Our Contest

by Phillip Murrell

  “Fine, give me a second.”

  Keith closes the door and Jenny waits. A few minutes later, he comes back to the door in a fresh t-shirt and pair of jeans. The obnoxious smell of excessive cologne is still an assault on Jenny’s senses, but it’s the lesser of two evils.

  Jenny turns, and Keith follows her to her parents’ car. They both get in, and Jenny turns it back on. The radio plays the end of Gallery’s biggest hit, If I Gave It in the First Place. Jenny smiles.

  “We just missed our song,” she says.

  “I hate that song.”

  Jenny sighs. This will be harder than she feared. She backs the car out of the Sanders’ driveway and heads back toward the freeway. Gallery begins her next song. This one is a slow and soulful ballad.

  “You’re not my all. You’re not my everything,” Gallery seductively whispers. “You’re my infinite.”

  “I love this one,” Jenny comments as she turns it up slightly.

  “It’s not bad, which is saying a lot for Gallery. Where are we going?”

  “Just for a drive. We need to talk about a lot.”

  “Did you have sex with Percy?”

  “I told you, no.”

  “Did you want to?”

  “Eww, gross.”

  That actually makes Keith smile, but perhaps for the wrong reasons.

  “I can’t believe your parents gave you the car.”

  Jenny’s glad he’s decided on some small talk before any deeper issues.

  “They almost didn’t. I had to pull out all my cards. Technically I’m supposed to be home by dinner, but I love you too much to rush this.”

  “Where exactly are we going?”

  “Don’t make me ruin the surprise.”

  “This feels like kidnapping.”

  “I was hoping you would consider it more of a romantic gesture.”

  “Aw shit,” Keith says.

  He pats his pockets.

  “What?” Jenny asks.

  “I forgot my phone and my wallet.”

  “You don’t need them.”

  “Whatever, just as long as you know I’ll be home for lunch. That gives you three hours.”

  “We’ll see,” Jenny says.

  The pair drives south on the freeway as Gallery shifts once again to an upbeat pop hit.

  Julie looks at her assembled co-conspirators in the otherwise vacant library. All those who voted with her are present, plus one more. Dan looks at them suspiciously.

  “You don’t have to be here, Dan,” Julie says.

  “Who else do I have to hang out with?” he retorts.

  “Great concert, Gallery,” Dante says.

  “Yes, well executed,” Julie agrees.

  “Thanks, guys. Can we get down to business now? Before we all lose our nerve about going on this suicide mission.”

  “Gallery’s right,” Julie states. “Please follow along.”

  Julie interacts with her portable vapor board. She expertly manipulates the smoke tendrils rising from the smooth slate. A large, fifty-inch virtual screen displays her plan for the group.

  “We’ll go immediately after this brief,” Julie begins.

  “What?” most of the Templars ask in unison.

  “Votary is no fool. He’ll stop us if we wait even one more day. Right now, everyone is commenting about Gallery’s concert. Going just after it ended is our only chance.”

  “I’m game,” Gallery says.

  “Me, too,” Dante adds. “Let’s get this shit over with.”

  “What exactly is the plan?” Mary Lee asks.

  “It’ll go like this,” Julie begins. “First, Mr. Wiener will transform into a large metal shipping container that can survive space travel. We’ll have our enhanced armor on, but this will be some added insurance. Once we board, Greg will make us invisible as we slowly drift through the bay’s energy barrier. Your invisibility will keep us undetected by the Vengeful ISH, correct?”

  “Hell yeah it will,” Greg boasts. “We could shoot while invisible and nobody would know.”

  “Excellent,” Julie says. “Mary Lee, you’ll use your augmentation to boost his own power, just to make sure.”

  “Got it,” Mary Lee says.

  “The shields for the Womb will still be down. I checked moments ago to confirm this. We’ll drift until we bump into the Womb. At that point, Paddy and Gallery will use their powers to burn a hole through the ship. Mary Lee, you’ll switch to boosting their powers in that moment instead of Greg. We’ll stay invisible, but we need to break through that hull in record time.”

