"Who will the replacements be, and when exactly will they join us?" Griffin asked.
Henderson's gaze was inquisitive. ‘Have you ever been a cop? Or maybe a reporter?" Alex shook his head negative, cursing silently. "Well, they're the Braddons, Owen and Margie. I don't know exactly when they'll show up, but it will probably be within the first hour or so of play. Yes, McWhirter?"
"Do you know what our points are like? I mean, how are we doing?"
Chester didn't look totally happy with the question. "We've lost three people and taken some wounds. We've made a lot of kills, recovered a load of cargo, and rescued Lady Janet. There are other factors involved, but for right now we're ahead. I don't want to discuss how much ahead we are-things can change too fast in a
Game like this one, so I don't want you to feel either cocky or discouraged. Any more questions?"
There were none. Henderson gestured expansively. "Then go and prepare, children. The fun begins in... thirty-five minutes."
Tall, slender palms outlined a patch of lower growth. The crescent-moon-shaped border trailed off from the campground like the tail on a Q. Inside was more tropical jungle, making the "good luck sign" anything but obtrusive. Alex bad bad to get S.J. to point it out.
As Alex pushed through the palms, the vegetation within the border became ghostly, revealing a tiny rectangular structure. No Garners were waiting their turns, praise the Lord, and he'd be invisible to anyone outside the border of trees.
It was very basic inside. Toilet, washstand, towel dispenser.
"Marty?"
"Yeah, Grill. I can barely hear you."
"I'm in the restroom, and there's no window. I'd rather not be overheard, so I'm keeping my voice down. Let's make this fast."
"Okay. What's new?"
"Some new Garners corning in. Husband and wife, named Braddon."
"I'll check them out. Gruff, the Altern tes spend all their time watching the Game and looking for detaIL; and taking notes and discussing strategy. That waiting area is pretty crowded. I don't think anyone could count on a chance to get into Gaming A without being noticed."
"Good. Have you talked to Lopez?"
"Yeah. He doesn't pressure worth a damn. I managed to get him to look at our map. He pointed out two paths around the mountain to the exit, G. A. 18. Lopez says both paths would take the thief past a piece of a big airplane."
"Which piece? Wing, cabin, tail? How big?"
"Piece of a big airplane.' When I tried to get more he told me to get drowned."
Hell. "All right, so if we get to a big airplane I'll watch everybody's faces. Thanks. Anything else?"
"Nope."
"The Griffin, signing out."
Griffin was paired with S.J. as the group waited for the Game to begin. All bedrolls were stowed, all backpacks shouldered and
balanced. The sun shone faintly through the dome that covered Gaming Area A, but the morning was already warm, and the rich aroma of moist jungle greenery was heavy in the air.
At precisely eight o'clock a new sun peeked over the mountain range to the east, sending bands of soft red tone through the scattered clouds dancing above the crest. The old sun faded out. The air filled with the sounds of birds and rustling life. To Griffin's eye even the trees seemed to stand a little straighter.
"All right, people, let's move out!" Chester called, and in pairs the column headed toward the sun.
S.J. kept stride with Griffin by picking up his step until he was almost skipping. The pathway was broad enough for the youngster to shadowfight in zigzag patterns, slicing at the air with his knife. He pulled a slender branch from a tree and skinned it down to a wand. He flicked it like a whip at branches and insects.
Laughing aloud, Griffin tapped him on the shoulder. "That's not exactly stealth you're practicing there."
Breathing a little heavily, S.J. spoke without turning around. "Nope. Don't need it."
"Why not?"
"Lopez won't hit us with anything too nasty until our two replacement Garners have joined up."
Griffin scratched his chin, his fingernails scraping on stubble. "How do you figure that?"
"Easy." S.J. took a couple of lunging thrusts with his wand. "Lopez wants to catch Chester with his pants down. He's not going to take any chances to give Henderson a legitimate beef to take to the I.F.G.S. Getting some of us killed out now might do that. If he wants to get us when we're short he can afford to wait til tomorrow, when we get no more replacements. That way Chester can't squawk. See?" He finished his lecture with a vicious swipe at a butterfly. It evaded easily.
"You know a lot about Gaming, don't you?"
S.J. nodded vigorously. "I'm the best. Even if nobody knows it yet."
"Do you spend a lot of your time Gaming?"
"Not like this. I mean, there's never been anything quite like this before. Even the ordinary Games only come along every couple of months. The first run-throughs, anyway, and they're the most fun. I do a lot of home Gaming. I'm linked up to about five Games: three American, one from Japan and one in the United
African Republic. That last one is weird. Uses Hausa mythology. I tie into them a couple of times a week, see how far the other Garners have pushed the expedition, enter my own moves, and see what happens. Sometimes we arrange for all players to be on line at the same time, so the Game can go on for hours and hours. One of the American Games is a solo: you're playing against the computer, so you can play forever if you like. In general I like the group Games."
"Why?"
"Gets me ready for Dream Park. I'll be a Lore Master one day. I want to know how units interact."
Units. Did he mean Garners? "You've put a lot of thought into all of this, haven't you?"
"Sure have." S.J. popped a fly out of the air with the tip of his stick. The mutilated insect flopped to the dust and buzzed around in circles. S.J. made an unhappy face and set his heel on it. "I never expect to hit the darn things." He brightened and added, "Must be gettin' better, huh?"
"I guess so. Tell me. What do you do when you're not Gaming? I mean, is this your only social outlet?"
"Why do you ask?"
Griffin shrugged noncommittally. "You seem to put a lot of yourself into Gaming, that's all. I don't know much about all this, and I just wondered how high a price you pay for... well, excellence. Is that reasonable?"
Now it was S.J.'s turn to hunch his shoulders. "I guess so. I've heard all the stuff about people who are into fantasy being reality shuckers. Or maybe it's reality that shucks us. I dunno. Anybody can see that a group of Garners has more than the average proportion of Bizarros. But I don't think Gaming made them that way. Now me... I'm still in school, so I've got the academic trip to worry about. I've got a part time job, so that uses up time too. I guess a lot of the energy that's left over goes into Gaining."
"What does that do to your social life?"
"What's a social life? I mean, do you think I'd be Big Man on Campus if I didn't trot down to Dream Park, or spend my evenings in front of my console? Heck. Most girls think I'm in free fall. Where else but around Garners could I possibly find someone I have anything in common with?"
Griffin chuckled. "Any success there?"
"Some times more than others. This trip, zip." His face lit up. "But I have hope! The Game is yet young."
"Does it make you unhappy to see other people pairing off if you're alone? I felt a little left out last night, for instance. I would think that a war game could be a lonely place sometimes."
"Yeah. Especially at night. When I find a girl who Games, though, I'm going to start getting her into these things. Until then, I'll sneak my thrills when I can get them."