The Games Villains Play (10 page)

“D
uke, may I ask you a question?”

“Sure kid, what’s on your
mind
.
”

“You really seem to know what you’re doing out here, and you have great ideas for the team.  You started the year with a list of people you felt you could trust, and you can think well on your feet.  Why didn’t yo
u take the leadership classes?”

“I guess being a capt
ain just doesn’t appeal to me.”

Donny thought for a moment, but soon decided this did not answer his question sufficiently.  “I don’t think I understand.  How can it not appeal to you?  You have a rare
gift,
don’t you think you should have
used it?”

“Human’s aren’t made with just one gift, Napoleon.  I like to think I have other
things to contribute as well.”

“I’m sure you do, but leaving this school with leadership training is quite possibly the highest honor there is.  That’s a gift that
should not be ignored.”

“Kid, let me tell you a little story.  There once was a wealthy family who lived in a big house.  They had a young servant boy who they called on to do everything.  The children needed a tutor, so the servant boy learned the material and taught it to the children.  Chores needed to be done, so the servant boy would rush around, keeping the house clean.  Things needed to be
moved, he would move them.  Items needed to be fixed, he would fix them.  The family’s wealth increased, and eventually they decided to do away with the servant boy, and hire many grown men and women to replace him.  The boy was cast out.  Soon after, the family’s wealth began to disappear.  They needed to fire their new helpers, but having never done any of the chores themselves, they could not cope.  They spent the rest of their days hiring and firing servants, looking for someone who would take care of them l
ike the young servant boy had.”

“That’s quite a sad story.  I’m still not following though, what does it have to
do with not becoming a leader?”

“Napoleon, I was raised differently than you.  You see success as holding power, or acquiring power.  I’m not saying you are power hungry, but I do think it is important to you that you are in control.  That’s not the way I am.  I don’t want to be the wealthy
family,
I want to be the servant boy.  A leader is just one person trying to keep a group facing the same direction.  I would rather be the person the leader can turn to, can rely on, to set an example for the
rest of the group.”

Donny was surprised.  This was not the answer he had expected to receive, but it was a nice one to hear.  “You know what I think
,”
Donny responded.  “I think that servant boy turned out well in the end.  He would have become big and strong from doing all those chores, and he would be intelligent from tutoring the children.  Someone who can take care of a family should be ab
le to take care of themselves.”

Whether the conversation could have continued, Donny did
not
know, as they were forced to stop due to the arrivals of the rest of the team.  Donny could not help but fear what will happen to this loyal servant after he graduates and the school gains full control over him.

CHAPTER 9

DONNY AND DUKE
could not participate in the simulation, as they knew where all the clues were hidden, so they went up to the catwalk to watch from above.  Duke started from one end, and watched one of the teams, while Donny watched the other team on the opposite side of the arena.  Donny had placed all of the new players (those who had been recruited after they were kicked off of their previous teams) on the team he was watching.  He wanted to get to know them early, as they were all new to him.  He already decided to put them each in the groups that would be researching their old teams, but how he would use them other
than that he had yet to decide.

Donny was disappointed with what he saw.  The team he was watching won the event, but this only made things worse, as Donny did not feel they played well enough to win. 
Look at them, they’ve moving in packs!  They should be spreading out to look for clues.  And look at that group over there, they are clearly lost.  They are following their clue to the east wall, when it is telling them to go towards the north door!
 

When the event was over, Donny rounded everyone up to review.  He pointed to one first year who he had noticed had been following in the back of one group throughout the entire event.
 

“You
, how many clues did you find?”

“Oh, um, I think we
found 11, maybe 12.”

“No, that’s how many your team
found, how many did you find?”

“The group I
was in found 4 of those clues…”

“No, no, you misunderstand me.  I want to know how many you, and just you, found.  How many clues did you pick up, bring to
the group, and use?”

“Me?  Um, well I personally didn’t pick up any clues, but I contrib
uted to the group who found 4.”

“It doesn’t take a group to find clues, it takes one person.  And even if you could get credit for the work of the group, there were eight of you there, so your share would only be half a clue.”  Donny turned to address the whole group.  “Nobody should ever be wasted during the games.  Every single person needs to be used optimally, so that they can
do the most good to the team.”

