Star Runners

Chapter 2

2

The cool air whistled through Kadyn’s car windows. The smell of freshly cut grass swept in, and the drone of lawnmowers mixed with the buzz of leaf blowers.

“Josh’s coming back to school tomorrow, right?” Kadyn asked.

“Yeah, I called him yesterday to see how the forced vacation was. He sounded tired. Wish I could be worn out from three days off.”

She laughed. “You don’t want three days off that way!”

She turned left and veered onto Austin’s street. He lifted his hand and held it out the window, allowing the air to lift his arm like flaps on a plane.

“Why is it short weeks always seem longer?” he asked.

“Dunno, but they do.”

Austin’s house came into view. In the driveway, Mom shuffled back toward the house. She wore a bathrobe and torn bedroom slippers. She slid her feet across the pavement as she flipped through the mail.

He turned down the radio. “Keep going.”

“What?”

“Drive past my house,” he said, leaning back in the seat.

He glanced at Mom as the car passed. Her hair curled and tangled away from her head like an animal had made a nest inside. She barely lifted her feet and looked as if she could have been eighty years old.

He sighed.

“Where do you want me to go?” Kadyn asked as the car continued away from his house.

Austin shuddered.

She reached down and touched his hand. “I’ll drive around for a while, ‘K?”

Austin sat in silence, watching the neighborhood pass. The car went around the large curve near the neighborhood lake. Kaydn stopped near an empty tennis court and shut off the engine. He leaned back in his seat and stared at the cloudless blue sky.

“Thanks.”

She shrugged. “What are friends for?”

He listened to the birds singing. “I saw a shooting star the other night.”

“Really? Never seen one.”

“Yeah. Made me think about Dad.”

She placed her hand on his shoulder. “Are you all right?”

He nodded.

“I hadn’t seen your mom since the funeral.”

Austin snorted. “Not many have.”

“The night shift will do that to people.”

He blinked. “Nightshift?”

“Didn’t she go back to the hospital?”

“No. She ran out of leave time. They replaced her, but I don’t think she even tried to go back. She just sits at home. She cries a lot. It’s like I lost them both at the same time.”

She squeezed his shoulder. “That must be tough.”

He looked at her. Her hair, rustled by the wind, blew past her ears and glowed in the afternoon sunlight. With her eyebrows arched and her lips slightly parted, she either wanted to say something or was waiting for him to say something brilliant. He grinned and gently squeezed her hand.

“Thanks. I just didn’t want you to see her like that; that’s all.”

She smiled and nodded. “I understand. I’ll take you back.”

Austin woke Friday morning with a pain in his stomach. As he sat up in bed, his gut bubbled, and he felt like running for the bathroom. A dry, acidic taste filled his mouth, and his tongue was swollen like an overused sponge. Empty bags of chips and crushed cola cans littered his computer desk.

He laughed. While fighting Tyral Pirates online until long past midnight, he ate nothing but cheese-flavored chips.

Reaching his hands above his head, he stretched and felt the soreness from sitting in his computer chair for eight hours. The missions against his online opponents had, after all, been worth it. His overall skill score had increased three hundred and ten points. Playing on the “sortie” server wouldn’t gain him as much experience as dogfighting on the elite server, but he could also lose points on the elite server every time he died. On the sortie server, he flew alongside strangers for most of the night save for a few exceptions.

The “dogfight” server held unforgiving competition, especially at the upper echelon level where he and Josh flew. Pilots had to reach a certain level of flying prowess to compete on the elite server. Every time you lost a fighter, your points decreased. A pilot could survive a poor session, but could eventually get booted. Playing on the elite server was not relaxing.

He got out of bed and walked over to the computer. Booting up the game, he collapsed into the chair with a grunt.

“You awake?”

Austin spun his chair around. “Morning, Mom.”

“Good morning to you, too.” She tilted her head to the side. “I came in to see you last night, but your speakers were up so loud I didn’t think you heard me.”

“I was playing online.”

“I figured. Don’t hurt your ears doing that.”

“I won’t,” he sighed.

