The Game2003 short story by Jonathan Hicks Five years after
Episode IV – A New Hope At the end of the day, it all comes down to simple choice. There are those who spend their time in a pondering limbo, those who gaze at their situation or predicament from all angles, all viewpoints, all emotions. This is acceptable, but how long does the situation need to be considered before time overtakes you? How much of your life are you willing to spend pontificating over the smallest detail of your unfolding story, of your position in this world? Take life as a Hardball game. You have a set time in the game to make your decisions, work with others, take your chances, try to get as far ahead as possible. This is the nature of the game. So, when the ball comes to you and it is time to make your contribution, do you stand in the arena considering, wondering, second-guessing your decisions? You waste your own time and the time of those around you, up until the point where someone comes and takes that decision from you. You lose your chance to make a difference, to progress further through the game. You may lose – this much is true – but there can be moments in the field where you have moments of glory, moments of brilliance. There can just as easily be moments of pain, frustration and disappointment. But there is no time to consider what you may or may not have done. You get up from the arena floor, you take a breath, you learn from your mistake, you carry on. You only have so much time to complete the game, after all, and wasting that time is not an option. Just don’t get sent off. The Hardball Arena was a swarm of flags, pennants, light emitters and holobanners; thousands upon thousands of spectators on great steps of seats encircled the playing arena. Every time the ball was thrown from player to player the crowd shrieked and hooted and howled, cheering or booing depending on the side that had the advantage. Dodge scooped the hovering silver ball in his hand as one of his defenders passed the sphere back out of their half of the arena floor. The heavily armoured central defender, guarding the magnetic post from being hit with the metal sphere, waved his appreciation to the defender for stopping the ball with his staff, a scoop at one end and a trip-hook at the other. Three defence, two support, two assault. The standard Hardball team. Dodge slid under the diving tackle of a support player for the Zelon Fliers, the team his own side were pitted against in this decisive First League battle. The Amagad Assassins had fought their way from a lowly Third League position and now, five years later, were hard at work fighting against the top team in the Setnin Sector for the coveted First Position Prize. Dodge grinned under his armoured helmet and drove his shoulder into a heavy-set Zelon player’s leg, sending him flipping over onto his back. He heaved the heavy metal ball at one of his support players who in turn elbowed it to the other assault player. Dodge made a run for the opposition’s magnetic post. Should he play the decoy or wait for the ball and go for the point? There are far too many instances where people are under the illusion that choice is difficult, but it is not. Perhaps it is easy for me to say such a thing as I am under a single-minded pressure at this moment, but why should my opinion on free will be any different at any time? Any individual can find themselves in grave situations where their choice is important, perhaps even life changing. Such a situation must be considered and analysed before a choice is made, this much is true. But… How long must the decision take? How many times can an individual agonise over their situation before they either decide on their course of action or are forced into a decision? Making an actual choice, defining how you want the future to unfold or how you want the situation to be resolved is much more complete than having to react to the situation you cause because of your indecision. You have that element of freedom taken from you, and you feel as if you were never in control. That can crush, even destroy, a soul. There are those who allow these incidents to spiral out of their grasp because it is in their best interests to do so – this way, they can feel a kind of justification in their indecision and feel better about their situation because they can plead that fate was out of their control and the resulting problems, even though they are partly responsible, were not entirely of their doing. This is a form of cowardice. For a moment, Dodge faltered. He was getting too ahead of himself. The Amagad Assassins were supposed to lose this game. Dodge slowed his run on the left side of the oval arena and watched as his support player sent the ball sailing over to the other assault player. His number two leaped into the air to intercept the pass but his opposite number, who wrapped his arms around his waist and bought him crashing to the metal ground, stopped him. The ball fell to it’s one meter hovering height and slipped on the grav fields to the outside of the arena. Dodge was, at the same time,
angry at the interception and, strangely, relieved. His team were not
supposed to win this due to heavy betting on the side of the Zelon Fliers
and, if he allowed his team mates to play as well as they had been the last
half-season they would win. And he would suffer the consequences. His eyes flickered to the
prime-viewing box above him. At least, that was what
