The Champion (47 page)

On Quentin’s right sat Choto. The big Warrior had a blue bandage around his neck and an ice pack resting against the top of his head, held there by some kind of white wrap that circled under his tiny chin. He looked like he was still hurting; he also looked ridiculous. To Ju’s left sat Becca. She ignored her food and kept staring at Quentin, to the point where he felt uncomfortable. Like Kimberlin, she didn’t seem to care anymore about what had happened in the recent past — the attack had instantly changed everyone’s priorities. The whole team seemed on high alert.

And to Ju’s right, arm on the table and head down on his arm, the moaning form of John Tweedy.

“Ohhhh,” John said, his voice muffled by the crook of his elbow. “Oh, beer, why do you hate me so?”

Ju gently patted his brother on the back. “Because you’re ugly, John. That’s why I hate you, anyway.”

Becca smacked Ju on the shoulder.

“Knock it off, Julius. Your brother is in pain. Be nice.”

Ju looked at her, dumbfounded. Quentin knew why: in that moment, Becca had sounded like a deeper-voiced, younger version of Ma Tweedy.

She returned to staring at Quentin.

“So, Q, who do you think they were?”

He forced himself to eat another spoon of his macaroni and garbird. Chewing it gave him a few moments to think about a believable answer.

“I told you, I don’t know,” he said. “One of them, the Ki, had Scarlet Fliers gear on, but it looked brand new. He might have bought it that day to blend in. Or it could have been a few actual Fliers fans, really angry that we whipped their team.”

“Yassoud told me they didn’t ask him for money,” Becca said. “Same with Pishor. Did they ask you for money?”

Quentin shook his head. Becca had already asked him that. He had a feeling she would ask him that again, several times.

“The Orbiting Death,” John said into his arm. He looked up. His skin was bright red from repeated scrubbing that hadn’t fully removed the ink applied by Cliff Frost. The straight black lines of a kitty face were still clearly visible. “Villani hired those thugs to bust Quentin up, maybe. Or maybe it was that rotten Gloria Ogawa!”

Ju stared at his brother, then shook his head sadly. “Just look at you, John. Wait till Ma sees this.”

John’s face wrinkled with worry. “Aw, Ju, you’re not gonna tell Ma, are you?”

“Don’t know,” Ju said. “Maybe if you were really nice to me, I might forget to tell her.”

John nodded. “I can be nice. Mega-nice!”

“
Super-
mega-nice?”

Becca gave the table a light slap. “Can we
please
focus on the fact that someone attacked our teammates last night? And that their primary target probably wasn’t our number-two running back or a backup linebacker? Someone wanted our quarterback out of the picture. What if John is right and it was Ogawa who set it up? Or Villani? We’re the hottest team in the league right now — if they don’t think they can beat us on the field, they’ll find another way.”

“Maybe it wasn’t a team at all,” Kimberlin said. “Or an attempted mugging. Quentin, did the attackers mention anything else?”

The tone of Mike’s voice indicated that he had an idea of what that
anything else
might be.

“No,” Quentin said. “They didn’t.”

Mike clearly didn’t believe him. “We should talk about this later. In private.”

Quentin thought back to Mike’s claim that he knew sentients from the Harrah independence movement. What else did Mike know?
Who
else did he know?

“Maybe,” Quentin said. “Right now, though, I think we should all be grateful that nobody got hurt.” He glanced at Choto. “
Seriously
hurt, I mean.”

Choto rubbed his closed eye with a pedipalp hand. “I’ve had worse.”

Becca leaned back and crossed her arms.

“Probably a good idea that you don’t go out and party anymore,” she said. “If they tried to get you once, Quentin, they’ll try again.”

Choto adjusted the bag of ice on his head. “That is an excellent suggestion,” he said. “Stadium facilities, both at home and on the road, are guarded and protected. The
Touchback
is very safe as well. And when you are in Ionath, the Krakens Building is the most secure place in the city.”

That didn’t leave anything outside of Quentin’s apartment and football-related activities, but he didn’t really mind. He didn’t need to go out for meals or anything else like that, and besides, he had far more important things to worry about: like how to get Sandoval his money, and, maybe, how to crush Sandoval without winding up the target of a CMR assassination order.

He nodded. “Staying in for the rest of the season sounds like a good idea.”

Becca seemed to relax a little. Now she looked more worried than angry.

John sighed. “My head hurts, but we all know I’m the thinker of the bunch. Don’t be like Yitzhak, Q — don’t hide in the damn Krakens Building your whole life long. You can go out and get beers with us, just wear a costume.”

