by Travis McBee
“Even though people disappear and turn up crazy?” Abby laughed.
“Especially because of that Abbz,” Jon frowned at her.
“Well that doesn’t make any sense.” Abby replied with a sneer.
“Doesn’t it?”
“Nope.”
They ate breakfast in relative quiet and when they finished they meandered across the atrium to the hanger. The hanger was a circus of people as what seemed to be the entire school crowded into it waiting for the doors of the large shuttle at the center to hiss open. When it finally did Will boarded the ship that had taken him to every other game with his friends in tow.
The ship was always gargantuan but it had usually been mostly empty when Will had ridden on it before. That day however it seemed that nearly every seat was taken and if there was an open one it was unaccompanied by an additional vacant seat for his friends to occupy. Finally, when Will was about to suggest that they split up, He spotted a section of seats that only had one head poking over the six headrests. He walked over and found that the single head belonged to Russell who was staring idly out the window.
“Hey Russ,” Will hailed him, “Mind if we sit with you.”
Russell looked at the four and nodded, “It’ll be like the first game all over again,” he laughed.
“Yeah hopefully with the same results,” Jon chuckled back humorlessly and tossed himself into one of the padded seats.
“Is Starview good?” Abby asked thinking of how the first game had been a monumental upset
“Not really,” Russell answered, “They haven’t won many games but they’ll play hard against us and we aren’t very good either.”
At the conclusion of his answer Russell went back to staring out of his window and the entire group didn’t talk much as the remaining free seats began to fill up on the shuttle. Even the loquacious Corey resigned himself to quietly contemplate all of the stories he had heard about the odious Starview Institute. When the shuttle began to jostle with movement Will sparked a quiet conversation among the chatter that filled the ship from the hundreds of students.
“Russ,” Will said quietly, “What is Starview really like?”
Russell looked up calmly but the rest of the section snapped their heads up with fervent interest.
“Dunno,” Russell said almost dismissively, “Not really any different from Bridgeworld really,” He spoke in a bored tone that was not seconded by his eyes which had a strange gleam sparkling around in their depths. Outside the window showed the shuttle sliding smoothly away from the school leaving the glimmering black cube to orbit the gray world.
“What about the stories? Are they true? Are they really all that terrible?” Will asked staring into Russell’s water blue eyes for the truth.
“I guess,” he shrugged, “They were definitely pranksters but we all got back fine.”
“So no one disappeared or anything like that?” Corey broke in.
“Na man, not that I know of. Mind you I just stuck with the team, all I saw was the inside of the locker room and the gym.”
“Oh,” Will said and stared out the window which was covered with the sticky black of space.
Maybe all those stories are just a freshman prank he thought to himself. He wasn’t sure because as far as he had learned humor was not a common commodity among the people he had met. It was there though and they may have been able to stretch it into a prank of massive proportions. It was a foolish thought and Will knew it as he recalled all of the older student’s dismay at the venue change. Even if it was a joke they weren’t all that good of actors.
The ship continued onward and after a brief spell it jumped into its cruising speed and the stars outside of his window blurred into white streaks of light that pranced about carelessly. The ship was going to Starview and Will guessed the truth would come soon enough. He just hoped it was the opposite of what he found himself expecting.
Chapter Eighteen
Starview
Starview slid into view instantly as the ship decelerated to its approach speed. Will frowned in confusion as the rival school first materialized in front of him and he nearly opened his mouth to hazard a question when he figured it out on his own.
Starview was a glistening cube of dark metal that hung over a world of deep crimson. The light of a youthful, jovial, sun reflected yellow off of its surface. At first glance Starview appeared to be identical to Bridgeworld and without its surroundings it was. When Will first saw it appear he had though they had reappeared at Bridgeworld and his confusion had lasted until spotting the yellow sun and red world which were vastly different from those that embraced his own school.
Will glanced around at his traveling companions who were all staring out the window at the new sight. None of them seemed to be shocked by its close resemblance to Bridgeworld and he inferred that it must be a rather ordinary design for a school even though he had yet to see another orbiting cube in his previous voyages for zegma games.
The Bridgeworld shuttle slid into the hanger without so much as a bump and set itself down next to an equally large shuttle that sat in the middle of the massive room. The shuttle filled with the shuffling of people rising to their feet and Will joined them along with the five others who sat in the little section of seats. Will trundled along with the rest of the group down the shuttle and down the ramp to the metallic floor of the Starview hanger.
At the foot of the ramp Coach Bower stood waiting with the majority of the zegma team. Russell, Jon, and Will bade their goodbyes to Abby and Corey and ambled over to the group.
“Oh good you’re here,” Coach said with a nervous tremble betraying his calm, “Now we’re just waiting on Kim.”
“Here I am coach,” David Kim said walking down the plank and waving a brown hand towards the assembled group.
“Good, good,” Coach mumbled absentmindedly, “Well follow me guys.”
