Hover Car Racer by Matthew Reilly

minutes, the race was only 20 laps long. But this course came with two very special features.
    The first feature was a worthy imitation of the signature feature of the Italian Run: a short cut .
    The famous short cut in the Italian Run sliced through the heel of the ‘boot’ that is Italy. As such, the term for successfully exploiting such a short cut is: ‘cutting the heel’.
    The Race School’s short cut sliced across the main isthmus of the Port Arthur peninsula at the town of Dunalley, offering the game racer a 30-second jump on the rest of the pack - if he or she could figure out the correct route through a short underground maze.
    And the second feature: demagnetising ripple strips on all the hairpin turns and S-bend sections of the course.
Colloquially known as ‘demon lights’, demagnetising ripple strips are a standard feature on the pro tour and particularly nasty. They flank the curves on a hover car course and look rather like wide runway lights that float in the air.
    Put simply, they are a method of enforcing disciplined driving. If you stray off the aerial track and fly even for a moment over some demag lights, your magneto drives lose magnetic power at an exponential rate. Thus your car loses traction and control. Dealing with demag lights is simple: don’t run over them.
    Since Wong and Washington weren’t around, Jason, the Bug and Sally took the opportunity to talk to Syracuse about tactics for Thursday’s all-important race.
    ‘What about the short cut?’ Jason asked. ‘Should we try to cut the heel?’
    ‘No,’ Syracuse said quickly. ‘The short cut is fool’s gold. It looks like a good option, but in truth it’s not an option at all.’
    ‘What if we’re behind and it’s the only chance we have?’
    ‘I still wouldn’t go near it,’ Syracuse said. ‘It’s a trap for the unwise, for those who like short cuts. Indeed, it’s designed to appeal to their greed. I would only use it if I knew the correct way through it beforehand.’
    ‘But we can’t know that,’ Sally said. ‘The peninsula mine tunnels are strictly out of bounds. We’re not allowed to check them out beforehand.’
    Scott Syracuse cocked his head sideways. ‘No, Ms McDuff. That’s not entirely true. There are legitimate ways of mastering such mazes, if you have the patience…’
    He left the sentence unfinished, looked directly at them.
    ‘Unless you know the secret of the maze, I would suggest you not use the short cut in Thursday’s race.’
With that they finished early, around 2:30 p.m.
    Jason and the Bug returned to their dorm - weary, beat.
    Truth be told, at that moment, Jason was feeling as low as he had ever felt at Race School. He felt overtired from too many classes, underappreciated by his teacher, out of his depth with his fellow racers, and out of races to win.
Which was probably why he was caught off-guard when he and the Bug arrived back at their apartment to find a pair of visitors waiting outside their dorm room, large shadows at the end of the hall.
    At first Jason froze, fearing another confrontation with Xavier and Barnaby, but then he heard one of the shadows speak:
    ‘ Where’s my little Doodlebug!’ a booming woman’s voice echoed down the corridor.
    He smiled broadly.
    There, standing outside his and the Bug’s dorm room, were their parents.
    The Chaser family went out for the afternoon.
    They drove out to the ruins of the mighty 18th-century convict prison at the tip of the Port Arthur peninsula, where Martha Chaser unrolled a picnic rug and spread out an array of sandwiches and soft drinks.
    And Jason and the Bug spent a wonderful afternoon sitting in the sunshine talking with their parents.
    The Bug sat nestled alongside Martha Chaser, looking very content, while Jason told their parents about everything that had happened to them at the International Race School since he and the Bug had last emailed.
    He told them about their continuing technical problems, about recent races,