THEY — Chapter 11 — Game
This is chapter 11 of my book “THEY”. If you are finding it for the first time, please begin with Chapter 1 (or check the INDEX )! When you’re done, check out more of my stories on my MEDIUM profile: Caralynn Scott — Medium
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CHAPTER 11 — Game
Given the circumstances, Jennic slept very well her first night. Perhaps the illusion of being in her own bed, surrounded by her own things in what appeared to be her own room made her feel at ease. However, when she woke the next morning, she found herself disoriented. Everything was so familiar, and yet there existed a gnawing sense that it was just not right. She felt lost in a hyper realistic dream world, unable to distinguish between the dream of being at home and this new reality. it took a few minutes to process the events of the previous day and conclude that it had indeed not been a dream; this was really happening.
She gradually returned to a more alert state, and glanced over at the window which, although seemingly showing a sun rising over the horizon, was decidedly simulated.
The Arti noticed she had awakened and rolled up beside the bed, announcing, “Breakfast will be available in ten minutes. Can I assist you in your preparations?” No, this was no dream. This was not her familiar Arti.
Jennic had never really enjoyed her Orbit Celebration each year, but as her mind wandered, she began thinking how this day would have played out differently if she were at home. Perhaps it was for the best. She detested the gatherings and all the attention. She decided she would take some time to find her way around this place, and no matter what happened, she determined to be a better person for it.
The Arti picked out clothes for her and she changed quickly tossing her nightwear on the bed. The Arti dutifully picked it up and put it away. Another trip in the cube and she entered the common room. Immediately noticing that there was a new selection of items in the display case, after filling a plate, she scanned the room looking for her new friends. There were only about half the guests she had seen previously and all of them seemed unfamiliar, busily chattering amongst themselves. She could not locate the familiar ones anywhere. Perhaps not everyone ate together at the same time, and it seemed just her luck that she must have come on a different shift.
Jennic realized she was feeling lonely, having never been anywhere by herself. Her parents or her school mates or her teachers had always been there and she had always felt safe with them. Now she felt very isolated, and vulnerable. Following breakfast, she sat at the same workstation as the night before. Closed in with low walls on three sides, it was intended to make it easier to concentrate on one’s work, but it did not stop her from being distracted by thoughts of the others.
The morning dragged by, and she found herself repeatedly having to bring her focus back to her work. Rewinding the white coat instructor’s presentation three times, as they droned on about biology (not nearly her favourite subject), her mind continued to drift, speculating about this “place” where gendered people were sent. Was it similar to the facility or was it completely different? If it were the same, then why wouldn’t they just keep her here? No, she decided, it must be something different, but what could it be then? The thought troubled her.
Jennic tried to ask the Arti about it, but the little automaton was not helpful. “I have no data on the subject matter.” was the best it could offer. This worried her even more, as the Arti was connected to ARI who housed the entire accumulation of the world’s knowledge. Usually, together they could be relied on to supply information on any topic, location, or event throughout history, and if the Arti could not retrieve anything about this “place”, then it must definitely be unusual.
Somehow, in spite of the lack of concentration, she succeeded in finishing the lecture and even completed a topic review quiz before her allotted time was finished. The lack of interest and attention did not hamper her score, however. It was still reasonably high. Other students began leaving their workstations, heading across the great room to the eating area, some taking a seat for a few minutes in the common area before going for lunch.
Jennic did not feel very hungry so she decided she would sit in the couches halfway across the room to think some more, but as she approached a ring of comfortable seats, she spotted Fenlow and his friends approaching from the lecture halls. They spotted her immediately and crossed the area to join her.
“How was your evening last night?” Fenlow asked, walking right past her and seating himself unceremoniously at the back of the ring. Each of his friends followed him, taking up spaces around the circle.
“It was… Interesting.” She offered tentatively.
“I bet it was!” Xania quipped and once again, Fenlow gave her his glaring look and she backed down.
