Wormhole Pirates on Orbis (32 page)

Back in our holding cell, Switzer strutted about as if he had just been chosen Chancellor of Orbis 2.

“You won! Can’t you enjoy that?” he cried, slapping me on the back.

“I call it
surviving,
” I muttered.

“That’s your problem, Dumbwire. You’re not enjoying the ride. That wall behind you could drop on us and kill you right now. Stop waiting for your life to start. This is it; you’d better have a little fun.”

“Let’s go see Max,” I sighed, ignoring his comment.

“Shoulda said good-bye to your girlfriend when you had the chance. No leaving here until the Chancellor’s Challenge is done, but I doubt you’ll be leaving here anyway.”

“What do you mean, we can’t leave?” That was not going to be the last time I ever saw Max!

“Try it. Door’s locked from the outside.” Switzer strolled over to the chow synth. “You hungry?”

“Did you keep your promise?” my sister whispered.

“No, I didn’t, Ketheria! What am I supposed to do out there? Do I need to remind you they’re trying to kill
me
?” I yelled at her.

Ketheria recoiled, and Theodore slid over to comfort her.

“JT, stop it. That was unnecessary,” Theodore said.

“You’re right,” I mumbled, and sat by myself. It was obvious I shouldn’t have done that. I couldn’t even look at Switzer because I knew he would be smiling right now.

“I’m sorry, Ketheria,” I apologized. “I tried my best, but we were fighting in space. I don’t think they all survived.”

“I’m sorry baby-malf, I don’t think they all survived,”
Switzer mimicked me in a high, whiny voice while cramming his mouth with a powdery cake-like substance, showering me with little pieces of food.

“Shut up,” I told him, but he only laughed at me.

“This is so much fun,” he gushed, licking his fingers. “You guys havin’ fun?”

I turned my back to Switzer and stared up at the festivities displayed on the O-dats. The other people in the Labyrinth certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves out there. I wondered where Max was. I hoped she was safe.

“You guys did really well,” Theodore whispered, sitting next to me. “Keep this up, and Ketheria and I won’t even have to go near the match.”

“I just wish I knew what his plans were,” I replied, glancing over at Switzer.

“The Ancients’ Treasure is held temporarily
underneath
the Labyrinth. The Chancellor raises it up for the whole audience to view after the championship round,” Vairocina informed me. “If he is going after the treasure, I can’t see him waiting until the Challenge is over. It would be best to do it now.”

Her logic worried me, but Switzer was locked in here with us. How was he planning to get to the treasure? He must have thought of another way. Something I just couldn’t see.

Theodore started to say, “Maybe we can —”

But Switzer cut him off. “Maybe we can what? Maybe we can get ready for the next match?”

“Get ready? You don’t even discuss strategy with me. What about the sort? Don’t you even want to plan it out?” I complained.

“No. You did fine without any discussion.”

“Suit yourself,” I replied.

The room pulsed green again.

“Already?” I moaned.

“Don’t want to keep the fans waiting,” Switzer remarked, jumping up and grabbing his helmet. The three of us followed him down the corridor. Switzer didn’t say a word to us as he headed off to the sort. Ketheria was silent, too, as she took her seat on the wall.

“I’ll try my best. You know, not to kill anyone,” I whispered to her.

“Do what you have to do,” she mumbled.

I wanted to be mad at Ketheria. I wanted to scream at her, ask her what I was supposed to do. We could all be dead shortly! It wasn’t fair to put that pressure on me. But I didn’t. I wouldn’t. I placed the helmet over my head and turned down the hall.

“Good luck!” Theodore yelled after me.

The hallway pulsed red just before I stepped into the labyrinth. The crowd looked even bigger than before, although I didn’t know how that could be possible. It had been packed the last time I’d stood in the bait box.

My opponent was already waiting. Every point on her body was tapered as if she were built for speed. I wondered if her tracker would use it to their advantage. I didn’t think I could beat her in a foot race.

I scanned the audience in vain, searching for Max. It was hard to concentrate. I had no plan except to do what Switzer wanted, even though that meant I could be dead at any moment.

“You can’t think like that,” Vairocina said to me. “I’m working on finding a way out of here, although my resources are limited. I’ve managed to link to their computer through your softwire, but I can’t maintain the connection. Maybe if you made the connection, I would have better access. When this match is finished, we should attempt to do that in the holding cell.”

“
If
I make it through this match,” I reminded her.

“If you don’t, then your sister will have to fight.”

She was right. What was I doing feeling sorry for myself? My plan (if I really called it a plan) was to win this contest. I had the experience and the skills to pull it off, and Switzer was a good partner. Let him do what he wanted. I just had to survive and win the Chancellor’s Challenge. That was the only plan I had, and the only one I could control.

“I agree,” Vairocina said.

The labyrinth dimmed, the crowd roared, and my heart hit the floor as the stadium filled with water. Any control I thought I had just dissolved. One of the trackers must have chosen
LIQUID
in the first round of the sort. I glanced at my opponent; she was smiling! Then I saw it — my opponent wasn’t built for
speed;
she was a swimmer! The alien unfolded her hand, exposing the webbed skin between her fingers.

This was horrible!

The alien rolled her head and stretched out a small fin that ran down the back of her neck. I could see gill slits crack open and expose the red tender flesh that would help her breath underwater. I hoped that Switzer had learned how to swim during all those years he was plundering spaceships in the wormhole.

The water kept rising until it reached the edge of my platform. Turquoise lights banding the arena illuminated the water from below. It would have looked beautiful if it weren’t for the shadows crisscrossing the lights. Something was moving in the water. Something fast. I could not imagine that it was Switzer who had chosen
LIQUID
in the first round, but why would he choose
BIOLOGICAL
in the last round? What was he thinking?

