It was a hangar and a factory at the same time. Fintan could see the outlines of people working on building something. It was large, and black and triangular. Measurements showed it as being close to one thousand yards long. On its underside bristled weapons and saucers.
“That’s a warship,” said Zack. “A bloody great big warship.”
“It’s worse than that,” said Ayako. “I’m getting radiological readings.”
“Radiowhatchama whatsits?”
“Radiological readings,” repeated Ayako. “That thing is equipped with nukes.”
Chapter 27: First Game
The morning of the first Starball game of the season had arrived. The whole dome seemed to be in the mood for a party. Colored banners, holographic decorations and loud music seemed to be on every corner in the city.
In the first match of the day, Blue and Green squadrons would match up. Zack wanted to watch the game, so he could get a feel for these teams before they would play, but Simon barred the team from watching. Their focus would have to be on Yellow.
“Yellow are the weakest team,” said Simon. “Traditionally, anyway, but they have been known to have some surprises up their sleeve. We must not let our guard down.”
Fintan looked around. The full squad of 22 players was assembled, and looked to be an interesting mix of unproven players as well as cynical veterans. There was clearly an air of disappointment amongst the older pilots – they were used to dominating, but now had a lot of new players, so they couldn’t be sure if they’d continue to.
Simon named his starting 11, and naturally there were no new pilots amongst them.
“This is a long and hard game,” he said. “We can substitute at will, so the rest of you will have to be on a moment’s notice to give us relief. Stay sharp.”
Fintan was a little upset, Nizhoni didn’t seem to care, but Zack was devastated. When Simon had dismissed them, he looked ready to blow.
“Come on!” he whispered angrily. “I’m clearly one of the better flyers. I’ve worked hard, I’m ready. And he won’t let me start!”
“Be patient,” said Fintan. “You’ll get in, and then you’ll just have to be at your best, and you’ll earn a spot.”
“Are you sure?” said Zack. “You and Nizhoni were brilliant in the last game, and he passed you over, again.”
Nizhoni changed the subject. “I wonder if Ayako had any trouble reaching out to the guy from Yellow that she mentioned.”
*
They caught the end of the first game, and it was no contest. Blue had dominated Green since the beginning, winning by four goals to zero.
“Pretty impressive,” said Zack. “Of course I’m probably not going to get a chance to play them.”
“Stop sulking,” said Nizhoni. “You’ll get on the field today, don’t worry!”
Fintan elbowed her and gestured to the far end of the hangar. Ayako was happily approaching a Japanese boy whose uniform showed him to be from Yellow squadron. Smiling she bowed to him and then started talking. His face was impassive. She cocked her head to the side and continued talking. He didn’t answer. She reached up her hand to touch his left arm as they spoke. He brushed her off and walked away without another word.
*
Butterflies danced in Fintan’s stomach as the kickoff approached. He and the rest of the reserves had a special holding area off to the side of the cube in which the game was played. At ten minutes before kickoff, they had to launch their saucers and hover within it.
Kickoff time was met with fireworks and music. Yellow entered first to a huge cheer from the on-looking Yellow Squadron supporters.
“I wonder what happened with Ayako earlier,” said Zack, for about the tenth time. “That guy really disrespected her.”
“She’s a big girl,” said Nizhoni. “She can handle it.”
“You don’t know what boys can be like,” said Zack
“I don’t?” said Nizhoni.
“Err. I didn’t mean it like that,” said Zack.
“Like what?”
“Nothing.”
“Really?”
“Err. Yeah.”
“Cut the chatter you two,” said Melanie. Her face appeared on their screens, looking stern.
“Sorry Red 7,” said Zack.
Fintan snickered.
“Something to say Red Sixteen?” asked Melanie. Fintan suddenly realized why people found New York accents to be aggressive.
He gulped. “Err no ma’am. I mean Miss. I mean Mel-“
“Radio silence now!” said Simon cutting into their conversation.
