But not just then.
Fum! Fum!
Two canisters of bright blue “drink” exploded next to my head, splashing me. I didn’t stop, but jammed for a door that looked as if it led back outside. Going into these stores had turned out to be a bad idea. I figured that at least outside, with so many people, there’d be less chance of them shooting at me for fear of hitting an innocent bystander. Innocent bystander? I was an innocent bystander too! What was I guilty of? Nothing! But nobody told the dados that. Nope. No bystanding for me, innocent or not. I was on the run. So I hit the door and crashed back out onto the street, knocking into a few people along the way.
“Sorry!” I shouted, but the people didn’t care. They continued on their way, heads down, as if nothing had happened. All I could do was keep on moving and try to find a place to hide. I crossed over a street, running low, hoping that they wouldn’t see me. It slowed me down, but it wasn’t like I could break into a full-on sprint anyway. It was way too crowded for that.
I reached the next intersection and saw something that gave me hope. Walking ahead of me was the older, gray-haired guy who had chewed out that woman for crashing the motorbike into the dados. He was walking his scoot along the sidewalk. I had to trust my instinct. I felt like there was something going on with that guy. If I was right, and he had helped that other guy escape from the dados, I had to hope he would do the same for me.
I looked back to see that the dados had run out of the store and were scanning the crowded sidewalk. I had a short window. I ran forward until I got ahead of the guy. He was walking with his head down, just like everybody else. I ran past him, then turned around, and walked backward.
“Hey,” I said breathlessly. “I need help.”
The guy looked up quickly. I saw the surprise in his eyes. I didn’t know if it was because a crazy guy had just jumped out of nowhere asking him for help, or because I was wearing a challenger shirt. Or both. He didn’t stop walking.
“How can I help you?” he said softly, with a touch of confusion.
His calm voice didn’t fit with the surprise that he showed. The guy was very cool.
“They’re after me,” I said, glancing back toward the dados. “I didn’t do anything. I didn’t bet on the match, but they’re shooting at me.”
The guy glanced back toward the dados, then to me. He said, “I’m surprised to see a challenger on the street.”
There wasn’t time for discussion. The dados were almost on us. If I didn’t get through to this guy, fast, I’d be done. I took a chance and grabbed my left biceps with my right hand-the same signal I’d seen him exchange with the woman who drove the motor scooter into the dados. I didn’t know if the guy would react, or keep walking as if it meant nothing to him.
“Get on,” he said, suddenly all business.
Yes! The guy threw his leg over the motor scooter. I hopped on to the back as he kicked the engine to life. It hummed with a soft whine that didn’t speak to the true power of this bike, for when he hit the throttle, we took off. Fast.
“Hang on,” he commanded, and made a hard right, turning into traffic. The instant he made the turn, I heard the familiar sound of shots being fired.
Fum. Fum. Fum.
So much for the dados not wanting to hurt innocent bystanders. A guy to the right of me was knocked off his feet. Another woman was hit, and spun around but was able to stay upright. I was horrified. Were people dying around me? Why were these dados so desperate that they were willing to shoot innocent people to get me? Did life mean so little to them? Or was I that important? If I was going to find the answers, I first had to stay alive. My fate was in the hands of this mysterious old guy and his scoot.
The guy may have been old, but he knew how to handle the motorbike. He drove us across traffic, weaving back and forth, threading between the slow-moving cars. I didn’t dare look back, for fear of throwing us off balance. We hit the far sidewalk, bounced up over the curb, and turned into the flow of pedestrians. People had to dodge out of our way, but this guy didn’t care. He drove the bike quickly and dangerously. For a moment I flashed back to riding behind Uncle Press on his motorcycle as he took me from home to my first rendezvous with the flume. It felt like a lifetime ago. Or six.
The guy made a hard right, turning into a narrow alley between buildings. We reached the end of the building, where he skidded us into another hard right and an even smaller alley. He seemed to know exactly where he was going. I had made the right call. He wound us through a few more turns until we were in a place of twisted streets, hidden deep within the cavern of buildings, where no people were walking. I was ready for him to stop because I didn’t think the dados had any chance of following that wacked route, but he kept pressing forward. I didn’t say a word. This was his show.
Finally he made an abrupt turn that nearly threw me off the bike. We side-slid a few feet, then shot inside a garage door. Once in, he hit the brakes so hard I thought I was going to fly over his head. Before we came to a full stop, the garage door was already closing. The door hadn’t hit the floor before the guy pulled himself off the bike and turned to me. His eyes weren’t so calm anymore. I didn’t blame him. That was a pretty wild ride.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
Uh-oh. He had just risked his life to save me and now he wanted answers.
“Uhhh…” was all I could get out. Nice answer, huh? I had been too worried about getting away from the dados to think up a plausible story.
“How did you escape?” he asked. “No challenger has ever escaped.”
“I, uh, you see, funny thing.” I chuckled, trying to sound casual. “I’m not a challenger. This isn’t my shirt.”
“And I suppose that isn’t your loop?” he asked with suspicion. I glanced at the silver bracelet around my arm. It was still blinking purple. I looked to the guy, sheepish. He reminded me of my father. He was about my size, with short brown hair that was going gray. At that moment it actually felt like I was being scolded by a doubting parent. I tried to pull the loop off, but again, it clung to my arm.
