The announcer’s voice cut across the morning air to the expectant stadium crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, today we witness an unprecedented group of athletes! Fifteen races… including a Natural,” Terra Chang carried the last word with both disbelief and curiosity that rippled through the crowd. On queue, the gate to the city’s transit track connected to the stadium lanes, lighting the inner stadium tracks with the same prismatic patterns in the TransitTrack indicated neural and information system connectivity. The fifteen pods lifted and hovered slightly in the air as if riding a current of an ocean breeze, each glowing with faction colors— except for Jonathan’s.
"The crowd,… electric this morning," Kaz Mifune's tone excited by the clamor of the crowd as the TransitTrack connected. “But you are on to something there, not since the Great Transition has we had such a diverse set of athletes or a larger audience!”
Athletes moved their pods into starting positions. Status indicators on Jo’s display pulsed as each of the pod’s neural interfaces engaged. Jonathan's pod only displayed basic life signs and position-ready.
"Runners are synchronized," Terra reported as participants and their faction status indicator counts registered: Symmetrist, Quantum Collective, AutoGen Legion, the single entry Naturalist.
Just beyond the stadium, the Symmetrist Gates towered, crystalline structures covered in a rainbow of colors in preparation and celebration of the race. Jo recognized the synchronized patterns that Maya Chen had shared reflected aspects of her security design though she suspected no one else knew about them.
“Three…” the stadium referee announced the countdown. The crowd’s anticipation builds into a physical force.
“Two…” Neural Substrates under the starting positions within the track turned from a light red glow under the prismatic colors into a resonating yellow.
“One…” Air crackled with energy as the yellow began to dim.
A sonic shockwave announced the start of the race, able to be felt by the athletes and stadium audience. All of the pods accelerated immediately. Each of the faction pods grouped, while Jonathan’s took a natural line within the gaps towards the stadium exit. Jo and Marcus raised into the air positioning for an overall view of the athletes as it moved high above the stadium exit.
“And they’re off,” rang Terra Chang announcing the start of the race to raging fans. "Extraordinary!" Terra commented in surprise. “The Natural moves into the gap lanes forming among the factions!”
Kaz gave a deeper context in reply: “Watch there– that is unfiltered pattern recognition. No predictive, pre-planned algorithms defining those moves.”
The pods exited the stadium, the runners experiencing massive acceleration, moved by subtle feedback optimized through the athlete’s augmentation. The crystalline Truth Gate rose ahead of them as arcs of colored rays formed onto the athlete pods with modulating sensor interference patterns and holograms to distract pod sensors and neural links.
Pod formations shifted as each athlete worked to overcome the interference as they passed through the Symmetrist starting gate. Immediately the track ahead dropped out of sight as the first runner approached, the segment turning a deep blue as the pods launched over the edge in free fall.
Bands of light coloring the athletes produced a halo effect as they dropped behind the shadow of the cliff edge. One by one the athletes launched into the chasm in different arcs until dropping about thirty meters. The back members of the orange Quantum team travelling in V-formation, had slowed causing their arcs to cascade down like water in a fall.
“Looks like a tight race heading into the first challenge, Terra,” reported Kaz.
“Quantum collective is in first, with Chung hurtling over nearly half the expanse!” replied Terra. The audience in the stadium gasped as they watched several views of the action from multiple tracking pods monitoring each of the players from above. While farther above Joe and Marcus monitored vitals as they entered the chasm and rose in elevation to get a better view of the track ahead.
Jonathan reacted upon seeing the first pods drop below the surface of the track, leaning back into the free fall signaling his intention to slow gradually. The trace of his arc falling near the middle of the other athletes, falling into 8th position. He saw the cliff wall rise above him and changed his body position into a skidding shape, arms outstretched over bent knees. He focused his mind on a vision of his upcoming action as he imagined his trajectory over the wall. With moments to spare, his pod slowed in response until he sprung forward raising his arms above him using a moment of heaviest drag against the lowered portion of the track to spring himself forward. He soared into the air with full acceleration, over several athletes closest to him closing in on 3rd position as Chung and Akira from the Symmetrists had also become airborne vaulting out of the depression.
