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Wah-wah, the fail sound mocked.
‘Game Over,’ said Help. ‘You lost your second life, Gelda. You have one remaining.’
Caught in a whirlwind of severe dizziness, Gelda didn’t dare open her eyes for fear she would pass out, vomit, or both.
A high frequency alarm blared.
‘Gorgons!’ Shellany blurted.
‘Gorgons?’ came many shocked replies.
Gelda peeked out from under a heavy eyelid to see Shellany’s aide had a small round alert device attached to it that flashed red and emitted the ear-piercing alarm. Opening both eyes made the room sway then steady somewhat. An attempt to push through the dizziness and nausea only made it worse.
Shellany switched off the alarm and abruptly stood. Her wide eyes flashed to the door, to the display and its equipment. ‘Gelda!’ She said with authority leaning over the armchair. ‘You need to pause the game so we can hide it!’
‘Why did you say Gorgons?’ Bryll worried.
‘Because they’ll be here any moment!’
‘Why are Gorgons coming here?’
‘They want the Universe! Help me get her up. We need her to pause the game so we can disconnect the pieces and hide it.’
Together they helped Gelda sit up and encouraged her to press the pause button on the bottom left of the display.
Hazzy grabbed Gelda’s hand and pried her finger from a clenched fist then pushed it against the button.
‘That won’t work. It has to be intentional. Gelda! Can you hear me? Press the pause button!’
‘Pause?’ Uncertainty clouded Gelda’s focus. ‘Am I inside or out?’
‘You’re out!’ Shellany told her. ‘Press the button, Gelda. You need to pause it!’
‘Pause it,’ said Gelda. The moment her finger touched the button, the dizziness vanished and focus returned. ‘I’m out,’ she muttered. I saw myself. I was in my house with my friends, playing the game!
A car screeched to a halt outside.
‘They’re here! Where’s the capsule?!’
Everyone hurriedly searched the table and floor as doors slammed and gruff voices sounded from outside. Gelda somehow made it to her knees to pat the floor. She found the capsule under the table and dropped it next to the working components. Shellany quickly and efficiently disassembled everything. The transmission display vanished from the air and Help stopped blaring warnings. With the equipment put away, the green, blue, and yellow balls looked just as they did before playing.
A loud and near thump! made the floor tremble. Stomping feet grew louder by the second. Odgio hurried to the lounge room door and slammed it shut. The others dragged the sofa over and wedged it across.
‘The Cosmo Dome!’ Gelda stared at it on the table. Inside the preservation chamber, galaxies swirled in dark space. A faint metallic scent wafted from the Universe accompanied by a slight humming sound. She picked it up in one hand and the remaining ball container in the other. It no longer flashed black, white and red but was clear. She was all too aware that separating the chamber from the powerstation now that the game was in progress would mean ending the game and all the life that had so far grown inside the biosphere. ‘It won’t fit.’
Shellany hurried to her side. ‘Try it. Some things aren’t what they seem.’
To the sound of the door being bashed from the other side, Gelda dropped the Cosmo Dome carefully inside the clear ball. It fit perfectly. The ball turned black. She placed it inside the capsule and shut the clasp.
As the door opened and the sofa wedged across it was pushed aside, Gelda shoved the capsule under the armchair cushion. Everyone in the room froze as seven foreigners at least twice the size of everyone present stormed towards them.
The first four wore dark red uniforms that matched their skin tones and gave an intimidating bearing emphasised by their bulk. Tarnished metal badges on their caps read, SHARP, BRISK, FIERCE, and FORCE. They pointed large guns with pulses of dark purple light that zapped and sizzled. The other three wore tight-fitting black uniforms and boots and carried no obvious weapons. The badges on their caps were shinier as if reflecting their status and read, Commander, Deputy Commander, and Captain.
Gelda’s eyes went to the Gorgon wearing the Commander badge. He was the only one who hadn’t shaved his head or face. It made him stand out and somehow gave him an outsider’s look that drew her to him. While his appearance revealed an obvious Gorgon lineage – large square head, dark purple-speckled eyes, burly and towering frame – a quiet demeanour seemed at odds with the rest of him.
She didn’t mean to catch his eye, but when it happened, she experienced a sense of relatability and understanding that she never expected to feel for someone outside of her own people. While she had no idea what to do about it, Gelda held his gaze but didn’t get the chance to investigate the odd feeling.
Just then, the black-clad Gorgon with the meanest face and the Captain badge, pushed ahead of the others and waved his gun around at them. ‘Everyone, up!’ he bellowed in a surprisingly high-pitched voice. ‘Arms behind your heads, move to the wall. Slowly! Talk, and you lose your tongue!’
SHARP, BRISK, FIERCE, and FORCE provided encouragement by way of weapons pointed in their faces. Gelda looked to Shellany for a sign that they should defend themselves and the coveted game, but her new friend simply gave a minor shake of her head with eyes that said, ‘Don’t!’