Coach guided the team through the large door that most of the crowd had already passed through and was hardly surprised when he emerged in a gigantic atrium that seemed almost identical to the one he had come to know on Bridgeworld. The room shared the same dimensions of its Bridgeworld counterpart but the gray that plastered the walls of Bridgeworld had been replaced with a stark white color that almost blinded Will. The room was full of milling students many of them in the silver monogarb that he was familiar with but he also saw a light peppering of students that wore monogarbs of shocking white that matched the walls perfectly so that they almost disappeared.
So this is Starview? Will mused to himself as he followed Coach towards the staircase that dominated the room. As Will walked up the length of the atrium he found a treacherous thought meander its way into his skull. He tried to stomp it out, failed, and sighed as he continued upward. I like the white, it’s friendly.
The gym was on the fifth floor exactly like Bridgeworld’s, and as Will ascended through the school he came the final conclusion that Starview and Bridgeworld were exactly the same apart from the variation of the color schemes. The rooms were all in the same location he had come to expect and even the sounds of the school were alike. And that’s why we hate each other.
Will entered the visiting locker room and was initially shocked to find something vastly different from what he was used to. The room was dwarfed by the locker room he had changed in countless times and he was about to comment on it before he realized he was in the visitor’s locker room instead of the home team locker room that he was used to.
“Alright guys get changed and huddle up,” Coach said from the front of the room.
Will slipped into his zegma suit nearly falling over as his socks slid on the smooth metal floor, much to the amusement of Jon. When he had squeezed into his suit he picked up his helmet and held it slung under his arm as he joined the small congregation around Coach. When the rest of the team joined them Coach looked over them soberly and began his pregame speech.
“Okay guys you know this is a big game so I don’t need to remind yo
u of that. What you do need to be reminded of is the fact that they purposely weaseled around to get the game moved here so that they could win. Well don’t let them win boys, don’t let them keep it close. Blow them out of the water so we can prance around their halls laughing while they cry their little eyes out.”
Will opened his mouth in shock at the usually levelheaded coach and his mouth wasn’t the only one to drop. Next to him Jon was half chuckling from disbelief and next to him a big junior boy named Chandler Griggs was shaking his blonde head in awe at the sudden change in their coach.
“I still don’t know how they managed to dance their way into this situation but I do know that it pissed Dean Norris off pretty bad. So make sure this backfires and who knows, maybe the Dean will have a big present for us all if we do. Now get out there and kick butt!”
The team stood immobilized by silence for a split second before one of the boys started to cheer and the cheer caught like wildfire racing through the team until all thirteen of them were whooping and bouncing up and down like a pack of crazed baboons.
Coach smiled at their enthusiasm and waved his hand for them to follow him and walked out of a door opposite the one they had entered. Will jammed his helmet over his head and rejoiced as the world took on a darker shade of white as the dark visor dimmed the numbingly bright walls of Starview. Will walked through the door and emerged into the large colorless blankness that dominated every gym he had been in but this one seemed vastly different. The glass wall that separated the gym from the spectators was filled with students who were all yelling relentlessly. The students on the front row were beating on the glass wildly and the whole surface flexed ominously under their hammering blows. The sound flowed through the barrier and attacked Will’s senses through his helmet.
Across the gym the Starview team was trundling in through another door. They were dressed in zegma suits of purest white and if it hadn’t been for the opaque visors of their helmet’s they would have been invisible amongst the bright walls. The figures that made up the team did not seem large to Will but he knew that zegma was a sport where size didn’t matter in the least.
The shrill whistle of a horn broke Will from his inspection and brought his attention to the center of the gym where the green ball had appeared along with the small objects that would become satellites. Coach Bower walked back towards the locker room smacking each player on the helmet with a hefty palm as he passed. When the door slid closed behind Coach, Will felt the incomparable freedom of gravity disappearing before his suit was magnetized sending him soaring backwards to stick to the wall which had colored itself to a pure silver.
Across the gym he could see the vague shapes of the Starview team which blended perfectly with the empty white wall but were accented with the dark line of the visor so that the wall seemed to be covered in tiny dashes like an old morse code message. The green ball that had lain on the floor in the center of the gym now floated in midair between the two teams and Will could feel the eyes of every player darting over its surface as the satellites grew around them. When the satellites were in place the beeping to signal the beginning finally began to ring around the gym and with a roar from the crowd the final tone blared and Will launched himself off of the wall.
* * *
“Move your rump,” Corey laughed pushing one of his friends over on the bench so Abby and he could sit.
Corey plopped down in the opening and patted the metal bench next to him inviting Abby to sit, which she did. The room was a maze of noise and confusion as the students yelled at the teams that had just entered the gym from opposite sides. The rack of seats was split nearly down the middle so that Starview students sat in a cloud of white on the right, while the visitors from Bridgeworld created a silver sea of bodies on the left.
“This is going to be fun,” Corey said to her as he rubbed his hands together in excitement.
“Oh yeah,” Abby had to shout to overcome the din, “I hope there’s not any fights though.”
