Flag Race

by Felipe Valente

  “And you’re giving up because of that?” Marcelo asked. “It’s got to be here somewhere, right?”

  Pedro pondered for a few seconds and then agreed with a nod. The brothers were right. He couldn’t give up. It was his only chance to find treatment for the twins. He turned around to answer them, but again, there was only darkness all around.

  He concentrated, trying to estimate once more where that Neurolink could have fallen after being tossed by Blazkowicz. Calmly he groped the ground, praying he could find it.

  He had to keep his focus! He couldn’t stop believing he could do it! He remembered that the more determined he was, the more his stability would hold out.

  Finally there came the feeling of an object touching his fingers. He could barely believe it.

  With a smile, he immediately strapped the device to his forearm. In the instant it was activated, Ace was forced to disconnect.

  His head ached, his stomach churned. There was an awful pain in his whole body, which seemed stiffer than normal. He stretched out, hearing several of his joints pop. Getting up, he went to the bathroom to wash his face.

  He couldn’t refrain from screaming in horror when he looked in the mirror and noticed he was in Thiago’s body. He felt his face, his head, he pinched himself and went through plenty of other motions to try and prove to himself that what was happening wasn’t real. Looking around, he noticed the obvious: this wasn’t his home.

  There was a knock on his bedroom door. A muffled voice could be heard behind it.

  “Sir? Are you all right, sir? Did something happen? I’m aware you ordered me last night that I wasn’t supposed to bother you at all even if you called me today, but I heard a scream and I wanted to know if everything was fine.”

  “It’s OK.” Pedro heard himself speak with Thiago’s voice, further increasing his feeling of nausea.

  “Are you quite sure, sir?”

  “Yeah! I... I’m coming right out.”

  “As you wish.”

  Pedro kept looking at himself in the mirror. What would he do now? He had to find a way to return to his body! But he couldn’t let anybody know he was in Thiago’s body either, since body theft was a crime. Who would believe in his version of the story, if he was to be confronted? He couldn’t let himself fall into that trap. He had to be smarter than him.

  What could Thiago’s plan possibly be? Could it be that all he wanted was just to eliminate Dante’s Chaos from the competition, by taking out one of its players?

  There was a cutting-edge tablet thrown in one corner of the room. He turned it on and checked the date. Wednesday. It was the day after he’d gone inline. He’d spent about ten hours connected to the Neuralnet. There were only a few minutes before classes began.

  What could he do? He couldn’t just walk up to school and confront Thiago face to face. But how could he fix all that nonsense? Well, at least the fact that I’ve managed to escape shouldn’t even have crossed Thiago’s mind. I have to try and fix it all up before he can find out!

  He grabbed the first clothes he found and got dressed, while hatching a plan to get home. He was in the wrong body, with the wrong Neurolink. He figured that if he got home, at least he’d have the chance to grab the right Neurolink back. Then he’d find a way to claim his body back.

  The butler gave him an inquisitive glance when he left the bedroom down to the luxurious hallway of the mansion where Thiago lived.

  “I thought the young master wouldn’t go to school today. Classes must have started already.”

  “Yeah. It’s just that”—Pedro had to improvise—“there’s some numbskull in my classroom that should have brought his part of some assignment we’re gonna have to present and he forgot to. I’m gonna drop by his house to get it before school.”

  Pedro anxiously waited for the butler’s reaction. He remained unmoved, until he finally said, “Very well, sir. Shall I arrange the car right away or would you rather eat something before we leave?”

  Pedro said yes to both options. He got in the car holding a delicious loaf of sweet bread between his teeth. He didn’t want to feed Thiago’s body, but he couldn’t resist it. All that time spent inline had left him starving, desperate for some food.

  They didn’t say a word while his beautiful car cruised across town toward Pedro’s house. The chauffeur found Thiago’s silence strange, missing the familiar curse words and overwrought stories boasting of his deeds he usually heard from Thiago, but he knew it was best to remain silent and not to question the boy’s behavior. Many employees had already been fired for less than that.

