After Robin stepped out of the pressure lock, everything around him changed. The cold hit him hard and made him shiver, but he couldn’t focus on that. He felt weightless, as if someone took a great burden off his shoulders. Not only was it because of the reduced gravity on Ruca II, but also because something in him clicked. As if a piece of a puzzle found its right place, relieving him of a constant pressure he didn't even know was there before.

He laughed like a child and began to take some careful steps, jumping even a bit around after feeling safe.

“Freedom, unchained and unrestrained possibilities, hidden secrets to discover and limitless opportunities - everything is out there!” Robin gave a relieved sigh and observed his surroundings.

Around him were some lone hangars and landing platforms, as well as the two office- and living facilities. Everything else was red and yellow dust, a small hill here and a crater there. Over the horizon he could see Mereus to one side and a planet ‘nearby’ that should be Rucasur to the other. The great dark void embraced all other things, only disrupted by some distant stars here and there.

Robin jump-walked a few meters towards the closest crater and began to inspect it. At its bottom he couldn't spot the meteorite or asteroid he was expecting.

“Maybe it’s deeper under the sand? Or someone from Apex already took it for researching purposes. These rocks traveled for millions of kilometers, light years even and should have seen countless places before finally coming to a rest here. If analyzed with the right tools, they should tell awesome stories!”

Robin’s mind went haywire, he waited so long for this moment that he began to blabber nonsense out of pure elation.

To be honest, it was much more realistic that these fucking rocks do tell shit and just kill any poor sap that stands nearby when they mess up their navigation and hit the freakin’ moon. But, hey, who could tell?

Robin enjoyed his space walk some more, before it was finally time to turn back. There would be more time for stuff like this later.

“Thank you so much!” He said after he reemerged on the other side of the pressure lock and took off his helmet. The woman from the Apex team just grinned and led him forwards through some gangways that connected the different buildings.

“I made a fool out of myself, didn’t I?” Robin asked after they passed a security station.

“One would think so, right?” She giggled, “But don’t let anyone tell you otherwise: each and every person is exactly like that when they come to a moon for the first time.”

‘Understandable,’ Robin thought, ‘it’s like an inner urge to just enjoy the moment like that.’

Not long after, Robin met Niu and all the other pilots again. Apparently the second carrier arrived before them and everyone was already waiting for the final briefing to conclude. The whole room turned to see who they had to wait for.

“Eh, hey folks! Sorry for being late, I…uhm… lost my baggage outside and had to fetch it first. Who knows if it will survive the next solar flare?” He chuckled awkwardly. No one laughed, except the small woman with silver hair that stood at the side.

“Huh…” Robin sighed as he felt the mood drop, “Wasn’t my best try!” He shrugged and looked at Mr. Nelson.

“Can you please begin? This situation is really uncomfortable right now.”

At least the event’s organizer seemed to enjoy his attempt to lighten the mood. He turned on the microphone and once again talked about the schedule for the upcoming days.

“How was it?” Niu whispered, after Robin came closer.

“What do you think? It was awesome!” He replied in a low voice, but couldn’t suppress the big grin that returned to his face.

“Try to get used to the new environmental conditions today. If everything goes well, I’ll be able to fly a few test laps with you tomorrow.”

“Alright, see you in the evening. Wait? How is day and night working here? Will it be dark? How long is one cycle? Will the temperature outside change? W…”

*Cough* “Mr. Tulward, do you have any questions to share with us?” Mr. Nelson asked loudly and interrupted Robin who’s voice had gotten louder accidentally as he became more agitated.

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Robin quickly shut up and shook his head to let the man continue his speech. Beside him, Happy fought to not laugh out loud, but he could already see the shaking of her shoulders.

“Ughh…” He groaned, but focused his concentration back on the briefing.

***

“Valves… flow is constant, check.”

“Fuel… at 91%, check.”

“Steering feedback… yup, check.”

