The Starlight Cup: The Qualifier

Luminaria was usually beautiful in the Light months. Everything sparkled and shone, even the people. My people. But not this Stel. No, this month everything was a burnt colour, the air hot and dry, a shocking change from the mild humidity we were all used to. 

I sighed, my throat already dry and scratchy. I stroked the tree I was sitting in gently, hearing and feeling its unhappy vibrations. Sometimes it sounded as if the plants were squealing, they would vibrate so fast. But that was new as well. Usually, plants of all kinds had low and slow vibrations, helping Lumen around them to calm down.

I slipped off the branch I was sitting on, making a chuffing sound high in my throat to call my Skyboard. It caught me, absorbing my fall and activating the magnet feature to keep my feet on the board if I decided to take the interesting way home. Which I always do. And this time was no different.

I smiled and leaned forward, my Skyboard responding to my shifted weight. I whizzed forward, dodging the once-lush leaves and ducking under the scraggy branches that make up my planet. I zipped through the trees, occasionally brushing the ground to see some of the Daarc creatures. They don't get much light on the ground, so they don’t glow like all the canopy-dwellers do when the stars fade.

Soon, my house came into view. Well, when I say ‘house’ I mean a collection of vine bridges and huts spanning two tree-tops and woven into the branches. There was a central platform hanging in between the two trees, and I could see a small figure moving on it. It looked like they were waving. As I got closer, I could see it was my mother and she had something small and blue in her hands.

I landed on the platform and hopped off my board as my mum ran towards me.

“It came! Darling, you get to do the tryouts again! How lucky are we!” She hugged me and pushed me towards the biggest hut; the dining room. When I looked back, my board was still hovering where I left it, but I didn’t like leaving it. It was very expensive and I bought it with my prize money from the last Starlight Cup. Mum saw me looking at it and grinned at me.

“You won’t need to worry about that one any more, Takari, they’ve given each contestant a new, up-to-date board to compete with. And if you come in 5th place or higher you get to keep it! Isn’t that great? It’s in here with your father, come on.” She continued to push me up the bridge to the dining room and when we pulled the leafy curtain aside, my father was staring at a beautiful board on the table.

It had an iridescent sheen to it and it had some detail on the side that sparkled when I walked around the table. When I looked at it straight on, it was a pinkish-blueish-white and there were swirls of dark purple that looked a bit like the vines outside. There was also a cloth bag next to it. I frowned.

“What’s that for?” I asked, pointing at the bag. My mother’s freckled face split with a wide grin. She looked at my father who sighed and looked at me.

“That’s the extras they gave us.” He said, unknotting the top of the bag, “They’re trying something new this year. They said it would make it more fun or something.” He dumped the bag unceremoniously on the table, spilling its contents. One of the things in the bag almost fell off the table, but I caught it before it could drop.

“A watch?” I said, frowning at the technology in my hand.

“Apparently,” My Dad said with a sigh, “They want you to use this stuff to help you race. I think it’s a bunch of bananas, but there you go.” He sat back down and shook his head at what he thought was a ridiculous notion. Dad was one of many Lumen who thought tech was a useless complication.

When I was younger, I had to beg Mum to take me to the Root, an underground market for the new and modern. Eventually, she gave in and took me one day when Dad was out. That was where I first saw hover racing. It was playing on a holoscreen and I stood there for ages, watching all the different types of boards and racers. There was a raffle later in the day, and the winning prize was a second-hand CloudRide (the second-newest model at the time) so I begged Mum again, and we ended up winning. I’ve been obsessed with hover racing ever since. 

So when I studied the watch, the glasses and the new shoes, I immediately recognised the brand-new tech for hover racing: SkySight. It was a digitally controlled hologram that was interactive. Some racing companies, like the one that had sent me the board, had decided it would be a fun upgrade for the more advanced racers.

