Chapter 20: Recruited
Entertainment would always generate credits. Some Pre-Swarm ‘Big Things’ were Interactive Holos and Hed Holos. Hed Holos evolved a subculture called the Bloc Heds. The Bloc Heds became addicted to fantasy worlds. They connected to a group fantasy and lived their life in another world altogether. The spin-off products of the Bloc Hed craze completely locked in the addicts. Specialized feeding and excretion chairs were all the rage. You could ‘Lock Your Bloc’ for up to three days in one of these chairs. There were protocols for the length of time a Bloc Hed could connect. It started at three hours and gradually extended to three days. These protocols were often overridden. It was not uncommon to find Bloc Heds dead or near dead in their chairs because the food supply ran out. All the safety protocols had been overridden.
The new society that formed after the discovery of the Swarm highly discouraged all Bloc Hed tech. The majority of entertainment was in the form of spectator events. The most widespread and popular was, of course, GravBall.
Jayne and Spike were split up for the remainder of the mini-pod practicum. Jayne worked with a number of other students. Her reviews were always good and the practice sessions were uneventful. The accident in Pod 6 resulted in an investigation. As a result, new safety protocols were put into effect. An acid-resistant filter system was developed for the training suits to ensure safety.
All students were given a break after completion of pod training. Jayne lazed and slept for two days. That was difficult in a dorm room filled with students at various levels, involved in many different activities. At one point, Jayne hauled her mattress into her locker to avoid a GravBall party going on in her dorm. It was the start of the Pro-League season and everyone was cheering for their favorite team. Almost all of the professional teams were controlled by large companies. The company controllers developed the players and used the team to advertise the various products and services that they provided. If a company controlled a champion team, that company would be successful. This ownership and control structure reached all the way down to the amateur leagues, with smaller companies controlling the amateur teams. The government took a percentage of the profit generated and funneled it into social programs. There were other sports, but nothing compared to GravBall. Everyone was a fan. Everyone had their favorite team. Everyone, at some point in their life, dreamed of being a GravBall star. The biome tech students were no different. Jayne, Spike and the others all loved to watch GravBall and loved to play GravBall.
There were a number of leagues based in HUB 169. There were the Fixer AAA’s, Fixer Masters and Fixer Students. Every department had a team. People were often recruited to a particular department for their GravBall skills. There were restrictions. Each member of a team must fulfill his or her job expectations and pass the bi-yearly review. There was no point in recruiting a hot player if they could not do the job they were hired to do. There were some cases where the company tried to conceal the inadequacies of their GravBall players by having others do their jobs. These deceptions always ended badly. All job reviews were in the public domain and studied closely for fraudulent reports. It was almost impossible to be a great GravBall player and not be good at your chosen profession. The student teams’ recruitment process always took place during the mid-term break. The objective was to win your league and go to the HUB championships and win the coveted spavator trophy.
On the third day, Jayne emerged refreshed from her locker hideaway. She dragged her mattress back onto her cot and sat down. She was scanning the room and her eyes focused on a group of students standing tightly together, locked in conversation. Almost as if they sensed her stare, the group turned around and headed in Jayne’s direction. At the same time, Jayne’s VID beeped. A tall skinny boy led the group. Jayne recognized him from the mini-pod introductory classes. She’d never spoken to him but she suspected what he, and the group approaching her, wanted. They wanted her GravBall skills.
He spoke. “We’re the Crimson Stompers and we understand you play.”
Jayne felt cheeky and responded with, “Play what?”
“I told you she was not the kind of player we need,” piped up a heavy-set girl to the side of the group. “We don’t need a smart ass on our team.”
Jayne’s face flushed red with heat. If she was going to be called a smart ass, she would damn well live up to the label. She quipped back, “You mean another one, don’t you? Or perhaps it is just the former part you need ’cause it appears you have a number of people that fit the latter.”
