by Zachery Nims
Chapter 16: Ender’s Quest
Time: Five Years Prior
Source: Personal Computer Log
User: Evo
There was no hiding from the sun in this desert land, stepping off the plane was like being thrown into an oven. Heat swept through my lungs, shocking my system into a coughing fit. Each gasp for air was met with fire that cooked my insides.
Knightcr@wler played the part of a tourist to perfection. Immediately upon arriving, he made us stop at one of those enormous gluttonous truck stops with a horribly cliché name, like Big Boy’s Truck Stop, or Sam’s Mega One Stop Shop. Include mega, ultra, or big in your gas station’s title and the big riggers are sure to come a truckin.
Knightcr@wler was like a kid in a candy store. He ran inside, grabbing enough redneck gear to last to the end of times. It was like he was wearing a disguise before, and we had only seen him as Clark Kent. Now he was in his element, transformed into Possum Hunter, the super hero. He wore fake snakeskin boots, cowboy jeans with fancy designs on the back pockets, a button up denim shirt, a white cowboy hat, and a bandana around his neck. I almost forgot the brown leather fringe gloves because they were so hideous I wanted to forget them. To top it all off, he bought a toy set of silver colt revolvers that were holstered around his waist. They clasped together with a large oval golden belt buckle that said, “I heart Utah.”
Knightcr@wler tipped his hat to Kira as he passed and said, “Ma’am. These parts ain’t safe for city folk like ya-selves. Best be ridin’ along.” He then waddled to our black SUV, jumped up on the cab step and screamed “YEEHAWWWWW,” as he shot one of his pistols in the air. I’ll have to give it to him though; the bandanas did help with the dust. I had heard that Utah was diverse in terrain but the west, where we landed, was nothing but vulture heaven.
The drive was long and eventful. We rarely listened to country music and were all trying to memorize the songs and sing along. At any roadside attraction we made it a point to stop and buy at least one trinket or some locally grown produce.
We arrived at the town late in the evening. It felt like one of those ghost towns that you read about or saw in the movies. I halfway expected to see a lone tumbleweed roll across the road or even better a shootout after a heated argument in the local saloon.
The place had a frontier feel to it that I rather enjoyed. It was like I was living in the old Oregon Trail computer game. It gave me a discerning urge to buy up ammunition to hunt and see if there were any nice strong oxen in town worth purchasing.
“Alright, I’ll take first watch for the zombie apocalypse,” I said starring out the window at our desolate surroundings.
“I’m pretty sure we can easily take on the nine people that live here,” Kira said smiling.
Most of the buildings kept their original wooden frames. Some sat with warped wood, slightly dilapidated, but homey all the same. It made me hungry for pancakes, biscuits and gravy, bacon, and eggs from a local diner. Suburban style homes were built not too far in the distance, ruining the main street’s quiet quaintness but I tried to ignore them.
At the far end of the strip we saw the Weird Egg Inn. It was hard to miss. The front desk was inside an enormous white egg, and all of the rooms were miniature little eggs with neat hand carved doors that made you think of Easter.
Knightcr@wler jumped out of the car and did his best cowboy swagger up to the lady behind the counter. “Ma’am we got some city folk just roll in, lookin’ for a warm bed and a place to get a little night cap.” She smiled courteously but her expression settled on displeasure.
“How many rooms?” She asked.
“Well I imagine this little hen and rooster are gonna wanna make some eggs of their own tonight, if you know what I mean.” He made a clicking sound with the side of his mouth and tipped his hat to her leaning hard on his right elbow as he probably imagined a southern gentleman would.
Phantom chimed in as well, “yes, also ma’am what temperature do they set their heater on to properly incubate their egg?” This brought a smile to the old ladies face. It sent wrinkles dancing across her weathered cheeks.
I had to jump in before it got out of control, “sorry Ma’am we’ll just take two eggs.”
They couldn’t be stopped at this point and were now just spouting off whatever they could, becoming more and more slap happy with each passing second. “Sunny side up,” Phantom cupped his mouth and yelled.
“Ask them if they got any rooms over easy,” Knightcr@wler screamed as Kira dragged them both outside. The woman handed me two separate keys, each attached to a different little chick with a number written on its belly.
Outside, I presented the two hyenas with their key. “Anyone feel like a late breakfast?” I had to ask, it was either the eggs we were standing in front of or the feel of the yesteryears frozen town.