Mister Spyte had told him. With choice comes responsibility. There cannot be one without the other. Those who cannot, or will not, make up their minds to resolve a situation are lacklustre in their decision making because they do not want the responsibility of the results of that choice. Not wishing to accept the results of their indecision they allow events to overtake them, allow the problems they find themselves, sometimes even place themselves, in to perpetuate, even escalate, all the while blaming their lack of foresight, or plain bad luck, on the circumstance. If they could only allow themselves to take a stand and make a choice, for good or for ill, then at least they will know they were in some control of their own destiny. What is the preference? To be steamrolled by the situation, or be able to take a stand and make a choice, for better or for worse? The ball, free from grappling and handling, dropped to its one-meter height and slowly slid along the repulsorfield, it’s own momentum carrying it to the outer edge of the arena. The intercepting player made a dive for it, the heavy padding of the impact suit he wore flashing blue as he dived over the Amagad player and rolled towards the sphere. An Amagad defender was faster. He scooped the ball with one end of his staff and tossed the ball to Dodge, the other end catching the foot of the Zelon player with the trip-hook and sending him tumbling into the padded crash barrier. Dodge leaped and saw in his peripheral vision a Zelon team member approaching at speed, so instead of grabbing the ball he thumped it hard, down and at a steep angle. The balls skipped off the repulsorfield and up again, into the chin guard of the defender, which sent his head snapping back, his body following suit, his staff skittering across the floor. As only the ball was affected by the repulsorfield, he fell hard and heavy to the collective ‘oooh!’ of the crowds. The ball bounced back and Dodge grabbed it again in his oversized glove. Dodge felt fast and free, a maniacal grin spread across his features as he played the game. But then, it seemed, Glann Cipple’s face appeared every time he blinked or gritted his teeth, wavering in front of his tired eyes. Smiling. Pointing a fat, blood-soaked finger at him. Telling him to win, and win well, to do Amagad proud, and ensure the tens of thousands of credits he had invested in the team and the betting syndicates wasn’t a bad spend. Because otherwise he’d end up dead. Plain and simple. Glann Cipple; he didn’t skirt the important issues. All situations need consideration, but this consideration needs to be justified. Too much second-guessing over a long period of time will create far too many alternate paths of consideration, confusing the issue at hand and resulting in decisions based upon supposition and not what is regarded as fact. These lines of thinking are a great boon to those who do not wish to take responsibility for their choices, because in their heads they can blame certain aspects of the situation or blocked avenues of choice upon other things. This allows them to continue on their chosen path, which is generally one of a sense that fate is out of their hands and therefore they need not take any responsibility for their actions. There are also those who are afraid. Dodge glanced up at the scoreboard hanging just below the prime-viewing box, knew that the Amagad Assassins were one point behind and had only twelve seconds to go. His team were in possession, they had the advantage. If he could score from the two or three point zone they would win –one point would draw the game but the Zelon Fliers would win by point zone scoring difference. His eyes drifted upwards. He could see silhouetted shapes in the window of the prime-viewing box and he wondered which one was Spyte, because no doubt he had come to see his patsy Dodge do what he had ordered him, paid him to do. Take a fall. Fumble the game for the Amagad Assassins. Betray his team. Lose. What should he do? Lose the game, take the money, and spend the rest of his life basking in the glory of a being that almost beat the Zelon Fliers, who almost got the First Position Prize? Endless questions about the mistake he made that lost them the game, shrugging his shoulders and talking about bad luck, or bad judgement, or feigned injury. Then killed by Glann Cipple for not winning the prize for Amagad. Or win. Spend a short time in the bright light of interstellar fame. Loved by all. Then killed for double-crossing Spyte. An important decision – and only ten seconds of the game to go with the Amagad Assassins in possession. A lack of responsibility reflects two kinds of person, those who do not wish to make a choice and those who are afraid of making a choice. Those who do not wish to make a choice have already been addressed; it is easier for them to blame other things and people than to accept their role and they are comfortable with that. But there are some who are afraid of their choice, afraid for one solitary reason – they’re afraid of losing something. That something can be anything at all – a possession, a person, their own sense of respect, self-respect or the respect of others, or even the chances of making any influential choices in the future. With every important choice comes a result from that choice that will either benefit the individual making the decision, or not. Some people are afraid to make that decision based on what they stand to lose. So the basics are – the responsibility of choice is based upon the concerns or the attitude of the individual, so is there a medium that can be reached whereas all people can have the same approach to making choices in a generalised term? I feel that there is. It dawned on Dodge, in those final desperate seconds of the biggest game of his life, as he dived over the defenders and dodged the assault players, that this entire moment was his and his alone. And yet… There were two men, whose
heart wasn’t in the game, whose only ideal behind the sport of Hardball was
