Alkalians (17 page)

“
Wow,” Rose says, still
mesmerized by the beauty and size of the building. “So, this is a
casino?”

“
Yep,” answers Sean, “and
it’s been rated one of the best in the world. Plus, it’s for
students only! This is also where…” Sean pulls up a large suitcase
he had dragged with him from the cabin, and as Matt and Rose wonder
what it’s for he opens it and reveals a stash of red, blue, green,
and yellow coins. “One can make some money!”

After looking it over a few times,
Rose tells him, “That’s a lot of marcs. May I ask how you get it
here?”

“
Oh, we’ll get to that
eventually,” replies Sean, closing the suitcase back up. “But
first, I will give you two a tour of the place, so you won’t be
lost like the rest of the freshmen.”

Sean leads Matt and Rose through the
immense building, giving them a scenic and descriptive tour. They
first go through the far right hall into another large room, humid
and tropic. A large circular pool is set in the center of the room,
deep and wide, and surrounding it are several spots filled with hot
spring bathes or tanning machines one can lay under and get a tan.
Taking in the scene of water and numerous people in various kinds
of swimsuits playing or lounging in it, Matt and Rose are
speechless as Sean explains, “This is the pool room of the casino.
You’ve got the big pool in the middle for swimming, the hot tubs
for a relaxing, warm dip, and the tanning booths for getting some
darker skin, if so desired.” Then pointing to two doors at the far
end of the room, he says, “And those doors lead to the changing
rooms, one for men and the other for women. There are also exits
leading outside from them.”

While Matt has a hard time taking his
wide eyes off all the women in swimwear throughout the room, Rose
says, “Wow, this place is beautiful!”

“
Hehe, you like?” Sean
asks.

“
Oh yes, very. This could
be just the place I can go to get away and relax from my
studies!”

“
Well then, I’m glad I
could help you find an outlet for your stress!” Then snapping his
fingers, Sean says, “Oh hey, wanna know something interesting about
this place?”

“
What’s that?”

“
Guess where the water for
the pools comes from.”

“…
Uh, an underground
reservoir, where it usually comes from?”

“
Pff, no, silly girl! But
I’ll give you a hint. Did you see the river alongside the building
on the way here?”

“…
Oh, the
river!?”

“
Yes, the river, my dear!
The story goes that, when they were looking for a place to build
the casino, they chose by the river for two reasons. One, they
could extract and filter the water for constant, fresh water in the
pools, and two, the running current of the water could be harnessed
to provide the whole casino with unlimited power! Pretty clever,
eh?”

“
Yeah, that is smart
thinking. It’s resourceful and nature-friendly.”

“
Exactly, Rose. And so,
the river was able to kill two birds with one stone, as they say!”
Turning to Matt, Sean asks him, “What do you think,
Matt?”

A few seconds go by before Matt
realizes Sean and Rose are looking at him, expecting an answer, and
he stammers, “Oh, uh, it’s nice!”

“
Right. Moving on!” Sean
takes the group through a doorway in the wall to another big room.
Unlike the pool room, which had been bright, humid, and relatively
quiet, this one is dark with flashing lights, has a distinct chill
in the air, and is loud with music blaring from speakers in the
darkness. He says, “And this is the dance hall of the casino,
also-known-as, where the party’s at!”

While Matt and Rose’s eyes adapt to
the darkness and neon lights obscuring their sight, Sean points
about the room and introduces its features. “Smack in the middle of
the room, you can see the actual dance floor, where a lot of
students just get out and dance to the music. And may I say, things
can get pretty wild out there!” Then pointing off to their right
along the wall, he says as he motions them to follow, “And this is
the bar for the dance room. You can order drinks of alcoholic or
non-alcoholic nature here, and then gulp them down right here or
attempt to make your way around the dancing to the booths on the
far wall.” Snapping his fingers at a bar tender behind the corner,
he shouts to him over the noise, “Yo, Carlos, Raiguera, with some
black spice and a shot of vodka!”

“
Coming right up, Ace!”
the bar tender replies while his quick hands work below the
counter. Rose looks to Sean and asks, “Raiguera, and
‘Ace’?”

