Chapter 9
"So all the game data – the points, winners, everything – is all sent via wireless internet to a kind of command center," Jake was saying. I'd just passed through to the third round of the tournament, but it wasn't exactly a walk in the park. I was already stressing about my deal with Jessie – if the competition kept getting stiffer, I wasn't sure how long I was going to be able to hang in. Jake snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Earth to Marco. See that?" he asked, pointing to a row of tables loaded down with servers and laptops. "That's where everything is processed. It's right in the middle of everything, and there's about twenty guys watching it like hawks. I have no idea how we're going to get Ax close enough to do anything."
I scanned the area he was talking about for myself. "We don't just have to bypass the tech guys. I see four – no, five – security guards in the vicinity."
Jake saw the rent-a-cops I was talking about. "Why would they go through all that trouble?" he wondered. "At the end of the day, it's just a video game tournament."
"Now who's losing sight of the big picture?" I asked him. "This is anything but a tournament. This is a concentrated search for the top three gamers in the state. Even the ten thousand bucks for first place is worthless, compared to what…they…want out of this weekend."
Jake nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. They can justify the security by claiming they don't want anyone to cheat their way to the money. But I guess, on some level, they're ready for us to try to disrupt their plans."
"Hey, Jake! Marco!" a shout from behind us. We turned to see Rachel and Cassie approaching us. Rachel, as usual, was carrying ten bags of various sizes, all from different stores. Cassie looked relieved to be getting a break from shopping – which, with Rachel, was more of a workout than a hobby. 'Power shopping,' she called it.
"What a huge shock to see you guys here," I said. We were supposed to be meeting up at random for the benefit of any controllers watching, especially Tom. "Come to watch me dominate my inferiors?"
Rachel checked her watch. "This thing's been going, what, two hours? And you're still in it?" she asked. "Must be some luck you got on you, today."
"Ha ha. And also ha," I said. "You're just jealous that I'm better than you at something."
Jake cut off Rachel's reply by clearing his throat. He gave them the quick version of the situation. Cassie chewed her lip for a moment, then said, "Well, there's a relatively easy way to get Ax onto one of those laptops. But it's…not exactly ethical."
Rachel and Jake stared blankly at her. I shook my head in mock annoyance. "Come on. Seriously? She's suggesting that Ax morph one of the tech guys." Cassie shrugged, looking uncomfortable.
"I admit, there are a few things that could go wrong, even if we decide it's necessary," she said mildly.
"Oh yeah, just a few minor issues," I said sarcastically. "Like the fact Ax has to acquire the guy as an Andalite. Even if he's not a controller, I don't think he's going to be cool about that. Not to mention we'd have to temporarily imprison the guy while Ax was pretending to be him."
"It was just an idea. I'm sure we could come up with something else," Cassie said quickly. I could tell that she'd been hoping I'd shoot her idea down. Cassie was never comfortable about morphing sentient creatures, let alone other humans.
"Yeah, maybe," Rachel said. "But until we do, I think that's our Plan A." Jake nodded his agreement.
"Speaking of the space cadet, where is he?" I asked.
"Him and Tobias should be here any time now," Rachel said. I could hear the worry in her voice. Ax was hard enough to control in human morph with all of us chaperoning. Obviously, she wasn't comfortable dumping the whole job on Tobias, even for only a short while.
"I hate to do it, but he's going to be all you guys', at least for a little bit," Jake said, checking his own watch. "Tom cornered me a few minutes ago, and I'm supposed to meet him at Sombrero Amigo for lunch. On one hand, I'll be out of commission for a while. On the other, you guys will have a little breathing room to operate with Tom across the street."
I stared. "So, what? You want us to go for it without you?" It wasn't like we needed Jake around every minute of the day, but he was the leader. He was the quarterback, there to call an audible if we had to switch up our game plan on the fly.
He shrugged and looked uncomfortable, but said, "Yeah. Why not? It's going to be the best time to pull it off, with Tom out of the building. You guys got this," he said confidently, but I could tell it was a little forced.
We all stood around for a moment, Rachel looking cocky, Cassie looking worried. Jake checked his watch again. "Well? Get out of here, mom," Rachel said. "Like you said, we got this."
"Okay. No big deal. Just…we're off the grid on this one, guys. The whole point is that we don't want the Yeerks to know what we've done until its too late. That means no rampaging elephants," he said. He didn't look at Rachel specifically, but I knew who he was talking to. Rachel laughed – she knew who he was talking to, too.
The PA system crackled. "Contestant 121, you have one minute to report before disqualification." I stood around for a second before I realized, belatedly, they were calling for me.
"Crap! Jake, get going. You two wait here for me. Don't do anything until I get back," I said. Rachel nodded, but it was more of a yeah, yeah than actual agreement. "I'm serious!" I yelled as I hopped a partition and sprinted toward the gaming area.
