Mansell stopped the car in the middle of the traffic, the circuit now in sight. He was tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, accelerating, sighing. On the umpteenth stop, he looked at them. "I'm sorry. If you want to arrive in time for the start of the show, it's better that you get off now," he grumbled. "The line is long here."
"And you? You'll miss the race!" Fez exclaimed. Marmorel had already opened the front door.
Mansell gave him a wink and gestured for him to go. "Don't worry about me. I'll find a hole to leave this thing and get in somehow." He turned towards the road frowning and started cursing the blaring vehicles again.
The teens walked on the sidewalk; waiting for them was a river of people moving intermittently. Among the fans, colorful flags with the emblem of the racing teams or the portrait of their favorite driver paraded. The newspapers that morning had written about packed stands even during practice and the last tickets sold for even two thousand scudi.
The five of them, on the other hand, had spent the previous day visiting Edel; Elidana had forced them to walk around the upper city, but the brief outing ended with an escape to the Garden of the Senses: the chaos of the Cec systems was too much for them. Marmorel had made a portrait of Aran and Fez in the same pose as Croden and Orghein in the background.
Cora decided to enjoy the rest of the trip and put aside his assumptions about Ethan Standford, he would think about it after the race.
"Marmorel, do you know what they call the Edel circuit?" Fez shouted to be heard, but his voice barely managed to get through the chants of the admirers of the Jalla Jaguars.
She glared at him. "No, and I can live without knowing it." She quickened her pace.
"It's called the Hive, right?" Elidana intruded, and Fez nodded disappointed.
Cora dodged a fan. "How do you know?"
Elidana approached both of them. "It was written on the hotel brochure." She looked at Fez, "Well, don't pay attention to her, she's a little sour today... don't take it personally," she added finally, without being heard by her friend.
Fez walked on until he reached Marmorel and Aran already at the turnstiles.
"Why is she acting like this?" Cora asked.
"Well... this morning, at the park, Aran gave her another proof of his disinterest," replied Elidana.
"That's where those two were," said Cora. "If I know Aran well, he just wants to play it cool. I think he wouldn't mind something more."
"Exactly, I don't understand anything anymore," Elidana shrugged. "Before going out, she told me that he had a date with Aran. You know how it is... she lost more than an hour fixing her hair and choosing her outfit, she looked so happy. When she came back, instead, she started crying in front of the bathroom mirror and she hasn't spoken since."
Someone pushed Cora, who, to avoid falling down, took a step to the side. "Hey... watch where you're going," he barked. The one who hit him was a younger boy with a shirt bearing two crossed blades. He didn't even answer and kept running.
Cora sighed, annoyed. However, for a few moments he found himself with his hand touching Elidana's. He looked up. She smiled at him. "Don't freeze," she finally said.
Cora started looking left and right to avoid crossing her eyes, which were blue like sapphires. She walked ahead and he continued to observe her as if she were someone else. During those days in Edel, every time he spoke to her, he had to make a great effort not to give in to embarrassment. Furthermore, after what had happened at the barracks, after he had shared the truth with Elidana, their "goodnight game" had revealed itself to him in a completely different light. He couldn't wait for that moment to come, this time there would be no pebble. I wonder if Elidana's satisfied smile hid the same contentment that he had felt.
As they approached the Hive, they saw the dome of the Edel circuit: a structure made up of giant hexagonal cells connected by channels that joined the different glass sections; a true shell. Inside the grooves, energy generated by the Seorite flowed in a single continuous flow, offering a display of dancing lights that changed color at regular intervals.
Fez pulled Cora aside. "Uh ... I brought a little something from the hotel restaurant," he said cheerfully.
"Tell me it's not what I think, because tonight will end badly," Cora said. Fez, with a satisfied face, took a bottle of mead from the small bag. "Aran said I could buy something," he whispered.
Cora pretended not to hear and made a disgusted face before returning to the others. They carried on until they reached the edge of the track. Aran stopped. A vaasp pilot was signing autographs just a few steps from him. Cora stopped just in time not to run over his friend. He looked up at the pilot and flinched.
Fez tugged at Aran's shirt. "Hey ... it's Lo-Losh Gani. The Jalla Jaguars pilot. Look at him ... it's him!"
