Once Alyx had gotten dressed, she left her room and locked it after herself. There wasn’t much time left to get to the race if she didn’t leave already. She’d been late before, even started after everyone else and won at one point. That had been quite a lot of luck actually. She’d been one of the few to survive that race in question at all. Alyx headed for the garage towards the back of the spaceship, where she’d left her princess. The cramped corridors were empty, no one else seemed to be awake or around. It was silent except for her own echoing footsteps.

She stepped into the old storage area that smelled of oil, and turned the lights on. The dim lightning didn’t help much. Her hoverbike was inside one of the rooms that she’d been given to store her belongings. She unlocked the door to find it still there, underneath a brown sheet. Alyx pulled the sheet away. Dust whirled up in a cloud when she did.

Her princess, a beast of a machine, was as beautiful as ever. Wear and tear was beginning to show in the pink and black coating though. She’d need to get her a touch up soon. They’d seen a lot of things together through the years. Alyx had never really wanted to buy a newer or better model than her first one, but she’d bought more upgrades than she could keep track of. Some races had ended with her machine in pieces. She’d taken the pieces and done what she could to make sure some part of the original remained. It wasn’t uncommon for racers to be superstitious, and Alyx did believe she owed some of her success to the soul of the original that she never discarded.

Alyx climbed on top of the hoverbike, and leaned back. She was almost lying down when racing, with her back covered by thick layers of metal and other materials. Her connection with the bike through her neck meant she had a better control of it, and a good understanding of the surroundings. She jacked into it, and started it that way. It was like having the rest of her body reconnected to her after being apart for too long, a feeling that felt just as amazing the thousandth time as it did the first.

She rolled out of the spaceship after lowering the ramp, and drove in the direction of the service tunnels. It was the best way she knew of to get where she was going.