Antaska resisted the urge to pull the suit off as it covered her first her eyes, then nose, then mouth. Panicked by the covering of her air holes, she drew in a big breath and noticed that it was still easy to breathe. With that realization, Antaska relaxed and didn’t mind the weird feel of the suit as much while she waited for the rest of it to encase her.
After what seemed like a long time but was really about a minute, the encasement was complete. Antaska no longer felt the tingly touch of the suit. In fact, she could no longer feel the suit at all.
She found herself standing on a hard, shiny black floor in a vast room. There was nothing in sight except for an enormous pale dome that encased the flooring and towered high above her head. A bright orange sky was partially visible through the opaque dome.
From nowhere, words written in the galactic humanoid language appeared in the air in front of her. A title and directions topped a long alphabetical list of general categories that seemed to go down into invisible depths.
“What type of game would you like to play? Press to select a category. Point to scroll down and see more categories.”
Antaska didn’t see martial arts, so she pointed to the bottom of the list. The spot she pointed to rose up to her eye level. When she moved her hand to point, it looked and felt just like moving her hand always did. It seemed hard to believe that she wasn’t actually moving. The list had scrolled to show the “M” section, but she still didn’t see martial arts, so she scrolled the list back up to look for fighting. She found it and pressed it with a finger.
The printed characters that made up the list stretched sideways and flew away, and another long list of subcategories appeared. Antaska wasn’t familiar with most types of fighting and didn’t recognize any of the names, so she randomly picked one. She pressed the words that said, “ancient Earth kick boxing.” More words appeared.
“What level would you like? Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, or Very Advanced?” That decision was easy. Antaska touched the word “Beginning” without hesitation.
Instantly, Antaska’s surroundings shifted queasily from the domed room to a primitive outdoor setting. She recognized it from historical photos as somewhere on ancient Earth before the apocalypse.
Antaska stood in one corner of a square area, barefoot on hard-packed dirt enclosed by crude ropes. These were tied to wooden posts stuck into the ground at a distance of about twenty feet apart.
An Earth male whose genetic composition was strongly if not fully ancient Earth Asian stood in the opposite corner. He was muscular but lean and wore white baggy pants that reached just above his knees, but he wore no shirt or shoes. More humans of clear Asian genetic makeup stood on all sides of the rope looking at Antaska and her opponent. They gestured effusively and spoke loudly in a language she couldn’t understand.
Antaska looked down at herself. She also wore white baggy pants and a loose white tunic. The bone structure and skin coloring of her hands and feet were not her own.
Am I Asian too? she wondered.
But there was no way for her to see her own face.
Antaska looked up to see two distinct graphic images floating in each corner of her vision. On one side, her name floated in the air over a row of green-lit bars in between the words “health” and “fatality.” On the other side, the name “Chan” floated over a similar graphic.
A third small graphic image floated right in front of her. The round red button said “STOP GAME.” It moved when Antaska did so that it was always within close reach.
Looking straight up, Antaska saw puffy clouds floating across an endless expanse of clear blue sky. The familiar Earth sun, slightly smaller at a million years younger, shined down bright from almost straight up above her head. A warm, gentle breeze softly ruffled her hair and clothes and caressed her shin. Looking beyond the spectators to one side of the ring, Antaska saw tall, snow-capped mountains in the far distance.
In the nearer distance, a small village of straw huts and dirt roads was next to long curving rows of bright green rice paddies that climbed the side of a mountain. For the first time since she had left Earth, Antaska felt a nostalgic longing for her home planet—confusingly, not for the Earth she had known but for the Earth that had been lost so long ago.
From nowhere, a gong sounded, “Booonngg!!”
Then a voice shouted in the modern humanoid language, “Round one, fight!”
Chan walked toward Antaska with a fierce expression on his face.
It’s just a game, it’s just a game, she repeated to herself.
Antaska fought against the overwhelming realism, which threatened to make her forget that this was only a simulation. She stepped a few cautious feet forward to meet the other fighter. He began to bob and weave, and Antaska began to make the bobbing and weaving motions she had learned in gym class.
Chan moved in closer with shuffling, sliding movements she wasn’t familiar with. He suddenly jumped up in the air toward her. Antaska expected a kick, but instead, he thrust his right leg out behind him and threw a punch that landed on her chest.
The crowd roared loud, with a mix of boos and cheers, and Chan smiled.
Another loud sound, “Ding!” came again from nowhere, and one of the green lights on Antaska’s health bar turned red.
Antaska’s first thought was: Why did he punch me? I thought this was kickboxing!
Then she noticed with appreciation that unlike in gym class, even though she had felt the punch, it didn’t hurt. Antaska faced Chan again with the increased confidence that came from knowing she wouldn’t be hurt in this fight.
They both bobbed and weaved, and Antaska attempted one of the kicks she’d practiced in class. Chan easily evaded her kick as he twirled his body around and landed his own kick on the side of her head.
“Ding!” The bell sounded again, accompanied by more noise from the crowd and another of Antaska’s green bars turning red.
Chan said something that could have been a joke in the incomprehensible language, and the crowd laughed loudly.
