They didn’t play the second feature all the way through. They would pause it and explain some of the similarities and differences that they were going to have when they recorded the footage for the pirate show.
“With the new pirate gear and outfits there will be markers that the camera will detect, and we can add instant fake blood, or whatever to make it look more authentic.” One of the techno geeks explained.
The scenes with the boats were supposed to work in pretty much the same way, but the CGI for the ships would have to be added later on. The cannon fire can look authentic. It’s easy enough to add smoke billowing out of one of the cannon barrels whenever they go off, but the fragmenting of the boat and the damage to the sails, rigging, and mayhem will be altered later on after the action was recorded. The swords would look authentic for the show even though they were stupid props, and padded so that it didn’t hurt (as bad) when you got hit. Then there will be judges that will sort of be like referees to make sure people were not fighting on, while injured or killed. The characters were instructed to lie down and look dead while they waited for the action to stop, and a full accounting of damage would be taken.
“That won’t look real.” Shupe announced from the crowd. “You can’t just lie down and look dead after running a 100-meter dash. No one will believe it.”
“That can be fixed with the CGI” Sandoval announced.
They had some of the cameras that were going to be used on the boats, and the software working in the background. They had an unrealistic painting of a boat made with watercolors by some stagehands or something. It was reminiscent of the theater class. And they fought in front of it with the new sword props and pirate clothes. It still looked hokey and would have looked better if they were fighting in front of a green screen or something. The group watched for no more than a few seconds before Todd needed to voice his opinion. He couldn’t stand to watch the interns fight with the stupid fake sword props. Once again, they had to demonstrate mass and balance to the movie types. To do so Todd and Allen put on some of the costumes with markers in them and used the sword props. It was obvious that the swords were too light, and that the natural arc of a swing was all off. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the swords were so delicate and nerfed that they bent when you torqued the handles of them to swing, or block with. The demonstration quickly turned from an educational exercise into a comedy. The entire makeshift theater was laughing and joking. Edward nearly exploded. Apparently, he was unaware of how fake it was until it was so blatantly pointed out to him. It would have been better to do this in a more private setting so that Edward didn’t appear foolish in any way Allen noted, but it was too late. Sandoval thought that the young engineers could design a better sword for the competition, but it apparently hadn’t gotten to all the producers yet. He struggled to find the best way to demonstrate it to Edward.
The Utes had already made their own weapons and were using them regularly. They had a thin layer of high-density foam like the aqua noodles were made out of, and a layer of denim over that for durability. The denim sleeve had to come off occasionally as the foam would break down from the constant abuse of sword fighting. Almost all of them had Velcro to hold them in place, but a few were still using string.
Todd asked his intern to put some of the little camera markers on his practice sword so that it would be instantly transformed by the cameras and software, and Allen had Sara and another intern put markers on his long and his short swords for the same purpose. The markers were really low profile so you could hardly notice them. They weren’t permanently hooked on either, so Allen expected them to fall off during battle if the 2 really got into it. Sandoval picked these 2 men for good reason. He wanted the display to be as believable as possible. Perhaps he could help Edward to regain face.
Before they had a chance to get into any conflict Edward had his fellow producers and investors on a conference call as he tried to explain how unreal it all was. Allen chuckled as he noted that Edward didn’t admit that it was fake. All the producers that were involved had the equipment already, so they were talking with each other nearly instantly. Sandoval had the 2 combatants use the floppy, crappy, props first, while using the instantaneous CGI on one screen, and real-life action on another. They placed them close enough together to show the live, albeit distant viewers what it looked like side by side. When the 2 began fighting it was comical again. The whole room was trying not to laugh. There were multiple hits on each combatant, and often the swords would bounce from the one deflecting it, and then into the foe anyway. Allen was hoping that this is what the rest of the teams were still practicing with. It wasn’t until later that he found out that the Utes were the only ones who had been doing any practice with swords, and that the other teams only had this sort of crappy swords when they would have started practice, which wouldn’t have been for a day or three anyway. This would slow them down further. The biggest advantage would go to the team that had been using them the longest. The biggest advantage would go to the Utes.
After it was adequately demonstrated how the fake sword props wouldn’t do the trick, the two combatants switched out to their practice swords. The wooden swords with thin padding and denim jackets. Todd held his sword out like a professional, and Allen held both of his swords facing forward with the short sword slightly angled up, and the longsword slightly angled downward. When the contest began it didn’t take long for the contest to get brutal. These 2 friends held nothing back during practice. They both had sore blistered hands that would take them out of their A game, but Allen had the worse hands of the 2 and it obviously contorted his posture and diminished his skill. The contest lasted for several minutes until Allen felt like he was more adept at staving off the pain in his hands. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that they had numbed for some reason, and he was about to win when Sandoval stepped in and stopped them. They both smiled and bowed. They had put on a good show. Todd sheathed his weapon with flair while Allen clumsily sheathed his. They went over to the audio / visual tech and watched the replay on the split screens. They were impressed by the way the instant CGI worked. It looked like it still needed to be tweaked, but most of the problems seemed to be stemmed around scaling of the CGI to the actual swords. Perhaps if they scanned some similarly sized weapons, it could be handled quickly and effectively.