the fact that money could be made, reputations could be built up or battered
down, assets could be controlled. It wasn’t about the passion of the sport,
or the crowds, or the love of what was, to Dodge, a beautiful game. As brutal
and as dangerous and as gladiatorial as it was, three beings had died over
the last two seasons alone, it was an almost breathtaking spectacle of
acrobatics and skill that would send the crowds into choruses of cries at
even the most simple pass or dive. It truly was a reflection of the Setnin
Sector, a true mirror image of the people who populated the sector and
secretly controlled the running of it all. It was a representation of their
philosophy; smash, grab, and run like hell. But it was Dodge with the ball. Dodge in the arena. Dodge on the verge of glory for Amagad. Dodge who had the choice of either denying his rich Hardball skill for the vanity and profit of two men he detested. Who he was supposed to be scared of. How could he ever look at
himself in the mirror ever again, if he failed his team for the benefit of
someone else? You see, there is a strength that can be gained from making a decision, a decision that directly concerns an individual. The strength of that choice is not based on whether the decision is the correct one, or whether they succeed or fail. The strength is in the ability to be able to have the heart to make that choice in the first place and being able to accept the consequences of that choice. We all have our own reasons to pontificate over the results of those actions we wish to take to resolve our own problems and crises, but there must come a time when that choice needs to be made because extending the problem over time can only make the situation worse. Perhaps, then, it is a sign of even greater strength to make a decision when the situation is at its most dire. Perhaps the sign of strength is addressing the problem directly, whilst the situation is in its infancy – acting, not reacting. Of course, the latter runs the risk of premature decision, which also increases the chances of a wrong course of action. This depends on the attitude of the individual more than the seriousness of the situation. Choice is something to be embraced and yet it is something to cower from, but ultimately choice is not difficult. Those that say they have a difficult choice, or that they are in a complicated situation, are faced with that problem because they have allowed themselves to fall into that trap. Those that run from choice, or deny it, are cowards, ergo they are afraid. No amount of chest-puffing and ‘I chose to ignore the situation’ or ‘it’s not my problem’ speeches can ever justify walking away or re-directing the blame of a situation, as the fact that they feel compelled to make such statements only defines their role in the situation. Five seconds. Dodge heaved the ball with
all his strength at the edge of the two point scoring zone. Four seconds. The ball was caught in the
low power magnetic field of the Zelon post and started to curve towards it.
The crowd fell deathly silent. Three seconds. The post defender made a
dive for the ball. Dodge had heaved it a few centimetres above the
repulsorfield, and as it fell it skipped the field and sailed up and over the
outstretched hand. Two seconds. At first it appeared the
ball was going to sail past the post, but it suddenly spun and slammed into
the tall two-metre stand. There was a siren, and the post lit up orange and
blew harmless gasses from the top. One second. The crowd went insane. Time. The Amagad Assassins had
won. First Position Prize. Top of the First League. The Champions Chalice.
The whole damn thing. Dodge stood and stared as
the magnetic field of the post switched off and the repulsorfield powered down,
watched as the steel ball dropped with a metallic thud against the arena
floor. The blood was pumping in his ears, the muted roars of the crowd, both
Amagadian and Zelonian roaring their delight and appreciation of a close,
hard fought, entertaining game. He didn’t realise he had been hoisted on the
shoulders of his team mates, didn’t see the swell of support staff of the two
teams swarming through the hidden doors of the enclosed arena and forming
groups about the players. The Zelon Fliers graciously accepted defeat and
shook hands, some of them sinking to the floor to contemplate their loss. The
Amagad Assassins were dancing and shouting, trying to be heard over the sheer
press of noise. Dodge’s attention, however,
was on the prime-viewing box. He stared long and hard, wondering if Spyte was
already making plans for revenge, wondering if contacts of Glann Cipple were
already making reports back to Amagad that he had won the game. But he didn’t care. He
didn’t care about Glann’s achievements or Spyte’s loss. This was his game,
his life, his moment. He smiled slyly at the box. His choice. Those that embrace choice, who allow themselves to be carried by the routes they make themselves and accept the results of their decisions, are strong. To battle through a problem and come out the other side without taking full control of your fate may be an option, but remember this adage; It is better to die on your feet, than live on your knees. The Game2003 short story by Jonathan Hicks Five years after
Episode IV – A New Hope Histories – The story of the Amagad Assassins championship
winning side and Dodge, the ex co-pilot of Goah Galletti
and mid-league underworld character who made good in his beloved sport of Hardball. Despite the interventions of both Mister Spyte and Glann Cipple,
Dodge came down to the simple choice: win or lose. And with his fate in his own hands, he found the choice a
simple one.
Cast of Characters Dodge Mister Spyte Glann Cipple |