CARNIVAL (The Spark Form Chronicles Book 2) (19 page)

              "Tail Whip! It got The Torn off him, but Lantern ain't back in control yet!"

              "It's more than that Sam, look! Lantern barely able to stand now as he stumbles into a Heavy Swipe and ... that's it! Lantern's done!"

              "The coin flip says that The Breeze gets the advantage though an' he dives straight onto The Torn's back, teeth an' claws flying everywhere as he starts to reel off attacks one after the other."

              "The Torn's health dropping rapidly now as The Breeze fights to avenge his partner. You think Slade could be nought for two this year Sam?"

              "It's lookin' that way Dirk. The Torn tries to roll away but The Breeze dives on top an' starts firing off Snapping Bites. This could be it right here ..."

              "... The Torn catches The Breeze's muzzle with a hard bite and throws him aside!"

              "The Great Beast now dashes across the arena and tries to barrel into The Breeze but the Lopine darts past and comes back with a lunge of his own. The Great Beast ducks under and goes for a swipe but The Breeze ducks under again and runs straight into a Tail Whip!"

              "The Great Beast clamps his teeth down into The Breeze's back, but he squirms his way out again an' swipes The Beast's face. Big tackle by The Breeze stumbles the larger beast, an' here comes another tackle ... The Great Beast shrugs him off, sending him crashing to floor, an' here comes The Torn ..."

              "DATA FRAGMENT ACTIVATE," says the electronic announcer. "BURNING IN THE SKIES."

              The Breeze struggles to his feet while the Drakalia stalk around him, finally coming to a stop opposite each other. They hunker down and roar, fire filling their mouths as the arena lights lower to near darkness. As the roaring gets louder, flames erupt from the nubs on their backs, forming burning wings in place of their former appendages. The two beasts slowly rise into the air, hover for a moment, then both unleash a huge blast of flame on The Breeze. The arena lights come back up to normal as they slowly descend to the ground, their wings dissolving as they roar in triumph.

              "Wow! Whatta finish Dirk!"

              "Impressive is not the word Sam! Lana and Slade take the win with one of the most stunning moves there is. Any thoughts Sam?"

              "Absolutely! I'm surprised Donal went first, an' that Davey didn't take anyone down before Lana an' Slade finished him off. The fans are lovin' it though!"

              "So what got them through this one?"

              "Sheer determination Dirk. You could see how strong The Delaney's decks were, but Lana an' Slade jus' kept fightin' until they could pull out their Data Fragment."

              "I think you could be right there Sam. OK, still to come, the match we've all been waiting for."

              "It all leads up to this. John Forrester defends his title against his long standing rival, Fahrn Starchaser. An' you gotta wonder Dirk, is this gonna be Fahrn's year?"

              "You can all join us later tonight to find out the answer to that very question! Until then though, I'm Dirk Wylder."

              "I'm Sam North."

              "And this has been the forty third annual Spark Form World Championships!"

              "Laters."

              The screen fades to black.

              "Did you read the whole thing?" I ask, looking up from the ample sized stack of papers in front of me. Carnival stops her nervous pacing and gives a quick nod. Really, pretty much anyone could tell that she's nervous just by how she's standing and the look in her eyes. For me though, it's the slight tensing in her toes that I notice first. She's doing a good job of keeping the nerves out of her tail though.

              "And did you understand all of it?"

              After a quick detour to give me the middle finger, her right hand joins her left on her hips and she tilts her head in an amusingly exasperated manner. That's much better. I know that she doesn't like showing nerves that often, so giving her a target to aim something else at acts as a good distraction for her. I wonder if she knows that's why I ask stupid questions? Nah, she's probably too wrapped up in what's going on right now. In fairness though, I do need to check one thing at least.

              I grin. "I just wanted to be sure. It says that I'd need to go through a full physical before they'll agree to the op. Given the damage these things do," I say tapping my implant, "that could put the whole thing at risk. It could be that they're already planning to use that as an excuse not to go ahead with it anyway and just make it look like they're giving you what you want so that you'll co-operate. Will you be OK with that? If they don't go through with it at all."

              Carnival's hands drop and her left starts nervously rubbing her right. She closes her eyes and nods resolutely, the tension going to her shoulders.

              I think I can understand why she was shaking so much when she handed me the contract now. She wouldn't have asked for this if she didn't want it, but if she's fine regardless of whether Emblem back out or not, that means it's
my
response that matters to her. This is her way of saying ... no, it's her way of teasing it out of me without making me come out with it, because she understands why I don't open up. It's not the act itself, it's the intent behind it.