In the end it was determined that composite swords would be created that could be easily adapted to use the small sensors. They would be built in, and easily replaced if, and when they got broken. Todd volunteered to help with the design. Brandon was conscripted to be a consultant. Edward complained that it was going to cost him more money. Allen pointed out that they would have quality over quantity. Cheap cheesy shows might not get as many viewers. This isn’t the best place to be cutting corners. Considering the cost of the 4 galleon replicas, it was pittance. Edward wasn’t consoled.
Wednesday week 1 of obstacle course.
Allen awoke in the night with a bad dream. His oldest brother had been fatally struck by a car while retrieving his mail from the mailbox. Allen had a strong desire to call his brother to make sure he was okay, but the phone number was programmed in, to Allen’s phone that he didn’t have with him while shooting for the show. He sat up and took several deep breaths to clear his head, and absently noticed a camera mounted to the doorway by the showers and restrooms. He did a variant to his characteristic finger gun thing; except this time, he made like he was shooting himself in the head. Then he went in and used the restroom and washed his hands and face before taking some more Advil and going back to sleep. The pain in his hands seemed to take priority over his aching muscles. He lay down, but it was a long time before the terrible vision left his head. Whenever he would be just about back to sleep, he would see his brother’s bloodied face again with his eyes open and facing in different directions. Things like this usually took days to fully leave his mind. He wondered if Rohypnol would cure it, but he wouldn’t know the first thing about getting any anyway. Eventually he did succumb to sleep after several dozing offs.
When Allen awoke the next time, he made his way over to the mess hall and sat down with some coffee and a fritter. It was still warm, and the sweet smell caused his taste buds to water. Debbie sat down across from him just as he was taking his first bite.
“The other teams are just starting to practice with the Nerf swords.” She stated. She had a big smile on her face, and her eyes were all glassy.
“Well, that means we have a head start. So, none of the other schools have started training? I thought that one of them was already practicing with swords.” Allen said with a bewildered look on his face as he chewed. He hadn’t noticed that he was speaking with his mouth full until he noticed the shocked look on her face.
“Well MIT has been using the Nerf swords for a couple of days, since the obstacle course started, but they have been smacking each other about with them, so they haven’t had any real practice yet.” Debby admitted. “So, yeah. You do have a head start.”
After she spoke, she held up her hands and made a gesture of flipping through stacks of imaginary money again as she stood up. Allen stood up as she did, and then sat back down as she walked away giddy and giggling.
Just as Allen sat back down Cindy came over with a bagel and some coffee and went to sit across from him. He stood up as she approached, and they sat down together. “What was that all about?” Cindy asked as she did the money flipping gesture.
“Debbie thinks we’re going to make a lot of money from this production. That’s all.” Allen said dismissively.
“Who’s we?” Cindy asked indignantly. Allen remembered thinking the same thing not too long ago.
“She didn’t say. I think she means her Daddy and the producers or something.” Allen said, before noticing that Cindy was mad at him for some unknown reason. “What?” he asked as he noticed that she was fuming.
His genuine look of innocence couldn’t be easily faked, so she dismissed it as the truth. Cindy was a lot better at reading body language than most people. That must be one of the reasons Allen liked her so much. He didn’t have to feel like he had to try too hard to impress her. She could see right through that sort of thing. And incidentally, that was one of the things that she liked about Allen. He didn’t try to deceive. That would probably be why he didn’t have a girlfriend. At least, that’s what Cindy figured. Alan would have agreed.
Allen noticed that Cindy had some real callouses forming on her palms right at the basses of her fingers. They were thickening up to the point that they were lighter in color than the rest of her skin. She took another bite of her bagel and set it down on the little plate as she daintily chewed on the morsel. Allen took her by the hand and gently pulled it over to his side of the table and bent at the waist to bring his lips over to her hand and give it a light kiss between her second and third knuckles as he had Christine the judge back in Utah. The hairs on the back of her arm bristled with gooseflesh as he did so. She had to force back a shudder that threatened to manifest itself. He could feel her callouses with his index finger, but she never expected the gesture, so she didn’t realize that he noticed. Her face reddened, and he followed suit before relinquishing her hand. He liked the way her hands felt. They were soft, and hard at the same time. He decided not to bring it up though. He thought that would make things awkward.
After the daily punishing brutality of the obstacle course Allen examined his hands. He mentally compared them to Cindy’s hands as he made an attempt at brushing some of the dirt off, but it was ground in. They had taken a turn for the worse in his haste to better himself. He wished he had paced himself better like Cindy apparently had. Blood was neither seeping, nor oozing from his hands today, but they were still plenty sore, and he had new blisters on the first knuckles of his middle and ring fingers on each hand. He washed, and put another application of New Skin on them, and got ready for class. An announcement over the PA instructed them that they wouldn’t need their books today for class, and instead they were going on a field trip on the busses. The crowd cheered and the energy level rose. Allen waited near the busses to see which one Cindy was getting on. She and Rachael sprung out of their Connex and boarded the bus closest to their stoop. Allen casually boarded and used his peripherals to get close to them before Cindy called out to him to sit by her. Rachael moved across the walkway to give him some space. Allen eyed her for a moment trying to assess her motives but sat with a smile when he got close enough in the quickly filling bus and put his arm around the woman that he was quickly falling for. Her shoulders were warm and soothing on his arm. It seemed awkward but natural. He thought it looked as casual as possible, but at this stage of the relationship they were both quite aware of their surroundings.
