He was met quickly with a sharp left hand bank. Firing into the turn, he felt the G-forces compress his body to such an extent that he had to place his chest on the bike itself. Coming out of the turn he followed behind Lukaz. Still about 100 metres ahead. Marvin needed to make up some ground.

The next few turns went by without thinking. All of them sharp banks, the speed was being maintained at near maximum levels, going just over 410kmh! The G-forces were relentless! Just as the pressure was released enough to sit up, the next turn was upon him and Marvin was slammed back down. Eventually he decided it was best just to stay down the whole time, why waste the effort? Turn after turn passed by, left, right, right again, an incredibly sharp left caused him to think he might pass out. Despite the gruelling physical demands, Marvin was feeling good, because slowly but surely, he was gaining. Turn by turn, Lukaz was getting bigger in his visor, his bright red suit acting as a target to aim for. Amongst the chaos Jerrys chirpy voice could be heard.

"Ok Marvin you're coming up to the final stretch, just a few more turns, you need to make your move!"

This resonated with him on an emotional level, was he really going to let Lukaz, this new kid on the block, come in a take the championship away from him? Not a chance! Increasing his throttle even more, Marvin entered into the next turn with a spark of determination in his mind.

The increased speed almost flattening him against his bike. The pressure on his chest was almost too much to bear. But it was worth it to see Lukaz get even closer. There were only a couple metres between them now. Another turn. Another tremendous force on his body. Another metre gained. He could almost reach out and touch Lukaz, and in goodtime, because up ahead Marvin could see the final turn. Luckily the track eased up, stretching out into a final dramatic straight where the races could open up the throttle one last time before crossing the finish line, and what a finish line it was!

Even from here Marvin could see the vast viewing stands that surrounded it, along with a decorative golden archway that glistened brightly against the black sky. It also signified the finish line itself. Arching completely from one side of the track to another, the golden structure called to Marvin in the white light. To top it all off, above the golden archway and thousands of ecstatic fans, the blue jewel of planet Earth hung gracefully in the endless sky.

Both riders settled onto the straight. As far as Marvin was concerned, he and Lukaz were the only two riders in existence, and he to beat him! Hundreds of cameras erupted from the stands as the two riders got within range. The turn was fast approaching. Another left hand bank, however not as sharp as before so both riders would need to ease off on the speed, or else they would just be fired off the curved track about halfway round.

Lukaz pulled on the breaks. Marvin didn't. He needed to pass him before doing so. Pulling alongside the red rider, keeping him on his left, Marvin traversed to the right hand side of the track. Lukaz glanced to his side. The two rivals locked visors for a split second before the fast approaching turn loomed ahead and they were both forced to look forward.

"Marvin! Make the move!" Jerry cried out, the tension in his voice unmistakable.

Entering the corner on the right hand side of the track, Marvin aimed his bike at the apex, Traversing left as the bank began to curve upward. Lukaz on the other hand approached the turn from the left hand side of the track, traversing right as he rounded it. Marvin, taking the inside line, aimed to cut behind Lukaz as the red bike made its way to the top of the bank.

He made his move. Feeling the bike traverse underneath him Marvin held his breath as he made the pass.

All was going well, until disaster struck!

Under the pressure Marvin had miscalculated. Instead of calmly passing Lukaz's left-hand side as planned, Lukaz's bike came smashing into his own at a sickening speed! The heavy metal bodywork of each bike folding as if they were made of paper. Marvin's heart stopped. His stomach dropped. He had ruined it! His chance at the world championship was gone! All because of one mistake!

Marvin's front wheel mounted Lukaz's left-hand side and knocked the surprised rider with considerable force. Marvin meanwhile was flung forward, lifting away from his seat and sent hurling into the vacuum. His safety line pulled him back so suddenly and painfully that it would be surprising if his back wasn't broken. The bikes meanwhile, although being joined together, continued their journey towards the finish line.

"MARVIN!...MARVIN!" Jerry cried down the speaker like a terrible echo, but Marvin couldn't hear him. His world was still crashing down around him. However as the seconds past, hope returned to his heart. Somehow, the bikes were still moving, and it looked like they were going to cross the finish line! They were going to make it!

But who would win? Was Lukaz still on his bike? Was Marvin going to cross (or drift) past the line before him?

Marvin glanced down, ignoring the throbbing pain in his back, hope returning to his broken heart. Unfortunately the small flame of joy was quickly extinguished as Marvin could see Lukaz still on board! To top it off he was ahead of Marvin.

