I stared blankly at Grace. Was she serious? Of all the things she could’ve said…

I sigh. Of course she would say that. Why wouldn’t she?

Lucy raises an eyebrow.

“What?” Grace says.

“Nothing. Just… really?”

“Oh shut up. My body, my decisions.”

“I don’t care about your damn body. Just that I’m pretty sure there are more important questions to ask.”

“Oh, that I knew. But… nah. I’d end up like one of those characters in holo-movies.”

“What? Also, when did you ever watch a holo-movie?”

“I’ve watched plenty. It’s not like I spend all of my time observing your every move.”

Lucy disappeared. I think she had an amused look on her face.

Annoying. All of them.

“So, you spend most of your time observing my every move?” I ask her.

“Yes.” Grace answers, completely nonchalant about it.

“…You need to learn the definition of privacy.”

She snaps her fingers together.

“Done.” Then she giggles.”You’re staring at me naked, Dan.”

I blink and then realize the irony.

Total hypocrite. That’s what I am. Damn it, me.

I then realize she is naked. Oh yes, I knew that already, but the reality of it didn’t settle down till the aftershock of the recent… event wore off.

And I, like any other guy my age, wait- any other straight guy my age, suddenly found myself having a hard time keeping my eyes on her face.

“Can you… cover yourself?”

She giggles.

“Yes, but I’m not going to.”

“Why?”

“Oh, just to annoy you.”

“I swear, Grace…”

----------------------------------------

After that, we were moving again. All that fuss had barely taken about five minutes. So when I arrived at the sphere, there was a lot of time remaining before we would reach the planet.

Of course, I didn’t enter the sphere directly. As, for one, there was already a mock battle going on. So, I had to wait till that one ended. And for another, I needed to arm myself first.

The mo-guns and knives were hung all over the room. There were different types, like a gun that you could wear like a gauntlet. That seemed nice, but I went for a shoulder mount. I like to keep my hands free when I can.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I tapped the gun, appreciating the level of effort put into its looks. It was shit for efficiency, of course, but it looked cool. That was important.

For the knife… I went for a regular one. I wanted to be able to leave it behind in case I had to.

And that was all there was to it. I raised the corner of my lips and walked over to the window, where I had a decent view of the match.

Light shone on my face, from the ceiling of the sphere. I was momentary blinded, but then I realized I could just reduce the glare manually. Technology sure was convenient.

At the center of the sphere, was a cube. Attached to all of its six faces, were long cylinders. The cylinders had cylinders protruding out of them as well, connecting to relatively mini cubes. And the-relatively-mini cubes had a single face open, making them small rooms. The central cube rotated, via the anti-grav panels on the cylinders. The cylinders rotated, via some hidden mechanism within the cube.

It made for an interesting battlefield. No, that would be an understatement. It made for an exciting battlefield. The mini cube rooms would occasionally get a delivery of better mo-weapons, that is accessible only after you’ve given considerable damage to the others.

Everyone would go in with the basics, but how they fared after was left to their ability.

I observed the current players. My neural interface told me that there were exactly fifteen people. What was strange, was that ten were girls. I’m not implying that girls don’t fight as often as guys, but that this large of a disparity was seldom seen. Among other genders.

Ah, well. Doesn’t matter. I came here to have fun, not ponder about gender ratio.

One of the girls were particularly feisty. She didn’t hesitate when it came to taking shots, and doubly so when it came to giving them away.

She’s short, about… three feet shorter than me. But, I assume, that it’s intentional, considering how fast she moves. I would be hardpressed to keep up with her. She has her hair tied, and her sleeves rolled up. On her face is a manic grin.

I watch as one of the guys is repeatedly tormented by her. She whacks him in the face with her knife, and while he’s stunned, she shoots. Again in the face.

I wince. Poor dude.

She’s forced to move, however, when one of the other girls shoot at her.

“Oy, Ariande, don’t harass that poor boy!” The girl who just shot at her yells out.

‘Ariande’, seems to be annoyed, whereas, the girl gets shot thrice in the back. Once the stun effect wears off, she curses and harasses the girl who shot her with excessive gunfire.

Ariande, however, shoots the girl, whom I assume to be her friend at this point, judging by how familiar they are, while she’s busy fighting the other girl.

This is only of the scenes that are going on. In one corner, five girls are ganging up on two boys, who, I must say, are performing rather admirably. They don’t show any openings, that is, any that aren’t intentional, and seem to be scoring more shots than the girls. This seems to irritate the girls, and their attacks turn more rash.

Yes! Go team danglers!

Then I see a boy- his legs split, hit one of the cylinders. He screams, and a few people turn their heads to laugh at him. They’re rewarded with stabs and shots.

I facepalm.

A few minutes later, the mock battle is over. The winner of the match is, strangely, the boy who crash landed. Two people exit, but the majority stay behind for another match.

I enter the sphere and feel- light.

Zero gravity is nice. I kick off and flyby a mini cube. I grab ahold of the edge, and I feel all my momentum resisting my effort for a second, giving hell to my fingers. But just for a moment, as, I’m freely floating once again. I kick off the cube, and fly towards the wall of the sphere.

But not directly. I would just bounce off. Rather, I do it at an angle, and when I’m about to crash, I use some of my momenta to change my direction. I do this multiple times, keeping close to the walls, until I’ve exhausted all my momentum, and am still.

This time, I count seventeen players. Seems like I wasn’t the only one to join.

The gate slams shut. A buzz rings out throughout the sphere.

Hell breaks loose. A few strays shots are fired my way, bright green balls of light, that I dodge. I pivot the shoulder mount with a command and fire three shots at Ariande. The first one she dodges, which leave her open to the following shots.

I won’t be able to fire for a couple of seconds, so I take advantage of the stun to kick off the sphere yet once again, taking cover behind a cube. I activate the mo-knife, a blue holographic representation of the real thing flaring to life. I stab a girl as she flies by me.

“Mwahaha!” A guy suddenly yells out.

I twist my torso, and find a guy standing on a cube- with a gattling cannon on his shoulders. He has a shit eating grin on his face.

Everyone’s distracted by him. So I shoot the girl I just stabbed, thrice in the head, and laugh.

The guy appears annoyed and points the cannon towards me.

“Ah fuck,” I say.

“Ah fuck indeed,” Ariande’- who I just now realized is next to me, says.

The guy pulls a lever on the mount. Green globs of light rain down upon me.