ARC of the IMMORTALS/Book 1

Pursuit: Chapter 9.2/ Game Four

Recap: Jac achieved a Pyrrhic victory on a technicality in the first game and was wiped out in the next two. Harry was hospitalized after getting drunk aka hammered and collapsing on a roulette table as a result of standing on the table.

Game Four

“Nine minutes — Bets Closing. Nine Minutes,” an official’s voice announced.

Jac checked his helmet gauges at the bottom of the screen for Virtual Reality Integrity and found it within normal limits.

“Bets now closed. The underdog, Jac Kristos is given scenario deference,” the Announcer blared.

Bells chimed.

Jac Kristos and Karham Adjeal were deposited into a group of large demolished buildings under a twilight sky of four moons.

“Thanks, Jac, my home turf when I was a kid,” he shot off his laser canon. Jac twirled upwards onto a steel girder two stories up in the low gravity. A swarm of children with tiny knives swarmed the courtyard and put Adjeal off balance. He wavered, lost his balance, and fell to one knee. Jac tossed a thermal charge down and blew a rock fragment into Adjeal’s knee then disappeared inside the building.

Adjeal slapped on an artificial knee joint assist and hobbled quickly out of the yard into the guts of the building. He watched the boys float a slab of metal up the old electromagnetic lift. It was just as he had done a thousand times as a boy. He straddled two separate pieces of metal and allowed the flow to lift him. He skipped off on the third floor and opened a twenty-foot jet from his flame thrower. Jac ducked into a hallway unscathed.

“Kristos, stop hiding.”

Jac was compelled to counter or be seen.

“I’m in apartment 99096B, sound familiar?” Jac’s voice filled the building.

“My place,” Adjeal roared sprinting down the corridor.

He burst into the living room. A young boy was in a corner being pulverized with fists by an older man. Adjeal faltered.

Jac stepped out and drew his sword across Adjeal’s chest. He staggered and fell forward, twisted and spun upwards towards the ceiling releasing three daggers, two of which missed Jac. The third Jac caught with his left hand before it reached his eye. He drew a second slice across his opponent’s chest. Blood gushed out of the body as he fell twitching and game four ended.

Jac was triumphant and regained more than half the point average that he had lost.

There were jeers throughout the crowd.

“What happened?” Touzdae said aside to Yon.

“That was thee most skillful and I believe quickest game anyone has ever beaten an opponent. You should be proud.”

“So Jac won?”

“Absolutely.”

“I thought he had to play longer.”

“Ordinarily yes, but with slices across the chest in that fashion is a quick win.”

“Too many rules.”

“Adjeal is taking a twelve-minute time out, Referee Six reporting,” the voice came over the speakers.

“Besides the time out there is a 30-minute break between games four and five,” Yon said.

“I am aware,” Touzdae stated.

Jac unhooked the blind helmet. Touzdae moved in and pulled the helmet away from Jac’s suit and suspended it above the table.

“Do you need help getting up?”

“No, I’m good.”

Touzdae glanced over at Yon. He opened the door to the private booth. Jac hoisted himself clear of the table and walked across the short floor and sat in the crash chair. Yon shut the door. Jac sighed and let the refresher program work.

Four members of the support team lifted Adjeal from the game platform. His booth — a stretch booth floated near the table. The team assisted Adjeal into the stretch booth and shut the door.

“What the hell happened in there?” Bendel shouted in Adjeal’s face.

“You were supposed to protect me from his telepathy,” Adjeal was frustrated.

“I detected no telepathy.” Bendel was adamant.

“How did he know about my childhood? You didn’t even know.”

“I did know. That incident made you strong.” Bendel was puffed up.

“He must have lifted it from your mind then,” Adjeal said with an accusing tone.

“This talk is unproductive. The question is are you ready to go back in,” Bendel looks at the chronometer. “In thirty-three?”

“With the refreshers — yes.”

“Okay, but one more performance like that and you’re out.”

Power fluctuated in Bendel’s private wing of the hospital. Harry who remained restrained had life support monitors hovering on both sides of the bed. The power spiked and went out. A figure emerged from Harry on the bed and flashed across the room. No one noticed him as he was moving in a hyper-attenuated time flux. There was a nanosecond of darkness before the generators kicked in and light was restored. The nurses called a code blue and a team rushed in to resuscitate Harry.

“It’s time,” Touzdae and Yon spoke together as one.

Jac bounded out of the privacy booth to the table. Touzdae fitted the helmet and moved back. Adjeal faltered slightly as he collapsed to the chair across from Jac. Bendel fitted the helmet.

“Firing the converters. Gaming begins in nine minutes… Bets are closed.” the announcer stated flatly.

Harry shielded himself in riffs of time flashing through space-time faster than the human eye could register. He slipped into Jac’s privacy booth. As he came into the current present he appeared much younger than he had minutes after he left the hospital. After the shivering subsided he found a pad and began furiously scribbling notations on it.

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