“See you on the court, Earthman,” said Fredreek as he and Wilvelm left the locker room.
Jack felt somewhat depressed as he changed into the clothes the guys had brought him. Why do girls have to be so complicated? he thought. Why can’t things just be simple? ‘I like you, be my girlfriend.’ Done, and done. None of this stupid ‘I’m a Princess, I’m getting married! Oh, have you met my fiancé? He’s perfect! Instead, why don’t you go after this other girl, who’s beautiful and gorgeous but only wants to use you? Tee-hee!’
Jack slammed his locker shut and sighed. He looked down at the tight bodysuit he was wearing. It was just like the ones Fredreek and Wilvelm wore, but his was black with blue stripes. He looked at the metal boots and arm harness and realized he had no idea how to use any of them, so he picked them up and carried them with him as he made his way out of the locker room.
When he emerged onto the ‘court,’ he froze. To say it was gigantic was an understatement. It was as long as a football field, but rose high up into the air, at least a good ten stories. Long metal beams stuck up from the ground and twisted throughout the court like some crazy jungle-gym playground. The metal beams were all sorts of different lengths and shapes, spanning not only the length of the field, but all the way to the top, as well, where an enormous blue glowing area was situated.
Jack watched as Fredreek and Wilvelm leapt around the field, as though they were flying. Their boots latched onto the beams, blue sparks spraying off their feet as they skated up and down and around the tracks. Occasionally, they’d fire the grappling hook from their arm harnesses, latching onto a beam above them, and reel themselves up to another level. Whatever they were doing looked fast, crazy, and incredibly fun.
“Holy, crap,” muttered Jack.
“Impressive, isn’t it?”
Jack turned and saw Mourdock walking up, smiling at him. He was clad in a bodysuit to match Jack’s (though Jack thought Mourdock looked way better in his). “This is crazy!” exclaimed Jack. “Why didn’t you tell me it was going to be like this?”
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Mourdock replied. “I remember the first time I played Gravityball. It was the most exciting thing I’d ever done in my life. Granted, I hadn’t fought an army of Deathlords or outrun an exploding planet when I first played it, but I at least wanted to try and give you the same experience.”
Jack looked back at the Gravityball court, eager to hop in and start doing what Wilvelm and Fredreek were. “How’s it work?”
“It’s pretty simple, really,” said Mourdock as he stood beside Jack and surveyed the field. “The goal is to get the ball up to the scoring area way at the top.”
Mourdock pointed up to the glowing blue zone high above them.
“There’s an anti-gravity generator in each zone,” he explained. “Gravity works differently for all five zones. In the bottom zone, it’s practically zero-gravity for the players, but the ball is at its heaviest. In the top zone, the ball is at its lightest, but the players are at their heaviest. You use your grind-boots to skate around on the rails, and your grappling arm to pull you to different levels. You can also use the grappler to catch the ball, keep from falling, and pretty much anything else you can think to use it for, not the least of which is latching onto opponents and sending them down a level or two.”
“Wicked!” said Jack.
“Whichever team scores the most points before the timer is up wins,” finished Mourdock. “A typical game is about two hours, but since it’s just the four of us, we can do a shorter match.”
“Really? They let just four people use this huge court?”
Mourdock laughed. “In case you didn’t notice, there is a great deal of space in these supertowers,” he said. “So there are lots of public Gravityball courts for people to use if they want. This one happens to be reserved for VIPs anyway, so if we don’t use it, it’ll probably just remain empty. Want some help with those?”
Mourdock assisted Jack into his grind-boots. Jack thought they felt a lot like wearing rollerblades, only they were a bit heavier. The arm harness fastened around his wrist, forearm, and bicep very snugly. There was a handle that rested against his palm, with a small button he could hit with his thumb.
“Just press the button to shoot the grappler,” said Mourdock as he finished fastening the harness onto Jack. “Let go to reel it back in. You have about thirty yards of cable to work with. Any questions?”
Jack put his helmet on and gave it a slap. “Only one,” he said. “You ready to kick some butt?”
