“Do you like her?” Brickert asked suddenly, not even bothering to hide the grin breaking out on his face.
Sammy nodded, and they both burst out laughing. “I can’t even figure out why,” he explained. “She’s so annoying and . . . impossible to get along with.”
“Yeah,” Brickert acknowledged. “Well, she’s hot.”
“What about you? You like her, too?”
Brickert’s cheeks immediately grew red. “Brillianté.”
“That girl we just—? Jeffie’s roommate?” Sammy asked with a gaping mouth. “She’s—dude, how old is she?”
“Sixteen,” Brickert finished, the spots on his cheeks now blended in with the rest of his face. “I know—Natalia told me.”
Sammy snorted loudly.
“I won’t tell anyone you lied, Sammy. I promise. I still feel bad for telling them that stuff about your instruction speed.”
“Thanks.”
He and Brickert undressed and readied for bed in silence. As Sammy took off his com and placed it in the charger, Brickert spoke up again, “Tell me one more thing?”
“Sure, what?”
“Your rank.” Brickert had a crazy look in his eye now.
“Oh, sure.” He hadn’t even thought to check what his rank might be. Putting his com back on, he called up the per-stats from his menu. What he saw stunned him.
“That can’t be right.”
“What? What is it?”
“You’re not going to believe me if I tell you.”
“Try me.”
“Look for yourself,” Sammy said, and tossed his com to Brickert, who caught it.
“Oh my—!” Brickert cried out. He dropped the com as if it was hot. The screen lay open for both of them to read:
Accuracy: 8/16
Timeliness: 5/16
Efficiency: 4/16
Overall: 5/16
8. Game
Sammy’s first Saturday began early. “Good morning, Psions,” the familiar voice repeated.
“No . . .” Sammy moaned. “But it’s Saturday.”
“Get up, it’s game time!” Brickert told him, already putting on his noblack suit.
“It’s waking us up for the Game?”
“Yes. So hurry.”
“What time is it?” Sammy asked as he crawled out of bed.
“It’s probably better you don’t know,” Brickert answered, now grabbing his helmet. “Do you want me to wait for you?”
“Sure, I’ll just be a minute.”
“Well, at least brush your teeth.” Brickert took a step back from Sammy. “Jeffie won’t want to talk to you if you reek of mouth fungus.”
“Geez, thanks so much.”
He snatched his toothbrush off his desk, threw on his suit, grabbed his com, and left with Brickert. They arrived in the cafeteria to find most everyone already there, many staring wearily into their breakfast plates. Sammy spotted Jeffie sitting between Kobe and Brillianté, eating a bowl of fruit. With a scowl, he ordered his cereal and sat down with Al, Marie, and Marie’s younger sister, Rosa. His view was such that, from across the room, he could spy Kobe flirting unabashedly with Jeffie. He ground his spoon into his cereal bowl as he looked on.
“Did you see today’s orders?” Al asked them, pointing to a brightly glowing panel on the wall that until today had been blank and dark.
“No, not yet,” Brickert responded.
“Go check it out,” Al told them.
A handful of people stood around the panel, but Sammy and Brickert worked their way through and saw this:
Team 1: 3rd Floor
Covas, Marie (*)
Covas, Miguel
Covas, Rosa
Enova, Levu
Ivanovich, Natalia
Nujola, Kawai
Petrov, Ludwig
von Pratt, Parley
Trector, Martin
Tvedt, Gefjon
Team 2: 5th Floor
Berhane, Samuel
Alanazi, Cala
Morel, Brillianté
Hayman, Albert
Plack, Brickert
von Pratt, Gregor (*)
Reynolds, Kaden
Reynolds, Kobe
Yoshiharu, Asaki
Zheng, Li Cheng
Victory: 3 Games of 5
Maximum Game Length: 1 hour
Start Time: 04:40
“We’re on the same team!” Brickert said, high-fiving Sammy as they walked back to their seats.
“Teams look pretty even, don’t you think?” Al asked Marie.
