The Eye of the Llama

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 20:

Carl once again waded cautiously into the ring, re-energized both by the hyper-oxygenating compound and the thought that Princess Leama was counting on him. Vermax moved in also, but far more confidently and quickly than before. He had assessed his opponent's abilities and had determined that this human posed no threat to him. He need only bide his time for the opportunity to strike to again present itself but this time, he knew, the human would not return for another round. Carl seemed to understand that as well and fell back on his strategy of evading Vermax's mighty swings and jabs that had, for a while at least, worked so well the last round. He realized that it was only a temporary defense. Already his legs felt strangely rubbery.

As Carl leapt and sprang about the ring Cindy returned to the royal box. The princess only smiled at her, but Libby looked at her curiously. "That took a while," she commented.

"Oh…yeah," Cindy replied as she fished for an excuse. "Long line to the powder room. Worse than the Retroplex movie theater Friday night." She turned her attention to the battle going on in the ring below and fervently hoped that she had done the right thing.

Thus far Carl was doing a good job of staying away from Vermax. Although he could have just stood there the Felangian champion continued to swing furiously at Carl as he bounded about the ring. It may have been that he felt obligated to please the spectators, or he possibly might have wanted to finish the fight as quickly as possible. In any case it forced Carl to keep moving and expend precious energy with each leap. Once again he began to tire and his jumps became slower and shorter.

"It seems that the human is slowing down again," commented Klag over the box speaker.

"Indeed, Klag," Derl replied. "Most unfortunate, but I guess it goes to show that the old fighting methods really are the best."

"You can't beat the classics."

"Absolutely not. And once again it appears that Carl from Earth is slowing to a stop. Vermax looks to be taking his time waiting for his final punch, this time."

"No doubt. He knows this fight is over and there's no reason to hurry."

"Here it comes. Vermax is winding up…"

"The human doesn't even seem to be trying to avoid it…"

I can't look, thought Cindy miserably, covering her face as Vermax's fist again hurtled towards Carl. The blow landed, sending Carl flying head over heels towards the edge of the ring as the crowd roared its approval. Just as suddenly the tumult ceased as the crowd froze in utter disbelief. Rather than crumpling to the floor in a senseless heap after striking the ropes surrounding the ring, Carl rocketed back towards the incredulous Vermax as though fired from a cannon. Instinctively Carl threw his hands up in front of him just in time for both fists to strike the Felangian squarely on the jaw with a resounding thud before Carl dropped to the mat. For several long seconds Vermax stood there as he swayed gently back and forth with a dazed and disbelieving look on his face. Then he fell over backwards, striking the floor of the ring like a felled redwood. There was a faint inrush of air as every spectator sucked in a gasp of amazement. Then the arena exploded in the noise of twenty thousand voices speaking at once.

Cindy looked up to see what had happened as the frenzied voices of the commentators issued from the speaker. "He's down! He's down!" Derl was shouting maniacally. "Vermax is down!"

"Unbelievable!" Klag added just as stridently. "This in absolutely unheard of! Carl Wheezer has shocked the planet!"

Cindy could only stare open-mouthed at the sight of Carl standing over Vermax, having missed the events leading up to this. The official, appearing to be as stunned as everyone else, motioned Carl to move to a neutral corner before walking over to Vermax. He then began to count, even though it had already been a good fifteen seconds since Carl had downed the champion.

As it happened Carl had gone to a corner adjacent to the corner Sheen was at. "Good going, Carl!" Sheen yelled. "How did you do it?"

"I don't know," Carl shouted back. "But it's really funny. It didn't even hurt when he punched me that time."

"Well, whatever happened, keep it up! But you see now? You see? He's not a machine! He's not a machine! He's a –" Sheen broke off to thing about it. "Well, he's not really a man, actually," he mused. He's more like a praying mantis, or one of those big bugs you see in those films of South America…"

As Sheen continued trying to think of the right way to describe Vermax the Felangian champion began to stir. At the count of six he opened his eyes and sat groggily up and by the count of eight he had clambered back to his feet, albeit unsteadily. He stood there panting as the official wiped rosin from the padding on his hand and forearms, looking baffled and angry. Once the official had retreated he moved towards Carl, pounding his fist together.

