The Roar (13 page)

‘Is that it?’ Audrey said, surprised. ‘Have we finished?’

Mika felt a stab of excitement.

‘I think we have.’

‘We did it!’

They yanked off their headsets and climbed out of the simulator on shaky legs to find a man waiting for them.

‘Well done,’ he said.

‘Are we through to the next round?’ Audrey asked.

‘It depends on your scores. Go and wait somewhere for an hour. If we want you to come back, we’ll send a message to your
companion.’ He plugged a lead into the control panel of the pod so he could verify their score.

‘Looks promising,’ he said nodding. ‘It’s the best score I’ve seen yet. You can go now.’

* * *

Outside the arcade it was still raining and the people waiting in the queue looked as if they’d gone swimming with all their clothes on. Mika and Audrey had arranged to meet the others in a noodle bar up the road and they walked towards it to the sound of squelching feet.

The noodle bar, ‘Oodles of Noodles,’ was packed with competitors who had finished and were waiting for a message from the Youth Development Foundation, asking them to return to the arcade. The windows were steamy, pap pop pumped out of the speakers overhead, and the chefs tossed kilos of sizzling noodles in flat black pans. But despite the fact the restaurant was full, the music was louder than the conversations and the atmosphere was subdued. As Mika walked to the counter, he heard the odd comment here and there and realized most people hadn’t even got past the second level.

‘It wasn’t fair that there were so many fighters in the first level; we didn’t stand a chance – they shot us down in seconds.’

‘Yeah, and the second level was even harder: those shape shifters, they kept moving and we couldn’t hit them.’

‘Did you find the net?’

‘What net?’

Mika bought drinks with the trace of a smile on his face, then felt guilty.

But somebody has to win, he reasoned, and I’m not doing this for myself.

Audrey had found Kobi and Tom sitting at a table in the corner and Mika joined them. The atmosphere was just as bad as it was in the rest of the restaurant. He realized they’d had an argument; Tom was glaring at the table and Kobi was picking
grumpily at the hole in the front of his jumper.

‘Hi,’ Mika said, carefully.

‘Hi,’ they muttered.

Mika sucked on his drink, wondering what had happened, but didn’t dare ask.

‘I made you this,’ Kobi said to Audrey and he took a tiny metal borg cat out of his pocket and put it on the table in front of her. It was so small, he must have made it with tweezers and a microscope, and it even had tiny wire whiskers and metal pads on its paws. It rubbed its head against her hand.

‘Oh, it’s
beautiful
!’ she cried. ‘Thanks, Kobi!’

‘That’s OK,’ he replied. ‘I’m going to make it some kittens. You can have some when they’re finished. They’re quite fiddly.’

Everyone watched Audrey play with the cat, but the atmosphere was still horrible and Mika couldn’t bear the tension any more. ‘How was your game?’ he asked at last.

‘A mess,’ Tom replied, bitterly.

‘Why?’ asked Audrey. ‘What happened?’

‘Kobi didn’t want to shoot at those red balls,’ Tom replied.

‘No, I didn’t,’ Kobi muttered defiantly through his hair. ‘They were
full of screaming children
. It felt like some kind of sick test to see whether we’d kill people.’

‘But I told you!’ Tom said, angrily. ‘It was just a
game
!’

‘Well it didn’t feel like one,’ Kobi muttered.

‘So you
didn’t
shoot the red balls?’ Mika asked.

‘He did eventually,’ Tom said. ‘But I had to beg him and by the time he changed his mind, it was almost too late. We had to chase after them and they nearly got away.’

‘We finished, didn’t we?’ Kobi said grumpily. ‘I don’t know what you’re moaning about.’

‘Because I
have
to win this competition!’ Tom said, desperately. ‘You don’t understand!’

‘Why do you
have to win
?’ Kobi said. ‘This is supposed to be a game but it’s making everyone behave like idiots! Audrey nearly got pushed off the platform this morning! Mika nearly had his
coat ripped off his back, and now you’re being a perp, Tom! You say it’s “just a game” and yet you’re so angry with me! I wish I’d stayed at home.’

Tom dropped his head and his face bloomed scarlet and suddenly he was normal Tom again. ‘Sorry,’ he said, looking as if he was fighting back tears. ‘Please don’t drop out, Kobi. My mum is sick and she’s working double shifts in the tank meat factory. We can’t afford to put the heating on. I want to help her.’

