Global Gladiatorial Combat

Nikita's bones creak louder than the floorboards. She shuffles across the floor from her bedroom to the walk-in closet . A black latex web-suit hangs alone on the left, looking like some bondage apparatus. Nikita carefully removes the garment and places it onto the couch. The ninety-two year old body begins to move, a yoga movement of the proud warrior. "grrrunmph!" The first move is always the hardest for her.  Slowly at first, then faster, she switches through the yoga routine loosening her joints. Sweating and breathing heavily after only minutes, she dons the web-suit. A long umbilical cord attached to the suit gets plugged into the port on the wall. “Angie? Suit Diagnostic please.“

A computer voice pipes.“Connection made, Suit diagnostic running......diagnosis complete. Good morning Nikita. It is precisely 1150 Zulu, Jan 1st, 2020. Your match begins in ten minutes. Would you like to warm up?”

Nikita practiced relationship with her home computer allows her to change, “No, Dear, Let's just go to the stadium”. The four walls shift from a serene scene in the Hawaiian Islands to the gateway of Global Gladiatorial Combat.

The stadiums' announcer can be clearly heard above the noise of the crowd. “All Gladiators must check in 5 minutes before their combat.”

A golden avatar, representing Nikita in this digital world, strolls through the crowds.  As she walks toward the 100 meter sphere she notices a couple of lowlife's. The two looking like some gangsters from the past. She eavesdrops on their conversation.

Louis nervously handles his money."Who you betting on Charlie? The one with the .3 second response time or the old bag?"

Charlie, towering over his friend, says with a condescending tone."Louis, 'can it'. I'm still decidin'." lets get in line, that one over there!"

Grabbing the coffee from the counter, the young man behind the counter says "That'll be $450" Louis hands the clerk a $500 dollar bill, "Keep the change" He hurries to catch up to his mentor "Yo Charlie," Pants the obese man. "Who you bettin' on?"

"I think the old broad from Russia. She still has the odds for defensive and offensive moves. Experience counts you know."

"OK I'm goin' witch you", Louis piped loyally, then turned his attention to the cashier. "
"The old broad to win", and placed $5000 dollars on the counter.

Charlie walks up to the digital betting window and proudly states "$25,000 on Irina to win"

Louis' mouth dropped " Dat is your whole pension for the month. Are you sure? How you know she gonna win Charlie?"

Charlie takes his cup of coffee from Louis. Cautiously takes a sip. "Simple, she is a yoga master. Been for decades. She can make her body do things no human can do in real or zero G. She has moves no one has seen yet. She's been on the circuit for 10 yrs, champion for the past 4. You just watch and see."

Pulling his pants up, and jiggling as he did it, Louis hurriedly says "But the kids got young reflexes and a fast reaction time. And, AND, hes got a new avatar with a cold spray."

Charlie stops sipping his coffee mid stream, turns to Louis and commands "Keep your shirt on you haven't lost it yet. Watch the match and see."

Nikita is jarred from her stupor by a 14 yr old fan of hers. "Can I please have your autograph?", the little girl states with a cow eye expression on her face that was not easy to ignore.

"Certainly my dear, here you go.", with that said,  Nikita swirls her hand above the signature book as golden tendrils of flame liight upon the book, and neatly deposits her signature in gold leaf.

"Wow cooool!", exclaims the little girl, whose name is Cindy Artomos, as written on the cover of her autograph book.

"I have to go now Cindy, do you have tickets?"

"Yes, me mum and Dad are over there." pointing to a fine pair of average avatars dressed in what looks to be matching bodysuits of rainbow colors. Identical to the one Cindy has on now.

Time approaches. In real life, Nikita steps into her new 3 axis sphere, buckles in and releases the gimbals for a free floating experience she immediately loves. Her noisy bones cease their aching and groaning. Virtual space, Pressing the star switch on the golden hexagon in front of her, the golden portal disappears to give access to the interior of the sphere. Painted black and dimly lit this is familiar to her as walking down the avenue.

"Angie ready mode" Irina's golden avatar assumes a warriors ready pose and stabilizes in zero G. Feedback to her sphere uprights her in real life.

“Today's the day we find out ” she calmly says talking to no one there as she effortlessly floats in a horizontal plane. Armed with only a blade and shield she presents a Spartan appearance.

The challenger, a boy of 12, blows through the digital portal on the other side of the sphere with a blast from his plasma weapon and hovers like an angry bee.

Both Gladiators hover slowly to the center for the referee to announce the rules.

"You are going down, you old lady", his voice screams from halfway across the sphere, broken by his young age. With hate glistening in his eyes, he hovers in a figure eight nervously

Nikita floats motionless and condescendingly utters "We shall see little one, we shall see."

Orders come bellowing out as if we were 100 meters away from the referee, "OK, now you each have your starting spots, go there and keep it clean. No weapons until the bell, and may the best Gladiator win."

The Bell sounds and without hesitation the kids avatar spits a hundred globules of plasma from his mouth toward Nikita. The recoil bounces the boy off the sphere wall, and sends him a quarter of the distance to center.

The blasts coming at Nikita, form an s-shaped spread that she side steps with a dramatic move curling into the same shape, but left of the green glowing globules. One hits her abdomen on the right side ." Arrrgh" she writhes out a moan.

Stabilizing, the boy looses the ice flow from the center of his body, sending him careening off the wall again, this time wildly floating in the center of the sphere.

As there is no way to dodge the ball of ice, Nikita uses her one defensive movement. Pain helps her curl into a ball. Hidden behind her shield the ice ball crashes with a thud, knocks her back in space and neatly bounces her off the wall. Just the impetus she needs...

Having spent his weaponry the boy waits for 1.5 seconds re-charge time. Gains control and uprights himself. Hovers for what seems forever in this flash confrontation. He blinks, and the last thing he sees is a golden streak of light coming at him.

...timing her bounce, She uses her legs to accelerate at a phenomenal speed towards the boy in the middle of the sphere. "Haaaaaah!" she exclaims with a primal scream. Her blade slices diagonally through the huge avatars' armored body delivering the death blow. De-rezzing the boy in cyberspace. He screams as his avatar shatters to pieces which fly off in all directions.  Reluctantly, his avatar and armor disperse into the crowd for souvenirs. The mob roars in heated excitement as fights erupt over the digital parts of the challengers avatar.

"We have our Champion Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Nikita Nostovich, 5 time winner of Global Gladiatorial Combat..."
Nikita starts receiving emails from the globe. Adulation's from her friends pour in on her heads up display. . She wildly taps and rotates certain characters and her display goes silent. Nikita savors the moment for what seems an eternity in her zen state of mind. Exhausted, she wheezes out “92 trips around the sun, and five time Grand Champion. Whew! What an amazing world.”
In real time Nikita slowly removes herself from the 3 axis gadget and looks at her suit to reveal blood trickling down her side. "Id better get that looked at , don't you think Angie?"

"Lay on the med table and ill fix you right up" said the kind motherly voice.

Meanwhile in Kansas the boy lay bleeding from a slash in his torso, Mother comes in screaming...Dad falls to his knees...

1402 Words