"Watch out, Carl!" Sheen shouted. Carl nodded and moved away, trying once again to keep his distance from the towering Felangian. Not sure what had happened to save him the last time he was not willing to count on a second miracle to save him again. Sheen let loose a sigh as he picked up a flask for a drink of water to calm his nerves. The flask was empty and he was about to put it back down when he caught a faint scent. He sniffed the mouth of the container and detected the unmistakable and somehow familiar scent of mint. Puzzled, he looked at the flask, then at Carl, and then back at the flask again before placing the odor. His eyes widened. "Oops," was all he could say.

In the ring Carl was doing his best to dodge Vermax's punches and succeeding. The champion was still dazed and confused from being knocked down and was at first more cautious in pressing his attack which gave Carl more time to elude his blows. With each miss, however, Vermax became more and more frustrated and began swinging more wildly. With so many punches directed towards him it was only a matter of time before Carl was struck and went sailing across the ring again. And once again he rebounded from the ring ropes and flew swiftly back towards Vermax. This time the Felangian was not immobilized with disbelief and had time to react. He swatted Carl aside as the human hurtled towards him, much as a child might hit a tetherball, and sent Carl spinning off in a different direction. Again Carl bounced back towards Vermax.

The rest of the round was more reminiscent of a game of handball than a fight. Again and again Vermax struck Carl, and each time Carl would ricochet back towards the perplexed Vermax, completely unharmed and actually beginning to enjoy the experience. Sometimes he would initially miss Vermax and strike the ropes on the other side of the ring, but after several bounces he would inevitably head straight towards Vermax. The crowd and commentators were thoroughly enjoying this novel show.

"I only hope our viewers are getting a good picture of this, Klag."

"As do I, Derl."

"Does it look as though Vermax is getting tired to you?"

"It could be, but I think a more serious problem is his backhand. He'll have to keep his wrist straighter if he hopes to ever make match point."

"Indeed, Klag. Do you happen to know what the score is?"

"No, Derl, I'm afraid I lost count after the twentieth advantage in."

Cindy had been as puzzled as everyone else at what was happening in the ring but had figured out what must have happened. She knew that neither she nor Libby had exhibited any odd symptoms from being on Felangie which eliminated environmental effects, and that Carl was bouncing like a rubber ball. It wasn't long before she made the connection with Jimmy's super-elasticizer and concluded that somehow Carl had ingested some. For half a second she considered telling Libby and Princess Leama, but quickly decided against it. Carl could hardly hurt the champion and she wasn't exactly sure what the princess would do if she knew what had happened. She might decide to immediately end the fight and that was something that Jimmy had told her must not happen. Saying nothing would give Carl the best chance of keeping the fight going as long as it had to go.

"Your friend's stamina is most impressive," remarked Princess Leama as Carl flew around the ring.

"Oh, yes," was Cindy's straight-faced reply. "He's always been able to bounce back."

Libby didn't get it. "Say what?"

"Just telling Lee that our friend is remarkably flexible."

"He is?"

"Although that may be stretching things a bit."

Before Libby could ask what Cindy what she was talking about the ring bell sounded. "And that's the end of the second round, Derl," announced Klag.

"Not a round we're likely to forget, Klag," Derl replied.

"Vermax has retired to his corner, but it seems that Carl is determined to keep going."

"It will be interesting to see how he comes to a stop."

"You mean 'if', don't you?"

"Very probably. Okay, things with Carl seem to be under control again. He's managed to grab on to the rope and his manager had pulled him down to the mat. I wonder if he'll have that sort of spirit in the final round."

"I'm sure all our fight fans out there hope so, Derl."

Cindy grew suddenly sober. Carl had, through chance, providence, or sheer luck, gotten through the second round by ingesting Jimmy super-elasticizer. But he still had one more round and over twenty minutes left to go. A lot could happen in twenty minutes. And while she couldn't completely sure, it had seemed to her that Carl's bouncing had begun to slow down towards the end. Just as though – and the thought chilled her – just as though the super-elasticizer had begun to wear off.

End of Part 20