“Hell yes,” said Knightcr@wler.
“I couldn’t remember why we brought you with us until just now,” Phantom said slapping me on the back. There was a diner a couple blocks down and we decided that it was a nice night for a walk.
It was eerie hearing only your footsteps on the way to an establishment. It made all of us a little edgy and I saw Knightcr@wler even do a couple of glances over his shoulder. When it’s too quiet in the city it usually means you’re in the wrong area at the wrong time.
Dethroned The Wolf came up on the right hand side of the street. Neon red shone brightly off the bar’s lettering. The logo was of a wolf’s head that had one eye X’d out and the other glowing bright yellow. The glowing eye had a bit of a human quality to it. “Just like the children that turned into wolves that Ender had to drown,” Knightcr@wler whispered. I felt my insides buzzing with anticipation, butterflies before the big adventure. We all stared at the wolf as we passed and it felt like its eye was following us.
The diner was called The Desert Moon. The name actually caught me off guard because I liked it. We found a booth near a window that faced the bar and sat down. None of us had had a full meal since we landed so we ordered way too much and a pitcher of beer for the table.
After a couple beers we all became extra friendly, whether or not others wanted to be friendly with us was none of our concern. Still, we all had our mission in mind. The first thing that concerned me was the fact that there were houses right behind the bar. I leaned forward to Knightcr@wler and asked; “I thought you said that he owned one hundred yards behind his property?”
“He does, I mean he did… it... it must have been more recent,” Knightcr@wler said.
“Well how could they build on the land if there is something underneath it,” Phantom said.
“I don’t know…” Knightcr@wler said, sounding discouraged for the first time.
“Guys let’s not give up before we even walk in,” Kira said. “I’d hate to be with you all in the zombie apocalypse… Bunch of Debbie downers in this group. Another drink bar maid.” Kira slammed her beer down on the table.
Phantom was in a separate booth chatting up one of the servers that had been off shift for a good hour. They were giggling and drinking hard, talking in hushed voices.
Kira had a funny look in her eyes after the fourth pitcher and I decided that it was time to call it a night. We parted ways with Phantom and Knightcr@wler. Kira was more than willing, knowing that we would get to spend some much needed alone time in our little egg. She attacked me the moment we got to the room.
I awoke earlier than usual due to the time difference. The egg room was designed so that the top half was semi-transparent letting in a fair amount of natural sunlight. I moved my hands under the sheet like little tentacles until they suctioned upon Kiraís smooth bare butt. She gave a soft sigh of pleasure, but kept sleep upon her eyes. Her nipples were erect when I made my way up to them. I slid them between my thumb and middle finger, massaging them in a circular motion. She thrust her butt backwards and began m
oving it slowly up and down.
Bam… We both jumped up to the loud noise at the door followed by shrill laughter. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, a drum roll of knocks bombarded the door.
“Wakey wakey little chicklings.” We heard Phantom say.
“Oh god make them stop,” Kira said rolling over, throwing her arm and leg around me. Her squeeze almost took me away from the fact that Phantom and Knightcr@wler were outside the door but then the knocks came again. I ran outside in my boxers opening the door to grab one of them but they both took off and my legs were still sloppy with sleep to catch them. My head pounded with sharp pains from the prior night of drinking. It had been a long while since I had drank so much. Nothing a hot shower couldn’t fix though.
It took a bit longer for Kira to get up and rinse off but she finally rose grunting like a primal savage. She hated mornings and was capable of sleeping all day if she was allowed. Some funny noises came from the shower that sounded like throwing up but I couldn’t tell for sure and kissed her all the same.
It was a little past eight in the morning and it was already too hot for my liking. We were all sweating profusely by the time we finished the short walk to the bar. It was a funny feeling to be heading to a bar to hydrate. I felt like an alcoholic for the first time in my life.
As the door swung open the wolf logo let out a long disturbing growl that Kira only laughed at. “Sounds like the winner you took home last night Phantom,” she said.
“You bastard,” Phantom said smiling. “I was only gathering intel. She told me that those two houses on the property were there when it was revealed and the people that live in them have to pay next to nothing for rent. Almost as if they were free.”
That perked up Knightcr@wler’s attention, “I knew it!” he said.
