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GAME FOUR WAS DIFFERENT, and not just because we had lost so many players, but because we didn’t take a spaceship to the next location. We used a space bridge portal to seamlessly travel from Second Earth.
We were taken to a large ship orbiting Jupiter. The planet was unimaginably massive compared to how Earth looked below our old home. Vibrant tapestries of crimson and orange clouds spun in a giant ball below us. It looked like a watercolour painting in motion, and my face fogged up the glass just as it had the day before my court hearing.
Jaaspar hadn’t spoken to me at all. His eyes were circled with dark and heavy bags, and his face drooped as the corners of his lips were pulled downwards.
Moirai was the one to give us the rundown of the game this time because Rubie had been taken to prison.
“Players,” he began as we sat ourselves in strange acrylic seats, “Jupiter’s eye, better known as the great red spot, is a terrible storm. You will all be racing through it.”
Another race? We barely made it through the race on Venus.
“Each of you are seated in a shuttle, which you will need to pilot from the outer edge of the storm to the portal in the centre.”
In the aerospace department, I had trained in simulations to pilot various shuttles for about a month. Even though nobody had an advantage in this game, I definitely had the upper hand. It was unlikely the other players had any experience with piloting, and I feared it would be the reason they won’t survive.
“There are automatic communication devices for you to speak to each other because it is guaranteed that some of you, if not all of you, will have your very last moments soon,” Moirai said.
I gulped. It was concerning that they wanted us to hear each other’s last moments because again, he confirmed that we were all going to die. Sol raised her hand, but Moirai ignored her, so she shook her hand harder to grab his attention. After a moment, Moirai rolled his eyes and called on her to speak.
“So, in this game, what do we have to do again?” she asked impatiently.
“If you listened to what I just said and waited until I was finished, you would know,” he said mockingly.
Luckily, I didn’t ask the same question as Sol, even though also I had no idea what to do. My emotional energy depleted and my attention span was lower because of the exhaustion the games provided. They simply drained the life out of us.
“You will all begin at the very edge of Jupiter’s red spot and race to the centre where the portal is waiting to take you back to Second Earth,” Moirai continued. “There won’t be a time limit, but if you want to survive the storm, you’ll need to fly your ships as fast as possible.”
Something felt wrong. Terribly wrong. When I had done the training simulations, I learned that not every shuttle can clock top speeds. It was generally common knowledge in my department, and Moirai would have known it as well. If the shuttle exceeded its maximum speed, the internal motors would fry themselves, and it would either explode or fall to the ground.
“No time limit, so we could just fly around forever on Jupiter?” Sol asked in a way that implied she didn’t want an answer.
“The fuel in your shuttles will not last forever. By all means, go ahead and fly around forever, but eventually you will fall to the very core of Jupiter and be squashed to death.”
Sol glanced at her cousin and looked back at Moirai with a scrunched nose.
“Good luck, players. The game begins in, three, two, one,” he said slowly.
A large multi-layered glass casing emerged from the ground beside me and covered my head. A control panel with a single cyclic stick emerged with flashing lights. Finally, a steel shell wrapped around portions of the glass on the sides of my body. I assumed our shuttles were equipped with a device to prevent Jupiter’s radiation from penetrating them unless the game makers wanted to kill us off all at the same time. Honestly, I wouldn’t been surprised after how difficult and deadly the previous three games were.
Moirai took a step back to avoid being crushed by the airtight door. The floor broke away beneath us, and our shuttles were each held by giant claws that rotated to face the gas planet below. It looked even prettier now, whether it was due to my adrenaline or simply being closer to Jupiter.
“Here we go,” Anyma said with a bit too much excitement.
“I’m not ready for this,” Sapphire said nervously as we were dropped below.
The shuttles automatically accelerated to the edge of the planet to prevent us from taking control and flying away. The tips of our shuttles caught fire as we entered Jupiter’s atmosphere. I thought they were going to explode because the fire was directly in front of our noses, closer than it was when we broke Earth’s atmosphere in the first game.
It was the first time I’d ever touched the controls of a real shuttle, but there was no excitement. I was too preoccupied with staying alive to celebrate this moment.
