Psion Beta (18 page)

The poisonous inventions of his mind battled with the ache in his heart and made his stomach ill. He wanted to scream and storm and rage, but for what good? Like a fire with no fuel to burn, the storm wore itself out and he was left with a deep sense of emptiness. He sat wondering what to do, how to react. Was he ridiculous for even taking an interest in her? For getting so hung up on her after only a couple of months? He closed his book and made to go find Brickert when he realized what he truly wanted. He reopened the book and flattened the pages so he could read more. The story would inspire him.

After all,
Monte Cristo
was a story of revenge.

The next two weeks went by slower than normal as Sammy watched and waited for his chance to strike back at Kobe. Even after one day, the new thing to talk about was Kobe and Jeffie. Natalia’s efforts alone made sure of that. She would go on and on at mealtimes about how cool it was that a sixteen-year-old and a mature fourteen-year-old could forge a relationship. Her goal now was to hook up Kawai, almost sixteen herself, with some of the seventeen or eighteen-year-olds.

Of course, to be a couple in headquarters did not carry much weight, especially with the strict rules of conduct between the opposite sexes (for which Sammy felt extraordinary gratitude). While all Jeffie’s attention went to Kobe, she didn’t spare Sammy a word—not even a glance. He hated seeing them talking, laughing, and especially touching. A viper slept inside him, and whenever he saw them together, it bared its fangs and coiled to strike. Eventually Sammy couldn’t even take eating with Kawai and Natalia, so he and Brickert sat alone.

“
Kawai doesn’t even think Jeffie likes Kobe,” he told Sammy over a lunch of Philly steak and cheese sandwiches. “She says Jeffie just likes being liked.”

“
What does that even mean?” His conversations with Brickert about girls often left him even more confused.

Brickert just shrugged.

Sammy put his hot dog down and leaned to Brickert so they could speak privately. “The girls don’t know I like Jeffie, do they?”

“
I didn’t talk, but I think they suspect something.”

“
How could they suspect something if you didn’t say anything?”

“
Girls have a sixth sense about that stuff,” Brickert answered. “Like my older sister—the one right above me.”

When did he suddenly become the expert on girls?
Sammy asked himself as he watched Brickert take an inhuman bite out of his sub.
He doesn’t even talk to the girls he likes. He just has eight sisters
.

“
It’s really weird,” Brickert continued as he swallowed, “my sister could always tell when guys liked her friends. Always. But then, a guy liked my sister, she could never tell. I don’t get that.”

“
Yeah, that is weird.” Then he asked in a whisper, “Do you think they would tell Jeffie if they do suspect?”

“
I don’t know. Would you tell me if you knew that a girl liked me?”

Sammy had to think about that. He had never been in that situation. “Probably—I guess so.”

“
Then they probably wouldn’t.”

Sammy was about to ask more, but the calm female voice sounded over the room. “Prepare for the Game, Psions.”

“
Oh man!” Brickert exclaimed.”I’ll tell you, I hate playing on a full stomach.”

They ran over to the flashing panel.

“
Suck a duck!” Brickert moaned. “You’re on Dopey’s team. Sorry, man. Could be worse. Could be on Rosa’s all-girl team.”

“
You’ve got Al on your team,” Sammy pointed out.

“
Lucky me. We’d better go change.”

As they ran downstairs and into their dorm to dress into their black suits, Brickert spoke up, “This is Rosa’s first time as a honcho, isn’t it?”

“
I think so,” Sammy answered.

“
She got a pretty good team. All the older Beta girls.”

“
Even still, I doubt she wins.”

“
I don’t think Dopey could handle Rosa winning on her first time,” Brickert said. “The only people he can tolerate losing anything to are Al and Marie.

“
Isn’t Kaden the other honcho?”

“
Uh-huh.”

“
Interesting,” A thought formed in his head. A truly wicked idea.

Brickert stopped dressing with one leg in his noblack jumpsuit, the other frozen in mid-air. “No, Sammy,” he said.”Don’t even think it.”

“
What?”

“
I know what you’re thinking. It’s—it’s nutty. If anyone finds out, you’re in deep doo-doo.”

Sammy burst out laughing. “Brickert, you’re on Kaden’s team. You shouldn’t mind. Dopey has this coming. It’s perfect! The only person he hates losing to more than me is his twin.”