  “Hi, Pedro!” Letícia gestured to Thiago, in Pedro’s body, as soon as he got to the classroom.

  A huge grin appeared on his face when he saw her. It was almost time to act.

  Pedro was looking at his own house. It was empty, as expected. His parents were at work. Now there was another problem. How would he get in? The front fence could be easily jumped over, and normally the living room window was left unlocked, but what would the chauffeur say, as he kept on watching him from inside the car?

  Knowing nobody was home to answer him, he rang the bell. If I break into my own house, they’ll think I’m some delinquent and—

  He grinned. He was in Thiago’s body. Who would be the delinquent then? Grabbing the bars, he jumped over with ease. His will was focused on the next obstacle. The window had to be unlocked!

  He pushed it.

  Letícia found it strange that Pedro hadn’t come up to her to give her a kiss yet. Instead, he simply went to his desk and sat down. Was something wrong? Daniel and Luiz seemed to be trying to engage him in conversation, but he’d only give them short answers.

  What was going on? Letícia checked her watch. There were still a few minutes left before classes began. She decided to go talk to her boyfriend, tell him the good news and try to understand what was going on.

  Pedro sighed in relief when he felt he window opening. With a jump he entered the small living room in his house, ran upstairs, and started desperately looking for his Neurolink. He opened drawers, scrambled through the sheets, turned the pillows over. Thiago wasn’t that bright! He must have hidden the Neurolink somewhere obvious. Surely he wouldn’t take it with him to school. Or would he?

  “Hi, Pedro, is everything all right? You have no idea what happened! I talked to my dad! I needed some help from my mom, but—”

  “I don’t care.”

  Letícia let out a half-smile. Was Pedro trying to be funny?

  “Whoa, Pedro, you never talked like this before... Is everything OK?”

  “I don’t give a damn about your whining!”

  “What? What do you mean, Pedro? Knock it off, please! We always—”

  “Damn, girl, wake up! Know your place! Who do you think you are to boss me around? If I knew you’d get all over my ass, I’d never even have touched you!”

  Letícia’s half-smile was letting her nervousness show more and more. What weird prank was he playing on her? Luiz and Daniel looked at each other with curiosity. Thiago was getting ready to get on with his plans.

  “You didn’t get it yet? I don’t need you anymore, girl! I’ve always been an idiot, a sucker, a butthead”—Thiago decided that was enough—“out here, but I’m somebody on the Neuralnet, you got that?”

  “Pedro, you’re scaring me! What do you mean?” Letícia saw the rest of their class was watching them. She was starting to get cold sweat.

  “Girl, I’m at the official Flag Race championship! I’ve got women all over me now!”

  “Why didn’t you tell me before you’re playing Flag Race? And you always said you couldn’t manage to have two—”

  “Oh, and now I have to explain myself to just about any girl I pick up? Wake up, girl!”

  “Take it easy, man!” Luiz tried to intervene. “We can see you’re kinda nervous, but hang on! Letícia isn’t just any girl and—”

  “Oh! Get out, you!” He turned to Letícia. “If you think I really owe yo
u an explanation at all, then, very well! I’m explaining it to you right now, right here to your face, that I have no need anymore for some bland broad like you! You have no idea of all the hotties that are all over me on the Neuralnet! And you really thought I would give up all of that just because you’d get upset? Wake up, girl!”

  Letícia’s green eyes couldn’t hold back their tears, which flowed freely down her face. How could he do that to her? And, worse, right in front of the whole class. He seemed so different before! Could it be possible that her dad was right? That she and Pedro should never have been together at all? The boy prepared his final blow.

  “And know what? I wish I had never dated you. I don’t know why I wasted my time with you when I could have been enjoying real women, right here in real life”—he winked at Amanda, who grimaced indignantly—“so get out of my life, go be a drag to somebody else!” Letícia was getting her backpack and running out of the classroom. “That’s right! Just get out! And don’t come whining back to me later, because there’s no going back!” He yelled that to her so she could hear him in the hallway. “You hear me? No going back!”

