The Valkyrie wasn't just a bike, it was like a predator.
As we sped onto the highway, and the bike's AI whispered data in my ear. Surface traction: 60%. Traffic: Low. Pursuit: 100%. Definitely coming, i said.
Hang on! I yelled over the wind.
Sarah didn't say anything. She was pressed against me, arms tight. I could feel her heat through my suit. The move from being a digital god to a weak human was killing her.
I swerved through traffic. The highway was a river of light, big cargo trucks carrying stuff to the Sectors. Above us, the sky was a gross purple from the city's neon signs.
BUY VITA-PURE. ASCEND TODAY. THE COMPANY LOVES YOU.
Incoming! Sarah screamed.
I checked the mirror.
Three black drones were dropping from the sky. They looked like metal crows, with red lights underneath.
TARGET LOCKED, the bike AI warned.
Hold tight!
I stepped on the gas. The Valkyrie screamed past 200 km/h, the world blurred in colored streaks.
THWUMP THWUMP.
Something hit the road behind us, tearing it up. Not bullets, but kinetic rods. One hit, and we'd be dead.
They're faster! I yelled.
They're tracking the bike! Sarah shouted, her voice weak. We need to go down! Get off the Skyway! Go to the Undercity!
That's crazy!
The Undercity was the old world, the flooded, ruins under the new city. Gangs, mutants, and poor people lived there.
Do it! she said.
I saw an exit ramp blocked by a barrier, marked, CONDEMNED STRUCTURE UNSTABLE.
I just did it.
I yanked the handlebars right.
The bike skidded, sparks flying. We headed for the barrier.
Jump it! Sarah yelled.
You're nuts!
Trust the bike!
I hit the boost. The Valkyrie shot blue flame and jumped the barrier by inches.
For a second, we were airborne. Below, a two-hundred-foot drop into the Undercity. Above, the drones couldn't follow into the lower levels.
We fell.
The bike slammed onto a rusty catwalk. The impact hurt, and the bike slid toward the edge.
I fought the handlebars. The tires gripped the rust, and we stopped.
We were in the city's underbelly.
The air smelled like garbage, sewage, and old rain. No neon lights, just flickering yellow lamps and burning trash. Shadows moved around.
I slowed down as we went down the tight, wet streets. People, if that's what they were, stared from their doorways. Some had robot arms and legs made of junk. Others were covered in gross sores.
Where are we going? My voice shook. The excitement was gone, and I was just feeling how bad things really were.
Sector 7, Sarah mumbled, sounding feverish. The Old Church. Find... Father John.
Father John? Sarah, we need a hospital, not a priest.
He's... not a priest, she whispered, and then she just slid off the back of the bike.
Sarah!
I stopped hard and jumped off, catching her before she fell completely into the dirty water.
She was out cold. Her skin was grey. The veins in her neck were sticking out and glowing blue, like the stuff inside her was trying to get out.
Hey! Help! I yelled at the dark spots. I need help!
Some guys came out of an alley. Three of them. They wore rags and old army stuff. One had a robot eye that made noise as it looked at the bike.
Cool ride, said the guy with the robot eye. He pulled out a rusty knife. Lost, tourist?
I stood up between them and Sarah. I touched the gun on my back, but I knew I wasn't a fighter. I was just a cleaner in a stolen vest.
Back off, I said. She's sick. We need a doctor.
She looks worth something, the guy said, looking at Sarah's glowing veins. Looks like she's got good stuff in her blood. Maybe we take it out and sell it.
He moved closer.
I aimed the gun. My hands were shaking.
I said back off.
The guy laughed. You don't know how to use that, kid. I can see it.
He jumped at me.
BANG.
I didn't shoot.
The robot eye guy fell back, with a hole in his shoulder. He screamed and dropped the knife.
I turned around fast.
A girl stood on a pile of wrecked cars. She was maybe eighteen. She had short pink hair and a huge gun that looked too big for her. She had on a leather jacket with a bright skull on the back.
Get away from the bike, scavs, she said. She sounded calm, even bored. Or I'll shoot your eye next. The good one.
The scavengers didn't argue. They helped their friend back into the dark like rats.
The girl jumped down from the cars and landed in the water. She walked over to us, spinning her gun before putting it away. She chewed gum and looked me up and down.
You look like crap, she said.
Yeah, I said. I need... we need to find Father John.
The girl stopped chewing. She looked at Sarah on the ground. She saw the glow and my vest.
Father John doesn't like visitors, she said. Specially not Corpos.
I'm not a Corpos! I stole this! I ripped the patch off the vest to show her. Please. She's dying. She said... she said she helped the Resistance.
The girl looked hard at me. She knelt down and touched Sarah's head. She jumped back like she'd been burned.
She's... a ghost, I said. From the Aether.
The girl stared at me for a long moment. Then she popped a bubble with her gum.
Okay, Tourist. You're in luck. I'm getting paid to find weird stuff today.
She whistled.
Out of the shadows came something huge. It was a robot, clunky, ugly, made of scrap metal and tractor parts welded together. It looked like a junk gorilla.
Tiny, carry the lady, the girl said.
The robot grunted, a mechanical gears grinding sound and carefully picked Sarah up in its big arms.
I'm Jax, the girl said, turning to walk down the alley. Follow me. And bring the bike. Scratch it, and you're dead.
I looked at the robot carrying Sarah. I looked at the girl with the pink hair.
I got back on the Valkyrie and followed them into the Undercity's dark center.