There was a massive array of podiums all around the convention hall. I could already see the various golden egg winners around including Chitin, all of them excitedly talking to reporters about the whole situation. I really didn’t want to be here, talking to the reporters when I hadn’t had this much pressure on me was bad enough. Still, I was being frog-marched to the podium to receive the platinum egg along with my team.
Quietly, I whispered to Queen as I walked “Er, can you see any way for me to sneak out of here once the awards are over? I really don’t want to be here. Way too much pressure to talk to reporters.”
There was a brief pause as Queen thought, before answering “You could fly out, perhaps, but that would get everyone’s attention guaranteed. Probably your best bet is to ask the award people for help with a discreet exit; they’ve doubtless dealt with people who didn’t really want the attention before.”
I thought about it in silence as we walked down the median between two massive mobs of reporters, cameras flashing several times per second as we got closer and closer to the podium and my anxiety levels built up higher and higher.
As we reached the stairs and started climbing, I came to the conclusion that if I had to put up with this level of publicity constantly afterwards, I’d simply move somewhere the trophy meant nothing instead of sticking around here on Bark. This level of attention simply wasn’t worth it.
Several more thoughts whirled through my mind on the way up, including a few dirty fantasies about firing heavy ordnance into the crowd of reporters, but they mostly fell away as I reached the top and was greeted by none other than Doctor Sagi Brose.
I will admit to being quite shocked at finding my academic advisor here of all places, stammering “Professor! You’re here. Um. Hello? I have no idea what to do right now.”
My professor nodded as he replied “That’s alright, Yures. There’s not much to it. I hand you the trophy, you say a few things to the crowd, and then you can leave.”
After a bit of thinking I remembered to ask “Professor, is there any way I can get out of here that’s discreet? I really don’t like the mob of reporters and don’t want them following me once this is over.”
Thankfully professor Brose pulled through for me, pointing out a door to the back stage areas right behind the podium. As he did so, he noted “You can exit through there. It should be a mostly reporter-free zone, hopefully.”
I whispered “thank you.” and then the ceremony began.
Patching into the amplifiers, doctor Brose announced to the crowd “People of Bark, I hereby announce the winners of the Blackwood Invasive Species Tournament. Yures Hann, Queen Shed, and Wesseck of the Snow Coast Symbiotes.”
I stepped forwards, and my professor retrieved the platinum trophy from somewhere or other before he handed it to me.
The trophy was pretty heavy even in Bark’s gravity, which was to be expected of a sizable chunk of solid Platinum. Still, I was able to hold it without too much strain, especially on account of passing it to Queen as soon as possible.
A few moments of silence passed as Queen lofted the trophy high, then I heard doctor Brose mutter to me “Say something, anything. The whole of Bark is listening.”
So I took a deep breath, screwed up all my courage, and said “You know, I never actually intended to go for the platinum egg. I would have been perfectly happy with a bronze egg, maybe a silver. The whole reason I even got involved was only because a hardass professor took his personal issues out on my grades.”
There was a brief pause as I continued “Still, I had a whole lot of fun and made quite a few friends along the way. I learned a whole lot about how to make a viable organism that can survive on Blackwood too, which was pretty neat. Finding out the squirrels did so well actually came as a pretty major shock; we were thinking they’d get a minor ecological niche at most, rather than effectively turning their region into squirrel country. All in all, I’m pretty happy with how the tournament went.”
Doctor Brose smiled his sharp-toothed approval as he whispered “You can get out of here now, Yures.”
Nodding, I replied “Thank you professor Brose.” and quickly used my wings to glide down off the podium to ground level. I quickly snuck through the door into the back stage, and started making my way towards the exit.
I quickly found out that Hazel was waiting for me, greeting the friendly ball of tentacles with “It’s nice to see you again, Hazel.”
Hazel chuckled as she replied “Nice to see you too. How’d it go?”
As we started walking alongside each other, I answered “It went pretty well actually. Guessing you’re here to show me to the exit?”
Hazel was about to reply when suddenly there was a flash, and I turned dazzled to see a camera drone hovering just off to our side.
There were a few moments of silence before the drone spoke up, saying “Hah! Knew you’d try to escape through here. Now gimme an interview.”
I immediately replied “No. I won’t give an interview to anyone.”
The drone leaned in menacingly before saying “Oh you will. After all, it’d be a shame if everyone heard about your secret love affair, wouldn’t it?”
I blinked, before asking “You know I’m not romantically involved with anyone, so it wouldn’t be an affair, right?”
The drone laughed “Of course I know that. But you think the public will care? I’ve got photographic evidence and I can use it to write up a piece on whatever spicy scandal I damn well please if you don’t give me that interview.”