"Yes!" Aran pushed him away. "I can see him ... I can see him. You know what? I want his autograph! I need to have it!" The young Allet was ecstatic. "In fact, I'm going to ask him." Without consulting the others, he left them and approached the group of fans surrounding the pilot.
"Hey, Losh!" he began. "I come from very far away and I don't want to return to the other side of the continent empty-handed," he lied in such a brazen manner that even Cora was amazed at his audacity. Losh Gani showed a wide smile and Aran offered him the back of Mansell's business card.
"I am impressed that there are 'Jaguars' fans even beyond the sea of Beiram. Blondie, what's your name?" the proud pilot asked, stepping forward.
"Aran, Aran Allet!"
Losh wrote a short note on the piece of paper and shook Aran's hand firmly.
"Well, Aran. Enjoy the race and cross your fingers for me too," Losh concluded.
Aran nodded and stepped away from the crowd. He was waving the precious prize, happier than ever. Fez and Cora watched him, their expressions were a mix of surprise and the desire to grab the autograph from his hands. "I only asked..." Aran said, raising his arms in surrender.
"You're the most deceitful and opportunistic person I know. You could have waited for us!" growled Cora. But Losh had already gone away, which irritated him even more."You have to know how to seize the opportunity. Take Fez for example, look at him!" Aran continued, amused, pointing to the empty space next to Cora.
Fez had just climbed over the divider that separated the track from the stands. He was running as fast as he could after another driver who was heading towards the racing teams.
Cora's eyes widened. "He's gone crazy!" he shouted.
Aran burst out laughing, while Marmorel and Elidana encouraged him loudly
The track employers ran to grab him, but Fez dodged their grip and slipped to the side to sneak up on the driver. The latter turned around and gestured to the security to let the young fan approach. After staring at him for a few moments, he wrote something on the boy's arm with a marker. When he finished, Fez raised his fist towards his friends.
All the spectators in that section burst into a loud applause that continued until the boy was escorted out of the track.
Fez returned triumphantly, so tired that he had to bend over to breathe. "Did you see? It was Laratt Tena of the Orghein Blades!" He carefully adjusted the sleeve of his shirt without even reading the inscription.
Aran patted Fez on the shoulder. "Good job, Fez! That's what I mean when I talk about initiative. Now, you're the only one missing, Cora."
But Cora continued scowling towards the assigned seats. He knew he deserved those autographs more than them and yet he was the only one left empty-handed. "Move on!" he yelled.
"Uhm... he's a bit angry." Elidana was right behind him
"He'll get over it once the race starts," Aran agreed. "Now, let's go sit down or we'll miss the presentation."
The seats marked by the tickets were near the penultimate turn, a few rows from the gravel and escape areas of the track. The start was so far away that they wouldn't have seen almost anything of the race if it weren't for the screen on the grass on the other side of the track and near their position. The camera was showing the drivers getting on their vaasp one by one.
While the technicians were connecting the rear core of the motorcycle to the racing suit, a judge walked through the starting positions, delivering a heavy block of Seorite to the respective teams: the stones were all the same size, shiny and charged as if just extracted.
Cora, Fez and Aran didn't miss a second of that strange ritual.
"What are they doing?" Marmorel asked curiously, taking her seat next to Aran.
"Starting the engines. The balance between speed and resistance is the spirit of the race, that's why everyone has the same amount of Seorite," Aran replied curtly.
"Mhmm, but doesn't the one who arrives first win?" the girl asked, looking back at the drivers.
"Yes, of course. But that's not just the goal: the assigned amount of Seorite is enough for a certain number of laps. Four years ago they did twenty, this year we don't know the limit," Cora explained.
The speakers, scattered throughout the Hive, blared a fanfare, the lights went out and the entire track lit up in blue. The audience fell silent, dazzled by the sudden change.
The track became a screen for the occasion. A growing roll of drums rose throughout the Hive and a video started: a unicorn made of light appeared out of nowhere and began to gallop. A jaguar and an eagle were added, taking turns to overtake each other during the turns. The fans burst into incomprehensible screams. After a few bends, a globe of energy with two bird wings shootout, avoiding the bite of a threatening shark, as if part of the circuit was a water mirror. The team representations moved quickly, searching for the first position. Suddenly, two rotating blades passed through the crowd and plunged into the finish line.