It was time for Red Squadron’s starting eleven to enter the arena. Inspiring music began to play over the speakers. Red fireworks and smoke started to blow around the dome.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” came the booming voice of a P.A. announcer. “Please welcome your reigning Spaceball champions, Red Squadron!”
Simon led the rest of the first eleven into the arena. They entered in a straight line but then broke apart and spread around the arena, making elaborate formations and stunts, before lining up in the center of the field opposite Yellow squadron.
The crowd went crazy.
The referee blew the whistle and it was game on.
Simon instantly caught the ball and drove at the yellow line. He was swarmed by three fighters and quickly passed to Red Two who was also triple teamed. Yellow intercepted the ball and drove on goal, scoring easily.
Only a few seconds had passed, and Yellow squadron were leading 1-0.
The reserves watched in shock as the clock kept ticking and Red simply could not penetrate Yellow’s defences. It seemed that every time they got the ball, Yellow ships would swarm the player, and would instinctively know what he was going to do with it.
Half time came, and the team assembled in their hangar for a fifteen minute break.
“What the heck is going on out there?” yelled Simon at the team, breaking their stunned silence.
“We have no room to play,” said Melanie. Simon shot her an angry look, and she didn’t meet his gaze.
“No room?” said Simon. “They triple team whoever has the ball, so all you have to do is pass it!”
“We are passing,” said Red Seven.
“Yes,” said Simon. “Straight to them.”
“Have you considered making substitutions?” said Zack. “You guys are getting exhausted out there, but we’re fresh and ready to go.”
“You will speak when spoken to, nugget, and I will not repeat myself. You got that?”
And then it was time for the second half. Simon kept the starting eleven, making no substitutions.
The second half went just like the first had done. Yellow continued to swarm whoever had the ball, and continued to know exactly what Red were going to do.
“If we had a strategy, you’d think they were stealing it,” said Zack to Nizhoni and Fintan on a private channel.
Simon continued to push hard, and with deft flying, he and Red Two were running rings around Yellow, but unable to penetrate the goal.
“Come on,” said Zack. “Substitute us. Bring in someone fresh and confuse them!”
But the clock ticked down and no substitute was forthcoming.
Whatever ideas Red had had, they were running out, and their reflexes were slowing. Yellow began to press the game again.
“This doesn’t look good,” said Nizhoni. “I don’t think we can equalize at this rate.”
And then it happened, Simon again had the ball and drove at the Yellow goal. This time, only one Yellow defender tracked him, but tracked him close. Fintan could see the sparks as their saucers span against each other.
Sensing a chance, Simon pressed forward, pulling Red Two and Seven into formation with him. Then, as he was about to pass, the Yellow defender dropped off him, directly into the passing lane and intercepted the ball.
Six yellow players had broken forward, expecting the move. The defender lobbed the ball forward and they caught
it. Outnumbering the defense, they were able to pass the ball around and score easily.
It was 2-0 to Yellow, and there were less than two minutes left on the clock.
“Ok,” said Zack. “In the comic books now is when the rookie comes in and pulls out a miraculous victory!”
“I don’t think Simon reads comics,” said Nizhoni.
She was right. In despair they watched as the clock ticked down to a stunned finale. It seemed to be a futile eternity, but finally the clock reached zero and the game was over.
It would go down as the biggest surprise victory in years. But Yellow had won.
*
Back at the dorms the mood was somber. Red hadn’t lost a game in years, and now lost their opening game against the weakest team. Simon hadn’t even given them a debrief
As first years, Zack, Fintan and Nizhoni got a lot of dirty looks off the older kids, as if it was somehow their fault.
They sat for dinner at their usual table; Fintan and Nizhoni were disappointed and morose, while Zack brimmed with anger. Several times he made to stand up and approach Simon’s table for a confrontation. Several times Nizhoni and Fintan had to cool him down.
“Haven’t you noticed that something is wrong?” said Nizhoni.
“What?” said Zack, angrily.
“Where’s Ayako?”
Chapter 28: Jousting.
