Fenris Perrywinkle: The Great Galactic Duel

“Is she…?” Jenn asks quietly.

I place my hand on Amanda’s neck. “No, there’s still a faint pulse. Help me get her onto your bed.”

I try to lift the brunette, but her super body is so dense now, I can barely budge it. I look at Jenn – I can see the wheels turning in her head.

“Jenn?”

She gives her head a little shake. “Yes, of course.” The blonde easily lifts Amanda onto her bed. Every few seconds, the veins in Amanda’s suit glow ever so slightly.

Jenn puts a hand on Amanda’s forehead. “She’s fading. I think we’re about to lose her!”

My heart is pounding. I’m not entirely sure if Jenn wants to save her or not. I mean, they’re just going to try and kill each other in a dozen hours or so anyway.

She reads my thoughts again. “No, Fenris,” she says, “not like this. I want to beat her fair and square. She’s not dying today. Give me your hand!”

I do as she asks with a confused look on my face.

“Now, put your other hand on her chest!”

Well if I gotta, I gotta I guess.

My eyes bolt open as Jenn starts channelling Deepdarc energy through my body. She should have warned me, you know. This is like plugging a fork into an electrical outlet.

All at once, it’s over. Amanda’s suit once again displays her alien veins – although they’re still very dim.

Jenn nods. “There… that will give her a little more time.” She turns to me with a grin. “You make a good converter.”

I give her a dirty look. “What was that all about?”

“You’re attuned to Everbright star energy. That’s what she needed an infusion of. Obviously, I channel Deepdarc energy, so I couldn’t give her an infusion directly. Your body isn’t as sensitive to star energy as ours are. Basically, I could pump my energy into you, your body would process some of it, and since Amanda’s body is hungry for star energy right now, she pulled it out of you.”

I completely missed her explanation and I don’t care. I’m seeing double and feel like throwing up.

She scoops the brunette into her powerful arms again. “I’ve got a regenerator, but it’s powered by Deepdarc energy. If I put her in there, it would kill her for sure. She should have an Everbright equivalent back at her place. Get the door!”

I nod and stumble over toward the tube. Despite my discomfort, I’m so proud of my Jennifer right now.

The down tube door opens with a hiss and I help Jenn squeeze in with Amanda still in her arms. A moment later, I’m on her back and flying across the stadium to the brunette’s quarters.

Once inside, the blonde gently lays the brunette inside a coffin-looking device with a bunch of digital readouts on the side. Once the lid slides into place, it illuminates with a soft hum.

I wrap my arms around my Jennifer and kiss her on the cheek. She is my Rambo.

“She should be alright now,” Jenn murmurs. “I wonder what the hell happened to her, anyway.”

I shake my head. “Best guess? Philander Jefferson.”

Jenn sits on Amanda’s bed. “You know, in all the commotion, you never actually told me what your theory was.”

Wow, she’s right. Sorry about that, reader. I know you’ve been waiting a long time too.

“So, Warden Jefferson, or Philander or Games Master or whatever… he’s in charge of this death match, and apparently runs a prison. Somehow, I, the original Everbright champion, end up in said prison while you, the Deepdarc champion, are training and honing your abilities.”

Jenn nods. “Okay…”

“Well, what if that was all on purpose? What if Jefferson was rigging the whole thing so that Everbright would lose?”

Jenn nods again. “Okay, but what if you were never rescued? The match would have been called off, right?”

My face drops a little. I hadn’t considered that angle. “I guess it was lucky that Amanda and I…”

Amanda. My darling Amanda. The woman that kept me alive and oversaw the training that I got in preparation for my fight with Jennifer. Was it really luck that she was there for all of it?

“You think she’s in on all this? Why would she go to all that trouble, only to end up fighting me herself?”

“Because… in the end…” I feel a lump forming in my throat. “…I wouldn’t fight you.”

Jenn thinks on that for a moment. “I was surprised that they didn’t call ‘no contest’ giving how much I was beating on you without you fighting back.”

We both look over to the glowing Everbright regeneration chamber. Is there a double agent in that box?

I give my head a little shake. “If she was working with Jefferson, they why was she attacked just now?”

Jenn shrugs. “I don’t know. This is all just theory without some sort of proof, right?”

I nod. “And she did give me the picture of Jefferson talking with those aliens. Maybe I’ve got this all wrong.”

“She does know an awful lot about this alien tech for someone so new to it. I mean, I get that she’s a smart woman and everything, but…” She looks around at the way Amanda has modified her chamber. “Not much in the way of style, though.”

I glance around the room. “Do any of these machines send and receive messages?”

“Yeah, I get communications from the event coordinators on a panel that looks like that one over there.” Jenn points to a screen on the west wall.