Kaz commented, “Akira Storm is taking second as the entire Symmetrists team appears to excel in the first gate. Look at the gravitational metrics on the first three, fascinating.
“The G’s Chung underwent from hitting bottom that far into the chasm to springing into his exit arc was over 10!” Terra replied.
Jo’s display flickered with health alerts for several athletes that exceeded 7 G’s. One of the Quantum had to come to a near complete stop as the track had run out, while the others had adjusted in varying degrees. All four AutoGen, with their optimized navigation systems, had risen to the challenge. While three of the four Symmetrist runners and their optimized flight structure made it under 4 G’s.
“Oh no!” Terra’s voice rang out as a hush fell over the crowd in a gasp. Aylin’s pod failed to achieve its corrected trajectory striking the wall at a devastating angle in full acceleration fracturing the wall's surface. The pod turned a brilliant orange as its safety systems engaged. The wall cracked and split at the impact in a spider web of surface fractures. Aylin’s vitals showed critical.
Kaz’s years as a runner carried the gravity of his experience: “Telemetry from her augments just after the jump showed emergency protocols activating, but not enough. The integrity of the pod held, but…,” his voice trailing off into the silence of the moment. Finally conceding, “she may have chosen to override navigation warnings.”
Marcus across the private channel, “Jo, should we…”
“Already on it,” Jo replied with a grim expression. Emergency protocols produced several alerts across the security feed. She initiated yellow protocol slowing other athletes to a halt. “Notify her emergency contact,” she said while arranging transportation and bed at BioLife. Normally she would make the call, but she was already getting pressure to resume the race. Medical pods had already surrounded Aylin’s pod, providing statistics to the audience with full details of the injuries, structural damage to the pod and the wall, and images of Aylin collapsed and unconscious as beams extracted her onto a stabilization surface. The other athlete pods were slowed to a stop in position.
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“They probably already know,” replied Marcus
“Yup. BioLife was open,” she added. After a pause, she asked, “There is something else here too, you seeing this?”
“Not too much. Someone pinging the wall damage diagnostic” replied Marcus.
Jo wondered how Maya was holding up. ‘Monitoring a diagnostic could mean almost anything,’ she thought to herself. Jo released the runners as Aylin was lifted off the course towards the TransitTracks autolanes starting a five-second countdown visible to both spectators and athletes.
5, “Despite the severity of injuries, it looks like she could pull through,” Terra said.
4, “Looks like the race is back on,” Terra finished.
3, 2, 1, A sonic shockwave sounded again as the race resumed. All of the remaining fourteen pods accelerated immediately.
Kaz commented on the updated standings, “The front three have established a good lead.”
“They sure have,” Terra replied, summarizing the scoreboard:
Position
Runner
Faction
G-Force
Fortitude
Status Notes
1
Chung Der
Quantum Collective
10.1
82%
Highest G-force recorded, aggressive ascent strategy
2
Akira Storm
Symmetrists
3.8
100%
Optimized flight structure, clean exit
3
Jonathan Wells
Independent (Natural)
4.2
100%
Natural trajectory calculation, no augment assistance
4
Nova Pulsefire
Symmetrists
3.7
100%
Maintained faction's optimized flight pattern
5
Anya Solaris
AutoGen
5.6
98%
Navigation system compensation active
6
Titan Nyx
AutoGen
5.4
98%
Navigation system compensation active
7
Orion Starfire
Symmetrists
3.5
100%
Maintained faction's optimized flight pattern
8
Helios Sunbringer
AutoGen
5.2
98%
Navigation system compensation active
9
Kaelan Storm
Quantum Collective
7.5
95%
Higher G-force from delayed descent correction
10
Siren Songweaver
Symmetrists
3.2
100%
Last of the optimized flight structure group
11
Zenith Eclipse
Quantum Collective
7.0
96%
Higher G-force from delayed descent correction
12
Kairos Timekeeper
AutoGen
4.8
99%
Conservative Navigation system compensation
13
Jax Ember
Independent
2.5
97%
Significant speed reduction
14
Atlas Stoneheart
Independent
2.3
97%
Significant speed reduction
DNF
Aylin Solaris
Quantum Collective
12.4
15%
Critical impact trauma