“Josh called last night and said your phone went straight to voicemail. I told him I could get you, but he said he would just see you today at school.”

“Sounds good.”

She lingered for a moment in his doorway before walking away.

Locking his fingers together, he pulled back until they popped. Let’s see how the standings are shaping up on the elite server before I get ready for school.

“Oh, man.”

His mouth hung open like a caught fish. The standings glowed on the screen, and he stared in silence. He had slipped a ranking, probably the result of playing on the sortie server last night. But he didn’t care about that as much as the other numbers. Since he had achieved the right to compete with the elite, one call sign always loomed at the top of the chart: Scorpion.

Now, a different but familiar call sign took the top spot: Razor.

Josh had done it.

Austin didn’t know how, but his friend had become the top pilot on the server while he had fallen to fourth. He logged out.

He brushed his teeth and got ready for school, wondering how Josh managed to catapult his scores past the legendary Scorpion.

The air in the house was stale. Mom stretched out across the couch.

“Hi, sweetie,” she said, flipping through the mail.

“Hi.” He tossed his bag onto the floor.

He raided the pantry, grabbing a bag of chips and a cola from the refrigerator, and walked back to his room. Kicking dirty laundry across the floor, he stepped to his computer and moved the mouse. The screen flickered and came to life. He didn’t care about homework. He wanted to play Star Runners.

He launched the game. The familiar loading image of the Legion X4 Trident fighters clashing with Interceptors from the Zahl Empire flashed onto the monitor. The Tridents, their wings stretching downward and forward from the side of the craft, bore down on their horseshoe-shaped foe. He hadn’t battled with Zahlian forces in a while. The servers focused the Legion forces on Tyral Pirate craft all the time. Although a different challenge existed when facing the pirate forces, he missed the skill of the computer-controlled Zahl fighters.

The neon green bar at the bottom of the image crept across the screen as the game loaded. Waiting, he munched on the chips and took a few gulps of his drink. He propped his feet up on the desk and leaned back. He heard his mother watching television from the other room, so he slipped on his earphones Dad had given him for Christmas two years back.

He smiled and pushed away the memory.

The old joystick with the cracked black plastic on the handle sat next to the keyboard, and he calibrated it for play when the load screen disappeared. A dark screen with the game’s title, Star Runners, in a shining silver font, replaced the load screen. The star field drifted beneath the options. He considered logging onto the “sorties” server and doing a couple of missions. He liked the “dogfight” server, but sometimes he wanted a different objective than killing everything in sight.

Cranking the volume on his earphones, he decided to proceed with a nice Legion-assigned escort mission and see if he could protect the civilians from a Tyral Pirate attack.

The game launched, and he disappeared into another world.

The sunlight hurt his eyes. He shielded himself with his left hand while rummaging through his bag with the other. The school needed more windows. The afternoon light shocked his system after being inside all day under flickering fluorescent lights.

He found his sunglasses and blinked several times.

Students milled near the doorways while others made a mad dash for the parking lot. Conversations centered on plans for the weekend. A large group of guys spoke about seeing a movie. A collection of poor saps shuffled toward the line of buses roaring and rattling to life as they prepared to file out of school for the final time that week. At the far end of the school, Kadyn walked out carrying several books. She wore large black sunglasses. Austin swung his bag over his shoulder and strolled toward her as the breeze touched his face.

The school day had gone by fast. His teachers didn’t give any homework, but his math teacher, Mr. Abney, threatened a pop quiz on Monday. He didn’t plan on studying Sunday night, not after seeing the scores Josh had posted online. Because of a meeting with his football coaches, Josh did not come to the lunchroom that day, so Austin spent the period listening to Nicole drone on about her weekend plans. He avoided sharing his own. A movie in history class ended out the day, courtesy of Mr. Roell.

The movie discussed the first seafaring vessels that embarked on journeys into unknown waters to discover faraway lands. The Spanish swept through South America, bringing war and disease. Austin daydreamed about massive war galleons doing battle on the ocean with dozens of cannons sending metal crashing into their enemy.

Like most things, the movie made him want to play online and create battles of his own.