I slide off the bed and walk to the screen. There is a thumb reader, but no other means of access. “Well, I don’t have one of Amanda’s thumbs, so this isn’t going to work.”

“Maybe…” Jenn trails off as she stands and walks to the large bay window overlooking the stadium. “I wonder if there would be any clues or whatever up there.” She points to the announcer’s box up in the east corner of the ship’s massive interior.

I look over at the regeneration box. Still no movement, although the vitals readout on the side of the apparatus does show some improvement.

“I think she’s going to be in there for a while. Let’s go check it out.”

Jenn flies us up to the corner of the stadium. The door to the announcer’s booth is locked of course – that is until Jenn tears the door open with her hands. Man, I love strong women!

The booth is fairly non-descript containing a single extra-wide chair and a bank of broadcasting equipment.

Jenn slides into the chair and wrinkles her nose. “Ugh. I can smell his stink. This is where Jefferson spends his time alright.”

I lay a hand on her shoulder. She takes my hand and turns to me with a smile. “I’m okay. Thanks.”

I watch as she begins fiddling with the console in front of her.

“Oh, video feeds,” she mumbles. “This might be interesting.”

There’s a list of feeds as long as my arm. We quickly begin skimming through them. Something catches my eye.

“Wait! Go back. There! Look at the thumbnail for that feed!”

Jenn squints a little, then opens her eyes wide. “The picture that Amanda gave us!”

She brings the video feed up on the main screen. Warden Jefferson enters a room and is greeted by several aliens that seem very excited about something.

“Do we have a deal, Philander?” a Deepdarc woman asks.

The blob of flesh she was addressing gets a wide smile on his disgusting face. “I’ve spoken to the rest of the directors. We are all very pleased with the amount of credits that you are offering to guarantee a win for the good people of Deepdarc.”

“I knew it!” I hiss through clenched teeth.

Another member of a different alien race that I’m not familiar with raises a tentacle. “How do we know our investment is guaranteed, Jefferson? My people are betting a fortune.”

“As our mine!” says another alien with purple skin and fangs.

“And mine!” says a glowing yellow puddle.

The warden smiles wide again. “We will ambush the Everbright scout ship when it selects the next champion. I believe we’re pulling from a planet called earth for this round, are we not? I’ve already procured the means to keep their champion occupied while your champion is in training. The Everbright champion will be woefully unprepared when it comes time to duel.”

The feed cuts out shortly thereafter.

Jenn is red faced. “I am going to cream that fat piece of…”

I won’t include the rest of her imaginative and well thought-out comments.

She grabs my hand and places it under a lamp of some sort. “Hold still.”

A ray of light shines on my palm for a moment.

“There,” she declares. “Now you’ve got a copy of the feed.”

I look at my hand. “I do?”

She nods. “It’s encoded in your DNA now.”

Jenn has decided to mess with my DNA now. Great.

A shadow appears on the wall. We turn to see Amanda standing in the door with a sorrowful look on her face. “I’m sorry,” she whispers.

In the blink of an eye, she blurs across the room and pins Jenn to the wall. The blonde struggles, but the brunette has the leverage.

“Amanda! No! What are you doing?” I shout.

“Whatever I tell her to do.”

The voice makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I turn just in time for Philander Jefferson to belt me in the face. I’m knocked to the floor and stars fill my vision.

“Fenris!” Jenn shouts and continue to struggle against the other woman.

The Games Master kicks me several more times, then turns to the console. “Well… what have we here?”

He views the video with a frown on his face. He taps several keys on the console, and the video feed vanishes. “I don’t need that being passed around, now do I?”

“Amanda! Let go of me!” Jenn shouts.

Philander continues. “That room wasn’t even supposed to be monitored. Now how did that even happen, I wonder?” He stares daggers at the back of Amanda’s head.

I look up to see Amanda whispering something to Jennifer. The blonde stops struggling.

The fat man squats down and slaps me several times. “Not so tough now, are you, prisoner 776? I told ya you had it coming!”

I turtle as best I can to defend against his blows. “What’s this all about, Jefferson? Why rig the game?”

He spits on the ground. “Credits, you idiot! Why does anyone rig anything? I take home a huge payday, my investors take home a huge payday, and everyone is happy.”

“Except the people of Everbright!” Jenn hisses.

The Games Master looks up at the blonde and laughs loudly. “Says the Champion of Deepdarc! You should be grateful that the odds are in your favor. Tomorrow, you might kill my lovely assistant, which would make you the hero of an entire nation of annoying little aliens, and you’ll have your beloved Fenris back.” An evil grin spreads across his flabby face. “And I’ll be the richest being in the galaxy.”

“And if I lose?” Jenn asks.

The Games Master smiles a little bigger. “Then the counter wager that I’ve made under an assumed identity will pay out… and I’ll still be rich.”

