Disoriented, she shuffled forward too far and exposed her back to Zaya. An arrow between the shoulder blades finished her off. By the time she went face first into the grass, her avatar was already fading from view.
Three Vipers down, one more to go.
I raised up to one knee to get a better view just in time to see Sihon put a bolt in Zaya's hip where she was standing out in the open. She must have left her cover knowing it was worth the risk to take Charr out of the game. When our longbow wielder dove for cover, Sihon burst forward toward the center zone. He looked shocked when his teammate was nowhere in sight. I used the opportunity to place another strike in his back.
"All up!" Zaya screamed. I knew what that meant. We were three on one and could risk exposure happily to finish off the last remaining Viper. Memphis responded three seconds later than me, but by the time she was up Zaya and I were already converging on the scoring zone with our weapons ready.
Memphis' body flew backwards suddenly with a crossbow bolt protruding from her chest. When she didn't pop back up, I knew that she was seeking medical attention before rejoining us. That left us at two on one for the moment, but with our wide positions I still felt good about it.
Then Sihon surprised me. He darted out of the scoring area towards Memphis with his sword in his hand. Zaya put an arrow in his back, but it didn't slow him down much. My shot missed him by a good margin as I wasn't anticipating hitting a quickly moving target.
When he dropped out of view, I decided to be more cautious. I didn't have many shots left, but another cache should be spawning soon. I looked up at the scoreboard for the clock. I was extremely disappointed to see another point go up for the Vipers. Sihon had eliminated my precious Memphis from play. I shouldn’t have been too surprised since his high-ranking close combat skills were well known.
The Black Viper captain was level nine. Zaya and I combined her seven and my one to be a total of eight. But two players against one still gave us the advantage. I was surprised that my team's star player wasn't advancing or calling out instructions. That was a bad sign, I figured.
I did my best to keep an eye out for Sihon's movements while moving from one hedge to another until I finally had visual contact with Zaya. That is when I understood what the problem was. Her bow laid on the ground she had her short sword in her hand as she peeked around the side of her barricade. She was out of arrows.
Dirt, to use her favorite expletive.
Forty-four more seconds until the cache reappeared. Could we hold out that long? Zaya was remarkably close to the spawn dot, too. The only question that mattered was whether Sihon would figure it out first. His team had restocked ammo three times already. I was assuming that he still had bolts, but maybe not. Was that why he stormed for Memphis with the sword?
My curiosity got the better of me and I raised up too far over my hedge. My mistake was rewarded with a crossbow bolt to the left shoulder. He did still have ammunition for his weapon. And I was caught being stupid. My only remaining teammate was out of arrows. How could I make such a mistake!
I reached for a health pack only to realize that I had none left. I knew where I could get four more, but it would require that I run through Sihon's line of sight to get them. At only half health, I couldn't risk it. We'd have to wait for the next drop in thirty-two seconds. At least our opponent wouldn't be able to snag the supplies before us. He was way too far from either dot for the fifteen-minute drop.
Movement caught my eye as Zaya retreated hastily. A bolt struck her in the back as she did. The Viper captain had decided to go all aggressive toward an enemy that he deduced had no ammo left. That took huge confidence and experience to make that decision. No wonder Rhese and Zaya talked about him like he was a god.
I missed him with my first shot but got him in the thigh with the second. I was down to just one bolt left. That wasn't good. But I couldn't let him advance on Zaya and play it safe. If she got taken out, I'd have no chance against this guy. We would lose a game that we had been leading for almost the entire time. And our shot at the big league.
Carefully aiming my last remaining shot I walked slowly until I could see the Viper captain. He wasn't even behind a bunker. No, instead he was crouching down on the dot with an empty crossbow in his hand. He too was out of ammo and waiting for more to appear. I couldn't glance at the clock, but I knew it was almost time.
Just as the box appeared, I released my shot to get him in the arm. He looked totally unaffected by the damage and quickly pried new bolts from the black box as it opened, ignoring the health. He nearly had a shot loaded, prepared to strike my half dead avatar where I stood out in the open to be able to see him. Then Zaya reappeared.
My teammate cartwheeled theatrically over her bunker with her sword spinning in one hand. Landing still shy of her weapon’s reach her glorious sleek warrior body twisted and tumbled without affecting the rotation of her blade. By the time that Sihon could adjust to the new target, it was too late. I watched in shock as the Viper captain's avatar head rolled across the ground.
A horn blew loud enough to make me pee my pants. Perhaps for real, but I wouldn't know that until I woke up in the hook-up room. Everything in the battlefield, walls, towers, grass, all of it turned orange. The winning team's color.
Zaya gave me the cockiest grin that I had ever seen in my life. Then my vision got blurry. I felt dizzy for a moment, then there was nothing but blackness for a while.
