Renn squared off with the mountain lion, both ready to lunge. Renn had heard stories about hunters surviving attacks this way and thought if it worked for them, it could work for him. He just needed to get control of his nerves, visualize it happening, and then go for it.
Renn and the puma locked eyes. He saw the large cat twitch before it charged. Renn’s legs sprang into action. They met in the middle as the mountain lion’s paws aimed for Renn’s bare chest. Renn shoved the wound-up shirt down the animal’s throat with his fist, blocking its airway.
The mountain lion backed up in an attempt to breathe.
Renn frantically grabbed its fur, trying to keep it from getting away.
Dylan caught on and got behind the puma, pushing it closer to Renn. It clawed at Renn’s chest and back, over and over. Renn cried out in pain when the animal slashed his flesh.
“Ava…” Dylan said, ready to eliminate the pain.
“No!” Renn yelled, as the mountain lion became still. He backed up and they looked up at the scoreboard. Ten seconds to go before the level was up and the pain would end. “I can handle ten more seconds.”
Dylan used the uniform to press down on Renn’s wound, receiving more points for the good form. “Hang on, man. Almost over.”
“Four, three, two, one.”
On “one,” the pain vanished and the wounds disappeared once the simulation image had lowered into the arena floor. The crowd cheered, stomping their feet and paws while they shouted in excitement.
Renn picked up his shirt, which was scrunched up in a ball on the ground next to his shoulder pads. He put them back on, grateful that the scratches had disappeared.
Their score was 2,250 to Grus and Jonah’s 850, and Renn would later find out that another mountain lion had attacked Jonah. Grus had walked over to it, grabbed it by the back of the neck like a cat, and turned it around so he could see what to make of it. The lion had swiped at Grus, scratching his face. Grus jerked back, insulted by the assault, and threw the lion over the trees, injuring it, but not killing it, causing them to receive fewer points than Renn and Dylan for the bad form.
The fighters didn’t get much time to catch their breath before Ava announced, “The planet is Mindeere.”
The crowd booed on account of Renn getting two planets in a row he would be familiar with, since the entire point of BOTS was to survive species and worlds that the fighters weren’t familiar with. Ava, however, found it just as important to survive the dangers on one’s own planet as another, assigning planets based on their species. To the computer, BOTS was never a game.
“Fighters, prepare,” Ava said.
Renn looked across a beige desert covered with sand that ended abruptly at the feet of high, craggy mountains. Hot springs were scattered about like steaming blue puddles, while white, leafless trees ornamented the flat plain, resting under a cloudy blue sky. Renn had no idea where the enemy would come from and put off telling Dylan.
“Fighters, choose your weapons,” Ava announced.
Renn decided to stay with his electricity blasts as his only form of self-defense, seeing as it was the weapon he had the most experience with. He wasn’t willing to take the risk of shooting himself or Dylan because he wasn’t fully trained with guns.
“B-6 hand cannon,” Dylan said. He looked at Renn. “This is all you again! We got this!” he said, jumping at their luck.
“Uh…Dylan,” Renn replied.
“Yeah?” Dylan said, hamming it up for the crowd by posing with the large hand cannon and making the crowd laugh.
“I've never been to Mindeere,” Renn said, embarrassed.
Dylan stopped jumping around. “Yeah, but you know all about it, right? Like, you know what species come from Mindeere…right?”
“Um…I know Mindeerians come from Mindeere…” Renn said, trying to make light of the situation.
“Are you kidding me?” Dylan said, getting into battle stance.
Grus and Jonah both requested various hand cannons plus one accessory: a bag of lightning rods.
Renn and Dylan both looked at each other, worried about making it past level two.
Grus and Jonah ran around, sticking the lightning rods into the ground until they had created a circle around them.
Ava, however, wasn’t willing to wait. “The game will begin in five, four, three, two, one.”
Steam came up from the blue water, rising in stacks towards the sky. A cool wind stung the fighters’ cheeks, while they looked around for movement. In the distance, Renn could see a creature resembling deranged sheep running towards him, occasionally blending in with the beige sand.
The fighters looked up to the board to see that the animals were a species called “Egars.”