  Pedro thanked the heavens when he found his Neurolink hidden under the bed. He allowed the waves of relief to flood his mind, figuring all would be all right now.

  Chapter 18

  He logged in. Luckily his Neurolink’s emergency disconnection mode was still active, allowing the device to accept his access. The feeling of falling backwards was more intense than usual, and Ace saw himself back in that locus full of darkness. He needed help! One of his friends had to be inline!

  Since he’d logged in through his original Neurolink, he was notified that Bobby was there in the virtual world.

  “Bobby! You have to help me out! You have no idea what happened!”

  “Hmph. What now?”

  “My body was stolen! Captain Blazkowicz stole my body! I think he was trying to get me to lose our match today, leaving me without my Neurolink trapped in this completely empty locus!”

  “But there’s no way for someone to steal your Neurolink, unless... Oh, I can’t believe it, you let him take—”

  “Bobby!” Ace interrupted him. “I don’t have much time and I need your help! Can I count on you?”

  He sighed before he answered.

  “What can I do, right? I don’t wanna lose the game just because you did something stupid.”

  After he’d explained his plan to Bobby, Ace logged out and placed his Neurolink back where he had found it. All he had to do now was wait. According to his plan, Thiago would go back to that dark locus to look for his Neurolink in order to log out in his real body. If he caught him by surprise, maybe he could get his own Neurolink back. Then, each one of them would be back with their original devices, connected to their real bodies.

  Pedro, after sending the chauffeur back to Thiago’s mansion (with the excuse that he’d need to finish the supposed school assignment there), waited anxiously in his house until classes were over, in expectation for the moment when Thiago would return, bringing his original body back to him. He remained hidden behind the door when he heard the noise from the family’s car approaching.

  Just as he’d imagined, Thiago had used some excuse or other to get away from Marta and Antônio and run back to Pedro’s bedroom, intent on getting inline again and returning to his body as soon as possible.

  Pedro held his breath while he watched, still in hiding, as Thiago groped the floor under the bed looking for Pedro’s Neurolink. He hoped that the fact he was in his body wouldn’t alter the settings, leaving him vulnerable for the switch.

  Soon after, Thiago was getting inline. He did so while standing up, on purpose, so that Pedro’s body would fall and hit the floor. Pedro, after seeing his body tumbling down, decided to punch Thiago’s stomach hard in retribution, so that he wouldn’t be the only one to wake up in pain after the switch had been made. He got inline, standing up as well.

  “Hello! Did you miss me, Ace?” Blazkowicz laughed while imagining the condition in which he was about to see Ace, driven mad while stuck in that immense darkness. “Maybe you might have lost track of time a bit, so I’ll refresh your memory: your team’s next match is coming shortly! About an hour from now!” He still grinned, looking around, trying to find him in the darkness. “But I don’t think you’ll get to play in it, since I stole your Neurolink from your body, huh? Such a shame! But then, hey, who told you to mess with Captain Blazkowicz?”

  “Oh, shut up!” Ace spoke up, at last.

  “But you...! How are you still so coherent? You were stuck here in this locus and—”

  “Give me back my Neurolink! Now! Before it gets worse for you!”

  Blazkowicz laughed. Who did that little dork think he was? Didn’t he realize he was dealing with someone from a much higher level? Didn’t he realize how he was about to be torn apart by all the guns Blazkowicz would create? Besides, how much stability could he possibly still have?

  “I’m asking you one last time, Thiago!” Pedro went on. “Give me back my Neurolink, or I’ll take it from you by force!”

  “Hahaha! I won’t authorize the removal! Even so, who would take it from me? You and who else?”

  “Me!” Bobby leaped from behind the captain, taking him down and immobilizing him on the ground. He had taken the shape of something that resembled a giant, solid shadow, which allowed him to keep himself camouflaged until now. He wrapped his shadowy arms around Blazkowicz, keeping him from moving. He was wrapping more and more of his body in his shadows, keeping only the Neurolink in sight.

