The Phoenix Fallacy_Book II_Norm

by Jon Sourbeer,

  ‘From out of nowhere, Brigg slugged Boomer, knocking him flat on his back, and taking the red ball for himself. His fellow officers did the same to every other man on the field.

  And as Boomer watched helplessly, Brigg scored the final goal, winning the game as the sun touched the horizon.

  Brigg strode over to Boomer then, who lay dazed about the field with the other men. For a moment some of the soldiers cried out, ‘cheater!’, but Brigg silenced them with a wave of his hand. Boomer simply asked, ‘Why?’

  ‘I told you there were no other rules, didn’t I?’

  The men, including Boomer, sat in stunned silence.

  ‘You could have done the same from the very beginning. But you didn’t. You assumed that I thought just like you. That I was you. But we were enemies. Fighting on either side of a war. While you enjoyed yourself, you thought you were setting the rules. And when you were most comfortable, most relaxed, and most confident, I crushed you. Because I don’t think like you do. Because while I might not kick a man while he’s down, I never presume he’ll do the same for me.’

  Boomer never forgot what he had learned. And soon after, he played Brigg’s Ball whenever he could.”

  As Marcus finished, Janus realized had stopped watching the game. At that moment, there was a huge thud and a resulting “oooo” from the crowd. Several onlookers visibly winced, and a couple of white-clad Medical Branch Adepts pulled a limp figure from the playing field as the game continued on behind them.

  Janus felt his pulse rise at the impending game. There was something intrinsically appealing about Brigg’s Ball. It was an inherently violent game, but it also had its subtleties. It was designed to teach Adepts about changing situations on the battle field, and the need to switch rapidly from offense to defense. And despite its humble origins, Janus suspected it had kept many of his fellow Adepts alive through battle.

  He turned back to Marcus, “Let me see if I can recall the rules, and you fill me in on anything I forget.” Marcus nodded.

  “A Brigg’s Battle is held between teams of five,” Janus began. “Valhalla’s arena can accommodate two to four teams playing simultaneously.”

  “We’ll be playing in a game of three teams today, against Lieutenant Forrenza’s squad and Captain Roger’s Rangers.” Marcus interjected, “I’m sure Forrenza is looking for a rematch after our last mess hall wager.”

  “OK, so we’ve got three teams today, which means three goals. One for each team.” Janus paused, “There are two types of balls in the game.”

  “Boomers, they’re called Boomers. The other Adepts will give you a funny look if you say otherwise,” Marcus corrected.

  Janus shot him an annoyed look, “OK, Boomers. There are two types of Boomers: Blue and Red. Blue Boomers represent defense, and are supposed to be protected until you can score them in your goal for a point. Red Boomers represent offense, and can be scored against another team to subtract two points from their score.”

  “You got it. Don’t forget that there can be multiple Boomers in play at once. The general rule is one Boomer for each team.” Marcus added, shaking his head as one of the players carrying a Red Boomer was forcibly checked into a wall.

  Janus grimaced as the Adept stumbled to his feet to resume play – the circular playing field was confining, and attacking a player with the Boomer was highly encouraged. Sergeant Walters was the ref today, and he merely nodded approvingly at the hit. His bright orange and yellow armor made it clear he was not to be touched. Even still, Janus noted he stood well back from the main melee.

  The dropped Boomer was snatched up by the other team as it began to flash blue. “Oh,” Janus added, “and Boomers can switch colors randomly in the middle of play. They give only a small warning before doing so, and represent the changing nature of a battle’s objectives and flow.”

  Marcus nodded, “That’s pretty much it. Remember that play never stops, and that in general, you can’t step into the goalie box, unless you’re the goalie. Let’s see, was there anything else?” he snapped his fingers, “Of course! The most important rule!”

  Janus looked at him in confusion. Marcus smiled, “It’s not a penalty if you don’t get caught. Don’t forget that and you’ll figure out the rest in no time.” To accentuate the point, a section of the crowd booed as one Adept tripped and slammed an Adept without the Boomer into the ground while the ref was distracted. Another group cheered as their team scored on the cheap shot.

