Arena 3

by Logan Jacobs

  We walked over to the small table that had been set up next to the command center where we’d all sit when looking at skill trees or going over the days training schedule.

  Aurora and I sat for a few minutes in silence as we sipped coffee and ate our protein bars. They tasted like dried fruit, nuts and cardboard. Apparently, there wasn’t enough alien technology in the known mega-verse to make meal replacement bars actually taste good.

  “So,” I started to say after washing the last of my protein bar down with a big sip of coffee, “I didn’t know you could use dark matter to actually take the shape of other creatures. Very Wonder Twins of you.”

  “Honestly,” Aurora said almost as if she were a little ashamed, “I didn’t either. It’s never happened before.”

  “Really?”

  “I’ve only had these abilities for about two Earth years,” she replied. “I got them the same night the Shriike attacked my Hand Maiden and me.”

  “I can’t believe I’ve never asked you about that,” I said, and it was my turn to feel a bit ashamed. “We’ve fought and almost died together several times over, and I just realized I don’t know much more about you other than you are gorgeous, funny, and a hell of a champion. Well, I also now know that you are a really damn great lover.”

  “Marc Havak, you know all the things to say to make a lady blush,” she joked as she batted her eyes at me dramatically. “My family had ruled the planet of Starfall for generations, but for the last hundred years, we’d been in the grips of a horrible and bloody civil war that engulfed the whole planet. The people were tired of being ruled by someone who only ruled by luck of birth. My father and mother, even though they were king and queen, agreed with the populace and we were about to step down to install a democracy. It had been too long in coming in my humble opinion.”

  She paused to take a sip of coffee, and I could see the turmoil of emotions behind her eyes as she trudged up old memories.

  “Well, that sounds like a really great thing, right?” I asked.

  “It was supposed to be,” she answered as she bit her lower lip absently. It made her look like a self-conscious teenager for a moment and it made my heart want to break. “There was a rebel leader who wasn’t satisfied with that. He wanted all those of royal blood to pay with their lives and went on a maniacal crusade to carry that out. My father’s forces defeated him before he could carry out his psychotic wishes but with his dying breath, he unleashed a doomsday device. A supersonic drill that delivered an atomic fission bomb to the center of our planet. My parents put my Hand Maiden Neena…. she’d been like a second mother to me for as long as I could remember.”

  Again she paused. A small tear fell from her eyes as she looked down at the table. It sparkled with blue-purple light as it ran a course of remembered sorrow down her cheek.

  “Aurora,” I said and reached out to take her hand, “you don’t have to tell me any of this if it's too hard.”

  “No,” she replied with determination. “I’ve never really spoken of this to anyone, but, sugar, you make me feel like it's okay.”

  “S’cause it is.”

  “Um, thank you,” she said and took a deep breath. “My parents put Neena and me in an escape shuttle. We blasted off on a course to Starfall’s third and most distant moon known as Shadow Hold, where my family had an old farming settlement from when our planet was young. It had been abandoned centuries before. Anyway, we barely made it out of Starfall’s orbit when the planet exploded. My parent's shuttle didn’t survive, and every other person on my homeworld perished because of the ravings of an angry asshole. We landed on Shadow Hold and I was practically inconsolable. That’s when the Shriike attacked. It almost sucked my life force completely before Neena used the ships dark matter drive to blast it to oblivion. But I was too far gone. I felt the Shriike’s essence deep inside of me and knew I would soon be a mindless creature wandering the galaxy for souls to consume. And part of me relished at the thought.”

  “I’m so sorry, Aurora,” I said and held her hand tighter. The blue-purple tears fell freely now but I could tell she had more story left. More to confess. More to absolve herself from.

  “Neena did all she could with technology,” Aurora continued. “And when that failed, she resorted to the wisdom of the witches of Starfall. The magic of mystics long thought extinct. Over a very long and painful month, she gave me these tattoos that kept the Shriike spirit at bay. But even with them, it had been too long, and I needed to feed. Neena sacrificed herself so that I could survive.”