“
Ah, yes, I must explain.
Raiguera is this special kind of drink they serve here in the
casino. It looks like an alcoholic drink, smells like one, and even
tastes like one, but it’s
not
one! See, it’s brewed from the leaves of the
raiguera plant, hence its name, and has the similar short-term
effects of alcohol – the warm sensations and a buzz of energy and
high spirits – but it lacks the long-term effects of drunkenness,
so it’s a very popular drink for those who don’t want to drink
heavily. The black spice and vodka, however, is my way of giving it
a little more taste and kick.

“
And as for him calling me
Ace, well, let’s just say I’ve got my own kind of reputation around
these parts, but I’ll tell you guys more about that shortly.” A
tall glass of a pinkish liquid is set on the counter next to him,
to which he exclaims, “Ah hah, gracias, amigo!” while putting a few
coins from his coat pocket into Carlos’ hand before taking a swig
from the glass. He declares with a grin, “Wooh, excellent as
always!” Glancing to Matt, he asks him, “You getting all this,
Matt?”

Again, Matt is slow to respond as he
stares at certain female figures amid the dancing bodies on the
floor, and he jumps a little when Sean taps him on the shoulder.
“Oh, yeah, I got it.”

“
Great! Okay, this way
people, and stay close, ya don’t wanna get lost in here!” Staying
close to the walls, Sean leads Matt and Rose past the dancing mob
to the other side of the room and through another doorway, where
they come into a much bigger, brighter, yet just as busy and noisy,
room than the last. As Matt and Rose marvel at the scene before
them, Sean says, “Now this is the place where one can gain, or
lose, an entire fortune in one night. This is the gambling hall of
the casino, the main attraction to all the students!”

With his one hand still carrying the
suitcase, he gestures about with his other hand that holds his
Raiguera drink. “As you can see, there are multiple stations
throughout the hall for different games of chance. You have the
card tables, which feature games like poker and blackjack. There
are also the roulette tables, where one bets on what number or
color the ball will land in the spinning wheel. Then, perhaps the
most popular aspect of gambling here, would be the dice-throwing,
or more commonly called ‘crap-shooting’, tables, where all you
gotta do is roll the dice and hope to show the favored
results.”

After taking another swig of his
drink, Sean brings the group over to the far left of the hall, to
one of the tables he mentioned was for the dice games. Setting his
suitcase down, he approaches the table and people crowded around
it. “Good evening, guys and dolls! Anyone care if I take a toss or
two?”

The ladies smile at Sean’s arrival,
the men groan or shrug, and the table worker nods and says, “Very
well, sir. The dice is yours.” He tosses a pair of dice across the
table to Sean’s waiting free hand, where he shakes them in his
fist. “Okie dokie. Let luck be a lady tonight!” He then rolls the
dice across the table with a flick of his wrist, and everyone’s
eyes watch as they land to show three and four dots, respectively.
The worker announces, “Seven, a winner!” and the ladies cheer for
Sean as he grins and sips some of his drink.

One of the men who was grumbling off
to the side suddenly steps up, pointing a finger at Sean and
saying, “Okay, wise guy, you think you’re so cool because of some
luck at these games? I challenge you to a roll-off!”

As everyone looks to the upset
challenger, Sean shrugs and says, “Very well, ol’ chap. As the
challenger, you may roll first.”

Glaring back at Sean’s smug
expression, the guy takes another pair of dice from the worker and
throws them across the table, landing a five and six and causing
the others to gasp. “Hah,” he exclaims, “eleven. Let’s see you beat
that!”

“
Hmm, those are big odds
to beat, I will admit.” Shaking his dice nonchalantly in his hand,
Sean tells the ladies near him with a wink, “Yes sir, that would
put a lot of pressure on somebody. But you know what they say,
under immense pressure, a lump of coal becomes a diamond!” He then
tosses the dice, and they stop at the center of the table, each
showing only one dot.

