Larry Niven - The Moon Maze Game

Sharmela ran her fingertips over the flying rig, judging. “So the foot pedals operate the wings,” she said. “The arms guide them. The material looks pretty flimsy.”

“Yeah,” Darla said. “But try to tear it. Look a little closer. That’s Falling Angels, the zero-gee facility. Nanothreaded graphene. Pure carbon. Spider silk is maybe twice as strong as steel. This stuff is about a hundred times stronger than that.”

Angelique was examining the cave. Anything, anything in the environment might be usable. The walls were festooned with vines.

Ali stood up, walked along their side of the divide, judging. “Look at this. We have a long flat runway, and a glide path right across. Practice room. ”

Wayne brightened. “Well, God bless the IFGS. Let’s get this in position.”

“I don’t know about this,” Maud said. “Even if they work, I can’t do this.”

“Can’t what?” Wayne asked.

“I can’t fly one of these.”

He shrugged. “There are only two. They couldn’t possibly expect us all to fly across.”

“You’re right,” Angelique said.

“ Here we are,” Ali said, pulling “vines” down from the walls. “We have line.” Rope, damned fine rope, and plenty of it.

They fussed over the rope while Sharmela stretched like a tabby cat.

Angelique nodded approval. Flexibility was going to be important. “Three of us have had some experience with winged flight. Two were purely virtual. Factor in fear of heights, perhaps, and it’s really only reasonable for one of us to fly across this chasm.”

“Then… why are there two sets?” Sharmela asked, looking up from an impressive downward dog. Fit/Fat for sure. She was bulky, but as flexible as a seal.

“Back up,” Angelique said. “I’m not sure. But the others were supposed to create some kind of rope bridge.”

“That could be done,” Wayne said. “So… attach the rope to the end of a set of wings. Maybe the flyer’s ankles. Someone flies across, anchors it to the far side, and then we’re in business.”

Maud shrank back. “I can’t do that. I can’t.”

“Let’s just wait,” Wayne replied, “until we have things set up before we decide what we can or can’t do, okay?”

The next five minutes were practice time. With two gamers providing each flyer initial momentum, Ali and Sharmela took their wings up and down the slope, as the rest watched the flapping and gliding. Sharmela had wonderful coordination, her foot pedaling and arms working perfectly in unison. But what they had to admit was that Ali, cheater or not, was simply better at this. His prior experience might well save their lives.

“All right,” Angelique said. “Ali? We’re going to give you the chance. Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Ali replied.

“First time I’ve ever been happy to have a cheat on board. Anything else to tell us?”

“I have no idea what else my father’s advisers had in mind,” Ali said stiffly.

“Not the answer I was hoping for,” Scotty said. “Too bad.”

“Horses.”

“You ride a horse?”

“I have won awards,” Ali sniffed. “There should be horses in the game. We’ll find them.”

“Oh, we may have gone around them already.” Scotty shrugged. “Let’s do this.”

“You’ll need to fasten a line on the far end,” Angelique said. “Show me your best knot.”

Ali took a vine and looped it around and tightened it. A decent hitch knot. Angelique examined it, and handed it back. “Try this,” she said, demonstrating. “Right over left, left over right, makes a reef knot both tidy and tight.”

He obeyed.

“Again,” she said.

Again he did as requested, and this time they passed the result around for comment. “Looks good,” Wayne admitted.

“We need to glide this until he gets his momentum,” Angelique said. “You and me, Sharmela.”

The Sri Lankhan stepped up instantly. She gave Angelique an appreciative once-over. “Your legs are longer than mine. We will have to match paces.”

As they practiced, Mickey jogged over, looking a bit weary. “I’ve piled about a half ton of junk against that door,” he said. “If that doesn’t work, I don’t know what to do. Barricaded and barred… they’ll need to blow it open.”

“And probably have the explosives to do just that,” Wayne said. “Get back over there and keep us posted.”

Mickey glared at Wayne, but jogged back, bouncing as he went.

“What’s happening here?” Scotty said.

Even under the circumstances, Wayne’s smile was blissful. “Man’s oldest dream.”

Ali lay down in the frame again, and Scotty tied a vine rope to his left ankle. Ali worked the pedals and then his hand controls a few times. Squeak, squeak… When he wiggled, they did as well.

“Well,” Scotty said, kneeling down beside him. “Some game, huh?”

Ali tried to smile. “I’m afraid you did not know what you were signing up for.”

“I never do. Did any of us?” Scotty squeezed his shoulder. “You want to be a hero, kid? This is your chance. Probably the best you’ll ever have.”

Ali nodded. At that moment, the boy looked so young and vulnerable Scotty’s heart ached.

“This is your moment, then. Take it.” They shook hands. “See you on the other side,” Scotty said.

The women hoisted the contraption onto their shoulders, and braced. Angelique counted to three, and they sprinted down the slope, Sharmela’s short legs taking three steps to every two of Angelique’s, carrying Ali high… and then the winged craft was aloft.

Kendra spoke without turning from the screen. “Horses?”

“Horses. They’re in there, too,” Xavier said, and silently dared her to speak.

She didn’t.

“Terrance Ivanovich Ladd,” Xavier said. “Every book a bestseller.”

“Sorry, I was watching the gamers,” Kendra said. “Ali is about to fly. What about Ladd? I read his books, of course.”

“Of course. Twenty years ago, he was the most celebrated English-language writer in the world. He wanted into my world. He wanted to write the Moon Maze Game with me. I’d have given up my smaller testicle, which is the right one. He was in love with an artist, January Prince. I couldn’t contact this January Prince. Reclusive. Nobody’s ever seen him, or her. I based my Moon folk on his sketches just to get Ladd.”

“Prince, hmm?”

“I am such a fucking idiot,” Xavier said. “I’d heard about Ladd’s money problems, but never thought someone might be able to buy him. I just didn’t think.”

“He’s launched!” Wu Lin called. “The Prince has launched!”

Ali was flying. On the Moon. For a moment, all thoughts of threat and risk were simply… gone. He soared and swooped between the stalactites, lips stretched in an endless grin, eyes bright with joy.

Below him, the lava boiled. A stench of sulfur clogged his nose. One chance to do this. Get it right. As he left the edge the flying machine hit a thermal, jumped up a hair, and he had to correct, skewing sideways. Ali pumped his feet madly, working his arms to stabilize again.

A moment of panic, and then he flexed his arms hard to regain control.

Flying. By all his ancestors, he was flying! He stretched his arms out, extending the wings, and embraced the wind. Then…

No! He had misjudged the distance. His left wing tip brushed a stalactite. The stalactite sprayed fragments, more like cork than rock. The flying machine skewed sideways, stabilizing just too late to make a safe landing. He crashed onto the edge of the far cliff, and teetered, beginning to slide back into the abyss. Ali clawed his way free, clinging as he slid down. The line tied to his left ankle flagged behind.

He didn’t know what was real, and what was not. Whether the lava below him was mere effect, or actual boiling rock. Whether the stench of sulfur in his nose was genuine or fantastic. Nor did he think of cameras that might be streaming his struggle to Earth and beyond. All he knew was that he would not fall, would not tumble down into the glowing crevasse.