D. MacHale - The Quillan Games

Fourteen nodded and said, “You are not like the others. I knew that from the moment I saw you. I believe if there were more like you, Quillan would be a better place.”

“There are more like me,” I said, putting on my pants. “You’re going to see that pretty soon.”

Veego entered the dining hall, followed by two security dados.

“You have succeeded,” she said coldly.

“At what?” I asked. “I thought it was all tied up.”

“You have succeeded in destroying us,” she said bitterly. “Wagering is nonexistent. People are taking to the streets, demonstrating against the games. Against Blok. Crowds have broken into Blok stores to ransack them. Several of our gaming arcades have been overrun and destroyed. You have somehow… inspired them to insurrection.”

I sat down on the dining table to get off my leg and said, “This was going to happen whether I was here or not. If it wasn’t me, it would have been somebody else. People can’t live like this. Fear works for only so long. Blok became powerful out of greed, but you can’t build a civilization on that.”

“But they did,” Veego countered.

“No, they didn’t,” I said quickly. “They tried to destroy one. And they almost did. But you can’t crush people’s spirits. At least not forever. It may have taken a long time, but the people of Quillan are going to take back their territory. Ending your games is just the first step.”

Veego shook her head as if she couldn’t believe it could be true. Her world was crumbling.

“It can’t be happening again,” she said. “First Veelox, now here.”

“No, there’s a difference,” I said. “The people of Veelox did it to themselves. Every last one. Nobody forced anyone to stay in Lifelight. But here on Quillan there’s only one enemy. Blok. Blok took control of their lives, and now they’re fighting back.”

“But none of this was our doing!” she said. “We were just doing our job and filling a need.”

“Yeah, well, that need is about to go away,” I said. “And don’t act all innocent. You kidnapped people and set them up to kill one another. For profit. That’s not a job, that’s a crime. It doesn’t matter if it was your idea or not. You made it happen. And you know what else…”

I walked toward her. The two dados straightened up so I didn’t get too close.

“Maybe you didn’t know what you were doing, but taking things from other territories and bringing them here could lead to a catastrophe. You’ve brought in raw materials and animals and ideas that don’t belong here. They’re not natural to this place. I suppose you can’t really be blamed, because you just don’t get it, but trust me, what you’ve done is a crime against humanity. Unless we can figure a way to purge everything you’ve brought here, you might have started a chain reaction that will make what happened on Veelox look like a party.”

Veego looked shaken. I was glad. She was a criminal. So was her goofy brother. I supposed they couldn’t totally be blamed for mingling the territories, because they didn’t know better, but still. When Blok was brought down and these guys put out of business, I sure hoped they would meet some kind of justice.

“LaBerge and I have been called to meet with the trustees first thing tomorrow,” she said. “I have no doubt we will be relieved of our responsibilities and the games taken away.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “I don’t think the games are going to be around much longer anyway. You’ll be lucky to get out before it comes down around you, and the people start storming the castle the way they’re tearing apart your arcades.”

Veego shot me a frightened look. She hadn’t thought of that.

“Well,” she said curtly. “At least there is one bit of consolation I can take from all of this.”

“What’s that?” I asked. “Do you get to keep your silly outfits? I’m sure that’s all LaBerge cares about anyway.”

“No,” she said, suddenly sounding cold. “You’re forgetting, Pendragon. The Grand X isn’t over. There’s a tie. And when there’s a tie, we have one last competition.”

“No way,” I said, scoffing. “Challenger Green’s foot was crushed. He’s out of it.”

“But he isn’t,” she said. “He’s quite resilient. He wants one more chance at you, and I’m going to give it to him.”

I didn’t like where this was going.

“We always choose the games,” Veego said, enjoying the moment. “We try to pick competitions that will provide fairly matched and exciting contests. But not in this case. You may have been successful in bringing me down, but at least I can keep you from enjoying your victory. That’s why I picked a game that Challenger Green is most competent in. It plays to every one of his strengths. I have no doubt that he will triumph… and you will die.”

“And that game is?” I asked.

“Tato, Pendragon,” she said with delight. “I don’t know what will happen with these exuberant crowds that you have inspired, but one thing I can say for certain, they will soon watch you fall to your death.” She smiled and added, “This may be my last game on Quillan, but it will be the most satisfying.” She turned and headed toward the door. “Bring him now!” she commanded to her dados.

I looked at Fourteen. He was about as stunned as a robot can be, which isn’t very much. “Find Nevva Winter,” I barked at him. “Do what you can to get her here.”

I left Fourteen and walked quickly toward the exit. I knew the way. The dados followed right behind to make sure I went where I was supposed to. I guess I knew it would come to this. This is how Remudi died. It was fitting that I’d get the chance to avenge him in the same arena. What I didn’t get was how Challenger Green was going to compete. His foot was crushed. I saw it. I’m sorry to say that I heard it too. If this guy was hurt even a little bit, I’d have a huge advantage on that Tato platform. There was no way after an injury like that, that he’d have the kind of balance to fight me, let alone maneuver on that surface if it started to tilt.

Part of me was totally confident. Another part knew it couldn’t be that easy. Challenger Green was sly. He could very well have some things planned that I wouldn’t expect. I had to treat this event as if he were whole and I had no advantage. To do anything else would be suicide.

I had to hope that since it had come to this, a tiebreaker to the death, that Nevva would do everything in her power to be there. Especially after what happened with Remudi. If she didn’t make it, I’d know something happened to her. I couldn’t stress about it though. I had to focus all my energy on beating Challenger Green in a competition that he was the all-time champion in. It was like challenging Lance Armstrong to a bike race. The only difference was, when you lost a bike race, you didn’t die.

I walked the familiar route back through the forest to where I knew the Tato dome was. When I arrived. Challenger Green was already there, standing in his square on the platform. He stood straight, on both feet. I had no way of knowing how badly he was hurt.

I walked to the edge of the platform and called out, “How’s the foot?”

“You’re a fool,” he said. “You had me beaten. No, I had beaten myself. If the situation were reversed, I would have let you die.”

“I did it for lots of reasons,” I said. “But mostly because I’m not you.”

“For what you did, I will give you one piece of advice,” he said.

“Really? What’s that?”

“Don’t think for a second that I will show you mercy for having saved me.”

I waited a second, expecting more. There wasn’t. “That’s it?” I asked. “That’s your big advice? Gee, thanks. That’ll help a bunch.”