“If it helps,” said Nizhoni, “think of the cube as resting on one of its pointed corners instead of one of its flat sides. Then, one goal is at the bottom, and the other is at the top.”
Fintan nodded. That was a good way of looking at it. The aim of the game was simple. Get the ball into the goal by any means necessary. While the saucer could carry the ball, a collision would cause the ball to drop. Additionally a saucer could fly fast and drop the ball, in which case it would continue along the trajectory the saucer had been heading in, carried by its inertia, like dropping a ball out of a moving car. Thus, to score one could either carry or drop the ball into the goal.
They practiced carrying and avoiding collisions with each other. Then they practiced collisions to see how the ball would break free, and if there was anything they could do to protect it or get an advantage in recovering it. They practiced flying around the bounds of the arena as quickly as they could, avoiding the walls and corners.
It was exhilarating! They were getting it, and knew that they would be able to compete in the game.
With that, Saturday came, and it was time for Starball.
***
Saturday morning’s breakfast was quiet at their table.
“Nervous?” asked Zack.
Nizhoni nodded. Fintan croaked a weak “yes.”
Simon stood by their table.
“So, nuggets,” he said. “Report to the arena at 1000, suited up and ready to play. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” they both replied.
Simon smiled, amused, and turned to Fintan.
“I see your little squaw has been teaching you about respect. Good that you’ve been learning something after I kicked you out of our practices. Be there, and don’t be late.”
He walked off.
Zack had his eyebrows raised. “Kicked you out of practice?” he mimicked.
Fintan stayed quiet and looked down at his breakfast.
“When did he do that?” asked Zack, insistent.
Again, Fintan didn’t answer.
“Every day,” said Nizhoni.
“What?” said Zack. “What did you do? Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because,” said Nizhoni “it was necessary to keep it a secret.”
“A secret even from us?” said Zack, sounding hurt, and looking towards Fintan. “I thought we were friends!”
“We are,” said Fintan, but by then Zack had gotten up and walked away from the table, shaking his head.
Ayako had said nothing, but was also looking at Nizhoni, hurt in her eyes.
Nizhoni said nothing.
“I’d better go see if Zack is okay,” said Ayako, getting up and following him.
As always, Nizhoni was calm and unbothered. Then she melted a little. “We can tell them after the game, but, there will be many questions, and I cannot answer them all yet.”
***
They assembled in the team ready rooms a quarter of an hour before the game.
“So,” Simon said to the team, fully assembled for the first time. Rules didn’t allow him to throw Fintan and Nizhoni out, and the rules of the exhibition game meant that he had eleven players only, and all must suit up and play. “It’s the Nine of us against a full strength Blue Squadron.”
The other players shuffled a little, casting the occasional glance at Nizhoni and Fintan.
“Yes, sir,” they said, but not in unison.
Simon fell silent and forced them all to look him in the eye.
“We’re a squadron of what?” he asked them quietly.
“Bravery!”
“What makes us Brave?” he asked.
“Combat!” came the answer.
“Where do we find combat?”
“Anywhere, everywhere, Anywhere, Everywhere!” they chanted.
“Anywhere and everywhere!” said Simon. “Today we will go into combat. Nine against Eleven.”
He called up a virtual display of the Starball cube. It was arranged in the same way as Nizhoni had explained it, balanced on one corner, with the Red Squadron goal at the top, and the Blue Squadron goal at the bottom.
“You two,” he said, gesturing to Nizhoni and Fintan, “will cover these corners.” He pointed at the four corners of the cube that were not goals and that were furthest from the action. “You are not to touch the ball at any time. Is that clear?”
Fintan looked at the corners. They had no strategic value in the game, and were as far away from the action as was possible. He was putting them on the field, but he didn’t have to play them.
“Stupid freshers will just get in our way,” he said. “So stay in those corners well away from the action. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” said Nizhoni.
Fintan shrugged, unhappy, but followed her lead. “Yes, sir.”
***
The game began with Red and Blue Squadrons feeling each other out in the center of the park. Each squadron would hold the ball for a little while, trying to penetrate the other team’s side of the cube, getting a little closer to the goal each time, but not committing.
Nizhoni popped up in a window in Fintan’s field of view. A red dot in the top right hand corner of the window showed that she was in ‘private’ mode, and that nobody else could hear their conversation.
“They’re feeling each other out, right?”
Fintan nodded. “When Blue figure out why we’re here, they’ll realize they have a two-ship advantage. Red’s only chance is to score before then, and try to hold out defensively.”
Almost on cue, Red got more aggressive, pushing deeper and deeper into Blue territory, but leaving their goal untended.
“I wish I could hear what they’re saying,” said Fintan. “They even cut us off from communications.”
Nizhoni was watching the game play out. “One thing I have to say about Simon,” she said. “He’s a heck of a flyer.”
Fintan watched as the captains ship darted in and out of the Blue formation. He was clearly acting as a diversion, hoping for the other team to double or triple team him and regain the advantage.
“It might suck that he’s treating us like this, but he sure can play the game.”
On his screen, Nizhoni nodded.