…

Robin was sitting in his ship and went through his pre-flight checklist an hour later. He wanted to use every free minute he could get, to experience this great opportunity to fly in low-grav and train under these new conditions. That’s why he booked every possible slot and was now in the first batch of six pilots that were allowed to fly the first laps of the new track.

The starting grid contained three positions in the front row for the first to third ranked from the last race, the second row was for the fourth to the sixth ranked and so on.

As this was only a training session with six pilots, the Melody was waiting in the middle of the second row for the lights to turn green. Robin was getting a little bit nervous again, as this was his first start with other pilots around. But as soon as the go was given, his head eliminated all strange and distracting thoughts and he only focused on the track in front of him.

He began slowly in the first lap, staying at the back of the group and only concentrated on the changed handling of his ship. Luckily it wasn’t too much of a difference and he could adapt pretty well. Melody’s systems caught most of the changes that occurred under these conditions, only letting a bit of the strangeness through.

Robin could feel the absence of an atmosphere, the reduced weight of his ship and the lagging response of his outlets when they tried to change directions. However all in all, he was surprised by how little had actually changed and in his third and last round he could already begin to study the track itself some more.

***

That day and the next flew by in an instant for Robin. He got used to the new flight conditions pretty well and learned a lot about the dos and don’ts of the new track. In the evening of the first day he even went out for a walk once more and Happy tagged along to keep company. They stayed outside for nearly an hour and enjoyed the low gravity to their fullest. Robin won a contest in broad jumping, Niu one for the most backflips in one jump. It felt good to leave everything else behind for some time and be able to enjoy the moment. They had both so much going on in their lives that this was a welcome and much needed distraction.

On the second day Niu joined Robin in his training, sometimes in her own ship while flying behind him and giving pointers and at other times she took the copilot’s seat and gave more direct feedback on his technique. By the end of the second day, Robin had ingrained each turn of the track and every danger zone into his bones.

Yes, danger zones!

The track for the second race was, with a length of 36 km, only slightly longer than the first one, but not only would the participants be on the course with 24 other ships, the route winded itself through two craters (C1 and C2) where the pilots had to fly a curve along their slopes.

Last but not least there was one 7 km long straight high speed section that went directly along a canyon between a mountain-like area. That zone in particular was really dangerous. While the people were flying only against the time on Rucasur, now there were other pilots one had to consider and plan maneuvers for passing them. Normally you could comfortably do this by flying above the person in front, but on a moon that was much more difficult as one mistake would kick you out of the moon’s gravitational pull. Getting back would quickly become a distant dream and your only hope would be the Apex Rescue Team.

The Canyon was one of only two good opportunities to pass other ships, but if you drifted off course just a bit, you would either crash into a mountain or use its slope as a ramp to catapult you into space.

Robin trained this particular section the most with Niu. She taught him how to pass those in front of him as well as how to prevent those behind him from overtaking. All in all, Robin felt pretty damn well prepared.

“Niu I cannot thank you enough,” Robin exclaimed for the tenth time that day, “You are an awesome coach, I’ve learned so much through your training, first on Rucasur and now here. I’m really confident about my chances to advance to the final race!”

“That’s great, I know you will rock this race if you give it your all!” She replied and cheered for him.

As she was sitting in the seat behind him right now, he couldn’t see her face - there wasn’t much left of the all-encompassing happiness that always accompanied her.

She saw him growing as a pilot every day by leaps and bounds.

She saw his determination to win.

She knew how much he needed this advancement.

And she knew how many of the other pilots were still length ahead of him.

‘There is no way for you to win this, Robin. I really hope you are prepared for that eventuality…’ She thought and took a deep breath.

She didn’t know the clumsy technocrafter for long, but she had the feeling they vibed somehow. Like two people that just hit off pretty well together. Niu hoped she had found herself a good friend, even after the Apex Cup was over.

Her only worry was if Robin would be able to handle the reality check he’ll undoubtedly get in this race.