I stared at the drone as I replied “That’s illegal. I can sue you for defamation as soon as you publish your article.”
Off to the corner I noticed Hazel taking the opportunity to call security, and motioning for me to keep this asshole distracted. Fine, I could do that.
As for the drone, his reply of “You really think that will stop me? Your reputation will still be trash afterwards even after I have to issue a retraction, and it’s not like I can’t share the story around to a bunch of other clickbait sites looking for scandal. Now. Give me that interview!” rang of desperation.
I just snarked back “Gee that’s an empty threat even if you do mean it. I was already half-way planning on moving somewhere I’d never been heard of to avoid all the publicity, and if you go through with that threat, all you’ll have done is tip me over the edge towards moving to elsewhere. I’ve let my mark on Blackwood with my friends, I’ve proven my capabilities as a bio-engineer, and any system in inhabited space would be glad to have me.”
That apparently struck a sore point, as the drone answered “You wha-”
That’s about when Hazel took out a mag pistol and unceremoniously shot down the drone, the exploding coilgun projectile penetrating right to the center of mass before it went off. As she did so, she unimpressedly noted “Security had traced the connection and were closing in on his location already. There wasn’t any point to letting him keep talking.”
Turning to the friendly ball of tentacles I asked “Can I please have a hug? That whole thing was really stressful and I don’t know what to think about it.”
Hazel obliged, wrapping me in her tentacles and squeezing tightly, but gently. As she did so, she asked “If there’s anything you want to say about what happened, please?”
I thought for a moment, before asking “Am I doomed to get hounded by paparazzi like that for the rest of my lives if I stay here? That guy was willing to commit actual crimes just to get an interview with me.”
Hazel sighed, before replying “It’s just because you’re new on the scene. In a Gigasecond there’ll be thirty more tournament winners and no-one will care that you happen to have a trophy from so many tournaments ago.”
Nodding as I leaned into the hug, I said “Hazel, it’s been nice talking to you and I’m glad to have met you, but I need to go check on Veronica. She’s been one of my friends for a long time, and I need to make sure she’s feeling better after what Togi did to her.”
Hazel let go and waved me on as she said “See you again Yures, I hope your friends are alright.”
As I left the convention center in search of my friends, I replied “I really hope so too.”
Still, there were a couple things I had to do before I could go looking for Veronica. First on that list is telling Queen and Wesseck what I was actually doing. I took care of that with a quick text message to each of them, and now I was stuck trying to figure out where exactly Veronica was actually located.
Figuring that the best option would be to simply call her, I did just that. There were several moments of waiting for Veronica to pick up, but eventually she answered.
I greeted her with “Hey Veronica, it’s Yures. Sorry for not keeping in touch with you during the tournament.”
There was a moment of silence before I got Veronica’s reply “Thanks for calling in, Yures. It’s been… an ordeal.”
I softened my tone a bit as I said “I heard. Would you mind if I came to visit you? I want to catch up on events and make up for all that time we lost.”
Veronica laughed bitterly “Hah, I lost time in the tournament. You only spent it. Still, seeing you again wouldn’t be unappreciated.”
That’s about when I said “About that, where are you right now? I don’t actually know where to come visit you at, that’s why I’m calling.”
Veronica quickly replied “Cthonic Mare General Hospital. In the psych ward on their north campus. The doctors are great but I don’t think I’m ready to leave just yet.”
I asked “Mind if I come right over, or would you rather I set a time for later?”
Veronica answered “Yeah, come right over. The doctors say I really need some more socializing with trustworthy people to help recover, so they’ll be all for it in all likelihood. See you soon.”
Veronica ended the call then, and I nodded before I set about getting a train back to the Cthonic Mare. The train station was full of people gawking at me, looking like they wanted to ask for an interview. Still, I boarded the train without incident.
I was still about halfway to my hometown when someone sat next to me and asked “So, what was it like?”
Looking at him a bit quizzically, I asked “You mean the tournament, or getting the platinum egg?”
The anonymous stranger answered “Both, I guess?”
I asked “You’re not a reporter, are you? The last one tried to blackmail an interview out of me.” in a suspicious tone of voice.
They admitted “I actually am a reporter, though I’m ostensibly on break right now and I don’t normally cover sports. Rest assured there’s no blackmail involved.”
After a bit, I sighed. “Honestly everything leading up to finding out we got the platinum was awesome. I met new friends, got to have an absolute blast with bioengineering, and got to share the subject with a whole lot of interested folks at the presentation. Then we got the platinum.”
The reporter asked “Guessing things went downhill about then?”
I answered “Yeah it really did. The award ceremony was bad enough what with the absurd pedestal I feel like I’ve been put on, but the constant scrutiny and attention has been utterly miserable, and it’s barely been a few kiloseconds yet. Strongly considering leaving Bark for elsewhere and coming back when I’ve faded into obscurity.”
