Page 25 of Tailwind

I settled down, cross-legged, next to her. My knowledge of augments was limited to the ones used for racing, and even then I didn’t know the details of how they worked. I didn’t need to.

She tucked the passes back into her pocket. ‘Honestly, it’s a miracle you’ve made it this far by yourself.’

I narrowed my eyes at her. ‘What a shame you need a meat sack like me to fly the strategies for you, hm?’

Josie wasn’t affected by my teasing at all. At least, not in the way I was used to. Instead, she seemed bored with my goading.

‘So, what are Meat Sack’s plans for using comms during the next race? I’ve been in this tiny room with you long enough to know you’re incapable of staying quiet when you should, so that’s not going to be an option for long.’

My mouth and nose scrunched up. I was aware of that problem, but ideas for solutions hadn’t been forthcoming.

‘Have you considered a voice augment?’ It was a wild suggestion, but the tone wasn’t sarcastic. Coming from Josie it sounded like it was something I should have genuinely considered.

How I would even go about finding a voice altering augment, let alone get it working, was a mystery to me.

‘Okay, then,’ she continued. ‘I’ll sort it before the Mirendi race.’

‘Uh, you will?’

She nodded, like it wasn’t a big deal. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Given that she’d organized the tables, graphs and data into folders for fun, finding and fitting complex augments was likely just another hobby.

‘Though there’s not much point to it if you don’t know what information you need from the team.’ Josie snapped the binder in her lap shut. ‘Who’s likely to be your direct competition this weekend?’

‘Easy.’ I was happy to get a question I could answer. ‘Bach – teammates are always your closest competition.’

She gave me a flat look. ‘No. Don’t be so big-headed.’

‘It’s true. Same dragons, same pace—’

‘You are not as good as Bach Lotiere. Same dragons be damned! You don’t have a chance to compete with him. No, think about performance over the past year on all the circuits. Think about the Mirendi circuit in particular.’

I stared at her, doing my best to sift through the information.

‘Lena! Come on, we have literally just been talking about this.’

I grasped my head in my hands. ‘Yeah, but it was all relative acceleration and performance differentials. Those numbers don’t actually mean anything.’

‘Yes, they do! They mean everything!’ Her cool attitude finally broke. ‘How are we supposed to measure results and make improvements without them? Lena, you need to think about the data. You need to learn what separates a good rider from a great rider.’

‘I already know what makes a great rider, thank you very much.’

Another eye roll. ‘Well, you weren’t showing that earlier today, you—’

‘No, not me.’ I interrupted. ‘I’m talking about Bach. I know how he flies, I know how he trains, I know his results on the circuit. All I have to do is emulate that and over time I’ll get better and it will start paying off.’

Josie got a strange look on her face. ‘You’re a crazy fan, aren’t you?’

My eyes grew wide. ‘Don’t tell him.’

She shook her head and flipped open the binder again, tilting it up so I couldn’t see the pages. ‘Okay, if you know so much, what position did he finish in at this circuit last year?’

‘Second.’ There wasn’t a breath wasted before I answered. ‘He started in fifth position and climbed two places before being caught up in the Prevere–Ballenir collision. Then he took the long route, pushing the whole time, to gain back positions and then some.’

Josie flipped a page, then went back again. Her eyes widened. ‘Yeah, correct. What about the year before?’

‘First. His second win at the Mirendi circuit during this run in Volitant Chroma, tenth in total, if you include his stint before he went to Volitant Forge up north. He started in tenth place and fought his way forward, overtaking another rider every two laps until he was in first place by lap nineteen. It was his only win that season.’

‘Do you remember how anyone else did?’ She looked giddy, like a kid who had a new toy to play with.