“Are they good or bad? They look pretty intense,” Dylan asked.
“I don't know,” Renn replied, while more came in their direction.
They looked over at Grus and Jonah, who were aiming towards them, waiting to see if Renn would fire.
“Well, do I shoot it or protect it?” Dylan asked.
“I don't know!” Renn replied. “I was raised on Earth.”
In the stands, students yelled, “Shoot it!”, “Protect it!” The yelling grew louder and louder, until the fighters could hear it. One of the Egars was almost on them, running straight for Renn. He had to make a decision. A voice then spoke in his head, It's going to kill you, shoot it!
Renn fired a single blast, killing the creature. He could hear booing coming from the crowd and looked up to see 200 points deducted. He turned to where the holding tank would be and glared, knowing very well who had spoken.
Kia looked over at Desh, who was grinning at the deducted points.
“Did you tell him to shoot it?” Kia asked, confused.
“They shouldn't be playing if they don't even know what a Mindeerian Egar is,” Desh replied.
Grus and Jonah lowered their guns and scanned for other species after watching Ava deduct the points. The remaining Egars ran up to Grus and Jonah, hid behind them, and looked towards Renn, like frightened puppies. Jonah patted one, resulting in 200 points for identifying the species as friendly, then looked over at Renn and smirked.
Blue illuminated stingrays with long spindly legs crawled out of the hot springs, heading towards the fighters from every direction. The creatures fired electricity blasts towards them, causing the players to dodge the assault. When the stingrays fired on Jonah and Grus, the fighters were protected by the electricity rods, and the sand took the full impact.
Renn and Dylan fired, killing as many as they could until Dylan was hit with a bolt of electricity, frying his bionic braces and sending electrical waves up his body.
Grus roared, motioning them towards the protected circle, to the annoyance of Jonah and the fear of the Egars.
Renn put up a wall of energy, deflecting the blasts while Dylan tried to recover from the electrocution. He helped Dylan up and the two made their way towards the circle. The lightning rods canceled out Renn’s only weapon, and he took Dylan’s gun, letting him rest when he refused to eliminate the pain till the end of the level.
“The players have advanced to level three,” Ava announced. The crowd cheered, but only to show good form despite the Mindeerian who didn’t know Mindeere.
After the seventy second break, Ava announced the planet as Marlna, and mossy hills ascended above the white floor with white stone caves visible at every turn. The fighters looked down and saw they were standing on ink-black swamp water, which they would easily sink into once Ava started the level. Trees rose through the swamp, with moss draping over each branch, shutting out most of the light.
“Fighters, prepare.”
Renn and Dylan ran around, trying to find solid ground before Ava started the game.
“Choose your weapons,” Ava commanded.
Dylan chose a laser gun, while Renn stayed with Mindeerian fire, and the fighters separated, standing at the edge of separate caves.
“Can’t we ask for extra gear?” R
enn asked Dylan.
“Yeah, what do you need?” Dylan replied.
“I don’t know. It just seems like we should stock up if we don’t lose anything by it.”
Dylan shook his head. “Rookie mistake. Extra gear will slow us down. Everything needs to be necessary or it will just get in our way.”
“The game will begin in five, four, three, two, one.”
On “one,” Grus sank three feet into the swamp, being the only one who hadn’t headed for solid land.
Jonah stood on one of the mossy hills, but jumped into the swamp when the moss began to crawl up his body.
Grus, kept looking around the swamp water, while serpents brushed against his legs. He fired into the water around him, causing one serpent to float to the top, dead. It looked like a ten foot black eel, with a jaw that could open up large enough to take a good bite out of Grus’ thick leg. Grus ran for a cave as all the fighters heard the trees rustling in the distance.
“What the hell are those?” Renn asked, looking up towards the figures flying towards them. They had webbed tentacles, green skin, and four protruding black eyes that stood straight up.
Dylan looked up at the board. “Risshions,” he replied.
“Never heard of them.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
Renn and Dylan took aim, waiting for an indication as to whether or not they were hostile, but Jonah wasn’t willing to wait, and fired.