  Aurora stopped and took a long, deep breath. When she exhaled the tears finally stopped. She wiped them away with her hand.

  “It wasn’t your fault, Aurora, you know that right?”

  “Wasn’t it sugar?” She asked with a sad smile. “Anyway, it wasn’t soon after that I realized that when Neena had blasted the Shriike with energy from the dark matter drive, it had somehow gotten transferred to me. I could conjure it, manipulate it, hurl it in great gobs at alien assholes.”

  We both chuckled a bit which felt pretty damn cathartic after the heaviness of the last few minutes.

  “Okay,” I said after the chuckles subsided a bit, “how do you go from great gobs to a purple-black, seven foot long Mako shark of doom?”

  “Honesty?” She asked. “I have no clue, sugar. I was as surprised as I imagine you were.”

  “I almost peed my wetsuit when I saw you nose to nose with that Great White,” I admitted.

  “Sugar, you were not alone there,” Aurora smiled, “All I saw was a mouth full of teeth headed for my head, and the Shriike took over.”

  “Maybe sucking the life force of such a big predator kinda turned you into one?” I threw out. It wasn’t much of a theory but it was all I had right then.

  “Possibly,” she nodded, “I remember feasting on the monster's essence, and then this unstoppable drive to rip and tear took over. I only remember it in glimpses and then waking up with you at my bedside.”

  “I just wanted some peace and quiet so I could get some reading done,” I said as I smiled at her.

  We got up and put our dishes in the little sink next to the coffee maker. As I turned around Aurora grabbed hold of me and hugged me tightly.

  “Thank you, Marc,” she whispered from where her face was pressed tightly into my chest.

  “Thank you, Aurora,” I said as I kissed the top of her head. “That took more courage than just about anything I’ve ever seen in the arena.”

  “Don’t go getting all soft on me, sugar,” Aurora said as she pulled away from the hug and began to saunter back into the gym. “Although, that doesn’t seem to be a problem you suffer from.”

  “No, it is not,” I bragged.

  The door of the gym opened and Artemis power walked through the door in a rush. She had a garment bag in her right hand and what I hoped was a Woodhouse special in her left. The measly meal replacement bar had done absolutely nothing but make me feel hungrier.

  “There you are!” she exclaimed when she saw me and made a beeline toward me. I imagined I looked jaunty and cool as I leaned casually against the edge of the command center desk.

  “Well good morning to you too,” I quipped.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, good morning,” Artemis said as though she couldn’t get the words out fast enough. “Why do you look like you slept on the locker room floor?”

  “Um, cause I did,” I answered with a shrug. “How did you know that?”

  “You have a very distinct ‘I slept on the floor’ look,” Artemis said as she handed me the bag from her left hand. It was indeed a Woodhouse special because the smell of sausage and egg hit my nose before I even opened it.

  “Artemis, you are the best, and I love you,” I said as I tore into the sandwich like it owed me money.

  “I know,” Artemis grinned as she set the garment bag down on the command center desk. “I am cute and adorable. Also, modest. Now hurry up and eat that… oh, you’re done already.”

&nbs
p; She looked a bit surprised as I shoved the last bit of the sandwich into my mouth and smiled at her with a big mouthful of food.

  “What?” I mumbled. “I was hungry.”

  Aurora walked rather lazily back into the gym. Somehow in that small amount of time, she’d managed to change her clothes again. She had on a very Nineteen Forties inspired black with red highlights girdle that went down to the top of her thighs. And this wasn’t your grandma’s girdle either. Or actually, maybe it was when she was twenty-two, or who knows, she just looked smoking hot in the skin-tight outfit with garters and high heels. A flowy robe with puffy tufts of fake fur on the sleeves completed the outfit. For whatever hard emotional baggage she carried with her earlier in the morning, the Aurora I knew and loved was back with a vengeance. And by that I mean she was confident, self-assured, and sexy as hell.

  “Aurora,” Artemis squealed and ran over and gave her a big hug. “How are you feeling? Everything okay?”

  “Yes, sugar,” Aurora responded and hugged Artemis back, “Thanks to you, as always. I feel right as rain this morning.”