I asked Mum for the letter and opened it. This is what it said:

To: Ms Takari,

We are happy to invite you to this year’s Starlight Cup tryouts! This year, we have adopted some new equipment (including the newest model board, the Galaxydrive) and will provide you with the instructions on the other side of this paper. You have stood out from the other entries, thanks to your video submission. We hope to see you at the new arena on the planet Pueri-Ludicrum. The details of the timing and place will be given to you on your SkySight. We hope you can come!

The Starlight Team

I couldn’t believe it. I was going again! Last year I didn’t do too well, I only came in the top ten out of twenty of the best racers in the universe. Well, kid racers anyway. I hadn’t expected to get in again. Sometimes Mum gets excited about something and gets the details wrong, but it looks like everything is right. Except for the 5th place thing.

“Mum,” I said, turning to her, “Where does it say anything about the 5th place thing?” She looked up like she was thinking about something.

“Oh! Yes! They sent us a letter too, explaining some other details like the 5th place thing. I’ve gotten your father to agree for you to go, so you can start training right away. They told us in the letter if you wanted to come early, you could get some free training and meet the other competitors. You can also preview the tracks! Isn’t that great? We should get packing straight away.” She rushed out of the dining room and ran down the vine bridge to her bedroom. Well, her’s and Dad’s.

Five minutes later, she had two bags packed, one for me and the other for her. I knew Dad wouldn’t go anyway, but it was still a bit disappointing. Thankfully we didn’t need to pack food, we Lumen feed off of light and we breathe carbon, so we’re fine almost anywhere in the galaxy.

“I’ve checked the spaceship timetable and there’s one leaving for the Ladicrum system soon, so we’d better get going. We can take the starfeathers, they know their way home.

So that’s how I ended up standing on the planet Pueri, billions of miles from my own planet, in a crowded cafeteria. I sat down, waiting for some of the fertiliser they had on the menu and ran my fingers through my white-blonde hair. I took in anything, trying to find some faces I would recognise. There were mostly humanoids, although there were a couple of more… interesting characters walking around on four or more feet/tentacles.

“Can all racers please make their way to the open airlock to begin the practice races. Thank you.” The announcement said in one of the three Regional Languages. The voice said basically the same thing in the other two Languages, one of which sounded as if static had taken over the microphone. I got up, wondering what would become of the fertiliser I ordered, and waved through tables and creatures to get to the airlock. Someone bumped into me and I smoothed down the shirt Mum’s friend had made for me, making sure it was still covering me properly. I turned around and found a Nebue. One of our least favourite species of humanoids. It appeared to be a male, his tail confirming as much. Females didn’t have tails. He glanced at me as if I was the one who had run into him.

“Oh. Great.” He said, his long, smooth tail whipping back and forth, “I get to compete against a Star who thinks she good. This is going to be fun.” He turned away like he thought I was going to let his comment go. I tapped his shoulder on what looked like a fairly solid part of him. Unlike the shifting, translucent patches that moved all over his body. When he turned back around, I gave him what Mum says is a look ‘full of withering fire’.

“I’m sorry, Worm, but I think you might just be in for a surprise. You see, I’ve actually raced in the Starlight Cup before, so I know what I’m doing. I would be careful about what you say next time YOU bump into someone.” I pushed past him, enjoying the look on his face when I called him by the name we Lumens use to refer to the Nebuels. Their planet IS stuck in a wormhole after all.

I reached the front of the airlock and stretched so I could see out of the glass panel. Beyond was what looked like a field of some sort, although I had never seen one myself. There was a group of robots working and clearing the ground and one of them was fiddling with what looked like a holoscrean. Suddenly, I heard a whoosh of air and the airlock slowly opened. I heard some of the contestants behind me take a big breath of air before they stepped out and two of the robots came rushing over to give the few some type of air machine. They attached it to wherever they breathed out of and stepped forward. 

I started to walk towards the holoscreen the other robot had deserted, but out of nowhere, my Galaxydrive popped up next to me. It was obviously just teleported from my room, as my racing overshirt was still hanging off one end. I quickly grabbed it and put it on, anticipating a race soon. 

