Psion Delta (12 page)

“I
hate it.” The trembling slowly subsided. “You know I hate it.”

“Then
use it as motivation to regain my confidence, and I will give you back the
freedom you so treasure. Now to business: Wrobel is dead thanks to my
well-placed agent. The information he gave them was minimal, but the
information he still gives us is invaluable, especially as my plan nears the
final stages. The same agent now has the full attention of Alpha Command, which
takes eyes away from us as we make our next move. I will need you to go to
Johannesburg and retrieve something I want very much. Are you willing and ready
to do that? It will be your first step on the road to redemption.”

The
Queen’s mouth tasted of acid. Her stomach ached in protest to the invasion of
the solution. The rage inside her was a tidal wave of emotion bristling with
raw power built for destruction, but she knew what her answer would be.

I
hate you, fox.
Forgiveness for such a betrayal would never
come. New tears fell as she bent her head and got down on her knees. The only
difference between these tears and the two drops shed only moments earlier was
that these were a farce.

7.
Tawhiri

Saturday May 18, 2086

The
Betas gathered
into teams and filed off to their respective
starting places. Jeffie fell in step next to Sammy. “Don’t be shy about giving
me ideas if you have them, okay?”

“I
told you—”

“I
know, I know. I’m saying that I’m open to suggestions if a brilliant strategy
strikes your brain.”

“You
got it.”

Jeffie
grinned at him and put a hand on his shoulder, then pulled it off as though
he’d burned her. Her expression turned stony and her face reddened as she
muttered an apology.

Sammy
looked back at her, unashamed. “You don’t need to be. We’re friends.”

She
opened her mouth to reply, when Brickert butted in. “So what’s our plan? Do we
even have a chance?”

“Thanks
for the vote of confidence, Brick,” she said.

The
five friends reached the portal to the large cavernous interior of Beta
headquarters: the Arena. Kawai peered inside. “Is it just me or does it seem
like there’s a lot of warm air coming out of the room?”

Jeffie
led the way inside. Sammy quickly discovered that the air wasn’t warm, it was
stifling. Within a minute, the first drops of sweat formed on his brow and
dribbled down his nose. Barely enough light shone in the Arena. Jeffie led them
along the passage until it shrunk into a cramped crawlspace. Between the humid
air and the claustrophobic feeling of the tunnels, the only nice thing about
this Game was Sammy’s perfect view of Jeffie’s backside as she crawled in front
of him.

As
they passed turn after turn, continuing on Jeffie’s straight-ahead course,
Sammy realized that they were in a maze.

“Any
ideas?” Jeffie asked him over the com.

“Not
really,” he replied. “Finish as soon as possible so we can get out of this
crucible?”

Jeffie
laughed. “I’m thinking we should stick together. You agree?”

“Yeah.
Probably a good idea.”

“And
quit staring at my butt.”

“What—no—I—”

“Kidding.”

Unfortunately,
Sammy did not get his wish of getting out of the Arena early. They crawled
around for the full hour, and only bumped into one person, whom they quickly
deactivated. Because Asaki’s team had the most players remaining, she won.

Jeffie
was not happy, but she held her tongue. Despite the intense heat they’d
suffered inside the Arena, Tawhiri gave the Betas little time for a break. Five
minutes after the first match ended, the next began. Sammy dreaded what they
might find inside this time.

The
good news was that the heat was gone. The bad news was that in its place was a
frigid cold air that had an even greater effect on their sweat-soaked clothes
and heat-accustomed bodies. Also gone was the maze and tunnels, replaced with a
new surprise. The Arena had transformed into a giant office building. The
setting had much more detail than anything Byron had ever cooked up for them.
In fact, Sammy might have believed they’d walked into a real building if
everything hadn’t had that dull gray metallic sheen.

“I’ll
tell you, Major Tryhooli better have a good severance package.” Brickert folded
his arms tightly against his chest. “He’s gonna kill us on his first day!”

As
Sammy walked past a desk, he ran his fingers over the surface where two pens and
a box of papers sat. Neither the pens nor the paper budged when he tried to
move them; it was as though all the objects around him were trapped in a static
three dimensional image.