“Seems okay,” Marie said, “but no one knows who’s good among the new batch and who . . . needs work.” She grinned sheepishly at Sammy and Brickert to show she meant no offense.
“Do the stars show who the honchos are?” Sammy asked through a yawn. He couldn’t fathom how Marie could be so bright-eyed this early in the morning.
“Yep.” She smirked at Al who seemed too tired to open his eyes until Martin brought over a mug of hot chocolate.
“Mmm, thanks,” Al said.
“Is this your first time as a honcho?” Brickert asked.
“No. I’ve done it plenty of times. Haven’t I, Al?” She poked Al several times in the ribs while saying his name.
“She’s pretty good,” he said, “for a girl.” Marie poked him even harder until he conceded. “Okay! She’s really good. But, you know, I’m surprised Byron didn’t decide to have four teams with so many new recruits.”
Marie just shrugged. “Either way you’re going to lose again.”
Martin laughed into his own mug, and Sammy wondered if Al and Marie kept a tally of wins like he and Feet used to do.
“I don’t think so, lady,” Al said.
“Definitely not, Hay-man,” Kobe said, sitting down next to Al.
Sammy rolled his eyes at Brickert, who returned a smug grin.
“Not if we have anything to say about it,” Kaden added.
“Where’s G, our fearless leader?” Kobe asked.
“Over there,” Al said, nodding across the room.
Sammy followed Al’s gaze to Gregor, who sat by himself looking pale and glum. Sammy did not know much about Gregor except that he was much older, and looked it. He was of average height and skinny, and his brown hair had started to recede back prematurely, exposing his pale white forehead. Natalia had told Sammy once that Gregor was a year older than everyone, including Al.
“How’s he holding up?” Kaden asked Al.
“So-so,” Marie answered. “This is his first time as honcho since he failed the Panel.”
“He failed the Psion Panel?” Brickert repeated.
“Sh!” Al hissed. “Don’t go yelling that stuff around. He’s just got a thing with nerves, is all. He’s scheduled to take it again a couple months after me. No one’s ever failed it twice.”
Brickert’s cheeks went as red as apples as he stammered to apologize.
“Yeah, but no one did as abysmally as I’ve heard he did,” Kobe snorted.
“Don’t,” Kaden said. “Who needs to know that?”
“So you pukes must be pretty nervous for your first time in the Game,” Kobe said. Looking at Brickert he added, “I’ve got a spare diaper in my room if you need it.”
Brickert’s spots threatened to cover his whole face.
“Why do you have diapers in your room, Kobe?” Sammy asked. “You have a problem with wetting the bed?”
Milk spurted out of Kaden’s nose, and Kobe got up to sit with Jeffie again.
It was getting close to start time. Brickert and Sammy got up to take care of their dishes.
“Good luck, Marie,” Sammy said as he left.
“Thanks, but Al will need it more.”
Al shot her a covert wink, and Marie turned away to blush. Sammy caught all this as he followed Brickert upstairs.
Gregor’s team chatted excitedly except Al and Gregor, who joined them in the last few minutes. Sammy heard Al muttering a constant stream of encouragement to Gregor, who
looked even more nervous now.
When they got close, Gregor whispered to Al, “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine once we get in there.”
Al gave him a pat on the back and sat down next to Sammy and Brickert.
“Ready?”
“Yeah,” they both answered.
“Piece of cake, and don’t worry about him. He’s a good leader—just psyches himself out, you know?”
The lights in the hallway dimmed, and the calm female voice said, “Game one, begin.”
“Alright … let’s go,” Gregor said. The lack of enthusiasm in his voice scared Sammy.
“Go where?” Brickert asked.
In answer to his question, the inside wall opened and widened like an enormous pale mouth. Behind it was another solid black wall. Then Sammy realized that he was staring at the opening to the Arena.
“Clip your com inside your helmet,” Al told them, showing them how to secure the com. “Touch here on your helmet when you want to talk to your honcho.”
The noblack material was hard to see in the darkness of the Arena, even with Brickert walking a meter ahead of him. As they descended a very long staircase, Sammy’s eyes adjusted.
