Chapter 11: The Final Charge

"Ready…aim…fire!" Bob and the User let their arrows fly a second time. The User hit the bull's-eye on its target this time, and Bob hit the blue ring on his. The spectators roared their approval. "Player: five points. Computer: seven points. There is one shot remaining." So the User's first shot had probably been a fluke. That was not good. All the confidence Bob had gained after his first shot left him.

"Nock your arrows…"

Galatea's icon was sparking and flickering, shifting back and forth between a black-and-yellow Guardian icon and her original Game sprite icon. Enzo could smell scorched metal - he could also that armor around the malfunctioning icon was tarnished black.

"Change your icon!" Matrix insisted as he got to his feet, using the side of the audience box for support. Galatea heard him, and double-clicked her icon. It changed smoothly into Game sprite mode, and she herself seemed to feel better instantly. Matrix managed to walk to her, without wobbling too much. He helped her to stand up again.

"I seem to have bad luck with Games," Galatea observed. "What was that?"

"I don't know," Matrix answered. "I've never seen that happen before. Changing it was the only thing I could think of."

"Are you okay now?" Enzo asked. Galatea nodded. She double-clicked her icon again, but nothing happened. She tried it again, with the same result. Her face drained of color, so that it became almost pure white.

"It appears to be stuck," she said in a quiet, toneless voice. They had told her about how Game sprite icons worked. She knew what was going to happen.

There were a few cycles of silence as it sank in. "Maybe…when Bob gets back, maybe he can fix it?" Enzo suggested. Behind him, Frisket made a whimpering noise.

Then they heard "Nock your arrows…" from the arena. They had missed the announcement of the score after the last shot.

"I suppose I should get ready for my turn. There is nothing else I can do," Galatea said gravely. She took a deep breath and walked over to Frisket. "Enzo," she said, "I will need help getting my helmet on." She didn't look panicked anymore. She looked utterly calm, but it was a cold, disquieting kind of calm. Enzo nodded silently and went to get her helmet from where he had put it down earlier.

"Prepare to shoot…"

"Ready…aim…fire!" The User and the Guardian made the last shot. Bob heard the arrow hit the target, far away, and then the cheering of the crowd accompanied by a fanfare. He looked at the User's target first. The arrow had hit the bull's-eye. Fearfully, as if the very act of looking would cause him to lose, he checked his own target.

"Player: ten points. Computer: eleven points." Bob had hit the red ring this time.

As the User and the archery setup vanished, Bob felt a great weight lift from his shoulders. He grinned widely as he loped across the arena to rejoin his friends. But he didn't get the jubilant greeting he had expected. From the looks on his friends' faces, he could tell that something was very wrong. Matrix pointed to Galatea, who was mounted on Frisket, fully equipped with shield and lance. Bob took in her icon and the blackened metal around it.

"Something went wrong with it," Matrix explained.

"It was hurting her, so she had to change it, but…" little Enzo continued.

"…I cannot change it back," Galatea finished.

"Maybe I can fix it," Bob said. He stood close to Frisket's side. Galatea leaned over a bit. Bob lifted the palm of his hand, holding it a few nanometers from her icon. He closed his eyes and tried to scan it. It seemed fine at first, but after he checked again he perceived that the code in the icon had…well, it had gotten tangled up somehow.

"The final event shall be…jousting! Combatants, enter the field!" Bob gritted his teeth. He could fix this, he just needed a little more time…

He heard hoof-beats behind him — probably the User's knight entering the arena. Frisket whimpered. No. Don't let yourself get distracted. Concentrate on fixing the code. He began untangling the strands of code, but he couldn't do it fast enough.

"If the opposing knight does not enter in the next minute, the match is forfeit." The crowd of Game sprites was booing.

"Bob," Galatea said. "There is no time. I must go."

"I can fix it if…" Bob protested.

"We cannot afford to lose!" Galatea said forcefully. With her left hand, she closed her visor, then took Frisket's reins and drove him towards the arena. Bob lost contact with her code

"Wait!" Enzo cried. Galatea stopped, lifted her visor again and turned to look at him. "I'm going to miss you," he said. "Be careful."