              "Scan it," I say flicking back to the first page and scribbling the first signature. I do my best to ignore the surprised yip of a response from Carnival. And the absolutely adorable way that her hands have shot up to her mouth. "I don't think that Lana will back out, but Finn may try to convince her otherwise. Plus, we don't know if we can trust the other Emblem peeps yet. Having multiple copies will serve us better I think."

              I finish the fourth and final signature and turn to hand Carnival the papers, but she cuts me off by throwing her arms around me and burying her face in my chin. I lean down with a smile and gently kiss her nose, dropping the freshly signed wad onto the table while my free arm goes under her ears and around her shoulders.

              With this ring and all that.

              I thought that I'd calmed down, or at the very least that the Surge had worn off, but I've been babbling since Maria walked through the door. "I tried to call," I blurt, "but your phone kept going to the answer message. You have at least ten messages."

              Maria picks up her phone in silence, and flicks through the screen. "Sorry," I add, "I didn't realise that you'd left the phone here."

              "Neither did I," she replies, doing her best to smile. The strain on her face is too obvious to miss though. She rubs her eyes and scruffs her hair with a gruff sigh. "I'm sorry, I should have been there with you after ..."

              "No, no," I say, my eyes welling up as I spot her trailing off. "You were right to go to Meera. She would have wanted one of us there with her."

              Maria drops herself onto the sofa, then drops her face into her hands. "Yeah," she says sadly as I sit down next to her, "she would have."

              "Did she say anything else?"

              "No, just that she was sorry and that none of what happened to her was your fault or hers. And thank you. She said to thank you for talking to her again. She was
gone
after that."

              Maria pauses. I won't push her on this, I can see how much she's struggling to talk about it all right now. I forget sometimes how death affects people. Spending so long doing Merc work left me detached to it all, to the point that watching someone slip away or just
drop
became as natural as making breakfast. It wasn't always necessary, but it was a way to keep living.

              Even then though, I think it would have been tough to be there like Maria was. Starchaser likes to think that she could have shut down like she always does but I'm really not so sure, especially with the Surge hitting me like it did. No matter how important helping Meera was to me, this wouldn't have been any more or less difficult for Maria. Just different.

              She sniffs and sits back again, turning her head to look at me for the first time since she made it back to the arena. "I, uhm, I mentioned maybe doing an Offland Funeral for Meera. I thought that she ... and you ... it seemed right. Like bringing her back home."

              "Thank you," I say, pulling her into a hug and resting my cheek against the top of her head. "I guess it'll be Hong Chan's choice though." I feel her tense against me and I tighten my own arms around her. "Back when he played he used to talk about God a lot, so he may want to give her a regular burial. He always was pretty high on religion. Offlanders just aren't. It's not like we don't know about stuff like that, it's just that ... so many people screw us over. When you know that you're going to spend your life being beaten, cheated and lied to just because of where you were born, you realise pretty quickly that if there is a God, then they're letting it all happen and you don't want any part of them."

              Maria tenses up again and I remember all the abuse that she's had since she's been with me. Damn. She's vulnerable right now and probably thinks I'm minimising the things that she's been through. I was born into this life, she walked in by choice. For me. "Sorry," I say, stroking her hair. "I didn't mean to ... I know that you've seen a lot since we got together. And I know that it changed how
you
viewed religion. For what it's worth, everybody I've known views you as as much an Offlander as I am. That's probably not very reassuring."

              She giggles weakly. "I'm honoured."

              "There are things we can do, even if Hong Chan doesn't go for the Offland Funeral idea," I say. "Memorials are pretty much the same thing but without the cremation. It's the symbolism that matters. I'm glad that Meera had someone to look out for her though. And that we could help her, even if it wasn't near enough in the end." I sigh. "I've held on to so much thanks to that girl. I don't think I even really knew just how much until we left her at Quadro."

              I give Maria a kiss on the forehead. "However we commemorate her, it'll finally be over. I did everything I could and ... The Halo and all the stuff that came after ... if she really believed that it wasn't my fault or hers, then ... that's enough."

              "Much better," bellows Slade, "but still not quite right. It needs to come from here," he says, patting his belly. Before I can reply, he lets out a huge, rumbling roar of a laugh that makes the nearest Med Team member jump in fright. For the fifth time.

              "OK, OK," I giggle. "Let me try again."

              "Please do." He smiles, sitting back into his chair and crossing his arms. I take a deep breath and let loose something that started as a passable impression of my fellow victor, but quickly descended into a mix of coughing and giggling. "Very good," Slade laughs, patting his knees over-excitedly. "Very good indeed."