“It’s not my loop,” I said. “I found these clothes and-” “Who is that?” came a woman’s voice. I looked deeper into the dark garage to see someone approaching. She took a few steps toward us, stepping into the light that came in through an overhead window. I immediately recognized her as the woman who skidded the motorbike into the dados, allowing the terrified guy to escape. She had short dark hair that was kind of spiked up. The collar of her dark shirt was turned up. That little bit of style made the drab outfit look suddenly… cool.
“An escaped challenger,” the old guy answered. “He was being chased by dados and asked for my help.”
“So you brought him here?” the woman said, angry, as if it were a totally stupid thing to do. When she had crashed the bike, the old guy acted all superior, like he was an angry boss. Now the roles were reversed. She seemed to be the one in charge. It confirmed my suspicion that the whole incident on the street had been staged to help that guy escape.
“He won’t stay long,” the older guy argued. “I knew it was safe here.”
“But why here?” the woman shot back. “Of all places! What if they’re looking for Mr. Pop?”
“Who’s Mr. Pop?” I asked without thinking.
They both shot me a quick look. Oops. Wrong question to ask. I should have known better. The woman stared me down and took a step closer. I didn’t turn away.
“He knew the gesture,” the man said, as if defending himself. “I had to respond.”
Right. The gesture. The hand grabbing the biceps. I had the feeling that if I knew enough to give that gesture, I should have known who Mr. Pop was.
“How did you get away?” the woman asked without taking her eyes off me.
It was time to start making things up. Why not? I had nothing to lose. I hoped.
“Okay, okay,” I said. “This is what happened. I got my loop off-“
“That’s impossible,” the woma
n said.
“Can we be sure?” the man added. “Maybe he did.”
“Or maybe he’s a spy,” the woman snarled.
Uh-oh. I had to get her off that track fast. “I’m no spy,” I declared. “I got my loop off; that’s how I escaped. But once I was out, I didn’t want to stand out so I put it back on.” I had no idea what I was talking about, but the woman nodded as if I were making some sense. I’m glad she was getting this, because I was totally winging it. I thought of trying to persuade them by using whatever Traveler abilities I had to influence people’s thinking, but these two seemed too strong for that. That only worked for me when people weren’t thinking clearly to begin with. These guys were very much in control, and cool. But I had to do something. I took a very big chance and added, “All I wanted was to see Mr. Pop.”
The woman’s eyes widened as if I had just asked to see the Wizard of Oz. She glanced at the man. He shrugged. She looked to me and said, “I’m sure you would. But do you realize how foolish it was for you to put the loop back on?”
No, actually, I didn’t.
“I didn’t think I had a choice,” I answered. I wondered how long I could keep this double-talk up before they realized I had no idea what I was saying.
“Maybe not,” the man said. “But that’s exactly why you have to leave. Now.”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Are you a fool, or just ignorant?” the woman asked.
I felt like a little of both.
The man added, “Don’t you realize they can track you with that loop?” Uh-oh.
Crash! We all jumped in surprise as a vehicle smashed down the garage door. The large metal door slid to the side and slammed to the floor, revealing a dark truck that hit it like a battering ram.
“You’re on your own!” the woman shouted. “Good luck!” She took off into the depths of the garage. The guy was right after her. I made the mistake of looking back at the invader truck. Jumping out of both front doors were dados with their guns already drawn. They were taking aim. I turned to run and heard the fum of a gun going off.
This time they didn’t miss.
I was hit square in the back. The force was so hard, it snapped my head back. I had never been shot before. I didn’t know what it was supposed to feel like, but I never imagined this. The wind was knocked out of me as if I had been hit with a baseball bat. There was a tingling, numb feeling that started where I was hit and instantly spread to my arms and my legs. It was like I had been stung with a massive electrical current, not that I know what that’s like either. I’m just guessing. The sensation spread up my spine and wrapped around my head. I had the vague knowledge that my cheek was on the floor. A moment later everything went black and I was gone.
(CONTINUED)
QUILLAN
Half-awake. Half-asleep. I hate that feeling. I didn’t know if what was happening was real or a dream. I had to force myself to focus. I was lying down and vaguely aware of a rocking sensation. That meant I was moving. Was I on a boat? A train? The flume? There was absolute silence, so no clue there. I sensed light flashing across my face. That also added to my feeling of movement. Man, what a vulnerable feeling. I had to concentrate what little energy I had and get conscious. I have to admit, part of me wanted to go back to sleep. Then again, part of me also wanted to be home in bed on Second Earth watching TV. But since neither of those two options seemed practical, I had to get vertical.
As more of my brain cells started to function, I realized a very important truth. I wasn’t dead. I remembered being shot from behind, and losing consciousness, but I wasn’t feeling any pain like from a bullet. Of course, the idea also occurred to me that maybe I was dead and was actually being transported to the next life. But that thought went away when I willed my eyes to open and saw tall buildings flashing by outside. I figured that either there were tall gray buildings in the next life, or I was still on Quillan. Odds were that I was still on Quillan.
