“They say patience is a virtue, Clara” Bluenote quipped thru the commlink as her legs instinctively squeezed his titanium haunches – her free hand swiping the water bottle from its coaster. The starting box that was once filled with the sound of metal servos and pistons as their mounts had gotten into their positions was eerily silent, waiting for the buzzer.
“Your heart rate is more elevated than it was in the qualifiers, nervous about that late entry?” Clara didn’t answer, she wanted to surprise him. Her mind was on the winnings, if she could pull it off. This race would let her finally buy out all the shares in his ownership.
For a moment, she wondered how Bluenote would take to it. To enjoy… is that the right word? …enjoy the freedom she could finally give him. Can an A.I. ‘enjoy’ such things? Anything would be preferable to this existence, she couldn’t help but think.
Her train of thought was completely derailed as the buzzer blared thru the thick, Titan atmosphere. All the others got a jump on her. She cursed to herself as she slammed the magnetic release and they careened out of the starting block: wildly too fast for the first turn.
“Interesting strategy” Bluenote entones. The gambling odds ticker violently fluctuating the betting payoffs in their H.U.D. as the numbers in their column begin to dip. As they barrel over their lane marker at turn one, Bluenote sees the rider in lane 5 and makes a most unorthodox calculation. Launching up a few precious centimeters, he meets the other pair and parkours off their flank as they finish the turn; sending their opponent into a deadly spin and landing them dead on track again.
Clara’s mouth hung open looking back in their wake as a cascade of titanium and carbon mesh limbs, struts, and thrusters collided behind them. “Holy– what did you do?! If we get disqualified, you’ll be melted down faster than–“
“No need to fret. I made a complete run-thru of all the rules, stipulations, and by-laws in the system regarding participant collision: cross-referencing each court proceeding and lawsuit that resulted going back to the establishment of the sport. I can assure you it was a legal move as long as you initiated it.”
Clara smiled behind her deflector-mask as they sped along the course; free of other competitors – their winning odds slowing approaching mathematical inevitability in the display. ‘It was a stroke of luck’ she would say to anyone who would ask, ‘not the A.I.’s decision, certainly. Why, the A.I. just controls the chassis. It’s the rider that decides the maneuvers’.
She hoped that would be enough to keep her mount’s newfound sentience quiet.