A hover-disc landed in front of her.
“I can stay in Middilgard?” Kayla asked.
“For now, you can stay,” Ohg said. “Go to the Scarlet Cavern if you’d like some entertainment. I have something special planned for Middilgard.”
Chapter 20
Kayla rode the hover-disc from Ohg’s lair back to Middilgard in a haze of conflicting emotions. With each answer she found, two more mysteries appeared.
What am I?
When she flew through the hidden doorway into the familiar tunnels, the disc landed. For the first time in over five months, she walked through the public tunnels. Anxiety plucked at her insides like a buzzard. Would Tem be angry at her for pushing him out of her life?
The shrieks of children dissolved into laughter, and a stampede of tiny feet echoed through the tunnels. Her little jewels rounded a bend in the passage, and she smiled. But the children rushed past without a pause. The months of her absence had wiped their minds clear of their once-beloved friend, rendering her a stranger.
Tears blurred Kayla’s vision as the Forever-Children vanished into a side tunnel. Would her other friends have changed as well? Had Fatima turned them all against her?
Then Saphie rounded a curve in the tunnel. The little girl spoke to the empty air next to her.
“I can’t go with you now, Kayla, or I’ll miss the tournament.” Saphie paused, as if listening, then shook her head and addressed the emptiness once again. “We can visit color-girl later.”
She’s pretending to talk to me. Keeping her memory alive in the only way she could.
“I’m here, Saphie!” Kayla said to her little jewel.
The adorable face turned toward her with such consternation that Kayla laughed.
“How did you get over there?” Saphie asked. “Stop playing games, or we’ll be late!” Saphie ran toward her with arms outstretched. Kayla swept the little body into her arms and hugged her. Puck peeked out of a pocket on Saphie’s pink sundress and squeaked up at her.
“Puck!” Kayla exclaimed and kissed the mouse’s forehead.
“Why are you crying?” Saphie asked.
“Because I missed you both so much.”
The little girl looked at her like she was the craziest adult she’d ever met. “We have to hurry or it will start without us!” Saphie said.
“What will start without us?”
“The game in the Scarlet Cavern I just told you about!”
“I think I’m going to skip the game and find Tem. Have you seen him?”
“Tem’s playing in the game, silly!”
Kayla hoisted Saphie onto her shoulders and jogged in the direction she’d seen the other children heading. “Okay, my little Sapphire,” Kayla said, tickling her as she ran. “We can’t be late for the game!” Saphie giggled as they rushed through the tunnels, and Puck gave an occasional squeak.
They entered the Scarlet Cavern, and Kayla’s mouth dropped. Tiered seating had sprung up along one wall of the massive room, and most of Middilgard’s several thousand diverse occupants sat patiently awaiting Ohg’s surprise. The rest of the cavern floor lay bare. Kayla deposited Saphie alongside the other children in the front row and headed up the stands in search of a place to sit.
“Excuse me,” she said, stepping on someone’s tail. “Pardon me,” she apologized to a dour turtle after almost sitting on him. She reached several empty seats near the top as the lights dimmed.
A trumpet sounded and the crowd settled.
“Captaining the Red Team,” a voice boomed out, “is that warrior of warriors and famed member of the Ixtalia Freaks—the one, the only, Temujin!” A cone of light illuminated Tem at the far side of the cavern. Kayla’s pulse quickened. He wore his usual wide Mongolian trousers and horsehide vest, which seemed an odd choice for a sporting event. The crowd went wild with shouts and applause, but Tem’s wide face remained impassive.
The announcer introduced Ganesh, Sir Richard Panthersly, Humpty Dumpty, and a once-famous supermodel named Nicolia, whose emaciated body resembled a stick figure.
“Captaining the Blue Team,” the disembodied announcer said with solemnity, “is one of the most famous athletes of the late twenty-first century. Winning a combined twenty-six gold medals in the final Olympic games before Gene-Freaks were banned from competition, please welcome that athlete of athletes—Durendal!” The crowd erupted in applause of the man who had backed down from fighting Tem. The lean muscles of his body rippled in waves as he bounced from foot to foot like a prizefighter.
