The energy shield began to pulse again, waiting for an answer. Which one? I hesitated and then reached for TECHNOLOGICAL, but I was too late. Before my finger touched the screen, the diamonds disappeared and the word PASS flashed in front of me.
I didn’t pass!
“Hey!” I shouted. “I didn’t pass! Wait.”
But the energy field turned as solid as the stone floor. The game parameters were selected, and I had let Ceesar choose three out of four stages.
I moved back from the energy shield, worried about what was waiting for me on the other side. The crystal on the floor pulsed three times before the wall disappeared. What I saw shocked me. Not because I didn’t recognize anything, but because I recognized everything. It was as if I had stepped back onto the Renaissance right into a game of Quest-Nest. Ceesar had chosen in my favor. He had picked my best game.
On the floor to my right was a plasma rifle, a simple weapon that fires a burst of heated yellow gas at anyone who gets in the holder’s way. I even recalled the corridors with their purple lights hidden along the edges of the floor and ceiling. If I remembered correctly, it was a clear run for about twenty meters. But the labyrinth always changed; every time Mother set a game, it was a new course. More important, I needed to remember that Mother wasn’t setting this game.
I ran up the ramp to a set of closed doors. I was not sure how much time I was allotted to find the bait before the labyrinth shifted. I looked behind me to grab a mental image of where I had just been so I would remember it on my return. Standing in front of the closed doors, I paused and readied my plasma rifle. The door disappeared and I charged in. Too soon. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a fist coming straight at me. I ducked just in time and then tried to square my shoulders to my attacker. A crazed frontier pilot, his flight suit charred and melted away with most of his skin, was already taking another swing.
As I turned, he cracked me upside my head with a vicious blow. Holographs aren’t supposed to do that, I thought as I fell to the floor, dazed, the image of the pilot swimming in front of me. The pilot swung again, and I shielded myself with my right arm. I should have shot, but everything was happening too quickly. This is exactly why I need to practice, I thought. The pilot hit my mechanical arm, but it registered no pain. I’d turned off the sensors before I started. At least I’d thought of something ahead of time.
I rolled away from the next blow and blasted the demon pilot. His holograph exploded into a haze of yellow light, and I lay back on the ground. You’ve got to be smarter than that, I told myself. Now, get moving!
I zapped three more pilots waiting around the next bend. No one was going to get the best of me twice. I also found a long-range scoping device to give me the edge on lengthy open hallways. I only hoped my first encounter with the frontier pilot hadn’t cost me the game.
I entered a room with a narrow catwalk and used the scope to search for any challengers lingering below. Through the scope, I caught a glimpse of plasma fire in the far corner. It was Ceesar, and he was moving fast. He took out three pilots with one shot and decked another before he ever saw him coming. Ceesar was good.
I picked up my pace. It was reckless, but if Ceesar was moving that fast, I was already behind. At the end of the catwalk, my only option was a small hole in the ceiling. These were never good. Someone hiding behind a closed door was one thing, but pulling myself blindly through the ceiling was a whole other beating waiting to happen. I took the plasma rifle in my left hand and used my other to grip the ladder. I increased the strength levels in my right arm, hoping to support myself while I fired with my left. I asked the Universe for a little help, too.
I was only halfway out of the tunnel when I saw them. Two pilots charged me from behind. I blasted them both, but the distraction let a third opponent get one shot off, hitting me in the left leg. As I returned fire, I felt my leg go numb. Another stupid mistake. I should have seen it coming; it was a simple trick Mother often used against us. I dragged my bum leg down the corridor and into a clearing. It was like trying to walk when your leg was asleep. It took everything for me not to trip over myself.
Another blast almost took out my good leg. I was caught in the cross fire between the demon pilots and some other alien. Mother only ever gave us one opponent at a time, but I reminded myself this wasn’t Mother’s game. I returned fire, but a deflected shot hit my right arm. I was doomed without my shooting arm. I waited for my mechanical arm to malfunction from the blast, but nothing happened. The synthetic skin and metallic bones seemed to absorb the blast. A fresh wave of confidence swept over me as I realized my newfound advantage.
I fought my way through all fourteen levels of the labyrinth without ever seeing Ceesar again. I had dumped my plasma rifle after it went dead, and now I was dragging around a heavy tedaado blade. Ceesar might have already reached his bait, but I knew the game wasn’t over yet because the labyrinth was still up. When I finally reached the last level, I looked down to the floor below and saw Max locked inside a red energy shield. Four crazed frontier pilots surrounded her, but she was crouched ready to attack them — as soon as I was able to spring her free. I jumped down to Max’s level behind one of the pilots, swinging as I landed. I snatched the rifle from my enemy and tossed it to Max as the shield dropped. The other three pilots were taken care of before the first one hit the ground.
“Buzz is already gone!” she shouted.
“Unbelievable!”
“A while ago, too. We’ve got to hurry!”
After the shield went down, three more corridors opened up and a crew of new enemies charged us. Max took out the first two while I circled wide and got the last ones coming down the corridor. We ran out the way I’d come in. We weren’t on the return for more than a parsec before the lights in the floor and the ceiling began to pulsate.