Then white ceiling light. I knew where I was. We had won the game and our brainpower was returning to our real bodies. It was the first time that I had made it all the way to the end of a mission, so it was a bit confusing at first.
As soon as I was unhooked, I sat up to see Zaya rushing toward me. Before anyone could hold her back, she had me in her strong slender arms placing a forceful kiss right on my mouth. I was so caught off guard that she got more teeth and tongue than lips.
Then holding me at shoulder's length she said," Wow, Boone! You did great!"
Her body then jerked backwards as two androids placed their inhuman hands on her. I could tell by the look on her face that she knew it was going to happen. And she didn't care. She wanted to show her appreciation for my performance and reward me with a kiss while we had the opportunity. Both Rhese and Memphis had already left the room. Aside from the hook-up technicians, we were alone. Neither missing teammate would need to know about the kiss.
Chapter Twenty
I could not wait for our team's next social hour. I was so excited. Not only did we win our match against an arguably better team, but I contributed well above my documented skill level. I was also looking forward to seeing the heap of new skill points attached to my character.
There was another important aspect to winning the team versus team match. It supposedly qualified us for a new league. It was disheartening that Philia had no information about the arrangement, though. That weighed in the back of my mind heavily. I couldn't believe that Rhese lied to her entire team about the idea, but it was possible that she was deceived by the Skotopia committee. Or simply misunderstood. The committee hiding the information from my room’s artificial intelligence just didn’t make any sense to me.
Memphis made it pretty far into the game and contributed well, too. I was certain that she would be in a celebratory mood. That probably meant more advances in our relationship. She already initiated the physical aspect when she placed her bare foot on my legs under the table. I was mentally preparing myself to start holding hands in front of the others. Maybe even get a kiss during our short time together. I could feel the butterflies in my chest just thinking about it.
Then there was the Zaya issue. What was that about? Was she just too excited to control herself? Had she ever kissed anyone else after a big win? Dashell? Or one of the other girls? Again, Philia had no record of such a thing.
Though my heart was drawn to Memphis, I kind of felt like bragging about the affection from our star player. What teenage boy wouldn’t? Obviously, I cou
ldn’t do that, though.
I had so much energy when I returned to my quarters that I decided to get in some mandatory exercise right away. We had four hours until our team's common room access, so there was plenty of time for everything else.
I was going at nearly sprint speed on the treadmill when I remembered what Rhese had said about the change in living situation once we qualified for the new league. No more being locked up in our quarters for most of the day. We would be able to roam freely throughout a large habitat. And an end to the mandatory exercise program.
That part didn't really make any sense to me, though. So much about our upcoming situation was explained vaguely. Did we really never have to work a job for the rest of our lives? Maybe that would rationalize the lower physical condition standards. Living in space, though, our bodies wouldn’t hold up as well.
I had worked up a good sweat, but I couldn't shower just yet. I was dying to see my stats. I had gained so many points in the previous game. With this last performance I was expecting more record-breaking news. Sadly, there was something wrong with the data when I pulled it up.
"Philia. What's going on with the player stats? I can't see my skill points."
"Your skill points are showing in their normal location, Boone."
"No, they're not," I answered the computer allocated to my personal quarters and individual needs. "They all show zero."
"That is correct."
"No, that is not correct," I told her, showing my frustration. "I had twelve skill points before this last game. Why would they all be gone?"
"I'm sorry, Boone. I do not have that information."
"Did Zaya and the others earn points? They had to with our performance."
"All four players on the Orange Dragons have the same number of skill points," she told me in a calmness that was inappropriate for the conversation in my opinion.
"What?" I looked up at the ceiling as if Philia's face was there to make eye contact with. "How many points does Zaya have now?"
"The same as you, Boone," Philia replied with no sign of irritation. "Zero."
Oh, that wasn't good, I thought. Both her and Rhese were sure to be even more pissed off than me if the system crashed and they lost all their hard-earned skill points. I didn’t want to be the one to blame for that.
"There must be a glitch in the system," I told Philia. "I'll check with the other players when we meet."
I ate and showered long before the door was scheduled to open. In the time remaining I tried to piece things together in my head. With the limited information I had, it wasn't easy. I couldn't resist checking my numbers five more times before our social hour started. They were still all zeroes. My teammates were the same.
When the door finally whisked out of the way I practically jumped into the common room. Straight across from me Zaya was doing the same thing.
"What's going on?" I asked her. Not like a casual greeting either. The concern in her expression told me she was wondering the same thing.
"Everything is blank," Zaya replied quickly. "Our individual numbers were wiped out. We don't even have a win-loss record now. And there is no next scheduled game listed."