The fight continued in the same way, with Antaska receiving kicks and punches but not landing a single blow. Finally, she had only one green bar remaining. Chan lunged up. He threw a leg over her head and then brought it around to smack against her neck.
Without feeling any pain, Antaska fell to the floor and lay there unable to move.
“Fatality! Chan wins Round one!” said the voice to the unanimous cheering of the crowd.
The broad-smiling Chan raised up his arms and shook them in an unmistakable gesture of victory.
The loud gong sounded again, “Booonngg!!”
Antaska found herself instantly back up on her feet in her corner of the ring without having moved there.
“Round two, fight!” The next fight started.
Antaska tried harder and began to anticipate some of the kicks and punches. She fought through round two and then round three. The time between Chan’s successful blows on her increased somewhat, but she still couldn’t get past his defenses.
After her avatar’s death in the third round, Antaska found herself standing back in the domed room where she had first entered the game. More words appeared in the air in front of her.
“Would you like to play again?”
“Would you like to play another game?”
“Would you like to stop playing?”
Like many first-time virtual reality gamers, Antaska had been hooked by her first experience. Thinking I’ll keep going until I land at least one strike, she pressed the words to keep playing the same game.
As the game went on, Antaska wasn’t aware of how much time passed. She improved her ability to evade Chan’s punches and kicks. She got very close to hitting him, and even touched him, but she wasn’t able to make even one of his green lights turn red.
Players didn’t get tired in the virtual world, and Antaska kept going, determined to achieve her goal before quitting the game. But suddenly, in the middle of a round two, she wa
s transported from the fight back to the game entrance room.
“Your time is up,” said the voice from nowhere.
Antaska felt the creepy, tingly suit on her body again as it began to peel open starting at her toes.
“No!” she cried out loud.
Antaska thought she heard M. Hoyvil chuckle telepathically from somewhere nearby. She heard Potat hiss, and she thought she heard a tiny whispered laugh. But her mind was still focused on the game, and she ignored those sounds.
“I wasn’t done!” Antaska complained when the suit finally released her completely. “I was getting better. I know I could have hit Chan if I played just a few more rounds.”
She looked up at M. Hoyvil. The corners of his eyes twitched as if he was trying to hold them down.
What does that facial expression mean? Antaska wondered.
“You can do that next time, but it’s been an hour, and it’s not a good idea to stay in there for too long,” said M. Hoyvil. “And remember, we were planning to go to the space viewing lounge next. Do you still want to go?”
Antaska was surprised that so much time had passed. It had seemed like only a few minutes at the most.
“I guess I got really involved in that game,” she said. “It seemed so real. I felt like I could stay in there forever. But I definitely want to see the space viewing lounge now. Let’s go!”
Chapter 14
Six space viewing lounges were located around the outer rim of the globular space ship: two on its north and south poles and four spaced evenly around its equator. Each of the lounges was a circular open room separated from space only by a high transparent dome. From the game room, located deep in toward the space ship’s core, Antaska, M. Hoyvil, and Potat were suctioned outward in a vacuum-powered elevator. They exited the elevator on the enclosed outer rim level and walked to the door of one of the lounges.
M. Hoyvil paused outside the open doorway and spoke to Antaska.
“I’m sorry I didn’t warn you about the game room, but at least I’ve remembered to give you an advance warning this time. You won’t see anything unexpected or shocking in this room. But some people experience dizziness or nausea the first time they go in here. The dome that covers this room is made of organic film material. It’s transparent, and it looks like you’re walking on the outside of the ship with nothing between you and outer space. Potat was very scared by this room when she first went in.”
Potat growled. She forcefully dug her claws all the way through the material of M. Hoyvil’s ship suit jacket and into his shoulder, but he barely felt the tiny pin pricks.
“I’m sorry if I offended you,” M. Hoyvil apologized.
He reached up and lightly scratched her behind both dark gray ears at once with two of the six fingers on his left hand. The growling transformed to a soft purr, and the claws were pulled back in.
Antaska cautiously approached the door to the lounge. A stairway led up from the doorway. Forewarned of what to expect, she crept slowly up the stairs.
Antaska didn’t experience the full effect of the sudden exposure to vast open space until she reached the top. She stepped forward into the lounge and revolved in place while looking up, down, and around.
An amazing and stunningly beautiful view of unfamiliar stars was on display in almost every direction from where she stood. From this vantage point, standing on the top edge of a ball-shaped object, incredibly small in relation to the vastness of outer space, Antaska felt as if she had been thrust out into space and could easily float away.
Swaying, she clutched M. Hoyvil’s right arm, slightly jolting Potat on his shoulder. Potat batted at her with a closed-clawed paw, and Antaska let go of the arm. The moment of vertigo passed, and she looked around again. Now she could appreciate the view of bright-colored stars, asteroid and dust clouds, and other features glowing like jewels in the deep endless blackness of space.
Round, dark green sofas made up of Verdante-sized chair modules joined in a circle were scattered around the room. The adjustable backs on the modules lowered loungers partly or all the way back to view space from an reclined position. Earth humans and Verdantes of M. Hoyvil’s age, and some extra-large adults, strolled about or sat in various inclined positions on the round sofas.