The 2 busses were not packed equally. The teammates didn’t know that they were expected to ride the bus that had their team captain on it, and they were already on their way before they noticed that Todd and Allen were on the same bus. When they got to the golf course everybody filed out and began to mill about. The camp was comfortable, but once on the outside it felt liberating like being released from prison might seem Allen thought. They got separated into teams and were instructed in the use of a mini range finder that they would be using to determine their distance from the pin. It was a regular low power optic that had a small scale etched into an inside lens. When you held it up and looked at the flag that indicated the hole, you could line it up with the scale to see how far away it was. The little flag must always be the same height Allen guessed. It seemed simple, but effective. Everybody got a chance to work with it for a while. They walked around checking the distances in different places, and it was accurate enough, if you could hold it still. After working with that they were given an option to play some miniature golf or hit a bucket of balls. Allen’s hands hurt too much to do a lot of golf club swinging, so he opted for the Miniature golf. Cindy was planning to drive some balls from the driving range but changed her mind when she saw Debbie staying close to Allen’s side. She seethed and was beginning to hate the daughter of the main producer. She walked over and grabbed Allen by the elbow as if he had held it out to her. He was glad to accept this token of affection. Truthfully, he would have been happy with anything that herded Debbie from his side. It was a bonus to have the girl that he fancied be the diversion he craved.
They golfed through all 18 holes and then sat on a bench while the others finished up. The sweet night air was chilly, and the lights were low. The scent of lilacs or some similar flower wafted about. Allen took in a deep whiff with his nose held high to take it all in. That was when he noticed that Cindy smelled wonderful. Hers wasn’t the same as the flowers that he caught in the air, but she definitely smelled good as well. He was terrible at identifying perfumes, but this one suited her nicely. He snuck his arm around her again which caused her to shudder. She had a tremble like she was cold. It occurred to him that this might be a good opportunity to cuddle, so he took her into a gentle embrace, and rubbed at her back to help her warm up. She seemed to like his attention, and he liked giving it to her. If it wasn’t for the cameras, he would have twisted his head and gave her a tender kiss on the neck.
“There’s no reality in reality television.” Allen said absently.
Cindy had a reaction that was someplace between a sigh and a giggle as she nuzzled into his warmth. They were still able to share a tender moment, but it seemed diminished somehow by the cameras and the show. Allen spied a camera peering his way and he shot it an over-the-top wink.
On the way back to the camp there was an intern explaining how the little optics that they used for range finders would be similar to the optics that they would use to find the range of the other ships. Few of the students were listening, but Allen found it interesting.
They arrived back at camp. It was way beyond dark, and the flag was still raised. Allen and some others were in a frenzy to bring it down. It was discussed that they should maybe get some lights for these sorts of emergencies. Afterward Todd and Allen walked around the obstacle course and discussed strategy. They weren’t as concerned about their own contest, but the upcoming ones with the other teams. They worked well together like this. Todd was quickly becoming a good friend. He was smart, and fun to be around except when he was being a condescending jerk. The fact was that he was an only child, so there were a lot of differences that he would be expected to have. He seemed like he would make a good engineer.
Allan looked back at the course when they neared the barracks. He imagined being tossed about on the high seas as someone was shooting cannons at his ship. He visualized the 2 fake boats bobbing on the water. He tried to imagine how difficult it must be to swing from one ship to another while the waves buffeted the ships together. “It could crush you.” He whispered absently unaware until the last syllable escaped him. Then he smiled with one side of his mouth as he turned and spied a camera trained on him. “It’s a good thing we have those waivers.” He spoke more loudly, and he pulled a wooden gun from its holster, pointed it at the camera, squeezed the trigger, and said “Bang” with a wink of his eye.
Thursday week 1 of obstacle course.
Allen felt a bug on his shoulder as he lay sleeping on his side. In his slumber his mind formed a situation where the bug was crawling around in circles for a while, and then it started to burrow into his skin. He flicked it off with his hand, but it disturbed his sleep, and stirred in the dimly lit barracks. His eyes opened, but his mind wasn’t yet fully functioning. He looked at Fish who was laying on his back in the bed in front of him snoring lightly. He shut his eyes and was nearly back to sleep when he felt a bug on the same spot on his shoulder. His eyes flashed open and witnessed the claws of the bug clamp down on him. With the firm grip of the bug, he cried out in pain as it burrowed its head in to his skin. He flicked it off aggressively and sat up and blinked his eyes several times in an effort to focus them on the spot. He scrutinized the spot where it bit him. Nobody stirred when he cried out. Had he been imagining it? He couldn’t see anything there, so he tried to get back to sleep. He lay down, and as soon as he closed his eyes the bug was back. In his mind he was convinced that the thing had laid eggs under his skin in his fleshy tissues of his shoulder. Visions of aliens laying eggs to metamorphosize in his body stirred his weary body into action. He smacked the bug hard and sat up strait with a scream. He looked under his palm at the thing expecting it to be dead, but it was unphased. Its carapace split down the middle of its back and some oversized transparent wings came out to hurry it away. It was gone before he could calm down. The people near him were freaking out as they witnessed his hysteria unfolding. The lights were flicked on as if automatically, and Allen noticed a red spot where he thought he saw the bug laying its eggs. He tried to explain what had happened as he rushed off to the infirmary to get the doctor to get the eggs from under his skin. He was convinced that there were going to be little daemon larva hatching, and burrowing tunnels under his skin and wandering around inside his body unhindered. But when the doctor checked it out there didn’t seem to be anything under his skin. He asked to have it cut open to get a better look, but they refused. He decided that he would have to do it himself later on. When the rest of the camp was sleeping, he pulled out a knife and eyed the spot on his shoulder. By the time he had the opportunity he had lost some of his nerve to do the deed. There had been a sense of urgency at the infirmary, but it had faded somewhat. “Maybe I imagined it.” He whispered to himself, and the world. It would be a while before he realized that there wasn’t any insect daemon larva in his shoulder flesh. His tired, fatigued mind had been playing tricks on him. He poised the knife to dig into his flesh and reveal the eggs and larva, but ultimately changed his mind in the end. He sheathed the knife and restored it to its hiding place in the footlocker and tried to get back to sleep but couldn’t.