The hovering camera appeared from the centre console and remained in my shuttle. It was annoying to have it hovering beside my ear, but we were all in the same boat, and it soon became unnoticeable. Once our shuttles broke through Jupiter’s atmosphere, I knew it would be a quick game, or at least, I hoped.
We were lined up on the very edge of Jupiter’s red spot, and our shuttles waited for us to take control of the cyclic sticks. The creamy clouds were filled with what I assumed was water because the front glass was covered in droplets. Only metres in front of us, the swirling red clouds began spinning much faster than where we currently were. The darkness of outer space disappeared as we were entirely consumed by the gasses around us.
“Okay, let’s go,” I said as I grabbed hold of the cyclic stick firmly and pushed it forward.
Jaaspar’s voice crackled through the communication system. “Be careful. The hydrogen gas can be pretty dangerous.”
That was what it was. Hydrogen. My shuttle shot forward with a slight jerk, and I was sent flying into the storm. I was engulfed in a colourful whirlpool with liquid hydrogen splashing all over the windshield. It was difficult to see anything in front of me, but if I remained on a straight course, I would reach the portal. I couldn’t see any of the other shuttles; they had all disappeared into the storm.
The G-forces were extremely strong, and my head became fixed to the back of my seat. I had no G-force training in my department because I hadn’t yet reached that level, and because of it, I wasn’t sure how long I would be able to survive the game.
“Is everyone doing okay?” I asked out of concern.
“This storm is terrible. I can’t even control my shuttle,” Sapphire yelled in frustration as she tried to stabilise.
“It’s not that hard,” Sol said rudely, although her attitude may not have been intentional.
“I’m alright,” Anyma said. I felt her nerves through the speaker. She had the same nerves as I did.
“We just need to get to the centre of the storm,” Jaaspar said, taking quick breaths between his words. “How far is it?”
“Don’t know,” Sol said with the same attitude.
“Fate, you worked in aerospace back on Second Earth. How fast can these shuttles go?” Jaaspar asked.
“There’s no definitive answer. I’m not sure what type of shuttles these are. But try not to go too fast because the engine can overheat and explode,” I answered a bit too loudly.
The winds picked up significantly and knocked my shuttle from side to side. The clouds darkened into a deeper crimson with patches of orange, like cotton candy that hadn’t been coloured correctly.
“Sack it, I’m clocking full speed,” Sol said and laughed almost wickedly as her shuttle whizzed past mine, nearly crashing into me, and disappeared into the clouds ahead. “I’m on fire!” she cheered excitedly.
“You’ve gone too fast, Sol. Your shuttle is going to—”
My sentence was cut short by the flatlining sound immediately after Sol’s shuttle exploded into a million and one pieces. I flew through the debris, which cleared up pretty quickly. There was no fire; her shuttle had simply popped like an overly inflated balloon.
“She’s dead,” Sapphire said carelessly.
“She didn’t want to listen to my advice. That was her own fault,” I responded. “Be careful. The shuttles won’t go full speed.”
The clouds darkened even further into a maroon with touches of bright pink, which swirled and mixed into each other. The liquid hydrogen splashed against my shuttle from all angles, and the wind tossed me around without a care. I had no idea if I was heading in the right direction. For all I knew, I could have been flying away from the portal.
Thankfully, a flash of light illuminated the entire planet. The clouds grew more vibrant, and I knew where the portal was. I saw two shuttles on either side of me but couldn’t see a third.
“Did you guys see that?” Anyma asked.
“What was that?” Jaaspar asked.
A part of me hoped Thebe would joke about it being ‘French’, but I soon remembered that she was dead.
“The portal, I’m pretty sure,” I answered, with more doubt as the flashes grew stronger.
“No,” Sapphire said very slowly. “That wasn’t the portal.” She was an intelligent young woman and realised what it was before the rest of us even questioned it.
Another electrifying flash lit up the entire planet, and it couldn’t be clearer what it actually was. The portal was never within reach. As Jupiter’s eye darkened further, the flashes became increasingly abundant. Suddenly, a blue bolt of lightning shot down from above me and scratched the side of my shuttle. I pulled the cyclic stick so hard to dodge the strike that I thought it was going to break.
“Lightning!” I shrieked. “Don’t get hit!”