  “You got it, lass,” Patrick says.

  “Easy peasy,” Gallery adds.

  “What if they do detect us before we get to the ship?” Dale asks.

  “They won’t,” Greg states.

  “But what if they do?” Dale presses.

  “In that case,” Julie answers, “Mary Lee will switch to augmenting Mr. Wiener, and we see if we can evade.”

  “That doesn’t sound too safe,” Dan complains.

  “It won’t matter because between me and Mary Lee, we got this shit,” Greg says.

  “Exactly,” Mary Lee adds.

  “Okay, so we’re inside, then what? That ship has to be crawling with Malignant,” James says.

  “Funny you should ask,” Julie says with a smile. “At that point, Mary Lee augments your power, and we take out all the electronics throughout the ship. This’ll make fighting the Malignant much easier. They won’t have their armor or weapons.”

  “Won’t that mean we go dark, too?” Melissa asks.

  Damn it, Julie thinks.

  She was hoping nobody would pick up on that. She thinks up a plausible explanation quickly.

  “Not a problem,” Julie lies. “We bring extra suit power cells. Once the power goes out, we swap the cells and continue. If we keep them powered off, this should work.”

  Julie is pleased when she sees the inexperienced Templars buy her deception.

  “Great,” Gallery says. “So now we’re on the Womb and the only ones left with working power armor. What next?”

  “Yeah, what next?” Dan echoes.

  “Bitch, why you still here?” Power asks. “Nobody wants you here if you ain’t down.”

  “Actually, we need Dan for the next part of the plan,” Julie says.

  “I’m not going,” Dan insists.

  “I need you to stay behind,” Julie says. “At this point, we’ll have a little under an hour until the rest of the Malignant fleet tries to determine why they can’t speak with the Womb.”

  “Why would they wait an hour?” Patrick asks.

  “All you need to know is that Captain Jillarni gave me their schedule.”

  “I forgot all about that guy,” Dante comments.

  “As I said,” Julie continues, “now we use Dan. With the power down, the Malignant won’t be able to raise their shields or the web. You wait on the bridge and periodically scan the Womb. Once the power is down. You tell Votary and the other Templars that we attacked. They’ll have to reinforce us at that point. Since the web will be down, they’ll be able to teleport to any part of the ship they need to.”

  “Like Mother’s bridge,” Gallery says.

  Julie’s pleased by the number of smiling heads that are nodding. They see the full merit of her plan.

  “What if Votary doesn’t believe me?” Dan asks.

  “He will. He’ll have no choice at that point. Votary is a lot of things, but a coward isn’t one of them. Between him and Smith, they’ll mount the cavalry and bring it in. All we have to do is stay alive.”

  “How exactly do we do that?” Melissa asks.

  “Simple,” Julie says. “We set up fighting positions on one part of the ship and keep killing the Malignant unti
l they stop coming. It’ll be a hell of a lot easier because we won’t have to move through the ship like we did when we took this one.”

  Julie raps the nearest wall.

  “Will that work?” Gallery asks.

  “The shit worked last time,” Julie says.

  The Templars, especially Gallery and Patrick, share a laugh.

  “You make it sound so easy,” Dante says as his laughter trails.

  “It won’t be,” Julie reminds them. “It’ll be deadly serious. Some of us will die.”

  This brings the team back to reality. Julie speaks again before removing all the wind from their sails.

  “But a shit ton more of them will die. Don’t forget, there are loyalists on that ship. They’ll bail us out. We just have to show them that it’s time to fight,” Julie says.

  “I’m ready to spill some Malignant blood,” James announces. “When do we leave?”

  Julie looks at her watch.

  “We have forty-seven minutes until the top of the hour. That means we need to take off from here in thirty. Go use the bathroom and get your armor on. You don’t have time for anything else. We’ll meet in the bay in thirty. Any other questions?”