As I looked around, everyone else had their boards as well, only they all looked slightly different. One had a paint job like mine, but it was a vibrant green and light grey instead of being pinkish-blue and white. The Nebue that bumped into me earlier had a black board with light brown patches on it. It actually looked a bit like his skin. There was a girl who was standing slightly in front of me and she had chocolaty-coloured skin and bright pink streaks in her hair that matched her board perfectly. The main colour was bright pink and the accent colour was a funky, electric green. She was bouncing on her toes and her hair, which was in piggy tails, looked like pink-streaked pom-poms striking out of the sides of her head. When she saw me looking at her she smiled brightly at me, like she thought we could be friends. I half-smiled back and turned away quickly, not wanting to encourage her.

“Hey.” I jumped. The girl with pink hair was right next to me.

“Hi…” I said slowly, wondering why she was talking to me. Was she trying to sabotage me by psyching me out?

“What’s your name? Mine’s Jane. I come from England, planet Earth. Where do you come from?” Jane was grinning at me like this was her favourite activity.

“Uhh, I’m Takari.” I said, looking around and wondering what we were supposed to be doing.

“Where do you come from? You’re obviously not from Earth, you’ve got those funky star-freckles! Do they glow in the dark?” She poked one of my ‘star-freckles’ as she called them and looked me up and down. I rubbed my arm where she poked me and frowned.

“Yes, they glow. I’m from Luminaria. Most of us glow there.” Her face split into a wide grin and she opened her mouth to say something else, but I got there before her.

“Look, Jane,” I said, glancing at the holoscreen that had still not changed, “I have no idea what we’re supposed to be doing, but I would appreciate it if you could leave me alone. I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but I really don’t care. I’m just here to learn how to use my board and SkySight and then race in the Starlight Cup, ok?” She looked a bit stunned for a second but then the Nebue walked over.

“Did I just hear the Lumin say she didn’t know what she was doing? Well, well, well, that’s a different story from the one I heard earlier.” He said, smirking. I glared at him.

“What’s your deal anyway? Why do you care? As far as you’re concerned, I’m a stuck-up ‘Star’ that you need to beat. Sure, I’ve got experience in racing and in the Cup. So why can’t you leave me alone? I didn’t do anything to you.” 

“Well,” He said, studying one of his hands, “You did do something to me. You walked into me. You didn’t pay attention to your surroundings, like any other Lumen, and then you walked into me. So, yeah, you did do something to me. Oh, and Jasper at your service, your Lightness.” He dipped into a mocking bow and I was tempted to whack him on the head and watch him go sprawling. I didn’t though, and he straightened up, still smirking. I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what I thought of him, but at that moment, the same voice from the cafeteria spoke from invisible speakers.

“Good afternoon, racers! Today you’ll learn how to navigate your SkySight and how to use your new boards, which also respond to SkySight holograms. The first step is to get your SkySight goggles on and how to activate them.” Everyone started getting their SkySights on. Some knew how to activate them, and some of us had to wait for the next set of instructions before we could access the SkyNet. 

Then, when everyone had the right Holoride we could get on our boards. Jasper hopped nimbly onto his, the board barely moving underneath him. Jane was having more difficulty getting on hers. She kept putting her food on too far to the edge of the board, so it kept turning over. Eventually, a robot came to stand next to her so she could use it as a support. I stepped carefully onto my board, not sure what to expect. When I did, I felt the board reach up to touch my foot before I actually placed it there myself. When I brought my other foot up, I felt the board balancing itself to keep me on. I shifted my weight a bit and I felt the board evening out to compensate for my movement. It was the best board I had ever been on.

“Ok racers! Now that you’re all on, we can move on to the practice race! It doesn’t matter who comes in first or last, in this race you’re just trying to get used to your Galaxydrive and the SkySight. Ready! Set! GO!” The speakers said and everyone haltingly moved forward. Expert for me and Jasper. We both zipped ahead, each trying to lose the other one already.