills beyond the limit. He didn’t deserve to die, but it is important to put the events leading up to his death into perspective. He was being competitive, but to seek advantage he tried to remove a colleague from the race. This lead to his untimely death., We will send our collective sympathies to his family.”
He paused and then moved on. “Today we must complete the Top Gun event. We cannot postpone or delay, given our proximity to Christmas and commitments in the new term, but I do feel it is appropriate that we act with a sense of decorum. We will fly just one extended and simplified race today commencing at Alpha Two, and taking in the Kuiper Belt, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Venus before returning to the Moon.”
He demonstrated the course on the holographic display in front of him. “There will be five laps, with the winning race time expected to be about five hours. In essence, this is an endurance race. There should be little room for illegal overtaking maneuvers and over-indulgent acrobatics. This is about doing as well as possible in the race to achieve your place in the final twelve. Good luck candidates.”
Steve was barely talking. He was subdued and took the loss of Hilliard badly, thought Jake. Steve, however quickly dispelled that myth when he approached Jake in the café, as they awaited the preparation of all twenty three Rapiers. “We have this wrapped up. No one else is close enough to us and as long as we both finish in, say, the top ten, we should both qualify easily. I am still going to win it though.”
“How are you feeling today about Hilliard?”
“He is dead and it was his fault, simple really, I feel sorry for his family but it was his fault. He tried to play games with us, but ended up in a ditch. No one else’s fault but his.”
Jake was surprised but knew that Steve was in the zone. He also knew the organizers called Steve to one side this morning and issued him a stern warning—that further dangerous antics could lead to disqualification.
The order came to board the Rapiers at mid-day. The Rapiers were moved to a larger hangar to accommodate their increased number. It was not long before the Rapiers were off-world and on the grid, awaiting the start of the race. This time, the intermix calculations were constantly variable and an optimum mix could not be pre-programmed into each Rapiers NAVCOM, because of the sheer complexity of the various flight changes the race demanded. The NAVCOMs made their calculations as each obstacle arose.
When the race started, the front runners quickly established a lead, and the field spread out as they continued their first circuit. Steve and Jake were in second and third place respectively as they completed the first circuit. Jake kept a close eye on Steve. He knew this was a good