As if Jennic had been casually walking by, Fenlow offered politely, “Come. Sit.”, indicating an empty space next to Laybo, who shuffled himself a little bit further round the couch and smiled shyly as Jennic sat herself down beside him. He seemed nervous, and Jennic thought he had left a little more space than was necessary, but she was happy to sit next to him.
“Did they give you ‘The talk’?” asked Relyn, a darker skinned individual who had identified herself as female.
In spite of the lessons and therapy they were all undergoing, this small group of friends seemed to be increasingly growing to accept who they were, and they were not abandoning their concepts of gender. If anything, they were growing stronger in their convictions of who they were. They were always careful to use neutral pronouns when talking with instructors and the Doctors, but amongst themselves they had no reservations, using the ancient male and female pronouns freely. Their little private rebellion seemed to have bonded them closely and bolstered their courage. For the first time in her life, Jennic felt a yearning to be a part of a group.
“She means did they tell you what’s going to happen here?” Fenlow explained.
“A little… I guess. It wasn’t clear though. The Doctor seemed more interested in telling me what I should be than listening to what I was. And they mentioned a ‘place’ that we go if they can’t ‘correct’ us. Do you know anything about that?”
“That’s not a surprise,” Fenlow said, “they are always cagey — never saying anything, really. They just feed you the ‘common narrative’.” Fenlow said, framing the words in air quotes, and speaking with an authoritative voice.
Xania seemed eager to jump in, “What Fenlow means is; their job is to ‘normalize’ us, and that’s all they talk about. They will chew you up and mix you up until you don’t know which end is up, and if you aren’t palatable enough to swallow, they’ll spit you out in the garbage. They don’t really care about us at all.”
“Stinky!” Fenlow glared at Xania once again, and again she backed down quickly. Jennic chuckled to herself as she was beginning to see a pattern in their relationship. She was also beginning to deduce that the nickname they had given her may not have been earned solely for her personal hygiene habits.
“Don’t let them scare you more than I’m sure you already are.” Fenlow said, directing a warning glance at the other three sitting in the circle. “This is no vacation spot. Things are not what they seem to be.”
Jennic liked these people, but she did not know yet if she could trust them completely. What if the doctors were right? What if these new friends could not let go of their personal convictions and would lead Jennic down the wrong path? She did not think so, however. She knew herself well enough to know she was not so easily swayed. Ultimately, she would make up her own mind, in her own time. But first she needed to gather more information. She needed to know what was really going on. Apart from Xania’s reference to ‘garbage’, she had not missed the fact that none of them had talked about the place they could be sent. It did not help that her friends seemed to be just as secretive as the doctors and the Artis were.
Jennic found herself fiddling with her fingers in her lap. She stopped and looked at Fenlow. His strength of character was charismatic. Contagious even. She knew she would have to be careful not to be drawn into something dangerous before she understood it and was prepared for the consequences.
“You have friends now.” Fenlow reassured Jennic, “We help each other here.”
“Thank you.” she answered, shyly and cautiously, feeling a little less alone.
Jennic remained silent as they moved to the tables and ate their lunch together, listening intently in the way she used to do in groups of people. Xania and Relyn discussed their morning’s lesson loudly, something about botany and the conversion of plant-based materials into protein rich nutrients. They sounded extremely involved in the topic, but Jennic could only follow some of it and lost interest quickly. Before long, it was time to return to their studies, which for Jennic meant linguistics.
The break was a welcome relief from the distracting thoughts keeping her from concentrating all morning, and even though it was now the afternoon, she found herself slightly more engaged in her studies. Time slipped by quickly.
Supper came, and the little group of five congregated around a table as they had the night before. This time the conversation turned to something far less weighty; the evening’s upcoming game of Hockrosse.
Though she wanted to know more, Jennic felt relieved there was no more talk about the facility, or the unknown “place” that seemed so foreboding.