  “Thanks, Bobby!” Ace said while removing Blazkowicz’s device from his arm. The Neurolink came off easily, given that Pedro had already programmed it for removal. After that, he switched devices. A profound feeling of peace came over him once he was connected again on his own Neurolink.

  “You dork!” Blazkowicz cried out. “You really think you can do this sort of—” Bobby’s shadows wrapped around the G.I.’s mouth, keeping him from speaking.

  “And what now?” Bobby asked.

  “Now we get out of his damned locus and get ready for our match.”

  “What about him?”

  Ace sighed.

  “Let him go. I’ll leave his Neurolink here so he can log out. He’ll still be the same jerk after that, but it’s all right. I programmed my Neurolink to record all that happened here. If he tries to do anything funny again, he’s going straight to jail. Besides, it’ll be much more fun to kick his ass on the court, right, Bobby?”

  In that tangle of shadows, Ace thought he could see him smile.

  “Let’s head down to the Flag Race server,” Ace went on. “We’ll have to spend some more of our stability to get there, since there are no doors. I’ll also have to log out for a while, before the match starts.” Ace reminded himself of Thiago’s body lying down in his bedroom, next to his.

  Bobby let Blazkowicz go. Ace and his friend teleported back to the server as they heard him screaming.

  “Nobody does that to me and gets out alive! You’ll pay for this! You can be sure I’ll see you later, losers!”

  As they arrived in the server, after thanking Bobby profusely, Ace logged out. He wanted to get back to his body before Thiago could get back to his.

  Returning was easier now he was once again in his own body. He moved his fingers, his hands, and his arms, enjoying the feeling of being himself once more. He wasn’t even bothered by the pain in his chest from falling down before logging in. The important part was that this nightmare was now over.

  He heard his parents talking on the ground floor, over lunch. He looked at Thiago’s body sprawled on the floor, still motionless. He needed all his strength to lug the boy’s bulky body around, pulling him down carefully as he went down the stairs, trying not to make a noise.

  “Pedro! Come have lunch, son, or you’ll be late to see your brothers!” his father called.

  “Coming!” He didn’t know what else to say. He tried to make it l
ook like he was still on the upper floor.

  “How’s your stomach? Do you still have the runs?” his mother asked. So that’s the excuse Thiago gave!

  “Yeah, I’m still a bit sick...” he said, taking advantage of the situation. He waited a little longer, in order for his parents to focus back on lunch before coming to the final steps, still carrying Thiago’s body.

  The boy was beginning to wake up. Oh no! Not now! I should have tossed his Neurolink a bit further!

  Pedro was quick to act. He ran to the front door and rang the bell, to which he himself answered with a shout.

  “I’ll get it!”

  He quickly opened and closed the door, pretending someone had come in. Then he went back to where Thiago was starting to get up and added, “Thiago! What brings you here?” Pedro faked surprise. His mother got to them at the exact moment the blond kid got up and recovered consciousness.

  Thiago looked around. Pedro pierced him with his gaze, pressuring him and hoping he wouldn’t do anything stupid. His mother was still watching them with an inquisitive look.

  “What happened?” she said at last.

  “Erm, hm... Thiago was just around the block and he decided to drop by to ask me something about our chemistry assignment. Isn’t that right, Thiago?”

  Despite the pain he felt in his stomach and chest, Thiago smiled, recalling all that had happened at school and realizing Pedro still hadn’t the faintest idea of what he’d done to Letícia.

  “Yeah,” he agreed.

  “Well, all right then,” his mother remarked. “Would you want to join us for lunch?”

  “No,” he answered, his sarcastic eyes still hovering over Pedro. “I’m good. I’ll be going now.” Pedro saw him to the door.

  As they got to the gate, they said their goodbyes to each other.

  “Thiago, I won’t use the recording of what happened on the Neuralnet if you keep to yourself. So take it easy and we’ll settle it all in the game.”