D. MacHale - The Quillan Games

Fourteen was waiting outside my door. We walked quickly down to the ground floor and the front entrance of the castle. Waiting outside for me was a black car that looked exactly like the car that had brought me to the castle originally. I hoped Nevva Winter was inside.

Fourteen said, “Veego and LaBerge have gone ahead. You will meet them at the Blok building. The dados will escort you.”

On cue, two police goons stepped out of the front seat and glared at me.

“You’re not coming?” I asked Fourteen.

“We service dados do not leave the compound,” Fourteen answered. “Do not worry, as long as you do as they say, you won’t have trouble with the security dados.”

Security dados. That’s the first time I heard what those creeps were called. I took a breath and walked down the steps toward the car.

“I’ll bring you back something special,” I called back to Fourteen.

“Special?” he asked, confused.

“Never mind,” I said. “It was a joke.” I forgot, dados didn’t get jokes. One of the security dados opened the back door for me and stood there, expecting me to get in. A quick glance inside showed me that Nevva wasn’t there.

“How ‘bout if I drive?” I asked the doll-faced robot.

He didn’t react.

“Man, you’ve gotta lighten up,” I said, and sat down in the car. I gave Fourteen a quick wave and saw him wave back an instant before the dado slammed the door on me. I didn’t bother to try to see if it was locked. As much as I didn’t want to be held prisoner by these sadistic monsters, I needed to be there. I wasn’t going to try to escape. Yet.

We drove out of the courtyard, across the wooden bridge, and along the winding road that led through the forest. I had gotten to know the grounds pretty well on my runs. It was a vast green oasis in the center of the gray city. I’d even say it was beautiful, if it weren’t for the fact that it was a staging area for games of death.

The elaborate golden gates that led to the city slowly swung open as the car approached. A moment later I once again found myself in the middle of the dark, depressing city of Rune. As we drove through the busy streets, I tried to memorize the route, but it was impossible. Every building looked like every other building. I didn’t even see street signs.

“How the heck do you know where you’re going?” I called to the dados up front.

They didn’t answer. They didn’t even turn around. Are you surprised?

“Hey!” I said. “Hit the radio. Let’s have some music.”

Still no reaction. I decided to stop trying to get a rise out of the security dados.

We drove for around twenty minutes. The only thing interesting to look at were the huge screens on top of the buildings. Each one showed the exact same thing, so it wasn’t hard to keep shifting my look from one to the next. What I saw was pretty much the exact same thing as when I arrived. There were moving multicolored geometric shapes, occasionally broken up by a talking head blabbing about the weather or something else just as boring. I was beginning to realize how important the games were to the people of Quillan. From what I could tell, the games were their only source of entertainment.

After we made one last turn, I finally saw something that was out of the ordinary. The long, wide street ended at a building. It was a huge structure that was much bigger than any of the surrounding towers. The thing was massive and dark, as if it were carved from a huge black stone. I didn’t have to ask the dado boys what it was. It was all too obvious. Near the top of the building, looming over the street, were shiny silver letters that had to be ten feet high. They reminded me of the silver signs that marked the various stores on street level. I’ll give you one guess as to what it said. Yeah, you’re right. blok.

I wasn’t sure if I should be impressed, or scared, or excited that I was finally going to get some answers. The car zipped right up to the building and screeched to a stop. A wide set of stairs led up from the sidewalk to the huge front doors of this imposing building. I took a peek out my window and gazed up at the massive structure. Everything I guessed about this Blok thing made me believe that whatever it was, it held a lot of power here on Quillan. This building only confirmed that. Blok = power. Power = control over people’s lives. Control over people’s lives = Saint Dane. I was getting closer.

My eyes traveled down from the giant silver letters to the top of the stairs, where I saw a welcome sight. Nevva Winter. She stood there looking very efficient, with a clipboard of some kind in the crook of her arm. I had to believe she was waiting for me. At least I hoped she was.

“Now what?” I asked the dado dudes.

Without a word the guy on the passenger side got out of the car and opened my door. I pulled myself out and glanced up at Nevva. She didn’t acknowledge me. Fine. I didn’t acknowledge her, either. The sidewalks were busy with people, yet as crowded as they were, none walked on the sidewalk in front of the big Blok building. Everybody stayed on the far side of the street, even though walking in front of the building would have been much easier because it wasn’t crowded. It was like they feared a plague was on this side of the street.

As big as the building was, nobody exited or entered. The sight gave me a little shiver. What was the deal? Were people afraid of the place?

The driver dado joined his pal and the two looked at me with those blank doll eyes.

“Thanks for the lift, guys,” I said. “Wait here for me, okay? I won’t be long. Keep the engine running.” I started up the stairs. The two dados followed right behind me. I guessed they were making sure I didn’t bolt. Just to mess with them, I stopped suddenly. I hoped they would be surprised and stumble or something. They didn’t. The instant I stopped, they stopped. I took another step, they took another step. It was like these two were wired to me. I took a step, then quickly whipped around and stared at them. They didn’t flinch.

“What are you guys? Robots?” I said.

They didn’t react. Oh, well. At least I was amusing myself.

“Challenger Red,” Nevva called. “Please hurry. We’re running late.”

I jogged up the rest of the stairs. She greeted me with a small smile. A very small smile.

“Good morning. Challenger Red,” she said formally.

“Where have you been?” I asked, trying to sound as irked as I felt.

Her answer was a quick glance to the dados. I got it. She was saying, “Don’t talk in front of the robots.”

“We must go right to the trustee chambers,” she said. “Veego and LaBerge are already there.”

“Sure,” I said. “Wouldn’t want to keep Pete and Re-Peat waiting.”

Nevva started for the front door. I followed. The dados didn’t. I figured their job was done once they handed me off to Nevva.

“Bye, kids,” I said cheerily to the robots. “Go get yourselves an ice cream, on me.”

The dados didn’t react. We entered the building through a grand revolving door. Inside was a massive lobby that soared three stories high. On the wall directly in front of us was another huge silver sign that said: blok.

“What’s with the big signs?” I asked. “Are they afraid they’ll forget who they are or something?”

“The trustees like to maintain an impressive presence,” Nevva answered without breaking stride.

“Yeah, no kidding,” I said. “Are you gonna tell me what’s going on?”

Nevva took a quick glance around. I wasn’t sure why; there wasn’t another person to be seen. The place was huge and empty. Our footsteps echoed back at us.

“Everyone is observed. Always,” Nevva said under her breath. She didn’t look at me as she spoke, in order to give the illusion we weren’t talking. “The meeting here will answer some of your questions. Did you bring the item I gave you?”