Mourdock smiled. He spun his helmet atop his finger with a flourish and plopped it on his head. “I was born ready, Earthman,” he replied.
“Good!” said Jack with a smile. “Let’s do this!” With that, Jack ran toward the open court with Mourdock close behind. No sooner did Jack cross the threshold than he instantly felt light as a feather. He pushed off the ground and went soaring through the air.
I’m flying! thought Jack with giddy excitement. I can’t believe it! This is so cool!!!
Jack laughed as he flew into the next zone and noticed he immediately dipped back down as the gravity became slightly stronger. He passed close to one of the railings and his boots were drawn to it, latching on immediately upon contact. Before Jack knew it, he was sliding along the rail, blue sparks flying off his boots. He wobbled briefly as he tried to keep his balance, but once he stabilized, he delighted in the sensation of racing upon the railings. He felt like he were skateboarding through some crazy obstacle course and was loving every second of it.
“WOO-HOOOOOO!” he yelled.
Jack was having so much fun, he didn’t notice the sharp curve in the railing that was rushing up toward him. He didn’t lean into the turn in time and went flying off the rail, the zero-gravity carrying him forward as he flailed his arms and legs, as though that would somehow give him control.
“Use the grappler!” he heard Mourdock yell.
Jack aimed his arm at the nearest rail he could find and shot his grappling hook at it. It latched on, and Jack immediately swung around in an arc, his momentum suddenly shifting.
“Whoa!” he cried as he sped toward the ground, bouncing off it and flying away, head-over-heels. The world was spinning all around him, and Jack had no idea which way was up. Then he felt something catch his boot, and immediately he stopped moving, now floating calmly in the air. He heard laughter and looked down to see Mourdock smiling at him, his grappling hook attached to Jack’s foot. Wilvelm and Fredreek were at Mourdock’s side, chuckling.
“I think we got ourselves a natural here, boys,” Wilvelm said with more than a bit of snark.
“Smooth moves, Earthman!” yelled Fredreek.
Jack laughed. “You guys gonna cower before me all day, or are we gonna play some ball?”
The three men below all exchanged glances and smiled at each other. “You heard him, fellas,” announced Mourdock. “Play ball!”
Wilvelm and Fredreek made their way to one side of the court while Mourdock and Jack made their way to the other. They all looked up toward the top of the court anxiously as the countdown clock ticked away. As soon as it hit zero, a loud buzzer sounded, and a ball dropped down. It was a contoured metallic orb about the size of a soccer ball. No sooner had it hit the ground than Jack and the others launched themselves forward, floating toward it as quickly as they could.
Wilvelm used his grappler to snatch the ball first, reeling himself toward it. He passed it to Fredreek, who’d begun grinding away on the rails, and Jack and Mourdock chased after him. Fredreek tried to retain possession of the ball as Wilvelm climbed into the next level with his grappler, but when Fredreek moved to pass the gravityball, Mourdock caught it with his grappler and passed it to Jack.
Jack caught the ball. It felt heavy, as though it weighed about twenty pounds. He tucked it under his arm and kept grinding away on the rails, trying to keep his distance as Fredreek chased after him. Jack quickly learned the hardest part seemed to be getting the ball out of the l
ower level, where the player gravity was at its lightest. The four of them raced along the rails, grappling up and down levels, passing the ball, blocking passes, tripping each other up, and knocking one another down a level or two.
Despite the chaotic nature of the game, Jack was really enjoying himself. Mourdock seemed extremely good at it (of course, he seemed good at everything), and Wilvelm and Fredreek were definitely skilled, as well. It didn’t take long for Jack to pick up on the tactics and strategy of the game, and once he did, he felt like he was at least able to hold his own.
The hour on the court timer was almost up, and neither team had scored a goal yet. They’d all fought their way into zone four, where gravity was light enough so the players could leap around, but heavy enough that if they weren’t careful, they’d fall down a level. The zone was also narrower than the ones beneath it, which meant the fight over who possessed the ball was more intense.