We chatted a bit more, me sharing a good deal of my frustrations with the man before the train reached my stop. As I got off, the man said “It’s been nice talking to you, Yures.”
I simply replied “Same.” as the door of the train closed and it accelerated off down the track towards its next stop.
Right, I still had to go visit Veronica at the hospital. I could have taken public transit, but I figured that since I was back in the same arcology as Veronica, I might as well fly under my own power. So as soon as I exited the train station I jumped up into the air, beating down with my wings to gain altitude.
Soon enough I was flying through the park mesh of Cthonic Mare, dodging between the treetops as I soared through the air towards the north campus of the hospital. It only took a kilosecond or so for me to reach the hospital block in question, gently touching down at the entrance.
I attracted a few glances, but didn’t get too much extra attention as I walked into the hospital lobby. One of the receptionists on call asked me what I was here for, to which I simply replied “Yures Hann here to visit Veronica Machinae.”
The receptionist nodded as he took a bit to verify that I had indeed been given permission to visit, before he said “She’s in room 2809b on the west wing. You can go to see her now.”
I thanked him, before I made my way to the lift pods for the west wing. From there it was a quick ride up to the twenty-eighth level, the docked paternoster system proving very efficient at getting me to the desired elevation.
It only took a few moments for the computerized voice to inform me “We have arrived at your desired elevation”, the compartment shifting from the lift belt to the docking track and sliding into its unloading position. From there it was a simple walk to Veronica’s room.
I politely rang the doorbell, informing Veronica “Veronica, it’s me, Yures. May I come in?”
I had to wait a few moments and heard the sound of a toilet flushing before Veronica replied “Sure, come in!”
So I opened the door to Veronica’s room and walked in. Veronica herself was standing in the doorway to greet me, a fragile smile on her face.
After a moment she said “Yures, it’s been way too long. Please come in and make yourself comfortable.”
I did do, quickly finding a chair as I asked “So, any word on when you could be released?”
Veronica shrugged as she said “Strictly speaking I could go any time, if I really pressed the matter. The doctors took care of the absolute worst damage via cognitive surgery, and I’m in therapy for the rest right now. I’m probably going home today, though there’ll be follow-up appointments every Megasecond or so for quite a while afterwards.”
I nodded in response, noting “Nice to hear that you’ve recovered so well. Er, is it okay if I ask about… well, you know.”
Veronica noted, frowning “Honestly I’d prefer if you didn’t. The doctors say I’m not supposed to dwell on it if at all possible. Anything else you want to talk about?”
I shrugged, “Honestly I’d been hoping you’d provide a topic.” before I noticed something hovering up to the window. Wait a moment, that looks like a-
I groaned in exasperation and hit the control to opaque the window.
At my sudden response, Veronica asked “What was that all about?”
I groused “News drones. Apparently winning the Platinum Egg and not liking public attention means unscrupulous reporters will stop at nothing to get pictures of me, one guy even tried to blackmail me into an interview.”
Veronica winced in sympathy as she heard my complaint, asking “Have you maybe considered that if you actually agree to a few interviews on your terms they might let up the pressure on you a bit? As it stands all you’re doing by staying out of the public eye like this is piquing their interest even further.”
I blinked, startled. Then I replied “Honestly no, the idea never really occurred to me. Still, I definitely want to make sure it’s well and truly on my terms. Not going to let myself be pressured into anything by some skeezeball.”
Veronica grinned sadly “Yep, let people start walking all over you and they’ll never stop. Learned that one the hard way recently.”
After a brief moment, I asked “So, want to help me figure that out, or would you rather the visit not get sucked up by my issues?”
In response, veronica shrugged and noted “Honestly I’d prefer a board game. Something simple and not too complex, but which isn’t totally luck-based.”
Seeing the opportunity for a joke, I asked “Guess that rules out the roleplaying games then?”
Immediately Veronica cracked up laughing, her raucous sounds of joy echoing around the room for a bit before she replied “Good one, Yures. Really good one. How about something much lighter. Perhaps Scourier?”
Thinking of the simple game about trying to complete as many points-scoring deliveries as you could in a given number of turns, I replied “That sounds wonderful. Got a physical set, or will it be digital?”
Veronica gestured to a shelf with various books and games on it, noting “Yeah the doctors have a decent selection of games available for patients and guests.” as one of the nursing drones quickly retrieved a Scourier set from the shelf and started setting it up.
As I saw the board coming into full form, I grabbed the bag full of player-pawns and asked “Which color do you want to play as, Veronica?”
About six kiloseconds passed as we reconnected over a few rounds of Scourier. I won the first, Veronica won the second, and after the nicer of Veronica’s teammates stopped by, Rat won the third round.