Dylan and Renn looked up to see Ava add points, prompting them to fire along, while the Risshions came in a swarm.
Renn tried to stay focused, for the first time displaying good aim. He finally felt like he was getting the hang of it, not noticing that an Odra was creeping up behind him from deep within the cave.
Odras walked erect like humans, with alabaster skin, skin flaps for hair and two eyes dominating two thirds of their face. Each compound eye contained a facet that was repeated 800 times. Below the eyes was the mouth, which was filled with hundreds of worm-like leeches, wiggling about, in place of teeth.
The Odra filled its mouth with Renn’s neck, sucking his blood. Renn became dizzy, feeling the blood rushing from his body, as he heard the sucking sound. This isn't real, this isn't real, he thought. Dylan, help, he projected.
Dylan turned around and jumped into the swamp, heading for Renn. He didn’t have to run far into the cave to see the Odra, yet he couldn’t get good aim. Without hesitating, Dylan turned the gun around and hit the Odra with the butt of his gun. The Odra fell to the floor, giving Dylan perfect aim before he fired.
Renn fell to the ground, feeling like he was going to pass out.
“Snap out of it!” Dylan said, seeing the Risshions land outside the cave. “I can’t do this on my own,” he said, firing.
Renn got up and created a wall of energy, pushing them back, before releasing it so the fighters could fire.
A black serpent ascended from the water, opening its jaw towards Dylan’s head.
Renn put up his hands, penetrating the serpent with an electrical blast, killing it within seconds.
Dylan turned around, looking at the slimy corpse as it fell back into the swamp. He looked back at Renn and nodded, acknowledging they were even.
The four fighters worked in unison, not having a choice if they wanted to survive the level.
At the end of the five Federation minutes, the swamp receded back into the ground.
“Fighters have advanced to level four,” Ava announced.
Renn gave an involuntary shiver, thinking about the Odra, and continued to rub his neck, thankful that Ava had once again cleared the wound.
The scoreboard counted down a minute to catch their breath, then on “one,” Ava’s voice resonated through the arena, “The planet is Portau.”
The white arena floor changed to dark blue water, frozen in time, while Ava began building the sky.
Renn and Grus ran around, looking for land, rock, anything to stand on to stay above the water once the level began, but there was nothing.
“Fighters, prepare,” Ava advised.
“Where are you going?” Dylan yelled after Renn. “Come back!”
“To find land!”
“There is no land, it’s Portau! Renn? Ah, hell. Ava, give us wetsuits and flippers.”
Flippers instantly appeared on Renn’s feet and he fell to the ocean top, sliding a few feet on the glass-like surface.
“There we go,” Dylan muttered, walking patiently towards Renn.
“Fighters, choose your weapons.”
“Give us Temian F-3 water guns,” Dylan said.
As Renn stood up, a gun appeared before him, large enough to require two hands to catch it. “Wow, that’s really heavy. Dylan, we’re going to sink!”
“You don’t say,” Dylan replied with a grin.
“The game will begin in five, four, three, two…”
“Ava, give us oxyg…” Renn beckoned, but not before Ava had finished counting down.
On “one,” all four fighters fell into the ocean without oxygen tanks.
Renn tried to hold his breath and swim for the surface, but the weight of the gun pulled him down.
Dylan! Renn projected.
Inhale the water, Dylan thought. Portau's oceans are full of perfluorocarbons. Just breathe normally.
Renn held his breath while he watched Dylan inhale the water.
Dylan thrashed and kicked, his face scrunched in pain, until he finally relaxed, breathing the water with ease. He looked Renn in the eyes. It’s okay, just breathe, Dylan thought.
Renn opened his mouth and let the water enter his lungs. His lungs ached and contracted at the feeling. Shooting pains tightened his chest, but he continued to breathe, each breath getting easier and easier.
He finally understood why points were deducted when one asked Ava to eliminate pain. Part of the battle was to survive on planets that didn’t follow the same rules as the planets the students were familiar with. One was taught from childhood on Earth that humans drown in water. It took practice to register that the same rules might not apply on another planet, when one feared an imminent death. Their minds kicked into survival mode and rejected it, trying to find a way out.
