Wormhole Pirates on Orbis (30 page)

Switzer saw what I was doing and leaped between us, preventing the Nagool from reaching me.

“There’s no time for this, Athooyi. We’re late already. They need to be registered. Back off, freak,” Switzer ordered the Nagool.

“Let them do it,” I protested, stepping toward the Nagool again.

Switzer pulled out a small cylindrical device tapered at booth ends. He squeezed it, and Max fell to her knees and let out a scream.

“Stop it!” Ketheria cried, and the Nagools wailed in unison.

What was that thing Switzer had? Did it work with the suit? What was its range?

“Get inside,” he growled, shoving me toward the gate. “Don’t even think about running.”

“You’re making a mistake!” yelled one of the protesters.

“By listening to you!” he shouted back, and hoisted Max up, pushing her toward me.

“Are you all right?” I whispered to her when she was next to me. I squeezed her hand.

“I’m all right now. Do you have a plan?” she whispered.

At that moment, I actually thought about making a run for it. I had not expected to have Max back so soon, but I was worried about the device Switzer had used on her.

“What was that thing he just used?” I whispered, looking across my shoulder. I was searching for an escape route back to the light chutes, but I spotted Cala lurking in the crowd.

“He put something in my neural port. I felt for it, but I couldn’t find anything. I think the device works with what they put in my stomach.”

Farther to Cala’s left was another wormhole pirate and then another. I scanned the plaza. We were surrounded. Switzer was obviously prepared. I hoped that device didn’t have a very long range.

“Just get inside,” I told her. I needed time to readjust my plan.

I couldn’t risk letting Switzer or Athooyi overhear us. Now that they had dropped Max right in my lap, I knew I could slip away once Switzer and his bandits snuck off to steal the Ancients’ Treasure. But what if he took Max with him? There were too many holes in my plan, but there was no way I was actually going to let everyone go through with the Challenge.

“This should be a treat for you,” Athooyi said, as if he forgot we were here to risk our lives for his gambling pleasures. “Very few knudniks have ever seen this part of Tromaine. It’s very special to us.”

“I’m sure it’s every knudnik’s dream to see your city before they’re sent to the slaughter,” Max replied.

“Do not be afraid,” he comforted her, clutching the voice box over the hole in his chest. “I am confident you will win.”

We would be gone long before the winner was ever decided.

Two holographic guards sat in elevated booths at the center of the huge gates that opened to Inner Tromaine. Behind them sparkled a blue energy field.

“Citizen?” the guard to my left asked, never looking up.

“Inai Gi Athooyi,” he replied, and the other guard scanned an O-dat.

“Four combatants to register,” he read, and then looked up, counting the ones wearing the battle suits. “Why the fifth one? You know the rules, Athooyi.”

“I am aware of the rules, but apparently, you are not. I am allowed to carry one substitute in case my team cannot pass the weight class. I’m concerned about the smallest one,” he said, and nudged Ketheria forward.

The guard took one look at Ketheria and laughed. “You plan to win with this team?” he scoffed.

The other guard joined in and added, “You think you can beat Banar with
them
?”

“Or Turtia?” Now they were both laughing. Athooyi’s skin reddened, and the hole in his chest widened as he sucked in as much air as he could.

“How dare you question me?” he bellowed through the voice box. I couldn’t believe how loud the thing was. Athooyi’s frail-looking bodyguards morphed into the fierce beasts I had seen once before.

The two guards stood up, stumbling for their weapons, with one eye on the snarling creatures.

“Our apologies, noble Citizen.”

“Please excuse our ignorance,” the other pleaded. “The names of your guests?”

Switzer smiled. He seemed to like Athooyi’s power. “The name is Switzer. Randall Switzer,” he proclaimed.

The guard to my left searched his O-dat — twice fidgeting with the buttons in front of him. Then he motioned to the other guard to do the same. He was already sweating, even though the temperature outside was perfectly normal.

“What’s taking so long?” Athooyi demanded.

The guard hesitated. “Um . . . it says here . . .”

“Well?” Athooyi prompted him.

“It’s says he’s dead,” the other guard finished.

Athooyi glanced at Switzer before turning back to the guards and shouting, “That’s ridiculous. Are you mocking me?” The guards cowered under Athooyi’s threatening tone and the electronic squelch from his voice box. “Obviously he’s not dead. He’s standing right in front of you, imbeciles.”