During Fatima’s introduction, she stared daggers across the arena at Tem. How could one live with such hatred constantly eating away at them? Kayla hadn’t met the other members of the Blue Team since Fatima had turned them against her early on. As a whole, they looked far more athletic than the Red Team.
“Excuse me,” a voice behind Kayla said. “You’re the girl from Potemia, aren’t you? I don’t think we’ve met. My name is Lott.” A hand extended across her shoulder, and Kayla took hold of it, turning to greet …
“I apologize for the shock,” Lott said at the look on Kayla’s face.
“Not … not at all,” Kayla said. His main body resembled the torso of a man, with a mouth where the belly-button would normally reside. From this central core, twenty arms extended in all directions. He lacked a neck, legs, and even a head. Lott stood on two hands with ease. On three of his hands, eyes peered out from the center of the palms. One stared directly at her, while the other two pointed in different directions. A nose protruded from the top of another hand, and two others supported ears. The rest of his arms and hands appeared normal, bristling in all directions like a sea urchin.
Will I ever get used to the surprises here?
Kayla gazed into the eye pointed toward her and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Kayla.”
“Very nice meeting you as well.” Lott released her hand. “Do you mind if I join you?” One of his hands gestured toward the empty seat next to her.
“Please do.” Lott’s various appendages took hold of the backrest next to her and moved him smoothly into the seat.
“And now!” boomed the announcer’s voice. “The surrogate bodies our teams will compete in!” A rumble shook the cavern as a section of the floor slid apart to reveal a dark opening beneath.
A roar of engines sounded, and ten metal objects erupted from the pit.
“Old-school robots!” Lott shouted, his excitement infectious.
Each of the ten robots from Ohg’s laboratory now displayed a blue or red square painted in the center of their chest. They landed on opposite sides of the arena before their respective teams; the tallest standing twenty-five feet, and growing progressively smaller down the line to the shortest robot, which stood five feet tall.
That’s why the contestants’ bodies didn’t matter. Mind-athletes, Ganesh had called them.
“These robots pay homage to the first combat models used at the beginning of Filadrux,” the announcer said as the two teams examined the robots. “They are rocket-propelled with a limited fuel, and have only two weapons—a hammer and a blowtorch.”
“This should be an exciting contest,” Lott said. “Although such basic robots allow little room for strategy.”
“The teams will have thirty seconds until the start,” the announcer said. Both teams huddled around their captains as large holographic numbers appeared in the air and began counting down.
Kayla’s eyes zoomed in on Tem as he spoke to his team. He shielded his mouth to preclude reading his lips. Ganesh scratched his head and looked confused, but the stick-thin Nicolia argued with the most animation. As the clock neared zero, Tem silenced her with a gesture.
“That’s a bad sign,” Lott said to Kayla. “When a team is divided on strategy, it spells trouble in the match.”
Both teams took seats in protected dugouts on opposite sides of the stadium. Everyone except Tem and Ganesh donned helmets with wires connected to a control board.
&n
bsp; “Why don’t Tem and Ganesh have helmets?” Kayla asked Lott.
“They have Mind-Links and don’t need helmets to control the robots, but there’s no advantage either way.”
“On your marks!” said the announcer.
All of the robots animated and looked around.
“Get set!”
The crowd silenced as the anticipation built. Several of the robots crouched.
“Go!”
The robots on both sides roared to life, and the crowd cheered. The center of the arena became a confused, chaotic mass of metal clashing with metal. The various-sized robots flew upward, around, and underneath each other as they struck with hammers and blowtorches. The crashes and shrieks of tearing metal brought cheers from the crowd. A protective energy field deflected stray metallic flotsam back into the ring and kept the audience from danger.
“That’s odd,” Kayla shouted over the din. “The Red Team has only four robots in the fight.”
