Tunnel Rat

Chapter 202: Warming Up

"She's not answering her phone, Eric. I need to find her. I scheduled her for a panel on new gaming technology. She'll be perfect for it."

Eric Kresthammer had the urge to grab his boss and friend, John, and slap him until he woke up and smelled the reality. He wanted to believe it was no sleep for 72 hours and too many doses of 'Wide-a-Wake, the Gamer's Friend.' But he had this urge when he was well rested. It was just John. Some people grew sharper under stress. John wasn't one of them.

"John, you don't want Belinda on that panel. Please drop that idea."

"Why not? She needs friends, and I'm trying to get her on team M-1000. She said she wanted friends."

"Yes, John. Most young people want friends. Can I remind you of a few things? She can't wear augmented gaming gear. She was in real pain from trying to use those gloves. She also knows you lied about having her medical team look at them first. All it took was a call to her doctors. So she can't wear the product you want her to endorse, and she isn't going to be accepted by a group of self-centered elite competition gamers who already think she's an idiot."

"What!? Why would they think that."

Eric poured another cup of hot black stuff in a pot by his desk. He couldn't get himself to call it coffee at this point. "John, you put Myra in a wig and a costume, told the people at Ubergear she was your daughter, and wheeled her up on stage. Myra took it from there and made Belinda look like an idiot. Not that anyone really thinks that's your daughter. Meanwhile, Belinda was actually doing some good work by stopping Chambers from getting you stuck in a lawsuit for harassing a disabled orphan."

John winced. "Yeah, that would be bad."

"You have no idea, John. He's also part of a VIP team that somehow got left off the VIP list. They were sent down by one of the Sponsors Belinda found. So not only would you have an ADA lawsuit, you could have had another for breach of contract. But I've been checking in with her bodyguards. Everything seems fine, and they invited her to compete with them in your 'Win it and take it home.' contest."

"Well, that's awesome! That was the whole point of this. Hopefully, she wins a game. She mentioned wanting some."

Eric stared at him. "Yes, John, she certainly did mention it. Excuse me? I need to make sure things are running well in the gaming area. Why don't you go find Myra, get her up to her room, and give her a tranquilizer." He didn't bother arguing with John further. Belinda had sent him the video of her stepfather promising her those games. She also used very grown-up terms like 'Breach of Contract,' 'Fraud', 'Paternal Divorce', and 'Emancipation.' He decided to check on Belinda personally and see if there was anything to salvage.

He found her in front of two Pacman2047 machines linked for dual play. She and someone else were wearing VR helmets and using controllers. It took a moment for Eric to realize she was using both hands on the controller. Belinda normally used controls in the arms of her wheelchair because of the nerve damage in her forearms and hands. It was the first time Eric had ever seen her using a controller. She was also wearing gloves. So was the young man next to her. That made him happy. Her bodyguards had said they overheard the kids making her part of the team and giving her a promotional item they were wearing. No wonder she was ignoring John. She was having fun with new friends.

The crowd around the machines cheered, and Eric paid attention to the game. It was being broadcast on one of the big screens. He hadn't played Pacman2047 for ages; it had been a difficult game to wrap his head around with elements of Pacman, a first-person shooter, and an RPG about spunky underground fighting against machine overlords. Belinda was on Chapter 27. Eric had never been past chapter 9. He watched as the two blew up machine after machine, organized the resistance, led raids on the central computer, tamed the sewer crocodiles, and finally took on the Big Boss in Chapter 30. Whoever was playing with her suicidally charged BossMachine, dodging lasers and tossing smoke grenades.

Everyone expected him to dodge and take cover at the last second, but he dove into BossMachine's huge mouth. The machine spun around, happy, said "yummy," and evolved 1 stage higher. The crowd was disappointed for a moment until huge explosions rocked the mechanical monsters, shutting them down with a blinking 'STUNNED' message on top of it. Belinda ran up and slid under the machine, firing one shot into a gap in the armor. There was a second explosion, and then the end credits scrolled, showing what was left of humanity reclaiming the world. Erik saw two names with absurdly high scores on the High Score list: Belinda Sabbatino and Ghost, both from Team Claw Master. No one else had a score close to them; the nearest had reached Chapter 13.

Members of the other teams were talking. They should have been playing, but nobody, NOBODY, got to level 30. They weren't going to try and headed for other games they could win. Pacman2047 welcomed teams of regular gamers who happily died in the first few chapters, over and over. Eric exhaled slowly. She was getting one of her games, for sure.