The crowd was ecstatic. Cora jumped up and down, hugging Aran, excited about the show. Elidana and Marmorel also clapped, amused, and once the track went off, the lights came back on.
On the back of each vaasp, there were Seorite channels arranged so that the energy drew the emblem of one's team. The engines on the starting grid began to roar: the Cec systems squeezed the Seorite to the limit and the thunder generated covered the people's chatter. Cora brought both hands to his ears.
"Vincent Lewitt, Sharks of Boros; Vernon Zala, Rampant Unicorns; Losh Gani, Jaguars of Jalla..." said the speaker.
"Damn it, Laratt is only sixth," Fez burst out, disappointed. The positions under the vaasps became red luminous rectangles. The spectators held their breath, leaving the pilots to unleash themselves.
Green!
They zoomed down the long straightaway leading up to the first turn.
Vernon and Vincent quickly pulled ahead of the other racers.
"Hey... Laratt has already gained two positions!" Fez exclaimed with enthusiasm. The driver was right behind Numal of the Eagles of Lafkai by the second turn and overtook him with a sudden burst of speed coming out of it.
Halfway through the lap, the leaderboard showed that Vernon, Vincent, Losh, and Laratt were the top group. Behind them, Numal Verten and Xanter Roha of the Wings of Edel alternated in fifth place in a fierce battle.
During the straight of the ninth turn, Laratt increased the energy input into the Cec system and, accompanied by the explosion of the crowd, overtook the three racers in front of him all in one move.
"He's in the lead! Look, Aran, Laratt is first!" Fez shouted, jumping up from his seat in state of excitement.
"Yes, he's in the lead. But don't celebrate too much, if he keeps this up, he won't even make it to the fifteenth lap," said Aran.
But at that moment, Fez didn't seem to care, and neither did the other fans of the Blades of Orghein who cheered on their idol by waving fake sponge swords.
"Aran... who's that guy back there? Do you know him?" Cora asked, pointing to the driver with the emblem of two bird wings. The Wings of Edel driver approached the leading group and soon found himself behind Losh Gani, who had lost ground due to taking a turn too wide. "Xanter Roha, a rookie," replied Aran.
The river of vaasp passed in front of the boys' seats. For a few moments, they heard a sound like claws sinking into rock. Cora and Aran stood up with the other spectators in their section and were carried away by the excitement.
On the final straight, Xanter overtook Losh with a daring exit, giving the Jaguar driver from Jalla a luminous tail to follow.
"He really looks talented!" exclaimed Aran.
"It's his first Grand Prix," explained a man sitting behind them. "The 'Wings of Edel' are the second team in the city after the 'Blades of Orghein'. But don't worry, it's just the enthusiasm of the first lap. Sit down, we can't see anything from here."
Aran apologized and returned to his seat, turning to the spectator. "It's not easy to beat Losh Gani."
"We'll see...but we can talk about it in five or six laps," the man replied impatiently.
"Aran, look here," Fez whispered. He took out the bottle of "Strong Lafkai Mead'' he had bought at the hotel from his shoulder strap.
"Fez! How did you manage to buy it?" Aran asked, wide-eyed.
"I paid a little extra to the waiter, I haven't tried it yet and it looks really good," Fez replied, proud. He opened the bottle with its reddish contents and took a long, single gulp. He swallowed as if he had just drunk a lava flow and beat his chest several times to get the ingested boulder down.
"No, thanks. It's not the right moment," the young Allet replied, shaking his head. "Put that damn bottle down! I don't intend to carry you if you pass out!" Cora hissed.
"Give it to me," Marmorel said. Cora turned towards the track with disappointment.
"Be careful," Fez coughed, "it's really strong."
After drinking, Marmorel remained silent, gritting her teeth.
"Are you stupid? There's a reason why they don't sell certain things to teenagers!" Elidana exclaimed, shuttling her head between the race and her friend. Marmorel didn't reply and held her stomach.