“
That doesn’t matter. It’s not about personal vendettas; it is about cooperation and teamwork. What you’re thinking goes against all of that. Remember what you did to Gregor?”

Sammy winced. He shouldn’t have told Brickert about that.
Still, Gregor is Gregor, and he deserved to win. Kobe doesn’t
.

“
I’m not ruining Dopey’s life.” He stared at Brickert. “Are you going to tell anyone?”

Brickert opened his mouth, then closed it quickly. His cheeks turned a bright red and he looked down at the floor. “No.”

“
Thanks, Brickert.”

“
Please don’t do it,” Brickert pleaded one last time. “If Dopey—Kobe—finds out . . . I mean, what’s the point?”

“
The point?” Sammy repeated with a grin. “To understand that you’d need to ask Edmond Dantès.”

10.
Revenge

“
Diplomacy,” Kobe said
right before the Game began, “is the key to winning these Games. If we sit back and let the other teams fight, we win the first, and maybe even the second Game easy. Then they’ll start coming after us. Li, Natalia, Parley, and I will play attackers when most of the other teams’ players have been taken out. Hot-shot, you play defense.”

It was a slap in the face and everyone knew it. Sammy knew they knew it by the way they watched him for a reaction, only he did not give one. He wanted to give Kobe no reason to suspect him.

As if Providence truly wanted Sammy to carry out his plan, visibility in the Arena was very poor for the first Game. Each team entered from a different side of the third floor. However, once they got inside, it appeared as though all the honchos shared Kobe’s strategy. Judging by the permeating silence in the Arena, no one dared to be the first to enter the bizarre grid of randomly placed walls and platforms that formed this Game’s setup. Kobe adapted his plan with a flexibility that surprised even Sammy.

“
We travel as a team. Stay as elevated as possible, but keep your body low and undercover. Never be more than five meters away from a teammate. Move.”

For the time being, Sammy followed his honcho’s orders perfectly. High in the air they moved, creeping behind walls whenever possible, and swiftly along platforms when unprotected out in the open.

They met Rosa’s team first, and just as Sammy predicted, she was unable to coordinate an effective defense from her lower position. One of her players escaped Kobe’s onslaught, but Sammy wasn’t sure whom.

“
Let someone else pick off the last bone,” Kobe said with an unmistakable brag as they watched the sole member of Rosa’s team retreat.

Despite his orders to play defense, Sammy had taken advantage of opportunities to take out two of Rosa’s four players. He knew Kobe wouldn’t make special mention of him, but he wanted it to look like he did his part to help the team.

They continued the hunt through the large, angular jungle of metal. Sammy stayed right in the middle of the group, careful not to let himself be separated too far from his target. Not much time passed before Martin’s group surprised them with a three pronged attack: two on each side, and Martin himself from above.

The attack would have been deadly if Kobe hadn’t been so quick to fall back. Finding safer ground, they mounted a strong counter-attack, forcing a standoff. Kobe lost Natalia and Parley, but Martin lost Miguel and Asaki, his left flankers. Both honchos knew that if Kaden’s team went untouched, they would lose. Martin slunk back into the darkness with his remaining two; Kobe went back to the high ground to try and surprise Kaden with an all-out aerial attack.

Martin’s team found Kaden first. Eight Betas were locked in another battle when Li spotted them. It was the ideal time for Kobe to employ his plan of diplomacy, but the honcho caught Sammy off guard when he ordered them to launch into battle.

When Li questioned him, Kobe explained he didn’t want Kaden and Martin teaming up on them, but Sammy knew the truth. Kobe did not want Martin to have the pleasure of eliminating Kaden before he had a chance.

They went as high as they could climb before dropping down, using hover blasts to stay just above the heads of their enemies. Just as Sammy thought, Kobe persisted on trying to take out Kaden single-handedly. Both Kaden and Martin’s teams stopped blasting at each other and directed their attention to the three fliers: Li, Sammy and Kobe. Sammy blocked their assaults using feet blasts and landed a few meters away from the battle. While Kobe was engaged in a free-for-all battle with the other honchos, Sammy aimed a blast at his helmet from behind.

As always, Kobe had no clue what hit him.