I strain to look at the brunette holding the blonde against the wall. “Amanda? Is this true?”

She says nothing, but hangs her head a little.

“Of course it is!” Jefferson roars. “I needed someone to get you in fighting shape after I tipped off the Everbright scout ship where to find you. Did it not strike you as odd how she was able to help you? Or where she got an alien cannon when you failed to fight your fiancé? Or how she magically found you yesterday? Or how she knows so much about alien technology in general?”

“But…” Jennifer interrupts the tub of lard, “why did you recapture Fenris? Why not just let him die in the desert if he was of no use to you anymore? And who almost killed Amanda earlier?”

Jefferson scowls at Amanda. “She interrupted me when I was about to end this one’s life,” he says and kicks me again. “I gave her a little reminder of who’s the boss when she exited your quarters. Seems I almost overdid it though. Thank you for saving the woman that might kill you tomorrow. I almost forfeited my payday!”

He throws back his head and laughs like a fool.

“And yes, I could have killed Fenris a dozen times over… but he’s got such a smart mouth, I didn’t want him to die. Oh no, that would be too easy. Too quick. No, I’ve changed my mind. I want him to suffer instead. I’m going to make him watch the two loves of his life battle to the death, and then, and only then…” He gets really close to my face. His breath makes me wish I was already dead. “…then I’ll kill him.”

The Games Master continues to laugh and starts kicking me again.

Jennifer boils over. She screams with rage and starts fighting Amanda again. A moment later, she hits the brunette with an energy burst from her eyes. Amanda is staggered and releases the blonde. Jenn pushes her to the side and goes for Warden Jefferson. The fat man pulls a blaster from his oversized coat, but he’s too slow. The blonde lands a stinging blow to the side of his massive face, which sends him crashing into the wall. The next instant, she’s helping me up.

Amanda recovers and stands with her fists doubled up. “Jennifer!” she screams.

Jenn turns back to her rival only to be on the receiving end of alien eye beams. The blast knocks her into me and both of us are flung from the announcer’s box. Jennifer recovers in the air, grabs me around the chest and rockets back to her quarters. We hear the fat man screaming my name as we access the lift tube to her apartment. No sign of Amanda.

Jenn pulls me by the hand through her quarters to an opening on the other side. Sensors detect her presence and an opening appears to the docking station where her private space craft is moored.

Amanda lands on the platform ahead of us and places her hands on her hips.

Jennifer charges her, but then stops a foot or two away. I brace for another battle between them, but none comes. The two super women stare daggers into each other’s eyes for a moment, and then Amanda steps to the side.

“I’m sorry,” she murmurs.

Then in a surprise move, Jennifer hugs her. “I’m sorry too. We could have been girlfriends if things were different. I’m sorry I have to try and kill you tomorrow.”

Amanda hugs her back. “I’m sorry you have to try. You’re an amazing woman. Take care of Fenris, please.”

My brain feels like It’s spinning again. “I’m sorry… but… when did you two become friends exactly?”

Instead of answering, Amanda hugs me. “It was all predetermined except for one thing. I didn’t expect to actually fall in love with you.”

I’m not sure what to say to that. “Amanda… I…” Nope. Still not sure what to say to any of this.

The brunette gives the blonde a nod. “Tomorrow then. Unless you two can figure out a way to stop it.”

Jenn returns the nod. “May the better woman win.”

With that, Jenn takes me by the hand and drags me into her ship. Amanda flies off.

A few moments later, we are fading through the cosmos.

“Will you please tell me what’s going on?” I plead.

Jenn turns to me, a sad look on her face. “It’s what she whispered to me when she had me pinned to the wall. The reason she did all this – why she’s continuing to do all this – it’s her father. The Games Master implanted an explosive device next to his heart. If she doesn’t do as Jefferson says, her father dies.”

Of course. I knew my Amanda wasn’t evil! Except… it doesn’t really feel like she’s ‘my’ Amanda any longer. Something changed in the last couple of hours.

Jenn continues. “She was the one that suggested I blast her. She allowed us to escape, but we had to make it look good for Jefferson. She bought us a little time, Fenris.”

I nod my head; I’m finally starting to understand. “And that’s why she gave us the picture of Philander Jefferson in the first place. So we would hopefully find the video thumbnail of the side deal. Jenn, she’s a victim in all this!”

The blonde nods in agreement. “We’ve got less than a dozen hours before the tournament begins. I still need to try and help the people of Deepdarc – I’m sure she feels the same way about the Everbrights. One of us is still going to die unless we figure something out!”

My mind races. If only I knew someone that could help. Oh wait… I just might actually.

“Jenn,” I say and place a hand on her shoulder, “can this craft scan for Everbright ships?”