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‘What exactly you offerin’ in return for a free ride and a ringside seat, eh?’ replies the clansman.
Slowly you unshoulder your Backpack and flip open the buckles. ‘Choose,’ you say, inviting him to look at the items you are carrying. Roughly he pulls the pack from your hands and tips the contents onto the floor of the truck.
‘I’ll take these two,’ he says. ‘You can keep the rest o’ the junk.’
Erase from your Action Chart those items which you have noted in the second and third sections of your Backpack Items list. These are the items chosen by the clansman in return for free passage into the stadium. If you possess less than two Backpack Items, you must erase either two Medi-kit units or one close combat weapon instead.
With a smile on his face, the clansman pockets your bribe and returns to the cab. He restarts the truck but shortly it stops once again. He has drawn up alongside three other trucks in a section of the stadium that has been turned into a pits area. You leave the truck and slip away through the crowds of clan mechanics and riders towards an empty section of the enclosure.
From a position high among the tiers, you look down at the rows of empty seats that encircle the dusty arena and observe the preparations taking place around the perimeter track. This stadium once hosted international sporting events, many of which were televised and beamed live around the world. Now it plays host to a sporting event of a very different kind. The Angelinos have challenged the Lions to put forward four of their best riders for a twenty-lap motorcycle race around the arena. The track itself reminds you of an old film that you saw when you were a child, a film about the wild chariot races that took place in ancient Rome. Today’s event is meant to be a friendly challenge to celebrate the signing of their alliance, but with clan honour at stake the race will undoubtedly be fought out in deadly earnest.
Facing you, on the far side of the stadium, is the glass-fronted observation block that was once used by television and radio commentators. Your curiosity is aroused by it when you notice that the door to the block is heavily guarded. Fixedly you stare at its full-length windows and count five occupants: four clansmen and one blonde-haired girl. You cannot see her face clearly, but you know that she is Kate Norton.
