[00] The Control Room

[DA 2009]

“Fantastic,” Damon muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. “The grudge match between Orion and Xenia was one of my biggest selling points. Both of them were willing opponents. I just lost some of my strongest competitors.”

“You don’t look so good,” Audric said.

“Should I?” Dukes snorted. His career was on the line, and he was blowing it. He expected a few setbacks, but not this many, and not this soon. Program glitches, premature eliminations, and now the board was breathing down his neck. He just needed some time to think, get his head together, and recoup the plan. The host was already all-in; he just needed to change his strategy a little bit. Damon snapped his fingers, and an attendant brought a chilled bottle of wine and a clean glass. He sipped the liquid, resisting the urge to guzzle it down with abandon. He was, first and foremost, refined.

“I’m feeling an order coming on,” the mohawked techie predicted.

“How many people left?”

“Seven are gone, ten are left. But, we actually have eleven, if we’re including your little surprise.”

“So Vincent has been entered into the game, then?” Damon replied, a small smile coming to his lips. “I almost forgot about him. My wild card player, on the company payroll. He should prove interesting.” He fell silent for a few minutes, and those few minutes quickly turned into ten, and fifteen, until finally Dukes spoke once more. “Extend the collar timers, and update the notifications in the bunkers to let them know. We’ll also need to begin the bunker deactivation sequence shortly, although hold off on that for now. And have the medical team prepare the fluids for injection; they should have the chemical lists already.”

“Hold on, I’m the phone,” Audric whispered. “Yeah, Pizza Castle? You guys do interplanetary deliveries, right? Can you tell me what the charge is for that, and, uh, do you have any, like, specials going on right now? Like combo deals? Maybe with a soda or anything with a lot of caffeine…”

Within two seconds, Damon had risen from his chair and jerked the telex off of Audric’s head.

“Hey!” the subordinate protested. He dove and grabbed the telex from his boss’s grip, shoving it next to his ear. His face fell when he heard nothing but dial tone. “I was gonna order you something too, jeez!”