Hog in the Ground Day

The crowd wasn't sure if cheering, booing, laughing or simply applauding was correct, so his comment received all of the above.

"He's a looker," Tati said, "no wonder Bartlett's showing off what she's got. Those shoulders!"

"He's not green! We were promised green lizard people!"

"His crotch," Cherise said, "hmm... might be a lizard in there."

"Or a snake...," said one of the female massage therapists.

"Yeesh, biggest game of our lives in ninety minutes and you're all gonna be showing off stained uniforms," Gerry said, "if --."

"Enough," Winston said, "let 'em have their fun out there. We got work to do."

"Fuckin' oath!"

He led them out of the locker room.

Colly

"Can you see them, Capt? Wadda they look like?"

"Colly, quiet. You know damned well we can't see them until we're on the floor."

She bit her lip and leaned to look past Winston. They were at the edge of their tunnel onto the arena court and the only real view was forward. She stilled her right foot when it started to tap to the beat, she really liked Random Noise and not only were they the most popular band at the moment in the Western Blocks, they were Block 6's very own native sons and daughters. She forced her mind back on the upcoming match.

She'd thought the sound in the locker room had been loud, but the waves of sound that rolled over them was beyond anything she'd ever felt. Not even the championship matches they'd played here or in the nearby blocks. She straightened.

Her eyes were level with the top of the wonderfully firm back in front of her. She wanted to rub it and those broad shoulders, but now wasn't the time.

In a few hours. Her mother flashed through her mind. A mother who desperately wanted a grandchild. Her daughter already had fame, of a sort few received, but that wasn't a line. HER DNA carried on. THAT was a line. She'd encouraged Colly to apply for a breeding license, but the young woman had simply laughed. THEY chose you, those most anxious weren't considered good candidates, it was said by those in the labs. It wasn't the way. And those decisions were mysterious. Her mother, a good but not exceptional primary school teacher, still pretty in middle age but had never been beautiful, of no fame or note, had been chosen. But their stunning, intelligent, famous and respected mayor had never been; and it was likely too late for her now. And she'd never tried what the old entertainments called 'pulling rank' to keep her line going.

And this one in front of her. Her mother would DIE for such a mating for her daughter. Her mother's reason wasn't Colly's reason for why the daughter WANTED the act. She wanted the fun, the pleasure, the touch. But it wasn't the way, not while they'd pursued the goal that'd led them to this moment. The Captain stood alone when it came to his charges. Her fame, all of theirs, had meant no shortage of offers and she'd availed herself of many and was, usually at least, satisfied. As she knew he'd had his, just where he'd had she didn't know, nor did any of their teammates know. He was a scout and explorer, even with his height, his muscles, his charisma, you only knew he was there if he wanted you to know, a skill indispensable outside of the Blocks where foul beasts like 'hogs' proliferated. But she knew he WAS interested. For after. But for now, only duty.

But even though the act was their free choice, that didn't mean that if she did get permission, he and she would be allowed. Who you fell in love with... and who you reproduced with, were the same almost never. The former was yours, the latter was guided by immutable logic of genetic variability. She knew who her father was, almost everyone knew that, but like so many, his genes were the appropriate match with her mother's and he'd given them and nothing more.

So tonight she'd follow Captain into war. After didn't exist until after.

She twisted, saw Gerry. She read his expression to match hers as he looked to the court. Awe as the building shook with the music and the crowd.

Block 12 and the other Eastern Blocks had what, barely two hundred people above the centerline? So many with yellow, even red, RED, hair! But various of the traitorous local Blocks had thrown in their lot with the foreigners. Such a strange word made real, that one, only from movies and books. She looked forward and tightened her gaze, shrank her vision.

Yeah, assholes, she thought, we've kicked all your asses. Hoping to get rescued by the green lizard people? Even if their mayor LOOKED like a hot movie star. She leaned again until she could see the opposite seats. That hot could-be movie star was seated next to theirs along with the mayors from both sides of the mountains.

The song had ended and been replaced with rapturous cheers, followed by Dagmar Hendry's perfect voice. But the words washed over her. Didn't register.

