“One minute to launch.”
The announcement rattled the pod as the four teammates stayed eerily quiet. They were dropping at an accelerating rate.
Grace looked at her team. They were the best jumpers in her class, but this wasn’t class – this was the real thing.
For the first time since the descent began the clouds parted and Grace could see out the window. There were seven other pods dropping in the distance.
Joan, the team captain, called over the team comm. “We all know what to do. When the pod opens, stay in formation. Remember to turn on your gravity inertia dampeners before we hit Contour Zero.”
Grace closed her eyes and squeezed her arms tightly around her body as a protective ooze filled her helmet. She hated the taste as it inevitably would get in her mouth, but knew it was a necessary evil as it would save her if something went wrong in the landing. Well, it usually helped…
“HATCH OPENNING… HATCH OPENNING…”
The floor gave way and Grace felt the air whiz across her body. She knew not to peak and look through the ooze but couldn’t help it – this was her first real competition.
She took note of Joan, Henry, and her best friend Francois. Each were in perfect free-fall positions. She could see them mouthing the team motto while their fingers counted the seconds. Momentarily they would have to engage their gravity inertia dampeners so they could safely land on Contour Zero. Then, the race up the contours could begin. In the distance, Grace could see the other teams clustered in tight formations. As she glanced down, she could see the contours. The contour beams looked beautiful in the darkness. She wanted to look forever, but her eyes began to burn from the ooze. Grace clenched her lids shut and realized she hadn’t been counting.
How many seconds had gone by? Twenty? Thirty?
Grace began to panic. Even with her eyes closed, she could tell she was swirling uncontrollably. She heard a whoosh. Was that a dampener being engaged by a teammate? Was that another?
She had to do something, so she counted slowly: One, two, three and then engaged her dampeners.
Her body jerked to the left and then hard to the right. Her mask creaked open and air started hissing in. Suddenly it dislodged, and the protective ooze shot out of her suit. She could open her eyes now, but she was afraid. Without the ooze protecting her body she was in real danger if she were to crash.
Grace opened her eyes and scanned the horizon. Her team was forty feet below her, descending in a tight cluster. She had engaged her dampeners early. One teammate looked up. It was Francois. His eyes must have been burning, but he must have sensed that Grace was missing as they were supposed to link up and finish the decent in tandem.
As Grace struggled to correct her fall, she saw her team touch down smoothly on Contour Zero. Her situation was direr as she was coming in too hard, and now was about to miss the contour. She had seen students miss contour landings before, and even with the ooze they ended up in the infirmary for weeks. She clenched her teeth and braced for impact.
She hit the ground hard and let out a winded moan. Grace laid there and slowly moved her limbs. A boot kicked her.
“You alright?” asked Francois.
Grace looked to her side and realized she was on the contour.
“I think so…” replied Grace, realizing that she was in one piece.
“Lucky we were able to grab you.”
Grace looked over her other shoulder and realized she was right on the edge. Below were the beach rocks.
“I am sorr—”
“—Never mind,” Joan cut in. “We are way behind. Look, the other teams are nearly at Contour 100.”
Grace had made a huge error. How where they going to win the race to the top contour and grab the orb?
“Team, stay tight. Keep a narrow jumping formation. If we can max out our jumps we may catch them at Contour 200,” announced Joan.
Grace got up and positioned herself behind Francois. Joan signaled and they were off. The contour jumps took a bit of getting used to, but their schooling had taught them well. Each jump depleted a portion of their energy reserve, and the more they jumped without recharging, the quicker their tanks drained. If a tank were to empty, that competitor was eliminated from the competition. The only ways to fill their reserves were to skate on a contour transferring energy from the contour to their suit, or to tag an opponent. That was what Grace was best at. If you tagged an opponent by placing your hand on an opponent’s back, they were tagged, and your jumping unit gained half your opponent’s energy reserve. You could then pass that energy to any of your teammates. The game’s goal was to be the first to grab the orb at the topmost contour – and only one team member needed to accomplish that. It was a simple game, but as a full contact sport, was very difficult to win.
Joan was pushing the team hard. Grace cautiously peered her wrist monitor after each jump –her reserves were draining fast. A few contours above, she noticed the other teams skating on Contour 200, recharging their jumper boosters for a final push. She also noticed the chaos of the hand to hand melee.
Francois’s voice popped into Grace’s ear – he had privately messaged her. “You alright from the fall?”
“I think so, I made a rookie mistake.”
He cut her off. “You are our only chance. You need to tag someone so we can make a quick jump. When we get up there, I will do my best to distract them. Try to stray behind me as best you can.”
Grace nodded.
“Watchout!”
The team took a hard bank to the left on Joan’s warning. Grace noticed two opponents waiting on Contour 190. They obviously didn’t have enough energy to jump yet and were recharging, but they served the double purpose of acting as a rear guard. The team had narrowly avoided them, but it meant they would have to skip Contour 190 and attempt a two-level jump – which almost never worked out. Grace clenched her teeth; this was going to be close.
Her system started blaring in her ears, it was shutting down. She instinctively grabbed onto Francois and prayed he could still make it with her holding on. Before Grace knew it, her team was rolling on Contour 200. Immediately she put her boots on the contour and turned on her blades to see it they would begin to recharge. The display on her wrist flickered and the charging symbol flashed on.
Joan, who was already on the move yelled, “Quickly, blades on and charge up. The others are still on this level but look ready to jump.”
Grace could feel her system begin to hum as the contour’s energy started to fill her suit. She and Joan had made it, but what about the other two. Looking at her wrist she saw Henry was unlit. He took off his helmet and saluted the team – his match was over.
Francois and Joan were better skaters than Grace, so she slid in behind to draft off them.
Joan messaged the team. “We are in luck, looks like they have been busy tagging and battling and no one has made the jump. We only need one of us to get a lucky tag and we are back in it.”
Grace tucked in behind Francois again. The team knew what to do. Francois would barge into the biggest brawl with Grace hidden behind him. Joan would head for a better jumping position as she was the best jumper. Grace needed to tag an opponent and then pass the energy over to Joan so she could make the final jumps.
Francois began skating very hard. Even tucked in his slip stream, Grace was having difficulty keeping up. She peered over his shoulder and saw a dozen opponents. Francois bulldozed right through them. As he did, Grace leapt over the carnage and, as she flipped, was able to tag not one, but two opponents. She quickly looked at her wrist to transfer the energy to Joan, but Joan’s light was out. She scanned the contour and saw Joan had been knocked to the contour below and had no power left.
Just then, she saw Francois’s light flicker out. He had knocked himself out after rushing the opponents. It was now all up to her. She wasn’t fully charged but she knew she had to jump immediately as several challengers had already. She hit her booster and took off.
The contours narrowed with each remaining jump, but Grace was slowly catching the leaders. It appeared as if there were six vying for the orb. Contour 300 would be the last stop and Grace knew that whoever got the first tag would win since they would obtain enough energy to jump immediately.
Grace landed on Contour 300 a mere second after the leader and she headed straight for him. Grace feinted a tag with her left hand and spun to the right tagging the leader. She had done it! She had enough power to jump the remaining contours.
Suddenly, a shriek pierced the air. The remaining contestants dropped to their knees covering their ears. The noise was excruciating. Grace rolled to her back and looked up. The above contour had turned a fiery read and began to shudder. This wasn’t normal. A large pulse then ripped through the red contour and it erupted into shards. All was silent.
Grace slowly rose to her feet and opened communication to all teams. “I don’t know what this means, but I think this game is over.”
She saw the others looking towards the sky where there appeared the words: “Let the Games Begin.”