Ellie gritted her teeth against the forces trying to throw her from her ship and shoved her flight stick forward. Her little craft plunged down once more to meet the city. The surface fell away beneath her and she crested the horizon to enter the final straight.

Santini had the luxury of time on his side. He had completed his careful arc and was levelling out before completing his final approach.

Ellie was still climbing.

‘I can’t turn fast enough,’ Ellie cried as she wrestled her ship out of its climb and back into a dive. ‘He’s getting away. I need more power!’

Malachi’s mind raced. Technically, she needed more thrust. But the only other thrusters on the ship were the landing thrusters in the underbelly and nose, and they were on the wrong side of the ship. Useless.

Schematics and diagrams flashed through his mind’s eye, examining the options, considering the variables. Santini was faster. Ellie had closed the gap, but her vector was all wrong, and she couldn’t change it fast enough.

Then he blinked.

Problem solved.

‘Invert!’ he shouted. The people around him jumped.

‘What?’

‘Invert your ship! Use your landing thrusters!’

Ellie gave no reply, but Malachi was still watching the screens. He saw her ship roll over in a quick half-turn. Landing thrusters designed for a careful, controlled landing ignited at full power. The nose of the ship kicked hard against the stars and aimed for the finish line.

Malachi checked the flight telemetry on his data pad. The displays showed the race, but in his hand was every other bit of data he needed, including the projected vectors of the two ships.

Santini, of course, was heading straight for the finish line. He had an easy run, free and clear. Ellie was coming in fast, but not fast enough. It was going to be close, and she wasn’t going to win. A draw was the best she could hope for now.

‘Ellie, you’ve pulled it back. Just keep going and you have a draw.’

‘A draw?’ She sounded disgusted at the very idea. ‘I might as well lose!’

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‘Ellie, this guy is good. A draw is a good result.’

‘I don’t want to draw.’

‘But you can’t win.’

‘Don’t tell me what to do!’

The vector on his data pad shifted again.

‘Ellie, you overdid it on the landing thrusters.’

‘No, I didn’t.’

‘You’re coming in too steep. You’re going to miss the line.’

‘No, I’m not.’

‘Ellie, you’re going to hit him!’

‘I’m going to win.’

Ellie held her line.

Safety mechanisms disagreed. Collision warnings sounded throughout her cockpit. Red lights rippled across control panels. She knew her opponent heard it too, and he would have to make a choice: continue to the finish and risk crashing or turn aside, avoid a crash but miss the line.

With seconds to go, the alarms began to crescendo.

Ellie held her line.

Her engines screamed with effort as she closed the distance to her target.

Santini held steady, willing to risk the crash, daring her to pull up.

The space between the ships vanished.

Two hundred metres.

One hundred metres.

Fifty metres.

Ellie held her line.

Ellie’s klaxon blared its urgent message. Warning lights danced in front of her, desperate for attention, but she held her nerve.

She stayed the line.

Santini was dead ahead now. Before them both was the finish. The collision was imminent. Everything around and within Ellie told her to pull up or slow down, but she didn’t like to lose.

Ellie held her line.

Santini broke. His ship dived and turned wide of the line. Ellie blasted through it.

‘Wooooooo!’

‘Yes!’ said Malachi, punching the air.

The crowd cheered and whooped, thrilled by the outrageous spectacle they had just seen.

‘I don’t think you will be able to do that again next time, Ellie.’

‘Next time I won’t have to. I need a faster ship, Mal.’

Malachi could hear her grinning despite the complaint. ‘I’ll see what I can do the next time I get some parts.’

‘Great! Also, I need to make tighter turns so maybe you can reduce the weight or something? And a better flight suit. The seat feels too hard when I’m accelerating, and—'

Malachi cut her off. ‘How about the collision warning? Anything wrong with that?’

A pause.

‘No. That seems to be okay.’

Malachi rolled his eyes. ‘Anything else?’

‘The air smells funny in here. Can you fix that?’

‘You treat me like I’m your personal slave technician.’

‘No, I treat you like a big brother.’

He laughed. She was right. He did look at her like a little sister.

Ellie had really been adopted by the entire community of New Haven. There were few people in the city who could resist Ellie’s natural optimism. If they were given the choice, almost everyone would choose Ellie over the other orphan girl in their midst. Tila was capable and resourceful, but Ellie could light up a room by walking through the door.

To Ellie, family was something far greater than the two people who brought you into the world. They were what made you feel part of it. They were the people who made it a world worth living in and belonging to, even here on the Juggernaut.

Even though Malachi had known her for years Ellie still seemed young. He had to remind himself that even though she easily fell into the role, the helpless little sister Ellie was older and wiser than she sometimes appeared.

Malachi thought again of the race he had just witnessed.

Perhaps not.