The Starter (35 page)

Touchdown Dreadnaughts.

The extra point was good. Themala took the lead, 14-13.

• • •

QUENTIN’S FACEMASK PLOWED
into the Iomatt, sending a spraying wave of moisture and dirt and blue bits of plant material into his face. He skidded along with a white-jerseyed Ki lineman and a white-jerseyed Quyth Warrior on his back.

After the touchdown that gave them the lead, the Dreadnaughts reversed their defensive strategy. They focused on pass coverage and blitzing, almost daring the Krakens to run. The few times Hokor took that dare, Yassoud couldn’t move the ball.

Themala pinned their ears back and came after Quentin, blitzing on every play — sometimes with the inside linebackers, sometimes the outside, sometimes the corners, sometimes the safeties. They were also playing the short passing routes very tight, taking away the five- to ten-yard hook patterns, the inside slants and the out-patterns. That would have opened them up to the long ball if Quentin had had time to throw, but thanks to the weakness at right guard and the constant blitzing, time was something he did not have. He’d gone the first half with no sacks — the Dreadnaughts snagged him three times in the third quarter, and now twice in the fourth.

He picked himself up off the ground and pulled a chunk of turf out of his facemask. He brushed the blue, circular leaves off his chest, his right hand smearing a long curve of blood across the “1” of his orange “10.” Somewhere during the sack he’d lost most of the skin on the base of his thumb. Blood poured out of the wound, splattering on the blue turf and white yard markers at his feet.

That sack had come on a third-and-15. Fourth down. Quentin ran off the field, trailing blood as he went, looking up at the clock that read 4:23 left in the fourth quarter.

• • •

IT COULD HAVE BEEN
a dramatic, come-from-behind victory... if, that is, the Krakens defense had made a stop and got the ball back.

They didn’t.

The Dreadnaughts put together a 55 yard drive that burned through the Krakens three timeouts and the final 4:23 of the game. For the last two plays, Quentin had to stand on the sidelines and watch as the Dreadnaughts lined up with seven players on the line of scrimmage and three running backs packed tight next to and behind the quarterback — the “victory formation.” For those two plays, quarterback Gavin Warren took the snap and immediately knelt down. The zebes blew each play dead, but the clock kept ticking away. After the last kneel-down, the clock ticked to zero.

The 1-and-1 Dreadnaughts jogged onto the field, elated at their win. The Krakens sideline emptied more slowly, players filtering onto the field to greet their victorious foes.

Quentin walked out as well, first seeking out Gavin Warren, his counterpart on the Dreadnaughts. A slow, burning rage roiled in Quentin’s soul. They’d had this game,
had
it, but it had slipped away.

The orange and the black was 0-and-2, and tied for last place.

From the “Galaxy’s Greatest Sports Show with Dan, Akbar, & Tarat the Smasher”

DAN:
To me there’s no question which team is the biggest surprise. Gotta be the Bord Brigands. They went five-and-seven last year and now they start the season with two wins?

AKBAR:
Dan, you’re ignorant. I’m not surprised by that at all. Last year was a rebuilding year for the Brigands. They went out and got Athens, the biggest free-agent receiver out there, and now they are coming on strong.

TARAT:
And they did finish last season with three straight wins, Dan, so I agree with Akbar that this is no surprise.

DAN:
Idiots. I tell you, I’m saddled with
idiots
on this show. Fine, Akbar, who are
your
big surprises after the first two weeks?

AKBAR:
The Yall Criminals, no question. They went eleven-and-one last year, they were the top seed going into the playoffs, favored to win it all. They lost that first-round playoff game to the Lu Juggernauts. Okay, that was a shocker, but it happens, then they start this season with two straight losses?

DAN:
Okay, I can agree with you there. Quite a surprise. Tarat?

TARAT:
It’s too early to focus on just win-loss records, but the team that surprises me is the Jupiter Jacks. They are one-and-one, which is nothing to worry about, but they just can’t seem to throw the ball. They lost their top receiver on that game-winning catch in the Galaxy Bowl last year, and this season their second and third receivers just aren’t stepping up.

DAN:
I agree. Right now the Jacks can’t beat teams with a strong pass defense, but what can they do about it?

AKBAR:
They have to make a trade.

DAN:
Oh really? And who is going to trade with the defending league champs? Tell me a team that wants to make them
better
.

TARAT:
There are seven winless teams, Dan. I think any of them would make a trade. The Spider-Bears and Krakens are both winless; they would probably do anything to improve their game.

DAN:
Hmmm, an intriguing conjecture, my Hall-of-Fame friend. The Krakens seem to have a lot of depth at receiver, and Quentin Barnes is getting his butt kicked. Maybe they trade for offensive line help?

AKBAR:
I wouldn’t be surprised to see that. Barnes has already been sacked
nine
times in two games, the most in the league.

TARAT:
And that Human can move. If it was someone slower, there would be even more sacks, so that offensive line is really a shambles.

DAN:
We’ll see soon enough. The trade deadline is the Friday of Week Five. Come kickoff of Week Five, if the Krakens haven’t made a trade they are stuck with their horrible offensive line for the rest of the season. Let’s see what the callers think. Line two, from Neptune, you’re on the Space, go.

• • •

MESSAL THE EFFICIENT LED QUENTIN
into the media room of Ionath City Stadium. There had been post-game press conferences in Tier Two, but they hadn’t been mandatory. And, if you missed one, nobody
fined
you for it.