“Oh you’re such a party pooper Abby,” Corey smirked as the more animal side of him longed for a fight.
Inside the gym the coaches walked back into their locker rooms and the gravity apparently left as well since the players started to float a few inches off the ground before flying to opposite walls and hanging there like paintings. A few seconds later the loud claxon sounds of the horn began to beep away and the stands erupted into fresh roars as the players jumped off the walls. One figure in particular bolted away from the Bridgeworld wall in a streak of silver.
“That’ll be Will,” Corey laughed pointing at the speeding figure, “He can’t maneuver to save his life but the boy can move in a hurry that’s for sure.”
Abby smiled an agreement as she watched her boyfriend land on one of the center satellites before readjusting and launching himself towards the green ball in the center. He had made it there long before any of his, or his opposing, teammates so he managed to snag the green orb without interference. After he secured the ball he redirected his assault with a ferocious push from another satellite and zoomed like a missile towards the plain white wall where the Starview players were still streaming from.
All of the Starview players were still in midair heading towards the center arrangement of satellites because none of them could come close to reaching Will’s phenomenal speed. Since they were in midair they could only flail hopelessly as a silver streak blurred past them cradling a green ball which Will slammed into the vast white plain of the wall which flashed green acknowledging the stick.
A symphony of cheers erupted from throats of the Bridgeworld section as they cheered their early lead. Abby turned to Corey and gave him a bone crushing hug as she jumped up and down in jubilation.
“They underestimated just how fast he was,” Corey laughed as he hugged her back, “He probably won’t be able to do that again though.”
Abby began to laugh with him as the teams on the other side of the glass were drawn back to their own walls. Behind came the unmistakable tone of a groan which stood out from cheering like an apple on a grape vine. She turned around to see a short column of white that had invaded the section of silver. Four Starview students had apparently been unable to locate seats in their own section and were forced to sit behind them. One of them, a tall boy with red hair and equally red freckles, saw her looking back at them.
“What are you looking at Bridger?” He snapped at her
“Nothing,” Abby replied meekly.
“Darn right nothing! Turn around!”
She turned back around but Corey had heard the exchange and rotated in his seat so that he could glare at the four white clad students.
“Keep your mouth shut you’re in our section viewer,” He growled
“You’re in our school dummy,” A ridiculously skinny girl whose hair was just as ridiculously curly sneered at him
“Looks like it’s our house now doesn’t it,” He said calmly pointing towards the score board that floated in the glass that separated them from the gym. It was flashing five to nothing in bold gold numbers.
“You guys don’t stand a chance,” The red haired boy said.
“We’ll see,” Corey replied simply before turning back around to watch the game as Abby whispered a thank you into his ear.
The game nearly had a repeat as the players launched themselves into action once again. Will managed to get the ball and rocket towards the white wall just as he had done the first time and it had looked like he would score easily. However the Starview players had indeed learned from their previous mistake and one of the doublers that was left behind nailed him with a club when he was within spitting distance of the wall.
Will flew back to his own wall but another Bridgeworld player managed to intercept a weak pass between the player who had clubbed Will and another white suited player deeper into the gym. The Bridgeworld player then tossed the ball to another speeding blur of silver who caught it deftly and rammed it home near the base of the wall. The stands eru
pted into wild cheers as the wall pulsed green again and the Bridgeworld lead was extended to ten-nil.
It had been a remarkable first minute of the game with the two quick scores from Bridgeworld but on the next exchange Starview managed to sneak in a stick after a furious few minutes of clubbing and passing. The Bridgeworld section had groaned as the Starview faithful cheered wildly as the silver wall turned green. Abby and Corey were forced to ignore the taunts that rained down on them from above but not for long.
On the next release, a speeding Will once again got the center before anyone else and like the first time he had gotten the ball managed to slip past the entire Starview team before touching the ball triumphantly to the wall to once again pull them ahead of Starview by ten points.
Bridgeworld extended their lead throughout the first half and when the buzzer rang for half time the numbers shone down from the scoreboard proclaiming Bridgeworld to hold a fifty to fifteen lead. Many in the crowd were remaking on the furious fifteen minutes of play and most could not remember having ever seen so many points scored in the first half. Will had been sensational scoring five of the sticks on his own as Starview couldn’t fully adjust to his blazing speed.
“I’m going to the bathroom, I’ll be right back.” Abby told Corey who was talking animatedly with the boy next to him.
“Okay,” He replied absently.
Abby squirmed her way down the crowded row and descended the steps on the edge. Corey didn’t pay her any attention in her exodus and also failed to notice the two girls dressed in white slipping out of the row behind him as he talked with his friend about the game.
Abby didn’t linger in the halls searching for the bathroom since the layout was identical to that of her own school. She had mentioned the identical lay out in amazement to Corey when they had entered and he had remarked that only the color of the walls made him feel like he wasn’t in Bridgeworld. As such she wasn’t amazed or even surprised when she found the fifth floor girls bathroom in the exact location she had expected it to be and she entered the sliding door without any hesitation.