He went to the chow hall, but it was locked. He looked to the east, but Venus was just above the horizon so he knew it would be some time until the sun came up, and day would finally break. He showered instead, and then worked on his wooden guns until the chow hall opened up, and he could go get coffee. They were turning out nicer than he thought they would. They needed a splash of paint. He thought about his cousin Lexi and her cosplay gear, and how it would be relatively easy to make some of the weapons of wood and paint them up nicely. He holstered the weapons and went to get the coffee that his mind was craving for so long. It wasn’t until he saw Debby sitting at one of the tables that he realized that there weren’t any bugs living under his skin. He looked at the spot and scratched at it absently. He wondered why his mind wandered so much. Maybe it was OCD, but he thought it was more likely the ADHD. Either way, he wasn’t happy about it. He got some coffee and sat down by Debby before he remembered that he didn’t want to be associated with her.
Before he could really say anything more than a greeting, Sandoval came and sat at the table with them. He was asking something about obstacle course training, but Allen’s mind was busy thinking about bugs.
“What?” Allen said at last. It was then that he realized that Sandoval had been asking him some sort of question.
“What are your thoughts on the obstacle course?” Sandoval repeated.
“I think it would be good to mix up the routine every day.” Allen said. “That should help to keep people’s minds engaged with the activities and be able to adapt more quickly to real life situations.”
Sandoval nodded his ascension. He seemed to be treating Allen like an equal. This must be what it was like to be a successful construction manager, Allen thought.
Just then Cindy came in and grabbed a couple of hot cocoa packets and emptied them into a large paper cup and added hot coffee and stirred it in. Allen’s mouth started to water when he thought about it, so he went and grabbed one for himself. They smiled when their eyes met. Cindy was beautiful. Then he grabbed a bagel and sat back down at the table with the director and the ladies.
“We should make sword fighting a bigger part of the obstacle course.” Allen added. “This will give us more opportunities to practice. It’s better to practice more frequently than it is to practice for an extended period.”
“How did you get so good with the swords Allen?” Debby asked with a lilt in her voice.
The apples and cinnamon smell of a fresh fritter caught his attention, and he absently turned his head as he scratched at the spot where the bug had bit him. He was thinking that the fritter may have been a better choice than the bagel.
“The brothers and I used to play a game called King of the heap.” His chair squeaked as Allen stood and sauntered over to get a fritter. The glaze was still warm and melty. He picked it up with a napkin and went to sit back down in the chair. It clunked as he drew it and himself under the table. “It wasn’t until I was 12 or so when I first started to be able to beat the brothers.” He announced as he took an oversized bite of the fritter without ever touching it with his hand. He looked around the table at the others that were staring at him. “What?” he asked with fritter muffled speech.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Black kids?” Debbie asked as she watched him chew. Allen stopped chewing and stared at her for a few moments.
“No.” Allen swallowed most of the big bite and juggled the rest into a cheek where it wouldn’t impede his speech. “My brothers and I.” Allen stated as Sandoval, and then the rest of them giggled, and he swallowed the rest after chewing for a few moments longer.
“You said, THE brothers.” Debbie explained. Allen just nodded. He wasn’t offended like Debbie thought he was. He was just curious why she would think his brothers were black.
Sandoval took Allen’s advice on the obstacle course. The sword training was emphasized more greatly than before, and everybody seemed to be coming in to their own in a very short amount of time.
Allen was doing better than before. The pain in his hands had dulled as he ignored them, but they weren’t stinging so bad in any case. They seemed to have a constant ache that reminded him that he needed to treat them gingerly and put ointment on them regularly. The biggest problem seemed to be the Sun brutalizing the young engineers. That and the hot humid air that did little to evaporate the sweat from their northern skin. Sara came by and put sunscreen on Allen and his team. He was about to protest until Cindy advised him of the wisdom of the act. He was grateful that he didn’t get the sunscreen on his broken blisters. He didn’t think about it at all until Fish put sunscreen on with his blistered hands and was complaining about it for the rest of the day. Allen took the arm band off of his sleeve and used it as a head band to keep the sweat and sunscreen out of his eyes. Many of the others followed suit.
In the afternoon they enjoyed the comfort of the wind starting to blow. A small breeze at first, but it intensified. It seemed to linger on for days. It had a coral reef kind of smell to it with a hint of rancid fish oil for some reason. Allen kept looking out to sea, or in the direction of the sea anyway. He half expected a Spanish galleon to come up to the old camp and lay siege to the barracks and mess hall. It couldn’t happen of course, but his mind wandered more extensively in the heat from the hot sun. The surf pounding on the beach in the distance produced a continuous drone of white noise that was ever present in Allen’s ears when he had first arrived, but recently he hadn’t noticed it so much. It was faint and somewhat comforting. He looked toward the ocean again. He knew where the ocean was, and he could see it in his mind’s eye. The green hint of the life that dwelled within it was disguised by the blue from the sky that it reflected. He wondered if he would feel the same about the continent once they were sailing. The comfort of having land under him was the only thing he had ever known. “How’s it going to be, when we’re living at sea?” he asked himself unknowingly. The sound of his voice escaping his lips shook him back into reality. He searched for a camera without moving his head. When he found one, he gave it a wink and both barrels. I’m going to have to keep better track of my words. He thought.
