Edward W. Ludwig

“ Tom's voice quavered, but he said, "I mean that's part of it. The rest is that most people are bored with themselves. They think that by traveling fast they can escape from themselves. After four or eight years of racing at 800 per, they find out they can't escape after all, so they become resigned. Or, sometimes if they're lucky enough to escape death, they begin to feel important after all. They aren't so bored then because a part of their mind tells them they're mightier than death."
Harry Hayden whistled. ”

“ Like Harry Hayden said, the killers come out on Saturdays and Sundays. Now, most of us are just anxious to get to work and school.
Six hundred, seven hundred, seven-twenty—
Did he dare tackle the sonic barrier?
The white asphalt was like opaque mist. The universe seemed to consist only of the broad expanse of Jetway.
Swooommmm.
Someone passing even at this speed! The crazy fool! And cutting in, the flame of his exhaust clouding Tom's windshield!
Tom's foot jerked off the accelerator. His Hornet slowed. The car ahead disappeared into the white distance like a black arrow. ”

“ Tom licked his lips. And you can't tell him how you used to lie in bed praying you'd die before you were sixteen—or how you've pleaded with Mom and Dad not to make you enlist till you were twenty. You can't—
Inspiration struck him. He clenched his fists. "It—it was my mother, sir. You know how mothers are sometimes. Hate to see their kids grow up. Hate to see them put on a uniform and risk being killed."
Harry Hayden digested the explanation for a few seconds. It seemed to pacify him. "By golly, that's right. Esther took it hard when Mark died in a five-car bang-up out of San Francisco. ”

“ Tom stared in horror at the grumbling metal beast.
"But remember," the attendant said, "don't try to make a killing your first day. Most Drivers aren't out to get a Ribbon every day either. They just want to get to work or school, mostly, and have fun doing it." ”

“ He shook his head. "But it isn't as bad as it used to be. Organ and limb grafts are pretty well perfected, and with electro-hypnosis operations are painless. The only fatalities now are when death is immediate, when it happens before the medics get to you. Why, no more than one out of ten Drivers died in the last four-year period."
A portion of his good nature returned. "Anyway, your personal life's none of my business. You understand the enlistment contract?"
Tom nodded. Damn you, Harry Hayden, let me out of here. ”

“ The rock-shouldered fullback trotting beneath an avalanche of cheers into the 20th Century stadium.
Men needed a challenge to their wits, a test for their strength. The urge to combat and the lust for danger was as innate as the desire for life. ”

“ Tom wiped a fresh burst of sweat from his forehead. "Well, you know how one keeps putting things off. I just—"
"You don't put off things like this, boy. Why, my three sons were lined up here at five in the morning on their sixteenth birthdays. Every mother's son of 'em. They'd talked of nothing else since they were twelve. Used to play Drivers maybe six, seven hours every day...." His voice trailed.
"Most kids are like that," said Tom.
"Weren't you?" The hostility in Harry Hayden seemed to be churning like boiling water.
"Oh, sure," lied Tom. ”

“ A thousand miles an hour,
Angels cry and devils sigh
At a thousand miles an hour...."
The jetmobile terminal was like a den of chained, growling black tigers. White-cloaked attendants scurried from stall to stall, deft hands flying over atomic-engine controls and flooding each vehicle with surging life.
Ashen-faced, shivering in the early-morning coolness, Tom Rogers handed an identification slip to an attendant.
"Okay, kid," the rat-faced man wheezed, "there she is—Stall 17. Brand new, first time out. Good luck." ”

“ Humanity was cursed with a world war every generation or so. Between wars, young people had no outlets for their energy, and many of them formed bands of delinquents. Even older people developed an alarming number of psychoses and neuroses. ”

“ Now you'll make it in almost thirty minutes. Still, it's best to take it easy the first day. Don't get 'er over 600 per. But don't let 'er fall beneath that either. If you do, some old veteran'll know you're a greenhorn and try to knock you off."
Suddenly Harry Hayden stiffened.
"Here come a couple! Look at 'em, boy!"
The low rumbling came out of the west, as of angry bees.
Twin pinpoints of black appeared on the distant white ribbon. Louder and louder the rumbling. Larger and larger the dots. To Tom, the sterile Jetway was transformed into a home of horror, an amphitheatre of death. ”

“ Harry Hayden laughed. "I get it. You thought you'd get to really see one. Get in it, I mean, try it out. It's too late in the day, boy. Shop's closing. You couldn't drive one anyway. Regulation is that new drivers start in the morning when they're fresh. But tomorrow morning one of those Hornets'll be assigned to you. ”