  There are none. Determined eyes are all that stare back at her.

  “Then let’s go,” she says.

  The Templars quickly make themselves busy as they race back to their rooms. Julie fights back her own emotion. It’s humbling when you know you’ll most likely be dead in less time than it takes to watch a fantasy movie. She slowly follows them to put on her own armor for the last time.

  The walk to her room is slower than she intended. Each step seems to amplify the beats of her heart. Julie enters her room. As the sliding doors close behind her, she falls to her knees. Her body shakes as her breathing takes over her.

  I don’t want to die!

  That simple truth draws tears down Julie’s cheeks. She leans forward and rests her head on the floor as she weeps. Her bowed posture must seem like she’s praying to the black and red armor in front of her with a Chinese jian prominently hanging above it.

  Julie glances up at the ancient sword. It reminds her of who she is. She promptly wipes her tears and inwardly scolds herself as she walks into her bathroom. She splashes water onto her face and stares at her reflection.

  Child. Pity time is over. Do what you must. Your fate isn’t written. You’ve faced ridiculous odds before. This is no different. Take Flaimeson’s advice; don’t let your intuition deceive you as being your augmentation.

  Julie dries her face. She’s no longer weak. She’s a survivor. She will lead her team to victory. She just has to ignore that lingering feeling that she hasn’t confused anything. Her augmentation has already revealed the only plausible result for her.

  Chapter 9

  Keith paces outside a remote gas station alongside the highway in the middle of the desert. He throws his hands up in frustration as Jenny follows, attempting to explain her deception.

  “Keith, please calm down. I did this for us,” she says.

  Keith ceases his pacing and stares daggers at Jenny.

  “For us? You kidnapped me. You drove me to the middle of the desert and purposefully left your phone. Where the hell are we even?” Keith asks.

  “We’re south of Colberton. Some place isolated so we can have a conversation. I thought the gulf could be our final destination.”

  “What? That’ll take all day. I’m not staying out here with you pretending like we’re still a couple.”

  The comment was meant to wound Jenny, and it appears to have worked. Keith’s glad. She’s manipulated him plenty in the past, but he won’t have it this time. He rests his hands on the hood of her car. Jenny moves closer, but she refrains from touching him.

  “It’ll take us three hours to get back,” Jenny says with a sigh. “I’ll take you home. I’m sorry for doing this to you, but I love you. Love makes you do crazy things. My life ends without you, and I’m not ready for the end of the world to be today.”

  Keith almost feels sympathy for Jenny, but he definitely isn’t willing to let her know that. He walks around to the passenger side and opens the door.

  “It’s what I want, but you can spare me the romantic card horseshit,” he says as he slams the door behind him.

  Jenny sighs and reaches for the driver’s side door. Keith watches from his seat as he sees her body heave a little before opening the door.

  Good, Keith thinks. I hope the bitch cries the whole way home.

  SOT, fully dressed for battle, is pleased her team took her literally when they all arrive at the bay in under thirty minutes. The whole team assembles in front of her and ten green duffle bags stacked beside her.

  “Thank you for your urgency in preparing. We need to leave now in order to reach the Womb in the seventeen minutes we have until the top of the hour. That should give us enough time to cause havoc without the fleet knowing something is amiss.”

  “What’s with the bags?” Gallery asks.

  SOT kicks one lightly with her foot.

  “Each of you will carry one. It won’t be a problem with our armor. They’re fully loaded with extra penetrators and armor cells. This way we can fight the good fight and not lose because we ran out of ammo. We were woefully undersupplied for our attack on this ship.”

  “Cool,” Swap says as she steps forward to open one.

  “Stop,” SOT demands.

  Swap snaps her hand back. Julie assumes her expression is one of confusion beneath her turquoise helmet.

  “What?” Swap asks.

  “I just said they were filled to capacity,” SOT explains. “We don’t have enough time to fiddle with the zipper trying to close them back up because your curiosity couldn’t wait.”