"Is it because we are no longer in the Skotopia league?" Memphis asked as she quickly joined us to stand in front of the sofa. I was anticipating a more emotional greeting, but this stats thing had us too concerned.
"I better not have lost everything that I worked for over the last two years," Zaya said in aggravation. She balled up both fists but released them when she saw that I noticed.
"Maybe we all have to start over now," Memphis answered. Understandably, she was the least traumatized by the issue.
"That would be awful," Zaya replied in disbelief.
"Maybe for you," my girl said. "For Boone and me it is a fresh start with a level playing field."
Zaya didn't like the idea obviously, but she was trying not to look too flustered. When she sat down on the couch, I dropped down beside her. Memphis quickly joined us on my other side, placing me in the middle of the two attractive young women.
My girl turned toward us to place her left knee on my thigh and her hand on my forearm. When I placed my other hand on top of hers, she flashed me a sincere smile. I was right. This weird thing going on with our numbers wasn't going to completely upset our bonding time.
"Maybe all three of us will rank up faster than Rhese in the new league," Zaya smiled at us, glancing at the physical contact between us only briefly. "Won't she just love that?"
After a good laugh we all wondered why the team captain hadn't exited her room yet. Memphis went over to check on her and announced that she wasn't there. We had figured that. Maybe she had another meeting regarding this new league that we were supposed to be participating in.
In the few seconds that Memphis had her back turned toward us, Zaya leaned over to put her face close to mine. Her hand rested on my knee as she whispered, "Don't say anything about our kiss."
I shook my head indicating that I wouldn't. But I had to wonder what she thought happened back in the hook-up room. Did she remember things differently than me? Was it an uncontrollable romantic outburst in her mind? Did she think I returned the kiss with equal fervor?
I didn't know how much experience she had with kissing, but I figured it had to be more than I had. Could she not tell that I didn't have a chance to react to her unexpected pass at me?
"What are you two talking about?" Memphis asked suspiciously when she saw Zaya pulling away from me.
"Nothing," the formerly well decorated player replied. "Just wondering how Rhese felt about being knocked out of the game so early."
"She actually earned us a lot of points before she was eliminated," I defended our team captain. "That put us in a good position and set the tone for the rest of the game. She might not have dominated like you, Zaya, but she really contributed to the victory."
"Not as much as you, Boone," Memphis said as she slid back into position at my side.
I disagreed with that statement. I didn't want to put Zaya down, but Rhese's aggression early in the game had as much to do with our big win as anything else.
The conversation continued as we remembered key points in the game and revealed our own point of view experiences. That was a key thing about playing in Skotopia. Each player's experience was always different. Sometimes to a large degree.
I shared with them my surprise at the lush visuals and sounds in the game. The lightning and thunder, which also shocked Memphis. And the snake. It turned out that several had been spotted by our players after the ten-minute mark. I was the only bitten, though.
When the hour finished, we didn't even realize it. There was no five-minute warning. All four doors remained open. It was the first time that we noticed that there wasn't a clock running on the social visit.
"Maybe we got a two-hour time slot," Memphis suggested.
"Then why wasn't there two hours on the clock?" Zaya asked.
"This has to be something to do with the new league," my girl answered as she slid her fingers through mine. We were already reclining together, all three of us. Memphis' head was practically on my shoulder and Zaya's wasn't far from it. "New freedom. Less restrictions. Wasn't that what Rhese was telling us?"
"What are we supposed to do with this extra time?" I asked.
Memphis lifted her head up to look me in the eye. The expression on her beautiful face suggested that she had an idea of some things that we could do together. Before she could say anything, Zaya said, "Let's just keep doing what we are doing until they make us go back."
And that is what we did for over three hours. We did grab snacks, and drinks, and use the toilet when needed. Otherwise, it was us three hanging out on the sofa. Always me in the middle. I felt like the luckiest guy in the universe.
When Memphis started snoring softly Zaya laughed. My girl had one leg across mine, her arm around my waist, and her face against my chest. It was crazy how comfortable that she had gotten with me so
quickly. But even more strange was how fast I was getting used to it. Earning a spot in this new league was one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. I was certainly enjoying the rewards so far. From the way Rhese talked, there would be plenty more to come.
"She's a good girl," Zaya whispered to me. I nodded. "And you are a lucky man."
I turned and stared into her mesmerizing sky-blue eyes before saying, "Yes I am. In more ways than one."
Chapter Twenty-One
"Wow!" I heard someone say in my dream. It startled me because it was completely out of context for the scene playing out in my brain. I was pouring a drink in my tiny kitchen quietly while Memphis was still sleeping in my bed. We had spent the night in my quarters, but the space was more than twice the size than it was in real life. Without details of our new living arrangements my mind just thought bigger.
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