“Absolutely, I see that. This is our mistake. I will fix it immediately,” the guard stammered. “Please accept our gracious apologies.”

“Yes, and welcome to the Chancellor’s Challenge,” the other one said.

An opening appeared in the energy shield and we followed Athooyi inside the walls of the Labyrinth. It was more than an arena though — it was a city. The entrance was elevated, giving the place a sunken appearance, but impressive nonetheless. Kilometers of towers of bronze and crystal and hematite and gold spiraled toward the center. Artistically arranged spheres rested on enormous cradles like giant soap bubbles on spoons.

“That’s the actual labyrinth,” Athooyi said, pointing to a stadium elevated among the spheres and domed in sparkling blue glass.

“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Theodore whispered.

“Let’s just hope it’s easy to get out of,” I said.

Athooyi directed us to small pods located just beneath the curved platform. Once inside, we darted across the sky, straight to the labyrinth. I could not find a single remnant of the Ancients’ architecture anywhere inside the city. Unlike other parts of the ring, where some of the Ancients’ timeworn buildings still remained, every sign or symbol of the previous owners had been paved over with glittering displays of wealth. Layers of elevated trams sparkled below and webbed their way around cold structures of metal and glass. Max gawked as if intoxicated by the city, but I kept making mental notes of the landscape so we could find our way back. I only hoped Vairocina was doing the same.

“When do we play?” I asked Switzer.

“Soon,” Athooyi interrupted.

“Next spoke,” Switzer said. “We have time to prepare and get something to eat before round one.”

And plan,
I said to myself. The pod moved in a straight line from the entrance.
Is that automatic?
I wondered. I had not seen Athooyi program any destination into the pod.
If I jumped on one of these, would it take me right back to the gate?
Once inside the labyrinth, Vairocina could find that out for me, but I didn’t dare ask her that now.

“Yes, they will,” she responded inside my head,

“You can read my thoughts?” I asked her silently.

“Yes. I was unaware of how much you liked Max.”

I didn’t respond, but I did detect a note of coldness in Vairocina’s tone. I hoped it was the result of our new method of communications. She wasn’t jealous, was she?

The pod slipped through a crack in the lip of the Citizens’ labyrinth. It nestled on a landing cradle, and the whole thing rotated clockwise and then tilted slightly, forcing us to disembark.

“Everyone, right hands out,” Athooyi yelled, and produced a bag of crystals, just like the ones Weegin used to rope us together when he tried to sell us on Orbis 2.

“What’s this for?” I asked.

“Knudniks are not allowed to run free in the Labyrinth,” he informed us.

That was fine by me. It kept us together. I planned to leave here with everyone, anyway. Athooyi gave each of us a crystal, and we kept our hands stretched out in front of us.

“You too, Ceesar,” Athooyi said.

“Me? Why me?” Switzer protested, and I agreed. I did not want Switzer tied to us. This was disastrous.

“That’s the way it is. You’re not a Citizen. Put your hand out,” he ordered.

Switzer hesitated. He looked at us and then back at Athooyi, who stood there waiting. Switzer hadn’t planned for this. Neither had I.

“Now,” Athooyi demanded.

Switzer held out his hand and accepted the crystal. Athooyi then clipped the last link somewhere onto his body. The effect was instant, and a bright red electrical rope now bound us together with Switzer and Athooyi.

“Follow me,” Athooyi ordered.

We stepped out from the pod port and into the thick and unmistakable alien perfume of the Labyrinth. The glass dome polarized the thin atmosphere and bathed the throngs of aliens in a cool, clean shine.

“Wow,” Max exclaimed.

The festive atmosphere reminded me of the harvest on Orbis 2. We walked under huge floating O-dats that displayed the odds for different matches, and groups of aliens cheered as their favorite players splashed across the screens.

“It’s the most popular event on Orbis 3, and it only happens every other rotation,” Athooyi said, his voice full of pride.

“Takes them that long to scrounge up more split-screens willing to play,” Theodore whispered.

“Just count everything you can, Theodore. Remember, I don’t plan on staying here that long,” I whispered back. I tried desperately to remember every landmark, but the place was huge and crowded with aliens.