‘My mother’s dead,’ Kobi said harshly. ‘She died in The Shadows because of the mould.’

‘Oh,’ Tom said, sounding embarrassed. ‘I’m sorry.’

Kobi was quiet for a moment, then he sighed.

‘OK,’ he said reluctantly. ‘I’ll play.’

‘Are you sure?’ Tom asked, desperately.

‘Yes,’ Kobi replied. ‘For your mum.’

The companions waited silently in the middle of the table. The tiny borg cat sat amongst them and licked a metal paw, then it curled up and fell asleep on a noodle. The minutes gathered and dripped as slowly as the raindrops on the windows.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

The messages from the Youth Development Foundation arrived and everyone picked up their companion, hoping for good news.

16

HUNTER AND PREY

M
ika’s fingers trembled as he picked up his companion. All four screens on their table were glowing and the borg cat was sitting up again, awoken by the message alerts, but Mika didn’t dare believe they were the lucky ones until he’d read the message three times.

‘Congratulations, Mika Smith! Your team has been selected to compete in the second round of the competition! Please return to the arcade immediately! (Terms and conditions apply.)’

His relief was so intense he couldn’t smile or move or do anything.

‘We did it!’ Audrey cried, leaping up with excitement.

‘We’d better go back,’ Tom said, enthusiastically dragging on his coat. ‘Come on, Kobi!’

The disappointment of all the other competitors was heavy in the air and everyone stared at them as they walked towards the
door. It felt awful, but on the street Tom and Audrey rushed ahead, unable to contain their excitement.

‘Good luck,’ Kobi said as they approached the security borgs outside the arcade for the second time.

‘Thanks,’ Mika said, feeling so nervous, he had to remember to put one foot in front of the other. The borgs stepped aside to let them in without scanning their retinas.

‘Cool!’ Tom whispered, striding past them. ‘Just think, by the time we go home today we could have won a companion
and
a holiday!’

They were directed into a game room and told to stand in line at the edge of the red walkway. It was utterly silent.

‘Look who else is here,’ Audrey whispered.

Mika followed her eyes down the line of teams and felt his heart miss a beat as he saw Ruben and his game partner, Yee. Ruben whispered something in Yee’s ear and she smiled, nastily.

‘What’s he got on his head?’ Audrey said, stifling a giggle. Ruben was wearing a black bandana. ‘What a perp.’

Ruben glared at Mika as if he wanted to rip his legs off, and Mika looked away and tried to ignore him. He didn’t like it in the quiet arcade with the watching strangers behind the mirrors. He could feel them, sense their interest and greed, and his heart was beating so madly, he felt sure it would explode and redecorate the black walls with his blood.

A man came in and stood in front of them. ‘Congratulations,’ he said, in a flat voice. ‘You have reached the second round of the competition. This game will be different to the first, so listen carefully so you understand what you have to do. The first instruction regards your team. We want you to swap positions, so whoever was pilot last time is gunner this time. Does everyone understand?’

There was a wave of shocked whispers down the line and Mika and Audrey looked at each other, panic-stricken. Swapping roles seemed like a death sentence; she had always been the gunner when they flew – it was the way they worked.

‘Oh no!’ she hissed. ‘What are we going to do?’

‘We’ve got no choice,’ Mika whispered. ‘You can fly, can’t you?’

‘Yeah, of course I can, but what about you? Can you gun?’

‘I’m a bit rusty,’ he said. In truth he hadn’t flown as a gunner for weeks.

‘We’ve got to try not to panic,’ she said. ‘We’ve all got the same disadvantage.’

‘Quiet!’ the man said and a sickened silence fell. ‘And listen carefully. When you put your headsets on, you will find yourself on the mother ship again, as you were at the start of the last game. However, this time you will not be fighting the Red Star Fleet, you will be fighting against each other. Each of your Pod Fighters has a number. Your task is to shoot down one Pod Fighter while another pursues you. Imagine you are a link in a chain of Pod Fighters – you destroy the link in front of you, while the link behind attempts to destroy you. The aim of the game is to survive. Does everyone understand so far?’ Everyone nodded. ‘Good. You may not destroy
any
Pod Fighters other than the one you have been told to shoot down. If you do, you will be disqualified.’

