บท 28: D: Temper Tantrum
Doris wanted to scream and hit something when Cinderella's ship passed hers. And then she realized that no one could see her, and so she did scream a string of insults into the silence of the courier ship's cabin, and pummel the arm supports on the pilot's seat.
"Are you in distress?" the ship's system asked without inflection.
Her mouth snapped shut, but she bounced her fists off the padding one last time. "I'm fine!" she spat bitterly.
Everything had been going so well, despite a few hiccups in the plan. She and Louise had both rejoiced when they placed among the ten leading entrants. Arturius Nebel hadn't been wrong, and matching their course to the one that his sister had set had helped them get an edge on the other entrants.
She'd been rather shocked and wary when he'd approached her and her younger sister after the incident on the station where their registrations had been finalized. She hadn't forgotten the way he'd laughed, and the way that his sly remarks had encouraged everyone else to laugh, even though it was Cinderella who had publicly humiliated them with her crass revelation of their wretched genetic flaw.
Cinderella, that little cinder-pig, had been the target of Arturius' questions. Doris didn't know what had attracted his interest but, and the memory of it still lifted her chin, he hadn't stayed interested in her horrible stepsister for long.
She and Louise had been all too willing to inform him that Cinderella was no brilliant Original like Adrian Koine, who could sell his DNA to the families of the corporations, and that even if her father was a little famous, her mother was just some nobody from the Cinder Sector. She definitely wasn't some pure blood princess.
Arturius had even apologized for teasing the two of them in front of their awful cousin Eloise and her friends. And it hadn't been just words, because he'd even cleared out the best VR room on the station just for the three of them so that they could play together for their last few hours. Her fingers trembled as she remembered his flirtatious teasing, and his whispered offer.
Their mother would have called it a devil's bargain and pitched a fit if she'd known. She'd have thought that Doris was giving away the real prize for a shiny imitation. Elektra Perrot Rian Donatella was hoping to make one of her daughter's the Queen of Eks Corp, and she hated losing face.
Both Doris and Louise had been really excited about the possibility at first, and it wasn't like they'd entirely given up on the idea. But Doris wasn't an idiot, no matter what people thought about the double L gened. Winning the right to marry the prince would mean she could live in luxury, and only three people in the solar system would still have the right to tell her what to do, but that didn't mean that it would be perfect, or that the Prince of Eks Corp was their only option.
Arturius had offered himself as an alternative, as her alternative, after they'd all logged into the game together. She hadn't forgotten that he and everyone else had laughed and mocked her and her sister. Especially after Cinderella had pointed out that their double L genes could make them perfect wife candidates. But he'd apologized, unlike the rest of them.
There was a reason that she could accept his apology though. After they'd logged in, she'd been startled to discover that he had already been her friend for years, and he'd seemed just as surprised. So when he'd admitted in a whisper that what her stepsister had said was true and that it was the reason that he would choose her as his wife, she hadn't refused.
Maybe it was a cold reason, but Doris could put her faith in cold reason. Arturius was likely to inherit the Nova corporation someday, and he already held a high position within it despite his youth. As far as she was concerned, a truly happy ending would place her at Arturius' side while Louise married the Prince of Eks Corp and occupied their mother's attention.
A new plan was quickly created while they played. Arturius was too busy to play often, and the sisters had been living in exile in the Cinder Sector, so none of their characters were very powerful anymore, but they had always worked well together. And now they would be helping each other out again, as they often had in the game, but this time there was real power to win.
An Eks Corp Security officer was supposed to have placed a weapon aboard her ship, not to use against anyone, but to be used on the ship itself. It was an old tactic, one they'd even used in game. Even if it failed to occupy the target, it rattled them, distracted them, put them off balance watching for a danger that didn't exist.
She was supposed to have used it for Arturius' sister's benefit, but she had hoped that it could also benefit her own sister. However, someone had made a mistake and it had been placed aboard Louise's ship instead. But in spite of their squabbles, Doris trusted her little sister implicitly, and she'd told her everything.
Arturius had contacted Doris when his sister had fallen behind. Like a true friend, he'd messaged her that if she still had a chance to win, that she should disregard his offer and take it. Louise had immediately agreed and had given up her own chance to take the lead to deploy the trick the Doris was supposed to have used.
The discovery that Cinderella had already been ahead of them, that she was the one who had stopped to help Louise while another ship got even farther ahead, had been bitter. There was no way for them to obtain the identity of the other registrants, other than by the delayed placement announcements from Central. The beacons their ships all wore for the race broadcast only a number.
The fact that Cinderella had actually fallen for the ploy, and STILL managed to pull ahead of Doris again was utterly infuriating! Their mother wasn't wrong very often, but she'd obviously been wrong about the ship left on SkyWater station for Cinderella. That ship was obviously not the patchwork piece of wreckage their mother had expected.
There had also been a moment of terror when Louise's real distress call had reached her, but her little sister was a lot braver and more determined than Doris had given her credit for. Louise had immediately insisted that Doris finish the race.
"Don't you dare give up now! She probably created a weak patch on purpose, knowing that when it gave out, you'd fall for the same trick we tried to pull on her," Louise had asserted.
It was hard to credit the dull Cinder Sector girl with that kind of cold cunning, but Doris had only managed to hold second place in the race for a matter of minutes. Her nails stabbed the padding beneath her hands and her teeth ground together in a very unladylike way. Even if she didn't really want to win, she was not going to just roll over and let that stupid Cinder-pig get an easy win.
If she couldn't be the first entrant to the last checkpoint, she could still be the second, because the entrant who was currently in the lead had stopped accelerating and was obviously holding any fuel she had left in reserve. And Arturius had arranged one final trump card for his sister. Somehow he'd known, or guessed, the last condition to the race, and had deployed a small fleet of repair shuttles carrying fuel in quadrants around the station where the ceremony was going to be held.
Doris sent him the course her ship was on, and increased her acceleration. Maybe Arturius wouldn't have her back, and she'd make a fool of herself by clearing the last checkpoint with no reserves and miss the ceremony. But if he betrayed her trust now, she could still count it as a narrow escape from a bleak future.
ของขวัญ
-- ได้รับของขวัญแล้ว สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง