Alyx could tell Erica had broken away from the herd as well, and was coming after her. She had rearview mirrors on her bike, but the connection with the princess itself had been what told her that someone was closing in behind her. It was a simple guess and glance in the mirror after that. She could try to slow Erica down if she wanted to, dump mines onto the track or fire at one of the crumbling buildings to make it fall. It had been a long time since Alyx had used any offensive weapons though. There’d be no competition for her if she did, no worthy opponent if she killed the  only one on this backwater planet.

The old buildings had a certain novelty to them for someone who hadn’t spent all that much time on the planet. Sure, she’d seen them before, and places like this one as well, but they often made her wonder what had happened there to make everyone leave. Had it been some kind of natural disaster which resulted in damages that no one had the resources to repair? Any inhabitants would be forced to abandon their homes.  

She almost hit rubble the size of a boulder because she hadn’t focused entirely on the race, but swerved in time and took a minor hit to the back of her bike. The lasers made a crackling sound as she hit it, probably tearing small parts of the rubble away and leaving dust behind. Alyx had the princess back under control before long, but by then she’d lost her lead. It didn’t worry her that much. She doubted Erica could keep up the speed she was going at for the rest of the race. Her bike wasn’t of the same quality as Alyx’ princess. She’d push her bike to the extreme, and when it undoubtedly failed her Alyx could speed past. The question was how long that would take. Either way, all Alyx had to do was stay close behind Erica. 

A grin appeared on her lips when she thought of a way to attack Erica in an offensive way without any chance of accidentally killing her. She honked, and a loud signal blared out from her bike. It was a bit of a surprise even to her how loud it seemed to be, but she would keep at it just to annoy Erica and make her lose concentration. Honk, you’re in my way. Honk, could you please move? Honk, I have places to be.