Michael shook his head, letting out a long sigh. The table before him was a bewildering array of lights and colours. Several incomprehensible icons flashed across the screen.
“I’m not entirely sure I know what I’m doing?” Michael said. Brekt was at the table next to him, cheering loudly. His muscled companion was something of a prodigy at this game it seemed.
“Just pick one. It’s very easy,” Brekt said, his voice an ever calm gentle lilt. “You can’t go wrong really.”
Michael closed his eyes and tapped at the screen. The panel beeped loudly and a small tray slid out. It reminded Michael of a tiny CD tray, the kind his father had kept laying around to play old albums. He slipped one of the round white disks they had obtained from the counter of the casino into the slot. Brekt had complained at length about the exchange rate they had been given, though his voice never raised past its near whisper.
The price apparently paid the lights settled into a constant colour, displaying Michaels blindly chosen option. A hologram sprang to life above the console, not all too dissimilar to those on the Seeker. The image beyond was of an arena of some sort, hexagonal in shape with fresh bloodstains on the floor. A metal cage stretched from the low stone wall encasing the battleground. Two doors slid open at either end.
From each side, a creature emerged. One was a short rodent-like being, it was hunched over on long legs, tiny hands raised to its chest. Its head was enormous for its body, long fangs drooping from its lip. Its opponent was an odd mix of bird and ape. It walked forward on huge clenched knuckles, long talons clicking on its back legs. It had a wicked razor beak and pitch-black feathers.
“So, which one did you pick?” Brekt asked, strolling over from his own table. He was cradling a large pile of the currency in his hands. Michael couldn’t help but think they looked like poker chips.
“Uh, I don’t know? When you say pick one, are they going to fight?” The idea sickened Michael. He examined the panel, trying to work out which one of the creatures was his champion.
“Oh yeah.” Brekt peered over his shoulder. “Ah, that one. Unorthodox choice.”
“Please tell me I picked the one with the talons and the muscles,” Michael said, looking up at Brekt. The face looking back told him all he needed to know.
The battle began, the bird-ape barrelling forwards on its arms, clearing the arena in mighty bounds. It swung to the side, pushing off the stone wall, a fist coming around to strike its rodent opponent. The Kangaroo-rat blinked, and then opened its mouth wider than Michael thought was even possible. The bird-ape fell into the maw, and the rodent bit down. It tilted its head back, swallowing its opponent like a gannet, its stomach swelling grotesquely. Text flashed up on the hologram, and the station blared a happy tune.
“Hey, you won, good job,” Brekt said. A panel had fallen open, chips pouring into it. On the screen the victorious rodent flickered, before vanishing, leaving the arena empty.
“Wait, these aren’t real animals?”
“Oh, they’re real. Well real somewhere. Not here, they’re holographic replicas. Sort of a battle-royale from all over the galaxy. I would never have gotten this one right. You must have a knack.” Brekt was stuffing his own chips into his pockets.
“Thank god, I thought this was real, when it’s just a video game. Well, let’s go again then. I want to see what we’ll get next.”
Chapter Nine
Brekt smiled happily, chips spilling from his arms as he laughed. The white discs scattered onto the ground causing the onlookers around them to scrabble about, hands, claws, and tentacles snatching at the valuable items. Brekt didn’t seem to care, the amount of money they were winning was unfathomable, a fortune on nearly any world.
“You, uh, have a real knack for this buddy,” Brekt said in his soft lilt. “You haven’t lost yet.”
“Honestly, I’m just guessing. I have no idea what any of these icons actually mean. It’s luck more than anything.” Michael shrugged before inputting another command. The hologram sprang back to life, a new simulation playing out.
“Whatever you’re doing, just keep doing it. Never mind supplies we could buy a whole new ship for this.”
“Is it enough to pay off you and Aileena. To cover Mellok’s payment to you I mean? Buy me my freedom?”
Brekt shook his head. “Sorry there, pal. Mellok was paying us enough to set us up for the rest of our lives. And that was before he offered to triple it. Plus, Aileena has designs on that cash beyond just living like a queen.” He tapped a passing alien on the shoulder gesturing to the bag it was carrying. It was a long centipede-like creature, half of it held upright as it scuttled. Brekt offered up a stack of chips in exchange and the creature chittered happily. Impromptu deal done, Brekt began stuffing the chips into the satchel, a remarkable simple thing, no different than any holdall you might purchase on Earth.
Michael watched as the victory text scrolled across the hologram, another tray of winnings pouring from the machine. “What about you? What’re your plans with the money?”
“Oh, it’s enough money for me to give my kids a good life, and their kids. And theirs after that.”
“Oh,” Michael said. He hadn’t expected that response. “How many do you have?” None of Michaels friends back home had children but asking how many there were was the default question from his scant experience.
“Thirty-eight.” Brekt’s smile stretched wide. “Hang on,” he said, fishing inside his jacket pocket. He produced a thick plastic wad, and with a flick it unravelled, photographs stretching several feet across the ground. “These are mine.”
“They look… healthy?” Michael cringed, he didn’t know what to say really. There was an overwhelming array of almost identical-looking aliens. They were smaller, toddler-like in their proportions. Several were shirtless, faces beaming wide in a mirror of their fathers. Michael was surprised to see a small set of arms held tight to their chests, separate from those on their shoulders. They were shrivelled and atrophied, some evolutionary cast-off.
“Thanks! You have any?”
“Oh god no,” Michael said, waving his hands in protest. “I’m only twenty-eight, still plenty of time left for me. It must be hard being a mercenary, being away from them so long.”
Brekt shrugged. “Not much else to do on my homeworld. It’s either ship off-planet as a merc, sign up to be a council trooper or stay on planet and farm gestarks. That’s a kind of, big brown tuber.”
“Like a potato?”
“If you say so.” Brekt pointed at the panel. “Next one”
Michael swung back around, finger jamming onto the panel at random. He slotted a chip into the top, and lights flashed intoxicatingly. “How long should we keep going?”
“As long as you have the touch I guess?” Brekt snorted a laugh. “Maybe Mellok is right and you are the knower. Would explain how you’re right every time. You just, know.”
“Trust me, I am most certainly not always right. Aileena wouldn’t have found me working a shit job as a tour guide if that were the case. I would have never gone out with Melanie. I wouldn’t have chosen the uni course I had. Plenty of mistakes in my life.”
“Maybe those were the right choices, maybe you just didn’t know it?”
“I thought I was supposed to be the knower”” Michael’s eyes were locked on the image in front of him. On the hologram, two more bizarre animals battled to the digital death. “What exactly does that mean anyway?”
“Well, it’s just a story to most people. Mellok seems to take it pretty serious though. You’re supposed to be some kind of cosmic truth-teller. You know everything, all the secrets of the Rhythm. At least that’s what some people believe.”