Dream Park

carefully, then came back. 'S.J.,' he said brusquely, 'I think that this one is for you. We've got Cargo.'

'Subsonics,' S.J. nodded. 'I can feel it. Okay, we've been lured and warned. How do we handle it?'

'I'm not sure...' Chester was watching the tree with a practiced eye. 'The Cargo won't be buried under the tree. That would be too much like last time...' He watched the branches

swaying in the wind. 'Wait a minute. The air currents here aren't strong enough to move the tree that much.'

'Look at the shadow, Chester.' S.J. pointed.

The tree's shadow was behaving even more strangely. It weaved, out of synch with the movements of the tree. The shadow-branches strained out, spectral fingers pointing towards.

'The caim of rocks.' About twenty meters from the tree stood a pyramidal pile of large stones.

'S.J., Margie, Eames and Griffin. Come with me. The rest of you, stay back.'

The quintet of Garners walked slowly to the pile. Chester halted them, and walked forward and around in a wide circle. At one point he stopped, backed up a bit, then turned and came back to them. 'All right. 5.1., you and Eames take the far side. Margie, you and Griffin work this side. Let's get some of these rocks cleared away so we can see what we've got.'

Alex thought he saw a guilty wince crease Chester's face when S.J. answered with a perky, 'Yes, chief!' and bounded around to the far side. Something wrong here...#8226; but what? Alex bent to the job of clearing the rocks. Margie, as an Engineer, had to help supervise, but at her age she could scarcely be expected to move the small boulders herself.

He grunted, rolling away a stone. 'What do you think of. • .' He heaved another aside. '... of this Game? I mean, so far?'

'Heavens. I've hardly had a chance to get into it. I'm hoping that I have a chance to rig something really interesting before too much longer.'

'Don't you get points for everything you do in the Game?'

'Of course, but it's more fun to do something elaborate. Be­sides, the Garners vote for bonus points at the end, so it never hurts to be flashy.'

Chester's voice cut in on them. 'Don't worry, Margie. You'll have plenty of opportunity to show your stuff.'

'I certainly hope so, dear.' She stepped around toward the other side of the five-foot heap. 'S.J.? How are you-?'

Chester moved quickly around to intercept her. 'Let's keep our teams divided until-' Griffin watched, suspicion chewing at his nerves. Margie ignored Chester and walked smoothly around him to the other side. Chester took another step, turning. His legs were crossed when a rock rolled under his feet. As he stumbled, he grabbed at one of the rocks on S.J.'s side-

From his angle, Griffin saw only a small white snake with red and yellow trim slide out of the pile. Chester's face went slack and pale as he saw it, and paler still as it expanded its hood and reared back hissing. 'Kill it!' Henderson whispered in a ghastly quiet voice, his eyes riveted on the reptile.

Alex hurled a stone at it. The snake disappeared.

'Damn.' Chester said it with intense feeling. His face, already pale, had taken on a yellowish cast. 'Oh, shit.'

Margie helped him to his feet. 'What is it, dear? The snake didn't touch you, did it?'

'It didn't need to. Oh no...' He seemed dazed and dis­oriented. Gina had broken away from the rest of the Garners and was beside him, steadying him. 'Don't you see?' He spread his arms wide. There was a pale yellow glow all around him. 'That was a bidi-taurabo-haza. I'm dead, Margie. I'm walking dead.'

By now the mass of Garners had broken ranks and were grouped around him. Acacia pulled Alex to the side. 'Did you see what happened? Why the hell didn't he scan that pile for danger?' Griffin lowered his voice. 'He knew it was there. He tried to kill S.J. and Eames out of the Game. He got caught himself. Rough justice.'

'Whew. So Chester finally got caught.' A leashed chuckle. 'I wonder how he'll get out of it?'

Gwen stood by the rock pile, concentrating with her eyes closed. Her aura glowed around her, then spread to envelop the heap. It too glowed white, fading as Gwen opened her eyes. She glanced around at Chester. 'It's clean now.'

'Great.' He crooked a finger impatiently at the rest of the group. 'All right, let's see what we have here.' He motioned Gwen and Owen to his side. 'Pool your strengths. Do you think you can save me?'

The two Clerics meshed aura for a few moments, then shook their heads. The older man clasped Chester on the shoulder. 'I'm sorry, Ches. It's too strong for us.'

The king was dying. Was that check, or mate? Griffin asked, 'What does that do to us? Is the Game over?'

Chester flagged a hand impatiently. 'No. Something that deadly, that struck without warning? And even worse, a snake? Not after the hell I raised about the snow vipers, he's too eager for a clean kill. No...' Henderson's gaze unfocussed, and he scratched his side reflectively with a bony thumb. 'No, I think our

Mr. Lopez has prepared a way out for me. He's having another of his little jokes.'

Bright red hair streaked with dust, and one slender arm scraped from wrist to elbow: Gina had moved a good many rocks very quickly. 'We're almost finished, hon.' She picked up her power staff and brushed it off. 'What happens next?'

'We wait and see, Gina.' The Lore Master reached out an un­steady hand for her, and when she took it he pressed it desperately hard against his cheek.

He looks like he thinks he's dying, Griffin thought. He looks like he is dying. How can he let a game do this to him?

As the rocks were pried loose or rolled away, three wooden boxes surfaced. Faded stencilled letters showed, and the Garners began to laugh.

Chester walked over to the others and, in spite of himself, began to smile. Still partially covered by pebbles and dirt, there lay three battered cases of Coca-Cola.

'Well, children, this is our way out,' Chester said. 'I hope.' He motioned to Kasan, and the guide jogged up without hesita­tion.

'Yes, oh dying bwana?'

'Are your Cargo gods strong enough to save me from this dis­ease?'

'Oh, most assuredly, Mr. Henderson. The only real concern is what the gods may want of you in return for your life.'

Chester seemed only mildly surprised. 'You mean the under­taking of the quest is not enough?'

'Oh, no. You do it more for the sake of other Europeans than you do for us simple island folk.'

'All right. Scan these boxes, ah... Owen and Bowan. We don't want any more screw ups just yet.'

The pile glowed white and green, with no hint of red. Chester said, 'Open them.'

Margie produced a slender crowbar and, with an economy of movement that was delightful to the eye, she levered slats from a box. S.J. and Oliver attacked the others.

Each box contained twenty wasp-wasted bottles of caramel­colored fluid. Warm.

'All right. We're going to have to appeal to the gods of Cargo. That means we need to be as high and holy as possible. For this group, I'm afraid that means about three bottles each.'

Kasan held up his hands. 'Ah... none for me, bwana. You can count me out of this one.'

Kibugonai deferred also, as did Lady Janet. 'I'm allergic to caffeine,' she said sweetly.

Chester sighed. 'Then it's four bottles each. Let's get started.'

Griffin sat cross-legged next to Acacia in the semicircle. Gwen and Owen were at the hub, the opened boxes of Coca-Cola at their sides.

'Hear us, Jesus-Manup. Hear us, God-Kilibob. Hear and ob­serve,' they intoned slowly. Gwen opened a