  Artemis cut a glance back to me and gave me a damn good impression of Grizz’s one eyebrow raise and then looked back at Aurora.

  “Oh, you sneaky devils,” she said with a cute little accusatory smile. “It’s about time, actually. The tension was killing all of us. Marc, come on, get dressed, we have to get to your interview.”

  I shook my head quickly to knock myself out of the little trance I’d been in as I watched two gorgeous women hug each other without any sense of jealousy or possessiveness and walked over to where Artie had set down the garment bag.

  I had to admit, my life was pretty fucking awesome.

  “I thought I’d just go like last time,” I said and did a quick little pose in my jumpsuit as if I were a high-fashion model. I even sucked in my cheeks to give myself that ‘I don’t eat so that I can be glamorous’ look. Both women giggled at my silliness, which had been my goal. I’ve always loved making smoking hot ladies laugh unselfconsciously. “What? I look rugged and dangerous, right?”

  “Oh, yes, sugar,” Aurora said through her giggles, “very dangerous.”

  “Oh stop, you gobstopper,” Artie said as she swatted me playfully. “I brought you some stylish Earth clothes for the interview today.”

  “Gobstopper?” I asked and then it hit me what she was trying to say. “Goober? Did you mean goober?”

  “That’s what I said,” she answered innocently and nodded her head quickly. “Come on! Go put this on already.”

  She shoved the garment bag into my arms and literally pushed me into the locker room.

  “Gah,” I uttered, “So pushy. See, get it? Cause you’re pushing me? I’ll change now.”

  “Thank you,” She said sweetly, kissed me on the cheek, and went back into the gym.

  I hung the garment bag up in my locker and unzipped it.

  “Wow, nice,” I said to myself as I pulled out a neatly pressed light grey three-piece two-button suit. It had a Calvin Klein label on the inside of the jacket.

  “Fancy, nothing but the finest alien knock-offs,” I joked to myself and shrugged out of my jumpsuit. The suit fit as if it had been custom made, which was fucking awesome. I now understood why rich people did things like that. Artie had also included a purple and blue check patterned shirt, black leather belt, and shined black wing tips. Once I’d gotten everything on and tucked in I took a look in the mirror.

  “Not too shabby, Havak, not too shabby at all,” I said to my rather GQ reflection and then walked back out into the main part of the gym.

  “You keep dressing like that, sugar,” Aurora said as her eyes drank me in, “and there won’t any of us able to get a damn thing done.”

  “Yes, Marc,” Artemis echoed, “I am very much fornicating you with my eyeballs so hard right now.”

  “That is very much good to know so hard right now,” I kidded with her.

  “Okay, let’s go,” she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me along.

  “See you sugars, later,” Aurora drawled and twiddled her fingers goodbye at us.

  We walked through the Hall of Champions and out to a hover-cab that was already waiting for us. Artie and I slid in, and the hover-cab merged into the morning traffic.

  A few quick minutes and we slid back out, up a well-manicured courtyard and into the building that housed Trillium Vou’s studio. Even though I’d been here once before, the inside was still an interesting and slightly unsettling sight. All the aliens who scurried about the lobby looked like they walked straight out of a Patrick Nagel painting from Nineteen Eighty-Five. So much so I could almost hear “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins playing. They all had pale gray skin, blue-black hair, and blood-red lips and wore outfits with oversized shoulder pads. One of them in a pencil skirt and pastel blue blazer came up to us shortly after we stepped through the doors.

  “Hello, Champion Havak, and Ms. V-Five,” she said in a professional yet sorta sexy voice. “T. Vou is excited to speak with you again. This way.”

  “T. Vou?” I asked as if I’d heard her wrong. We followed after her as she walked quickly down one of the corridors.

  “Oh, yes, sorry,” the assistant answered absently, “Ms. Vou has recently rebranded herself as T. Vou. An idea she had after watching some of Earth’s most popular interview programs, Mr. Havak.”

  “Great,” I said with more than a touch of sarcasm. Artemis snickered beside me.