“Are you wearing your arm band Allen?” Todd asked when he saw the bandanna wrapped above and across his eyebrows.
“Yeah. You ready to fall to my sword?” Allen replied as he drew his wooden weapons. The wind was still in his face, blowing his hair out of his eyes, but it was blowing on Todd’s back. Whipping his long cords of hair into his face as the wind played with it. It was dancing all around including in his mouth and eyes.
“Are you ready to fall to mine?” Todd countered.
“I’m not going to peter out this time Todd. If you want to win, then I’m going to make you earn it.” Allen said as he clicked the denim covered blades together a couple of times to give some time for another camera man to come to be at a right angle to the ever-present Danny. Allen was nothing if he wasn’t a showman. Debbie found a shady spot to watch from, but there was no place to escape the heat. The hot wind gave no relief. It was more akin to an air fryer. Allen took in a deep breath of the hot, salty air and let it out in a long sigh. “On guard.”
Todd turned up one corner of his mouth as hi sniffed pointedly as if he had allergies or something, and then like lightning he smacked the short sword out of Allen’s hand before Allen had time to get a good grip on it. It was Todd’s turn to laugh. “You need to stay alert Allen. This is going to be like beating you with one arm tied behind your back.” Todd laughed.
Allen wasn’t amused. He glanced over at his denim short sword lying in the dirt and feinted toward it as if to go to pick it up. Todd positioned himself between Allen and his useless weapon, but Allen was expecting this, and his long sword jabbed at Todd’s neck so fast that he didn’t see it. If Allen had thrust his blade just 2 inches to the left it would have been over, and both knew it. Todd gulped instinctively as he afforded Allen some space to get to his short sword.
“That would have hurt.” Todd announced the obvious to the crowd, and the world 3 months from now, the tips of the swords afforded little protection from a thrust. Allen afforded a small laugh as the dance resumed. Todd jabbed a few times quickly. All 3 shots would have hit Allen had he not brushed them away with his short sword with a clack. Then Todd did a powerful downward attack that Allen couldn’t block so he dodged most of it, and deflected the rest down his long blade. It made a resounding crack when it hit his finger guard. Allen was grateful that he had anticipated that move. He couldn’t distinguish whether it was from anticipating this from Todd in particular, or if it just seemed like a good logical defense from a logical attack. It dawned on him that neither of them was wearing any sort of protective equipment. Debbie began to clap again in front of her neck with her giddy schoolgirl clap. Allen could see her biting her lip as the 2 combatants circled and positioned. Edward was standing next to her before long, and some sunscreen laden sweat found its way past the headband, and into Allen’s eye. The sting caused him to squint both eyes hard a few times, but he didn’t give up anything to Todd. There were several more exchanges before Todd began to tire out. He began to consider that Allen was going to beat him this time. He lunged in low with a feint, and then brought the blade up into the bottom of Allen’s chin. His teeth hit together so hard he thought that some of them must have been broken. He stepped back and spat out a large portion of spit that had a metallic taste to it. When he saw it exit his mouth, he didn’t see any blood this time, so he knew it was all good. He surveyed his teeth with his tongue to make an accounting as Todd allowed him a moment to regain his composure. Everything seemed in order. He put his swords back up and moved into take on Todd as his breath became more labored, but Debbie came in and stopped it. “You’re dead.” She said as she looked in, to Allen’s startled eyes.
“What makes you think that?” Allen asked honestly.
“Don’t you mean, Oh, you missed me?” Debbie pleaded. She was pained with the thought of Allen getting hurt. It was obvious. What kind of Golden Goose would he be if he didn’t get a fair chance to beat Todd? His mind raced to think of a way to keep the contest going for another 5 minutes or so. Then Cindy stepped in and took his swords and put them in his scabbards on his belt and whispered in his ear. “Choose your battles wisely my warrior. Todd knows he can be beat now… Everybody knows.”
Allen took in a whiff of her neck, as he contemplated kissing her glistening skin. “All right.” He whispered as he moved away from her and shook Todd’s hand. Both men were happy that it was over. Everyone seemed happy that it was over.
Allen decided to eat more protein, and fewer carbs to get into better shape. He would make a conscious effort in the future, with few exceptions.
At class they learned about the different types of artillery, and how to adjust a shot using information gained from seeing where the first one hit. This information would be good when you are shooting at things on land, but he wondered how effective it would be while shooting at targets at sea. The turbulent everchanging surface would be unforgiving as a template.
They also learned how the ships could hit a target from the sea during WWII. It didn’t seem to matter that there was a sway to the ocean, and that the waves and surf would buffet them around. Let alone the wind. They were quite accurate despite all of this. Allen was intrigued.
He tended to keep looking behind himself and his small entourage. He also kept looking at Cindy in her poufy sleeves and tight belt. He liked the way she looked, but he still feared her.
