The Chevy spun again, but this time it didn’t stop spinning. Johnis kept the wheel turned, forcing the car into an arc that filled the air with smoke.

The force shoved Silvie against him. “Straighten!”

Johnis flung the wheel in the opposite direction. The Chevy shot forward, this time headed for the upright pumps . . . and the red-faced attendant standing in front of the pumps.

“Stop!”

“No, no!” Having mastered the skill of turning the Chevy, Johnis opted instead for pulling the wheel to his left. They blasted by the man, who had thrown himself to the ground. Another car was entering the station, and Johnis narrowly avoided a collision.

So he could turn the thing, but could he stop it? Silvie felt her own feet instinctively smashing into the floor, wishing to slow the contraption down.

“Slow down, please! You’re going to get us killed!”

“He’s back there . . .”

“You’re headed for a ditch! You have to stop. Stop!”

But it was too late. They slammed into a shallow ditch, bounced over the other side, and ripped through a fence she hadn’t seen. Then they were on a bumpy, hard-packed dirt path instead of the flat roads of rock that the other cars seemed to prefer.

Johnis shifted his foot to the second lever and pushed. They came to a sliding halt. Dust floated past them.

Silence.

“Fantastic!”

Silvie punched his arm, furious that he’d put them in this predicament. “This isn’t a child’s game! Stop it with the ‘fantastic’ every other moment!”

“But you have to admit: it’s like riding a hundred horses at once. Imagine going to battle with the Horde in one of these.”

“There’s no room to maneuver your sword.”

“We’d use a shotgun.”

They looked at each other, then twisted back for a view of the station. Sure enough, the shotgun-bearing man named Ray was already halfway across the station in a full sprint.

“Fool,” Johnis said and shoved his foot on the gas lever. The Chevy spun its wheels in the dirt, then shot into the night.

Johnis managed to keep the car on the path, careening from side to side as he wrestled the wheel. But they were speeding away from the station, and that was good for Silvie.

“You can stop it if you have to, right?”

“Sure.” To demonstrate, Johnis hit the brake, and the Chevy went into a slide that piled them both up on his side.

“See?”

“Does this thing not know the meaning of gentle? This whole world appears to be violent.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. She can glide like a feather if I tell her to.”

“Now it’s a she?”

Johnis took off again, this time slowly at first, then gaining speed as they bounded down the road.

“Put her on the proper road and she will glide, I can promise you that,” he said breathlessly. “Fantastic, I’m telling you. Mind-blowing.”