“You’re right!” Lott pointed at the smallest of the red robots standing motionless in its starting position. Could Nicolia be boycotting the match because of her disagreement with Tem?
The crowd cheered as the teams clashed in a maelstrom of steel.
Tem’s red team concentrated its combined effort on the smallest of the blue’s robots first, while the blue team attacked in a symmetrical fashion of like against like. Tem’s team drew first blood as the five-foot blue burst into flames and crashed under the concerted attack. In the blue team’s dugout, one of the women Kayla didn’t know woke from her trance and stormed away.
“Come on, Red Team!” Kayla shouted.
As Tem’s red team shifted its combined attack to the ten-foot blue robot, the cost of this strategy became apparent. Despite shredding the smaller blue robot by the mass assault, this left the three largest blues free to attack their counterparts without any damage themselves.
The largest red struck the fatal blow to the ten-foot blue robot, but fell itself as the blowtorch of the largest blue cut into the internal machinery at the back of its head. Both robots hit the ground at the same moment, lying motionless. A blue team member she didn’t know left the dugout, while Humpty Dumpty tottered away as well.
“Tem’s red team is in trouble now,” Lott said. The blue team’s three largest robots remained undamaged. Despite this, Tem’s team continued its game plan and attacked the fifteen-foot red robot while ignoring the counter-attack.
The red twenty-footer fell next, and Sir Richard slunk out of the dugout. Then the red fifteen-footer followed soon afterward, and Ganesh awoke from his trance and trudged into the stands with head hung low.
Still, the smallest of the red team stood motionless on the sidelines. Was Nicolia really willing to boycott the match just because Tem had dismissed her strategy?
“Kayla!” Ganesh shouted from below and waved all four of his arms. She smiled and waved back as he searched for a path through the cheering crowd.
The fifteen-foot blue robot played hide-and-seek among its two undamaged teammates as the ten-foot red pursued it. The red robot pirouetted through the air with grace and skill, avoiding blows while landing brief strikes on its fleeing prey.
Only Tem and Nicolia remained in the red team’s dugout. Kayla ground her teeth at the girl’s betrayal. I should take control of the small red robot myself. But that would be disastrous for many reasons.
“You’re back!” Ganesh said as he reached her.
“I’m so glad to see you!” She hugged the Hindu god.
“Have a seat.” Lott shifted over two seats.
“Thanks.” Ganesh took the seats as a groan rose from the audience. The red robot had sustained a glancing blow from the largest blue and become unstable. In a desperate move, the red rose to the maximum height the ceiling allowed and fired its rockets into a Kamikaze dive. It slammed into the crippled fifteen-foot blue, and both fuel tanks exploded.
The crowd rose to its feet and cheered as the machines fell into a burning heap. A chant of “Blue, Blue, Blue!” acclaimed the two largest—and undamaged—blue robots, who saluted the audience.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer boomed, “may I present the new champ—” The announcer stopped mid-sentence, and muffled voices sounded in the background.
“They’ve forgotten the smallest red,” Lott said.
“Not that it matters at this point,” Ganesh said with his head hung low.
“The match is technically still in progress,” the announcer said, and a spotlight illuminated the five-foot-tall red robot standing motionless on the edge of the arena. The crowd laughed as the two blue robots pantomimed fear at the sight. Fatima and Durendal remained in the blue dugout. The crowd laughed harder as the blue giants linked hands and skipped toward the tiny red, which didn’t budge a gear in response.
“Just finish it, already,” Ganesh said.
“I can’t believe the nerve of that gutless Nicolia!” Kayla said, her voice wrathful.
“Why? What did she do?” Ganesh asked.
Nicolia no longer sat in the red team’s dugout.
“Tem is the small robot?”
“That’s right.” Ganesh shook his head. “He told us to concentrate our attack on the smallest robot first, and then up the hierarchy one after the other, no matter what the cost. We explained that this would be suicide, but he wouldn’t listen.”
