Андреа Хёст - The Starfighter Invitation

"Don’t stop for anything," Nova advised. "We’re likely to have only one chance at this."

"On the third mark," Arlen said, bouncing lightly. "One. Two…"

"Wait," I said.

Arlen almost fell over, pulling himself back from action, and gave me an aggrieved glance.

"Don’t do one hole at a time," I said. "Make a connecting shape, a long curve, and then go downward into the holes all at the same time. That will make it complete before any of the blasters activate."

"Or just activate them all at once," Nova remarked, then shrugged. "But it seems the logical approach. Might intensify the blast, but shorten how long we have to withstand it."

Arlen considered the wide semi-circle of dots, frowning, and said: "That will be more difficult, but I will attempt it. I do not think I can grow the little points evenly all at once, however."

"But you could create the shape above the holes, and then lower it, yes?" Imoenne said.

The boy’s smile lit up his face. "Yes, indeed! Ah, that is a good plan, because we can do all that is difficult in safety, and it is only a matter of dropping it into place."

"Hold the form after dropping it, in case it has a long activation time," Nova warned, and we nodded and began again.

Creating a curve, and then descending spikes, wasn’t particularly difficult. Making sure they all lined up to such small holes was a good deal harder, and I could hear Arlen occasionally telling himself off in low tones as he corrected and recorrected himself.

"Lower just to touching to make sure they’re all going to fit," I suggested, and then had to correct one of my own. Changing an existing shape was always harder than creating it in the first place, but it helped to think back to my glass-blowing analogy, to melt the tine back into the curve, and then poke a mental hot needle down in just the right spot.

"I think that I am ready," Arlen said, sounding nervous for the first time.

"Okay, if you’ve got it just touching, we’ll push it down as quickly as possible on three," I said. "One…"

"Brace," Nova added, to Imoenne and Silent.

"Two." I took a breath. "Three."

Whirring, all around us. I wanted to bring up my own shield, the nerves along my arms and back crawling with anticipation, but I didn’t dare in case my spike projection faltered.

"Double-check everything’s gone in," I got out, voice high and breathless, just before the blasting began.

Silent gasped, a deep exhalation, as if he’d been punched in the stomach. His shield dropped, and I felt rather than heard him stumble behind me. I didn’t dare look up until I’d confirmed that all my threads had gone in, and then I risked a quick glance about, checking to see if there was a protruding blaster to match each of the holes.

Imoenne lost her shield as Silent resurrected his, and then they both went down, and I could see the chrysanthemum blooms of light on Nova’s, as bright and constant as New Year’s fireworks. She was breathing like a runner, but standing firm as Silent and Imoenne constantly brought up and lost their shields to the barrage. Then came a thunderous thrumming, and it all stopped.

Nova sat down, panting, face streaked with sweat. "Not single-shot."

"What was that noise?" I asked, bringing up a shield because no-one else had replaced Nova’s, and I didn’t trust this game not to produce some last-minute horror movie encore.

"Back wall," Silent said, waving in a vague way toward the sweeping curve.

At first I saw no difference, or at least no black gap to indicate an opening. It took a moment to see the intersecting curve of the walls, hiding the way through.

"So it is done?" Arlen asked. "We have finished?"

"Maybe," I said, drawing the word out, and then recognising an unintended imitation of Dio.

Cautious, we rested and put up a full set of shields before heading for the gap, but there was no further barrage. We walked through a white curving corridor into one final room.

Gauntlet Successful

Gauntlet Success Rate: 11/11 100%

Challenge Success Rate: 17/18 94%

Lux Points Earned: 5

Total Lux Points: 6,834

Challenge Reward:

[Tier 2 Décor Pattern]

[Tier 2 Apparel Pattern]

Series Successful

Series Success Rate: 1/1 100%

Lux Points Earned: 50

Total Lux Points: 6,884

Series Reward:

[System Challenge Access]

[Custom Suppression Modal]

Arlen and Imoenne slapped hands together, and Arlen hummed a little medley of gaming victory tunes.

"Well, we did it," Silent said.

"We did," Nova agreed, and something in the way they looked at each other—even though their faces were still concealed by their focuses—made me decide TALiSON was right.

"Without dying," I said.

[[Without dying,]] Dio agreed, over my Link.

I glanced around for tem, but couldn’t see any Cycogs—just the cluster of Renba trailing us into the room. Ordering mine to efface itself, I listened as the others talked excitedly about attempting the System Challenge, revisiting upcoming available times, factoring in the travel time involved in reaching The Wreck. We would have to get off-planet, Skip, and then dock and travel with the big ship that was apparently the mandatory form of transport to the System Challenge. I listened, and said I could be available whenever, but my mind was on other questions, and whether the answers would be true.

Imoenne wandered away while Arlen handled scheduling. With her habitually soft voice, her tiny exclamation was barely audible, but some quality to the sound made us all pause and turn to look at her, standing before the mural that had marked the completion of every stage of the gauntlet series.

The figures had become familiar, shifting pose and position only marginally through the series. We’d reached the complete set of default Bios before this stage: Darashi, Vssf, Human, Ah Ma Ani, Shree, Kzah, Embyde. I counted them off as I followed everyone else in joining Imoenne. All there, all in much the same…

No. The same positions, similar poses, but tiny lines had been introduced, at key joints of each of the figures, and lifting an inch or two directly up.

"They look like marionettes," Arlen observed. "But there is no marionnettiste."

"Top right corner," Nova said.

It took me several moments to see what she indicated: a minute cluster of pale tiles with a single white mote at the centre.

"Cykes do a real job selling themselves, don’t they?" Silent said, after a long pause.

"But this game, it is theirs. For what reason would they include this?" Arlen asked, sounding more perplexed than disturbed.

"Trolling?" I suggested, feebly.

"To show that their power over the biologicals, it is complete," Imoenne whispered.

"It could be lan," Silent said, though dubiously. "We’ve just been making threads of it, after all. Care to explain, Bishop?"

[[Not at this juncture,]] Silent’s Cycog replied, drifting out of the pale patch of tiles.

"Bah," Nova said. "Well, now that this grim note has quashed our moment of triumph, let’s settle our start time for the System Challenge."

"Before we spook ourselves out of playing on," Silent murmured, and we all looked back at the mural, and away.

"Do you think I’m ready for the next Rank, Dio?"

[[If you take a break first, you could attempt Rank Eight.]]

"Really?" I paused, then had to hurry to step onto my just-arrived Pod. "I want to see Jupiter next, so whatever Rank I get Skipping there. Do I have enough time to get back?"

[[Yes. You would need to factor double recovery into your plans, but you can make the agreed meeting if you follow this schedule.]]

A little outline of times appeared in my field of view. I considered it, then asked: "Where is it I need to go to start the System Challenge?"