“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
–Theodore Roosevelt
“Come on!” Loona called. “They’re starting the introductions!”
Ammer sighed from his place in Inna’s pocket. “I can’t believe you talked me into this.”
“Loona demanded it if I was gonna resign. Talk to Nonah if you don’t want to watch.”
“No, boss wants me to watch, I’ll watch,” he said.
“Besides, this should be a good one. It’s the first time we’ve had two previous champs matched up since Iron Maiden took out Starchild.”
“I didn’t know you followed Tol-Bot, Inna,” Loona said.
“I don’t, Representative. But I work for you.”
“I mentioned it?” Loona asked.
“Probably,” Nonah said from the low table in front of the sofa, directing Ammer to a soft chair. “I’d suspect you said it maybe once or twice, or seven million times.”
“Shh! They’re coming in!”
“Let me introduce, the former champion, the challenger, the unrelenting, the unremorseful, The Executioner!” the emcee cried, bringing a roar from the crowd, mostly of derision.
The challenger sashayed into the arena to the time of his customary war-drum anthem; he was in his first final since he’d won four years ago, and he was clearly fired up; he had no intention of going down to Felltree three years running. As an extra touch, he’d hired the Davidia Women’s Choir to sing an interwoven dirge over the top of the banging. He wore the white skull-mask of an ancient executioner, with brand-new red robes, gold flame accents added just for the finals. He looked loose, almost giddy, like a man convinced that this time, he had everything ready to go his way.
“Quit now! Save us all time, you jerk!” Loona shouted.
“She always like this?” Ammer asked Nonah.
“No, she’s usually more animated,” Nonah said.
“And now,” the announcer called, “The three-time defending champion, the five-time champion, the one, the only – Felltree!”
* * *
“Hey, Trixie! Ambassador Twat! Come look at this!”
“Did you just call Eyrn ‘Ambassador Twat,’ Mr. Secretary?”
“I did, Captain Janeway,” Darren said, not deviating his gaze.
“Don’t let it bother you, Mùlán,” Eyrn said with a sigh. “If you do, it will only encourage him.”
“Who’s Captain Janeway?” Xú asked.
“I’ll tell you in a sec. Look at Felltree!” Darren said, pointing at the wallscreen. He’d figured that inviting Xú and a few others over for the Tol-Bot finals would be a friendly, relaxed, diplomatic thing to do. He thought he could talk shop during lulls in the match – which there often were. But then, he hadn’t expected this.
“Gorram – you’re sure that’s Felltree?” Rixie said, eyeing the screen. The pyrotechnic display was hers, as were the tribal drums and birdsong. But instead of the brightly-colored plumage that usually adorned her costume, she wore feathers of all black. And while she usually bounced into the arena, feeding off the crowd, today she stalked in, stone-faced, eyes fixed. From six hundred light years away, Rixie could feel her intensity.
“Damn hell,” Darren said.
“I’ve never seen her like that,” Rixie said, taking a seat on the couch. “Never.”
“She’s locked in,” Xú said. “I wouldn’t tangle with her.”
“Yup,” Darren said. “Trix, I think we’re about to see something special.”
* * *
“Disappointed, Tay?” Nanta Kuscuck teased, as Felltree entered the arena. She lay back into his body, his left arm wrapped around her shoulders. Her husband of 13 months chuckled.
“I like the look. Kinda scary. Like you, sometimes,” Taylin said, with a broad smile. Seeing his wife’s mock indignation, he sealed his reprieve with a kiss.
Nanta was not upset, of course, just needling her husband for his high-school crush on Felltree, as she usually did when they watched Tol-Bot. It was a cold evening in New Trantor – it was winter in this part of Grelau – and she was happy to watch the finals, leaning against her husband, while the snow drifted down past their fourteenth-story apartment windows.
A small sound drew her attention from her left; she turned and giggled. “Oh, look at them,” she said. “They’re adorable.”
Her humans, Sassa and Joqtan, had fallen asleep on the table, despite the harsh light from the lamp beating down own them. Sassa was laying almost on top of Joqtan, who held her gently in his arms. Sassa softly snored, while Joqtan mumbled something in his sleep.
“Turn it down, just a little bit,” Nanta said, turning out the light. “Let them sleep.”
“You’re spoiling them,” Taylin said, with absolutely no conviction in his voice. Nanta had acquired the humans from a rescue shelter two years ago, and had been infinitely patient with them; they had been barely adults when she got them, scared and clinging together, neglected by their owner for an Archavian month-and-a-half before they’d been brought in.
Nanta had been patient with them, kind. Taylin had fallen in love with her as he watched her coax them out of their shells. If she wanted to spoil them, well, he was happy to see her spoil them; the poor things deserved to be spoiled.
He turned down the viewscreen, and hugged his wife close, happy as he could be.