The bar was dim lit and the bartender was wiping down glasses as we entered. I had always wanted to see a bartender doing that. It was like the stereotypical bartender thing to do in almost all video games and movies. There were tables that seated four all along the west wall and the bar took up most of the east wall with typical bar stools surrounding it. Near the back were toilets, a bookshelf, pool table, a long mirror, and a cocktail table arcade game.
The long mirror was the first thing that caught my eye because it had a golden snake wrapped around the entirety of its frame. In the book the snake would uncoil itself from the rug and attack Ender in the castle beyond the end of the world. Ender defeated the snake by kissing it on accident, or so he thinks.
Phantom ordered us all waters as Kira, Knightcr@wler, and I made our way over to the mirror for a closer look. In an instant though our focus changed from the mirror to the arcade game. We saw the confirmation we had been waiting for, knowing that we were on the right track. An Ender’s Game cocktail table arcade game sat in front of us. I had never seen a single Ender’s Game video arcade, and with a quick Google search I confirmed that no one had ever created one. Ender was on the side of it in his battle school suit, holding a gun in his hands while screaming commands at soldiers pouring in around him from an octagon gate.
“Phantom, come look at this,” Knightcr@wler called out. Phantom downed the entire cup of water, asked for a refill, and made his way over. His eyes, once barely open, were now wide with disbelief.
“I never knew they made a game?” Phantom said.
“They didn’t,” Knightcr@wler said smiling. “Bartender,” Knightcr@wler waved his hand over at him as if there were others at the bar that he had to steal his attention from. “Could I please get two dollars worth of quarters?” he said placing two dollars on the freshly cleaned glistening bar. The man grabbed the two dollars, fumbled through the cash register and gave him a stack of quarters.
Knightcr@wler came over, half skipping with a big grin on his face. Our eyes were glued to the opening credits as Knightcr@wler tossed the quarter into the slit marked in red with 25¢. The coin passed through entirely rattling its way down into the return slot. Phantom picked it up again but this time he put it in the second slit yet was awarded with the same results.
“Machine doesn’t accept coins.” The bartender said cleaning another pint glass around its rim.
“Why did you give me the quarters then?” Knightcr@wler said visibly annoyed.
“Thought you might have wanted to play pool. Not too many people come to a bar at eight in the morning to play video games,” the bartender said.
“Touché good sir, Touché,” Knightcr@wler said.
“Give me your money and I’ll get you the credits,” the bartender called out. “I’ll take three dollars’ worth.” Knightcr@wler said giving the man three crisp dollar bills from his billfold.
“You don’t want to give me back the quarters?” The bartender called out from the register.
“The day is yet young and we have lots of drinking to do. We might play a hundred games of quarters for all I know.” Knightcr@wler said. The bartender smiled and put the money in the cash register.
“The game only goes up to nine credits but I’ll give you the other three when you lose a couple.” The bartender said grabbing a key and making his way around the bar over to the game. He inserted the key into the front panel where the coin slits were and opened it to reveal the chaotic interior of twisted wiring. There was a lever on the back side that he clicked nine times and the credits came chiming in with a voice saying the first syllable of Ender eight times like some sort of glitch until the ninth credit rang out, “Ender Wiggin welcome to battle school!” The screen started dancing to life.
The game’s controls were a little advanced with knobs here and there as well as a roller ball. It also had the standard joystick along with eight multicolor buttons. The controls made you feel like you were about to man an aircraft. Knightcr@wler was the first to try because he had brought us here and by right, he could play as long as he wanted.
The game started him out as Ender Wiggin in first person view. The graphics were pretty pixilated but futuristic in a way. It was like a little more in depth version of Minecraft. Knightcr@wler ran around a bit with Ender, running into mostly restricted areas until he found the game room where other battle school students were huddled around different arcade games. Knightcr@wler already knew which one to go toward immediately.
The older boys crowded around a holograph game where ships were battling each other virtually in midair. He challenged one of the boys to the game. The older kids made jests but finally let him in to play. “This is just like the book,” said Knightcr@wler.
The game was a heads up dogfight, ship against ship. You could set traps to try and trick the enemy that was following you. You had mines, drifting bombs and then maneuvers like Star Fox in Nintendo 64 where you could loop around behind them or barrel roll. Knightcr@wler lost the first match pretty quickly. “We have to do it exactly like the book. Best two out of three. Ender loses the first match and wins the second two,” said Knightcr@wler, zoned into the game.
