“Yeah, I just landed. I have no idea, man; I literally just got off the plane and haven’t even gone to the bathroom yet. Okay, sure, I’ll get you something cool and try to get you Brandon Benard’s autograph. Bye.” Pepper ended the call with his best friend.
His eyes were locked onto the bathroom icon. He zigged and zagged around slower people that kept getting in his way. He was on the verge of shoving and shoulder checking a clear path but finally made it in time.
Pepper washed his hands and splashed cool water over his face. He grabbed the handle of his roller suitcase and proceeded back out into the large walkway of the airport. It was filled with people, and Pepper couldn’t help but enjoy the rumbling chatter of the many languages his ears picked up.
It was the largest gathering of people he had ever experienced. Yet even with the vast number of people scattered throughout the airport, he could see how much space remained. Denver International Airport was the largest in America, but there were still many terminal hallways that remained empty.
He continued to another section, and he couldn’t help but be drawn to the window. There was a vast array of military aircraft and vehicles scattered throughout the airport. Two large walkers were going through a power-up sequence. Pepper watched as the four pilots split and two went to each walker.
His mind wandered off and he imagined himself in one of the jumpsuits. The daydream shifted, and he then pictured a recruiter’s office—the one just off Walter Avenue. He had stopped by it a few times in the past and glanced at the large posters displayed in the windows. He was afraid to talk to his dad about joining up, though—even more afraid to talk about the topic when his mom was around.
The death of his brother was something he still found hard to bring up. If he didn’t bring him up, his mom would accuse him of not caring. If he did talk about him, he got the quick chastisement of “I can’t deal with this right now” and the conversation soon ended.
The advertisements and recruiting posters said he’d be taken care of. But then there were, of course, the horror stories. His dad’s whispered phone calls that he would eavesdrop on every once in a while. A call in the middle of the night where his dad would have to talk someone off the ledge. Where they would go on for an hour about how nobody would listen to them about the problems they were experiencing. They were just given a weblink to click on and a digital form to fill out, which always went unanswered.
He couldn’t help but consider the opportunity. There was no doubt in his mind that he could easily make it as a walker pilot. His skills and countless hours of competing in the KBVS Club scene would be more than enough to get his foot in the door.
The two walkers wobbled off, and Pepper finally turned and began walking down the terminal. His eyes returned to the signs pointing in the direction of the baggage claim. A slow ride down the escalator and Pepper saw a small white sign with his name written on it.
A large intimidating man stood behind the sign. His figure made it look like a small sheet of paper. He reached up and adjusted his glasses, then ran his hand over his dark mustache and goatee. His black suit, white shirt, and black tie made him look like a bodyguard.
Pepper slowly approached. “Hey, uhh… that’s me.”
The large man towered over Pepper with a smug expression. It didn’t take long before his demeanor cracked and he beamed with a giant smile. “Yo, what’s up, man? Welcome to Denver!” Pepper practically sprang out of his skin when the man stretched out his fist.
He quickly realized the man was going for a fist bump and returned the gesture. “Thanks.”
“My name is Brandon—Brandon Haag. If you have any trouble with anything at GolemCon, just throw my name out there. Everyone knows me and will help you out if you need it.” The man was beaming.
“Is it really that necessary? It isn’t too chaotic or anything, is it?”
Brandon gave him a blank stare and then burst out laughing. It took a few seconds for him to catch his breath. “You must have never been to a GolemCon before?” Pepper shook his head. “Well, let’s just say it’s normally pretty overwhelming for first timers. It’s the largest convention in the world. Fans from all over the freaking planet come to this event. Miss Geneva will give you a map and a schedule. Don’t lose those things, because it’s going to be non-stop. But pretty much the best time of your life!”
Brandon nodded for Pepper to follow his lead, and he soon found himself walking towards a… limousine. Brandon opened the back door for him and he climbed inside. Pepper took in the entire experience and could not believe he was being treated in such a fashion. The interior window scrolled down and Pepper could see Brandon in the driver’s seat.
“Do you have a lot of other people to pick up like, well, this?”
Brandon sighed. “You are my last person.”
“Out of how many?”
“A hundred.”
Pepper felt like he’d been shoved back into his seat. “You’ve been at this all day? How do you have so much energy?”