‘Does that mean we can’t fire at the Pod Fighter chasing us?’ someone asked.

‘Exactly. You can’t fire at anyone except the Pod Fighter you’ve been told to shoot down.’

‘So how do we protect ourselves?’

‘That’s for you to figure out. Only the best will survive. You have forty-five minutes and your time starts . . . now!’

The teams turned and ran towards their simulators, and Mika’s hands were shaking so badly as he put his headset on, Audrey had to help him tighten the strap. When they were belted into their harnesses and ready, two Pod Fighter icons appeared in their visors with numbers underneath. One was marked ‘Prey’ and the other was marked ‘Hunter’.

‘So we have to shoot down number five and stay away from
number fourteen,’ Audrey said.

‘This is going to be a nightmare,’ Mika said. ‘How are you going to understand all the controls?’

‘Tell me now,’ Audrey replied confidently. ‘Show me a few and the rest I’ll have to guess.’

Mika began to tell her, prioritizing the most important, and through the windshield, the familiar domed hangar of the mother ship appeared. They were not alone on the launch strip this time; on either side of them were the other competitors’ Pod Fighters. Mika could see the teams inside, adjusting their headsets and preparing for take-off. A green light flashed indicating the start of the game.

‘Ready?’ Audrey said.

‘I suppose so,’ Mika replied, nervously.

Their ears filled with the roar of thirty engines and Mika grabbed the gun controls as Audrey prepared for take-off. They felt the familiar rush of air in their headsets as they shot off the landing strip, out of the mother ship and into space.

‘Don’t forget,’ Audrey said, ‘we have to shoot number five and avoid number fourteen.’ She dropped immediately so they broke away from the group. ‘Start looking for them.’

Above them, the other Pod Fighters looped around each other trying to find their prey amongst the swarm. The first unlucky victim went out within thirty seconds in a sudden flash of light.

‘I can’t see their numbers,’ Mika said. ‘We need to get closer.’

‘Give me a minute to get used to flying,’ Audrey replied. She dropped the Pod Fighter again, looped in a sharp corkscrew, then shot up and stopped dead.

‘That was good,’ Mika said.

‘Of course,’ Audrey replied.

Suddenly a Pod Fighter shot towards them from the right and Mika’s heart missed a beat.

‘It’s OK,’ Audrey said. ‘It’s not our hunter, it’s number eight.’

The Pod Fighter flew a playful arc around them and shot off
towards the main group again. The group was slowly dispersing and spreading out as hunters found their prey and set off in pursuit. Occasionally there was a flash of light as another team was shot down.

‘OK. Let’s go for it,’ said Audrey. Mika gripped the gun hard and they flew directly into the mass of Pod Fighters, searching anxiously for numbers five and fourteen, but everyone was moving so fast, they couldn’t see the numbers and within seconds they had someone on their tail.

‘Oh no, it’s our hunter!’ Audrey cried. ‘How did they find us? I can’t see the numbers!’

‘Neither can I,’ Mika said. ‘There must be some kind of display. Try the control panel. Try everything!’

Audrey dropped the Pod Fighter and looped, trying to evade their hunter while she jabbed at the icons on the control panels. Nothing happened; their hunter kept up and began to fire.

‘The controls aren’t doing a thing! Nothing!’ she yelled.

‘Try them in sequence or pairs!’ Mika said. ‘They must work somehow! Hurry! We’re going to get wasted!’

Their hunter was good; its hail of laser bolts was only just missing them, despite Audrey’s excellent flying. Twice Mika closed his eyes thinking, this is it, they’ve got us this time, only to open them again to find that by some miracle, they were still in the game. Audrey cursed as she stabbed at the icons and tried to keep them alive at the same time. Then all of a sudden an icon appeared in Mika’s visor, and as he looked at each Pod Fighter its number appeared.

‘That’s more like it!’ he said. They were silent for a few moments while they looked at the display.

‘We must be number thirty,’ Audrey said. ‘Look, you can see our hunter, number fourteen, following us. So where’s our prey?’

They searched the display for it.

‘I’ve found it,’ Audrey said, and she made a sharp U-turn back towards the mother ship with their hunter hard on their tail. ‘Top left. Eleven o’clock.’

