Rev's Odyssey by R. R. Kaufman (the reading list .txt) 📕

factories in their direction and as they drew closer to them they could see the black sludge draining into the river from these big industrial plants.

Upriver the water was clear and pristine. As they crossed a bridge Rev stopped in the middle and took a deep breath. She noticed a large cottage further up the river. A woman with long hair down to her waist was tending her garden. Various colorful flowers surrounded her cottage.

 

Rev

I never noticed that place before.

 

Stike

Somebody else that arrived in Brix the same time as Razor, Vice and Wolfie. The only visitor she has is Razor’s son, Vice. She helps out in Wolfie’s town theatre. She’s an actress. Everybody in Brix likes her but nobody knows the connection between these four strangers. They don’t discuss their personal lives.

 

Rev

What’s her name?

 

Stike

Faze.

 

It wasn’t long before they were back in the professor’s shop.

 

Chapter 15

 

 

Stike sat down in his chair. On each side of the chair’s arms was a handle that revolved around its metal base.

A short distance in front of him stood a knee high metal structure made of thin steel slabs with copper wires and tiny motors attached to the moving metal parts.

They all fit together resembling a miniature droke.

It stood there lifeless.

Stike rotated each of the handles and the machine came to life. It jumped and pivoted in all directions. It even did backflips and twirled around rapidly. All with no wires attached to Stike’s control system.

Rev was ecstatic. She moved closer to the mechanical droke-like machine, bent down and studied it. She looked back at Stike.

 

Rev

How did you do that?

 

Stike

See these handles. There are batteries connected to them. They transmit an electrical signal to the machine, which activates their motors. When I rotate these handles around on my control the mechanical toy obeys the commands and mimics its movements.

 

Rev

Is this how Razor controls her drokes?

 

Stike

In the stadium, yes. But not her army of drokes throughout Brix. Father said it would require an unlimited power source that remains unknown to us. But your gold chip may hold the secret.

 

Rev made a sandwich for both of them and watched Stike practice. An hour later a loud siren pierced the air.

The tournament was about to begin.

 

Chapter 16

 

 

A knock at the door startled Rev. Stike opened the door. His friend, Slane, entered the room and Stike closed the door.

 

Stike

Good to see you Slane. This is Rev. You’ll be escorting her to the game.

 

Slane and Rev greeted each other.

 

Slane

Razor is on some kind of relentless hunt. She found the shoe somebody lost when they were chased by the drokes the other night. Everybody’s being interrogated. The drokes are even searching people’s homes for the matching shoe.

 

Stike and Rev remained quiet. Stike knew he could trust Slane. But he didn’t want to involve him for Slane’s own safety. He realized he had to get rid of the matching shoe right away but the droke’s tournament was about to start. It was hidden downstairs in a safe place for now. He would deal with it later. He gently took Rev by her hands and looked keenly in her eyes and spoke softly.

 

Stike

It’s not too late to leave now Rev and return to Genus. Razor and her drokes will be keeping a close watch on everybody in the audience. It’s not safe for you.

 

Rev

I’ll stay well hidden. I feel safe with Slane. After the match we’ll go see Wolfie. Then I’ll return to Genus for sure. I need to keep my father’s hopes up. I must find out more of the whereabouts of my mother. Also I want to see who this Razor really is.

 

Stike

Okay, but just don’t eyeball her or the drokes on patrol. Keep your face down and covered.

 

They left together on their short walk to the stadium about an hour before dusk. The wind had died down. They blended into the crowd as they lined up at the entrance. Once inside Stike left Slane and Rev to take his position for the tournament.

Slane and Rev found a seat on one of the long benches high up in the middle of the stadium. Soon the arena filled up to its capacity. Everybody was wearing the same dark blue coveralls, some with their hoodies up and others down. Rev and Slane kept their heads covered.

Some kind of doomsday music was blaring over the loudspeaker. They spotted Vice across from them, high up in a booth. He was seated playing an instrument.

 

Rev

What is that horrible noise?

 

Slane

Just Vice playing his gloomy music trying to jinx the competition. He’s a joke. Everybody ignores him.

 

Rev fixed her attention on the playing area of the arena. It was in the shape of a concrete bowl. The sides curved up surrounded entirely by a metal fence. In the middle of the bowl were high and low levels. At each end of the playing field was a hole placed in the middle of the curved wall.

A yellow droke stood at one end and a red droke at the opposite end. They both held onto a thin metal board with four wheels. On the painted circle in the midpoint of the arena, a steel ball sat motionless.

 

Rev

So what’s about to happen?

 

Slane

Okay, see the steel ball in the middle? The first one who sinks it into the opponent’s hole three times wins the tournament. They use the metal board to skate on. One of their legs is locked on the skateboard and the other pushes and stops the board. Anything goes.