He followed as she and her new friend went over to another game. Within fifteen minutes, they were playing the classic Asteroids game. They had a high score before either of them lost a ship. Erik brought up the scoring program on his data pad. Currently, the M-1000 team held high scores on six games. Team Gearhead had three. No one else had more than 2, except for Team Claw Master. Belinda's team was holding the high scores on seventeen games. Some were only ahead by small margins, but others dominated to the point where the other teams weren't even trying.

He made sure to observe all of the teams. He owed that to Belinda. Every team was in custom gear of one sort or another. They represent the top people who competed on the retro-game circuit. The team from Ubergear had been the favorite to take the overall spot. That wasn't happening today, and people weren't happy. He recorded Team Claw Master with his badge cam as they played each game and instructed Belinda's guards to do the same. It would come in handy if anyone made a fuss.

If there was anything better than eating fried cheese and funnel cakes, Milo decided, it was eating the same food after four hours of non-stop gaming. All the teams were tired and getting food, but Team Claw Master looked like they had run a marathon. Kenji was asleep with his head on the table. Yumi was contemplating her third bowl of ice cream and moving slowly. Butch was relaxed and smiling with his feet on the table. His little sister was asleep in his lap. Ghost and Belinda were still talking strategy and rehashing how they might have done better on Invading Space Hamsters.

They'd have time; the game was going home with Belinda, along with fourteen others. A last-minute push by Gearhead had grabbed two from them, tying Gearhead and Ubergear at four games each. After the third hour, the M-1000 team had slowed down from their gloves, becoming uncomfortably warm as circuits overheated and burned out.

Dozens of gamers had asked for the Team's autographs. Several individuals from the other teams had also asked for signatures on their programs and then passed Butch or Belinda their business cards in case Team Claw Master had openings. Team M-1000 had been blunter. They offered contracts and positions on their team to Belinda and Ghost. Belinda took the contract, promising nothing, and said she'd consider. Mostly she was curious about the offered salary and benefits. She had ideas of her own.

Ghost thanked the man handing him a contract and a pen. He put the pen in his bag and used the contract as a placemat as he ate some gooey concoction of fried potatoes, cheese sauce, and chili. The gesture went unnoticed by anyone except for Ghost. He was actually thankful. He recognized the problem as too much chili and not enough fried potato. When the insulted gamer went to put his hand on Ghost's shoulder, Butch glared at him and spoke low. "You really, really don't want to do that." The hand was withdrawn.

John appeared on the overhead screens, all smiles. "Wasn't that awesome? And we've got more to come. Up next, we have six teams competing in our one-of-a-kind Tournament featuring the return of that Legendary game: Starship Commander. We had over nine teams show up to compete in the retro-game challenge. The top six teams will now get a chance to show the galaxy who has the best crew. So let's hear it for our brave space explorers: Team M-1000 from Ubergear, Team Gearhead, Team Nameless Order, Team Good Old Guys, Team PowerDrink, and Team MunchyPotato. Even in the depths of space, you'll find those tasty gamer snacks from MunchyPotato!"

Minerva scowled. "Why aren't we up there? We beat all of those people!" Butch was disappointed as well. He and Kenji had read up on the game. It looked dead sharp to play.

Belinda looked torn. "I'd love to. But it's a hard game to play. I did solo simulations as the Captain, a Gunner, and a LAC pilot. I could handle them, but the Navigator role is impossibly tough unless you have a lot of practice."

"I could do it." Everyone looked over at Ghost, who was staring into space. Belinda realized his wrap-around shades must be smart-glasses. He was reading something and flipping through screens.

Kenji looked at Butch. Minerva put her hands in the air. "Yes, let's do it! I want to fire the guns."

Belinda asked Ghost. "How can you do it? Have you played before?"

Ghost nodded. "Yeah, just now. I checked out the Navigator controls. It's just astrogation and accelerated gravity. If you can handle Captain, I'll take Navigator. Kenji and Yumi are on the big guns. They have the best scores for it. Butch and Minerva can handle the Light Attack Craft when we launch them." Butch and Minerva had been playing dogfight games like X-wing and Red Baron of Solaris X for years.

Butch gave them a thumbs up. "Let's do it. Can you get us in, Captain?"

Belinda signaled to one of her guards. "Can you call Eric and tell him we need to talk? There's been a mistake in the roster for SC6."