Simon stopped being a decoy and made a run for the other team’s goal. He had gotten in front of the others and Red 2 sent the ball in his direction. His saucer caught it, spun on its axis, and without stopping the balls momentum, propelled it off a wall and into the corner of the goal.
It was 1-0 to Red, despite being outnumbered.
Fintan turned on the external feed. The crowd was going crazy. Two fifth-years, one from Green and one from Yellow acted as commentators. They were in awe at Simon’s flying, but curious about the tactic of keeping Fintan and Nizhoni in neutral corners.
“Sure they might be useless due to their inexperience,” said one, a blonde American girl from Yellow Squadron. “He could at least have them guarding the goals.”
The game started again, but instead of sitting back and defending their lead, Red pressed its advantage. Their attack was devastating, and Blue was reeling backwards before Red 3 caught the ball and shot a curving shot around the last Blue ship and into the goal.
“Wow,” said Nizhoni. “Did you see that? He spun his ship as he released the ball, causing the ball to spin, and then curve past the keeper. Amazing.”
Fintan looked at the clock. Over Eleven minutes of the twenty allotted for the game remained.
“Long way to go,” he said. “Blue are not dumb. They’ll catch on soon enough.”
Blue Squadron had started triple teaming Simon, keeping him out of the game. Everywhere he went, even when he slipped back into his own half they shadowed him, and slowly they started putting on pressure. Whenever Simon would drop back into his half, Blue 7 would break off from marking him and make for the Red goal. Blue Leader had an accurate shot and would shoot the ball down the field trying to catch him open. Red had t
o keep dropping ships back to stop being stretched.
Almost inevitably Simon made a mistake. He pushed his ship forward, trying to catch Blue leader off guard, but Blue leader was ready, and lobbed the ball downfield, off the force shields. Blue 7 caught it and shot into the undefended goal.
“There’s plenty of time left, and now the deficit is just one goal. It’s looking increasingly like Red are playing 9 on 11, keeping the two newbies out of the game,” said the commentary. “It was a bold move, but will it last?”
As the seconds ticked down, Blue was now pressing the game. Simon and the rest of Red Squadron were fighting a brave game, defending their goal like crazy, and content not to attack, but to punt the ball towards the other goal whenever they got it.
With only two minutes left, Blue broke through again and scored. Red 6 made a sloppy mistake as she tried to shoot the ball downfield. Blue were ready for the move, intercepted and used their two-ship advantage to pass the ball into the gap behind Red 6 and score.
Fintan was glad he couldn’t hear the rest of Red’s communication. He was sure that Simon was angry and using some interesting words at this point.
“If the game remains tied, it will go into sudden death overtime,” said Nizhoni. “First team to score wins.”
“We’ve as good as lost.”
“I have an idea,” said Nizhoni.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” smiled Fintan. She smiled back.
“No time to explain, but cover my back.”
“Always.”
There were just a few seconds left on the clock. Red had blocked another Blue attack and punted the ball again downfield towards the Blue goal. As the goalkeeper came out to pick it up, Nizhoni’s ship darted out of her corner.
She flew in an arc, heading for another corner, but while on the way she shot the ball with her beam weapons. It bounced away from the goalkeeper, off a wall and spun back heading roughly across the field, but slightly towards the Red goal.
Fintan saw what she was doing. She had hit the ball with a precise shot, forcing it to backspin off the wall in her direction. She was following Simon’s orders by not touching the ball, and was staying out of the area of action by flying towards another corner. The trajectory of the ball was taking it closer to her, allowing her next shot to be more powerful.
Blue Leader seemed to catch on to what she was doing. He had laid in an intercept course to block her from shooting it.
It was time for Fintan to act. He laid in an intercept course of his own.
His ship darted across the arena and hit Blue Leader cleanly. Fintan’s ship jarred violently and fell from his pedestal. He bumped his head hard on the side of the console. Dizzied, he quickly scrambled to his feet to regain control.
Just in time to see Nizhoni shoot the ball with a full blast from the underside of her ship. She shot the ball on its side, causing it to spin, and it curved around the goalkeeper and into the net.
There were only 3 seconds left, and no time for Blue to come back.
The score was 3-2. Red Squadron had won.
***
They landed in the Red Squadron landing zone amid cheers from the full squadron. Dismounting their ships they could see that everyone had come out to cheer them on. Fintan searched the crowd for Zack and Ayako, and of course they were right at the front, cheering on their friends.
He rushed to them, and Zack enveloped him in a big bear hug. “Sorry about earlier,” he said. “I know that you’ll tell me when the time is right. And, uh, nice waiting around out there. Never saw anybody do so little but still decide a game!” He winked.
Ayako and Nizhoni were hugging and sharing some quiet words too.
Simon didn’t look too happy. “Squadron,” he said. “Debrief in my ready room, now!”
They entered the ready room, smiling and jovial until they saw Simon staring at them. The rest of the squadron looked stunned by his attitude. Fintan guessed that they were thinking that holding Nizhoni and Fintan in reserve until the end of the game had been part of a brilliant plan.
“You disobeyed orders,” he said to them. Mostly to Nizhoni.