Kadyn waved when she saw him leaving the building. The afternoon sunlight beamed down golden rays through the cloud cover, illuminating her brown hair. She smiled and pulled the books to her chest.

“Hey you,” she said.

“Hey.”

He reached out a hand and blinked.

“Oh, my books? Thank you.”

“Chivalry is not dead.” He tucked the books under his arm. “Have you seen Josh today?”

Kadyn ran her fingers through her hair, tucking the wild strands behind her ear. “I saw him talking to Coach Pennington earlier, but that was around lunch time.”

“Oh,” he said, turning to survey the parking lot. “You ready to go?”

“Austin!”

Josh jogged through the cars.

“Hey!” he yelled. “We were just talking about you.”

Josh caught his breath. Sweat glistened on his forehead as he nodded to Kadyn. As usual, Josh wasn’t carrying a book bag home for the weekend.

“So, where you been?” Austin asked.

Josh’s blue eyes went wide and darted toward Kadyn. “Uh, well, I had a busy day coming back from my suspension.”

Austin followed his gaze. “It’s okay, man. She’s cool.”

Josh nodded. “Cool. You guys want to go get a snack or something? I have a lot to tell you.”

“It’s okay with me, I guess.” He turned to Kadyn. “I’m not the one who has to drive there, though. It’s Kadyn’s gas.”

Kadyn rolled her eyes. “It’s Friday. Let’s go.”

The coffee shop looked like every other in town. Dark browns mixed with aqua blues and light greens on the walls. Retro photos hung in crisp black and white. Austin’s gaze lingered on a photograph of Marilyn Monroe standing over a street vent as she tried to prevent her skirt from flying up. The smell of coffee permeated the air and seeped into his clothes. He ordered a fruit drink and bought Kadyn a sweet roll. She cleared her throat as he gazed at Marilyn, so he turned his attention back to Josh, who walked back with his coffee.

“Got to fuel up for tonight,” he said with a grin.

“Oh, you got big plans since you can’t play in the game?” Kadyn asked, chewing on her sweet roll.

Josh slumped his shoulders and frowned. “Uh, not really.”

Austin chuckled. “I told you; she’s cool.”

Kadyn looked between the two of them. “Oh, God, you guys are playing that game on a Friday night?”

“Why not?” Josh asked.

“She’s kidding,” Austin said, sipping on his drink. He winced, unsure what flavor he had ordered.

She c****d her head, clicking her tongue against her teeth. “Only a little, but I can’t judge if I’ve never played.”

Austin looked at her. “You should try it sometime.”

She eyed him. “Maybe I will.”

The life returned to Josh’s face, and he leaned in close. “It’s actually the game I want to talk to you about.”

“What about it?” Austin asked.

Josh looked over his shoulder as if disclosing a state secret. “I’ve been playing a little the past three days and something happened.”

“You broke your computer.” Austin glanced at Kadyn. “Seriously, this guy took his suspension and played the game for almost seventy hours straight.”

“Jeez, don’t you ever pee?” she asked.

They laughed and Josh leaned back, his eyebrows raised. “Oh yeah? Well, maybe I won’t tell you my news.”

Austin repressed his laughter. “Go ahead. I want to know how in the world you passed Scorpion. I didn’t think that guy would ever fall to second.”

“I didn’t think so, either. I played seven straight sessions and fought off a mix of Tridents and modified Tyral Pirate Craft. They just kept coming.”

“Seven sessions?” Austin asked. “Back-to-back? How’d you balance your power levels?”

Josh set his drink down and grinned. “I’d take out two from a distance with the missiles and try to scrap close with the guns until my power was down fifty percent. ’Then I’d jet back to the largest rock I could find and let the cells recharge.”

Kadyn held up her hand from the sweet roll. “What are you guys talking about?”

Austin frowned. “Sorry.”

“Uh, yeah,” Josh said as his leg bounced under the table. “It’s a great game.”

“He’s doing really well,” Austin said. “He’s got enough kills to be number one on the server.”

Kadyn shrugged and focused on her sweet roll. Austin nodded for Josh to proceed.