“Yeah right newbie,” said Phantom and it made Knightcr@wler smile because the other boys in the video game were now laying into him as well in their battle school slang. Phantom and I picked up on it quick, taunting him with every move, “You nothin, you ain’t mo than poop from you butt,” Phantom said.
“You lose one mo gain and you be iced launchie,” I added. Knightcr@wler was almost laughing too much to control but he was a pro and contained himself to win the second and third match with ease.
The game was actually much easier than we thought it would be. He really was just letting the other boy win the first time. A message popped up on the screen with a one up sound instructing Ender to report to his quarters. Knightcr@wler ran around for a bit and then found the barracks and went to Enderís locker where another message popped up saying Rabbit Army at 14:00 hours. He got into his flash suit, grabbed his gun and headed toward the null gravity battle room.
The battle room was where the game really began. Ender had command of forty-five players that he could group into toons or use them solo. Toons were comprised of five to eight boys. The game was all in real time so you had to micro manage a lot. Each player had a freeze gun that froze whatever part of the body they shot. If you shot them in the chest it froze their entire body but until that happened the player was free to move whatever unfrozen limbs they had.
The battle arena was different every game, but there were certain constants. Every battle took place in a null gravity three-dimensional hexagon environment. There were almost always stationary stars scattered throughout the space. Stars were solid objects that could be used as a tactical advantage or as an obstacle. The two armyís gates open on opposite sides of the battlegrounds and the game begins. To win, one must either freeze all of the opposing teamís players with their freeze guns or have four unfrozen players place themselves on the four sides of the gate to open it for a fifth player to fly through. If the fifth entered the enemy gate unfrozen, then the game was over and their team won.
At the start, Knightcr@wler created nine toons out of his forty-five members with five players in each toon. You could launch the toons in any direction you wanted but you would have to switch from toon to toon to control them. If you put them on auto control they did nothing inventive and just shot at the other army with base level artificial intelligence. When they collided with a wall they bounced off as an inanimate object would, controlled by their own inertia. To avoid that, you had to control everything at once.
It had been too many years since Knightcr@wler had played physical computer games where micro managing strategies were key to victory and his inexperience showed. His toons bounced off the walls carelessly and were frozen by the computers team with ease. He over extended himself and didnít have time to jump back and forth between each toon before they got into trouble. Once he got down to three toons his strategy kicked back in but by then, the other team tore him to pieces with strength in numbers and formations. Knightcr@wler went through five credits without winning a single battle before he gave up.
Phantom jumped in to try his hand at the controls, taking a different approach. He decided to throw out the notion of creating toons, only sending single players in one at a time in different directions. He sent four along the sides of each of the walls but not after sending three in a rotating formation down the center. The computer didnít know what to make of it and sent too many toons at the decoy group. The four players he sent along the outside walls attacked from behind them freezing multiple opponents before getting frozen themselves and Phantom had others already pouring in to attack them from the front while they focused on protecting their rear. It was a beautiful strategy and won him a commanding victory over the Rabbit army.
The next battle was against Rat army. Phantom attempted the same strategy but the computer reacted like artificial intelligence, learning it and adapting accordingly. Rat army crushed him in a matter of minutes. He sat back, dumb founded.
I pushed Phantom aside and took control. When my gate opened I could see a cube design with stars on each of its corners floating in the center of the arena. I sent a toon of five to each of the four stars closest to my gate. The computer in turn did the same. It was attempting to mimic my strategy, was my initial thought so I gave it something it had seen before. I sent the same formation that Phantom did just minutes before. My players were gliding along the four outer walls while a group of three spiraled down the center but this time when they reacted to the strategy they had seen before, I sent my four toons out from behind the stars to directly behind the stars that they had control of. While they scrambled to shoot the players from the center and the rear I sent the five players huddled behind each star over to attack from every angle. It worked even with the enemy trying to counter with toons pouring out from their own gate. Once I commanded control of all eight of the stars it became target practice.
I was able to outsmart the computer by using tricks that Ender used for the next three battles, bringing me victory against Phoenix, Leopard, and Badger army. The AI was only susceptible to surprise strategies once. “The computer is like water,” I said in my best sounding Bruce Lee voice. “It is shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend. Be water.” Kira smiled and rubbed my back as I focused on the next battle against two armies.
