The deadline for Neon Pulse to have a working car to satisfy their sponsor, Arch-Tech, was approaching. Elias had only been on the project a few days, but he had already designed and fabricated a prototype chassis. Vex and his team had fitted the rest of the parts, including his dynamic aero components, to the car. With Elara’s patched-up AI, they were hopeful that this could be a car that satisfied Arch-Tech.

  As the car rolled out of the garage, Julian driving it from within the survival tube, Elias looked over to see Kade, Arch-Tech’s eyes and ears, watching on. It was the first time Elias had seen the man whom everyone else thought was a pain. He could see why. Kade obviously knew nothing about Ulracar and must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time to be put on this assignment.

  Still, Elias and the rest were confident that this test would pass, and Arch-Tech would be happy enough to open the financial taps a little more. Elias had yet to be paid, as Cass was worried about the finances and said he would make it up to them later.

  “I still feel like I should be in there,” said Vex, walking up beside Elias as they watched the car. “I’m not sure about it yet.”

  “It will be fine,” said Elias. “The AI was the biggest issue, and Elara has that settled.”

  “Whatever she did,” said Vex. “I can’t make heads or tails of it. It’s a weird AI.”

  “That’s what you get for black-market parts,” said Elias. He had more he wanted to say about that AI, but stayed quiet with Kade around.

  “Like black-market designers?” said Vex with a chuckle.

  “The design is fine,” said Elias.

  They went back into the garage, where they could observe Julian using the computers. This track may not be the biggest one out there, but it was still too big to view easily from one spot.

  As they walked, Elias felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out and saw a message. “You don’t think we would just let you come back here? Did you?” it said. The sender’s information was hidden, which was very difficult to achieve. Elias frowned. He could think of a few people who could send him a message like this, all of whom were connected to his past at Titan Dynamics, designing top-secret weapons.

  “You coming?” said Vex. Elias had stopped walking when he saw the message.

  “Oh, yes,” said Elias, trying to compose himself and forcing a smile. Vex looked at him strangely, but did not say anything.

  For a while, the test proceeded normally. Julian was putting in quality lap times. Elias had looked into their driver, and he was sure that Cass must have been spending some time with him, because this looked a lot better than what he had seen so far.

  His phone vibrated again. “I think there is something wrong with your AI.” Before Elias was able to give the message much thought, Vex and Elara gasped. He looked up at the screens where Julian was in a spin as a few of his active-aero flaps were locked open, throwing off the balance. “Oops,” another message came in.

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  They all watched as the car caught the edge of the track sideways. With the speed it was going and the aero out of place, it flipped into the air, did a barrel roll before landing back on its wheels and sliding to a stop.

  Elias was furious. “Elara,” he said. “Check the AI.”

  “What?” she said, her mind needing to be pulled away from the screen. “Oh. Okay. One sec.” Elias watched her as she worked her way through a series of screens showing the state of the AI. “Something’s wrong.”

  “What exactly?” said Elias. He had a hunch based on the messages and something he had been part of years ago.

  “Is it surging the power?” said Elias. “Causing locking in the aero?”

  “Wait, yeah,” said Elara, looking at Elias and then back to the screen. “That’s it.”

  “Bring him back in,” said Elias as he walked over to his station.

  “What’s going on?” said Vex, following Elias.

  For a moment, Elias wanted to tell him everything. All of it. But he knew that he could not. They were watching. Somehow. “There are surges coming from the AI,” said Elias. “We need to install a bypass.” He rummaged through a few things. A couple of items he had kept from his previous life and brought with him. He found the device he was after. A small item, the size of his thumb.

  “What is that?” said Vex.

  “A bypass,” said Elias. “We’ll put it between the connection from the car, AI, and Julian. If it acts up, he can bypass the whole thing. It will cause a reset, and the AI will settle down.”

  “WHAT!” said Vex. He clearly did not believe what he was hearing. “How do you know that?”

  Elias looked at Vex. “Trust me.”

  “Um, excuse me,” said Kade, walking over to them. “I’m not really sure what is going on. Is this normal?”

  Vex rolled his eyes. “No,” he said. “Well, yes. Things go wrong all the time.”

  “It’s a prototype,” said Elias. Not that he cared for the corporate minder, but he could help the others make it seem better than it was.

  “I’m no expert,” said Kade as Elias rolled his eyes. “But this isn’t going well. I’m going to have to tell my superiors. I don’t think this is a pass.”

  “What?” said Vex. “No.”

  “Look, I’m just doing my job,” said Kade.

  Elias took a breath and walked over to Kade and put an arm around him. “Look,” he said. “These things happen. It’s a new car. There are bugs. We’ll work them out. Yes, that looked bad, but as you can see on the monitors, the car still works and is coming back here as we speak. Just have a little faith.”

  Kade looked unconvinced but slipped out of Elias’s grasp and took a step away, yet seemed content to see how this all played out.

  Julian managed to bring Aurora back to the garage safely. “Can someone get me out?” he said over the radio.

  “No need,” said Elias. “This will only take a minute.”

  Vex was already removing the necessary panels to access the spot Elias needed. “Give it to me,” said Vex, holding out his hand to Elias.

  “I can...” started Elias, but he was cut off.

  “Trust me,” said Vex. “I want to install it.” Elias handed him the device.

  “Hey, Julian,” said Elias to the driver over the radio. He explained what they were doing and how he would need to activate the device if another problem arose.

  “I think that should do it,” said Vex, replacing the last panel. “Take it back out, Julian.”

  “One moment,” said Elias. He walked over to the car, knelt beside it, put a hand on it, and began to pray silently. “Lord, forgive my shadows. I pray this works.” His sleeve shifted up his arm as he did, revealing a fractal cross tattoo on his forearm.

  “Um, guys,” came Julian’s voice. “What’s going on? Why is Elias praying for the car? We’re not at that point, are we?”

  “We’re fine,” said Elias, standing up. “Just making sure.”

  “Uh-huh,” said Julian, not sounding convinced. Still, he took the car back out on the track. After a few slower laps, he turned it up and started putting in some good times. There were a few moments when the AI began to act up, but Julian was quick to activate the bypass and keep going.

  Elias’ phone vibrated again. “Good work, you win this time. Just remember the arrangement.”