would develop a taste for such an odd fruit? Or vegetable. Or potato? Whatever.
After eating, I lay down and closed my eyes to rest up and think about what to say to the challengers. I needed information about Quillan. It was the only way to piece together what Saint Dane’s plan might be for the territory, because Nevva Winter wasn’t helping much… or at all. I was beginning to worry that something had happened to her. I didn’t know what her life was like here on Quillan, other than that she was some kind of lowly assistant to the trustees. Whoever they were. Veego and LaBerge answered to them, so they must have been a powerful bunch. I decided that I’d wait for her until the time came that I had to enter another match. No way I was going to die for the amusement of these losers. If I had to play again, I’d use the blocking diode that Nevva had given me and beat feet out of there.
As usual, all this thinking meant I didn’t get much rest before Fourteen came for me. Oh well. As we walked down the corridor toward the party room, I found myself getting butterflies. I felt a little bit like I was going to my first middle-school dance. Only I wasn’t nervous about asking somebody to dance with me, I was more concerned about being accepted enough to start learning more about how Quillan worked.
By the time we arrived, the party was already jamming. It was even bigger and rowdier than the party I saw before. Fourteen must have sensed my surprise.
“Nobody died today,” he told me. “That makes for a more festive event.”
“Thanks, dude,” I said. “Don’t wait up.”
With that, I stepped into the action. I wasn’t sure how people would react to me, since I was pretty much a stranger. Turned out, I didn’t have to worry. No sooner did I set foot in that room than I was greeted like a long-lost friend.
“Hey! How are you!” “Red!” “Good to see you!” “Whooo!”
It was like going to a party at Courtney’s house. Guys were clapping me on the back, girls were hugging me, big smiles were all around. I was handed a silver goblet of that green drink that everybody liked so much. It tasted like warm Gatorade, but what the heck? I liked Gatorade. The same band of Fourteen clones was in the corner playing an upbeat tune. A girl pulled me onto the dance floor, and I was instantly in the middle of a mosh of jumping and bumping. At first I was a little thrown. I really hadn’t planned on partying, but it was hard to resist. Soon I was dancing for the first time since that Winter Solstice dance back at Stony Brook Junior High. The only difference was that I didn’t know any of the tunes. But it didn’t matter. It may have been a bizarre situation, but it was fun.
I wasn’t the only one given a big welcome either.
Everybody got the same reaction when they showed up. It was like a dam that was holding back all this pent-up emotion had been thrown wide open. In between parties everybody pretended not to know anybody else. But there, we were all best buds. I went with it. Why not? I deserved a little break too. The music was odd, but fun, and I liked to dance. At one point a full-on wet-down fight broke out where everybody threw the green drinks at everybody else. I got soaked and sticky, but didn’t care. I had no idea who any of these people were, but in some strange way we were all connected. I tried not to think about how I might be dancing with somebody who I would be asked to fight to the death the next day. It made me understand why they normally avoided one another.
As great as it was, I had to force myself to remember that I wasn’t there to have fun. I was on business. I wanted to find out more about these guys and the games of Quillan. I hoped to find out who the mysterious Mr. Pop was, and how he fit into the program. I needed to know everything. I approached a couple of challengers, said hi, and got the same big “Hey! How are you doing!” greeting. I was just as friendly back. But when I tried to get them to talk about themselves, or how they ended up getting captured to be challengers, I always got the same reaction. They gave me a sharp look and said, “Uh-uh.” Some didn’t even say that much. They just frowned, shook their heads, and moved on. Bottom line? Nobody wanted to talk about anything that was even close to serious.
Once I saw this, the party took on a creepy feeling. I realized that all of the happy greetings and friendly gestures had no basis in anything. Nobody truly knew anybody else there. All they knew was that they were all challengers, faced with the same troubles. I walked around the room and tried to eavesdrop on conversations. I quickly realized that it was all incredibly shallow. Nobody was saying anything that meant anything. It was an outpouring of positive emotion, but with nothing behind it. That’s how they were able to welcome me like some long-lost friend. Nobody really knew anybody, but they all went through the motions as if they did. They were all kidding themselves into believing they were among friends. But they weren’t. Just the opposite. They may have all been in the same boat, but it was a boat loaded with potential enemies. In order to have fun, they all had to pretend like they cared. That’s why they didn’t want to talk. If someone said something real, it would break the illusion.
It made me feel incredibly sad. What looked like a celebration was really a desperate attempt to pretend that all was well. I looked around at a sea of broad smiles and wild, laughing eyes. It could have been a scene from a blowout party on Second Earth. It wasn’t. It was a funeral. I wanted to be out of there. I backed away and turned for the door, only to come face-to-face with someone I had almost forgotten about.
Challenger Green had arrived. The guy stood there, holding a green drink, staring at me. He didn’t have the same wild party look on. He was more in control than that. He was big, too. Bigger than he looked on that screen during the Tato match. The guy stared at me with a knowing smile. It wasn’t a broad, false party smile like everyone else wore either. He was like a hungry cat who had stumbled upon a timid mouse. This was the guy who killed a Traveler. I know, it was part of the games. Still, he had killed a Traveler. I wasn’t about to put on a show, smile, and clap him on the back with a jovial, “Hey! How’s it going!” All I did was stand there, and stare back at him.
“So you’re the next big deal,” he said.
It surprised me, because this guy actually said something that had relevance.
“That’s what they tell me,” I said. “It’s not like I want to be.”
Challenger Green smirked at that comment and said, “Do any of us want to be?” He gulped back his drink and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. His red hair was combed back from his forehead. His skin was pale and freckled. I saw that his hands were big. I’ll bet he could palm a basketball, easy. Everything about him was intimidating. He was the main guy. If anybody could help me understand more about how the games worked, it would be him.
“Congratulations,” I said. “Breaking that record must have been-“
“Shut up,” he snarled.
It came out so fast and so harsh, I think I actually took a step back.
“Don’t talk to me,” he spat out. “Unless you want it to hurt when I kill you.”
He pushed past me and strode into the party.
“Nice to meet you, too!” I said cheerily.
Yikes. The guy was intense. I didn’t know if that was the way he was with everybody, or if he singled me out because I was the one being groomed to be in the Grand X. Either way, it was getting painfully clear that if Veego and LaBerge had their way, he and I would be going head-to-head in some game. I started to sweat. I was getting closer to my showdown with the champion, but no closer to finding Saint Dane. Something needed to happen, and it was beginning to look like I was the one who was going to have to make sure it did. I made a snap decision. It was time to take action. I decided to go back to my room, grab the blocking diode, and get the hell out of Dodge. But when I stepped out of the door. Fourteen was waiting for me.
“I’m going back to my room,” I said as I walked past him, and strode quickly down the corridor.
Fourteen kept pace with me and said, “I was coming to get you anyway.”
“Why?” I said. “I don’t have a curfew, do I?”
“No,” he answered. “But you need to get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very important day for you.”
I didn’t like the sound of that.
“Why?” I asked. “Do I have a competition?”
“No,” he answered. “Miss Nevva Winter will be here early to bring you into the city.”
My heart leaped. “What for?” I asked, trying to contain my emotion.
“You are going to be presented to the trustees of Blok,” he announced with about as much fanfare and enthusiasm as a robot could muster, which wasn’t much. “It is a very big honor. You must be at your best.”
I stopped and looked at Fourteen. “Are you serious?” I asked. “Nevva is bringing me to meet the big bosses?”
“Yes,” Fourteen said. “They must be expecting some very exciting things from you.”
I laughed.