As they talked, it became apparent that Laybo was one of the star forwards on the favoured team and all of his friends eagerly volunteered observations and tips intended to help Laybo play a better game against the opposing team. It was the most animated Jennic had ever seen Laybo, as he shared his own strategies and bounced ideas off his friends.
Jennic was familiar with the game. She never had much interest in team sports in general, but she had played once as part of a physical exercise class and had played rather poorly at that. The instructor was satisfied that it was enough for her to learn the rules of the game, though, and as the team continued to play, knowing her academic talent, asked her on a few occasions what the best way to rebound the ball or dodge an opposing player was. Now she listened carefully to her friends and occasionally shared a tip or two from what she remembered.
Through the conversation, she learned that the teams at the facility were made up of small subsets of guests. Roughly half the residents participated in the teams, playing in the matches against each other. In all, they made up five teams of five players each.
Playing was optional, of course, but due to the general lack of social events and other activities to participate in, those who did not play came out to watch the games. Even the staff joined as spectators, making it a rare occasion that everyone shared socially. As Jennic had nothing better to do and she thought the game might help her further forget her worries for the evening, she decided to go along with Fenlow, Xania and Relyn to watch Laybo perform.
They entered the exercise space where she had previously seen the track, and she watched as the Artis cleared the floor of equipment and pulled seating from storage in the walls. The resulting benches covered the outer track almost completely.
As Jennic and the others found places on the benches, two teams entered the cleared area wearing glide skates and carrying their pocket shafts beside them like royal sceptres. They came into the arena from a door on the opposite side of the glass wall, where Jennic learned there were rooms for changing.
Upon reaching the center, they stood in two lines facing each other. An announcement bellowed from the space above them, instructing everyone to take their seats, and one minute later, the floor in the middle of the room began to sink into a concave, flattened, oval cavity with the ten players now standing about ten feet below the ridge of the playing area. As the field sank, the seating — about five rows deep — raised like a layer cake, with the back row high enough to see clearly over the others and into the entire concave space.
Cheering erupted from the small crowd and the two teams quickly took their positions. Each team had a goalkeeper stationed beside a circular hole at their end of the pit. There were two defenders, one on either side in front of the keeper, and two forwards, positioned close to the middle line. A klaxon signalled preparation for the game to start and the forwards, Laybo on the right side for his team, tensed, struck a pose, and readied themselves for action.
Wah, Wah, Wah, Whaaaah. The fourth, longer blare of the klaxon was the signal to begin play. A holographic ball appeared, floating at exactly the center of the arena and the players jumped into action, skating quickly toward their target.
One of the forwards from the opposing team managed to reach the middle first and jumped up slightly to reach the “ball” which hung calmly in the air. Swiping at it with the ring at the end of their shaft, the image of the ball was captured and stuck instantly, remaining fixed in the middle of the ring, which began to glow.
The player could not keep it long, however, as the other forward on Laybo’s team was ready when the player with the ball landed and swung upward toward their descending shaft. When they made contact, the ball flew from their opponents’ ring, travelling in a straight line upward.
The ball did not return to the ground in an arc, as gravity would have affected it, and it did not slow down, as it would if there were friction. Instead, it headed upward and rebounded off an invisible boundary above them in the same shape as the concave floor below.
The ball, now travelling toward the floor continued unabated and at a constant speed. Laybo jumped toward it, deftly snagged it in his ring, then, with a single motion, twirled the shaft and released the ball toward the opponents’ goal with extreme accuracy. The keeper from the opposing team was caught completely off guard, not expecting such an early attack. However, they managed to snag the ball as it headed for the goal. Everyone cheered, some for Laybo and some for the keeper who immediately tossed the ball to one of their own defenders.
The game moved incredibly fast. Sweat soaked the players after the first ten-minute period, and they looked exhausted already. They took a five-minute break before returning with even more fury during the second period. By the end of the third, the score was tied at four points each and the small crowd was in a frenzy as the klaxon blared. The fourth period began with a renewed vigour. The teams seemed evenly matched, and it was anyone’s guess who might win. The ball was passed and bounced around the arena, going up and down and back and forth between all of the players who’s rings glowed with each capture of the ball, like the lights in a pinball machine — another ancient device Jennic had actually tried on one of her many return visits to the museum.
