The Eye of the Llama
by Gary D. Snyder
Part 18:
Twenty-four hours later Cindy's feeling of uneasiness had returned. She, Libby, and Princess Leama were now seated in the royal box at the large arena hosting the fight, and despite Carl's training of the day before Cindy had misgivings about his combat abilities. In addition to that Minister Khormak's intentions remained a mystery, and she still had doubts as to the princess' motives. For what seemed the hundredth time she pushed the gnawing doubts aside, telling herself that if things looked bad for Carl that he could always concede.
The one bright spot at the moment was the gorgeous apparel they were wearing. Her and Libby's clothes and jewelry had been ready that day, as promised, and after being suitably coifed by practiced stylists the two Earth girls felt nearly as regal as the princess who was also stunningly attired. At first Cindy and Libby had felt somewhat overdressed for the event, but Princess Leama easily dismissed their reservations by pointing out that they weren't going to be the ones in the ring.
So Cindy tried to relax as she waited for the competition to begin, making such responses to the princess' and Libby's small talk as she could. If only Jimmy were here, she thought. I'm surprised he isn't here already…unless he's busy with his Gorlock girlfriend. The last thought only added to her uneasiness and she fought to concentrate on the audio commentary from the planet-wide telecast that was coming from a speaker inside the private booth.
"As many of our viewers know, this is the first interplanetary match between a human from Earth and any other species, Derl," one commentator was saying.
"Right you are, Klag," the other commentator replied, "and I'm sure that the human will have many surprises for us during this historic bout. I have it on good authority that the human, Carl Wheezer, has been personally trained by none other than the Royal Guard."
"Well, that comes as no surprise. The rumor mill has it that the princess herself is rooting for the Earth champion, rather than Vermax, the champion of her own world." Cindy shot a quick look at Princess Leama, who showed no reaction. "That would certainly fit in with her announced policies to normalize relations with other worlds and societies. I wouldn't be surprised if –"
"Just a second, Klag. There appears to be some commotion coming from the crowd. I think that…yes, it is. The Earth champion Carl is making his way to the ring and the crowd is definitely giving him a warm reception."
Looking down Cindy could see Carl and Sheen making their way through the enthusiastic crowd towards the hexagonal shaped ring. Carl was wearing an oversized bathrobe and Sheen was carrying two large bags, and from their expressions the crowd was indeed giving them a friendly welcome. Although the human fighter was going up against the local favorite the Felangians seemed to recognize and respecte courage.
"No doubt a number of our viewers are curious, as am I, about the shields the Earth champion is wearing over his eyes, Derl."
"Well, I had a chance to have a few words with Carl's manager and trainer before the fight and he tells me that they are to compensate for some deficiency in his visual acuity," Derl responded.
There was a laugh from Klag. "A curious species, these humans. If some structure is not functioning properly why not simply detach it and regenerate a new one?"
"A question I'm sure many of our viewers have asked themselves, Klag." There was a brief pause, followed by, "The Earth champion is now climbing into the ring…but he appears to be having some difficulty. He seems to be caught in one of the ropes. His manager is trying to help, but Carl is dragging him into the ropes…and now they're both trying to get loose. Okay, the manager is free now and has made it into the ring, but Carl still seems to be stuck. A number of spectators are attempting to extricate him, but…"
Cindy buried her face in her hands. As short as the fight was probably going to be it would undoubtedly seem like an eternity.
"Just a moment, Derl," the other commentator interrupted. "There's a disturbance of some kind from the other side of the arena and it looks like Vermax is making his entrance."
"Carl is nearly out, now, but it looks as though one of the spectators who was trying to help him is also hung up now."
"Yes, indeed, he's quite an impressive sight. It's small wonder that he's the Felangian champion and ranked fourth in the galaxy. As everyone knows, no one has ever gone the distance with Vermax."
"Okay, the Earth champion is loose but outside the ring. He's trying to make his way back inside again…and I think…yes…he's made it!"
"And the crowd is going wild here."
"For Vermax or for Carl making it into the ring, Klag?"
"Probably, Derl."
From her seat Cindy had been watching the Felangian champion as he climbed into the ring. Even from this distance she could tell that he was enormous and dwarfed Carl. Rather than climb through the ropes he stepped over them, the way a child might step over a low fence. Now he turned slowly in the center of the ring, arms raised, basking in the adulation of the crowd. What is going on here? Cindy asked herself.