The stocky girl turned to the tall boy and asked, “What did she just say? Former? Latter?” She moved to the front of the group and leaned threateningly over Jayne. “Did you just insult me?”
Jayne was on a roll. She stood up on her bed just so she could look the girl straight in the eye. The result was comical. Jayne was standing on her bed, hands on her hips, looking down at the girl in front of her. She then looked over at the tall boy and said, “I should know better than to try to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person.” She shook her head, sat down quickly and flipped open her VID. She spoke quietly, as if to herself, “Case closed.”
“Why you little…” the stocky girl growled as she reached out to grab Jayne by the hair.
The tall skinny boy pushed the stocky girl aside. “Lay off. We are not here to start a war,” he said, looking down at Jayne. She was sitting calmly on her bunk, reading her VID screen as if nothing was happening. “Let’s go.”
The group walked away. Jayne caught the end of the stocky girl’s parting remarks. They mentioned something about ‘laying that little’ and ‘flat on her’ and ‘smacking that’ something or other ‘off her’ something, before they moved away and she could no longer hear them.
Her VID held a message from Lucky. She had four more days of break. She was to return to her quarters to personally receive some ‘CRUCIAL’ information that could not be transmitted over the VID system. Jayne smiled. She could sure use a few days away from this place. Having Lucky dote on her was the most appealing thing she could think of at this moment. She knew that what Lucky thought was crucial, seldom was. She stood up, gathered the few personal things from her locker, stuffed them in her knapsack and headed for the PUT pads. She looked ahead and saw Spike, Sara, Josie and Olive heading her way. They were excited and glad to see her.
Sara called, “Hey, Wu, we have been looking for you. Where the heck have you been hiding?”
“I’ve been catching up on some badly needed sleep. I was in my locker,” Jayne stated.
Josie laughed. “How the heck did you fit in your locker?” She looked Jayne up and down. “Oh, yeah, you are this big,” she held her thumb and forefinger 20 cm apart, “and I am this big,” she said, laughing louder and lowering the frequency of her voice, while holding out her arms out as far as they would go.
“We need to talk to you about GravBall. We have to get our team confirmed and submitted to the league. We want to know if you’re interested,” said Olive.
Jayne looked up at their expectant faces.
Sara turned around and looked behind her and then back at Jayne. “I just saw the Stompers leave here. Were they trying to recruit you? What did they say? You’re not going to play for those wipeouts, are you?”
Jayne shifted her knapsack.
Panic rose in Sara’s voice and she turned to Josie. “I told you we needed to get her signed up ASAP but no, you had to spend the whole day following that blond cutie around hoping he would join the team. He is useless compared to Thirteen. Now we have lost her to the Stompers.”
“Yes,” said Jayne.
“Awe, damn!” cursed Sara. “We lost her and it is your fault.”
“Yes, I will join your team,” clarified Jayne. “What are you guys called again?”
“We’re Home Grown Panic,” said Spike proudly. “Great name, eh?”
“Yeah, but what does that mean?” asked Jayne.
“Why does everything have to have a big deep mea
ning? I like it ’cause it sounds cool and the letters HGP look good together,” he said, as if the statement was very poignant.
“I agree, I just wanted to be educated in case someone asked me. I didn’t want to be out of the loop. So now I can answer questions about the reason for the name with ‘It’s cool!’,” she said.
They all smiled and laughed at the inaneness of the conversation.
“I have to go. I will catch you guys in a couple of days. I have to head back to my quarters to…” she hesitated and then continued, “get some things. VID me the practice times.”
The others just looked at her with their mouths open.
“You do practice, don’t you?” remarked Jayne.
Spike laughed, “Since you joined our team, we figured we don’t need to practice.” He poked Jayne in the ribs. “Yeah, we practice and if you are gone for a few days you will miss the first one. I will let you know when you get back.”
“See you guys,” said Jayne and she headed for the PUT pads and her rendezvous with Lucky.
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