  The previous match had ended by the time Janus and Marcus arrived in the staging area. Jones, Valers, Kirsten and Holloway were waiting for them.

  Valers, with his bright green eyes, smiled broadly as they approached. “All right, the two aces join us! There’s no way we can lose now!”

  Holloway pumped a fist, his blond hair bouncing, “We finally get to play a Brigg’s Ball battle. I’ve been waiting for this! And we’re the first Sigma squad team!” Kirsten, her red hair running to her shoulders laughed and high-fived him.

  Jones, the short, but stout, Minotaur girl agreed, “And now we have enough for an alternate. Let’s show these other Adepts how the game is played!”

  The six of them threw on helmets and jumped in. Roger’s Rangers and Forrenza’s Flames, two specialty teams built from their officer’s squads, were already warming up, and the three goals for each of the teams opened along the walls of the sunken dome. It wasn’t a very large field, maybe 60 meters across. Marcus grabbed an extra Boomer and threw it to Janus, “Here. Get a feel for it.”

  Janus caught the spherical ball. Glowing in a soft blue light, it was small enough that he could hold it with one hand, though not easily, and it felt extremely rubbery. Janus dropped it. It bounced quite well.

  “Marcus, you organized this, so I think you should be team captain,” Jones said. The others nodded. “And we need a team name,” she added.

  Holloway spoke up first, “Well, we aren’t representing an officer’s squad yet, but we are a part of Sigma 3, so how about ‘Sigma’s Scoundrels’?”

  Valers jumped in, “I kind of like it, but I think we can do better. How about ‘Sigma’s Strikers’?”

  “I like that,” Jones said. The others nodded again in agreement.

  “All in favor?” Marcus asked. There was a chorus of ‘ayes’.

  Marcus smiled, and then said, “Good, that was easy. Let’s talk some strategy. Any ideas?”

  Janus looked around at the group. They were at a distinct disadvantage compared to the other two, more experienced teams. None of them had even played before, let alone as a team. Marcus had made good choices, however, as everyone but Janus had watched many games of Brigg’s Ball in the past few months.

  Janus suddenly felt a pang of sorrow; both Alexis and Young, two friends who had fallen at the Titan battle, had been avid Brigg’s Ball fans. A wave of sadness crept over him, and he struggled to push the thought from his mind. He could almost hear them saying, “Don’t forget about us, we’re playing, too!” in their irrepressible manner. They had often battled Janus and Marcus in Brevis Bellum, the popular mess hall strategy game many Adepts played in their downtime. A smile came unbidden to Janus’ lips; one of their favorite strategies at Brevis Bellum had given him an idea.

  “If the other two squads will give us the opportunity, I suggest we play conservatively at first, while we feel ourselves out,” Janus suggested.

  The others nodded, and Marcus said, “Seems reasonable to me.”

  Janus continued, “If the first ball, er, Boomer, is red, let’s just fall back and form defense on our goal. We’ll focus on clearing the Boomer, not attacking. That’ll discourage the other teams from attacking us. Besides, this is our first game; they’ll probably focus more on each other than us, anyway. That’ll give a few minutes to let the other teams beat on each other before the second Boomer appears.”

  “And if it’s blue?” Marcus asked, arms crossed.

  The others looked at Janus. He shrugged, “We’ll have to wing it. We have no exp
erience, so we will have to feel it out as we go.”

  “True,” Marcus said, “Valers, you’re our goalie once the game gets started. You’ll stand by to defend against the Reds that come our way, but remember, you can’t score the Blues, or you’ll get a foul and we won’t get the point. Pass them back out to us so we can shoot outside the goalie box.” Valers nodded.

  Marcus glanced around the group, “Any other suggestions?”

  The rest of the group was silent for a moment before Marcus spoke up, “Well, we should pay attention to the tactics of the other two teams. Both have more experience than us, and we can probably learn some things we didn’t pick up on while we were just watching the game.” The group agreed.

  “Janus, you and I will take point. Jones, Holloway, you’re on our left and right, respectively. Kirsten, you’re the alternate. Unless absolutely necessary, let’s avoid constant subs.”

