I had to do something!
I moved my hand. The starship moved the same direction. I tapped my left thumb to shoot. A few blasts shot out. There was some convulsive chaos... And the space flies killed me.
“Shit!”
Game Challenge Complete.
Outcome: Loss.
I lost.
Why? I hadn’t been expecting a game that required quick reflexes. I was expecting something turn-based, with pauses. I take a turn, then the enemy takes a turn. I unhurriedly assess their ham-handed aggression, weigh the pros and cons, and make a counter-move.
But the system outplayed me with this ancient space shooter.
“Loser!” Came the confident verdict from a passing girl who was about twenty years old, but with fifty-year-old arms.
“A goblin, too!” I called out cheerfully.
“Deadbeat loser!”
“Exactly! GBL is where it’s at.”
“Clumsy smooth-brained goblin!”
“If the shoe fits!” I nodded, thumping my chest. “You’re damn right. It’s a fact!”
“Even a child could win at Galaxian!”
“Comparing me to a child? Are you serious? I’m a clumsy, smooth-brained, deadbeat loser goblin!”
“Not bad,” my heckler sniffed, deigning to stop and turn around. “You don’t lose your cool. Anybody else would have already freaked out and told me to fuck off.”
“Why?” I smiled. “It was my own fault I lost. I wasn’t expecting a game where I’d need fast reflexes.”
“You got a good attitude, goblin!”
“What other kinds of games are there?”
“There’s a zillion of them!” She shouted, moving away at a brisk pace. “The system always has tricks up its sleeve! But if you got Galaxian... Are you new here?”
“Yeah.”
“Tic-tac-toe, Galaxian, Pong, Tetris... You can expect stuff like that.”
“Always?”
“I can’t hear you...”
“Always?!”
“Until you get your first winstreak.”
“Uhh...”
“What?”
“Where can a poor goblin earn a few extra sol around here?”
The girl stopped and peered at me from afar, then shrugged doubtfully.
“You don’t have anything, right?”
“Not exactly,” I said, trying to sound offended, “I have some coffee gum with vitamin C!”
“That won’t help you much. I meant protective equipment. You won’t get a good job without it. Especially with your ugly elbow... But it’s worth a try. Go to intersection 17, next to Zone 3. That’s where guys like you hang out. Hang out and wait.”
“Wait for what?”
“People looking to hire, of course. You’ll figure it out.” The girl walked over to me, rummaged in her belt bag, then held out her hand. “Take this.”
“Thanks. What is it?”
“Lemon gum,” she chuckled and ran off, shouting back to me. “For your collection, goblin!”
“Thanks!” I shouted back, causing a one-armed, one-legged old man sitting on a nearby wall ledge to grunt in annoyance.
“Gimme your gum, goblin,” he hissed, not getting up.
“No way,” I shook my head. “Not today.”
“Got any food?”
“Nope.”
“A sip of water?”
“No.”
“Fucker.”
“Good day to you too,” I nodded. “Does this hallway lead to Zone 3?”
“Fuck you.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
“Go die.”
INTERSECTION 17 WAS EASY to spot from afar. It was larger than the others and full of wall ledges, almost all of which were occupied by workers looking to earn extra sol. They sat close to each other like birds on a perch. I wasn’t discouraged by the sight of this crowd — I just had to see how things would go. I asked a group of well-dressed men wearing shirts, shorts, and sandals where the closest food point was, and went to get a nutritional cube and water.
Those cubes were interesting. I had no idea whether they swelled to ten times their original size in your stomach or had some special chemicals in them, but everything was so perfectly calculated that after you ate breakfast, you only got hungry again right when it was time for lunch. And after lunch, you started thinking about food at dinnertime.
Balance: 0
Debt status: in debt.
Total debt owed: 9 sol.
If I went without a shower, I’d be spending three sol on dinner, water, and a place to sleep. I could also sleep on a warm bench — Then my debt would only go up by two sol. But tomorrow I’d only be able to earn eight sol since my work load was lower. And the payment was lower, too.