Was that foreign mayor a movie star? After all, she thought, OUR mayor WAS a hot movie star! Well, had been, two decades and some years in the past she'd spent most of HER twenties with those magnificent tits entirely or mostly exposed, at the same time Coach had stood where Capt stood now and been feted while the team he now led had been babies and were now in their prime twenties, Captain the oldest at thirty and a year. Coach had told them he'd been acquainted with the then-actress, but no more than casually. He'd had bit parts in some of her movies, bits that'd led to much teasing and laughter during team-bonding nights. But he'd said no to their questions if she'd ever appeared fully nude in movies that'd been removed from the archives. No one had ever seen her pussy. Well, her lovers, Colly guessed, and doctors.

She smiled and shivered her body and she used her hand to pull the royal blue shorts up and worked pelvic muscles, felt the pressure as the thin, elastic cloth conformed the folds of her flesh, and licked her lips. It was a cheap trick, but it'd worked more than once. She hadn't always seen it live, but studying game film she'd seen the eyes, eyes that'd tarried a moment too long... and their owner met their fate. She'd tried to convince Tati and Cherise and the others... she had protégés on the various squads in the lower division inter- and intra-block leagues, but not those two. Sigh.

Winston pulled her from her reverie. His voice again wasn't a whisper, but she barely heard him.

"Twelve."

Mississippi. "Eleven," she said with her head turned to Gerry. Another gap and she heard behind her "ten."

An assistant referee took her place in front of the Captain.

He wasn't Winston. Not for the next hour. Or however long it took. He was their Captain. Their leader. Coach drew the pictures but it was Capt who made them live and breathe. She rolled her shoulders and let it run down her body. Felt her muscles, her carefully toned muscles, ripple.

She was a flirt, a girly girl, often scatterbrained, bright but easily distracted, her evaluations had said... not unfair, even she'd admit. But she'd earned with hard work a job that engaged her in the meat labs and when she was within the eighteen hundred square feet of the court, whether this one surrounded by ten thousand lunatics baying for blood or a scuffed and old floor in a tiny school gym, distraction didn't exist. Her eyes tightened as she finished the count herself, since she couldn't hear the countdown.

The Arena

"Set," Colly had no idea how anyone could hear Captain's call with the arena bouncing from the cascade of cheers and screams from the packed audience. She pushed her right leg back against the vibrating plexiglass wall. A glance at the scorer's table showed the status.

Two orange lights, no yellows. What? She looked across the court, past the two groups of four balls at either end of the midline, at the opposition's captain. Her foot was just off the wall, her face a smile. A sideways glance to her left told her this was a challenge. There was a timer, both captains would want to be the last to finalize their team's staging but not let the timer run out and incur penalties.

That wasn't so unusual. Neither was the fact that the opposition captain was a woman, her name Izzy something or other when Dagmar Hendry had announced the teams, female captains were common across the Western Blocks, including Block 6 over the years. But her goggles, strange, clear, tight-fitting goggles on her eyes with those weird gold irises that Colly had seen when both teams had emerged from their tunnels and lined up to face each other! Colly had never seen eyes like that, and quick glances seemed to indicate she wasn't alone. The woman's height matched Winston's, and while she wasn't as broad, her muscles were clear in their uniforms that were essentially the same cut as theirs, tight shorts and singlets, dark yellow in contrast to Block 6's cobalt blue. With the exception of their light hair, they resembled most other teams they played, although the shaved sides of their heads was an unusual style, although not unknown.

Colly assumed, well, hoped, everyone had their eye on the staging lights, as they should. Once both staged, the computer would randomly insert a pause before the green light lit and the horn sounded for the chase. Any foot that left the wall early resulted in a foul and the player being called out. There seemed to be the merest change in that lovely face across the court and...

"Shit!" Colly yelled. It'd taken the horn. Coach and Captain taught that you used the light, the photons just that merest instant ahead of the sound wave. But Colly had fucked up.

She'd let her mind wander. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Gerry to her right had a step on her and despite the stepped-up noise of the crowd, she heard Captain's reproach. That was all bad.

But worse was across the court. Both rushers were side by side. She was the fastest in the Western Blocks, no way ANYONE should beat her to a ball, whether eight ball blockers start, like this set, or stinger scramble start. But Gerry would, and she'd be in his way.