Jaaspar screamed every time the lightning flashed. The storm was dark, almost pitch black, and I didn’t want to know what secret monsters were hiding inside. The only source of light was the flashes of lightning, and they only lasted a few seconds at a time. The other players’ shuttles were around me, but they moved with every flash and then disappeared into the darkness.
“There’s too much rain and wind and lightning.” Jaaspar panicked as his breath became shallow.
I swerved my shuttle away from lightning strikes that came from every direction — the worst part was trying to keep an eye on the strikes from behind me. The deeper into the storm we were, the more lightning there was. It was impossible to get through alive.
The shuttle on my right dodged the lightning strikes pretty well; however, the shuttle on my left was struggling to get through them.
“Slow and steady wins the race, guys. We can do this.” I tried to encourage the other players so they wouldn’t panic and make a wrong move, but I wasn’t sure they cared enough about my advice.
“This isn’t a race, Fate. We just have to make it out alive,” Jaaspar said with frustration.
I understood where he was coming from. I was terrified as well. My heart felt like it was going to pop out of my chest every time a lightning bolt crashed near me, and my hand was beginning to sweat, which made the cyclic stick very slippery.
The sky flashed twice, and a strong bolt of lightning zapped the shuttle on my left. It didn’t explode, but the rear sparked up and smoke poured out of it.
“I’ve been hit,” Jaaspar screeched. “Oh no, what do I do?”
“Jaaspar!” I panicked as I tried to think of a solution.
I had no idea what to do. The only thing Jaaspar could do was get to the portal in time. But we had no idea how far it was.
“I think... I think this is the end for me,” he said.
“Don’t talk like that,” Sapphire said.
“You’ll make it out with us,” Anyma tried to encourage him.
“Jaaspar, keep dodging the lightning, and you’ll get to the portal,” I said, hoping that the portal was only metres away.
“Fate?” he said too calmly to hide the fear deep in his voice.
“Please don’t,” I said as my eyes watered and my voice croaked. “Please promise me you’ll make it to the portal.”
Jaaspar was good at lying, at least I assumed he was. The whole time I knew Jaaspar I never suspected he was lying. But the promise I requested of him was not achievable. Jaaspar wanted to die; I knew it even before the first game. There was a reason Jaaspar had dark patches around his eyes. He didn’t sleep the night before, he couldn’t, because nightmares of Jayde’s death ate up his soul and drowned out his light. Throughout the night, he screamed Jayde’s name as he relived the same moment repeatedly in his sleep. I had the same nightmares too, but about myself.
“Don’t fight the mountains, Fate, move them. Just as your father used to say,” he said.
“Jaaspar don’t.”
“Fate, there is no saving me. My shuttle is too far gone.”
I didn’t want to believe it but what he said was right.
“Land somewhere among the stars for me,” I whispered.
“I want you to join me in the stars one day,” he said moments before he was struck with another thick bolt of lightning. His shuttle exploded into an enormous fire in front of me and I knew for sure that he wouldn’t have survived it.
The shrill flatlining sound rang through the communication system briefly before it cut off completely.
“Jaaspar!” I wailed as tears flooded my face. “No!” I cried.
“Focus, Fate,” Sapphire said pretty loudly through the communication system, but I didn’t pay any attention to her voice. “You must concentrate to get to the portal.”
“Jaaspar’s dead,” I said as I sniffled so hard that my eardrums popped. “He’s dead.” I tried to breathe, but my throat wouldn’t allow any air to pass through.
I couldn’t let down my guard. If I slipped up, it would be over for me as well. Stronger winds made it increasingly difficult to stabilise my shuttle. More clouds obscured my vision along with the hydrogen rain, which didn’t allow me to see where the lightning strikes came from. I couldn’t dodge anything anymore. I just had to hope for the best.
“Fate,” Anyma said with pain in her voice. “Fate, I’m so sorry about Jaaspar.”
A shuttle whizzed past mine as I manoeuvred away from the flashing clouds, missing me by mere millimetres.
“Someone is going too fast,” I said, not knowing who it was.
“The lightning is chasing me!” Sapphire screamed.
“Slow down!”