“With respect sir, I didn’t,” she responded.
“I told you to stay out of the way and out of the game.”
“No sir,” she responded. “You told us not to touch the ball, and to stay in the corners well away from the action. Neither Fintan nor I touched the ball. We stayed exactly where you told us to.”
“Don’t get smart with me little girl,” he said.
He was raising his hand to slap her, when something snapped in Fintan and he stood between them. “Take your hands off her,” he yelled, pushing Simon in the chest.
Simon countered with his right fist, catching Fintan in the jaw.
The blow knocked Fintan off his feet, and his head cracked against a table on the way down. He hit the ground, out cold.
Chapter 12. Secrets
Interesting game.
Yes, Red Leader was impressive wasn’t he?
That’s not what I’m referring to.
Are you sure?
He was standing on the side of a hill with woods stretching upslope from him. The sky was a crisp blue, and the air was cold and fresh. He looked around to see purple mountains on the horizon in all directions.
He heard a voice calling him. It was faint and distant carried by the wind. He looked around, trying to catch the direction. The voice called out again, unearthly, but still warm and with genuine love in its sound.
He decided that downhill would be the way to go. As he started walking he looked down at his feet. They weren’t his feet – instead he looked down at brown-haired claws. He caught his reflection in a small pool of water.
A bear.
The voice called him again.
I’m dreaming he thought. But he didn’t wake up and the voice kept calling him. He continued down the hill, into a large and wide canyon.
It was beautiful. The earth itself was painted in many colors, from deep reds through yellows and browns. The trees accented it with deep greens. He never wanted to leave here.
The voice called him again. It was louder now, and female, cadenced with such warmth. He wanted to meet its owner.
He walked around the curving canyon.
A tower came into view. It was like a skyscraper, but natural. He’d seen rock stacks before, but this one was impossibly high and impossibly straight. Its strata showed horizontal stripes leading up into the sky.
He reached out to touch it. White light filled his vision.
***
The light began to dim, and to resolve itself. There was somebody’s face there and it was calling him. He could make out dark hair, but no features yet. It was too blurred.
He felt his hands. His hands. Someone was holding his left hand in both of hers.
Hers. He looked to the face again and could hear her speaking his name.
Fintan it said. Wake up.
His vision cleared and the face resolved itself to a girl. She was pleasant-looking with dark reddish skin and a mane of thick black hair.
I know her.
She said his name again.
Fintan, wake up. Come back to us, please.
“Nizhoni,” he croaked, surprising himself. “Nizhoni.” So that was her name.
The face turned to the side. “Doctor,” it said. “He’s waking up.”
His vision cleared some more. He was in a bed in what clearly looked like a hospital. Nizhoni was sitting by the bed, holding his hand talking to him. A man rushed in, wearing a white coat. He looked at some instruments, and then reached over Fintan’s head to adjust something. It hurt when the doctor touched him. His head pounded.
“Ow,” said Fintan.
“Sorry,” said the Doctor. “You took a knock to the head. You’re lucky to be awake so quickly.”
“What happened?”
“When you crashed your ship into that guy,” said Nizhoni, “you cracked y
our head bad. Afterwards you collapsed and hit it again.”
“There’s also a bruise on his jaw,” said the doctor, quizzically.
“On his way down, he bumped it,” said Nizhoni. “I told you already.”
The doctor harrumphed, clearly not believing her.
“He needs more rest,” said the Doctor.
“Which is why you won’t disturb him with interrogations,” said Nizhoni.
“He’s in good shape now, best to let him sleep,” said the Doctor. “Please, leave him. I’ll call you when he’s ready to talk some more.”
Nizhoni looked disappointed.
“No,” croaked Fintan. “I want her to stay a little longer.”
The doctor sighed. “All right, but just a few minutes,” he said, before leaving.
When he left, Nizhoni turned back to Fintan and smiled her rare smile.
“Better than any medicine,” he said.
She raised an eyebrow.
“Your smile,” he said.
She rewarded him with a larger smile before growing serious.
“Fintan,” she said. “Thank you. Thank you for having my back both in the game and in what happened afterwards. You should know that you don’t need to protect me from a bully like Simon. I can do that myself. I’m sorry he hurt you.”
“You didn’t want the doctor to know that, did you?”
“No.” she said.
“Why not? That jerk should be punished for what he did!”
“Please try to relax,” she said, “or the white-coated tyrant will be back.”
Fintan smiled.
She continued. “If we push the point, the truth will come out. And the truth is that you hit him first. He was defending himself.”
“That’s not true,” said Fintan. “He was going to hit you.”
“Look at it how teachers would,” she said. “You think he was going to hit me, but he didn’t. Had he done so it would be different, but you are the one who lost his temper and hit first. Think of the story that they could tell. Simon humiliated you by not letting you play so you attacked him. That could get you thrown out of the school,” she paused, “and I wouldn’t like that.”
Fintan thought it through. She was right. “So he’s going to get away with it,” he said.
“Not exactly,” she said, smiling again. She winked.
“You’ve been hanging out with Zack too much,” said Fintan.