Jack skated around the railing which ringed the zone’s perimeter, trying to catch up with Wilvelm who had the ball. Fredreek was trying to leap toward the final zone above them, but Mourdock was doing a good job of covering him and pulling him back down with his grappler. Wilvelm used his grappler to pull himself onto new rails, and Jack tried his best to keep up.
Suddenly, Wilvelm turned in the air after one of his jumps and shot his grappler right at Jack. The claw caught Jack on the shoulder, and before Jack knew it, he was being reeled right in toward Wilvelm. “Sorry, Earthman!” Wilvelm said as he raised his feet up. “Gotta take you down!”
Wilvelm kicked out both his feet just as Jack was pulled in, hitting Jack square in the chest. Jack grunted from the impact, but it didn’t hurt. It simply propelled him downward at an extremely fast speed as the gravity in each zone lightened. Jack cried out as he sped through the zones below, eventually bouncing off the floor at the bottom. He fired his grappler at a rail to keep from spinning away out of control.
Jack looked up to see Mourdock trying to guard against Wilvelm and Fredreek. He was doing a good job of keeping them out of the scoring zone, but Jack could tell he wasn’t going to last long. The clock was ticking down, and if Wilvelm and Fredreek scored, there wouldn’t be time for a comeback.
No, thought Jack. I’m not going to lose.
Jack felt his brain buzz and his vision briefly blur. Suddenly, Mourdock and the others were moving in slow motion. The entire Gravityball court was laid out in Jack’s mind, as though he had a 3D map of it in his head. He could see every angle, every path, and every trajectory available to him.
It was clear what he had to do.
A spark ignited within his chest, and his entire body felt energized. Before Jack knew it, he was skating along the rails, grappling from one rail to another, building his momentum to race up in record time to the zone where the others were still playing.
Mourdock was able to steal the ball away, but he couldn’t get clear of Fredreek and Wilvelm to make a play for the goal. Jack sprang himself off the rail on which he was skating and flew all the way up into the top zone, where gravity returned to normal.
“Mourdock!” Jack screamed. “Throw the ball!”
Mourdock looked up as Jack used his grappler to pull himself up another rail just below the scoring zone. Mourdock tossed the ball toward him, its lower gravity causing it to move quickly.
Wilvelm leapt to intercept.
Jack hopped over the rail he’d pulled himself toward and fired his grappler at the ball. It latched on just as Wilvelm was about to reach it.
Jack fell from the rail, his increased body weight from the zone pulling him down and ratcheting the ball up as the grappler cable wrapped over the railing and Jack’s body acted as a counterweight. Jack released his grappler, and the Gravityball continued its weightless momentum upward.
Jack grabbed onto a rail to stop his fall and looked up as the blue scoring zone changed to red to signal the goal. The alarm buzzer blared, just as the clock timer hit zero. No sooner had that happened, than Jack’s head seemed to return to normal, and the strange, energetic feeling that had been coursing through him faded away.
The slow motion thing… it happened again, thought Jack. Only this time… did I make it happen?
Jack’s companions all descended to join him. Mourdock patted him on the back. “Wow, that was an amazing move there, Jack!” Mourdock said.
“Yeah, I guess I wasn’t joking when I said we have ourselves a natural here,” said Wilvelm. “Good game, Earthman.”
“Beginner’s luck,” joked Fredreek. “He can’t be a Hero of the Empire AND the best Gravityball player in the universe. That just isn’t fair.”
Mourdock looked at Jack curiously as he noticed Jack was still looking at the goal zone as though he were in deep thought. “Jack?” Mourdock asked. “Are you okay?”
Jack looked at Mourdock and forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said. “Just exhausted. This game really takes it out of you.”
“You’re telling me,” said Wilvelm with a sigh as the group made their way to the bottom zone. “Who’s down for some massages after we hit the showers? I’ve got the contacts for some exceptionally lovely Karkovians who know what to do with all six of their hands!”
“Just as long as they don’t use those crazy hot stones,” replied Fredreek as he followed Wilvelm off the court. “I wasn’t able to sit down for a week after last time.”