Zack’s anger didn’t abate for days. He wasn’t a lot of fun to live with, and answered most questions with gruff monosyllables. Even Ayako couldn’t cheer him up.
Several days after the defeat to Yellow squadron they had a flight class.
“We’re going to do something different today,” said Iara. “We’re going to try a little competition.”
There was a nervous, but excited shuffle amongst the students.
“We’ll be pairing you up one-on-one to do some jousting,” she said. “After that terrible exhibition against Yellow, it’s pretty clear that our skills in one-on-one are totally deficient, so today we’re going to joust.”
“But Ma’am,” said Zack. “None of us got to take the field, so how can you say our skills are deficient?”
“Save your petulance for Simon, Zack,” she snapped back. “And for that comment, you’ll be matched up with me.”
There were thirty-one students in the class, so by adding herself to the mix, Iara was able to turn it into a knockout championship. Everyone put their names into a hat, except Zack who would be matched up with her in the first round.
Iara started pulling names out of the hat and writing them on a display.
The first pair of names out of the hat were Raj and Heather’s. “Just because she’s beautiful and you’re in love with her, don’t go easy on her, ok?” said Iara to Raj as the whole class laughed.
“You’re beautiful and Zack’s in love with you, so should he go easy on you?” said someone from the back to Iara. Zack growled, and started to lunge, but Fintan held him back.
Iara just laughed. “Surely, everyone is in love with me, but I won’t go easy on them,” she responded.
As she pulled more names out of the hat, Fintan got matched up with Willis, a quiet American boy that he seldom spoke with. Ayako with a French boy called Laurent and Nizhoni with a young Indian girl called Lakini. Fintan didn’t really know her much either, other than from her dislike of Heather, presumably because she was jealous of her relationship with Raj.
Iara and Zack went up first, so that she could demonstrate how the jousting would work. As they entered the hangars, Fintan could see how the saucers had been augmented with a shield towards the left and front and a long pole towards the right and front.
“You’ve probably seen ancient jousting where knights would prove their mettle. They’d charge headlong at each other on horseback, trying to knock the other knight off their horse by hitting their shield with their lance.”
She stopped while the class took in the saucers.
“For us it will be a little different,” she said. “Once you knock your opponents shield off, or, if you force them out of the arena, you win.”
“Everybody to their ships,” she said. “And Zack, you’re with me.” She winked.
They launched, and Iara set up force fields to create a jousting arena. It was long and tubular. She divided the class in two, according to their matchups, and they were to wait at either side of the arena.
She entered at one end, and waited while Zack entered at the other.
She indicated a countdown display that counted from three down to one. “When that hits green,” she said, “Charge!”
The others could see the competition on their heads up displays.
Fintan opened windows that showed Zack’s and Iara’s faces, as well as another that showed a close up from the front camera of their saucer.
Zack was looking uneasy, but Iara was smiling confidently.
As the light turned green, Iara’s face changed drastically as she screamed a rousing battle cry and accelerated headlong towards Zack.
Zack, taken aback by her scream started more slowly. He barely dodged her attack in time, bouncing off the wall of the arena as he did so.
“Good!” said Iara. “Now let’s see if you can do it again!”
They flew to the end of the arena, turned and charged again. This time Zack was more ready for her and charged forward first, aiming his lance low. Just before they passed each other he turned and twisted, hoping to surprise her, but she was onto him. She lifted and twisted her saucer as she passed him, coming in at an angle at his exposed shield, knocking it cleanly off.
“Hit,” she said. “You’re out Zack!”
The jousting continued, with Nizhoni and Fintan winning their first round easily. Ayako struggled a little more, taking six passes before she edged past her opponent.
Surprisingly, their second round matchups were pretty easy, with Nizhoni and Fintan knocking their opponents shields off at the first pass. Ayako knocked her opponent out with the second pass to set up a quarter-final against Iara.
Fintan was happy to see that he avoided Nizhoni in the quarter finals, getting what he figured would be an easy matchup against an American girl called Melissa who had struggled through her first two games.