“A—Any
orders, J—Jeffie?” Kawai asked through chattering teeth.

Jeffie
turned to Sammy, but he shook his head. “Come on, you’re honcho. You have to
make the decisions.”

Jeffie
grumbled as she surveyed the room. “Give me a sec to think.”

A
network of cubicles and open desks divided the center of the floor from the
ring of enclosed offices surrounding them.
Come on, Jeffie
, Sammy
thought,
surely you can see that this is the perfect area to
—

“Maybe
. . . we’ll lay some traps,” she finally said.

There
you go.

Once
Jeffie had made her decision she stuck with it, putting herself with Brickert
and Natalia in the offices near the stairs, and sending Sammy and Kawai into
the cubicles a few meters away.

Sammy
and Kawai crouched low in their little nook. As they waited, they hugged
themselves to stay warm, which was more difficult now that they’d stopped
moving. Pressing against him to share body heat, Kawai’s breaths came out as
snakelike hisses through her clenched teeth until Sammy motioned her to be
quiet with a finger to his lips. Every ten seconds Sammy’s body gave a long
shiver and then relaxed. The cold Arena reminded him of his first night on the
run with Toad, how they’d jogged long into the night until finding a small
shanty for shelter. At least ten minutes passed in this manner before anyone
stepped into their ambush: a team of three. There was enough light for Sammy to
recognize Li, Strawberry, and Brillianté. Jeffie gave the order and everyone
attacked.

Sammy
and Kawai got there first, catching the threesome off-guard. With one blast,
Sammy took out Strawberry, immediately aiming a second one at Li, who blocked
it. Jeffie’s team came up from behind to help Kawai take out Brillianté.
Between Sammy, Brickert, and Natalia’s efforts, Li had no chance.

As
soon as the three were deactivated, Jeffie led the group downstairs to set a similar
trap on the floor below. The layout was exactly the same, so they chose the
same places. This time they waited much longer, at least twenty minutes, before
Jeffie made the decision to proceed down one more floor. Sammy knew what was
going on in her mind. She had to press the attack in order to stand a chance at
winning because of Asaki’s greater numbers. The downside, of course, was that
her smaller team stood little chance of winning a direct confrontation with
Asaki’s.

As
they moved into position to set up their third ambush point—exactly as they’d
done on the top two floors—Asaki’s team emerged from the floor below with
Jeffie’s group still in plain sight.

“Attack!”
Jeffie cried as she led the team forward.

The
doorway to the stairs bottlenecked Asaki’s team, which helped Jeffie, but Sammy
thought rushing into a battle like this was a poor strategy. They pushed
forward, meeting Asaki, Kobe, and Kaden on the front line. Kobe and Kaden
pressed a strong counterattack, making it difficult for Jeffie’s front line to
get many good blasts off. Behind them, Miguel and Rosa used jump blasts to rain
down their fire. Only a moment after Jeffie deactivated Asaki’s helmet, Miguel
took down Natalia.

The
fighting continued, but Jeffie’s team played pure defense to prevent any more
deactivations. Sammy noticed that Asaki’s team had already lost two
players—Cala and Levu—from a skirmish with Li’s team. For the moment, Jeffie
and Asaki’s teams were evenly matched in numbers, though not in skill.

Smelling
the fear of their opponents, Kobe and Kaden pushed the front line even harder
while Miguel and Rosa kept up the aerial assaults. On Jeffie’s orders, Sammy
and Brickert hung back while she and Kawai shielded for them. Brickert took
shots at Miguel when each opportunity arose, and Sammy targeted Rosa, but it
was an impossible situation. The teams had reached a standstill, no one willing
to do much more than shield until Kaden found a way around Kawai’s defense and
took her down.

“Retreat!
Get back!” Jeffie ordered. “We can’t let Kobe and Kaden get around us.”

Sammy
and Brickert followed orders, giving up ground in order to avoid the twins’
double team.

“Jeffie,
if we’re going to win we need to do something drastic,” said Sammy.

“Do
whatever you think is best as long as it helps us win.”

