The door chimed and Teraz walked in.
``Dr. Jemaina, it's time.''
``Finally. Let's get this over with!'' I crossed the room in three long strides, picking up the gun on the way and joined him at the door. We walked through the space ship in silence. I deliberately slowed down my usual hasty gait to go easy on him. A parade of immaculately boring corridors and elevators later we entered what could only be called the gym section of the ship. Several Razzan were exercising on obstacle machines. A huge treadmill combined with side and overhead handles provided the exercise ground. The wraparound goggles and headphones that completed the machinery could conjure up any desired scenario for the training runs. In addition, the runners wore wireless patches all over their bare skin to monitor bodily functions. As I watched, one of them jumped up, grabbed the upper handles of his machine and swung over an invisible obstacle. He landed and took off at a dead run. The treadmill accelerated accordingly and he dodged a few more obstacles. I tore my gaze away reluctantly. Maybe I'd get the chance to run on one of them later.
The door that Teraz finally stopped in front of bore elaborate writing in Razzan that I couldn't really make sense of. Guess I just found a gap in the Razzan language teaching program that my best friend Sara had hacked for me. Teraz turned to me.
``From here you go alone. Beyond this door lies the duel circle. We will watch.`` He lowered his voice and added, ``May your eye be sharper and your hand faster than that of your opponent.'' A traditional saying, to which the habitual answer was 'With these I shall prevail and walk out victorious.' Instead, I bowed in traditional old Earth way, gave him a final nod and entered the duel circle. It was a wide circular room. Behind me the door shut seamlessly. A rim of tiny red light flowed around its outline. Guess that meant it had sealed itself. Turning back around, I waited for the opposite door to open.
Raitel took her time showing up, so I inspected my surroundings. The circle room itself was completely devoid of furniture and decoration. Fine white sand covered the ground. The round walls curved inwards to form a dome above my head. I walked to the centre of the circle and looked up. The top of the dome emitted a diffuse white light. Combined with a circle of small star-like LEDs that ran along the foot of the wall, it was the only illumination. I bent down and admired the sand that sparkled in the light of the LEDs. Scooping up a handful, I looked at it carefully, then let it run through my spread fingers. I'd put money on it that this was genuine quartz sand from some planet surface. It provided a surprisingly firm surface and was completely dry. They had to value their duels pretty highly to carry so much dead weight with them. Usual ships just made do with one of the high-performance plastomers. On human space ships, every single gram had a purpose or had to be paid for. But this was a Razzan ship. I hadn't met a single other human during my two walks on board.
On the wall, lights ignited and outlined another door as Raitel entered. Behind her the door closed and the outline turned red, like mine had. She had dressed up for the occasion in a black and brown battle outfit. The skin tight bodice was low-cut with red bands running down from her arm pits to meet at the juncture of her thighs. A pleated skirt that ended well above her knees and high boots completed the outfit. The dress did a great job of accentuating her ample curves and would undoubtedly have impressed any male opponent. But why go to such lengths for a female heterosexual opponent? Then she looked up to the dome, and it dawned on me. Somewhere above us, behind a one-way transparent panelling, was the audience she had dressed up for.
The intercom came alive and an unfamiliar voice spoke.
``Be welcome to the duel circle, Exalted Raitel.'' Then he switched to common speak. ``Be welcome to the duel circle, Dr. Jemaina. You stand here to answer the challenge issued by the Exalted Lady you are facing today. Let the duel begin.'' His voice cut off, and Raitel raised her weapon and shot me, all in the blink of an eye. My right side exploded in pain. The leg buckled and I crashed to the floor. Landing hard on my right side, I swore viciously. Mercury, I didn't know a hit by a stun gun hurt that much! Raitel's' laugh grated my ears. She walked unhurriedly over to where I lay. It wouldn't do to just lay there like a felled tree, waiting for the lumberjack. So I tried to move. Pain rippled through me in a hot wave. Clenching my teeth, I stretched out my right hand to where I'd dropped my gun. Just a bit more - Raitel's boot clad foot entered my field of vision. She casually stepped onto my outstretched fingers, crushing them into the sand. This time the pain was more dull as it shot up my arm. My very bloody arm. I stared from the smeared skin down to my side. The tunic was soaked and sand was sticking to it. Sand that was red with my blood. I felt slightly nauseous. So much for a friendly duel. While my gun had been switched to stun, hers was definitely set to injure. Raitel leaned down, nudging my chin up with her free hand. With the other, she pointed her gun at my heart.