* * *
In a casino on Grelau, the sportsbook had grown quiet as soon as Felltree entered. With less than a minute before the match, it was now frenzied with bettors trying to guess what her demeanor foretold.
“Hedging both ways,” a heavy-set man said to a tall, skinny man sitting next to him. “She’s either gonna tear his gorram face off or she’s gonna quit halfway through. No middle ground.”
“It’s the stress of trying to break the Iron Maiden’s record,” a woman behind them said. “I bet the house on The Executioner.”
“No way,” a youngish woman said. “She’s super-focused. I bet on her to sweep.”
“So how are you betting, friend?” the heavy-set man said.
“Haven’t moved,” the thin man said. “Felltree in under twelve hours. Take it to the bank.”
Discussion ceased, and the match began.
* * *
“What have I missed?” Senator Tarsuss said, two hours later, as she walked into the Avalonian envoy’s party. She’d arrived on the station a half-hour before and had nearly skipped the reception, but Zhan had emphasized that it was an official Avalonian event, she’d probably like to see everyone, and besides, he’d gotten a good amount of sleep, and they would have plenty of time later.
“The most got’damn amazing thing I’ve ever seen, Piscataway,” Darren said. “This isn’t a match. It’s a massacre. Felltree’s already won two rounds. Came within a minute of taking down The Marionette’s sea round record.”
“I’m sorry,” Pryvani said. “I must have misheard.”
“Nope, two rounds,” a human sitting by Darren said. “I’m starting to get the hang of it. I’m pretty sure this is a dominating performance by Felltree. Oh! I’m sorry,” she said, rising and eyeing the woman with hair dyed robin’s-egg blue. “I don’t believe we’ve met. Shang Xiao Xú Mùlán, commanding, Terran Space Ship Lem.”
Pryvani eyed the human with no small measure of amazement. “Pryvani Tarsuss,” she said, extending a finger. “It’s an honor, Shang Xiao.”
“The honor’s mine,” Xú said, grasping the finger with both hands. “In fact, I believe you actually rented us a suite, so I also owe you the gratitude of myself and my crew.”
“We owe her more than that,” Tatenda said. “You’re the philanthropist who supports Avalon, aren’t you? Darren and Alesia were telling us about you.”
“I….” she said.
“Pryvani,” Alesia said, getting up from her seat with the crew, on the end table beside Yoshi, “is responsible for getting us all here in the first place.”
“No, I think that’s you, Lessy,” Pryvani said.
“Ha. I don’t mean here, on Titan Station. I mean here. Humans and Titans watching a Tol-Bot match, talking over the future we share. As equals.”
Pryvani looked down. “I…I’m far from the only one responsible,” she said.
“No,” Lessy said, taking a few steps toward her friend. “But you chose to stand with us. And we are so grateful for it.”
Pryvani felt as if she would burst. It was an informal gathering – humans who called Earth home, humans who hailed from Avalon, humans who stayed on Archavia, Titans from Archavia, Titans from Avalon – heck, as she returned Ambassador Bass’s smile, she realized there was even a Titan who’d grown up on Earth.
It was everything she’d hoped for. And at least for the moment, it was closer to normal than it had ever been.
She pulled up a chair. “So they’re explaining Tol-Bot, then?” she asked the members of the Lem’s crew who were watching.
“Fascinating sport,” Hala said. “Beats association football.”
“Sacrilege!” Ted jokingly called from his seat by Tig.
“This isn’t probably the closest match,” Pryvani said.
“Naw, but it’s impressive as hell,” Darren said. “And it might even end tonight.”
“And then, if they want to see a close final, we can always put on Iron Maiden against The Marionette….” Rixie said with a sly smile.
“No!” Darren replied, in mock-disgust.
“I’m not familiar with that match. I remember Iron Maiden against PuppetMaster….” Eyrn said.
“Ambassador Twat, everyone knows PuppetMaster was just a prop for the brilliant and devilishly handsome Marionette.”
“All I know,” Rixie said, “is that Iron Maiden won, as always. Although,” she said, tipping her glass slightly to her friends, “it was, without a doubt, the toughest fight she ever had.”
Darren and Eyrn smiled, and nodded back to Rixie.
“Would you guys quiet down? The next round’s about to start,” Xú said.
* * *
In the sportsbook, everyone was watching intently.
There is a point at which a blowout stops being boring, and starts becoming electrifying. This had passed that moment when Felltree ended the second round in just fifty-eight minutes. The record for a three-round win in any part of the tournament was two hours, forty-nine minutes — held by Iron Maiden, naturally. The way the third round had started, Felltree could well beat it. Oh, if she cleaned up here, The Executioner could demand to play out the Space round, but he would concede as tradition dictated. Especially after being demolished like this.