Sammy’s heart triumphed, glorying in his lack of honor. Seconds later, Li was deactivated by Martin. This left Sammy alone to join the fight against Martin’s team, helping Kaden cruise to an easy victory. Kobe’s brother only lost one player: Brickert. Sammy didn’t even mind when Kaden’s team ganged up on him. He went out with a smile.

The layout for the second Game was a completely level playing field with nothing else in the Arena. It quickly turned into a melee. Kobe’s attack was more cautious, keeping his team near the outside, but Sammy still found his chance to eliminate him. It came when they were finally pulled into the middle of a huge brawl between all four teams. His opportunity came even quicker than the first Game because they were all surrounded by opposing players, trying to watch their back and front sides at once. As it just so happened, Kaden also won the second Game.

Martin’s team handily won the third Game, but Sammy played smart. He intentionally let himself get blacked out early.

Before the last Game started, Sammy almost felt sorry for his honcho. An edge of desperation laced Kobe’s voice as he spoke to the team while they entered the Arena. The layout was a large network of connecting pipes. The teams had no choice but to enter the network, as the portals fed directly into them. Kobe came up with a great strategy. They searched until they found two pipes that formed a T. Then he ordered them to lay in wait at either end of the top of the T for a team to come up through the base. Easy ambush. However, if either or both ends were attacked, they could retreat into the base of the T, regroup, and hold that tunnel in defense.

The Game was tedious, taking almost the entire forty-five minutes allotted. Several small battles broke out between Kobe and Martin and Rosa in which no player from any team was deactivated. Finally Kobe made a bold move to rush Martin’s team lying in wait a few pipe junctions away. The attack was successful, decimating the enemy team in a moment of confusion, but it placed Kobe’s team at a positional disadvantage between what was left of Rosa and Kaden’s teams, who had just finished their own battle.

Sammy could only assume that Rosa did not realize the advantageous situation that had been handed to her, but Kaden did. Leading his team forward at Kobe’s, Kaden yelled out to Rosa’s team, “Ambush! Ambush!” It only took moments for her to catch on. Kobe’s team made some small headway against Kaden and his three, but was trapped when Rosa came with her two from behind. Sammy, Li, and Natalia were faced against Kaden’s front attack, while Kobe and Parley guarded the rear.

Sammy fought hard alongside his teammates, waiting for the right moment to finish his vendetta. However, Brickert and Jeffie made a terrible error which Li exploited, driving Jeffie back and Brickert to the floor, deactivated. Kobe’s team stood on the verge of winning. If he was to change the tide of the Game, Sammy had to act fast.

Behind him, Parley cursed when a blast hit his helmet. Seizing the moment, Sammy raised his arm over his head, palm facing away, and blasted two random blasts behind. Kobe went down. Natalia looked at Sammy with surprise. Sammy’s heart thundered in his chest.
Does she know what I did?
He turned around and feigned shock when he saw Kobe fall stiffly to the ground.

“
Was that me? I was only trying to help!” he cried.

Natalia hesitated a moment too long, and a blast from Kaden hit her helmet. Sammy pretended to get confused from all the commotion around him. By now, it was only a matter of time. He and Li were toast. But had Natalia had actually believed his farce?

“
Come on, Li!” he roared like a general making his last stand. “Fight to the—”

Kobe wasn’t angry that Kaden had won three out of four Games. He was outright livid. As they left the Arena, he wasted no time pointing out that even the “hot-shot” had been unable to pull out a win under such conditions. All guilt Sammy might have felt vanished, and even Brickert managed a smug wink as they grabbed a snack. Revenge taste pretty darn sweet . . . on Saturday.

Then came Sunday.

And on Sunday, Battle of Ages arrived at headquarters. Battle of Ages was the latest VR game boasting complete mental immersion. Everyone wanted to try it out—everyone except Kobe. Gone was the outspoken sarcasm and loudmouthed ranting from the day before. Instead, he kept to himself and watched movies on the big screen while everyone else took their turn in the game. Twice, Sammy caught Kobe watching him with an unreadable look in his eye. It gave Sammy the chills. Even when Sammy won several games in a row, Kobe made no comment.

This new attitude unsettled Sammy and stayed on his mind all evening. He waited until he and Brickert were back in their bedroom to discuss it.

“
Are you absolutely sure he doesn’t know?” Brickert asked.

