The Blood Red Game

'I've been on a mercy trip rescuing survivors from the Shifter,' Roffrey said virtuously.

'I don't believe you,' Mordan said candidly. 'But I don't care - you've just done something nobody thought was possible. As soon as we assemble our data I'll be getting in touch with you again. We need all the help we can get in this business - even yours. We're up against it, Roffrey. We're damn near finished.' He broke off as if to pull himself together. 'Now, if you are carrying extra passengers, you'd better register them with the appropriate authorities.' He switched out.

'What did all that mean?' said Talfryn.

'I don't know,' Roffrey said, 'but we may find out soon. Mordan obviously knows something. The fleet's evidently suffered from attacks such as we experienced. Yet there seems to be more order now. The battle, or whatever it is, seems to have taken a different course.'

Willow Kovacs cradled Mary Roffrey's head in her arm and gently wiped a trickle of saliva from the mad woman's mouth. Her heart was beating swiftly and her stomach seemed contracted, her arms and legs weak. She was very frightened now at the prospect of reunion with Asquiol. Surely he had remained faithful to her.

Roffrey locked the ship's controls and came aft, staring down at the two women with a light smile on his sensuous, bearded mouth. He began stripping off his suit and the overalls beneath, revealing a plain quilted jacket of maroon plastileather and grubby white trousers tucked into soft leather knee-boots.

'How's Mary?'

'I don't know,' Willow said. 'She's obviously not sane… Yet there's a different quality about her insanity. Something I can't pin down.'

'A doctor maybe will help,' Roffrey said. He patted Willow's shoulder. 'Contact the admin ship will you, Talfryn? Send out a general call till you can get it.'

'Okay,' Talfryn said.

Worst of all, Roffrey thought as he stared down at his wife, had been the all-pervading red - blood red. It had been unmistakable as blood red. Why had it affected him so badly? What had it done to Mary?

He scratched the back of his neck. He hadn't slept since he left the fleet. He was full of stimulants, but he felt the need for some natural sleep. Maybe later.

When Talfryn had contacted the Registration Ship, which had as its job the classification of all members of the fleet so that it would be easier to administer the survivors if they at last made planet-fall, they were told that an official would be sent over in a short while.

Roffrey said: 'We need a psychiatrist of some sort, quickly. Can you help?'

'Try a hospital ship - though it's unlikely you'll be lucky.'

He tried a hospital ship. The doctor in charge wasn't helpful.

'No, I'm afraid you won't get a psychiatrist for your wife. If you need medical treatment we'll put her on our list. We're overworked. It's impossible to deal with all the casualties…'

'But you've got to help her!' Roffrey bellowed.

The doctor didn't argue. He just switched out.

Roffrey, bewildered by this, swung round in his chair. Willow and Talfryn were discussing the earlier conflict with the alien ships.

'They must be hard pushed,' Roffrey cursed. 'But I'm going to get help for Mary even if it means going right to the top.'

'But what about those hallucinations we had back there?' Talfryn said. 'What caused them?'

'It's my guess we were experiencing the force of one of their weapons,' Roffrey replied. 'Maybe what happened to us on Roth made us more susceptible to hallucination.'

'A weapon - yes, it could be.'

The communicator buzzed. Talfryn went to it.

'Registration,' said a jaunty voice. 'Mind if I come aboard?'

He was a pale and perky midget with genial eyes and a very neat appearance. His gig clamped against Roffrey's airlock and he came bustling through with a case of papers under his arm.

'You would be Captain Adam Roffrey,' he lisped, staring up at the black-bearded giant.

Roffrey stared down at him, half in wonder.

'I would be.'

'Good. And you embarked with the rest of the human race roughly two weeks ago - relative time, that is. I don't know how long it was in your time, since it is not always possible to leave and return from one dimension to another and keep the time flow the same - kindly remember that.'

'I'll try,' said Roffrey, wondering if there was a question there.

'And these three are…?'

'Miss Willow Kovacs, formerly of Migaa…'

The midget scribbled in his notebook, looking prim at the mention of the planet Migaa. It had possessed something of a reputation in the home galaxy.

Willow gave the rest of her data. Talfryn gave his.

'And the other lady?' The little official asked.

'My wife - Doctor Mary Roffrey, born on Earth, nee Ishenko; anthropologist; disappeared from Golund on the Rim in 457 Galactic General Time, reappeared from Shifter System a short while ago. The Geepees will have all her details prior to her disappearance. I gave them to the police when she disappeared. As usual, they did nothing.'

The midget frowned, then darted a look at Mary.

'State of health?'

'Insane,' said Roffrey, quietly.

'Curable or otherwise?'

'Curable!' said Roffrey, and the word was cold, savage.

The tiny official completed his notes, thanked them all and was about to leave when Roffrey said:

'Just a minute. Could you fill me in on what's happened to the fleet since I left?'

'As long as we keep it brief, I'd be pleased to. Remember, I'm a busy little man!' He giggled.

'Just before we got here we had a tussle with some alien ships, experienced hallucinations, and so on. Do you know what that, was?'

'No wonder the lady is insane! For untrained people to withstand the pressure, it's amazing! Wait till I tell my colleagues! You're heroes! You survived a wild round!'

'Bully for us. What happened?'

'Well, I'm only a petty official - they don't come much pettier than me - but from what I've gathered, you had a "wild round." That is,' he explained quickly, 'anyone straying beyond the confines of the fleet is attacked by the aliens and has to playa wild round, as we call it - one that isn't scheduled to be played by the Gamblers. We're not really supposed to do that.'

'But what is this Game?'

'I'm not sure, really. Ordinary people don't play the Game - only the Gamblers in the Game Ship. That's the one with the big "G" on it. It isn't the sort of game I'd like to play. We call it the Blood Red Game because of the habit they have of confusing our sense so that everything seems to be the colour of blood. Psychologists and the like play it and they are called Gamblers…'

'How often is it played?'

'All the time, really. No wonder I'm a bundle of nerves. We all are. Citizen's rights have been waived, food supplies reduced… We're having a pause just at the moment, but it won't last long. Probably they're recovering from your little victory.'

'Who'd know details about this Game?'

'Asquiol, of course, but it's almost impossible to see him. The nearest people ever get is to his airlock, and then only rarely. You might try Lord Mordan, though he's not too approachable, either. Mr. High and Mighty - he's worse than Asquiol in some ways.'

'Mordan seems interested -enough to tell us already,' Roffrey nodded. 'But I've got to speak to Asquiol on another matter, so I might as well try to combine them. Thanks.'

'A pleasure,' the midget enthused.

When he had gone, Roffrey went to the communicator and tried to contact Asquiol's ship. He had to get by nearly a dozen officials before he made contact.

'Adam Roffrey here, just in from the Shifter. Can I come to your ship?'

He received a curt acceptance. There had been no picture.

'Will you take me with you?' Willow asked. 'He'll be surprised. I've been waiting a long, long time for this. He predicted we might meet again, and he was right.'