Becca shook her head. “Yeah, because there are just hundreds of seven-foot-tall Humans as big as Quentin, walking around with wigs and fake beards. No one would
ever
recognize him. He’s not going out, Jonathan — life is more important than beer.”

John gave her a quizzical glance, as if to say,
are you sure
?

Ju touched the tip of John’s blackened nose.

“Beer hates you, John, remember?”

John rubbed at his temples. “It hates me a
lot
.”

“Because you’re ugly,” Ju said. “Right?”

John started to get mad, then remembered Ju’s ultimatum.

“Mega-ugly,” John said.

Ju smiled. There was a chunk of meat stuck between his teeth, and his chin gleamed with grease and a few more flecks of the same.

“I, on the other hand, am
very
handsome,” Ju said. “Don’t I look handsome, John?”

John sighed. “Mega-handsome. Like, the most super-mega-handsome guy ever.”

Becca rolled her eyes.

Choto set his ice pack on the table.

“Quentin,” he said, “there is something that I do not understand. When the red Warrior knocked me out, there were three attackers left. Yassoud and Pishor seemed occupied. How did you come away without any marks?”

“You mean other than this?” He slid up his sleeve. Where Sandoval had grabbed him, his muscular arm showed a deep yellow-purple bruise in roughly the shape of a Human or HeavyG hand.

Becca hissed in a breath. Her expression changed from hard-eyed and stern to that of someone dying inside because a person she loved had been hurt.

Ju waggled the animal leg in Quentin’s direction. “I hope you did the family proud and gave better than you got.”

Quentin controlled a wave of embarrassment: other than knocking that Ki off Choto, he hadn’t even thrown a punch.

“There were some Krakens fans or something, they helped chase the guys off,” Quentin said. He grew worried that he might say something stupid, possibly give a hint about the CMR or Sandoval. “Listen, guys, I’m beat. I’m going to crash before practice.”

He stood, forced a smile and headed for his quarters. The trip home to Ionath would take another five days, during which he’d try to avoid the subject as much as possible. Once back on Ionath, everyone would accept that the situation was in Gredok’s hands, and they could all get back to focusing on football.

GFL WEEK FIVE ROUNDUP

Courtesy of Galaxy Sports Network

Bye Weeks:
To (3-1), Alimum (2-2), Coranadillana (0-4) and Bord (2-2) did not play this week.

Both division-leading teams notched wins this week, keeping Ionath (5-0) atop the Planet and Bartel (5-0) atop the Solar.

Ionath pounded Neptune (2-2) by a score of 35-10. Krakens signal-caller Quentin Barnes threw for 305 passing yards and two touchdown strikes, while adding another TD on the ground. Running back Ju Tweedy rushed for 85 yards and a touchdown. Yassoud Murphy rushed for one TD and caught another, part of his four receptions for
56
yards.

“Barnes was unstoppable today,” said Scarlet Fliers quarterback Adam Gurri. “The way Ionath is playing right now, I don’t see that changing.”

OS1 (4-0) remained undefeated and in second place in the Planet Division, thanks to a 24-10 thumping of Texas (3-2).

Wabash (4-1) grabbed its third straight victory, 21-14 over Themala (1-3). Wabash sits in third place in the Planet, a half-game ahead of To (3-1), who was off this week with a bye.

Coranadillana (0-4) was also on a bye week, which leaves D’Oni (0-5) in sole possession of last place in the Planet, thanks to a 42-3 drubbing at the hands of the Isis Ice Storm (2-3).

Vik (4-1) stayed in second place in the Solar, after a 27-21 outcome against Shorah (1-3). It was the Vanguard’s fourth win in a row after stumbling out of the gate with an opening-day loss. Vik has a bye in Week 6.

The other team streaking up the Solar Division rankings is Jupiter (3-2). After losing their first two games, the Jacks have won three straight to move into a tie for third. Jupiter edged out Jang (1-4) with a game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter. Jacks quarterback Don Pine hit wide receiver Beaverdam for a 6-yard touchdown with just 4 seconds left to play, giving the Jacks a 17-14 win.

“The rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated,” Pine said. “We’re back in the hunt. We’re just taking it one game at a time. If we play our best, we can beat any team in the league.”

McMurdo (0-5) lost its fifth straight, 28-10 against Sheb (2-2). The Murderers are dead last in the Solar and look to be heading for relegation.

Deaths

No deaths reported this week.

Offensive Player of the Week

Isis quarterback Paul Infante, who threw for 280 yards and four touchdowns against D’Oni.

Defensive Player of the Week

OS1 linebacker Yalla the Biter, thanks to five solo tackles, six assists, one sack and one interception in a win over Texas.

39

Week Six:
Alimum Armada at
Ionath Krakens