“
No, not absolutely,” Sammy replied after thinking it over for the hundredth time, “but I’m pretty sure. The only way he could know is if Natalia guessed what happened and told him.”

“
What if Natalia said something to Jeffie— “

“
Natalia? Spread gossip? No way, José.”

Sammy chuckled. “—and then Jeffie repeated it to Kobe.”

“
Maybe Kobe doesn’t know. Maybe he just suspects.”

“
Yeah, maybe.” Sammy pulled off his jumpsuit and climbed onto his bunk. “I guess I just can’t give him any reason to suspect anything.”

“
Maybe I can say something—casually—to throw off any suspicions about your intentions.”

“
That would be a bad idea.”

“
You think so?”

“
Yes, I do.” Sammy remembered the times Brickert mentioning something casually had caused trouble. “But thanks, though.”

For the next few days, they kept an eye on Kobe and listened out for any rumors, but they heard nothing. Sammy was glad to put the matter behind him. He had something more important to worry about: his history exam. Though he knew Natalia would tell him he set some kind of record by how fast he finished the history unit, he worried if he could remember the vast amount of information taught him in two months’ time. On Friday, rather than following his usual morning schedule, he skipped exercise and breakfast for extra study time.

After a thorough review, he sat in his Teacher and took the five hundred question exam. Two and a half hours later, he left with a big smile. He had correctly answered four hundred ninety-eight. And he was pretty sure he knew the two he had missed.

He went downstairs for a quick brunch. Some of the older Betas were already there.

“
What are you doing here, Sammy?” Al asked.

Sammy took a seat by him. “I sat my first exam today. The instructions said I could leave when I—”

“
You finished your first unit already?” Gregor asked. Al and Marie had similar looks of disbelief on their faces.

Sammy caught himself before saying anything else. “Er—well . . .”
Think up a way to get yourself out of this one.
“I was home schooled for—uh—some of my education. My parents didn’t like the curriculum that the school board set for its students. So for history they—my mother—she taught me quite a bit before I got here. I just barely finished up the rest of the work . . .” He took a large gulp of water from his glass and spilled several drops on his clothes. “I mean—wow-—the test was really, really hard. I’m—I didn’t do very well. But I think I passed.”

Gregor and Marie seemed to believe his story. But Al didn’t seem convinced. Still—perhaps in respect to Sammy—he said nothing else. Instead he asked, “How do you think the exam went?”

“
You need an eighty percent to pass,” Gregor told him. Sammy hadn’t spoken to Gregor much outside of the Games. It surprised him how much older Gregor looked than the others. Natalia said he was almost twenty. “Did you get at least that?”

“
Uh . . .” Sammy responded, acting as if he was calculating his score in his head. “Yeah—just barely.”

“
Great.”

“
Good job.”

“
Oh, yeah. Thanks.”

He searched for a topic to change the conversation, finally resting on the Psion Panels the three Betas had coming soon. Al’s was first, coming up in only three months, then Gregor would retake his two months later, and Marie was only a month or so after that. Apparently the Panels lasted several weeks, so some of their testing would overlap.

“
After you pass the Panel, what happens?”

“
We have a little ceremony here,” Al answered. “I’ll be grafted into an Alpha Squadron, and go to Alpha headquarters.”

Marie stared at her plate as Al explained about going into Psion Alpha. At that moment it dawned on Sammy that the two were dating.

“
Do your parents come for that?” he asked.

Marie shot Al a nervous glance.

“
Actually, yeah, parents are allowed to attend the ceremony. The government even flies them here in a private atmo-cruiser. It’s a pretty big deal.”

“
Cool! Are they coming?”

“
Um—” Al hesitated, “—my dad will definitely be there.”

Sammy didn’t catch the subtlety in Al’s voice until the words left his mouth: “What about your mother? Isn’t she coming, too?”

Everyone at the table stirred uncomfortably. Sammy noticed it and wanted to take the words back.

“
My mom passed away when I was really young. But she’ll be there in a way.”

“
Oh.” Sammy wanted to choke himself on his sandwich. “I—I really had no idea.” The words stumbled out of his mouth. Each word was like a glass ball rolling another step down the stairs until the inevitable crash. “You talked about her before—and I just thought—I’m sorry . . .” Before he could stop himself, he asked: “How did she die?”