``Any last words?''
Mercury, she was serious! I stared at her wide-eyed, then I spit into her visage with all the force I could muster. Screeching, she leaned back and grabbed at her eyes with her free hand. She was still within reach. Ignoring the spear of white hot pain, I ripped the knife out of its sheath with my left, flipped it around and buried it in her throat. The shrieking stopped abruptly and was replaced by dreadfully gurgling sounds. Awkwardly scrambling away from her I caught sight of one of the doors to my left. It seemed an eternity away. Taking a shallow breath made the door waver slightly and pain etched my vision black. I had to get to that door before I passed out. Slowly I crawled towards the door, away from Raitel's body. As soon as I was close enough, I reached for the door with my hand. It didn't open. What the metals?
``Hello? Would you open the door and help us already?!''
I reached the wall and slumped against it. The door remained shut. Closing my eyes I thought about my husband, Sara, Eagle Eye. My friends at work. My grandmother. Even my aunt and uncle. Then I opened my eyes again and started to stand up, leaning heavily onto the wall. The pain was getting worse and I felt close to slipping into unconsciousness when I was about halfway up. But I made it. This time when I touched the door, it opened. I slid along the wall towards the opening, concentrating hard on staying upright. Taking the first step forward I was vaguely aware of Teraz and others in front of me. Another wave of pain shot through me and everything went black.
Pyrite glint - snippet 9 by Kat is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported Licence.
``Dr. Jemaina, it's time.''
``Finally. Let's get this over with!'' I crossed the room in three long strides, picking up the gun on the way and joined him at the door. We walked through the space ship in silence. I deliberately slowed down my usual hasty gait to go easy on him. A parade of immaculately boring corridors and elevators later we entered what could only be called the gym section of the ship. Several Razzan were exercising on obstacle machines. A huge treadmill combined with side and overhead handles provided the exercise ground. The wraparound goggles and headphones that completed the machinery could conjure up any desired scenario for the training runs. In addition, the runners wore wireless patches all over their bare skin to monitor bodily functions. As I watched, one of them jumped up, grabbed the upper handles of his machine and swung over an invisible obstacle. He landed and took off at a dead run. The treadmill accelerated accordingly and he dodged a few more obstacles. I tore my gaze away reluctantly. Maybe I'd get the chance to run on one of them later.
The door that Teraz finally stopped in front of bore elaborate writing in Razzan that I couldn't really make sense of. Guess I just found a gap in the Razzan language teaching program that my best friend Sara had hacked for me. Teraz turned to me.
``From here you go alone. Beyond this door lies the duel circle. We will watch.`` He lowered his voice and added, ``May your eye be sharper and your hand faster than that of your opponent.'' A traditional saying, to which the habitual answer was 'With these I shall prevail and walk out victorious.' Instead, I bowed in traditional old Earth way, gave him a final nod and entered the duel circle. It was a wide circular room. Behind me the door shut seamlessly. A rim of tiny red light flowed around its outline. Guess that meant it had sealed itself. Turning back around, I waited for the opposite door to open.