“Uhh, dude. How can you not have epic energy when it’s GolemCon? I seriously cannot wait for the opening ceremony tomorrow. It’s going to be epic! There are a ton of gladiators here, and there are rumors of more who may be making an appearance.”
“Who’s rumored to be here?” Pepper asked.
“Well, Harmon Cooper always likes to keep people guessing if he is or isn’t going to show up. But that dude always comes! I know he said on his League Chat account that he wasn’t coming this year… He’s here. He is totally here. I can sense it.”
Pepper chuckled, as Brandon was talking with such speed and excitement that he found it hard to process everything he was saying. “I’ve seen him compete a few times,” Pepper replied, but he was being modest. He had seen every Harmon Cooper match.
“Yeah, if you get a chance to meet him, do it! Such a cool guy. I’ve already seen Seth Ring walking around the convention area. James Hunter, JoeDan Worley, and the rest of the VetCore Guild were setting up their booth in the main convention hall. Totally cool dudes—you should meet them. Let’s see. Oh! There was R. A. Cooper, L. M. Hughes, Rose Reynolds and the rest of the Valkyrie Guild running around earlier. Shami Stovall, Michael Head, Michael Chatfield.”
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Pepper watched as his driver took a sip of an energy drink. He chuckled as he thought about the fact that Brandon certainly didn’t seem to need its contents. His arms shot out and he braced himself as the vehicle swerved in and out of traffic.
Holy crap, this guy is a worse driver than my mom, he thought, and a small amount of panic surged through him. He gave a slight sigh of relief when he could see exactly what was in front of him. He quickly found his seatbelt and strapped himself in.
“I heard from a friend that David Bushman was already walking around. Stephen Landry, Benjamin Kerei, Rob Gagnon.” Brandon continued to ramble on with name after name.
A slight buzz from his holodex caught his attention.
[:::] I hope you have a great time! – Andrea [:::]
His heart fluttered and his mind began to race at a hundred miles an hour. She messaged me! Ahh! What do I do? What do I say? Do I play it cool? Should I call her? Pepper could hardly think straight and started typing away at his response.
[:::] Thanks, you too. [:::]
He hit send on the message and then froze with the realization that he totally you too’d someone who couldn’t be you too’d. The same way a ticket counter worker tells you to have a safe flight. A movie theater worker tells you to enjoy the movie. Way to go, Pepper! he mentally scolded himself.
The car pulled off the interstate and the vehicle made a few calculated turns. Shock came over Pepper when he looked out the window and saw the massive line of people. They wrapped around buildings, in and out of parking garages in a serpentine shape. There was no way of knowing where the line began, and it certainly didn’t appear to have an end anywhere nearby.
The vehicle came to a final stop in front of a massive building. Pepper stepped out and took in the huge banners and flags draped everywhere. Every corner of every building had one or the other attached to it. Each banner was printed with one of the many golems he had watched clash in the arena.
Music echoed throughout the area with a high-energy pulsating beat. Pepper could easily see himself bobbing his head along to it. The hundreds of eyes that were staring at him from the line, however, left him wanting to crawl deep inside a turtle shell and hide.
Brandon came around the corner of the vehicle. “Okay, don’t worry about your bag. It’ll be delivered to your hotel room.”
“How long is this line?” Pepper asked.
“Ha, I dunno. Maybe, like, twenty thousand. It’s totally going to triple in the next hour or so.”
Pepper could feel his mouth gape open at the fact that the future line of the convention was greater than the population of his small town. “Seriously?”
Brandon blew a raspberry. “Yeah… I mean, that’s just for the opening ceremony, Pepper. The convention will easily hit a hundred and twenty thousand people.”
Pepper was about to fry a brain cell in disbelief but was quickly caught off guard by a woman with bright purple hair. She had a headset on and a giant holopad in her arms. “Oh my gosh, you are Pepper Walker!”
Her face beamed with smiles. She had on a black polo shirt with the official Golem League emblem embroidered on the left side of the chest. A lanyard was draped around her neck, and Pepper could see her badge was a high-gloss holographic one with the words “Pro Staff” written boldly down the side.