  At that moment, Sergeant Walters entered the arena in his bright orange and yellow suit, and five rectangular boxes lit up in front of each goal.

  Chapter 7: Brigg’s Ball

  Walters waved for all three teams to meet him in the center, “I want a good game, everyone. Remember, at the end of the day, you’re all on the same team. Get everything out in here.” He motioned into the middle, “Team Captains, shake.”

  Lieutenant Forrenza and Captain Rogers stepped forward and shook first, giving each other proper respect. And then both turned to Janus and reached to shake. Janus was caught momentarily off guard; Marcus stepped in, extending a hand, “Actually. I’m the team captain.”

  The two officers pulled back, exchanging surprised looks with Sergeant Walters. “Marcus organized the team,” Janus added quickly. Marcus’ eyes flashed for a moment, but he was all smiles as he shook. “Teams shake,” Walters intoned. The three teams shook hands and quickly separated. Walter’s blew his whistle, “Alternates to sub-stations. Teams to the line.”

  Janus jogged back to the glowing boxes, everything else forgotten but the approaching match. Toeing the line of his box nervously, he couldn’t help but notice how methodically the other teams moved into position. None of the nervous anticipation that seemed to have infected his team was there. Only the mission.

  Lieutenant Forrenza moved to the back of her line, while Rogers took the closest starting position to center with another one of his strikers, a female Adept named Emmanuel with short, black hair. To his right, Marcus waited, giving him a confident grin, while behind him, Jones, Valers, and Holloway all stared at the center of the arena nervously.

  Walters blew his whistle and a single flashing Boomer launched high into the air from the center floor of the arena. The rapid flashing became almost hypnotic as the Boomer slowed towards its apex, the color changes taking longer and longer. Blue, red, blue, red.

  Inching towards the ceiling of the dome, the Boomer suddenly stopped, turned a solid blue, and descended towards the earth. Immediately Janus exploded off the line, making a mad dash for the plummeting ball.

  An alarm sounded. The center launch tube opened again and caught the falling Boomer, where it disappeared. The doors of the tube closed, leaving only the flat surface of the field. A flashing FALSE START appeared in bold letters on the scoreboard; a Flames striker had jumped early. As Janus walked back to the line, he watched Walters direct the Flames player to his team’s back boxes, and one of his squad-mates took his place at the front.

  Walters blew his whistle again, and Janus tensed slightly, waiting for the ball to appear. After a few anxious moments, the launcher flew open and spat out another flashing Boomer. It traveled even higher this time. As it nearly brushed the bottom of the scoreboard, the ball turned a bright red and began its rapid fall.

  Whew… Janus thought, that’s lucky…

  He backpedaled, forming up a defense around their goal with the rest of the team. Valers stopped at the edge of the goalie box, waiting for 5 seconds while the field transitioned him to the goalie position. He wouldn’t be able to leave the goalie box now, but no one else could enter and he could force the issue on anyone who tried.

  Janus was shocked by the speed on display by the other two teams. Rogers had already snatched up the ball and was running for the Flames goal by the time Janus’ team had barely formed up around their own.

  The clock had begun its slow twenty minute countdown. Another Boomer would soon appear, and then another, until three were on the field simultaneously. As the Flames and Rangers battled it out, ignoring the Sigma squad, Janus breathed a sigh of relief. His theory had been correct. The other two teams considered Janus’ new team to be a minor threat – at least for now.

  Janus was just glad for the opportunity to study his opponents without having to fight them, but he was even happier as the crowd let a loud, wincing “ooh” to a ferocious body check that sent a Ranger’s guard flying into one of the translucent arena walls. The striker stumbled slowly back up to the urging of his squad-mates in the crowd. Rogers recovered his teammate’s lost Boomer and pressed the attack, passing to another Ranger to his left, who leapt for a flying kick and pummeled the Boomer toward the goal. Fortunately for the Flames, Lieutenant Forrenza was way ahead of the attempt. She stopped the Red easily, immediately launching it back out to one of her own strikers. “Maybe next time you’ll have more luck, Rogers,” she called out.