At nine minutes and forty-five seconds in the fourth and final period, an opposing forward flung the ball skilfully towards the other forward who was making a break for the goal. Just as the second forward was about to snag the ball, Laybo seemed to come out of nowhere and capture it. A quick spin on his skates deftly changed his direction and he skated like lightning toward the opposite goal. The two defenders headed directly for Laybo, their shafts raised, ready to knock the ball out of Laybo’s ring, but he did not slow down as he headed straight for them.
It seemed like there was going to be a three-way collision as the two defenders continued their advance. They were focussing on Laybo so much they hardly noticed each other. Suddenly Laybo leapt, performing a flip over the two defenders who, racing directly towards each other, abruptly realized they were about to collide. As they stopped, Laybo easily landed behind them, heading faster than ever toward the goal. One flick of the wrist, but the ball remained in the ring. Laybo swung around. He faked a throw a second time. By now the defenders had recovered and were approaching fast. One final flick of his wrist and the ball sped straight between the keeper’s knees.
The defending team’s end of the arena suddenly began flashing red and blue in acknowledgement of the goal. The crowd was on their feet with their hands in the air, screaming and cheering. It was electric. Jennic, who had completely forgotten herself, and was cheering for Laybo right there with her new friends who were congratulating each other as if it were they themselves who had scored the winning goal. The concave playing area gradually rose, and the seats sank to the level ground. The players waved to the crowd as they jubilantly exited the field.
A few moments later, Laybo re-joined the group, still dressed in his gear. Fenlow congratulated him on a game well played, and they wrapped their arms around each other — a gesture unfamiliar to Jennic.
Xania noticed the confused look on Jennic’s face and leaned in to quietly educate her. “It’s called a hug… It hasn’t been popular for hundreds of years — Neutrals like their personal space you know — but we enjoy the contact!”
Laybo reached out to Ranya, then Xenia took a turn. Finally, Laybo looked at Jennic who stiffened visibly. “Come on… it’s not every day I score the winning goal!” Laybo said, coming closer and closer. His warm body wrapped around Jennic, who felt herself relax slightly, though her arms remained steadfastly at her sides. A warm feeling came over her, and she thought she liked it.
“That wasn’t so bad now, was it?” Laybo whispered in her ear.
“No.” Jennic nervously whispered back.
“Man do you need a shower!” Fenlow laughing, “Maybe we should have called YOU stinky!”
A chuckle rippled through the friends, though Xania, pretending to be possessive of her nickname, faked a pout and an unimpressed glare. Laybo glanced at Jennic, and their eyes met for a moment. Time seemed to freeze for an instant as Jennic realized she had been staring at him. For just a fleeting moment, there was a connection between them, something Jennic had never felt with anyone; like something was being communicated instantly between them without words or actions, though Jennic could not understand what it meant. It was something unusual. Something playful. But deeper than that. Then, like a meteor flashing momentarily in the night sky, burning bright, then disappearing quickly in the darkness, the sparkle was gone, and the revelling continued.
The five friends left together, reliving the game play from the evening moment by moment, heading toward the lifts. One by one they said good night and stepped into the tubes, Jennic being the second last to go.
As she entered the cube and turned, waiting for the door to close itself in front of her, she could see Laybo’s happy, smiling face looking back at her with a fire still burning in his eyes and a contented grin stretched broadly across his face. Jennic wondered if the grin was about more than his performance in the arena.
None of the others knew this would have been the day of Jennic’s Orbit Celebration, but she knew without a doubt that this had been the best one ever. She had friends for the first time in her life. She was coming to an understanding of who she was, and the hug… she would sleep well tonight and dream happy dreams.