After allowing this to sink in for a moment, he turned to the one who had been leading one of the groups.  “What was t
he last clue your group found.”

“It was a map.”

“Yes, it was a map that led directly to the finish.  How long did it take you to follow the ma
p to the finish?”

“I don’t know, lo
nger than we would have liked.”

“Why did it take so long?”

“We couldn’t follow it.  It didn’t have enough detail for us to know where we were, and which direction we needed to go.  We needed to find one of the doors to
gain our bearing first.”

“Everybody look up.”

At Donny’s command, the whole group began looking around at the ceiling.  Nobody seemed to be
catching on to Donny’s meaning.

“The ceiling above you will almost always be visible, and should be used to keep your bearings. 
Any ideas how this could be done?”

One hand shot up.  “You can tell how far you are from the sid
es by how high the ceiling is.”

“Good, since the ceiling is a dome, it is highest in the center, so we can tell our distance from the sides b
y that.  What else?”

Another first year student volunteered information.  “The dent over there is slightly east of the center, so if that is visible you could use
it to tell which way is east.”

Donny
could not
help but be a little sad at the thought of the dent, since it reminded him of Jay.  He quickly shook the feeling off.  “Good thought, but it is east from where we are standing.  It is actually a little south of the center as well, so it needs to be kept in mind that it is not due east.  Can anyone see another wa
y to determine the directions?”

It was
Zahrah
who spoke up.  Donny had not heard much from
Zahrah
or Michael at these practices, so even though they were both there, he sometimes forgot about them. 
“The catwalks.
  They run north to south, so by looking at them you can at least determine h
ow to get to one of the doors.”

“Great!  So now we have three ways of determining our location from the ceiling, and between the three we should have pretty good information.  The catwalks show us north to south, the dent tells us which direction would be east, and from that we can figure out the four directions.  Then the curvature tells us how far we are
from the sides or the center.”

With directions settled, Donny decided it was time to move on.  “Duke, is there anything you n
oticed that could be improved?”

“The team I was watching lost, so of course there are changes to be made.  The big thing I have to add is that you guys need to communicate.  You found two clues that would lead you to the map, and had you put them together you would have found it before the other team.  The
problem was that you didn’t check in with each other, so those two clues were never connected.  A game plan should have been made with a strategy to get information to the rest of th
e team.”

“Can anyone think of a good way to do this?”  Do
nny asked the group as a whole.

After a pause, one answer was tried.  “What if we just
yelled out what the clue was?”

Donny smiled at this. 
Not the best method, but at least it would have been better than nothing.
  “That would have gotten the information to those within earshot, but many of your own team would not have heard it, and many of the other team
would have. 
Any other ideas?”

“If we were in groups, we could have a reader in each group, who could read the minds of the other
groups
,”
A student suggested.

“Yes, this would have kept information flowing, but if our readers could see it, the readers from the other team could too.  This also would have required us to stay in groups, limited by the n
umber of available Prometheus.”

“What if the Hermes acted as runners, traveling around gathering and giving information to their team as they s
earched?”  One student replied.

“Good, now we’re getting somewhere.  Just because we need communication doesn’t mean we should use or Prometheus.  We need to be able to have two way
communication
, and we need to keep it secret.  For that, the Prometheus would not work.  The Hermes sound like
the best option at this point.”

With the game played, and a few improvements discussed, Donny was satisfied that they would have enough to think about until they met again the next day.  He would have liked to continue the practice, but he was happy with the understanding the team was beginning to achieve.  This practice had taught them that they need to think on their feet, and simple blind
luck will not be enough.  Afraid that continuing practice might ruin their current line of thinking, he dismissed them for the night.

DONNY AWOKE THE
next morning to the sight of two official looking people, clearly part of the school’s administration, walking into his dorm room.  They quickly noticed Donny, as his small stature caused him to stand out in a room full of Titans.  They made no effort to hide the fact that they were the
re for him.

“Can I help you?”