Pepper didn’t know what to say. He was taken even more off guard when she reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. She braced herself against him as she brought her leg up and glanced at the bottom of her khaki pants and black shoes. “I swear I stepped in something nasty there by the stairs. You might want to watch out.”
“Um, thanks,” he replied bashfully.
She removed her arm and looked at him with excited eyes and a beaming smile. “Wow, great! You’re finally here. This is wonderful. Okay.” She was talking a mile a minute and Pepper did his best to keep up. “Okay, opening ceremony is in an hour. You need to be over at the tunnel entrance to the field thirty minutes prior to that. We have you partnered with Staff Sergeant William McKay. You will walk alongside him and then stand in line with him while the national anthem is played. The Air Force will fly overhead and then you’ll take a seat. We’ll do introductions and then bring some of our top-tier gladiators out. Once the ceremony is over, you and your military counterpart will go to the ballroom for the social hour. From there, you will have about two hours to go through the exhibitors’ hall before it shuts down for the night.
“Tomorrow, you need to be at the top of Orlandini Street. You’ll need to get lined up and ready for the parade. You will be on the Rising Stars float, so be sure to look out for the sign when you get into the staging area. You’ll then have some free time to walk the exhibitors’ hall again if you want, but there’s also a major cool opportunity for you. Rising Stars have a sectioned-off area where you can talk to industry representatives and start to network and build relationships. It’s a great place to get connected with the those on the cutting edge of the industry. So it’s something to check out. Then there’s a nice catered dinner at 8 p.m. inside the Golem League dungeon.”
She paused and placed her hand gently back on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, it’s not an actual dungeon, but… you might want to stay away from the fish. Last year it didn’t sit well with many of the gladiators’ stomachs, and so far the rumor is they still did not get fresh fish for this year. Okay, from there we have the afterparty up on the 70th floor of the Villacis Hotel. That starts at 10 p.m. and goes on until you can’t anymore. Okay, any questions?”
Pepper blinked repeatedly, as he couldn’t even recall what she had just said to him. “I’m sorry, but… what was your name again?”
“Oh my gosh, sorry! Geneva Agnos.” She waved her hand in front of her as if she was swatting a fly. “I get so carried away with all the coordination that I forget to take a second and remember I skip right over introductions. I’m the marketing director for the Golem League and also the event planner and coordinator for the convention.”
Pepper felt his body tense and immediately turn into an ice cube. Oh my god, she’s the marketing director… she’s kind of a big deal, Pepper… don’t screw this up! “Okay… so you—”
He didn’t even have time to finish before Geneva reached up and pressed her headset closer to her ear. “Yes, I know Harmon Cooper is here, Brandon! Who do you think coordinated his room and everything? No, you can’t carry him around like a stuffed animal. I’m pretty sure his wife wouldn’t appreciate that. Him, on the other hand, he might enjoy it, but no!” There was a slight pause, but Geneva’s eyes staring off into the distance told Pepper there was more to come. “Look, the official notification was already sent out to Mr. Haseltine. If he shows up wearing another gladiator’s face on his underwear, he’s banned for life. We are not going to have a repeat of last year.”
Geneva shivered for a second. “Okay, sorry—where was—” Her hand reached back up and she listened intently to the headset. Her arm swung out and she started to punch away on the holopad with haste. “Yup, okay, I see it.” The holographic display screens were processing so fast that they just looked like a solid teal glow to Pepper. “Okay, have them move the golems to the secondary storage location and I’ll be on my way to help deescalate the situation.”
She looked up at him. “You jokingly refer to Danes as Swedes and they lose their minds.” Her eyes widened and she pressed her lips firmly together. The expression erased itself a half second later and her smile returned. “Have a great time, Pepper. If you need anything, just find me or get with Brandon Haag.” She reached behind her and brought forward a lanyard and an access pass.
She waved and a second later an electric cart rolled up behind him. By the time he had turned around to look at the cart, Geneva was already in it. The vehicle had barely come to a stop before it was racing off again.
Pepper took in the sight of his official GolemCon pass. His name was printed along the bottom, but it was what was printed down the side that made him smile even more. “VIP – RISING STAR.” He took a moment to soak it all in. He looped the lanyard around his neck and then he realized what he really needed. Where is the dang bathroom?