Chapter Thirteen—The Joy Ride After the Joy Ride

They flew over the outskirts of Life City, the lights and shadows and neon district in the entertainment quarter giving the city the air of a contrasting quiet and excitement.

Something about that made the city feel even more exciting to John. As it was now, they were staying out of the aerial lanes to avoid other sky traffic. At full speed, the Corvo Onatta was an extremely fast aerial car, and there was no sense in dying in a crash after they had just blasted through that police blockade at the Yates residents in the East End part of town and surviving those missile locks.

“My blood is pumping!” Kyle bellowed and smacked the button for his window, letting in the warm summer-night air.

“Mine too,” John said, but he kept a careful eye on the instruments to make sure they weren’t being pursued. Feeling the warm air fill the car, John said, “That’s not a bad idea,” and lowered his own window.

“Man, I love this car.”

“You know we can’t keep her, right?”

“Awe, come on, John.”

“Nope,” he said, firm. “Yumi’s out of town. Without her to wipe the digital signature clean, we’re at risk of being detected.”

“Guess we don’t need the questions if the cops sniff this thing out.”

“You can say that again,” John said. “But we’re rich. If you want one so bad, go out and buy one.”

“I don’t know,” Kyle said, sounding somber.

There was a pause.

“You know what?” John asked.

“Yeah?”

“Let’s enjoy this thing before we ditch it.” He turned the wheel, swerving the car in a quick descent between two buildings.

“Hells yeah!”

Below them, the street cars drove to their destinations seemingly in slow motion as they sped over Life City. John swerved between two buildings, then found a winding road to follow. As the road switchbacked up a mountain, John laid on the accelerator.

The sudden increase in speed pushed them into their seats. He didn’t ascend as the mountain came closer into view.

“This is Staxx driving,” Kyle said, “not John. No way John would play chicken with a forested mountain.”

John laughed, slamming the accelerator to the max.

“Oh gods,” Kyle called, the wind blowing his loose strands about his face. “Don’t kill us!”

The trees became large in the viewport and at the last moment John pulled up sharply. They jerked in their seats and ascending over the mountain top. When they crested the topography, the sea came into view.

“Now that’s a view,” John said. This is a lot of fun, he thought. “We need to do this more often.”

“Definitely!”

The sea was mainly a black canvas, with a subtle purple hue in the distance because of the sunset, but across the water the neon life of the city spread out across the reflective surface.

John descended toward the water, a shimmering blackness with a pale bar of reflected moonlight. John pressed the override button and opened the doors.

“What are you doing?”

“I want some freedom,” he said, and descended even further. The Corvo was mere feet from the water—their spray kicking up wings of water behind them, the disturbance on the surface picked up on the car’s computers and displayed a diagram of what was happening.

The Corvo was like a graceful beast of air and water and metal as Max and Staxx enjoyed the smooth ride. John turned on the outer lights, putting them on various custom radiances and colors, making the water glow as they flew over its glassy surface.

“That beeping alarm is annoying,” John said.

Kyle punched the console and the projection went dark then sparks shot out. Both men laughed.

“Now that’s one way to turn off a proximity warning!”

Kyle laughed again.

And then the engines sputtered.

“What the hells?” John said, glancing about the cockpit. “For a twenty-million dollar aerial car, this thing sure isn’t built that tough.”

“What?” Kyle said. “No way this thing’s damaged from that punch!”

The sputtering worsened.

“You’re right,” he said. “Something else is up.”

“The low-jack is disabled, but maybe they were able to call in and have the car deactivated?”

“Yeah, maybe. Let’s land.”

“You got it,” John said, as he ascended somewhat and made his way back toward the outskirts of the city. They ended up flying over a landfill with garbage heaps reaching up toward the sky.

The landing—or crash landing more like—was bumpy but not too bad, as John landed in a mountain of garbage that cushioned the impact of their crash.

Orienting himself, John asked, “You all right?”

“Good,” Kyle said, putting up a thumb.

John climbed out, stepped over some garbage and made it to level terrain. The grounds were quiet, since it was night time, only the mellow glow of the station’s lights lit the vast grounds and only where the machines were situated.

“We better get out of here,” Kyle said as he came up beside John.

“Yeah,” he said. “Now I’d love to get some sleep after today. Two jobs, Kyle.”

“You can say that again,” Kyle said. “Listen, I’ll catch up with you, all right?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“All right.”

Max and Staxx split up and went their separate directions, Staxx for the Hitomo Luxury Suits, and Max—well John had no idea where he was going.

Far from trouble, he hoped.