“Let’s begin!” Veego announced.
She cleared her throat and strode to the center of the ring. LaBerge quickly returned the flag to its pedestal and joined her. With a wave of her hand, the lights went out. We were in pitch darkness. Music blasted from unseen speakers. It was the same kind of upbeat thumping music I’d heard before they played the Tato match. The show had begun. A moment later multicolored strobe lights swept the arena. The other challengers didn’t move. They kept looking straight ahead. Sixty ticks. That’s when the blades would come out. I needed to get those flags in sixty clicks of that clock. How long was a click? A second? Two seconds? A half second? Whatever it was, after sixty of them I’d be deli meat.
A spotlight hit Veego and LaBerge.
“Click click click…,” LaBerge sang. “It’s time to make your pick. Eyes on the clock, watch for the rock, it’s time to play some Tock!”
His rhymes were getting old.
“Good evening to the citizens here in Rune and across all of Quillan,” Veego announced like a circus ringmaster. “Tonight we present you with a unique event. A new challenger has joined us, and has requested that he be given the chance to compete in the games immediately.” Liar.
“LaBerge and I are only too happy to accommodate him, and bring the contest to you in this special presentation! We have high hopes for this challenger, though as of yet he is untested. Will he survive the dangers of Tock? Or is he simply another pretender who will fall to the blades?”
Man, she really knew how to sell it. Or sell me.
“Of course, wagering on an unknown is a risk, but if the new challenger succeeds in gathering all the flags, a full wager will provide you with enough nutrition to feed you and another citizen of your choice for the unheard-of time span of four quads!”
What? These people were gambling for food? How long was a quad? A day? A week? A year? The time frame didn’t matter as much as the payoff. How bad were things on Quillan if people had to gamble for food?
“Of course,” LaBerge added, “you don’t have to make a full wager. Perhaps you think the challenger will retrieve only one flag. Or two. Or run out of time and need to try a second time. Or perhaps you feel he will lose an arm! There are so many ways to wager, but you must hurry because the match will soon begin.”
This was just wrong.
“Introducing,” Veego said, “for the first time in the city of Rune, or anywhere else on Quillan, our new competitor. Will he last? Will he fail? Will he move on to become a force to be cheered? Or die here before his career begins?”
Good questions.
“It is my pleasure,” Veego said, raising her voice, “to present to you, the new… Challenger Red!”
The music pumped hotter as I was hit had all I could do not to shield my eyes from the light. That would have made me look like an idiot. Not that I should have cared. It was an odd feeling. I didn’t see the cameras, but I assumed that our images were being transmitted all over Quillan, just like the match that killed the Traveler from Quillan. But here in this lonely gym there were no crowds. There was no cheering. There was music, but that was about it. I wondered if Saint Dane was watching.
I walked slowly into the ring, toward Veego and LaBerge. The numbers on the overhead scoreboard started flashing. It looked like a computer screen, with numbers rising and falling quickly. I had no idea how the betting was going. Did people get a look at me and think I had a chance? Or did they think I was pitiful and would soon be swimming in my own blood? Truth be told, I didn’t care what anybody thought. I wasn’t fighting for food, I was fighting for survival. Veego and LaBerge glanced up at the flashing numbers. They frowned and gave each other knowing looks.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re not inspiring confidence,” Veego answered. “The betting is running twenty to one against you.”
Great. Everybody thought I would soon be hamburger.
“Good luck,” Veego said, and strode off.
“Have fun with it,” LaBerge said, and clapped me on the shoulder.
Fun? You say that to somebody before a basketball game, not a date with three swinging guillotines. LaBerge hopped out of the ring. I was left alone. The strobe lights kept flashing and the spotlights swept the floor. It was unnerving. Every time I got hit with a light, I was momentarily blinded.
“When do the lights stop?” I asked.
“They don’t!” LaBerge called back. “It’s all part of the fun.”
Right. More fun.
Above me the numbers on the board continued to move. I didn’t know how long they were going to wait until closing the betting. I took the time to look around and formulate a strategy. An idea hit me that seemed too good to be true. I looked up and judged how far those killer pendulum balls would swing outside the circle, and guesstimated that it wouldn’t be all that far. Nobody told me I couldn’t leave the circle. I figured that all I had to do was run outside beyond the swing of those balls, then duck back inside to grab each flag. Could it be that easy?
No, it couldn’t. A second after I formulated this plan, I heard a slow, steady hummmm sound. The wide circle we were standing in wasn’t a painted line on the floor after all. It was the top edge of a metal cage! The cage rose up out of the floor until it became a circular steel curtain all around us. No wonder they didn’t bother telling me I couldn’t leave the circle.
‘Anything else you haven’t told me?” I called out.
“No, that’s about it.” LaBerge chuckled. “Are you ready?”
“No,” I shouted back.
The numbers on the overhead board froze and flashed red.
“The wagering is complete,” Veego announced. “The Tock match will now begin!”
The strobes and spotlights flashed faster and brighter. I looked around, trying to figure out where the other challengers were. I saw them standing in their squares, holding their lethal silver pendulums, ready to pummel me.
LaBerge shouted out: “Four… three… two… one… TOCK!”
A horn sounded. The number started clicking down from 120.1 had no way of knowing how much time I had before it hit 60 and I’d start losing blood. Or body parts. I dove to the ground in the general direction of one of the pedestals. I did a somersault, bounced back to my feet, lunged at the flag… and got knocked into next week. One of the silver balls hit me like a speeding car. LaBerge had understated it. This didn’t hurt, this was just… brutal. The ball hit me so hard in the side, I feared it broke a rib. Or three. The shot knocked me off my feet so fast and so hard that I rolled into the steel cage, slamming it almost as violently as the ball had slammed me. It was a good thing the ball hadn’t hit me in the head.
I lay at the base of the steel cage, trying to get some air back into my lungs. I was in a spot where the steel balls couldn’t reach. That was good. But the clock was ticking down. Fast. Lying there wasn’t an option. Looking out, all three challengers had their Tock balls at the ready, waiting for me to make a move. I quickly rolled toward the closest pedestal, but a challenger expertly swung his ball out on an arc. It rounded the pedestal just as I stood up to grab the flag. I almost didn’t see it because of the flashing strobes, but at the last second I sensed a shadow sailing for my head and I hit the ground. I felt the air move as the ball whistled over my head, barely missing me. I quickly stood up, thinking I’d have a few seconds in between shots. I was wrong. A second ball swung at me from the other direction. It hit me square on the spine, snapping my head back and sending me sprawling. All I could do was log-roll back to the base of the steel cage.
I was already hurting and the match had barely started. Those challengers were absolute experts in aiming those pendulums. I didn’t stand a chance. A quick look up showed that the clock had already ticked down to 105.1 knew that if I didn’t come up with some kind of plan, I’d be done.