Still, the visit was winding down, and after a little while I noted “Well, it’s been nice, but I really need to get going now. Wish the tournament could have gone better for all of us.”
Rat and Veronica nodded sadly, even as Veronica noted “I hope you manage to solve your paparazzi problem, Yures.”
As I left the room I replied “I intend to.”
I quickly made my way back down to the lobby. When I got there the receptionist noted “Yures, security has had to escort several pushy reporters out of the building since you arrived. They were looking for you, and there’s every indication that they’re still lurking around outside, waiting to ambush you.”
I sighed, asking “Is there another way I could leave the building then?”
The receptionist replied “You could leave by the roof. Your morph can fly under its own power, which will make catching up to you for an interview rather difficult.”
I nodded appreciatively “Thanks for the tip. I think I’ll be doing just that.”
And so I took the lift all the way up, then took a flight of stairs the rest of the way to the roof. I looked out over the roofed cityscape of Cthonic Mare Arcology for a brief moment as I pondered my predicament. Then I stretched out my wings and dived off into a glide.
Getting back to the lab only took a few minutes, it wasn’t too far off from my current location. When I arrived, Queen and Wesseck looked absolutely exhausted, already crashed out on the couch together. Having a sneaking suspicion about what happened, I asked “You get mobbed by reporters too?”
Wesseck simply groaned in confirmation as Queen groused “You had the right idea with simply sneaking out the back, Yures. I have no idea how this harassment is even remotely legal.”
I sighed “Yeah I got jumped by an asshole reporter on my way out the back. He tried to blackmail me into giving an interview and got security called on him for his trouble. Been dodging paparazzi all day.”
Wesseck groused “If I didn’t know better I’d say this was professor Thonne punishing us for trying to defy his sabotage, but he doesn’t have those kinds of strings to pull. It’s just shitty shitty sensationalist reporting. I don’t want to get stuck giving paparazzi the runaround for the rest of my life.”
Cautiously, I asked “Curiously did they ever actually let up with the incessant questioning or-”
Queen answered “They only let up when I incinerated one and threatened to torch the rest. Flew Wesseck out of there immediately and claimed self-defense afterwards.”
I winced at the reminder of Queen’s access to a flamethrower. Thoughts whirled through my head as I considered that. We were the most famous people on Bark right now, and apparently that meant the news media would stop at nothing to try and get at us.
After a little while I asked “So, I guess that means Veronica’s idea of giving a few controlled interviews to make the heat die down is utter nonsense.”
Queen nodded sadly as she replied “Honestly not sure what to do about the whole thing. I can’t go around torching reporters for too much longer; self-defense only goes so far.”
I took that opportunity to mention “I was actually thinking of leaving Bark. We all pack up, go somewhere else where the Platinum Egg isn’t so over-hyped for about a Gigasecond, and maybe think about coming back after the fame dies down. Queen, Wesseck, what do you both think of the idea?”
Wesseck thought for a moment “I personally can’t see any problem with the idea. I’ll want to make sure I can still get in touch with my family after leaving, but dealing with this much media interest is way more than I signed up for. I’ll check the passenger Voidskipper listings for possible destinations.”
Queen agreed “Yes, I don’t think I can stay here on Bark any longer. And I’d much rather go with you two than go alone. Want help coordinating the packing drones?”
I nodded in approval “Yeah my morph closet and spares have the potential to be a pain to move. Any help with that you’d be willing to offer would be greatly appreciated.”
In the end it took us only a few kiloseconds to book three tickets on an inter-system liner to a nice, bustling hab-ladder a couple hundred light years off. We’d be aboard for a few stops, but that was alright.
We had a little while before we’d need to be at the starport atop the treebark space elevator, but that still wasn’t much time to waste. With the help of the moving drones we were able to quickly get all our stuff to the express train station, and from there is was a quick vertical ride straight up the structure.
We arrived in the relevant terminal about a kilosecond before the Voidskipper we were supposed to be boarding docked. The passenger capsule in question was already here, and considering that the liner was basically a container ship for passengers, that meant boarding wasn’t even something we’d need to wait for.
A couple kiloseconds later, all of us were easily aware of the gantries bringing our tube full of people down into the depths of the ship. Inside our cabin, I noted “Well, we’re going to be aboard for the next couple hundred kiloseconds, going by the route information. Any ideas for how to pass the time?”
Queen suggested “If you want to do a little recreational bio-engineering I can show you how to make custom bacteria for culinary purposes?”
Wesseck perked up, “Learning to make yogurt the way you do? That sounds great.”
This is the free edition of The Blackwood Tourney. It is entirely pre-written, and will have one chapter released each week on Saturday.
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