              "And we're stable," says the jumpy guy edging around Slade's arm. Actually, I haven't heard that from the people checking me yet. Are they ... nope, they're gone. They must've given me the all clear while I was busy imagining myself with a pot belly, a beard and a laugh that goes up to eleven. It's funny, I thought that he'd be done before me because his body's acclimatised to the implants already and I'm a first time user. No, wait, long term effects, built up damage ... I already established that he's deceptively healthy after that run earlier, so that must mean that if he was as out of shape as you'd think to look at him, he'd be pretty much wrecked by now.

              It's interesting to see how the Surge is hitting both of us. I'm pretty sure that I get the whole 'exaggeration of internal emotions' kick. I could feel it yesterday, the stress building up while the loss set in, then the anger when Connor collapsed in front of me. Why anger though? Was I pissed that Connor dropped before I could yell at him some more? Or angry at myself for being afraid when he hit the floor? Afraid. Why was I afraid? It started as 'I'm mortal, eek!' but the Surge pushed it back to fear of failure. That's right, it pulled up the worries that I'd pushed aside to concentrate on the match.

              Thinking about it should be a risk, it should mean that the Surge starts pulling it all up again, but it just isn't happening. Which means that I'm right about being an exaggeration type Surge-Rider. Ooh, nice Lana. Describe yourself with the street slang for people who use the implants like a drug. Whatever. I'm happy and excited and the Surge is making it even better. The revelation about Finn, the situation with Meera, the deal with Carnival, the Maria stuff ... I think I may have accidentally piled on so much stress that I've come out the other end. It's like Flooding but less expensive.

              I am so glad that I'm not John right now though. He'd be all over the place, I bet. Thoughts jumping from one place to another with no rhyme or reason. A bit like I'm almost doing right now. Let's get back to the point. I am happy, and excited and it's all because I know what I'm doing now. At some point before we finished Davey Delaney, it all came to me.

              "Are you quite alright Lana?" asks Slade, drawing my attention to the fact that we are now actually alone in the room. Stealthy bunch that Med Team. "You've been laughing away to yourself for quite some time now."

              "Have I?" I ask, my mild embarrassment soon giving way to what I can only assume is a similar run of laughter.

              "Quite so. I admire your dedication to the art, but I'm afraid you've still got some way to go to beat
me
."

              "You're an exaggeration type too, aren't you?" I grin, thoroughly pleased with myself. "You're pretty much always jolly, and speaking to you, I can tell that it's genuine. Since we've sat down, you've been like normal you times ten."

              "I would love to tell you that beneath this smiling exterior sits a deep, dark soul, tormented by the sad, lonely poetry of the world, but I am afraid that I am terrible liar. I have a loving family, good friends and a career that I am able to enjoy as much as the fans do. I am quite content in life. Am I to assume then that you too are genuinely happy at the present time?"

              "You could say that. I mean, I know that what happened with Meera was terrible, but I guess it ... kinda reminds you what you have, ya know?"

              "A marvellous way to look at things," he says, laughing lightly. "Are you sure that you're OK though? You said that you knew Meera too, after all."

              "I did, but not very well. Not that that takes away from it at all. I was glad that I could be with her until they took her to the ambulance but Maria seemed to be closer to her, so she'd have been a better choice to be with her even if I weren't scheduled to compete. Meera wasn't alone at the end, and that's what matters."

              Slade nods. "Maria would have been a rock for her, I'm sure. I must confess, I'm not entirely sure how she or Fahrn knew the girl. Although, there was a story that she mentioned to Charla and I once ... ah, but that is their business, of course."

              "Charla?" I ask.

              "My lovely wife. We spoke of her while we were sifting our decks, you remember."

              "Oh, of course I do. Sorry. I'm not quite thinking straight yet."

              "'Tis not a worry my dear Lana," he bellows. "I think that sometimes she too would like to forget that we are married."

              "I'm sure that's not true," I laugh and offer my hand. "Well, I better get back to my changing room. Thank you Slade for a fantastic match, and some thoroughly enjoyable company."

              "The pleasure was all mine," he booms, shaking my hand about as roughly as I expected. We both walk through the door and into the hallway and he gives a loud, "Until next time," followed by one more big belly laugh before bounding off around the corner.

              I meant what I said. The business with Meera did remind me what I have: incredible programming skills. All I need is the opportunity to use them. Which means that Finn is going to be running errands while I take a little revenge on Mr Simon Corrigan.