“Planning strategies?” Switzer called out.

“Absolutely,” I said.

“For the game, I trust.”

“Of course,” I replied.

“You’ll play fantastically,” Athooyi bragged. “I have a lot of money placed on your success.”

You should have bet on someone else, then,
I answered silently.

We pushed through the boisterous crowds, and I found myself walking behind the same female I saw register her knudniks with Tinker. Still hooded and naked, her knudniks fidgeted with their chains, their shoulders bulging under the fresh metal armor now embedded in their skin.

“JT!” I heard a voice call out. “JT!”

Laboring toward me through the crowd of fans was a human.
Who is that?
I wondered, but I could not recognize the face. Reddened and puffy, with the whites of his eyes yellowed in a sickly fashion, I could not place him.

“JT, it’s me. Daniel,” he said, standing before us.

I had known a Daniel on the
Renaissance,
but this bloated human reminded me more of a Trefaldoor than of the Daniel I knew.

“Daniel?” Max said.

“I know it doesn’t look like me. I’m hosting a Citizen,” he said, and pulled back the charcoal shirt that draped over half his body. His stomach contorted and shifted, as if it were alive.

“Why?” Max cried in horror.

Daniel leaned in and whispered, “One less rotation on Orbis for me — not bad, huh?”

“Let’s go,” Athooyi growled, and Switzer yanked the light chain.

Theodore stared at him, slack-jawed. “It’s inside you?”

“Um, that’s great, Daniel,” I mumbled.

“Does it hurt?” Max asked.

“Only if I get him mad,” Daniel replied, smiling. “Are you here to watch the Challenge? Maybe we can sit together.”

“We’re here to play,” I told him.

Even under Daniel’s strained skin, I could see his face go pale. “Oh,” he replied, and took a step back as if
we
were the ones who were diseased-looking. “I guess, good luck, then,” he muttered as Switzer yanked the light chain toward him.

“I never liked that guy,” Switzer said.

Seeing the effect on Daniel’s body broke my concentration. I had never once imagined us as vessels for some alien back when we lived on the
Renaissance. What has happened to us? How did it get like this?
I remembered dreaming about coming to the Rings of Orbis. It was all I ever thought about. But now . . . my fists were clenched tightly, squeezing the blood from my hands as my fingernails dug deeply into my skin. I hated this place. I refused to die for these people.

I needed to get Switzer off this chain.

“Right here!” Athooyi announced.

He stopped us in front of another energy shield guarded by two enormous aliens with tiny heads and arms thicker than a Trefaldoor’s.

“Out of our way!” Athooyi shouted, but the crowd parted only slightly.

“But Banar has arrived!” someone protested. Just then the crowd roared.

The group of onlookers swept to the side in one huge wave of bodies, taking us with them. Athooyi became disoriented. He wobbled on his thin legs, dropping the light rope. As we quickly became separated from him, I realized this was our chance to run.

“We need to break away from this chain,” I whispered to Max.

“But that thing he has. I can’t leave,” she said. “Besides, Switzer’s still attached to us.”

“Vairocina, can you do anything about this light rope?” I asked her.

“I’m searching for something right now,” she stalled inside my head.

Someone yelled, “There he is!” and the crowd heaved once more.

I looked over the crowd to see a gleaming black creature strutting toward the shield — not as tall as a Keeper, but daunting still the same. It was as if the creature were encased in a glossy metal cast with sections that shifted and spun as he walked.

“We have to fight that?” Theodore exclaimed.

“We’re not going to fight,” I hissed.

“You won’t get the chance to refuse if he gets his hands on you,” Switzer remarked.

Banar slipped through the energy field, and the crowd thinned out, pressing up against the glass near the shield to catch one more glimpse of their hero.

“Hold your hands up,” Athooyi demanded, stomping toward us. We held our hands out. “Inside the shield first.”

We moved past the guards and through the shield. Athooyi cracked the crystal, and our hands dropped, except for Max. Athooyi gave her another crystal and tied Max to himself.

“Wait,” I said. “Ketheria hasn’t passed the weight class.”

“I waived it,” he replied. “She’ll do well in there. I want to see her fight.”

Then he pulled on the light rope and slipped back through the shield, dragging Max with him. She turned, and I caught one last glimpse of her before she was gone.