Quentin had seen the media room once, during a tour of the stadium, but it had been empty. It wasn’t empty now. Messal led Quentin to a chair that sat behind a table. The tabletop was black. Orange skirting surrounded it, showing the Krakens logo in graceful folds. Behind the chair, a smart-paper wall faded logos in and out: the Krakens logo, of course, also the logos of Junkie Gin, Farouk Outdoor Wear, Ford Hovercar and some action movie starring Patuth the Muscular and Gloriana Wanganeen.

The table, chair, and wall held little interest, however, because Quentin’s attention focused on the bulletproof crysteel glass and the mass of sentients beyond it.

Reporters, packed so tightly you couldn’t see the floor.

In that moment, Quentin knew what it was like to be an animal in a zoo.

As soon as he sat they all started shouting at once, a single body made of fifty heads from a half-dozen species.

Quentin! Quentin!

He leaned back, not sure what to do. Then Messal was next to him, pointing to a reporter.

“Jonathan,” Messal said. “Go ahead.”

The fifty-headed monster quieted as a single Human stood.

“Jonathan Sandoval, Net Colony News Syndicate. Quentin, how does it feel to lose this close game?”

“Uh... bad?”

Quentin! Quentin! Quentin!

“Kelp Bringer,” Messal said, “go ahead with your question.”

The monster quieted again. Quentin recognized the black-striped, blue Leekee he’d met during Media Day on the
Touchback
.

“Kelp Bringer, Leekee Galaxy Times. Quentin, you are in last place in the Planet Division. When you started the season, is that where you wanted to be?”

“I... uh,
no
,” Quentin said, trying to find the meaning of Kelp Bringer’s question. Of course the Krakens didn’t want to be 0-and-2... the question couldn’t actually be that stupid, could it?

“Quick follow-up question?” Kelp bringer said. Quentin nodded, trying not to stare at a spindly, insectish symbiote using its tiny claws to pluck away at a yellow growth above Kelp Bringer’s left eye. Kelp Bringer didn’t even seem to notice.

“You lost by one point,” Kelp Bringer said. “Would you have rather been blown out, like you were against the Isis Ice Storm? I mean, what’s
worse
, the close loss or the blowout loss?”

Quentin felt himself shaking his head in annoyance, then stopped.
This is part of the game
, Don Pine had said,
this is part of the game
.

“Uh... I guess a loss is a loss, you know? I... um... don’t know that there’s a difference. Next question?”

Quentin! Quentin! Quentin!

“Yolanda,” Messal said.

Quentin’s eyes snapped in her direction. Just like before, her beauty made everything else fade away. He hadn’t seen her in the mass of sentients. She must have been blocked by the other reporters.

“Quentin, Yolanda Davenport, Galaxy Sports Magazine. You’ve gone two games in Tier One without throwing an interception. You’re giving up an average of four-and-a-half sacks per game, but despite the pressure your decision-making seems to have improved from last year. To what do you attribute this?”

Finally, a real question. It was like a breath of planet-side air after a week in the
Touchback
.

“Well, I’m getting to know my receivers and they’re getting to know me. We practice route-throwing a lot, and I think I’m just getting used to the speed of the upper-tier game.”

“Denver and Scarborough,” she said. “Are
they
getting used to you?”

Quentin nodded. “Uh-huh. Next question?”

The fifty-headed monster started shouting again, but Yolanda’s voice erupted, a roar that shouldn’t have fit inside such a tiny body.

“
Quick follow up
,” she said. The monster’s shout quickly faded to a surprised murmur.

“Uh, okay, go ahead.”

Yolanda smiled and nodded a polite
thanks
. “Speaking of Scarborough and Denver, do you care to comment on the rumor that Ionath is going to trade them?”

Quentin froze. How did she know about that?

The fifty-headed monster paused only a second, then forty-nine heads shouted all at once, far louder than before, demanding an answer. Quentin leaned back. It almost felt like being under attack. Quentin didn’t know what to do. He looked at Messal.

Messal met Quentin’s wide-eyed stare, then turned to face the crowd beyond the glass.

“That will be all for Elder Barnes, thank you very much.”

Quentin didn’t wait for another question. He stood and left the media room, walking as quickly as he could without actually running.

GFL WEEK TWO ROUNDUP

(Courtesy of Galaxy Sports Network)

With Week Two coming to a close, four Planet Division Teams stand at 2-and-0: Isis, Lu, To and Wabash. Not to be outdone over in the Solar Division, the Bord Brigands, D’Kow War Dogs and New Rodina Astronauts also move into Week Three with unblemished records.

The Jupiter Jacks got back into the win column with a 17-14 thriller over arch-rival Neptune, while both newly-promoted teams remain winless after Chillich (0-2) fell 25-21 to the War Dogs, and Ionath (0-2) lost a close 17-16 bout with fellow Quyth Concordia team Themala.

Deaths

No deaths reported this week.

Offensive Player of the Week

For the second week in a row, New Rodina quarterback
Rick Renaud
wins PoTW honors. Renaud went 22-of-24 for 425 yards and six TDs.

Defensive Player of the Week

Cairns
, safety for the Shorah Warlords. Cairns had ten tackles, an interception and a sack in a losing effort against the Atom Smashers.