The Pod Fighter they had to eliminate, number five, was hiding from them above the mother ship.

‘It must have destroyed its prey already,’ Mika said. ‘They didn’t waste any time, they must be good.’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ Audrey said. ‘We’ll get them anyway.’

Mika wasn’t so sure; they weren’t even in firing range when number five suddenly vanished.

‘No way! How did they do that?’ he exclaimed.

Their hunter fired a spray of laser bolts and they were forced to drop suddenly under the mother ship, losing their pursuer in the shadow of its bulk.

‘There must be an invisibility shield around our prey,’ Mika said. ‘In the last round we found a display for the invisible fighters, remember? They appeared like red ghosts.’

Audrey punched desperately at the control panel with one hand and wove the Pod Fighter through the shadow of the mother ship with the other. Suddenly another Pod Fighter appeared on the display. It was transparent and red, just like the ghost pods in the first round. When Mika looked at it, a red number five appeared.

‘OK, so we can see them now, that’s good.’

Their prey was a couple of kilometres away, hanging motionless in space. Audrey veered right and hurtled towards it, losing the protective shadow of the mother ship. Their hunter was on their tail again within seconds and firing at them.

‘This is impossible,’ Mika said.

‘No it’s not, I’m still looking for the invisibility shield,’ Audrey said, flying with one hand. ‘If our prey found it, we can.’ Moments later she said, ‘Yes!’ and a second red ghost appeared on the display.

‘That’s us!’ Audrey yelled, nearly deafening Mika through the headset. ‘Number thirty!’

Mika watched the display as their red ghost shot towards number five.

‘You’re a genius,’ he said, watching their hunter falter in
confusion and surprise, then veer off in the wrong direction.

A few moments later, number five shot up, realizing it had been seen.

‘Game on,’ Audrey said, and shot after it.

It was not easy following an invisible target, they could see nothing through the windshield, only the red ghost on their display, and Mika was impressed with Audrey’s flying skills, which kept them right on target. However, actually hitting the craft was going to be a different matter entirely, and when Mika began to fire, his shots missed it by hundreds of metres. It was like trying to catch a fly in his hand with his eyes closed.

‘It’s like the shape shifters in the first round, you need to anticipate where it will move,’ Audrey said.

‘I know,’ Mika said, irritably, shooting another couple of pointless rounds. ‘But you could predict exactly where the shape shifters were going to move, you can’t predict this.’

He watched the red ghost of number five for half a minute as it looped, dropped and corkscrewed through space without firing a shot and tried to figure out if there was a pattern to the way it flew.

‘Come on! We’ve only got five minutes left!’ Audrey said.

‘Give me a chance.’

Mika suddenly realized that the Pod Fighter always took a right-hand loop out of a corkscrew and all he had to do was wait for them to do it again.

‘There are only four Pod Fighters left,’ Audrey said, anxiously.

‘Three,’ Mika said, and fired a round. Number five was just pulling out of a corkscrew, and just as he’d predicted, they took a loop to the right. There was a blinding flash of light. When they could see again, only fragments of the shattered ghost remained, slowly spinning and spreading out into space.

They screamed and jumped in their seats.

‘You did it!’ Audrey yelled. ‘I can’t believe it!’

‘Thanks,’ he said sarcastically, feeling a little offended by her lack of faith.

‘No, I don’t mean you’re a bad gunner, they were just so good!’

‘I hope that was Ruben,’ he said.

‘Yeah, so do I,’ Audrey replied. ‘It would serve him right. Fancy coming here wearing a black bandanna, as if he’s the King of Kung Fu. He’s so arrogant.’

‘How much time have we got left?’ Mika asked.

‘Just over a minute.’

For that minute they hung in space and watched their hunter fruitlessly search for them. At one point the Pod Fighter passed so close, they held their breath.

A ‘Game Over’ icon appeared and they climbed out of the simulator and took their headsets off. Audrey’s eyes sparkled as if she had green fireworks exploding inside them, and her fairy face and red hair were gleaming with sweat.

They grinned at each other. They’d done it.

* * *

The teams stood in line and the simulators loomed around them like a silent jury in a courtroom. A man walked out of the darkness and read from the tablet in his hand. ‘Three teams have made it through to the third round,’ he said. ‘Please step forward when your number is called.