“This must be the final battle,” Knightcr@wler said. “Well as long as it follows the book.” I was matched against Griffin and Tiger Army. I tried the formation that Ender used in the book to sneak five players to the gate but the computer saw it coming and destroyed me. Next match I tried to use stars as tactical positions but the overwhelming numbers of the two armies combined overtook me with ease. I let Kira jump in to give it a try. She had flawless strategies and won position here and there but eventually was overcome by the sheer numbers as well.
At that point we had the bartender give us more credits. We paid a bit more money to bring us back up to nine and Knightcr@wler took back the controls. He sent his nine different toons of five in every direction trying to sneak attack the gate with one of them but the computer had formations surrounding the gate as if it expected that strategy every time. Knightcr@wler gave up after another four tries. Phantom gave up after one. When I took back over I tried with the best strategy that I could think of. It failed just as the others did. “This level is impossible,” said Knightcr@wler.
“We noob. We ain’t but spit on yo shoe,” said Phantom in the battle school slang.
“Someone keep trying,” Kira said as she walked over to the bartender to order. Knightcr@wler sat back down and started zoning in again.
Kira ordered everything on the menu at the bar as well as eight pitchers of water. By about two in the afternoon we were all close to fully recovered. We had gone through twenty dollars in quarters when the bartender said “you know the game’s rigged right? I’ve seen people spend months trying to beat that level. I even bought the book one time and used every strategy Ender ever used in battle and it’s impossible.”
“Well then, I guess it’s time to start thinking outside the box. Four pitchers of your finest cheap beer on draught sir,” Kira said smiling.
Phantom looked as if he was going to puke after the first drink but he soldiered through and by three in the afternoon we were buzzed and back at the game. Knightcr@wler was sending his players to the back of the stars and then gripping one by the arm and leg, to hurl them around a star at lightning speed only to have them bounce off the wall. He was laughing maniacally as their bodies went limp after the collision.
“Wait, that’s it!” I said.
“What’s it?” Knightcr@wler said half paying attention to me.
“Look, Ender wanted to win at any cost, right?” I asked.
“Of course,” Knightcr@wler replied as if it was common knowledge.
“Right now we are playing the game, the game that was created by the computer and we are outmatched. So let’s not play the game like they want us to. Hurt them!” I said looking at everyone like they would understand right away. They looked at me like I had gone mental. “Here, let me take over,” I said. Knightcr@wler moved aside and let me on the controls.
I split my army into two groups, giving half of the soldiers weapons to the other half, making one group unarmed and the other duel wielding. “Look for Ender to get to the End of the World door, he had to kill each of the children so they wouldn’t turn into wolves. After he killed them he dragged them into the river to drown them to ensure that they wouldn’t return. Most of Enders most decisive victories were vicious. To get to the End of the World we need to drown these children. Well drown them metaphorically.”
I
sent the unarmed half of my army behind the star closest to my gate. Then I made a chain out of the players by having them grip each other’s hands to the next ones legs. Once the connection was made I froze their hands in place so that their flash suit wouldn’t let them release their grip and they became locked in place. I froze three at the end of the chain to form a sort of human wrecking ball and then the fun began.
I launched the frozen students around the star toward the central mass of the enemy. With the centripetal force, the human wrecking ball was soaring toward them at a lethal speed. It crashed into the enemy sending blood flying in every direction. The game amplified the damage and made it so that limbs were being torn from body. The enemy became children again and some of their team started to panic. Even though my human wrecking ball was filled with frozen players, it only needed four unfrozen players to control it. Any enemy that wasn’t killed by the wrecking ball was shot by the other half of my army, now pouring through the gate with duel freeze guns. It only took a couple minutes before the match was over.
Kira, Knightcr@wler, and Phantom all squeezed me tight while keeping one avid eye on the game to see what would happen. Stars started zooming past the screen and then the word “CONGRATULATIONS” centered itself in the monitor and a voice started to speak, “Ender Wiggin! Congratulations, you have completed battle school.” Then the screen glitched and reset.
Knightcr@wler hit the side of the game instinctively “What?” There was nothing, no clue, no big ending, just a blank screen. The bartender even looked surprised.
“We’ve got to get that game removed. Sorry guys. If you want I can give you guys a couple free pitchers for being the first to beat that stupid game. Thing’s been in here ever since the place opened. Owner won’t let the damn thing go.”
Knightcr@wler’s face went blank, “nothing, not even a whisper of a clue. It’s a dead end…”