  A surprisingly large crowd was gathering to watch; word of the match was going around. Groups of Adepts and officers from all around Valhalla swelled the crowd, chatting as they watched. Janus suspected they were interested in seeing how the newly minted Adepts performed.

  An errant pass from one of the Flames sent the Boomer hurtling to the Sigma goal, but Marcus quickly stepped up and cleared the ball back towards the other end of the arena with a swift kick. He and Janus exchanged approving nods. The high-flying Boomer curved towards the Flames goal, giving the Rangers an easy attack. The secondary line of Flames defenders struggled to halt the Rangers’ furious passing, but the Flames had overextended themselves forward. Rogers used the opportunity to drive inside, passing to Emmanuel. She pressed forward, leaping over a hit by a Flames’ defender and keeping the Boomer close to her body, which unexpectedly began to flash blue.

  That was fast… Janus thought as he raced with his team towards the Flames goal. If the Boomer changed to blue before the Rangers could score, he and Marcus would need to be there to grab it. But if the Rangers score…

  “Jones, Holloway, get to the center.” Janus said with a sudden flash of insight, pointing with his arm towards the spot where the Boomers launched. “No, press forward,” Marcus shouted, “we’ll need your help to grab that blue.” Jones and Holloway looked confused for a moment, then nodded and moved forward with Marcus.

  Marcus led the charge for the ball. But now, the field that had seemed so small a moment ago to Janus now felt as though it stretched for miles. Rogers and Emmaneul kept up their furious passing attack towards Forrenza, while the rest of the team acted as a living wall of interference from the Flames strikers rushing back to defend. From the corner of his eye, Janus caught a Flames’ striker and a Ranger defender rapidly peeling away from the group and heading center.

  As Marcus moved forward to intercept the two Ranger strikers, Janus followed, momentarily distracted by a Flames’ player racing beside him. Janus put on another burst of speed, trying to close the distance as the flashing increased – the Boomer would turn fully Blue in just moments.

  But now it was Rogers and Emmanuel vs. Forrenza. The Rangers had a two on one for the Flames’ goal. Forrenza licked her lips in anticipation. Suddenly, she waved her arms unexpectedly over her head, and Janus barely blocked a kick from out of nowhere, rolling onto his back.

  Flipping himself back up, he saw Jones and Holloway had met a similar fate, though Marcus was still up and charging for the ball. With a quick glance around him, Janus realized that the Flames players had abandoned Forrenza, all of them heading for the center and the next Boomer. Forrenza had signaled
her team to give up on defense and try to press forward when the Boomer arrived. With Walters attention focused on the goal, the Flames’ had taken the opportunity to knock out some of the extra competition.

  As Janus rushed back to center field, Emmanuel faked a shot on goal, and Forrenza was forced to dive, leaving the goal wide open. With a quick flick and a kick, Emmanuel easily passed the ball to Rogers, who leapt into a flying roundhouse and smashed the Boomer into the goal just before it finished flashing. A minus 2 appeared under the Flames’ score. Immediately two Boomers shot out of the center launcher, and the Flames’ and Ranger squads both fought furiously for control. The crowd roared in appreciation.

  “Looks like it really was ‘next time’, Forrenza!” Rogers called out as he rushed back towards the middle to join his team. The Flames, with greater numbers at center grabbed the first ball, a Blue, easily, and began battling for the second, another Red.

  Janus swore angrily under his breath, Good work, Marcus – we’re all out of position now.

  The Rangers managed to take control of the Red. While the rest of the Ranger team worked furiously to prevent the Flames from scoring the Blue, one of the Rangers, a man named Dozer, broke off from the group, and rushed toward the Sigma goal. The Red erupted from the melee, flying in a long arc towards Dozer. The Rangers were willing to risk the Blue Boomer to solidify their lead. Valers tensed.

  With his team out of position, no one could support the inexperienced goalie.

  A veteran vs. a mint – fantastic. Janus increased his speed, rushing by the melee for the Blue, where a Flames striker was going at it with Rogers over the Boomer. If Valers somehow did stop the ball, he would need someone to whom he could pass easily or retrieve it on a deflection. Janus felt his breathing grow heavy as he ran. Well, nothing else for it now…it’s time to play.