Jet's plane ducked and weaved through the canyon, so low it seemed to be skimming the ground. Jet's senses were reeling. That was part of the kick of being a pilot, y'see. The rush from stims is good. The rush from flying at over 200 K's an hour with less than four feet between yourself and certain doom is even better. But nothing compares to the combination of the two.

The intercom buzzed. "That's ten minutes, Jet," The cheap equipment made Kyo's voice sound even more slurred than usual.

The plane shot out of the canyon, soaring high into the air. It's flight slowed at the peak, and for few seconds seemed to just be hanging there, suspended high above the mountainous landscape in total denial of all conventional physics. As the plane began to fall, Jet's hands flew over his controls. His mind reeled as he threw the plane into a triple barrel roll, leading into a nosedive back into the canyon. Upside down.

Jet chortled back at the intercom. "See, Kyo? I'm fine. You worry too much."

The plane curved around a pillar of rock, flipping around the right way up. "Of course I do. I have to worry enough for the both of us."

Jet knew he was giving Kyotoshi a harder time than the older Hekshanian deserved. Right at that moment Kyo was parked in a clearing just outside North Tek, timer in one hand and a set of binoculars in the other. While Jet practiced, it was Kyo's job to keep track of the pilot's stim levels and hope like hell that Jet would come back alive.

But Jet was finding it hard to care.

The canyons were perfect for race practice. They were narrow and winding, and you never knew when a stray boulder would show up around a corner when you were expecting empty air. It kept Jet's reflexes were on a hair-line trigger. They needed to be.

The intercom buzzed again. "Alright, that's fifteen. Start thinking about coming back on down."

Jet sighed. Five minutes had gone by in what felt like five seconds. "Hey, I feel fine. I've got another five left in me."

Low muttering came through on the intercom. "Yeah, but I need you conscious when you get back. You're driving, remember?"

"Awww, you so sweet, Kyo. We really need to find you someone to fret over instead of me. How's Chovek these days? I hear he's real good. You?"

Silence reigned on the intercom, and Jet laughed as he imagined the look on Kyo's face. Kyo could be such a prude. Or maybe it was just the stims talking. Jet didn't know which, and didn't particularly mind.

The intercom blared to life again. It was good at it.

"Jet! Look out! There's someone comin' in-"

A sudden buffet of wind pressure hit the plane, forcing it to lurch down and to the right. The rocky ground was less than a hand span away, and it was all Jet could do to avoid slamming into it. He pulled up high, needing the space to move, and saw someone else's plane shoot along the canyon in front of him.

"- behind you." Kyo finished, lamely.

"I noticed. Who the hell-"

"Craika!" The pure panic in Kyo's voice was enough to slice through both stim and adrenalin. A shiver ran down Jet's spine. "Jet, that plane had a mine after it! It's onto you now!"

"What?"

"A fucking yellowjacket, Jet! It's on your tail! Get the hell out of there!"

Jet was dead. It was that simple. He'd seen better pilots than himself get too close to a mine before. They usually wound up laminated to the landscape along with their planes. Once those things were onto you, they were almost impossible to shake.

He laughed anyway. There was such a thing as going down fighting.

Jet plunged down again, soaring along another narrow canyon in the mountain. He ducked and weaved through the narrow turns, not daring to look behind to see if the mine was still there. He knew it would be. His only chance was to knock it out against the rocky faces next to him. The subatomic blast would be loud enough for him to hear, but there was nothing but the roar of his engines and this hiss of the air.

Kyotoshi was babbling. "Ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck! Where the hell are you? You still alive?"

Jet snickered into the intercom. "Of course I am, baby."

"Stop screwing around! You just came into view! It's only five seconds behind! This is serious!"

"I know, Kyo. I know - Hey, that rhymes!"

There was a pause. "If you live through this, I'm gonna kill you. Ditch the plane!"

Jet glared at the intercom's speaker incredulously. "No way! I need this thing to race!"

"You need to be alive to race! Just ditch it and run! It's catching you up!"

The sudden panic in Kyo's voice was enough. Jet pulled up and out of the canyon on a low trajectory, skimming the mountain wall and plunging down into a forested area nearby. He'd need the trees to slow down if he was going to time this right. Jet's plane had a higher rate of turn than any damn mine, so he gained a couple of seconds as a bonus. He was going to need it.

The plane picked up speed as he dropped altitude, and Jet only stopped himself when he was a few meters shy from hitting the trees. In the open air it was safe to risk a glance over his shoulder. Jet could clearly see the little dot of yellow dancing after him over the leaves. Turning back to the front, he started looking for a big enough clearing.

It didn't take long, there was one just a few seconds ahead. Jet gulped. He'd never tried this before. Not even in a simulator. The Hekshanian pulled up sharply for a moment, then plunged down low enough to skim the trees. The leaves and branches gripped hold of his plane, ripping away at the extremities and tossing the Hekshanian around his cockpit like a rag doll in a washing machine.

The mine shot past overhead, missing the plane by a few feet. At the speed it was going, it would take another ten seconds or so to turn around. Jet allowed his plane to fall lower into the trees. There was something visceral about the sound of all those branches snapping against his plane. They sounded like bones splintering in a vice.

Suddenly - and thankfully - he broke through into the clearing. His plane fell to the ground, carving a deep groove in the soft earth. Before he'd even slowed down, Jet thrust out a hind claw against his cockpit shell, flinging it open and diving out of the plane in one smooth motion. He hit the ground at a loping run, and got several paces in before diving for the tree line. Flinging himself behind a thick trunk, he fell flat to the ground and covered his head and ears with his arms.

Jet's heart thumped heavily in his ribcage and his ears. All was darkness against the undergrowth. Despite everything, Jet smiled.

It's funny, he thought, but it actually seems worse to die to a mine when I'm not racing. How dumb is that?