  A few twists and turns and we were in Trillium’s broadcast studio. Gorgeous soft white light filtered down from the ceiling and seemed to make everything look younger and prettier. I was led to a tall chair behind a raised desk. Little camera balls hovered all around us to get every angle. Another walking Nagel came up to me and held up what looked like a small paint gun in front of my face. She pulled the trigger and a fine mist of makeup covered my skin. Without a word she turned around and walked off. I coughed lightly.

  I looked over at Artemis, pointed to my head and made a “how’s this look” face. She thumbs upped me and smiled, and I shot back my own thumbs up.

  “There he is,” I heard Trillium say from behind me. Then she walked around my shoulder and kissed me quickly on each cheek, sat in the chair just opposite mine, and looked at me appraisingly. “I must say, survival suits you, Marc.”

  “Yeah, I do enjoy being alive,” I said back and met her gaze. “T. Vou?”

  “Oh, pish-posh,” Trillium replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. “That’s just for the public relations division. I’m still Trillium Vou to you.”

  The way she said it was slightly more than suggestive.

  “Don’t I feel special?” I replied rakishly. Something about the grey skinned galaxy famous TV personality brought out the arrogant rogue in me. She also raised the hair on the back of my neck. I didn’t trust her one bit.

  “Marc,” she said with a little laugh, “if you didn’t you soon will.”

  “Okay, people,” the assistant said as she rushed through the studio, “We are on in three, two, one.”

  Red lights blinked to life on top of all the floating camera orbs and a thousand-watt smile appeared on Trillium’s face.

  “Hello mega-verse, and welcome once again to Forge and Friends,” she said right into the camera, her voice a slightly sing-song melody that was almost hypnotic. “The only show that brings the Champions into your home. With me today I have the one and only, Marc Havak, the crazy and unconventional Champion from the far away backwater planet known as Earth. Welcome, Marc.”

  “Pleasure to be here,” I said and smiled as much to the cameras as to her.

  “The pleasure is ours, Marc,” Trillium responded quickly. “And joining us from the Oval Office, the seat of power for Earth, the President of the United States of America.”

  There was a flicker of light from a small droid that hovered next to me, and a fully rendered hologram of the POTUS appeared in the seat next to me. I had to stifle a small gas
p as he materialized. He had lost about forty pounds, his hair was bright orange, and he looked like that CGI effect they used at the beginning of Ant-man on Michael Douglas to make him look like he did in Wallstreet.

  “T. Vou, it is a delight for you to have me on your show, I am ratings gold,” the President said with an appraising glance. “Marc, always good for you to see me. Tremendous actually, tremendously, tremendous.”

  “Indeed Mr. President,” Trillium responded while she stifled a small laugh. “Team Havak won another boon for your planet. How is that going?”

  “Exceptional, T. Vou,” the President boasted, “truly wonderful.”

  “Do you watch the matches, Mr. President?” She asked. “Does Earth tune in for the daring and always exciting way that Marc and his alliance mates manage to get themselves out of trouble again and again?”

  “My confidence in my selection of Marc is so powerful,” the POTUS began, “that I do not need to watch. I know he’s going to win. Plus, I have people who watch for me. I will say, that Marc’s show, which is on a network I started for him-- I’m brilliant at television. Truly amazing-- is the number one show on the planet. No one can beat it. Five billion people watch. It’s tremendous.”

  “Holy crap!” I blurted out in spite of myself. “Five billion? Wow.”

  “It is impressive. Tremendously impressive,” the President responded as he attempted to pat me on the shoulder. His hand just went right through me, but he spent a good ten seconds trying to do it.

  “Dad,” I heard the familiar voice of his daughter say. “Dad. Dad! You’re not really there.”

  “Of course,” he said as if he knew it all along.

  “Marc,” Trillium intoned to pull focus back to her, “you are aware that your matches are growing in popularity among the mega-verse as well? Our recent numbers are somewhere in the thirty to forty billion viewership range.”

  “Oh,” I said, quite stunned. That number was so big I could not even begin to conceptualize it. “Coolio.”