Gerry reached the midline and grabbed the outermost of the four balls at the same time both opponents reached theirs. He turned to his left and saw Colly a step past the attack line but not yet to the neutral zone and somehow twisted his body and threw the ball almost directly backwards, where Captain had shifted to catch it. He tossed it to his left and caught Gerry's second ball.

Colly was happy that Gerry had adjusted, he'd grabbed the third ball, that should've been hers, and back-pedaled furiously while he held the ball. Colly hit the neutral zone hard with her forward foot and squatted to grab the last ball of the set. Two opponents stepped forward, one with a ball and the second without. She assumed the ball had been made live, but ignored them as she followed Gerry back to the attack zone.

That was when two more opponents stepped from behind the pair and rifled their balls with sidearm motions, aimed at Colly's knees. A shouted instruction behind her and two balls shot forward. Colly used her ball to block the throw from her right, it took all of her skill to hold her ball, the only player she'd ever met with that kind of force was Captain. It countered the spin she'd put on her body and she couldn't jerk her left leg out of the way. She didn't know if groans or cheers were the loudest. She didn't really hear her name announced, but as with other high profile games, her name lit up above the wall on the far court. Her only consolation was the ball deflected from her knee to her teammates. She fought the urge to toss the ball she held backwards and dropped it to bounce directly in front of her. She raised her arm and back-pedaled on a diagonal to the exit point to stand next to an assistant referee in the box. Coach treated her with the merest of glances before his attention went back to the action. She was happy about that.

Her mood darkened when Tati did a perfect jump split to evade a double attack, Captain's counter had him and Bryan eliminate the first opponent to take her mood back to miserable.

Colly took as deep a breath as she'd ever taken and let it out slowly. Patterns. She watched that tall, lithe captain running her team. Their patterns weren't exactly... unique. The rules and the playing space meant only so much could be done, but they had their differences. But they threw as hard as anybody they'd played. That included that bitch captain. She looked at the clock. Ninety seconds left in this set! One elimination each. Five more sets. Ball boys and girls scrambled to gather balls that'd deflected over either sideline and rolled them back onto the court.

A groan when Bryan dodged the first ball of a double attack but tried to bend and catch the second but it bounced off the edges of his palms and bounced up, hit his chin and dribbled itself forward.

"Shit," Colly said, safe that not even the assistant referee next to her could hear her. Bryan trotted over to stand next to her.

Colly couldn't hear it but saw Tati react to something Captain must've shouted as they angled themselves as the 'honk' signaled the final, no blocking, minute of the set. Two balls flew and by reflex one of the opposing women used her ball to block one throw as she dodged the second ball, which caught a surprised teammate at the thighs.

"Yeah!" Colly shouted and Bryan echoed the shout. Double elimination! Captain had always had sixth sense of how to pick an attack like that, where their players screened each other. And he'd timed it perfectly, just after the no blocking signal.

The buzzer sounded to end the set.

"Block 6 wins set one," Dagmar Hendry's voice drew loud cheers and groans almost as loud.

"Fuck all of you," Colly muttered at the groaners, but she smiled as Captain led their four remaining players quickly to the bench, Izzy led her crew to the opposite side. Coach led their subs, who carried water bottles to meet the players, the clock at 0:54 and counting. They leaned with their heads in a tight circle to hear each other.

"Cherise, sit out, Brenda on, speed," Coach said as an assistant referee nodded and tapped at the pad she held, "that red haired man of theirs is their fastest."

"Colly," Captain said, an edge in his voice, "your head out of your ass? Six ball scramble. We need your speed, and you had a nice rest."

She glared at him for a moment. "I'm here," she said. He nodded. The ten second buzzer went.

"Focus. Colly," Coach said, "one in from right, Brenda, one in from left, go for the strikers. Set first, let them counter. Gerry, Bryan, rush outside for blockers. Strikers back, if more, hold and retreat."

"Fuckin' oath," but even they barely heard their chant before Captain led them out and assigned them their places.

Colly watched the redhead that Coach had identified line up at the opposite end of the opponent's line from her. She wondered what their judgment was of her.

