“What’s this about?” said Julian to Elara. Cass had called a team meeting, and everyone, including Vex’s mechanics and other team personnel, had gathered in the garage.

  “Not sure,” said Elara. “Does this happen often?” she asked Vex, who was standing next to her.

  “Not really,” said Vex, turning to them. “Don’t worry. I know what it is. It’s fine.”

  That put Julian at ease, but he still felt a little off. Then Cass walked in, followed by Nia and a young woman. It took Julian a second to identify her. He knew he had seen her before, but then he remembered. It was Riley Kane, a driver for Olympic Motors. She walked in very tight and confident, Julian thought. Wearing a Neon Pulse race suit, her head shaved bald with her neural implants covering it in glowing lights like a circuit board. “Whoa,” said Julian in a low voice, which caught Elara’s attention, but Cass spoke before she could ask about it.

  “Hello, everyone,” said Cass. “Thanks for coming on such short notice. I’m sure you all know that Ultracar teams field two cars, so we need two drivers. I would like to introduce our second driver, Riley Kane.” Most of the people clapped, and a few whooped in celebration. Riley gave a wave and a nod.

  “Who?” said Elara to Julian.

  “She’s from Olympic Motors,” said Julian. “She was a rookie last season. Her family has raced cars professionally for generations. She’s sort of royalty.”

  “What’s she doing here then?” said Elara.

  “Last season didn’t go well,” said Vex, in a low voice. He also made a face, suggesting he should not be saying this. “Olympic loaned her to us, so we don’t have to pay her salary, and we get some more money to ‘develop’ her.”

  Julian looked at Riley. He had wondered about who they would get to be the second driver with him. Being a small team, he assumed it would be some nobody, and Julian might even be considered the lead driver. That idea was gone now. Riley was as close to royalty as Ultracar got. Every generation of her family tree had at least one champion at the highest levels of motorsport, going back over a century. If there was a genetic component to driving, she was as pure a thoroughbred as was possible. He would not be the team’s lead driver; he knew that now. Even if she had a poor season last year, she would still be miles ahead of him on track.

  Not that Julian had much time to wallow, Cass brought her over to him. “Hey, Julian,” he said. “Meet Riley. Riley, this is Julian Rexford, our second driver.” And there it was.

  “Hello,” said Riley, holding out her hand and giving a polite smile. Julian shook it.

  “We don’t have a lot of time, and Riley says she’s ready to work,” said Cass. “So, Julian, can you get her in the simulator so she can start getting familiar with Aurora. It’s got the latest updates, right?” Cass asked Vex.

  “Yup,” said Vex. “It almost feels like the real thing.”

  “Don’t we have someone for that?” said Julian. He did not want to play support tech.

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  Cass wrinkled his face at Julian and made baby noises before walking away.

  Julian led Riley to a back room where the simulator tube was. They did not talk while they walked over, and it felt awkward.

  “This is it,” said Julian when they got there. “If you want to get in, I’ll help you get connected.”

  Riley walked over to the tube and looked in. It was full of water. “You don’t leave it empty?” she said. “There’s not much point to having anything in the tube for simulator work.”

  “It’s Cass’ rule,” said Julian. “He wants it as authentic as possible.”

  “Right,” said Riley. She had kept a pretty strong exterior so far, but Julian noted a break in it at this point. She climbed into the tube and sat down in the water. Julian handed her the end of the life support umbilical for her to put on while he plugged the neural connection to the back of her neck.

  When he had plugged everything in, he stood back. Riley was still holding the mask she was supposed to wear in front of her, staring at it with horror. “Is everything ok?” said Julian.

  Riley almost jumped and snapped her head to Julian. “It’s fine,” she said, quickly putting on the mask that allowed her to breathe underwater, and slid down into the water.

  Julian thought it was weird, but he closed up the tube and entered a few commands into the computer to load up a simulated track. “Ok, there you are,” said Julian over a radio connection. “Need anything?”

  “I’m good,” said Riley, and she began piloting the virtual car. Julian watched her. He might as well try to learn something. Riley’s first lap was pretty slow, but expected as she played around with the active aero and tested the brakes and acceleration. It was on the second lap that she started to push herself and aim for a competitive time. At the end of that lap, she was already over a second faster than him. The third lap was almost another second faster.

  “That sucks,” said Julian to himself.

  “How’s she doing?” said Cass, walking in with Nia in tow. “Wow! Look at that.” He was pointing at a screen showing Riley’s lap times.

  “How does that compare...” said Nia before Julian cut her off.

  “She’s faster,” said Julian.

  “Don’t worry,” said Cass. “We’ll get you up there.” He watched Riley for a few minutes before excusing himself and leaving.

  “Everything okay?” said Nia to Julian.

  “It’s fine,” said Julian.

  “Doesn’t sound like it,” said Nia. “Something you’ll have to learn. I’ve seen it a hundred times. Teammate rivalries, teams bringing in a big name to overshadow the guys who have been there for years.”

  “She’s from Olympic,” said Julian. He had thought of a new approach. “How can we trust her?”

  Nia looked at him, knowing what he was getting at and not having any of it. “She’s fine,” said Nia. “I doubt we have too much to hide from them anyway.”

  “You think so?” said Julian.

  “Oh, come on, Julian,” said Nia. “It’s not like you’re all that trustworthy either.” Julian tried to say something, and Nia cut him off. “I did the research on your dad. He and Titan Dynamics are like this.” She held two fingers together. “And Titan owns Olympic. We have the same concerns about you as she does. Just take the opportunity to learn from someone who has been groomed to drive from birth.”

  Nia walked out, leaving Julian alone in the room with Riley in the tube. He sat down and thought for a while. He was not paying attention to when the simulation ended. So he was not there to open up the tube when Riley was ready to get out, and only realized this when he heard banging coming from the inside of the tube. “Oh, sorry,” he said when he opened the hatch. This was a common prank to play on drivers, so he was not thinking much of it until Riley launched herself out of the tube, ripping off the mask and connections before jumping out and throwing herself against the wall. She sank to the floor, hyperventilating.

  “Don’t ever lock me in there,” she said between breaths.

  “Sorry,” said Julian. “I wasn’t paying attention. I...” He stopped talking as he watched her. “Are you claustrophobic?” That was usually a death note for a driver, as claustrophobia would prevent anyone from entering the tube. Riley nodded slowly, looking at Julian to gauge his reaction. The whole time, Julian had been upset and jealous, when she was probably freaking out the whole time. He felt sorry for her.