C: Slingshot

"By the way, how could you detect what kind of weapon was in the pod?" Rafaela asked the core system a while later. "Even with an active scan, the pod should have sufficient radiation shielding to obscure most things?"

Perhaps it was just an attempt to distract herself from the fact that she was now in fourth place again due to her stepsister's antics, but she had been over every centimeter of the scout ship's physical equipment, and was certain that it didn't have any secret equipment stashed away beneath its skin.

Diagrams of weapons flashed across the main display, and the ship replied smugly, "Visual identification using the emergency monitoring link."

A contemplative silence answered that revelation. It was possible that communication with an emergency pod's systems was included in the default data within the communication module, or that Schmidt had added the necessary decryption routines. The scout had no armaments, but… she was starting to wonder just what kind of scout ship she had inherited from her mother.

The cute and matronly figure in the corner of the display looked mischievous as she provided a distraction. "The first entrant has passed the checkpoint, and is moving toward Gyrfalcon as you predicted."

In the same way the ones who had followed the scout through the Norse Belt had taken their cues from her course, Rafaela had been monitoring the adjustments the lead ship had made, but this just confirmed her own guess based on the prior checkpoints and their use of gravitational bodies. She was certain that she wasn't the only one, since the little ship in the lead had set itself up for the new course as much as possible, long before passing through the checkpoint itself and receiving the next one.

It wasn't until she passed through the checkpoint herself that her calm broke. The coordinates for the final checkpoint had been given, along with a final deadline. The entrants had to arrive at the station where the ceremony would be held within three days of passing through the final checkpoint or they would lose their places.

It meant that even at the last, they would have to keep a reserve. Like the beginning of the race, where the first checkpoint had actually been the second, the last checkpoint was actually the second to last. But at the same time, arriving at the station first wouldn't matter if the entrant who passed through the final checkpoint first managed to arrive before the last second of the deadline.

Like the corner on a gravity bound racetrack, the slingshot around the deceptively inviting Gyrfalcon would be her best opportunity to get ahead, despite the fact that the final checkpoint was all the way back at the edge of Eks Corp Central. The beautiful grey-blue and white planet looked like an artistic rendition of the legendary Earth where humanity had first evolved, but ironically in a system that boasted three inhabited planets, Gyrfalcon's welcoming coloring was merely an illusion reflected by the poisonous gas giant.

For the beyonder scout the poisonous atmosphere was just an opportunity, and the core system set up a course that would cut more deeply into the atmosphere than most interplanetary craft would be able to endure. With luck it would be able to scoop up enough reaction mass to make a difference. Then the chemical drive held in reserve would empty it's tank in a long boost that would be her only real chance to overtake the others.

Rafaela looked at the small winged avatar that presented the route with every evidence of pride. She would have to trust the entire maneuver to the core system because the acceleration would be high enough to cause physical damage, and the fragile human would have to ride it out inside the medical pod. Like the route through the Norse Belt, it was technically a gamble with her life, but her ship was capable of pulling it off.

--

Rafaela climbed into the confined space within the medical pod completely naked. Even though she was expecting it, she flinched when the liquid touched her bare skin. She fought her own instincts to remain calm as the fluid rose around her, even though the soft, flexible surface of the mask was already snuggly attaching itself to her face.

She had been there when those with injuries were submerged in more modern medical units, but she'd never expected to undergo the same experience when she was completely healthy. It made the danger of the maneuver feel much more real, but she didn't retract the order.

The wait was interminable. There was a small display, but her arms were confined and her mouth was full of plastic. The only comfort was that everything was proceeding smoothly. Her breath was loud in her own ears.

The pressure built up slowly as a downward pull that felt sideways to her position began to make itself known. It was disorienting, but not nauseating, but when the chemical burn finally began it was like being hit with an invisible wall.

The feeling of floating in the liquid transformed as it seemed to harden around her and she was crushed against her own bones. The display went pink and then faded into a white fog that filled her vision, and then everything went black as a roaring sound that shouldn't exist filled her ears and shifted to become a high pitched squeal that pierced her brain.

--

Sound returned first, and Rafaela could hear the ship calmly reporting before she could see anything. The words didn't make sense at first, as though the ship had switched languages on her again, and she instinctively checked her memory library. But by the time she'd worked through that process, the words were understandable again.

Understandable but alarming.

Rafaela struggled against the invisible restraints that held her in place until she realized that there were no restraints, it was just that she was that weak. She felt like she'd been smashed flat and reconstituted. The release for the cover was hard to trigger, but even as the mask pulled away from her face she was already speaking.

"Even those two wouldn't be dumb enough to pull the same trick twice!" she protested.

She blinked to clear her vision. Her eyes felt sticky and scummy, but she could see the main display and the anim of her youngest stepsister speaking frantically.

"Probability indicates that the course she set put too much strain on the temporary patch. She is not in any immediate danger, as her ship's overrides appear to be putting her into an orbital course," the core system reported enthusiastically.

Rafaela blinked again and focused on the bouncing avatar in the corner of the screen, that was clapping its little hands with a gleeful expression. She ought to have chided the ship for its almost malicious amusement at Louise's predicament, but she felt like an evil stepsister in a story, because she couldn't help feeling like it was completely deserved.

This time she couldn't have helped even if she'd wanted to. Even if the main drive hadn't still been adding its smaller but steadier push to the ship, inertia would carry the scout along its course until an equal amount of force was used to slow it down.

"We are scheduled with the traffic system receiving rings?" she asked again, even though she'd verified that before climbing into the medical pod.

"Yes," the ship responded patiently.

"Doris?" she asked as she struggled to pull on the simple garment that lay waiting for her.

"We have already overtaken her, but she is still on course for the final checkpoint," the ship warned.

"We haven't caught up with the lead entrant?" Rafaela asked.

"No, but our relative acceleration is enough higher that we should overtake her well before we reach the final checkpoint," the calm voice assured her as she sank into the seat in front of the main display and closed her eyes.

"I think I'm hungry," she complained.

"Of course you are," the voice replied with a trace of exasperation.

Warm steam carried a savory scent to her nose and she blinked and opened her eyes. Turning her head to look at the autoserve took more effort than it should have, but the sight of the warm food had her arm moving toward it before she was even conscious of her own intent.

"Thanks," Rafaela muttered.