"Set," Captain said. She again put her right foot against the vibrating plexiglass.

"Go," she said to no one, but she was already two steps gone. No red light. She'd caught the green light perfectly. Good. She hadn't even heard the horn. Her five teammates all took the first two steps before Captain and Tati stopped.

She, and the red headed opponent, both beat Brenda by a half step to the stingers, shoes squeaked hard as they all braked. They hadn't rushed anyone against her, but Brenda shifted her balance hard to her right. It wasn't a foul on the rush if one foot crossed the midline and Brenda redirected herself to her right. Colly grabbed her striker, did a fast half spin to her left and threw the ball into Captain's sure grip and in a rapid motion he tapped the back wall to make it live. Brenda's hand met the slightly larger blocker at the same time as an opposition woman.

Colly back-pedaled, saw the redhead's fast throw to his captain, before he repeated her retreat. Gerry and Bryan had balls, both retreated, their balls still dead.

Brenda and her opponent were trapped in the neutral zone, safe from elimination from getting hit, but they'd be timed out if they didn't leave.

"Leave it, Brenda," Colly yelled, unsure if the woman with the blackest hair of anyone Colly knew could hear her.

Maybe she had. She left the ball and retreated and suddenly jumped high and splayed her legs as the stinger flew between them. Her opponent had dropped flat to create the angle that Izzy had used, a gamble. Captain used is short release and caught the woman as she tried to bring the blocker to bear. The crowd roared and a name was called and the angle meant the stinger deflected back to their side. Colly gathered the second stinger when it bounced off the back wall.

The roar changed when Gerry failed to get his feet right and took a blocker ball to his left hip. His "fuck" likely wasn't heard by anyone more than a few steps away. At the same time, one of the opposition women charged and reached the orphan ball on the edge of the neutral area, where her eliminated teammate had been forced to drop it.

"Colly, lead," Captain yelled. Colly threw her stinger and forced the woman to stop as she seemingly blindly threw the ball to her back wall. Captain's shot hit her square on the thighs when she tried to spin. Another name. More roars.

One stinger each side. Izzy gathered the stinger Colly had thrown and leaped over a blocker thrown by Tati in one motion before she launched her missile without pausing, straight at Tati's midsection.

The timbre of the crowd wavered. It was a catch they'd seen her make any number of times, but they never heard the 'oof' that Colly heard. Truly, that goggle-wearing bitch had one hell of a throw. The stinger bounced out and her hands didn't have their usual coordination and instead of corralling the ball simply trapped it against the floor.

She left it there and raised her arm but winced. 'Honor calls' weren't in effect for this match, it was up to the referees, human and computer, to call you out. But this was obvious, and Colly heard the call. Bryan and Brenda threw striker and blocker, their target dodged the former and somehow crouched and sucked the former into his embrace.

"Catch," the announcement went, Bryan's name came next. Sections of the crowd cheered as the first opposition player eliminated returned to the court.

Colly heard the 'honk.' Final minute. Already? Four on two, they were behind. The opponents tried the same trick that had worked for them, both stingers aimed at Captain as he held a blocker. But he spun and his body waved in perfect 'S' and his arm spun the blocker away from the incoming missiles and windmilled it to release, one of his attackers paid the price and the ball careened from the man's leg.

Three-two. Colly gathered both stingers and tossed one to Captain. But the opponents had the other four balls and retreated, happy to focus on lasting out the set.

They did.

The sudden silence in the arena was disorienting. Colly blinked.

She was tired. Damned tired. But it wasn't just that. She should be out now and that would've confirmed their loss, down to two players to three, already down three sets to two, the 'honk' coming in seconds.

Izzy Goldfuckeyes had a stinger in her hand with the Block 6 woman cold as Colly gathered a blocker in seeming slow motion.

None of that had silenced the cloud.

The Block 12 captain had let loose with her usual power. Colly's reflexes were honed, trained, but not sufficient.

Captain's left hand had been.

He'd thrown his left arm straight out from his body. Directly into the path of the stinger. No one did that, it was an insane way to catch a ball. Especially one thrown with that much force.

He had. He'd held it. He'd then dodged a blocker thrown almost in sync with the stinger from a second opponent.