Free Insidious by Michael McCloskey Page A

giraffes. The giraffes tried to back away while shooting, but the quick black tripeds had spread out all around the white army. They were all turning into crabs. White was losing now, giraffes dropping everywhere. A few white units were changing into crabs themselves but none of them made it. The white army withered away.
    The black crabs circled the remains of their opposing army for a moment, and then started to march toward Johnson. His avatar stood its ground for a moment, but then as he saw the crabs rushing for him, he jumped, trying to fly away. Something prevented him from escape. He floated back down into the waiting arms of the nearest crabs.
    He screamed.
    The black crabs surrounded him, firing continuously. Johnson writhed, screaming even louder as the flurry of bolts sunk into his avatar.
    Around Aldriena, people stared in obvious disgust. Yet few looked away. Finally, after about a half minute of the torture, Johnson’s cries grew ragged and weak. The crab’s assault slowed and then stopped.
    Johnson is demoted one unit, intoned a link message on the challenge’s channel.
    Johnson rolled weakly and tried to get up, and then he fell back. His face was pinched, his mouth a rictus of pain. Aldriena wondered what had driven him to attempt the challenge. Was this a super-competitive executive who rose to anything? Or was there more riding on the challenges than Aldriena understood?
    Red had sacrificed some units to see Johnson’s plan. Then after convincing Johnson that his crabs were a detriment due to lack of range, Red correctly guessed that Johnson would get rid of them. Another critical part of it had been that Red’s army transformed more readily than Johnson’s had. Was Red really smarter or just faster ?
    The avatars evaporated from the arena. Within a few seconds, ninety percent of them were gone. Aldriena withdrew from the environ and brought her senses back to the atrium. She sighed. It had been a long while since she’d slept. She always held off until her body threatened to collapse. She pried herself out of the comfortable chair and looked up her assigned room with her link.
    It took her a few minutes to work her way to her quarters. Aldriena took her time, letting fatigue dictate her pace. Everywhere she wandered, she saw the same gray marble floors and pots of exotic plants. The inhabitants trod around the station trapped in their gear as if they’d all been lost to one another.
    I’m not the only slow one. They’re all moving slowly. Just wandering. She observed the lethargic movements of people walking by her, obscured as they were through the thick plastic plates of their mandatory attire. Are they tired? Lonely? Or have they given up hope for release from these stifling rules?
    Finally, her Cascavel indicated she had arrived at her door. She entered the quarters. Her first glance confirmed her room looked the same as usual. Clean. Opulent. Peaceful.
    A servant entered the main room and bowed. He looked ready to attend to her orders. She could tell he was Chinese, as was her last room servant. She threw him dagger eyes, a firm frown on her face. He did not react to her expression.
    “Welcome.” The man kept his eyes lowered. “I’m here to see to your wishes.”
    Aldriena strode past him and into the bedroom. She sat on the bed and unzipped her boots. She started to get out of the heavy gear. The servant appeared quickly and picked up the pieces as fast as she discarded them.
    That left her back in her undersheers, but she found the attention she usually enjoyed for her state of undress wasn’t something she wanted now. Not from one of them . She told herself his heritage didn’t matter, because nationality didn’t define the person. But it didn’t work. All she could feel was what her father had taught her to feel. She turned away from him.
    “You look tense.” His hands found her shoulders.
    She slapped his hands away.
    “ Vai se foder ,” she snapped, and then switched from