“The labyrinth is going to shift!” she shouted.
Already? This was much faster than what I was used to.
“Get ready!” she cried.
As we ran down the corridor, doors that I had previously passed through morphed into walls, and sections of the walls opened into new passageways.
“Watch out!” Max shrieked as the wall beside me shimmered away. A fast-moving creature, no taller than my waist, charged at me. Its long tentacles flung around its head, sparking as they touched each other. Max blasted him squarely on the back, but the monster did not stop.
“He’s got some sort of protection!” she yelled.
“Keep firing,” I told her, and released a charge from the blade into the creature as well. Confused about whom to attack first, the alien finally exploded, covering me in its yellow blood. I felt a tiny bit of numbness over my whole body, but it was nothing that would slow me down.
“Thanks,” I said, but before Max could respond, the labyrinth went black. The game was over.
We had lost.
Ceesar and the wormhole pirate were standing on a gold crystal, and the huge labyrinth was reduced to the area visible from the stands. It was disorienting. I was never going to get used to dimensional displacement.
“Whatever happened to beginner’s luck?” Ceesar boasted from his position on the winner’s mark.
“You’re just too good,” Max told him.
“Yes, I am,” Ceesar agreed.
“We only need some more practice,” I argued.
“You need more than that,” he scoffed.
Buzz, however, was not gloating with his partner. Instead he glanced nervously at the crowd in the stands.
“We need to go, Cap,” Buzz hissed, elbowing his partner.
“Let me enjoy my victory,” Ceesar snapped, but Buzz would not back down.
“Yes, it was a great victory — but we need to deal with that,” he said, pointing to a small commotion growing behind the glass.
“What?” Ceesar moaned.
“Oh, no,” Max cried.
It was Charlie. He stood at the edge of the glass with two security drones, and he was pointing at Bu
zz. Theodore and Ketheria saw him as well, but Charlie had not seen them sitting up in the stands yet. Theodore was trying to pull Ketheria away, but when Ceesar’s friend bolted, the ruckus grabbed Charlie’s attention. He looked up and spotted them. Charlie’s head spun from Buzz to Theodore and finally to us, standing on the playing quad.
“Your friend?” Ceesar asked us.
“Guarantor,” Max replied.
“Well.” Ceesar raised an eyebrow, surprised. “He wouldn’t sign you up to play?”
Charlie and the security drones skirted the playing court, obviously heading to cut us off at the ready room.
“What do we do?” Max said.
But I knew there was nothing to do. We were caught. I had disobeyed Charlie. He would be furious.
“Nothing,” I replied.
“Well, I don’t share the same plan, Softwire,” Ceesar hissed, and he and Buzz bolted for the tunnels.
“How does he know you’re a softwire?” Max asked, puzzled.
“Doesn’t everyone?” I said.
“Why would you do that?” Charlie growled, pacing the chow synth. He was certainly angry, but I saw something else I couldn’t make out in his eyes.
I was sitting at the table with Max and Theodore while Ketheria nestled herself on the floor. Charlie was rubbing his hands through his hair. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Grace and Dalton secretly watching from the hallway. I’m sure a few other kids were doing the same thing. It was embarrassing, and I felt my face grow hot.
“I strictly said no Citizens’ League.”
“But we saw the alien who stole the stridling,” I pleaded in defense.
“And they challenged us to play,” Max offered.
Charlie wasn’t buying any of it, though. “When you saw the alien, you should have come and gotten me or told any Citizen nearby.”
“But we weren’t allowed to be there to begin with,” Theodore reminded him.
“You could have reached out to Vairocina, Johnny,” Charlie pointed out. “She could have notified security in an instant, and that thief would have been caught.”
“His name is Buzz,” Ketheria informed Charlie.
“Probably not his real name, but thank you just the same.”
I asked Charlie, “What are they going to do with him?”
“That’s security’s concern now, and it does not justify your actions.”
“What are you gonna do to us?” Theodore asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Our punishment? What’s it gonna be?” Max said.
“Odran used to make us sleep standing up,” Ketheria told him.
“Or he wouldn’t feed us,” Theodore added.
“Remember the time Weegin almost pulled Switzer’s nose off?” Max said with a tiny giggle.
Charlie was shaking his head and mumbling something to himself while he stared at his feet.
“I’m not like your other Guarantors,” Charlie whispered. “I’m not here to punish you. I want to protect you.”
“Protect us from what?” I asked.
“From things like joining the Citizens’ League!”
“But why?” said Max.
“Yeah, our other Guarantors didn’t care what happened to us. Look at JT’s arm,” Theodore pointed out.
Charlie threw his arms up in frustration and growled. He paced the floor some more, then stopped in front of me.
“I can’t protect you inside the arena,” he snapped. “They play by different rules, and Citizens’ wagering can lead to cheating, accidents, and even death.”
“But we’re good, Charlie,” Max protested.
“You lost today, did you not?” he reminded her.