I soon discovered that I was lying down flat in the backseat of a really big car. I say it was really big because it was wide enough for me to be stretched out fully on the bench seat, with room to spare. Looking up, I realized that I was seeing the buildings through the rear window. My body felt numb. You know when your arm falls asleep and you have to rub it to get the circulation back? Well, my whole body felt like it was asleep, like I was paralyzed. There was a moment of panic when I feared I really was paralyzed. But I focused and forced my hand to move, then my other hand. Reality was flooding back. I was alive. I could move. What I needed was to jump-start my brain.
I figured that the dado must have shot me with some kind of tranquilizer. That was the good news. Bad news was that I had finally run out of luck. They got me. That fear was confirmed when I was able to sit up. In the front seat were two dados. They could have been the guys who were chasing me, or not. It didn’t matter. They both kept their eyes on the street, looking dead ahead. I wondered if these guys really could be robots. If that wasn’t strange enough, if it was true, then it meant a machine was driving another machine… and I was along for the ride. I hoped they didn’t have a short circuit or anything. I didn’t want their electrodes to fart and end up driving us all into a wall.
“Hey,” I said dreamily.
They didn’t turn around. That was okay. I was still trying to get my brain to work. And my mouth, too, for that matter.
“You two guys robots, or what?” I asked. driving quickly along city streets. Traffic was lighter, and the driver weaved us in and out kind of dangerously. I guess he wasn’t afraid of being pulled over by a cop, seeing as he probably was a cop. “Where are we going?” Still no answer, big surprise. “How about a tour of the city?” No response. “Anyone ever tell you how truly ugly you guys are?” They never took their eyes off the street.
I decided to stop asking questions that weren’t going to be answered and concentrate on getting my act together. Wherever they were taking me, and whatever we would find, I needed to be ready for it. So I sat back in the seat and watched out the window. The city here didn’t look much different from the area near the arcade. Though as I said, it wasn’t as busy. I had a quick moment of panic wondering how long I had been out and how far we had driven. At some point I was going to have to find my way back to the flume. As of this second I had no idea where I was, or how to begin finding my way back through this endless, boring city. I felt a slight tug of panic, but fought it off. I learned a long time ago that I should only worry about things I had control over. I had to trust that someway, somehow, I’d find the flume.
We traveled for a few more minutes, turning onto streets that didn’t look any different from the ones we had come off of. I tried to keep track of where we were going, but it was impossible. Everything looked the same. That is, until we made the final turn. What I saw in front of us was so out of character with the rest of the city, I think I actually gasped. The two dados turned around to look at me. Swell. They wouldn’t answer any direct questions, but a little thing like a gasp got their attention.
“Are you all right?” the driver asked, as if concerned that my gasp meant I was having a heart attack or something.
“Yeah,” I said, and pointed ahead of us. “What is that?”
The two dados turned forward, ignoring me again. I guess if there was any communicating going on, it had to be on their terms. I didn’t care anymore. I was way more interested in what was in front of the car.
Looming before us was a huge golden gate. It was awesome, with elaborate carvings and detailed sculptures. The design wasn’t anything specific. If anything, it reminded me of the 3-D graphics that scrolled across the giant overhead screens throughout the city. Very modern, but still elegant. It was in the center of a tall white stone wall that had to be thirty feet high. It was definitely too high to climb over, but not so high that I couldn’t see what was beyond it.
Trees.
Yup. Over the wall and through the detail of the gate, I saw green parkland. I instan
tly thought of the Tato match where Challenger Yellow was killed. The Traveler from Quillan. There were tall trees all around the platform. What did that guy call the place? The garden. Right. The garden. My hope rose that I was being taken to the spot where the Traveler was killed. The car slowed as we approached, and the gates slowly opened. We were going inside! It was like moving into an entirely new world. We were leaving a gray, soulless city and entering a thick forest. The only sign inside that things might not be as different as all that was the two dados who stood inside the gate. Guards.
“Is this the garden?” I asked the dado driver, forgetting for a second that he wouldn’t be answering. He didn’t. I shut up. We followed a winding road through dense forest. It was paved, and wide enough for two cars to pass. The forest itself reminded me of the woods back home. It must have been summer on Quillan, because the leaves were big and green. In places the trees were so close together it looked as dark as night. Every so often the forest opened up onto large rolling meadows with multicolored wildflowers dotting the green grass. I saw a few birds, but none that looked any different from those on Second Earth.
What was most amazing about this forest was that it was here at all. We drove along for about fifteen minutes, which meant it was huge. I didn’t know if this was a forest surrounded by city, or a city surrounded by forest. Or maybe city ended and forest began. Or forest ended and… never mind. You get the idea. No matter the case, it was odd to go from a gray concrete-covered city to forested wilderness. Of course, this wasn’t truly wilderness. There was a paved road, with a destination. I saw it over the treetops in the distance. At first I thought it was another huge tree that loomed above the others. Then I thought it might be some kind of radio tower. The thought hit me that we had reached the far side of this forest and were about to come out to the city again. We rounded a bend, the trees opened up, and the mystery was solved.
The Quillan Games tpa-7 Page 8