Tunnel Rat

Chapter 208: A new variable

There was only so much food you could eat, Milo thought sadly. He was always starving after a session of heavy work, whether physical or mental. The navigator role of SC6 had given him a workout. Managing the ship's navigation had been easy, but the task of spotting and charting the black holes had been exhausting. The advantage they had given their team proved the strategy worth it. The large groupings of missiles had sailed close to the anomalies, and their paths had been bent as they went by. Tracking an enemy's missiles was impossible when that close to a black hole. After anyone observing had lost track of them, they were free to continue their journey until they came close to an enemy ship from an unexpected angle. It was a difficult way to fight with missiles, and only a few people had done it successfully in the old days of the game. The other two teams were quite astounded and asked a lot of questions. Milo just shrugged and said. "We got lucky. Couldn't have done it without you guys letting us use your sensors."

By common agreement, no one was talking about mysterious messages with information on the enemy teams. Belinda had held a quick conference with the captains of the other two groups. Good Old Boys and Nameless Order assumed that Claw Master had received a similar message. Belinda helped with that narrative. "I don't think someone at Ubergear was really happy with how they played the game. Serves them right." After that, nothing was said, and they concentrated on food and talking about how the game used to be.

After an hour of talking, Milo was getting itchy. He'd been around people a long time. Maybe this was good for him? He'd just talked himself into staying when a montage of gaming video came onscreen. Belinda cringed and put both hands on her face. "Oh god, no. Not this. I told him not to play this." What came on the screen was a video taken of Belinda winning her first SmashbroReunion tournament when she was 10, followed by other videos and still shots of her playing other games or winning matches. Finally, the last part showed gameplay in the Genesis MMO. It was ten minutes of the raid against the first World Boss.

Belinda was shown organizing a raid of players and giving a speech: "Nothing’s over until we say it's over! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? HELL NO! This could be the best day of our lives, but you're going to let it be our worst."

The footage showed various heroes doing their part as Belinda kept them going with her healing and encouragement.Finally, it showed the World Boss crumbling into bits of crystal and a huge chest appearing. Belinda was seen taking a glowing crystalline mace from the chest and a golden round shield marked with the symbol of Asclepius. There were more bits and pieces: Belinda was in the game giving an interview about the raid. Belinda showing the details of the magical items she used and showing off the Merciful Ring of the Empress, one of the first Legendary items to be found.

Minerva stared. "You're that Belinda? That's so cool. I want to play that game so badly. Daddy is inside it often, but he has to do whatever his boss says and doesn't get to do cool stuff."

Next to her, Milo was very still. Several variables had been added to his life today, and he was at the point where he desperately needed time to think. He nodded to the gang and stood up. "Have to go." Before anyone could talk, he was weaving between people and disappeared behind a row of machines. Butch stood up, but Yuri tugged on his sleeve. "Let him go; it's fine. This is a long time for him, with lots of people." Butch sat back down.

Belinda looked at them, wanting to ask a question but unsure. Yuri came to her rescue. "It's fine. Not your fault or anyone else. Ghost is sort of introverted and needs a lot of time to himself. Being around people puts a lot of pressure on him. This is more people than he's been around at once. But he's doing better. I'm surprised he made it this long."

Kenji laughed. "He had video games and food. That always extends his visits."

Further talk of Ghost stopped as Brad arrived, looking happy. He was wearing his Claw Master gloves and had a plate of food. "Hey, I'm hearing some great stuff. You guys rocked and scored some cool swag?" He was given a play-by-play of the event from multiple sources.

Belinda was introduced, and the two of them shook gloved hands. Butch asked him, "How's your mom? You got her in for treatment?"

Brad smiled broadly, "Better than that, even. Someone came down the line looking for us and took us into the clinic. Someone at Claw Master found out she was sick. Maybe when I filled out her paperwork for the clinic? Mr. Eady called the clinic and said that they would cover my mom's medical treatment as part of the contract we signed. She's staying in a medical pod for two days and getting the medicine she needs. They said they can clean out her lungs and put her on a treatment plan with better pills."

Butch and everyone else was excited. "Damn, this deal gets better and better."

Belinda flexed her left hand again, wondering. She needed to find out more about this mysterious sponsor. And she needed to talk to Ghost. For now, though, she was happy to be with new friends. "Hey, can I show you guys my rooms? I've got some space I want to turn into a sort of clubhouse with the games we won."