Mourdock looked at Jack, noticing something was obviously troubling him. “Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked. “You can talk to me, you know?”
Jack hesitated a moment before speaking. “Mourdock, you’ve got Paragon training, right? Have you ever been able to… see things in slow motion?”
“Slow motion?” Mourdock replied. “Like scenes in holofilms?”
“Um… I guess. Like… everything just kinda slows down, and you’re able to see things you normally can’t?”
“Can’t say I have. Why do you ask?”
“I was just wondering if Paragons could do that type of thing. You know… change how they perceive the world and stuff?”
“I guess they could,” said Mourdock. “I’ve always been more focused on the martial aspects of Paragon training, so I’m probably the wrong person to ask about that. Master Hasatan might know, though.”
Jack frowned. For some reason, he didn’t feel like this was something he wanted to speak with Master Hasatan about.
“Are you… seeing things?” asked Mourdock, concerned.
“Me? No,” lied Jack. “Everything is cool.”
Everything is not cool, thought Jack as he followed Mourdock to the locker room. What the heck is going on with me?
Chapter 39
Professor Green twiddled his thumbs and sighed. He decided to check the time on his datapad again, though he knew he’d just checked it not two minutes prior. He’d been waiting for almost two hours to see Armonto Virtuoso. Though the couches in the reception area of Virtuoso’s primary office were comfortable, Green thought that being a Supervising Director of an important Maguffyn project would have granted him some measure of priority when asking to see the man. Apparently, that was not the case.
Green hadn’t seen or heard from Armonto since the incident where the Earthship became fully operational to save Jack and Kimlee Evenstar. Though Green had been busy getting his team to submit all the data they’d collected, he also knew from the database access logs that Armonto had been keeping a close eye on what was being reported. Green supposed it was possible that Armonto wasn’t interested in meeting with him because he already knew everything he had to report.
But Green wasn’t there because of the Earthship. Though he was still honored to have been placed in charge of researching the vessel, his excitement over working at the Maguffyn Corporation had been tempered by his dealings with its CEO. He’d always awarded the man a certain measure of admiration, despite his cold demeanor, because he was indeed a genius of the highest order. But the way Armonto had put Jack’s life at risk by prevent
ing anyone from helping to assist him during his fall was disconcerting, to say the least. And the man’s growing hostility toward the Earthship in general was a cause for concern, as well.
The last straw was when Green finally had time away from his duties to review the Maguffyn research on the Great Seal of the portgate network, only to find he did not have full access as he’d been promised. Though there was a copious amount of research for him to devour, there were extensive databases he found his clearance level did not unlock. Before the incident at the Redwater Tower, Green might have been happy to let the matter slide. However, Mr. Virtuoso’s behavior made Green feel as though the man was restricting access to the research out of pettiness as opposed to having an actual good reason. After all, Virtuoso knew the deal Green had struck with the Directory as well as the Professor did – and the deal was for complete access to the Great Seal research.
Finally, the Professor decided he’d had enough of waiting. He got up from his seat and made his way past the robotic receptionists and into the anteroom of the office where Armonto’s assistant Hylda Wahller sat. “Ms. Wahller,” Green said. “I have been waiting—”
“One moment, please,” Wahller replied, holding up her finger as she continued busily typing away at the console in her desk. Green sighed. He waited patiently until Wahller finished whatever it was she was typing and turned her attention toward him with a pleasant smile. “Now, how may I help you?” she asked.
“I believe I have waited long enough and would like to see Mr. Virtuoso right this minute,” Green said.
“I am sorry, Professor,” Wahller said, apologetically. “Mr. Virtuoso has been involved in designing a new invention all day. When he gets like this, he does not wish to be disturbed so that the creative process is not interrupted. If you like, I could see about squeezing you into his schedule at some point tomorrow…”
“No, I should like to see him now,” Green said, standing up straight. “I am the Supervising Director of Earthship Technology, and I have been patiently waiting to see him for two hours now. I believe he can at least do me the courtesy of receiving me while I am here.”
Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army (Earthman Jack Space Saga Book 2) Page 43