My arm hurt. Lunch was soon. Incidentally, I had found out on my way to work that day...
I realized that if I took a nap after lunch, then I’d get hit with all the pain from my overworked back, abs, and right arm. My right shoulder hurt, too. Only my useless left hand got off lightly.
I also found out that there was an ATM, as they called it, in each clux. I had seen one after breakfast and, after asking four other people unsuccessfully, got a brief explanation from the disgruntled fifth person who came by. All you had to do was touch the screen. If you had more than two sol on your balance, so at least three, the screen would light up. All it displayed was two boxes. You’d enter the number of the person you wanted to transfer sol to in the top one, then the amount in the bottom one. Then tap OK. That was it. The system would take the sol from you and add them to the ATM’s balance — not transfer them directly to the recipient. Why not? It wasn’t like that would be a problem for the almighty system. But no. The recipient would have to go to an ATM and pick it up themselves. The ATM would take two sol as a transfer fee in both directions if the transfer was less than a hundred sol. If it was higher, the ATM automatically took ten percent from the person transferring the money, and two sol from the recipient.
Now I just had to find someone who would send me money for something...
Balance: 0
Debt status: in debt.
Total debt owed: 7 sol.
It was lunchtime. Two more sol gone on water and food. After that, I’d have plenty of time to figure out how to earn more money. I didn’t want to live as a poor goblin. I also needed to get a long rag or a bandage to make a sling for my lame left arm. The vending machines sold bandages, and they weren’t that expensive. Just two sol. Just like the diagnostics in the medblock. As soon as I had two sol, though, I wasn’t going to spend them on a bandage. I’d be better off going to an indifferent, but at least professional doctor. My elbow was a real problem — that was obvious. This was some serious damage that wouldn’t heal on its own, maybe bursitis or arthritis. I had no idea. But I needed to find out as soon as possible. Every time I looked at my swollen blue elbow, I had a mental image of the words ‘gas gangrene’. I even tried to sniff it to make sure it didn’t already smell like rotten meat. If there was even the slightest stench, I’d find someone with a machete and ask them to amputate my arm above the elbow.
As I was hobbling along the corridor to my clux, thinking about how much it sucked to be a poor, sick goblin, I was so lost in the haze of my thoughts that I almost missed the number on the lit-up wall screens. Fortunately, someone walking past caught my attention when he grumbled angrily:
“Fucking double ones, I hope he dies! Lucky bastard!”
I stared after him with a stunned gaze. I hadn’t expected to hear anyone say my number. And he had so much anger in his voice! I looked at the screen.
There it was. That was the number on my chest!
I quickly stepped up to the screen and looked around for griefers. My right thumb found the sensor almost on its own, and I was in!
The system responded to my actions.
Galaxian.
One round.
Select difficulty:
Easy.
Normal.
Hard.
“If only someone could tell me what this game is...” I said disappointedly, staring at the odd name. It meant nothing to me.
The timer was counting down. It would have made sense to just pick Easy, but with all my debt, I figured I should at least try Normal.
So I tried.
The screen blinked and started to go dark, and a green animation appeared in my head. A smiling man extended his right hand, palm open, and moved it to the left and right. His left hand was clenched, his thumb rhythmically tapping his fist.
Blinking white dots appeared on the dark screen. Then something colorful popped up at the bottom of the screen. A second passed... And another... and a swarm of multi-colored flies appeared, accompanied by droning beeps and cadences.