The Arena housed enough space to fit at least two football fields side by side, five stories high. Everything inside, from the floors to the walls, had a dull metallic glaze. It amazed Sammy the entire room actually fit inside headquarters. It gave him new perspective into just how big the building was. Giant cubes, ranging from three to four meters high and spaced about two meters apart, covered the entire floor.
Gregor’s voice came over the com, “Two-fold attack. I want half of us on the floor, and half on the cubes.”
He divided them up, putting his five best players on the floor, and the weaker or newer ones on the cubes.
Despite the obvious flaws in Gregor’s plan, Sammy didn’t say anything. They spread out in the darkness, coordinated by the honcho’s voice, and hunted for opponents. It didn’t take long to realize that during the Game only the honcho’s voice was broadcast over the coms. In turn, Sammy’s com only linked to Gregor’s.
Trouble found Sammy quickly. When two of Marie’s people ganged up on Brickert, he hurried over to help. As soon as he got there, more of Marie’s troops converged on them. The seasoned Betas knew what they were doing, and Sammy could not fight in six directions at once. He called out to Gregor, but a blast hit his helmet just before he could tell his honcho that Marie had deployed all of her troops on the cubes. As Sammy lay on a cube, awaiting the end of the Game, the thought struck him that he hadn’t managed to hit one player with a blast.
The second Game did not go well for Gregor’s side, either, although this time the match did stay close. After regrouping in the hallway for a few minutes and listening to Gregor’s pep talk, they returned to the Arena to find the cubes gone. In their place was a dazzling network of thick vertical bars jutting out of the ground and rising up at least thirty meters. Gregor’s instructions were to go with one of two groups of three people around the perimeter, trying to force Marie’s team inside, where his four solid fighters would be spread out to do the most damage.
Gregor’s plan was moderately successful at best. Sammy began to see that Marie was simply a better strategist than her counterpart. From what he gathered, Marie sent in two scouts to see what Gregor had decided to do, and after getting a general idea, counteracted his moves. Almost mocking Gregor’s last Game plan, she divided up her forces into two bodies, took out the perimeter forces, and converged in the middle to sweep up the final four. The bars made it too difficult for Sammy to send a blast farther than two or three meters, and once he was surrounded, his helmet shut off. And he still hadn’t deactivated a single person.
Annoyed with being the first to black out in both Games, he stomped up the stairs, dreading another motivational speech. Gregor, however, did not say a word. He slumped down in a heap in the hallway and closed his eyes. Sammy’s frustrations melted into pity.
Gregor is doing his best. That should be enough for me.
“Hey guys, let’s do this!” Al said with more enthusiasm than he probably felt. “We still have one more chance to win. Those first two Games—just bad luck is all.”
Al talked on until everyone’s spirits had improved. Gregor pulled out of his stupor and discussed how they could improve their situation. Al pointed out some advantages he noticed they had over Marie’s team. Gregor made adjustments to capitalize on Al’s suggestions.
“Game three, begin.”
With a renewed desire to win, and hope mixed with a touch of cockiness, they headed back inside much more ready for the next Game. The entire Arena was flat except for a giant fifteen-meter-high wall in the middle of the floor separating the two teams. Whoever got on top of the wall first would win.
Obviously Gregor realized this because he talked fast: “We need a human ladder at the bottom of the wall.” He named off Sammy, himself, and two others. Then he organized two attacking teams. “Those teams climb as soon as we’re in position.”
The ladder was composed of four boys standing on each other’s shoulders with their backs against the wall. Only by blasting off the top of the ladder could the climber grab onto the ledge of the wall. Fortunately, the suits absorbed most of the weight of the boys above and, for Gregor on top, the force of the blast off his shoulders.
Brickert was an attacker, and being the smallest, he climbed the ladder first. Each person’s hands helped him step up higher and higher until he blasted up and grabbed onto the ledge of the summit. Hugging the wall, he hoisted himself up top, and signaled to his team how wide the wall was: nearly one and a half meters. Kobe and Brillianté followed Brickert, forming the first attacking team. Then Sammy helped heave up Al, Asaki, and Li.