She was not the only one who was taken aback. "Carl is supposed to fight that?" Libby demanded of the princess.
The princess seemed surprised. "Of course. Surely you understood that." Seeing their faces she went on, "Did not Carl say that he was the champion in his class?"
Cindy's mouth worked noiselessly for a moment before words came out. "But…I mean…he didn't mean some kind of fighting weight class."
"What then?" the princess asked, looking puzzled.
At that moment Libby's phone sounded, interrupting the discussion. "Excuse me while I take this, Lee," she said, activating the device. "Hello? What? Oh, hi, Jimmy. How did you – what? Yes, she is. Hold on." She held the phone out to Cindy. "It's for you."
Cindy snatched the phone from Libby, her mind reeling. "Hello?"
"Cindy?"
"Yes, Cindy. Who else besides Libby would be using a working cell phone thirty light years from Earth?"
"No time for that. Has Carl's fight started yet?"
"It's just about to," replied Cindy, keeping an eye on the goings-on in the ring. "But there's something you have to know."
"That can wait. Listen up, Cindy. No matter what, the fight has to keep going for an hour."
"An hour?" Cindy almost felt like laughing. "Are you serious? This guy Carl is fighting is –"
"It doesn't matter. The fight can't end for at least an hour. Do whatever you guys have to, but keep it going."
"But –"
Jimmy's voice sounded urgent. "Promise me you'll do this. A lot depends on it."
Over the years Cindy had grown accustomed to facing impossible situations as a consequence of knowing a boy genius like Jimmy Neutron. And over the years she had learned, and had almost come to accept as a law of nature, that the impossible can be achieved. She sighed. "All right. We'll do what we can."
"Thanks, Cindy. See you soon."
Before Cindy could ask Jimmy any of the questions she had been wanting to ask him the connection went dead again. She handed the phone back to Libby without comment and watched the two figures meeting in the ring. An hour? she thought. How are we supposed to keep Carl going for an hour against him
"I'm sorry," the princess said. "There was something you were going to tell me about Carl fighting Vermax?"
Cindy swallowed and said only, "It should be quite a fight."
"And the combatants are now meeting in the middle of the ring for the pre-bout formalities," came over the speaker.
Without warning Vermax suddenly loosed a roar in Carl's face that literally blew the hair on his head backwards and that nearly deafened him. The noise rolled around the massive arena for nearly half a minute before finally subsiding. For a moment there was complete silence in the stadium, followed by tumultuous applause and cheering.
"And a very crowd-pleasing Bellow of Defiance from Vermax, Klag."
"Indeed, Derl. And to his credit the human is taking it all in stride and not flinching so much as a grell that I can see."
The reason for Carl's lack of reaction was pure mental overload from having the alien giant bellow in his face, as no one had thought to tell him beforehand about it. After several seconds his brain began to function again and his immediate reaction was to scream as loud as he could and wave his arms in pure terror. The shriek reverberated through the arena, heterodyning and building in volume as it went. Finally, nearly a minute later, Carl stopped and gasped for air. Again the spectators were silent for a brief time before erupting into thunderous applause and cheers. Carl looked around, not understanding what he had done, but his terror faded in the face of the cheering crowd.
"Impressive," Klag commented, raising his voice to be heard above the din. "I don't think anyone has ever responded to the Bellow of Defiance from Vermax so forcefully before. The human is clearly showing that he's come here to fight."
"I have to agree that there's a lot more to these humans than meets the eye," added Derl as the noise died away. "And now both fighters have retired to their neutral areas to await the start of this match." There came a faint clang from direction of the ring. "And there's the bell for Round 1."
End of Part 18
Author's Notes:
And so it begins. As I've mentioned before the disadvantage of a printed story is that you can't do split screens to show simultaneous action and cuts between different points of view in the story are awkward at best. Consequently I had to tell this chapter mostly from the point of view of Cindy which tends to limit the story a bit.
On another note, kudos to those who have been finding some errors in the chapters. Trying to juggle all these characters is definitely a challenge and from time to time I inadvertently drop one that's supposed to stay in the air.