How? How was he still riding?

Both riders crossed the line, Lukaz first, as the wreckage came to a grinding halt in the middle of the track. An alarm began to ring in Marvin's helmet, as it did for every rider. It signified an emergency stop to the race and as a response every rider was instructed to slow down to a measly 5kmh. At the very least there wasn't going to be a pile up on the finish line.

Not that Marvin cared, as far as he was concerned the world had ended. Marvin drifted down onto the track floor with a hefty thud. Grinding to a halt, bouncing a few times as he did.

"Marvin! Are you ok? Can you hear me?!" Jerry screamed down the speaker.

No, Marvin was far from ok.

"Yeah still kicking." He mumbled reluctantly.

"Oh thank all the heavens." Jerry sighed with relief, accompanied with a faint cheer from engineering.

"Looks like I owe you a holiday." Marvin huffed as he held back the wave of tears that wanted to come pouring out.

"Maybe not, we need to check the camera feed!" Jerry said hopefully.

Marvin lay there, looking up blankly through the large scratch that now stained his view of the dark sky. No-atmosphere meant the stars looked incredible, and as the broken man lay there wondering if he would ever ride again, he took great comfort in the staggering view. Despite his shattered heart and ruined dreams, the universe was just as beautiful as ever.

After a few seconds of silence, Marvin decided to move. Carefully picking himself up of the floor, he got to his knees, then his feet. His back hurt so much, but nothing major seemed to be broken. He was standing after all. He glanced over at the wreckage of the merged bikes.

It was a mess.

Crudely folded metal that was still shaking from the spinning gyros.

"How's Lukaz? He ok?" Marvin asked, hoping the answer was yes. The last thing he needed was a manslaughter case.

"Yeah he's fine, up and walking." Jerry reassured. Marvin could hear a muffled commotion coming from the engineering team. After a few seconds Jerry spoke again. "He won by the way, it's official. The camera feed confirms it. He crossed the line first."

Marvin didn't say anything. What would be the point?

Suddenly something caught his attention, a movement in the corner of his eye, away from the wreckage. After straining his eyes past the large scratch, he could see it was Lukaz. He was stumbling towards him and as Jerry had said he seemed ok, although something was off. Something was out of place. After a few seconds of debating, Marvin found out what was wrong. His suit! Lukaz's suit was torn! A large gash was cutting down the middle of his chest and visor.

"Oh ****!" Marvin swore as he ran over to help. The suit needed patching up or Lukaz was going to die! Suddenly however, Marvin felt something pull him back towards the ground. He looked around and literally kicked himself. His safety line! He was still attached. Unbuckling the clip and pulling himself to his feet once again, he ran over to Lukaz as fast as the micro-gravity would allow.

He grabbed Lukaz by the shoulder and peered through the scratch on his own visor and what he saw terrified him. Past the open gash on the Lukaz's red suit and visor, was a body, but not a normal body. A robotic one! Lukaz's face was torn apart, his skin peeling away in all directions, but there was no blood, no flesh, no bone, only metal.

What happened next went by so quickly, Marvin still struggles to remember every detail. The race was stopped. All the riders came to a halt and the fans were evacuated. Lukaz and Marvin were escorted off the track and placed into medical care. Marvin was physically fine, the pain in his back resulting from a few broken ribs. Nothing too serious. What shocked Marvin and indeed the entire world was what happened with Lukaz.

It turned out that Lukaz was an android. A super advanced piece of machinery that COSMOS had been building in secret, designed to look and act like a normal racer. They wanted to have the perfect racer, and since human beings were prone to mistakes (as Marvin had clearly proved) they decided to make their own. Initially all had been going well, but as they began to add more and more racing manoeuvres to the androids limited processor, it started to suffer socially as high proportions of its calculating power was taken to racing. That explained why Lukaz had become so socially separated, he literally couldn't handle social situations. His brain wasn't powerful enough!

It came to pass that COSMOS were sued, as using an android for any Luna race was illegal and they were then banned from participating in any future events. Lukaz was taken away for testing, the high court claiming that such an advanced piece of machinery should not be in the hands of such a morally questionable company such as COSMOS.

Subsequently Lukaz's involvement in any Luna race was expunged, including the world championship. So it came to pass that despite all the unexpected conditions, Marvin became the world champion for the 17th Luna GP.

The End

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

I have more short stories planned so keep a watchful eye on my account for any updates!