Raitel took her time showing up, so I inspected my surroundings. The circle room itself was completely devoid of furniture and decoration. Fine white sand covered the ground. The round walls curved inwards to form a dome above my head. I walked to the centre of the circle and looked up. The top of the dome emitted a diffuse white light. Combined with a circle of small star-like LEDs that ran along the foot of the wall, it was the only illumination. I bent down and admired the sand that sparkled in the light of the LEDs. Scooping up a handful, I looked at it carefully, then let it run through my spread fingers. I'd put money on it that this was genuine quartz sand from some planet surface. It provided a surprisingly firm surface and was completely dry. They had to value their duels pretty highly to carry so much dead weight with them. Usual ships just made do with one of the high-performance plastomers. On human space ships, every single gram had a purpose or had to be paid for. But this was a Razzan ship. I hadn't met a single other human during my two walks on board.
On the wall, lights ignited and outlined another door as Raitel entered. Behind her the door closed and the outline turned red, like mine had. She had dressed up for the occasion in a black and brown battle outfit. The skin tight bodice was low-cut with red bands running down from her arm pits to meet at the juncture of her thighs. A pleated skirt that ended well above her knees and high boots completed the outfit. The dress did a great job of accentuating her ample curves and would undoubtedly have impressed any male opponent. But why go to such lengths for a female heterosexual opponent? Then she looked up to the dome, and it dawned on me. Somewhere above us, behind a one-way transparent panelling, was the audience she had dressed up for.
The intercom came alive and an unfamiliar voice spoke.
``Be welcome to the duel circle, Exalted Raitel.'' Then he switched to common speak. ``Be welcome to the duel circle, Dr. Jemaina. You stand here to answer the challenge issued by the Exalted Lady you are facing today. Let the duel begin.'' His voice cut off, and Raitel raised her weapon and shot me, all in the blink of an eye. My right side exploded in pain. The leg buckled and I crashed to the floor. Landing hard on my right side, I swore viciously. Mercury, I didn't know a hit by a stun gun hurt that much! Raitel's' laugh grated my ears. She walked unhurriedly over to where I lay. It wouldn't do to just lay there like a felled tree, waiting for the lumberjack. So I tried to move. Pain rippled through me in a hot wave. Clenching my teeth, I stretched out my right hand to where I'd dropped my gun. Just a bit more - Raitel's boot clad foot entered my field of vision. She casually stepped onto my outstretched fingers, crushing them into the sand. This time the pain was more dull as it shot up my arm. My very bloody arm. I stared from the smeared skin down to my side. The tunic was soaked and sand was sticking to it. Sand that was red with my blood. I felt slightly nauseous. So much for a friendly duel. While my gun had been switched to stun, hers was definitely set to injure. Raitel leaned down, nudging my chin up with her free hand. With the other, she pointed her gun at my heart.
``Any last words?''
Mercury, she was serious! I stared at her wide-eyed, then I spit into her visage with all the force I could muster. Screeching, she leaned back and grabbed at her eyes with her free hand. She was still within reach. Ignoring the spear of white hot pain, I ripped the knife out of its sheath with my left, flipped it around and buried it in her throat. The shrieking stopped abruptly and was replaced by dreadfully gurgling sounds. Awkwardly scrambling away from her I caught sight of one of the doors to my left. It seemed an eternity away. Taking a shallow breath made the door waver slightly and pain etched my vision black. I had to get to that door before I passed out. Slowly I crawled towards the door, away from Raitel's body. As soon as I was close enough, I reached for the door with my hand. It didn't open. What the metals?
``Hello? Would you open the door and help us already?!''
I reached the wall and slumped against it. The door remained shut. Closing my eyes I thought about my husband, Sara, Eagle Eye. My friends at work. My grandmother. Even my aunt and uncle. Then I opened my eyes again and started to stand up, leaning heavily onto the wall. The pain was getting worse and I felt close to slipping into unconsciousness when I was about halfway up. But I made it. This time when I touched the door, it opened. I slid along the wall towards the opening, concentrating hard on staying upright. Taking the first step forward I was vaguely aware of Teraz and others in front of me. Another wave of pain shot through me and everything went black.
Pyrite glint - snippet 9 by Kat is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported Licence.
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