The blue robots linked hands and danced around the motionless red while the crowd roared with laughter. How would such mockery affect Tem’s pride? When the joke wore thin, the largest blue raised its huge hammer.
“I can’t watch.” Ganesh covered his eyes. The hammer came down, and the crowd roared. Rocks exploded as the massive hunk of metal buried itself into the floor of the cavern. It took a couple of yanks for the robot to pull its arm free from the pulverized stone.
Nothing lay underneath.
“Look!” Kayla pointed at the tiny red standing ten feet away. The two blue robots struck in tandem, but once again, the faster red avoided the blows. Three times the giants struck at their maddening enemy, but never came close.
The small red fired its internal rockets and went on the offensive. The two giants swung wildly, but missed every time. Tem pestered the great mountains of metal in a dizzying display of aerial maneuvering, firing his blowtorch in short bursts, but ignoring his tiny hammer altogether.
“He’ll run out of fuel before that little torch can make a dent in the thick armor,” Lott said. “Only a larger robot could hope to—”
“That is the most brilliant strategy I’ve ever seen!” Ganesh said and started laughing.
Lott looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.
The giants continued swinging and missing, and the crowd grew restless as nothing substantial happened. A few boos and shouts of “draw” rose from the audience, but Ganesh’s smile only widened.
Kayla frowned. What am I missing?
Tem’s robot hovered to a stop before the giants, and his tiny blowtorch went out. The crowd grew quiet, and the giants exchanged a glance. Was Tem offering a draw?
Tem’s robot swooped toward the larger of his two adversaries, and his tiny hammer struck the giant’s shoulder. A metallic ping rang out, and Tem retreated before his slower opponent could react. At the foot of the giant blue robot lay the top of a single bolt. A murmur spread through the spectators, then transformed to cheers.
“Brilliant!” Kayla said.
“Tem, Tem, Tem!” the crowd chanted.
“What happened?” Lott said, holding his three eyes high. “I don’t understand.”
Ganesh beamed. “Tem used his torch to cut the bolts holding the blue robots together.”
Laughter billowed through the stadium as the red midget chased the flailing blue giants. One by one, Tem struck off the hundreds of bolts holding the monstrous machines together. The larger robot lost his right arm first. Then the left arm of the smaller blue clunked to the stone floor.
“It’s death by a tho
usand cuts!” Kayla said through her laughter.
When the two robots had been relieved of all their limbs and lay bereft of movement, Tem landed next to the smaller of the two. One by one, he struck off the bolts connecting head to shoulders. The cheers reached a crescendo as the last bolt snapped on its own from the enormous weight. Sparks erupted as wires tore free. The light within its eyes went out. In the blue dugout, Fatima awoke from her trance and stormed out of the stadium. It didn’t take long for the larger robot to succumb to the same fate.
Durendal and Tem strode to the center of the arena.
Now Kayla could see why Durendal had backed down from fighting Tem. The true battleground lay within the mind. Even before the start of the match, Tem had won.
The defeated captain stopped before the Mongol and extended his hand. They shook, and Durendal pulled Tem’s arm into the air. The crowd roared its approval, and both teams emerged from the stands to receive their accolades. Only Fatima remained absent.
The lights came on. Ganesh spoke to Tem and pointed in her direction. Kayla’s heart quickened. As the crowd dispersed, she made her way down to him.
Tem averted his gaze. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention the possibility of your memories being implanted.”
Guilt twisted through her like a tapeworm. “It’s me who should be apologizing.”
He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s time I told you the whole truth.”
Chapter 21
Kayla walked with Tem through the lonely corridors and revealed everything she’d worked so hard to keep hidden. She described her childhood deformities, resurrection, apparent indestructibility, and all that Ohg had revealed regarding the microscopic miracles within her blood.
When she finished, Tem took her hand and led her in silence to a small cave. At its center sat an ancient hunk of lava that had bubbled from a crack in the floor long ago. Dozens of holes and fractal encrustations pockmarked its surface. In the center of the abstract form sat a spherical stone the size of a marble.
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