M. Hoyvil led Antaska to an empty sofa. He sat down, and she climbed up a step to sit in the chair next to him. Potat climbed down from his shoulder and sat between them. She fit easily in the extra space around Antaska, who was much smaller than the large seat. Potat began to kneed the soft fabric with her paws and outthrust claws.
“Stop that!” said Antaska.
She grabbed Potat around the middle and tried to pull her off, but Potat dug her claws in deep and held on tight. Antaska had to choose between letting go or possibly hurting her.
“Don’t worry, it’s fine,” said M. Hoyvil. “You can let her do that. She can’t hurt it. The fabric is self-cleaning and self-repairing, like all of the furniture on the ship.”
Antaska let go of Potat, and the two humanoids lowered the backs of their chairs all the way down to get the widest possible view of the stars around them. Potat stopped kneading and clawing and rolled over on her back to look up too. She seemed to be as mesmerized by the celestial panorama as Antaska. Once in a while, she reached up a paw as if to point or reach for a certain star.
As Antaska, Potat, and M. Hoyvil lay in silence gazing out at space, Antaska became aware of soft, melodious whooshing and humming sounds. She recognized the same sounds that accompanied the holograph program she watched in her room—the music of deep space. But instead of being a recording, this was real. And it was even more relaxing and calming.
Antaska’s thoughts drew away from her personal problems. Instead, she thought about the vastness that now surrounded her. The vastness that had, in fact, always surrounded her. As Antaska looked and listened, she thought she recognized a pattern, but it was so intricate that it was impossible to say that for sure.
More Verdantes of about M. Hoyvil’s age and their Earth human companions filled the empty chair modules in the sofa they reclined on. In her absorption with the sky outside, Antaska was only partly aware of them as the others sat down and reclined the backs of their chairs.
Soon, however, she heard more noises in addition to the sounds of space—the whispering of young male and female voices. Antaska didn’t pay attention to the words. But she noticed that these sounds, although more simple and less beautiful, seemed to harmonize with the space noises.
The space viewing lounge turned out to be even more fascinating than the virtual games, and again, Antaska lost all track of time. A tap on her shoulder from M. Hoyvil pulled her out of an almost dreamlike state.
“It’s getting late, and we should go now. Tomorrow is another full day of gym class and school. Are you ready to leave?”
With some regret, Antaska raised the back of her chair.
“Yes, I’m ready, but it’s even harder to leave this place than it was to leave the fighting game. I’m just glad I didn’t stay in that suit all night,” she said.
On the way back to their quarters, M. Hoyvil talked to Antaska about the virtual game and how she might be able to use it to fight back against her fitness trainers. Eegor hadn’t made any violent moves so far, but M. Hoyvil was sure that she needed to be prepared to defend herself against him as well.
“If you want, I’ll take you to the game room every other night when I don’t have to study. On nights when you aren’t using the virtual suit, I’ll get you some holo-movies of martial arts fights. You can play them in the main room of our quarters and practice the movements along with the holo-fighters. That will give you the experience of moving your body. That’s important for building the muscles, strength, and speed you need in reality, not just in your mind.”
“That sounds great,” said Antaska.
“My last piece of advice is this,” M. Hoyvil continued. He spoke from the experience of hundreds of years of martial arts practice. “Use the
defensive moves you learn, like evasion and blocking, but don’t use any offensive moves against your trainers unless it’s absolutely necessary. They’re very aggressive, and they’ll get aggravated and hurt you back harder if you hit or strike them. Learn and practice offensive moves, but make them your secret weapon. And remember that a secret weapon loses power once it’s revealed.”
M. Hoyvil enjoyed playing the role of martial arts master, but he stopped talking when they entered their quarters. He saw Antaska cover the wide opening of her mouth with a hand. She made a soft yawning sound that he understood meant tiredness or boredom.
Then it almost seemed like Antaska knew what he was thinking because she spoke to reassure him.
“I’m not bored, but I’m completely exhausted and starting to fall asleep. I think it’s a great plan. And I really appreciate that you’re helping me with this. I’m actually looking forward to trying out some of the defensive moves I learned in the virtual suit tomorrow, but I need to go to sleep now.”
Antaska reached up and lifted Potat, who was asleep again, off M. Hoyvil’s shoulder.
“Goodnight then,” said M. Hoyvil.
Antaska said “goodnight” too and went to her room.
Then M. Hoyvil went to his room. He was pleased with how the day had gone, but he was very tired too.
Chapter 15
The next day in gym class, as Antaska expected, Eegor made his visit to her side. She was lying on her back on a raised platform doing bench presses. He stood close behind her head and placed his hands on top of hers on the bar to guide it up and down. Eegor spoke to her as she lifted.
“I know by now you’re wondering when I’ll get together with you outside of class,” he said.
Antaska kept lifting the heavy bar and didn’t say anything in return. A day ago, she would have been thrilled to meet with Eegor. But now, even though she was still aware of his physical perfection, she felt only bothered and embarrassed by his closeness.
Alien Pets (Xeno Relations Book 1) Page 11
