Psion Delta by Jacob Gowans

waiting for him. He put it on and
went to the cafeteria where other Betas slowly filed in. Antonio and Hefani
were already there along with Rosa, Miguel, and Parley. It being his first Game
back, Sammy eagerly checked the panel on the wall to see his team. Rosa,
Miguel, and Parley, who were deep in discussion, looked over at him as he
passed, but said nothing.
     
    Team
1: 5th floor
    Berhane,
Samuel
    Ivanovich,
Natalia
    Nujola,
Kawai
    Plack,
Brickert
    Tvedt,
Gefjon(*)
     
    Team
2: 5th floor
    Alanazi,
Cala
    Covas,
Miguel
    Covas,
Rosa
    Enova,
Levu
    Reynolds,
Kaden
    Reynolds,
Kobe
    Yoshiharu,
Asaki(*)
     
    Team
3: 5th floor
    Morel,
Brillianté
    Ndumi,
Hefani
    Otravelli,
Antonio
    Petrov,
Ludwig
    Plack,
Strawberry
    von
Pratt, Parley
    Zheng,
Li Cheng(*)
     
    Victory:
2 wins
    Maximum
Game Length: 60 minutes
    Start
time: 0630
     
    Sammy
didn’t believe what he saw. He’d never seen the teams intentionally unbalanced.
Byron had never done that. With two wins required at sixty minutes apiece, the
three teams could potentially play the Game for four hours. He looked back at
the table of older Betas who were watching to see his reaction.
    “Is
this for real?” he asked them.
    Parley
shrugged his shoulders.
    “New
guy,” Miguel commented. Rosa nodded her agreement.
    At
least I’m not honcho my first week back, he thought. Instead,
he’d be taking orders from Jeffie. The thought of being on her team picked him
up. Perhaps impressing her in the Game and helping her get a win was all she
needed to see she’d made the wrong choice in dating Kobe. Once his friends
showed up, it didn’t take long for a discussion to begin about Tawhiri’s choice
in the format of the teams.
    “Putting
Kobe and Kaden on the same team,” Kawai complained, “with none of the newest
recruits? That gives them a clear advantage. What’s this guy trying to pull?”
    “No
team without Sammy has a clear advantage,” Natalia said, smiling at him.
    “Maybe
Calamari wants to see what you’re capable of,” Brickert told Sammy.
    “You
know how to say his name correctly,” Jeffie scolded Brickert.
    Brickert
only grinned. “I’m on Team Byron through and through.”
    “Come
on, Natalia, that’s a laugh,” Sammy said. “I told you guys, my Anomaly Eleven
is gone. I don’t know when it’ll be back. I’m no better on a team than the next
guy.”
    “I
hope that’s not true,” Jeffie said as she sipped at her protein drink, staring
down at her napkin. “I haven’t gotten a win as a honcho yet, and I’m hoping
today will be my first. It’s kinda cool that you four are on my team.” She
looked at everyone but Sammy as she said this.
    “Don’t
get your hopes up, Jeffsicle!” Kobe called out to her. “Kaden and I have never
lost on the same team!”
    “That’s
baloney!” Natalia muttered. “Sammy, you beat them once. Remember?”
    “Err
. . . ” Sammy answered, “no, not really.”
    At
that moment, Major Tawhiri’s voice came over the speakers. “Hello, Psion
Betas!” He dragged out his words as if he were announcing for a major sporting
event. “It’s time. For. The. Game! Today’s winning team will receive a special
prize . . . to be determined tomorrow!”
    “Is
he for real?” Brillianté asked her friends loud enough for Sammy to overhear.
    “Take
your places and get ready to have a BLAST!”

 
     

     
     
    6. Orlando
     
     
     
    Monday May 13, 2086
     
     
     
    Filthy,
famished, fatigued, and feeling more humiliation than she’d
endured in years, the Queen walked the streets of downtown Orlando. Maintaining
her composure required all her strength. The last week had not been kind to
her. After the fiasco at Baikonur, she had flown to the nearest Thirteen cell
in Anchorage. Access to the facility had been denied. Shocked and scrambling to
figure out why, she tried contacting Diego, but he answered none of her calls.
    Her
next choice was to fly her cruiser back to her home in the mountains where she
found that her own