After class Allen ate some baked tilapia, and cauliflower with butter. It was good, but it seemed to leave him still hungry. Even though he was full. He expected that he would be ready to snack in a couple of hours, so he decided to not cave in to his cravings.
Todd was already at the gym working out when Allen arrived. They exercised together until Todd went out to get a smoke, and Allen followed him.
“You inspire your men.” Allen stated flatly as Todd took a deep drag from his cigarette and waving the paper match out before flipping it into the dry green weeds.
“Same.” Todd indicated with smoke breath as he pointed his cigarette at Allens chest, and then turning his head and lips to keep the smoke from hitting Allen as the wind took it behind their heads. Between the two of them they had nearly the entire place looking up to them.
“Smoking causes cancer.” Allen hinted. “And it robs you of energy and stamina.”
Todd nodded and took another deep drag unimpressed.
“It soothes me.” Todd explained. “Besides, I like it.”
“It gives you bad breath and makes your teeth yellow.” Allen persisted.
Todd gave him a look as he angled his face down, eyebrows raised, as if looking over spectacles.
“I’m sorry for being such a dick earlier.” Todd stated flatly, apologetically.
Allen considered his words before responding. “That’s okay. You couldn’t help it.”
Todd gave him a shove that was very characteristic of an older brother shove. They were building a better repertoire with each other.
“I wonder how long it will be until we are on the same team again.” Allen thought out loud as he tested the waters. Todd took another drag and nodded.
“I wonder which of us will be expected to lead this bunch of riff raff when we get back together.” Todd responded.
“I’ll have no problem following your lead if want it.” Allen admitted.
“Let’s just take this thing one day at a time.” Todd suggested. “This is unscripted television remember?”
Friday week 1 of obstacle course.
Friday’s obstacle training required them to climb to the crow’s nest and look through a virtual reality scope to get bearings on a galleon in the distance and get a fix on it. They could ascertain the position and communicate it to the crew on the ground for firing positions. The cannon would fire a blank, and it was determined how close and position where it landed, and another volley was set up to fire at the imaginary target. This training lasted longer than usual, and nobody seemed to be able to hit anything. Allen figured it was because they kept changing the person giving the coordinates, and no one could see where the simulated shell would hit. The mental calculations that people naturally use were stripped from the experience which gave disappointing results.
Todd busied himself teaching everybody how to use their free arm to help balance when sword fighting, when to hack, when to thrust. Some giggling erupted when he mentioned thrusting.
Allen, in turn, showed everybody how to manipulate their foe with one sword, while bypassing his opponent’s defenses with his other sword. Nearly all the other students used Todd’s method, fighting with a single sword.
Afterward, Allen and Todd had a mock battle in slow motion showing their technique. It didn’t take long before they weren’t in slow motion anymore, each trying to portray the flaw in the other style. Todd had a keen ability to keep explaining while he fought. Allen was breathing too hard to do much explaining, and he had to concentrate the whole time they fought so he did little to inspire the other students to his form of fighting. By the time they were finished Todd had struck Allen several times, albeit lightly.
After the display Allen tried to explain how his techniques seemed to work against the brothers, but they weren’t experts like Todd.
“You don’t have to convince me of anything, my warrior.” Cindy explained. And she winked at him, and even made a kissing motion with her lips that was almost imperceptible. Allen saw it, and his heart began to race as his face flushed. He loved it when she called him her warrior.
Allen crossed the courtyard to speak with Todd while he was smoking. Todd took a drag from the cigarette and moved his hand off behind him, and exhaled as Allen came up to him.
“What up?” Todd asked with the last remnants of smoke escaping his mouth as he spoke. It made Allen think of a dragon talking.
“I want you to help me to get better with my swords. I don’t know why you are so difficult to beat.” Allen explained.
Todd laughed at this comment and took another drag from his cigarette. “You want me to teach you how to beat me?” Todd laughed. “Why would I do that?”
“To improve the team.” Allen said as he turned his gaze to Cindy who was battling shadow fencers in her head. She moved her arms and hands against imaginary foes while she sat at a picnic table with her eyes closed. Allen was smitten by this pirate chick. He blinked his eyes several times before looking back toward Todd, and absently removed his hands from the pommels of his swords.
Todd considered him for a moment, took another drag, and crushed out the butt under his shoe before answering. “Sure.” He said. “What do you want to know?”
“How can I penetrate your defenses?” Allen asked bluntly. “I’ve tried everything I know.”
“Did you see the movie, Rocky?” Todd asked. “The very first one with Apollo Creed?”
“A long time ago. Yeah.” Allen responded.
“Remember how Apollo’s coach didn’t want him to fight Rocky because he was a south paw?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s kinda the same thing.” Todd explained. “You’re trying to get inside a perimeter from the outside. All I have to do is keep you out.”
Just then Rachael came over and lit up a cigarette. Todd lit another even though he just finished one off.
“I don’t know what you mean. What’s that got to do with anything?” Allen asked. He felt stupid for not knowing something that Todd seemed to know very well.
“It’s the south paw argument. Think of it like this.” Todd drew in a shallow drag from the cigarette and was talking like a dragon again. “You have weapons on both sides, and you come from the outside to get me. I deflect and dodge, and deflect, and dodge, and you can’t hit me.” Todd pulled his sword and put it in front of him to show Allen what he meant. Allen pulled his blades and slowly came at Todd who easily brushed them aside. Cindy had opened her eyes and was walking over to hear every word of this lesson more closely.