There was no denying that. Ceesar and Buzz played incredibly well. That tracker possessed speed I could only dream of. His experience showed, and his skills came naturally to him.
“They were fast. They’d be hard to beat for anyone,” I said.
“Not anymore,” he hissed.
“Why not?”
“Not until security releases Buzz again, and knowing the Citizens, that could be quite some time.”
“They captured Buzz?”
“That’s why I was there. I didn’t expect to find you,” Charlie replied. “I trusted you guys.”
“Can I talk to him?” I asked
“What! Have you gone stark raving mad? Why would you want to talk to that criminal? What could you possibly have to say to him?”
Charlie was waving his arms in the air. His face was almost purple. My shoulders felt heavy, and it was hard to hold my head up. Charlie’s tongue-lashing was worse than any punishment a Guarantor could dish out. The only thing preventing me from feeling total remorse was the fact I hadn’t used his personal data key. It didn’t help much, though. “I’m sorry, Charlie,” I told him.
“Promise me you’ll stick to the Illuminate league.” His voice was icy.
I nodded. “We’ll join the school league.” But I couldn’t promise him. I hated breaking promises, especially to Charlie.
Next cycle, Theodore did not speak on the way to the Illuminate. In fact, he couldn’t even look at me. Trouble was the one thing Theodore tried to avoid most, and I had dragged him straight into it. I was going to have to apologize to him, too.
Max, on the other hand, drilled me on the game, especially the sort. I told her we needed to set a strategy before the next game with Dop. I also decided to ask Riis if she knew which stages he favored, or to point out areas where Dop was strong.
“Unfortunately, I know Dop very well — too well for my liking. Why don’t you check out some old scopes?” Riis suggested, standing at her locker and changing the color of her hair to iridescent blue.
“Scope,” I said. “You mean a tetrascope?”
“Is there any other?”
“They’re forbidden to humans.”
“Not if you’re playing Quest-Nest,” she said. “In fact, you can’t play without them. Everyone scopes each other to see how they react in the game. Your helmet is fitted so anyone can ride.”
“Ride? What do you mean by ride?”
“You use the scope to get inside the players’ heads,” she said, tapping on my skull. “See through their eyes, feel what they feel, practically be them.” She closed her locker and added, “I hate it when I know someone is scoping me. But, you’d better get used to it if you’re gonna play Quest-Nest.”
Theodore’s mood instantly changed when I told him about the tetrascope. Back on Orbis 2, he had tried to use one during the Festival of the Harvest, but the technician had refused him. No humans! I remembered him saying. Now Theodore would get his chance.
Throughout the corridors of the Illuminate, everyone seemed to be talking about my upcoming match with Dop. Kids were huddled in hallways chatting over old games that they projected on their pobs.
“It would be golden to have one of those pobs,” I told Max and Ketheria.
Ketheria stopped me in her usual cryptic tone. “It’s their pleasure you envy, but that’s something you already have.”
“Huh?” I said, shaking my head.
“You’re searching for joy from the trophies those kids can buy. It’s not a real pleasure,” she continued.
“I think you should do as Charlie says, and go be a kid,” I told her.
She gave me her usual shrug, as if I were too simple to understand, and wandered up the hall. Inside I knew she was right, but I still wanted a pob.
The cycle of our match against Dop finally arrived. Max and I kept pretty much to ourselves, discussing every possible variation of the sort we could think of. She was eager to try the MAGICAL stage, but I was still hesitant. She gave me a quick rundown on the basic understanding of OIO, but I couldn’t figure out how cosmic streams of energy were going to help me get past a crazed frontier pilot or a holographic Neewalker.
It was impossible to concentrate on my studies before the match. Theodore and I were working on the same problem — constructing a tri
angular-based prime pyramid, and I have to admit that he did all of the work, but I was glad that he was talking to me again. When the spoke finally ended, Theodore disconnected quickly. I could tell he was anxious. “I can’t wait to try the tetrascope, but I can’t decide whom to ride.”
“Scope Dop,” I told him. “You already know how I play.”
Dop was waiting for me outside the Illuminate. So were another hundred or so kids. “You’re going to need this,” Dop hissed, and threw a helmet at me. “I don’t know a knudnik who can afford one, and I refuse to accept some pathetic excuse to cheat your way out of the beating you’re about to receive.”
“Crush him, Dop!” someone yelled from the crowd.
“Yeah, bury that stinking knudnik!” was another cry.
The helmet was old and corroded. The visor was cracked, and the back of the neck was much larger than Dop’s. I tossed it back at him.
“I don’t need your charity,” I said. “I can play without one.”
But Dop would not take back his offering. He thrust the helmet into my chest.
“You can, but you won’t. I paid for that relic, and I plan to make a nice profit letting my friends ride a softwire.”
“Just take it,” Max whispered, and Dop threw another helmet at her. That helmet looked like the one Riis wore to school every cycle.
“Let’s go,” Dop shouted to the crowd. “I’ve got a taste for humans today.”
Some laughed; some rushed to the light chutes. No one was going to miss this.
Wormhole Pirates on Orbis Page 11