Donny’s resident leader had stepped forward, intercepting the two men.  He was shorter than they were, but clearly far stronger.  The two administrators did not appear p
hased by his intimidating look.

“We need Donny for a few minutes.  We ne
ed to ask him a few questions.”

“May I ask who you are, and on what authori
ty you are taking my resident?”

“You would be failing as a resident leader if you did not.  We are with the
school,
our job is to investigate the deaths or disappearances of students.”  They showed their identification information, and were allowed to enter.  Donny wondered what they would do if he refused to go with them, but thought better of it. 
I need to keep a clean slate.  Now that I don’t serve a purpose here, I’m sure they would love a reason
to throw me out of the school.

Donny walked with them in silence, all the way to the part of the school where the administrative offices were found.  He had only been in this part of the Academy once before,
when he was meeting with Captain Williams.  They entered a room with a single long table, and Donny sat across the table from the two officials.  He felt like he was the
re to be questioned for murder.

“Donny, did anything strange happen at your simulation games p
ractice yesterday evening?”

Donny was thrown off by the question. 
Yesterday evening?  What does that have anything to do with Jay’s supposed death?
  For a moment Donny dreaded the possibility that his informant had been caught.  He wondered if the informant had been waiting at the practice to tell Donny something, and was discovered.  Donny made sure to push these thoughts as far into the back of his head as he could manage.  If the informant had not been caught, reading these thoughts would make it inevi
table that he soon would be.

“No, I can’t recall anything unusual happening at practice.  Why?  What does
yesterday’s practice have
to do with my brother’s death?”

“We are not here to investigate your brother’s death, that case is closed.  When is the last time you s
aw the student known as Snake?”

Donny’s stomach sank. 
They aren’t here for Jay, they are here for Michael.
  Donny assumed the school had done something to him too.  Maybe he had figured something out about Jay’s disappearance, and the school did him in. 
No, that can’t be it.  They wouldn’t be investigating if they had done it themselves.
  “The last time I saw him was shortly before practice ended.  We were all together talking over strategy, and then I dismissed the team.  I saw him in the group at that point, but then I got to talking with some other students, and when I turned to leave, he had alread
y gone.  What happened to him?”

“
That is
what we are trying to find out.  He went missing last night, and apparently the last time he was seen was shortly after your practice.  One student reported seeing him putting food
and water in a backpack in the dining hall before walking out.  That w
as the last reported sighting.”

Donny knew what this meant.  The last time he had seen Michael with a backpack was when Michael had decided to go out looking for Jay.  Donny new this had to be the case again.  Donny knew a one man trip into
the desert could not end well.

“You know where he’s going
,”
Donny blurted out.  “Why a
ren’t you out looking for him?”

The interrogators looked questioningly at Donny.  “And w
here, may we ask, is he going?”

“He’s going into the desert.  It’s the only reason for him to pack food and water, and it’s the only place he could go since the school is surrounded by desert.  He took Jay’s death really hard.  You need to find him.”  Donny did not want to betray Michael, but a trip into the desert was suicide.  If he had to turn to the school for h
elp getting him back, he would.

“We are searching the desert already.  Do you have any other information that could help in this investigation?  A place he might be trying to
go,
or a reason for him to leave?”

I just told you!  He’s looking for Jay! 
Donny wanted to exclaim, but he kept silent.  Unable to think of a response, he simply answered, “No.  I have no information that could help here.”

DONNY KNEW THERE
was nothing he could do to help Michael, so he left his fate in the hands of those from the school that were searching for him.  With the simulation games fast approaching, he could not afford to take any more days off, nor did he think it a good idea to call
off practice in honor of Michael’s disappearance, as that would just draw unnecessary attention and worry to the situation.
 

He held practice that evening at its usual time, but when it came time to begin,
Zahrah
was nowhere to be found.  Donny was watching for her, as he silently hoped that Michael would walk in with her, as he always had before.  When the time for practice to start arrived, and neither Michael nor
Zahrah
showed up, Donny began to fear that
Zahrah
had gone with Michael, or gone out after him.  His fears were calmed when
Duke came over with a message.