 

Rev

Anything goes?

 

Slane

You bet. It’s all out combat. These drokes are built a lot bulkier and more solid than the other drokes. Their heads are shaped different. They can’t extend themselves like the regular drokes but can take a real beating. Like some kind of warrior. You’ll see.

 

And then the moment arrived. The main lights dimmed and only the playing area was illuminated.

Razor came out of one end and the crowd erupted in boos.

Stike approached from the other end and the crowd rose to their feet shouting, Stike, Stike, Stike.

Rev felt the electricity in the air.

Razor and Stike met at the center, each standing on the other side of the steel ball. They just stared at each other. No words were spoken. The crowd went silent.

Rev sneaked a quick peek at Razor. Her gold jewelry stood out against her black outfit. From the overhead lamps Razor’s tall lean figure cast a long shadow over Stike.

Why couldn’t the crowd overpower her right now, Rev thought? Yes, she has a small army of drokes mingling around but this audience is huge. Don’t be impulsive her father would say. A thought like that could get people killed. Rev dismissed her irrational reasoning. There would be another time, another place.

This was the time to choose. To be fair, or maybe just to appear fair, Razor always let her opponent make a choice between drokes and control rooms. Stike chose the red droke and the white control booth. That left Razor with the yellow droke and black control booth.

They retreated to take their positions in the control rooms above the seating in the end zones.

A loud buzzer set the match in motion.

 

Chapter 17

 

 

Seated in his room, high above the arena, Stike maneuvered the control sticks and brought the red droke to life. He positioned the droke’s left foot on the skateboard and locked it in place, preventing it from slipping off. The right foot pushed hard on the pavement and shot the board forward towards the steel ball in the middle.

On the other side Razor’s yellow droke swirled around the curved side embankment in a circular course ready to scoop up the steel ball.

Stike had studied all of Razor’s strategies. Now that he was playing for real he just had to time her moves and out maneuver her.

He accelerated hard in a straight path towards the ball. He lifted his right foot on to the skateboard and ducked down, as he was about to scoop the ball up in his droke’s hand.

But Razor’s yellow droke was a fraction of a second quicker and lifted its skateboard high up, crashing head on into Stike’s red droke.

The red droke stumbled and rolled over on the pavement several times while Razor’s droke swept up the ball and scooted towards the end zone.

Stike got his droke up fast and quickly gained ground on Razor’s droke. He used the elevated pavement in the middle to launch his droke through the air. He smashed it into Razor’s droke hard. Her droke crashed into the end zone wall. Its arm twisted around but managed to hurl the ball through the small hole.

The buzzer sounded loudly and the crowd reacted instantly with a round of boos.

Stike felt flushed. He disciplined himself and kept his cool.

A plain droke came out to place the steel ball in the middle. The opposing drokes positioned themselves in the end zones. The buzzer echoed throughout the stadium.

The race for the ball was on again. This time Stike let Razor’s droke get to the ball first. He got some air on his droke, twisted it around in mid air and with a downward blow smacked her droke on the wrist. The steel ball dropped to the floor. With another hand he punched Razor’s droke in the head several times and felled it to the ground.

He clutched the ball and raced to the end zone and scored his first goal.

The crowd erupted in cheers.

A huge sigh of relief filled Stike. That victorious goal was what he needed to regain his confidence. He looked up at the scoreboard mounted high up in the middle of the arena. Razor one. Stike one.

Not many of Razor’s opponents got on the scoreboard.

The third drop of the ball brought a long fistfight between the drokes. They swirled their metal boards around each other and hammered each other’s droke in a vicious tirade of punches, kicks and headbutts while the ball remained motionless on the floor. Razor got the upper hand and landed a punch that sent Stike’s red droke sailing through the air. Without a pause she took advantage of the situation and scored.

The crowd was on edge. One more goal for Razor and her gloating grin would sink everyone’s hearts to their feet.

Stike would not let defeat enter his mind. It was do or die. The next goal must be his. A different tactic was needed. As soon as the buzzer sounded his droke started to gain speed. Instead of racing for the ball he navigated his droke at a lightning velocity around the bowl’s edge, faster and faster.

Razor’s droke snatched the ball and raced to the end zone.

The crowd was totally silent.

Stike took a gamble. As Razor’s droke was within arm’s length of scoring, Stike’s droke flew along the upper part of the bowl edge and came down on Razor’s droke heavy and unyielding. He clobbered her so hard that it cracked the concrete in his end zone. Razor’s droke collapsed to the floor showing a huge dent in its head.

Stike’s droke grabbed the ball, raced to the other end and slammed home his second goal.

Everyone jumped to their feet, hands held high drowning out the buzzer.

With the game tied up