D. MacHale - The Quillan Games

I knew that if I started for the door again, he’d attack. If I had any hope of beating this game, and surviving, I’d have to do something drastic.

I attacked the dado.

I guess nobody had ever done that before, because the dado wasn’t ready. I lunged for him and grabbed the front of his shirt. I moved so fast and was so close that he couldn’t use his hook on me. I held on to his shirt and threw myself backward, pulling him toward me. It must have been a complete surprise because this guy was so big, if he had been ready, it would have been like trying to pull down a tree. But he came with me. As I fell back I jammed my foot into his chest. He tried to pull back but it was too late. I was in control. Gravity helped. I rolled onto my back, thrust my leg into him, and pulled the guy over my head. He was heavy, but I had physics on my side. I flipped him butt-over-head. He slammed the ground hard on his back. At that instant a cylinder came blasting down from the ceiling. The dado had landed in the wrong place. For me it was the exact right place.

The cylinder crushed his leg. I heard it before I saw it. The crunching sound was unmistakable. It took me a second to register that in spite of the fact that his leg had just been crushed, he didn’t scream out. He barely even reacted. A quick look at my fallen enemy showed why.

His leg was severed above the knee. Gross, right? Not exactly. There was no blood, no shattered bone, no gore. Jutting from the injury was a tangle of damaged metal, not unlike what I’d seen with the crushed spider near the flume. Any doubt I had before was gone. It was official. The dados were robots.

And he wasn’t done. The guy pulled off the remains of his shattered leg, threw it away, and got up… 12… 11… 10…

Robot or no, there was no way he’d catch me on one leg, so I bolted for the door. The cylinders were flying up and down randomly. I ran, dodged, stopped, jumped, and wove my way toward the door, barely skirting the pumping cylinders. An inch one way or the other and I’d have been hamburger. The clock ticked down to five seconds. I waited for the last cylinder between me and the door to retract… and leaped into the rectangle of light.

I hit a revolving door like the one I had come through on the far side. The door spun; I fell through and landed, still in one piece. I stayed on my knees for a second, trying to catch my breath and stop my heart from racing. I didn’t even look up for fear I had landed in another game.

“Bravo, Challenger Red!” came a familiar voice.

Yet another voice said harshly, “You nearly failed.”

The first voice scoffed and said, “I never doubted him!”

I took a deep breath and looked to see what I now had to deal with. I was in another large, narrow room, though much smaller than the last. It was brightly lit by daylight streaming in through overhead windows. Yellow and purple flags lined the walls near the high ceiling. On the ground was a long wooden table surrounded by high-backed wooden chairs. It was a medieval-looking banquet hall, complete with huge tapestries on the walls that depicted competitors playing various games. The table was loaded with silver platters full of food and tall silver tankards with drink.

Seated on either end of the long table, kicking back and casually sipping drinks, were Veego and LaBerge.

Veego looked at me coolly and said, “You took much longer than others with fewer qualifications.”

LaBerge was quick to say, “Don’t listen to her! You were stupendous! Let me be the first to say that you are now officially a challenger.” He held up a silver goblet as a toast.

“And what if I’d failed your test?” I asked.

LaBerge looked down at his plate. Veego smiled and said, “You’d be dead of course. Now please, join us. I’m sure you’ve built up a healthy appetite.”

She was wrong. Whatever appetite I’d had was long gone.

(CONTINUED)

I was ticked. I think that nearly getting crunched would make anybody a little testy. I jumped to my feet and strode for LaBerge. I would have gone for Veego, but she gave me the creeps. The guy saw me coming and his eyes grew wide. He plunked down his goblet, splashing green liquid across the table, and pushed himself back into his chair.

“Don’t be foolish!” he said nervously. “The test is over! You passed!”

I grabbed the guy by the front of his robe and pulled him up to me. I don’t normally do stuff like that. It’s way too bold for me. But after having just barely escaped being turned into paste by those cylinders, I had had enough. If I had any hope of controlling my own future here, I needed to show some backbone. Besides, I knew this wheezy LaBerge guy wouldn’t fight back.

“Look,” I seethed. “I am not a challenger, and I will not play your sadistic games.” I stared him right in the eye to show how serious I was. The guy kept glancing away and licking his lips. Wimp.

“I understand your f-feelings, dear boy,” he stuttered. “But I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.”

As if on cue, two dados appeared from behind his chair. They loomed over me, staring me down with those dead eyes. I had officially been out-intimidated. LaBerge gave me a smug smile. I let him go and backed away. No way I was messing with those robo dudes. Even if I wasn’t exhausted, two-on-one wasn’t fair. I’m not so sure one-on-one was fair either.

“What do you mean I don’t have a choice?” I asked, trying to sound like I was still being aggressive, which I wasn’t.

Veego stood and walked toward the dados. “Leave,” she commanded.

They obeyed instantly. The two robots took a few stiff steps backward, but stayed within striking distance.

“I said leave!” Veego said more forcefully. “This is our guest. There won’t be any more trouble.”

The dados backed away and left through a doorway, though I was pretty sure they were standing right outside, waiting to see if there really was going to be any more trouble or not. Sneaky robots. Note to self: No more macho stuff in front of the dados.

Veego stood by LaBerge, but didn’t look at him as she spat out with disdain, “Get hold of yourself, ninny.”

I got the feeling that Veego didn’t think much of LaBerge either. They looked about the same age, but she treated the guy like an annoying little son. Though my mom never talked to me like that. Then again, I wasn’t annoying. Usually. LaBerge straightened his robe and took a drink of the green stuff that was left in his goblet, trying to calm his nerves. Veego, on the other hand, was all sorts of calm. I had the feeling that if I had gone after her instead of LaBerge, she would have stayed just as cool. Veego worried me.

“I’m getting too old for this,” LaBerge grumbled.

“You can go home anytime you wish,” Veego shot back.

Interesting. These guys may have been partners, but they didn’t exactly get along. I had to remember that. I figured it might come in useful.

Veego smiled at me, though it looked like it might make her face crack. “You must forgive us,” she said. “We know you are not from the city of Rune, or you would know of us and our enterprise.”

“That’s just silly,” LaBerge chirped in. “Everyone knows who we are, no matter where they’re from.”

“I don’t,” I said flatly.

LaBerge snapped a look at me. I didn’t know if it was disbelief, or if he was hurt that I didn’t know who he was. “Where are you from?” he asked.

Uh-oh. Not a good time to start telling the truth. But I didn’t know enough about Quillan to make something up. “You kidnapped me, stuck me in a room full of creepy clown dolls, then threw me into some game that nearly got me killed. I think it’s my turn to ask some questions.”