Lightning bolts snapped in front of me and blocked my path through. I spun my shuttle upside down to fit through a tiny gap between two bolts and looped over another one that nearly hit me. It was pitch black. Lightning and thunder didn’t even illuminate the storm anymore.
The rain stopped splashing on my windshield, but the clapping thunder still rocked the shuttle. My legs were cramping up in the tight space. I knew I had to act before it was too late. Then I did something that would either kill me or save my life. I took hold of the cyclic stick in both hands and pulled it towards me to drive the shuttle directly up to the top layer of Jupiter’s atmosphere. I fought hard against the strong gravitational pull and prayed that I wouldn’t be dragged to the core of the planet. Lightning appeared in a random sequence out of nowhere, following me as I navigated myself upward.
The clouds brightened and the lightning grew quiet. Outer space was clearly visible, and if I continued going up, I would shoot out of the atmosphere. If only that was the way out.
“Fly your shuttle up,” I directed to the remaining players. “We’ll be able to see the portal from there.”
I hoped it was true.
“Which way is up?” Sapphire asked in a panic. “I can’t see anything.”
Jupiter’s great red spot had disoriented her, and with all the flying around, she didn’t know which direction to go. Her voice quivered, and I knew she was in trouble.
“I don’t know where I’m going,” she squealed before her voice was overpowered by the flatlining sound.
“Sapphire?” I asked.
There was a long pause. Sapphire’s voice didn’t come through the communication system, nor did Anyma’s.
“Are you there? Sapphire?” I repeated.
There was no response, only soft static through the communication system and the muted crashes of thunder.
“She’s dead, Fate,” Anyma confirmed. “You know it. She’s dead,” she repeated.
“Argh, and she was doing so well!”
The game makers really didn’t want any of us to make it through the games. Three players were already dead, and I had no idea if I could make it out alive.
“Anyma, can you get above the storm?”
“I’m already here, Fate,” she answered at the same time as I broke through the swirling tapestry of cotton candy.
I couldn’t see her shuttle, but I saw what we were looking for from the beginning. The portal, or the beacon at least, activated with a beam of light far in the distance. It was obvious that it was not just lightning. From the beginning, it would have been easier for us to fly over the storm rather than through it. Jaaspar and the others would still be alive if we’d used our brains properly.
“Get to the portal, Anyma,” I said as I pushed the cyclic stick forward.
My shuttle jerked, and I had a minor heart attack. But it just needed a quick jumpstart to get going again. Creamy clouds swirled around me with small gusts of wind resisting against my shuttle. The winds were only a fraction of the strength of the ones in the storm directly below.
The triangular portal was clear now. It hovered in the eye of Jupiter’s great red spot, almost peacefully, as it waited patiently for players to fly through.
“We’re here,” I said excitedly, but the excitement slowly faded into the realisation that my friends, and the other worthy players, wouldn’t ever see the light of day again.
The portal began closing, which was strange because Moirai said that there was no time limit in this game. It was obvious now that the game makers didn’t want any of us to make it through. They just wanted a good show all along.
I pushed the cyclic stick as far forward as it could go, and I knew that I would either make it to the portal in time, or my shuttle would explode.
“Anyma, speed,” I said, hoping her shuttle wouldn’t explode either.
“But what—”
“No, we need to get out of this game now. Whatever it takes, no matter if it works or not.”
I had no idea if what I said made any sense, but the only thing on my mind was getting us out of the game.
The beacon began to fade away, and I pushed the cyclic stick harder, but it didn’t do anything. I was only a few seconds away from the exit. The portal flickered, and I screamed as I closed my eyes, hoping that we would make it out. The thunderous sounds around me faded, and I was able to think clearly again.
As I opened my eyes, I exhaled in relief that my surroundings were recognisable. We had made it out alive and unharmed. Second Earth looked the same every time I made it through the portal, and there was no reason it would have changed this time around.
The front of my shuttle sparked up, and I realised there were only a few seconds before it would explode. I pulled the eject lever, and I was flown to the other side of the large holding bay just in time before my shuttle blew up in condensed flames. Anyma’s shuttle was perfectly fine, except for the extreme wear and tear all over its outer shell.
The portal finally closed, and the holding bay door opened. Four games down, one to go.