I had no clue what to do. I simply stood there tracking the shadows hunting in the small ocean now lapping at my feet. My opponent stretched as if she were getting ready for a casual swim in the pool.

“What should I do?”

“I do not know,” Vairocina said.

The alien dove into the water like a comet streaking across the sky. The shadows changed direction, tracking her, and then she broke the surface of the water. She landed back on the platform in one graceful swoop.

I groaned. I was sunk. Worse, I was dead.

The shadows turned again, away from my opponents, and gathered to my right. Another shadow, much faster, darted through the water and across the arena. It rose quickly and then broke the surface with a roar.

“Switzer!”

Switzer shot through the air, dragged by some sort of propulsion system that he held with one hand.

“Want to give me a little help here?” he yelled, and flung a weapon at me with his free hand.

The weapon was a Zinovian Grand Talon, a light device that fired poisoned blades. Switzer dove back into the water, skimming the surface while three creatures in the water chased him. Our opponent was pacing on her platform now, searching the water.
She must be looking for her tracker,
I thought. I aimed the talon at the water, and the crowd above me cheered.

“I’m sorry, Ketheria,” I said, and fired into the water as the last creature passed. The creature recoiled when the talon struck and sank out of sight. There were still two creatures chasing Switzer.

Switzer broke the water again. “You might want to go a little faster,” he yelled, and dove back in, close to the platform. I fired two more times, taking out both creatures, and Switzer surfaced at my feet.

“Finally!”

“Where’s the other tracker?” I asked him.

“Don’t worry about him; just get on.”

“On your back?”

“I don’t think you can swim, now, can you?”

“I can swim,” I said, cringing at the whiny sound of my voice.

“Fine, see you back there.”

“Wait!” Before Switzer could leave, I jumped into the water and landed on Switzer. Switzer passed me a breathing tube from the propulsion device and took one himself. When he dove into the water, I could see our opponent still on her platform.

The ride back was quick and uneventful. The bottom of the underwater maze was littered with the creatures like the ones I had killed from the platform. When we had almost reached the winners’ circle, I spotted the lifeless body of the other tracker slumped on the floor, a talon sticking out of his back. Switzer had killed him.

Inside the winners’ circle, Switzer basked in the glory while I tried to figure out what to tell Ketheria. Maybe I just wouldn’t tell her anything. That was the easiest. In reality, if Switzer hadn’t done what he did, that could have been me lying on the maze floor. Because of Switzer’s ruthlessness, I just might make it out of here alive.

I followed Switzer back on a small catwalk. The water from our match still filled most of the playing area, even up to our ready room. Switzer sat down outside our door to ring out some of his wet clothes.

“You’re really good at this,” I told him.

“Don’t get so comfortable, Dumbwire.”

“What do you mean?”

“I told you that you were going to watch your friends die. That wasn’t an idle threat.”

“I don’t get it. We’re doing great, Switzer. I mean, it’s been all you. You’re really good. Let’s keep going. I really think we can win it. If we can control the sort, you know, so we don’t get stuck with
LIQUID
, like we just did . . .”

“I chose
LIQUID
in the sort.”

“What?”

Switzer shook his head. “You always were an idiot,” he scoffed. “You never think for yourself, do you? That’s how you can live here. It’s the only thing I can figure. Why else would you put up it? With
them
? Is that what you want, though? To be their little dog for the rest of your life?”

“What, and have your life instead?

“Well, at least it’s
my
life.”

“But . . .” I really couldn’t say anything. He was right. Switzer did have his own life. He did only what he chose, not what others made him do. I stared at him. Underneath all those scars and contraptions bolted to his face, I found the kid I once knew, rummaging around Orbis 2, simply trying to survive.

“You could come with me,” he said. “Everyone, if you want.”

“What?”

“I’m not going to beg you. There is a better life out there, you know.”

“But . . .” Could I leave with Switzer? What would that be like?

“Forget it, split-screen. Stay here and rot.”

Then Switzer took his helmet and smashed it against the floor. The helmet cracked.

“Wait! What are you doing?”

“Can’t have anyone along for the
ride,
know what I mean?”

He put his helmet on, took off his boot, and pulled a small knife from his pant leg.

“Put your helmet on.”

“Why, what are you doing, Switzer?”

“PUT IT ON! Hurry! The water is receding.”

Before I put my helmet on, Switzer swiped the blade along his foot, slicing his skin just enough to make it bleed, but not very deep. He squeezed the blood out and smeared it everywhere.

“Now, look at me.”

I was already looking, but once I had the helmet on, Switzer began screaming and flailing about.

“Ah! The poison. Ah! The pain!”

Switzer’s acting skills were no match for his Quest-Nest skills. I took the helmet off.

“Switzer, what the hell are you doing?” I cried.

“I had to make sure everyone saw I was hurt,” he said, pointing at my helmet. “Whoever’s riding you will see that.” He stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“That water drains out underneath the Labyrinth. Those tunnels will take me straight to the treasure. Well, close enough, anyway.”

Switzer had planned this the whole time. He wanted a water event to get underneath the Labyrinth.

“Switzer, don’t. Please. Let’s finish this. I need you,” I pleaded.

He looked at me for a second and then said, “Too late for that. Have fun dying.”

Switzer dove into the water.

I thrust my helmet over my head to record him leaving, but it was too late. Switzer was gone. And I had to choose between Theodore and Ketheria to fight with me in the next round.

“Why didn’t you go after him?” Theodore cried.

“And do what? I don’t care about the treasure. Let him have it. Besides, that would have left you two to fight in the match,” I reminded him. I did not mention Switzer’s offer to leave. I don’t know why. I guess I sort of felt guilty that I had turned down a way out of here.