Grimacing, Kelly got to his feet and headed for the door. Maybe Achranae would have some ideas.
"Are you better prepared to play now?" the Olyt asked when they again faced each other over the board.
"Yes," Kelly nodded. "Thanks for suggesting a break. I really did need it."
"I sensed that your honor did not permit you to make the request." The alien gestured at the board. "I believe it is your move."
Sure enough, now that his nerves were under control, Kelly began to chip away at Achranae's position, gradually making up his losses and taking the offensive once more. Gambling on the excessive value the Olyt seemed to place in his queen, Kelly laid a trap, with his own queen as the bait. Achranae bit... and five moves later Kelly had won.
"Excellent play," the Olyt said, with what Kelly took to be admiration. "I was completely unprepared for that attack. I was not wrong; you have an uncanny tactical ability. Your race will indeed be glorious starfarers someday."
"Assuming we ever get off our own world, of course," Kelly said as he cleared the board. "At the moment we're more like pawns ourselves in this game."
"You have each won once," Slaich spoke up. "It is time now to choose the rules for the final game.
Kelly swallowed and looked up to find Achranae looking back at him. "Any idea?" he asked.
"None that is useful. A game of chance would perhaps be fastest. Beyond that, I have not determined what my duty requires."
"What are the possibilities?"
"That I should survive in order to return to my people, or that I should not, to allow you that privilege."
"A pity we can't individually challenge the Stryfkar to duels, Kelly said wryly.
There was a long silence... and an idea popped into Kelly's mind, practically full-blown. A risky idea-one that could conceivably get them both killed. But it might just work... and otherwise one of them would certainly die. Gritting his teeth, Kelly took the plunge. "Achranae," he said carefully, "I believe I have a game we can play. Will you trust me enough to accept it now, before I explain the rules, and to play it without a practice game?"
The Olyt's snout quivered slightly as he stared across the table in silence. For a long moment the only sound Kelly could hear was his own heartbeat. Then, slowly, Achranae cocked his head to the right.
"Very well. I believe you to be honorable. I will agree to your conditions."
"Slaich? You still holding to the rules you set up? Kelly called.
"Of course."
"Okay." Kelly took a deep breath. "This game involves two rival kingdoms and a fire-breathing creature who harasses them both. Here's the creature's underground chamber." He placed a black marker on the playing board, then picked up three of the transparent plates and their supports and set them up. "The two kingdoms are called the Mountain Kingdom and the Land City. The Mountain Kingdom is bigger; here's its center and edge." He placed a large red marker on the top plate and added a ring of six smaller ones around it, two squares away. Moving the black marker slightly so that it was directly under one edge of the ring, he picked up a large yellow marker. "This is the Land City," he identified it, moving it slowly over the middle transparency as his eyes flickered over the board. Ten centimeters between levels, approximately; four per square... he put the yellow marker eight squares from the red one and four squares to one side. It wasn't perfect, but it was close and would have to do. "Finally, here are our forces." He scattered a dozen each red and yellow butterfly-shaped pieces in the space between the two kingdoms. "The conditions for victory are twofold: the creature must be dead, and there can be no forces from the opposing side threatening your kingdom. Okay?"
"Very well," Achranae said slowly, studying the board carefully. Once again Kelly wished he had a better grasp of Olyt expressions. "How are combat results decided?"
"By the number of forces involved plus a throw of the die." Making up the rules as he went along, Kelly set up a system that allowed combat between any two of the three sides-and that would require nearly all of both kingdoms' forces combined to defeat the creature with any certainty. "Movement is two squares or one level per turn, and you can move all your forces each turn," he concluded "Any questions?"
Achranae's eyes bored unblinkingly into his, as if trying to read Kelly's mind. "No. Which of us moves first?"
"I will, if you don't mind." Starting with the pieces closest to the Olyt's kingdom, Kelly began moving them away from the red marker and toward the black one. Achranae hesitated somewhat when it was his turn, but he followed Kelly's example in moving his forces downward. Two of them landed within striking range of some of Kelly's; but the human ignored them, continuing onward instead. Within a few more moves the yellow and red pieces had formed a single mass converging on the black marker.
The fire-breathing creature never had a chance.
"And now...?" Achranae sat stiffly in his chair, his claws about halfway out of their sheaths. The creature had been eliminated on the Olyt's turn, making it Kelly's move... and Achranae's forces were still intermixed with the human's. A more vulnerable position was hard to imagine, and Achranae clearly knew it.
"And now...?" Achranae sat stiffly in his chair, his claws about halfway out of their sheaths. The creature had been eliminated on the Olyt's turn, making it Kelly's move... and Achranae's forces were still intermixed with the human's. A more vulnerable position was hard to imagine, and Achranae clearly knew it.
There was a soft hiss from the other side of the table, and Achranae's claws slid all the way out. Kelly held his breath and tensed himself to leap. Surely Achranae was smart enough to see it... and, abruptly, the claws disappeared. "But my kingdom is also not threatened," the Olyt said. "Therefore I, too, have won."
"Really?" Kelly pretended great amazement. "I'll be darned. You're right. Congratulations." He looked at the ceiling. "Slaich? By a remarkable coincidence we've both won the third game, so I guess we both get to go home. Ready any time you are."
"No." The Stryf's flat voice was firm.
A golfball-sized lump rose into Kelly's throat. "Why not? You said anyone who won two games would be sent home. You set up that rule yourself?"
"Then the rule is changed. Only one of you can be allowed to leave. You will choose a new game."
Slaich's words seemed to hang in the air like a death sentence... and Kelly felt his fingernails digging into his palms. He really hadn't expected the aliens to let him twist their rules to his advantage-he already knew this was no game to them. But he'd still hoped... and now he had no choice but to gamble his last card. "I won't play any more games," he said bluntly. "I'm sick of being a pawn in this boogeyman hunt of yours. You can all just take a flying leap at yourselves."
"If you do not play you will lose by forfeit," Slaich reminded him.
"Big deal," Kelly snorted. "You're going to wipe out earth eventually anyway, aren't you? What the hell difference does it make where I die?"
There was a short pause. "Very well. You yourself have chosen. Achranae, return to your Transphere chamber."
Slowly, the alien rose to his feet. Kelly half expected him to speak up in protest, or to otherwise plead for the human's life. But he remained silent. For a moment he regarded Kelly through the transparent game boards, as Kelly held his breath. Then, still without a word, the alien crossed his wrists in salute and vanished behind the sliding door. "You will return to your rest chamber now," Slaich ordered.
Letting out his breath in a long sigh, Kelly stood up and disassembled the playing board, storing the pieces and plates away in their proper places. So it had indeed come down to a toss of a coin, he thought, suddenly very tired. The coin was in the air, and there was nothing to do now but wait... and hope that Achranae had understood.
To: Office of Director Rodau 248700, A.R.B.: Clars From: Office of Director Eftis 379214, Games Studies, Var-4