Sammy
tapped Brickert’s shoulder and made three motions with his hands. Brickert
nodded and gave a thumbs up. With that, Sammy launched into action. Using a
moderate jump blast, he planted his feet on the wall to his right and walked
its length. To support himself, he used one hand in a constant blast, the other
he used to fire repeatedly at Kobe and Rosa, the two Betas closest to him. Kobe
turned and shielded with his left hand, firing blasts back at Sammy with his
right hand. Kaden shot down Brickert off the opposite wall almost immediately,
but in turn was caught by Jeffie.

By
the time Sammy was done with his wall walk, Rosa had hit the ground, leaving
Kobe and Miguel flanked by Jeffie and Sammy. Miguel held up Sammy long enough
for Kobe to deactivate Jeffie, forcing Sammy into a two-on-one situation.

Now
would be a great time for my anomaly to magically reappear.

But
it didn’t. His com told him that he had ten minutes left before the Game ended
in a loss, so he pressed the attack. It was a hard fought battle between
himself, Miguel, and Kobe. He refused to yield ground to them, while also
preventing them from going vertical to surround him. Twice Miguel tried to jump
over him, but both times Sammy met him in the air, shielding carefully while also
rebuffing him with his legs or torso. The second time Miguel lost his balance
on the way down, landing on his back, vulnerable.

Sammy
didn’t hesitate.

With
only Kobe remaining, the equation became much simpler. Even without an anomaly
to show him what to do, Sammy had more speed, skill, and experience. He pushed
Kobe around with blasts, kicks, and forward jumps until Kobe’s body language
told Sammy all he needed to know. Feigning right, Sammy jerked his body left
and caught Kobe’s flank with his foot. Pushing Kobe’s hands aside, Sammy fought
through until his blasts reached Kobe’s helmet.

The
lights came on in the Arena as everyone’s suits reactivated. Kobe got up
quickly and took off his helmet. Sammy braced himself for an angry reaction,
but instead saw that Kobe wore a huge grin. “Good to know the world has gone
back to normal,” he joked, smacking Sammy on the arm. “We’ll get you next
time.”

“I
doubt it!” Jeffie called out as she led her team to their exit.

Once
again, Tawhiri gave the teams almost no time to rest. Before Jeffie had much
chance to talk strategy, their team hustled back into the Arena as the nerves
in Sammy’s injured leg sent out their first mild complaints. The temperature
was even colder than before, almost unbearably so. Every centimeter of his
exposed skin itched, and every hair on Sammy’s weary body stood on end.

“I
think my goosebumps are sprouting goosebumps,” Brickert chattered.

In
the last match, Sammy had gradually grown accustomed to the cold, but it would
not be the case this time. As they walked further into the Arena, he had to
keep rubbing his hands together to keep them from aching.

The
setup was a warehouse, filled with the same kind of detail they’d seen in the
office building last match. Immovable stacks of boxes, crates, pallets,
machinery, all the same steely gray color, filled the Arena. The piles of
storage boxes and equipment formed a simple labyrinth, but as far as Sammy
could see, there was only one floor in this Game. Across the Arena, he could
see Asaki and Li leading their teams down the steps into the fray.

“Look
for a hiding spot,” Jeffie said, and Sammy noticed that her lips had turned a
bluish-purple. “We need to try to keep out of the fight until the other teams
have hurt each other a bit.”

“We’re
going to freeze sitting around!” Kawai protested.

“We
can huddle up,” Brickert suggested. Sammy pretended not to notice the glance
his friend sent Natalia, nor the tell-tale signs of emotion growing on his
friend’s cheeks.

“Fine,
fine,” Jeffie said, “let’s find somewhere fast.”

They
didn’t have to search long. The warehouse design had several nooks and crannies
where five teenagers could hide undetected. The enclosure they chose was
cramped enough to trap some of their body heat around them and had plenty of
ledges to allow them to climb if someone wanted to peek over the top of the
boxes to investigate. Jeffie ordered Sammy to keep lookout, so he stayed
perched above his teammates where he could easily peer over the ledge.