Renn continued breathing, while Dylan held on to him, waiting. After a moment, Renn nodded, ready for the battle. He looked over at Jonah and Grus and waited for Grus to stop kicking and thrashing, but the more time went on, the more hysterical the Zorgre became.
Dylan, I think something’s wrong with Grus, Renn projected.
Audmin are coming, Dylan thought. They’re cool, don’t shoot them.
Renn looked around while they continued to sink and saw swaying vegetation and coral columns surround them. He made eye contact with a female Audmin swimming near them and smiled at the closest thing to a mermaid he had ever seen.
Dylan waved, catching the Audmin’s attention and pointed to a bush of seaweed behind them.
The Audmin nodded.
Dylan looked at Renn and thought, When you see more Audmins, have them get behind the algae. The squid are blind; they hunt by feeling for vibrations in the water. They won't be able to feel the difference between the seaweed swaying and the Audmins swimming when they're that close together.
Can’t we just hide behind the seaweed too then? Renn asked, glancing back at Grus, who continued thrashing and screaming.
We can either hide or fight, Dylan explained. If we shoot from behind the seaweed, it will lead them to us and the Audmins. We’ll get more points for fighting though. What do you want to do?
Fight of course, Renn replied, looking around. Where are the squid? I don’t see them.
They live in the aphotic zones below. They're swimming up, Dylan replied.
Renn looked beneath him and saw pairs of red fluorescent eyes coming towards them. He heard the muffled sound of a gun firing and looked over in time to dodge a large bullet gliding through the water. Renn shook his head, annoyed that Jonah was now shooting at them. Renn fired back, but Jonah wa
s too far and able to dodge it with seconds to spare.
Save your blasts for the squid. They'll get you before the other team does, Dylan thought.
Renn looked down and saw they were almost upon them. He and Dylan fired. Renn watched the squid swim towards the bullets, feeling the vibrations and mistaking them for food.
Renn looked over at Grus who was still flailing, while he sank lower and lower into the ocean. He had dropped his gun long ago and the squid went right for him, biting him over and over. He cried out in pain as green blood filled the water around him.
Grus, tell Ava to eliminate the pain! Renn shouted in Grus’ head, but Grus wasn’t thinking straight enough to comprehend.
The crowd stood up and booed through the simulation. Some students yelled, “Turn off the pain,” while others covered their mouths, watching the horror.
Renn looked at Jonah. Tell Ava to turn off the pain, you ass! Grus is in agony!
I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you? I’m not losing 1,000 points for a Zorgre, Jonah thought, sneering at Renn through the water. Jonah fired at Renn again, but the water slowed the bullet down enough for Renn to dodge it.
Renn went after Grus first. If he killed Grus, the pain would stop and Grus would fall to the ground when the simulation disappeared. Renn got a clear sight of him, but more squid were closing in on Renn's legs. Grus or the squid? He could only choose one. He lifted the gun up towards Grus, letting the enemy tear open his own legs. It was torture feeling the flesh rip open and his muscles torn to pieces. Renn screamed through the water. “Ava, eliminate pain!”
“Pain eliminated,” Ava complied, deducting 1,000 points.
The pain vanished, leaving a numbing sensation in its place so he could still tell when and where he was wounded. I won’t last long, he projected to Dylan.
Do what you gotta do, Dylan replied.
Renn swam closer to Grus and took aim. He shot Grus in the head, as the water around Renn filled with crimson blood. He went for Jonah while there was still time left. Blasts came from across the water and Renn glanced back to see Dylan trying to shoot the squid off Renn's legs.
Grus had fallen to the ground in the white simulation room, seeing everything without the holograms. He could see the students in the stands, cheering and booing at the remaining fighters. He patted his legs, trying to find the wounds that had disappeared the moment he was shot. No one could see him in that space. He just sat there a moment where he could be alone, where no one was able to see him cry. There was no forest he could go to, to wait for death, so he could be reunited with his brother. There were no parents to kiss him on the cheek and tell him that everything was going to be all right. The only thing he could do was to wipe his tears on his sleeve, sniffle, and get up.
Galileo (Battle of the Species) Page 23
