It was Ko’s turn to choose the OPTIONs. Af found themself – herself, now – in a trim, muscular, femme body, in a form-fitting red jumpsuit with a helmet. Ko stood in front of her, male-presenting, a little taller, broader chested, in a similar outfit, but theirs – his – was canary yellow. On one side of Af was a narrow canal, a red KAYAK bobbing in it. Behind Ko was a parallel paved track, with a gleaming yellow RACE CAR idling on it.
The details of the environment were sketchy. In the distance a banner arching over the track and the canal proclaimed “Finish.” The vague flat landscape blurred into an indistinct horizon. The air felt wet, on the line between mist and RAIN. On the other side of the pavement were bleachers, peopled with a variety of NPCs. One young NPC waved a pennant reading, “Go Dad”; another’s said “Go MOM.”
Out of the scenario, back on their ship, Af blushed. They and Ko had broached the topic of meeting in real-space, real-time, after one of them had a lucky strike. They’d never discussed having children. Was this an overture? Or just a random detail of the simulation?
Af arched an eyebrow. “A race?”
Ko smiled. There was less than a second of lag, their ships must be close in real-space. “A race.”
“This hardly seems fair,” Af observed. “A human-powered boat against something with a great honking engine.”
“Trust,” Ko said, and back on Af’s ship, their physical body responded with the signs of arousal.
“What’s the prize?”
Ko’s smiled wickedly. “Winner’s choice,” he said, and Af’s arousal kicked up a notch. “And fifty spaceBUCKS,” Ko added airily. “Just to make it interesting.”
“You must have had a good week,” Af observed.
“Got a good lump of nickel in my NETS,” Ko agreed. “Are you ready?”
“Bring it.”
Ko nodded, and leapt into the car with cut-scene fluidity. Af took his cue and jumped feet-first into the kayak. It plunged down and for a moment, and she worried she’d misjudged the physics, but it swiftly RETURNed to LEVEL. The liquid was more viscous than water.
The kayak wasn’t strictly human-powered after all, she saw. A control panel had a variety of boost options for the oars. She was JAZZed. This looked like fun!
“Three,” Ko’s voice crackled in her ears. “Two. One.”
Af dipped the oars and stroked back. The boat shot forward, and the car roared ahead. Ko used an afterburner; she saw a gout of flame from the exhaust and felt HEAT on her cheek. She let go of the oars for a moment to TAB through the menu and SHIFT into turbo mode. The boat zipped ahead of the car, but the course morphed, shifting into sinuous curves. Af threw her body to the side, using her weight more than the oars to keep the hull from scraping the side of the canal.
The weather intensified, the rain turning to SLEET, then SNOW, and the rattle of small HAIL on her helmet and stinging through her jumpsuit. It was exhilarating, and Af laughed aloud with the joy of it.
She zoomed under the finish arch well ahead of Ko’s vehicle. She slowed the kayak and drew along the side of the canal.
“I win,” she yelled, bounding out of the boat. Ko’s car screeched to a halt and he jumped out. He was breathing heavily, too. He took off his helmet, letting the snow frost his spiky hair. “Winner’s choice,” she said, thinking of the many ways Ko could slake her desire.
Ko smiled crookedly. “I think that means I win,” he said.
PHRASES: option, shift, nets, heat, sleet, jazz, snow, mom, hail, kayak, return, level, tab, bucks, race car, rain