"I will return," she assured them. "I promise." She looked over them again. "I could not ask for better friends than you."

"If the opposing knight does not enter in the next thirty seconds, the match is forfeit."

She exchanged a glance with Matrix, who nodded to her silently. Then she turned to Bob and raised her lance in a salute. Bob returned her salute with his bow and as brave a smile as he could manage. Galatea smiled, lowered her visor, and guided Frisket into the arena at a canter. The audience let forth a thunderous cheer.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but Bob thought they were cheering louder this time than they ever had before.

"Now it is up to us," Galatea said to Frisket as he trotted toward the center of the arena. Frisket tossed his head in answer. This was not, Matrix had told her, the first time that Frisket had been a horse. Nor even the second. He knew how to respond to a pull on the reins or a jab in the flanks. And because he was a lot more intelligent than the average Game horse, Galatea had an advantage.

As they came close to the center of the arena, where the User was already waiting to salute the King, Galatea spoke to Frisket again. "I will not be able to hold the reins once the actual jousting starts. We are going to charge straight at the User. But when I give the signal, change direction so that we will pass to the right of him. Our right, not his. Understand?" Frisket moved his head up and down in a nod. "Good," Galatea said.

Frisket stopped to the right of the User. Galatea looked over her opponent — he was bigger than she was, his tabard and kite-shaped shield each bearing his coat of arms. His horse, a great black-haired beast, was caprisoned in his colors as well. He lifted his lance and saluted the King. Galatea did the same.

"Take your positions," the announcer instructed. The User wheeled his horse around and headed toward the open end of the arena, where Galatea's friends were standing. Frisket made a noise that Galatea supposed to be a growl. She felt like growling herself; she hated the User intensely already, and being denied a last opportunity to bid her comrades farewell was the last straw!

She (gently) kicked Frisket into a trot. When he was close enough to the royal box she turned him around. The User was waiting at the other end of the arena, lance and shield at the ready. Galatea got herself ready as well. Matrix and Enzo were waving to her (actually, Enzo was alternating between waving and making faces at the User). She could just see Bob giving her the "thumbs up" sign. Behind her visor, she smiled to herself.

"Ready…CHARGE!" The order came, and Frisket began to move forward of his own accord, building up speed. The User's charger was moving too. Galatea narrowed her eyes and made the User the focus of her attention.

As she came closer and closer to the User, she found herself wondering if there was a face behind his visor. She felt that, were she to lift it, she would find nothing but empty air.

They were only a stone's throw away from each other now, and getting closer. Galatea moved her gaze away from the User's helm and toward a point just between his shield and his horse's neck.

Wait for it…not yet… She bit her lower lip. Time, for her, was moving both too slowly and too quickly. She hoped that Frisket wouldn't turn before she gave the signal…

They were within range of each other. Galatea leaned to the right and the User's lance missed her by a handspan. At the same time, she felt her own lance shatter as the tip of it hit the User's armor. "Now!" she cried, and Frisket turned.

She heard the sound of something very heavy hitting the dirt, and then a wave of noise hit her. The audience was giving her a standing ovation, to the accompaniment of trumpets. Bob, Matrix and Enzo were shouting too, but they were drowned out by the cheering of the crowds.

Frisket slowed to a halt, and Galatea swung out of the saddle. She raised her visor and looked back at the royal box, whose occupants were applauding, and the User, who was sprawled on the ground. The air began to feel heavy. Her skin was tingling beneath her armor. The Game was about to end.

She patted Frisket on the neck and thanked him for his help. Then she waved to her friends on the sidelines. "Farewell! Until we meet again," she called, although they were probably unable to hear her.

"Game over," the system voice said. Galatea's surroundings faded into a wall of crackling purple energy. The equipment the Game had given her disappeared as well. Now, she was on her own.

AndrAIa and Mouse had told her about traveling with Games. When this one reached the next system, she could perhaps find someone to take her icon and initialize a backup of herself when the Game left. She would be deleted when the Game reset, but then the backup would, for all intents and purposes, be her.

Then, somehow or other, she would keep her promise. No matter what it took.

END FILE