  “Fair enough,” Xibalba says. “I’m guessing we don’t have time for a lot of things, so what do you say we just board the Knight Terror Express?”

  “Well put,” SOT agrees. “Mr. Wiener, if you would do the honors.”

  Power, still resembling a normal human, steps forward.

  “What do you want exactly?”

  “Just a large cube that can fit us and our supplies. Make sure it can hover over the floor here, has a sliding door in the front, and small boosters in the rear. I’ve done the math. If you give it a boost until we clear the Vengeful ISH, we can ride it to the Womb with just the momentum from the propulsion in sixteen minutes.”

  “I didn’t need the back story,” Power says.

  He spreads his arms, indicating that he needs more space, and transforms his body. The outside of the common container is a reflective black metal. Two small engines jut out from the back, but otherwise it’s a simple craft. Knight Terror opens the doors that somewhat resemble his face.

  “All aboard, choo choo,” Knight Terror jokes.

  Each Templar grabs a bag. SOT takes the extra one meant for Knight Terror. They file inside of their peer and sit in one of ten slightly uncomfortable chairs inside. They pile their duffle bags on the floor near their feet.

  “A bit cozy,” Stage states.

  “If this is the worst thing that happens to you today, consider it a good one,” Roids says.

  The Templars nervously chuckle. Judging by how much the butterflies swarm her own stomach, SOT suspects the others are faring much worse.

  “Take us to see Mother,” SOT orders.

  She and the other Templars feel Knight Terror lift off the bay floor and briefly hover. They hear the boost of his engines. Julie senses her body moving forward. She swallows the bile that finds its way into her mouth. She’s never gone into battle nervous before, but that’s because she always knew she would survive. Somehow, she knew. That’s no longer the case. In fact, now it feels the complete opposite.

  “Hide, Roids, make us invisible,” SOT says.

  “Got it,
” Hide responds.

  His cape flows behind him as he shifts erratically from exuberance to contribute to the mission. Roids places a hand on his shoulder from the seat next to him. Between their combined power, SOT loses all sense of those around her. In Hide’s spectrum of light, or whatever he does, she can see none of them. To SOT it feels like she’s dreaming. She floats through the blackness of space as the Vengeful ISH grows smaller behind them.

  “What’s the range to the Womb?” SOT asks and prays that the others still hear her.

  Of course, they can. Her helmet still works.

  “We’ll be there soon,” Knight Terror answers. “I can use my boosters again. It doesn’t seem like any sound or light is escaping us.”

  “Do it,” SOT says.

  She thought this would happen with Roids’ influence. Hide was always quiet in training. It appears that Roids makes him nearly absent from reality.

  SOT watches as the Womb quickly fills her entire range of vision.

  “Any place in particular you want to breach?” Knight Terror asks.

  SOT shakes her head. The sheer size of her destiny steals any capability of speech.

  “It ain’t the time to give me the silent treatment,” Knight Terror jokes.

  “Sorry,” SOT says. “I forgot you couldn’t see me shake my head. It doesn’t matter where we go. Mother is located in the center, and we probably want to stay as far away from her as possible. We just need to cause havoc. That can be done from anywhere.”

  “Sounds good,” Mule says.

  “We’ll hit the outside in less than three minutes,” Knight Terror announces. “In case anyone wants to say a prayer.”

  SOT doesn’t allow Stage the time to even consider it.

  “No time,” SOT says. “When we hit that wall, Stage and Gallery will burn a hole through it while Roids enhances them. The moment a hole is large enough for us to enter, you each peel off and kill any unsuspecting Malignant in sight.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Stage says.

  “Sure,” Gallery adds.

  “Mag Pulse?” SOT says.

  “Yo?” he answers.

  “You’re third in line,” SOT continues. “You rush in with Roids behind you and blast at full power. We need to knock their power out in under twenty seconds.”