Allen laughed at his own naivete for a second or two. “Yeah, so?”
“So, stop coming at me from the outside in. Come from the inside out.” Todd explained slowly to Allen’s exasperation.
Cindy drew her swords and nodded at Todd who changed opponents. Allen could see it better when she was doing it. It was more like a display. Cindy crossed her left arm over to her right side, and Todd nodded his head. Then Cindy slashed with both blades slowly from the same side. It was in slow motion, but Allen saw how one high, and one low slash from right to left was nearly impossible for Todd to have his sword positioned and have enough force to stop the attack. The light came on in his head at last.
“It works both ways.” Todd explained. “And you can cross them in the middle to change it up and confuse your opponent.” Todd suggested. Cindy was quick to comply. It seemed very effective. “The only thing I can do against a multipronged attack is to take a step back. And that won’t be easy in close quarters. That won’t be easy on the ship.”
“Why didn’t I see that sooner?” Allen asked out loud even though he meant to only ask in his head.
“You were too close to the problem.” Cindy offered.
“That’s right.” Todd confirmed as he took a long drag from the cigarette. Allen hadn’t noticed that he was fighting with the cigarette in his mouth until it bobbed when he spoke. It made him chuckle.
Shupe wandered in and stood next to Rachael, took out a vape cigarette, and started puffing on it while he asserted himself into the conversation. Allen could see that Shupe wanted to be near Rachael, so he and Cindy wandered into the mess hall. Sara and some other folks were looking at the 10-inch ring and ropes that Allen had ordered. They were laying on a table while everybody wondered what to do with them. Allen told them to get the ropes tied to the ring. They tried to work together but there wasn’t enough room for more than a couple of them to tie the ropes to the ring. In the end they stood around and watched Allen tie them on. They all wondered what the deal was with the ropes and ring, but Allen didn’t let on. “It’s a team building exercise.” Is all that he would say.
Saturday week 1 of obstacle course.
“A student at one of the other schools got hurt doing the obstacle course.” Debbie announced as they were setting up for the day of workouts at the obstacle course.
“I hope it’s a BYU student.” Said somebody from behind Allen. He turned and glared at whomever it must have been but couldn’t see who it was.
“Don’t wish ill on our opponents.” Allen scolded. “That’s extremely bad form. We are better than that.”
“We need to be diligent with safety.” Allen said. It seemed to make the mood more somber. He hated the thought of anybody getting hurt. Especially someone close, and they were all pretty close now. He was hopeful that no one else would be hurt during the show.
“Okay everybody listen up.” Sandoval said over a PA that appeared in his hand. “From now on we will be using safety harnesses and lanyards when swinging from ropes or working at heights.” There was a collective groan that erupted from the crowd, but no one wanted to get hurt. The biggest problem that Allen had noticed is that people, especially young vibrant people, never thought it was them that was going to get hurt. Getting hurt is what happened to someone else. He was relieved to see that there was a climbing harness variant that could be used instead. Those climbing harnesses would be the way to go. They didn’t limit your mobility as much. There were also some people that were afraid of heights. Allen wondered why they even tried out for the program if they were afraid of heights. What did they think they were getting into anyway?
“Are all of the participants going to have to wear these all the time?” Rachael asked.
“I’m afraid so.” Sandoval explained to more groans.
“If everyone everywhere has to wear these things, then they will be a hindrance to everyone equally.” Allen noted out loud. He borrowed the PA from Sandoval. “If everybody has to wear them then the ones who get used to them the quickest will be rewarded by being the best at fighting, climbing, working with them on. We need to be the team that steps up to the plate. Let’s embrace this safety protocol and let the other teams have the disadvantage.” Allen said to the crowd as they pondered what he was asking of them. “We may not be the best pirates out here, but if we are the best conditioned, and able to do the work comfortably while encumbered, then we will be triumphant. I want everyone here to commit to doing their very best. When you are fighting with swords, do your very best. When you are swinging from ropes, do your very best. When you are aiming your cannons, do your very best. Can I get a commitment from everyone to do their very best?”
Only a few committed. “I can’t hear you.” Todd stated loudly.
“Yes.” The crowd spoke marginally louder than before.
“Do you guys want to win, or just be here for the show?” Allen asked without the PA.
“Win.” Most of them agreed.
“If you want to win then you need to commit to doing your very best.” Todd said. “Are you with me?” This time there was a resounding yes from the crowd.
“Good. Now let’s learn how to use this safety equipment.”
It took nearly an hour and a quarter for the teams to get trained and suited up with the equipment, but when they were ready to go, they showed confidence. The gloom that had blown in earlier still lingered though. Or perhaps it was just in Allen’s head.
At some point during the training, it was suggested that the duels get opened to fighting multiple foes at the same time. If it was a success, they would keep it up. Cindy and Allen seemed to do their best against multiple foes. And with the instructions from Todd, Allen became a wrecking machine. He could take out 4 or 5, or even more people in the first minute which gave them a serious advantage.
For the obstacle course training they would rope swing to the other boat, sword fight the other team, sword fight across the gangplank to the other boat, and the other team members, and sword fight there. This went on for a couple of hours, everybody was exhausted in the end. The new fall protection, and safety protection seemed to cause more mishaps than they would have saved. Allen was glad they were practicing so hard with the gear on. They would be triumphant. His appetite had become overwhelming during practice. Like when he was a kid, and he went swimming… It sapped his reserves.