Gregor’s team seized the wall so speedily that Marie did not have a chance to retaliate. Those on her team attempting to climb the wall were quickly dispatched first, their helmets easy targets from above. The remaining players huddled at the back in a defensive stance. Gregor ordered a two-prong attack: Al’s team from above, Brickert’s team on the ground. Al’s hovering team was especially lethal.
Gregor’s attack was so perfectly executed, not a single player was deactivated. This time it was their turn to celebrate as Marie’s team marched away dejected and beaten. Everyone congratulated each other in the hallway; even Gregor seemed elated.
The fourth Game, though closer, also went to Gregor’s team. They fought in a small room that sealed itself off as soon as both teams entered. The darkness was almost pitch black. On Gregor’s orders, Asaki, Brickert, and Sammy sacrificed themselves to get Al and Kobe behind the other team. Though they’d been quickly taken out, their efforts were the turning point of the Game.
With two wins apiece, the score was even, but Gregor had momentum on his side going into the deciding fifth Game. Still, Sammy was angry he hadn’t been in a real battle. Every order he had received was a sacrifice for someone else. He needed to show Gregor that he could contribute.
Before the last game began, the panel gave them each a different entrance to use on the floor. Li and Sammy’s was a small hole above their heads. They used hover blasts to make it easier to hoist themselves into the cramped space.
After a short, uncomfortable crawl, Sammy dropped head first into the Arena, rolled on a hover blast, and stood up. Li dropped right behind him. They stood in a tightly enclosed space with a narrow stairway leading upwards. Sammy started up the stairs, but Li pulled him back.
“Wait for orders,” he warned. “It’s more important now than ever.”
Seconds later Gregor’s voice came over the com. “Is everyone in?”
Li and Sammy both confirmed.
“Here’s the plan: Al, Kobe, Kaden—meet up as attackers. Target Levu, Martin, and Marie.”
“Marie’s best players,” Li told Sammy.
“Brickert and Brillianté scout together—”
“Brickert won’t complain about that,” Sammy chu
ckled to himself.
“—and Sammy and Li scout together. Everyone else stay on defense, but keep moving. Find a position out of sight and sneak up on whoever comes around you. Everyone should always have someone watching their back. Clear?”
Sammy sighed. Scouting. In other words—no fighting. Li explained the basics of scouting to Sammy as they climbed the stairs. He tried to make it sound interesting, but Sammy thought his job was a crock. All they had to do was find the position of the enemy and report it back to Gregor.
“Why does scouting even matter if the labyrinth changes every five minutes?” Sammy asked Li.
In answer to his rebellious thought, the words of Commander Byron rang in his ears: a place for you to put aside your egos, your prejudices, and learn cooperation and execution.
They reached the top of the stairs, coming to a large corridor with several doorways on each side. Sammy made to go in, but Li stopped him, shaking his head.
“Going in the open means death. Just wait a little longer.”
They stood there, silent, watching the empty corridor for a full minute until Sammy’s feet started to rise in the air.
“Wha—!” he started to say, but Li shushed him.
He turned to Li and saw him rising, too. The whole floor was elevating.
He caught one last glimpse of the corridor they had been watching. Many of its doorways were closing off and a large wall rose up, dissecting the corridor in half.
Then the floor stopped moving. They were no longer on top of a flight of stairs, or even in a doorway, rather, they stood in the middle of a long half-pipe.
The walls were too steep and slick to climb, so they jump-blasted out onto the edge and sprinted along, looking for cover. The ever-changing lighting in the Arena grew dim, making it difficult for them to find a hiding place. For one frantic minute, they raced back and forth looking for anything to help them get out of the open. Then, in the dark, Li smacked head first into a pole and fell onto his back, shaking. Sammy thought Li was having a seizure. Then he heard Li laughing.
“It’s a ladder,” he whispered to Sammy. “I found a ladder.”
Psion Beta (Psion series #1) Page 11