Upon seeing the low number, the other
man sneers and says, “Hah, would you look at that? Snake eyes! You
lose, Ace!” But then, the worker next to him taps his shoulder and
tells him, “Actually, sir, in a duel of dice, snake eyes beats any
other combination save for seven.” Fidgeting, he growls out, “Oh,
whatever! At least I didn’t lose any money to this cheating
snake!”

“
Ah, true, you didn’t lose
any money,” Sean remarks. “But you did lose your
pride
!” He and the
others at the table explode into laughter while the loser slinks
off amidst the crowd throughout the hall, before he turns to Rose,
who asks him, “Care to explain a few things about what just
happened?”

“
Why, of course, my sweet
and caring roommate! Where shall I start?”

“
Well, how about why you
and that other guy didn’t gain or lose any money?”

“
Haha, that’s simple,
Rose!” He gestures to the side of the gambling hall they are in.
“You see, on this half of the hall, anyone can play the games for
free. They need not worry about betting and losing out on their
money.” Pointing to the opposite side of the hall, a mirror
reflection of the table arrangements of where they are, he says,
“On the other half is where you have to put your money on the table
to play!”

“
Uh huh. So, why did that
guy think he beat you just now? I could have sworn, where I come
from, that snake eyes is a bad thing in crap shooting.”

“
Ah hah, but what we just
did
wasn’t
crap
shooting! That was a duel with dice, or more simply called a
‘roll-off’. Now, the basic idea is whoever rolls the higher number
wins the duel. However, the two combinations that are exempt to
this rule are snake eyes, the lowest number you could get, and
seven, which is always a winner when it comes to dice!”

“
Oh. Okay, I get it. And,
the reason everyone keeps calling you Ace?”

“
Pff, wouldn’t be it
obvious by now? As that poor bloke alluded to, I just have this
reputation where I always have good luck and fortune in these games
of chance, and whoever’s betting against me tends to suddenly find
himself broke! And so, as if I am a trump card to whatever else
anyone has, people in the casino call me Ace! Ain’t that true,
ladies?”

While the women by Sean giggle and nod
and he smirks and drinks down his Raiguera, Rose shakes her head.
“You truly are an odd one, Sean.”

“
Hah, and that’s the way I
like it!” After gulping down the last of his drink, he waves
good-bye to the other girls before saying to Rose and Matt,
“Alright, now our last stop for the evening is…” He stops short,
however, as he and Rose notice something. “Hey, where did Matt
go!?”

***

“
What do you say,
Matt?”

Checking his face-down card, Matt
looks unsure before he says, “Um, how do you say it? Hit
me?”

“
That’s right,” answers
Amelia with a smile, directly across the table from him, garbed in
a uniform suit like the other workers in the hall except she still
doesn’t have an undershirt beneath her vest, which yet shows off
much of her cleavage. She deals out a card face-up to him, a queen
of thorns. “And what does that give you?”

Comparing the queen with his face-down
card, an ace of bolts, Matt replies, “Uh, if aces can be worth
eleven, then, twenty-one?”

“
Very good, Matt! That
means you won!”

“
Oh, really?”

“
Yes, and here’s your
prize.” Reaching into one of her vest pockets, she takes out a hand
full of coins and sets them on the table before Matt. “Twenty
marcs, on the house.”

“
Oh, wow. Thank you, but,
you told me I didn’t have to bet any money, so why…?”

“
Don’t worry about it,
Matt. Let’s just say you earned it with your beginner’s luck.”
After Amelia winks at him, a baffled Matt hears from behind him,
“Yo, Matt, there you are!” and turns to find Sean and Rose hurrying
over to him. “Jeez, Matt, next time you’re gonna wander off like
that, let me or Rose know, okay?”

“
Oh, sorry, guys,” Matt
apologizes while pocketing the marcs Amelia gave him. “I just saw
Amelia over here, and thought I’d say hello. Did you know she works
here at the casino on the weekends?”

“
Hehe, yeah, how silly of
me to forget to mention that.” Then taking Matt by the arm, he
throws out to Amelia while tugging him away, “Sorry if he caused
you any trouble, my dear. The poor guy’s like a lost puppy, you
know?”