The constant pressure on his nerves was causing him to get jumpy. He continuously had his palms on his pommels now. When he realized they were there he didn’t even try to stop himself from doing it. It worked out to his advantage a couple of times. He even started pulling one of his swords before going through a doorway. When he went into the mess hall for lunch Debbie popped out from the side of the doorway and just about got skewered.
“Don’t do that.” Allen warned, as he put his swords back in their sheathes. His adrenalin was pumping from being startled and his reaction to being startled. He moved to the buffet, got lunch, and sat down. Debbie seemed to be getting even more clingy and didn’t seem to want to leave his side. He was beginning to resent her, and what she stood for. For the most part he wanted to get back to his life. Well, after completing a semester on the show anyway. He began to calculate his money per hour in his head. It wasn’t as much money if you consider that you are working 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 3 months. It would probably only add up to a couple of bucks an hour unless they really investigated his contract. They probably just assumed that they were all just the boiler plate ones that were offered though so he might get a nice payoff.
Debbie sat across from him with a side salad. “What’s the ring and ropes for?” she asked at last.
“A team building exercise.” Allen responded again. “We can do it after lunch.” He added.
She was trying to work out some details, but she shut up when Cindy sat next to him and put her arm around him and whispered in his ear. Then she got up and walked out.
“Thanks.” Allen said as she moved to sit across from him.
“No prob.” Cindy replied, and they ate in silence.
Allen drew a big circle with Cindy’s help. He set the ring in the middle of the circle and stretched all the ropes out over the edges of the circle evenly spaced. When everybody got into position, he instructed them that they were going to have a tug of war of sorts. Everybody was to pull strait from the middle. You could reposition your rope, but not move your feet outside of the circle. He intentionally put the larger students next to each other to make them think they would easily win. When he said “Go.” Everybody started to pull. The big kids were reeling in the slack as the ring approached their side of the circle, but it only seemed to get about halfway there. It didn’t take long before it became obvious that the big kids weren’t going to win. Debbie thought it was because the smaller students were working harder when it appeared like they would lose, but it was because of physics. The closer the ring got to any one point in the circle, the more people were pulling it away, and in a different direction. Allen let the game go for a while longer than he probably should have, but he wanted them to tucker out some more to show the value of teamwork. Then he finally let them all give up.
“Well, we have no winners today. I thought you guys were tough.” He said to no one in particular, but some of the participants were offended anyway. They probably didn’t grow up with older brothers, he thought. Then he grabbed the big metal ring all the ropes were tied to. He inspected it, but when he had it held up, he noticed Danny and his camera on the other side looking through. He gave him a wink, and his left-hand finger gun. “Bang.”
“That is what it looks like when we oppose one another. We are not triumphant. We need to work together as a team, not all going off in our own direction.” He took the loop and set in over the trailer hitch on the Polaris truck that was parked on the dirt. He slid the ropes so that they were all on the same side. “Now grab a rope. And this time I want to drag the back of this truck around in a big circle. Do you think we can do it?”
Most of the people were uncommitted, but when they were instructed, they pulled in unison, and in the same direction. The truck seemed to move so easily that some of them were caught off guard to the point that they stumbled but quickly recovered. There was laughter and cheers as the truck spun around in the parking lot. He even had Sandoval give them a tug of war with the little truck in 4WD. They just dragged it backward as the tires stirred up the dust.
“See what we can do if we all work together?” Allen asked to the joy of everyone. Sandoval began to clap his approval until it caught on, and everyone was clapping.
Allen packaged the ropes and ring exercise into a box for safe keeping. The group cheered.
Debbie cornered him after he got it put away. “Where did you learn that?” She asked him.
“That’s one of my dad’s lessons that he would give. I find it very effective.” Allen admitted.
“Very effective indeed.” Edward stated as the producer and other personnel that didn’t usually speak with him gathered about, and the regular crowd seemed to dissipate.
Without even noticing it, he had been herded off to the side with Debbie. She was talking about something, but Allen was thinking about his old man, and how they had some great times together. The next thing he knew Debbie was pointing out how the other guys were getting flirtatious with Cindy. Allen didn’t like that one bit. She looked over her shoulder at him with a curious look on her face that made him feel like she was upset about something. Probably about him wandering off with Debbie. He disliked her more and more every time she tricked him like this. He vowed to himself that he would swear off women until after the show was done taping. Debbie seemed to sense his turmoil and tried even harder to get chummy with him. Allen gathered his box with the ring and ropes, took them to his barracks, and locked them away.
Later, when Allen tried to work with Cindy on her swordplay, the lesson was brief because they both seemed upset.
At artillery school, they introduced a bigger gun. The range and power of the new 6-pound gun was much greater. They were told that the boats would have both types of artillery on it. A couple of large cannons on either side of the prow, and smaller ones along the sides. Allen had concerns about getting hurt on the boats with this sort of gun on board. “That must be what it’s like for Danny.” Allen stated unconsciously. These boats must be bigger than he thought to carry this kind of firepower.
For dinner he had prime rib, medium rare, and crab legs. Debbie sat across from him, so he scanned the room for Cindy but didn’t see her anywhere. Debbie began to flirt with him, but he mostly ignored her, but that didn’t work. Then he remembered that he swore off women, and he started to shine her on. Debbie took the bait and was happy to have the attention. Perhaps she was just shallow and petty, Allen thought.