Every day at 5 p.m., find a new episode of Mortal Derby X on 20 Minutes , Rocambole's soap opera, the app for reading differently. This series of SF projects us into a post-collapse world, the king sport of which is Quad Derby, a confrontation halfway between Roller derby and Rollerball. Its author, Michael Roch, is not an unknown. He has already published science fiction novels and hosts the YouTube book brigade.
Summary of previous episodes: During an accident during a Quad Derby match, Molly Pop, star of this sport, is violently kicked off the track by another competitor. She wakes up in the hospital with prosthetics in place of the legs and hatred deep in the heart. What is not tolerated in the Cocoon, the only protector of the human species since the Great Collapse of 2030 ... Molly is condemned to exile. Barely out of the Cocoon, she falls on Tob who makes him discover Althen, the largest city in the Free World and enlists him in his team to participate in the Mortal Derby X.
EPISODE IX - Revelations
Tob doesn't need to turn around to understand that Molly Pop is standing behind his back. Grunting on his soldering iron, he deposits a drop of tin on a piece of printed circuit coupled to an electrode.
- How are your owls doing?
- Are you interested? Have you already rinsed your eyes enough?
Tob gives a sharp laugh, then faces the champion.
- I don't strip for your owls.
He chews on the silence, then explains himself.
- I can't bandage for your owls. If I could, I wouldn't be in a pack.
- What does that mean ?
- Have you got anything out there? What grips Althen? What makes it burn? What prevents it from collapsing on itself?
- The Derby?
- The women of the Derby. You are models, heroines, goddesses for all the clampins who are zoning outside. They worship you. At each Derby, thousands are close to orgasm. To be named ramboreur in a pack, the Free World respects a tradition.
- He must prefer the balls?
He shakes his head. With his fingers, he imitates the cut of a pair of scissors.
- I didn't say that, he adds cynically. I was way too green behind my ears when it happened. I don't remember the pain. But if your owls don't turn me on, it's not your fault. I would have liked to kiss a cyborg, if I could have.
It expires slowly. Molly Pop doesn't know what to add. Her throat is unraveling badly.
- Who's Broody? I still don’t put it back.
- His real one is Brood B. Queen. Before, it was Broody Bee. You were face-to-face for the entry selections in the Rockets team, in the Cocoon. She has not cashed in the failure. She became severely depressed and the requisitioners sent her outside. She told me about it a long time ago. When she knew that you were in seclusion, she laughed. But when I asked him to join the team, he didn't like it. She still blames you for taking her place.
- We were fifteen. It was a competition.
- Yeah: you were fifteen, that's why she turned her mind. She has no reason to hold it against you. Besides, I think she has a crush on you. In all cases, the Ravines must palpate the cash of victory. The odds are on our side.
- Is that what makes you bend in history?
- The money ? You see, we don't have too much life saving here. If I can spend the rest of my life taking it easy, watching Derby on my little visioboard, that's fine. It's always better than chasing rats to barter them for protein snow.
- You manipulate the team for your own ends, actually.
- Not at all. I trust you.
Another lie. Molly Pop sees it in her eyes.
To be continued…
Discover the next episode on our site on May 6 at 5 p.m. or on the Rocambole app for iOS or Android.
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