Iara and Ayako were up first, and everyone was expecting an easy and quick victory for the teacher. But Ayako proved to be slippery.
Iara was trying different moves, spinning, lifting, sinking and more. “She’s really digging into her bag of tricks, isn’t she?” said Zack.
But Ayako seemed to be ready for them all. On the screens Fintan could see her face, impassive and concentrating. Iara was beginning to lose her confident edge, and growing a little more desperate in their moves.
She tried a feint, opening her shield for Ayako to attack.
“It’s a trap,” said Fintan to himself, wishing Ayako could hear, but, for safety the competitors couldn’t hear any incoming comms.
He could see what Iara was up to. If she could draw Ayako into turning enough to aim at her shield, then she could corkscrew her ship and hit Ayako from the side.
“No!” he said as he could see Ayako falling for the trap. Ayako lunged at Iara, and Iara started to corkscrew. But at the last moment, Ayako changed her lunge, flipping her ship through ninety degrees so that her lance pointed straight up, catching Iara’s shield and neatly clipping it off.
Zack’s face appeared on Fintan’s screen. “Whooo!” he said. “Did you see that? That was hot!”
Ayako’s expression hadn’t even changed.
“Nice move,” said Iara, impressed and stunned at the same time.
Nizhoni won her match easily, attacking her opponent so fast that it appeared impossible to control the lance, but she hit the shield dead center, knocking it flying across the arena.
Fintan’s match was up third, and he confidently entered the arena. When he got the green light he dipped his nose and angled his ship to protect the shield, with the intent of turning at the las
t moment and clipping Melissa. She was heading right into his trap. This would be easy. But, at the last moment she turned drastically, catching Fintan’s ship with her lance. The momentum flipped Fintan’s ship upwards and he lost his orientation for a moment.
In that moment, his shield was exposed and Melissa knocked it off using the edge of her saucer.
The lights came on. Fintan had lost.
“Can she do that?” he asked Iara.
“She can, and she did,” said Iara. “Nice job Melissa!”
Heather, who had beaten Raj in the first round, won her match too, leading to an all-girl final four.
Iara pulled their names out of a hat. First out was Melissa.
“Come on, be either Ayako or Nizhoni next!” said Zack, wanting his friends to be kept apart, hoping they’d meet in the final.
Next name out of the hat was Heather, making the other semifinal Ayako versus Nizhoni.
“Dang it!” said Zack.
“At least one of them will be sure of being in the final, right?” said Fintan.
“Yeah. But wouldn’t you love to see them go head to head in the final?” said Zack.
The first match was ready to begin. The victory was surprisingly easy for Melissa who seemed to get stronger with each passing game. On the second pass she did a simple feint that caught Heather off guard and knocked her shield off.
Finally it was time for Nizhoni and Ayako to square off. In the end it turned out to be an anticlimax. On the first pass, Nizhoni went in hard and fast, ready for a last second feint, but Ayako was ready. She lifted her ship, turned it, and clipped Nizhoni’s shield as she passed. The shield wobbled a little, but as Nizhoni decelerated at the end of the arena, it fell off. Victory to Ayako.
Nizhoni was upset, but took defeat well. “Nicely done,” she said to Ayako. She left the arena to watch the final match-up. Before the match, Fintan opened a com channel with her and gave her a thumbs up. “Nice job!” he said to her. Nizhoni smiled back but said nothing.
“Let’s wish Ayako some luck,” said Zack.
Nizhoni nodded. “I don’t think she’ll need it!”
It was an intriguing matchup. Melissa had looked useless until she beat Fintan in the quarters and blew past Heather in the semis. Ayako was the clear favorite having taken out both Iara and Nizhoni.
“Don’t count Melissa out though,” said Zack. “She’s better than she looks.”
The first few passes were cautious, with neither attacking aggressively and thus risking defeat. After the sixth pass, Iara made a big show of yawning and shrank the dimensions of the arena a little. This spurred Melissa.