Keep firing until we’ve destroyed this thing.” More energy blasted towards the asteroid, more shards flew off, until at last it had been shattered into hundreds of pieces. A few still zoomed toward the Amity, but they were small now. Not deadly.
Liam watched the screen as they came closer. They slammed into the Amity and the ship shuddered and rocked, then the motion steadied and the Amity zoomed peacefully through the stars once more. Both the control room and the security room erupted into cheers.
Liam smiled, raising his voice to be heard over the celebration, “Excellent job all of you. We’ve passed our first real danger safely.”
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The next day a young woman named Stacy Edwards, who taught P. E. to the children and exercise classes and hoverboard lessons to anyone who wanted to participate, approached Liam, asking permission to hold a hoverboarding competition.
Her brown eyes gleamed with enthusiasm; she pushed her long, straight blonde hair back in a gesture that seemed born of excitement, “It won’t only be great for the boarders; it’ll be fun to watch too. We could offer extra recreational time and desert rations as prizes.”
Liam smiled, “I think it’s an excellent idea. After the scare yesterday we could all use something fun to think about.”
He chuckled, “I assume young Miss Brannon will be participating?”
Stacy laughed, “Actually, it was partly Amy’s idea. She’d love a chance to prove her skills in front of her shipmates.”
Liam smiled, “Esther will be delighted too. She loves watching the hoverboarders. She’s just itching to try it herself. We told her Amy can start teaching her when she turns seven.”
He shook his head ruefully, “I just hope she won’t spend as much time in the infirmary as Amy has.”
Stacy laughed again, “Well, thank you very much, Captain Hawthorn. I’m going to go tell the boarders and start making plans.”
She hurried away toward the hoverboard room. Liam smiled to himself as he watched her go. Just that morning, he had wished for a way to take everyone’s minds off the close call yesterday, as well as their homesickness and the worry about what might be happening back on Earth that always accompanied it. This competition would be the perfect way to accomplish that.
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One week later, Liam sat in the bleachers of the hoverboard room with Clara and Esther. He had been in the room before, but he hadn’t really ever spent much time here. It was one of the largest rooms on the ship.
Hoverboard technology worked on magnetics, so naturally almost everything in the room was made of magnetic material. The entire floor was magnetic and scattered around the room were metallic bars of various sizes and smooth magnetic ramps, reminiscent of the skateboard ramps that had been popular preceding hoverboard technology. The bleachers were packed, there had been a large turnout to watch the competition.
Stacy grinned as she jogged out into the center of the room, holding a microphone, “Alright, thanks for coming, everyone! Let me introduce our ten contestants! Amy Brannon, from Dublin, Ireland, age twelve.” Amy grinned and waved as the audience applauded.
“Kellan Smith from Yukon, Oklahoma, age seventeen."
"James Allen from Brakpan, South Africa, age nineteen.” As each name was read off the audience applauded. Liam noted that Amy was the youngest contestant.
“Alright,” Stacy said when all the contestants had been introduced, “our first event is very simple. The hoverboarders will take four laps around the outer track; the first seven to finish will move on to the next round."
The ten contestants, who were already on their boards, hovering about a foot above the floor, made their way to the starting line at a moderate pace.
“On your mark,” Stacy called out. “Get ready, get set, GO!”
As one, the boarders leaned forward and the boards zoomed off. They raced around the room, turning corners sharply, sometimes one in front, sometimes another. One contestant fell off of his board. He got to his feet quickly, cursing, and jumped back on. When all the boarders had completed their fourth lap, Stacy blew a whistle. James Allen had received first place, Amy had gotten second, and the boy who had fallen off had managed to catch up enough to secure seventh place and save himself from elimination. The three who had been eliminated, two boys and one girl, squeezed onto the stands to watch the rest of the competition.
“Event number two is a bit more complicated.” Stacy announced. “One at a time the contestants will make their way around the room, using each ramp or rail in an order that has been predetermined. They will be timed and the five with the fastest times will move on. Amy Brannon will go first.”
Amy completed the course in one minute and thirty-two seconds. After everyone had completed the course she had the fastest time by just one and a half seconds.
“Our final event will be about style, not speed,” Stacy announced. “Each contestant will have three minutes to do whatever they wish on the hoverboard court. The three judges will award points out of ten. Prizes will be awarded for first, second, and third place. Our remaining contestants are James Allen, Cara Elliott, Andrew Winston, Rajiv Vaswani, and Amy Brannon.”
The first two events had been exciting, but the last one turned out to be the most enjoyable to watch, by far. The performances were not only impressive, but oddly beautiful, almost like the contestants were dancing.
Amy went last. She was nothing less than incredible. She wasn’t simply an athlete, she was an artist. There was no other word for it. Her red hair flashed like flames as her board zoomed across the room. She controlled her speed and direction with the tiniest movements of her body, racing across bars, and flying up and down ramps. At the top of the highest ramp she leapt from her board, turning a somersault in mid-air before landing on it again and zooming down the ramp. At the bottom she leapt lightly from the board and tucked it under her arm, turning and bowing to the judges as each of the contestants had done at the end of their run. Her face was flushed, her eyes shone, and her smile was huge.
A few minutes later when Stacy announced that the first place winner was Amy Brannon, nobody was surprised. James Allen received second place. Andrew Winston, the sixteen-year-old from London who received third place, was the boy who had fallen off his hoverboard in the first event.
Liam watched as Esther ran over to Amy and hugged her, “You did awesome! That was so cool!” He smiled as his daughter’s high-pitched voice carried back to him, clear even over the noise of the crowd. He had to agree with her sentiments. Liam had ridden hoverboards himself as a teenager, but he had never had anywhere near the skill that Amy already possessed at age twelve. He made his way down from the stands and over to his daughter, Clara following just behind him.
“Congratulations,Amy.” He held out his hand to shake hers.
She shook his hand, still grinning as widely as when she had first finished her ride, “Thank you, Captain Hawthorn.”
He looked at James and Andrew, who stood nearby, “Congratulations to you two, as well. You all did wonderfully.” The boys nodded their thanks.
James grinned, “Usually I’d be completely humiliated to be beaten by a twelve-year-old girl, but Amy deserved to win.”
Amy
