D. MacHale - The Quillan Games

“Veego, LaBerge,” she said in a quick, professional way. “Good afternoon. I have the budget estimates from the trustees.”

She walked quickly past LaBerge without giving him a second look. This woman was all business. She didn’t have time for that goof. She didn’t notice me, either. She went right to the brains of the operation. Veego. She stood over the woman and held out the stack of white pages.

“I trust these will meet with your approval,” she said.

Wow, how stiff could you get? Veego looked up at her for a long moment without speaking. The woman looked kind of awkward standing there because Veego didn’t take the pages.

“Can’t you see we are in the middle of our meal?” Veego finally said. She may have sounded calm, but her voice was cold. “You come into my home, unannounced, uninvited, and proceed to annoy us with your personal concerns. Have you no manners?”

The woman blinked. Her efficient, professional appearance was shaken. “I–I apologize,” she said nervously. “I was told that getting these to you was triple important. I should have known you were-“

Veego grabbed the papers out of her hand. “Oh, be quiet!” she spat at the woman. Veego looked through the pages, and the woman backed away.

“Don’t move!” Veego ordered.

The woman froze. I felt sorry for her. She was totally intimidated. I can’t say that I blamed her. While Veego scanned the pages and LaBerge played with his Runkle toy, the woman stood there, looking uncomfortable. I watched as her eyes wandered around the room. When she finally saw me, she gasped and jumped back with such surprise you’d think I had shouted “Boo!”

Veego didn’t look up from the papers as she said, “Miss Winter, this is our new Challenger Red. Challenger Red, this is Nevva Winter.”

Nevva Winter. Interesting name. She opened her mouth as if to say something to me, but no words came out. That was weird. I knew the term “speechless,” but had never actually seen it happen.

“Hi,” I said.

She didn’t say anything. She didn’t close her mouth either.

LaBerge said in a singsong voice, “Nevva, Nevva, works all day, but doesn’t have the time to play.”

“Close your mouth. Miss Winter,” Veego said without looking at her.

Nevva Winter blinked. Seeing me had really thrown her for some reason. “I–I knew that the new challenger was due, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon,” she said, trying to put her efficient face back on. “In fact, he’s mentioned on page four of the file I brought and-“

Veego tossed the pages into the air.

“Unacceptable,” she declared.

The pages fluttered to the floor, spreading everywhere. LaBerge laughed and clapped. Idiot. Nevva Winter tried to catch the floating pages but only managed to grab a few before they hit the ground.

“Please, Veego!” she implored. “They’re in a specific order-“

“We have increased profits by twenty percent for each of the last seventeen quads,” Veego hissed through clenched teeth. “Those are unheard-of numbers, and if your panel of ignorant keepers doesn’t recognize that, LaBerge and I would be all too happy to return home and let any of our substandard competitors take on the challenge of following in our immensely successful footsteps.”

Nevva Winter quickly scooped up the pages and pushed them together, trying not to wrinkle them. It looked like she was trying to put them in order at the same time.

“Yes!” LaBerge added. “Let’s see how their precious profits look without us!”

“That appears to be a possibility,” Nevva Winter said.

“Huh?” LaBerge grunted in surprise.

While Nevva Winter gathered the papers, she said, “Maintaining this operation has proven to be very costly. I’m afraid that the trustees are trying to find some way to justify continuing their relationship with you.”

“What?” LaBerge shouted in horror. His bravura was gone. “They’re going to throw us out of our castle?”

Veego slowly got to her feet and stood over Nevva Winter.

“Was that a threat. Miss Winter?” she said in about as cold a tone as I’d ever heard.

Nevva Winter shoved the last paper onto the stack and got to her feet. She was so nervous she wouldn’t even look Veego in the eye. “I’m only telling you what the trustees have been discussing,” Miss Winter said, her voice cracking. “I’m only their assistant. I don’t make policy. But I can tell you that for every trustee who supports you, another thinks you should be doing better.”

“That’s impossible!” LaBerge shouted. “How can we do better than perfect?”

Nevva Winter looked right at Veego for the first time. Though she was knee-knocking-nervous, she didn’t blink. “I’m only passing along the information,” she said. “Perhaps you should talk to the trustees yourself.”

Veego stared at her for a moment, then backed away and walked toward me. “This gaming operation has been run longer and more successfully than any other on Quillan,” she said. It seemed like she was holding back anger. “That’s because I know what I’m doing. I have the experience, I have the resources, I have the games, and most of all, I know talent. I would very much like to meet with the trustees. Maybe then I can ask them why they have decided to interfere by telling me who to use in my competitions.”

“They aren’t trying to interfere-,” Nevva Winter said.

“But they are!” Veego shot back. “The trustees want the games to be competitive, yet they force me to use challengers who are unprepared. You saw the last Tato match. It was a travesty. Challenger Yellow was no match for Challenger Green. He wasn’t ready, yet the trustees forced me to use him!”

Challenger Yellow. She was talking about the Traveler from Quillan… a guy I never met and still didn’t know the name of. I fought back the urge to jump up and scream, “Why did you kill a Traveler?” But that wouldn’t have helped anything. I bit my lip, grabbed the chair, and did all I could to keep from exploding. That got even tougher when Veego put her hand on my shoulder. My skin crawled.

“And now they’ve sent me a new challenger,” she said. “Challenger Red. Did you know he was almost killed in our Hook gauntlet? Hmmm? He nearly failed the simplest of tests. Children have done better. Now your trustees expect me to stage the next Grand X with him?”

She was getting worked up. So was I. X? More importantly, how did these trustee people know about me? Who were they?

“Please tell your oh-so-wise employers something,” Veego continued. “I will not damage our reputation by presenting an inferior product.”

“No one is asking you to-“

“If they want me to play Challenger Red, I will. But he must first prove himself in a more challenging test.” She nodded to LaBerge.

LaBerge clapped his hands together like a giddy child and ran to the side wall of the banquet room, where a giant tapestry hung. He grabbed a velvet rope that dangled from the ceiling and turned back to me, saying, “You should be honored. Challengers don’t usually enter the Tock arena until much later in their training.”

I looked to Veego and asked, “What is this?”

Veego returned to her place at the head of the table. “You have come highly praised for your abilities. Challenger Red,” she said. “I, for one, have yet to see why.”

“Who praised me?” I asked.

Veego didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. I was pretty sure of the answer. I smelled Saint Dane in this mess.

“Veego, please, this isn’t necessary,” Nevva Winter said nervously. “Challenger Red will be given adequate time to prepare for the Grand X.”

“Who will guarantee me that?” Veego snarled at her. “You? I’m sorry, but I don’t believe you and I don’t believe the trustees. I’m left with no choice. He will either prove himself worthy right here and now, or die trying.”