“So I was on a roll, right? Racking up kill after kill and hardly taking a scratch.”

“That’s ‘cause you were playing in the middle of the day on a Wednesday.”

“That doesn’t matter, and you know it,” Josh snapped.

“So, you guys fly these ships in the game?” Kadyn asked without interest.

“Yeah,” Austin said with a nod. “There are different servers, but we play mostly on the elite. It’s like an online club where you get kicked out if you suck.”

“Yeah,” Josh laughed, “but we don’t suck.”

“I see,” Kadyn said, rolling her eyes.

“You could play, too,” Josh said. “Girls can be pretty good.”

“That’s the most sexist thing I’ve ever heard,” Kadyn said, still focused on her sweet roll. “There’s probably tons of girls on that server and you don’t even know it.”

“I doubt it,” Josh said, leaning forward. “So anyway, I was racking up these kills for the first two days. I really didn’t pay a lot of attention to my scores because I’d just play another round right after another. I was grounded so what else could I do? Then, Mom and Dad came home from work on Thursday and wanted to have this big family meeting about how I shouldn’t fight in school, how I could get kicked off the team and that a one-game suspension could jeopardize my scholarship potential, blah, blah, blah.”

Josh took two sips of coffee and stared at the wall. Austin followed his gaze and saw Marilyn.

“And?” Austin said, nudging Josh’s shoulder.

“Yeah, so I logged off and went through the lecture with my parents. When I logged back on before I was going to bed, I had an incoming transmission.”

“A what?” Kadyn asked.

“It means a message ‘in game,’” Austin said. “If Josh and I were on at the same time, we could send messages like texts. Sometimes the game will also make announcements that way.”

Josh backhanded Austin’s arm. “Right! So this message was from the game when I was logged in.”

“So?”

He crossed his arms and leaned back. “I’ve been offered a chance at a scholarship.”

Austin felt the air leave the room.

His mother made no attempt at hiding the fact he would have to struggle to afford college. His father’s life insurance policy had allowed them to pay off family debt, but not much more. While he was a good catcher for the baseball team, no colleges had contacted him other than the local community college with a partial scholarship.

“What do you mean?” Kadyn asked.

Josh’s head rocked as he allowed a tight smile. “Now you’re interested.”

She leaned over the table. “It doesn’t make any sense. It’s a scam.”

“Nope,” he said. “I got an email saying I’ve been selected for a prestigious scholarship to attend this private school in San Francisco on a probationary basis. A recruiter is coming by my house to meet with me and my parents on Sunday afternoon.”

“For real?” Austin asked.

“I told you it was good news.”

“But all you’re doing is playing a game,” Kadyn said. “What does that have to do with school?”

“Look, man, I don’t know. The message gave me a number to call and said I was being considered for a scholarship to this school. You know I hadn’t made up my mind on where to go anyway.”

“What’s the name of this school?” Austin asked.

“LSE San Francisco.”

“LSD?”

“No, stupid, L. S. E. Stands for ‘Lobera School of Excellence’ or something like that. It’s an elite private college.”

“Never heard of it,” Kadyn said.

“Doesn’t mean anything.”

Austin laughed. “It sounds like a school for medieval re-enactors or something. I still don’t understand why you’re getting this for playing a game.”

“Oh, I got placed in a drawing for being number one on the server. That’s all. I got lucky. The guy said I had a good GPA and a good record.”

“He knew that already?”

“Records aren’t hard for these colleges to get if they really want to know,” Josh said and stood. “Look, I hate to cut this short, but my folks are still keeping me on a short leash after what happened this week.”

Austin finished his drink. “It’s cool. I’ll see you online later.”

Josh waltzed out of the coffee house.

“Doesn’t this sound like one of those emails you get from some prince in a third-world country who can’t get access to his money?” Kadyn asked in a low voice.

“You mean the ones that will give you three million just to check an email or something stupid like that?”

“Yep. I never heard of someone getting a full scholarship to anywhere for playing a video game.”

Austin sighed. “Me, either. It’d be sweet, though.”