The folks who’d bet on Felltree to end the match in under twelve hours were happiest, of course. But even The Executioner’s bettors realized they were watching something they’d tell their grandchildren about – the most dominant performance in a Tol-Bot final of all time.
* * *
“She’s gonna tie Iron Maiden’s record,” Loona said, pacing. “She’s gonna do it!”
“Boss, are you okay?” Ammer said.
“She can’t hear you,” Dhanyle said with a grin. “But don’t worry, it’ll wear off soon.”
“Is that good or bad?” Inna said to Loona.
“It’s good,” Loona said. “At least if they tie. They’re both the best. And Felltree is…she’s campaigned for me, you know.”
“At least it’s gonna be over quickly,” Ammer said, and he was right, for at that moment, Felltree sealed her victory in round three.
The Executioner was already signaling his concession; the match was over, in record time.
* * *
“It’s over already?” Joqtan said, yawning as Sassa stretched.
“You just missed it, Joqie,” Nanta said. “Felltree won big.”
“Taytay, you must be happy!” Sassa said brightly, offering a hand to Joqtan.
“I am, Sassy. Now shh – she’s gonna speak!”
* * *
Aisell Maris stood tall in the center of the grand arena. Tens of thousands of fans were screaming and applauding, chanting her name over and over as The Executioner slowly made his way out of the arena, leaving her standing alone to bask in the glory. Deep tribal drums played her music, predatory bird calls rang out, lasers streamed across the arena and deep red flames, the color of the costume she usually wore, burned around her.
Felltree had smashed her opponent in three straight rounds, each lasting under an hour, spurred on by the anger and grief storming inside of her. If it weren’t for the spectacular manner of her victory, the crowd would have felt robbed.
She should have been ecstatic. She should have been conducting her victory lap around the stadium, shaking the hands of her adoring public, putting on a show and raising up even more of a frenzy than there already was. But she wasn’t. She stood firmly planted to the spot, placid and unmoving. The emotion she had carried through the match, the anger she had poured into it, was gone, and any joy her accomplishment might have brought her was completely buried under a mountain of grief.
Her head slowly turned, tracking along the arc of the arena all around her, lasers streaking above her head and thousands of flashes going off all over the stands of the arena. She raised her right arm skyward, extending her bare palm into the air. She held it there, perfectly straight as she waited for the din that surrounded her to die down. It took well over two minutes for the crowd to settle and the noise, music and flashes to settle. She stood perfectly still for a few seconds afterward, showing she intended to speak.
“I thank you for your applause,” said before another cheer rang out from the crowd. She raised her hand again and the noise quickly settled. “I have waited many years for this day. Dreamt of it, yearned for it and devoted so many years of my life for it. But I feel I cannot share in your joy.”
The crowd watched on in complete silence. Felltree always thanked the crowd. Always gave a stirring address raising the crowd up to a fevered frenzy. Her fans loved her for it. But each and every one could tell this was different. Her usually ebullient, haughty manner was nowhere to be seen. Her voice was soft and delicate. It was not a sporting icon addressing them, but a person.
“Yesterday…yesterday I lost my best friend. Someone who I have known and loved for more than half my days…” She paused, gathering all her strength to her. Winning the greatest victory of her career was easy in comparison to this.
“Someone who was more important to me than any prize I could win in any arena, in any competition in all the Empire. He helped me to become the person you see standing before you today. Not just the costume-clad champion who stands here today but the woman underneath it. He taught me so, so much. He taught me that you cannot plan for everything; you cannot sit back and think your way out of every situation life throws at you. But that sometimes you must think with your heart and with your gut.” She said touching her chest with her right hand before sliding it down to her stomach.
“Without him I’d just be a middling player, slow to act, cautious and not worthy of your praise and affections. I owe this just as much to him as I do to myself.…” she trailed off.
“His name was Luke…” her voice caught on itself and cracked, echoing around the arena. The audience watched on huge screens as the tears welling in her glacial blue eyes spilled over and tumbled down her pale cheeks from under her mask.
“His name was Luke.” She repeated after regaining her composure. “He was a human….”
She let her words reverberate around the arena and settle on the captive audience, and the people watching the event at thousands of millions of homes and bars and parties. At one particular party on Archavia, an Imperial Representative put her hand over her mouth; on Titan Station, there was stunned silence.
“He wasn’t a pet, he wasn’t my possession. He was free,” she said. “He was from Earth.”
Six hundred light years away, that line drew a simultaneous gasp from an entire room, for a variety of reasons.
“He was taken from his home when he was young and left lost, roaming the vents of Titan Station. I found him, cared for him, promised him I’d get him home. He was desperate to get home. But I couldn’t…”
She paused again, sucking in deep lungfuls of air, her chest visibly rising and falling.
“I broke my promise to him. There was no way I could get him home. And no way could I leave him there to die, lost and alone. It broke his heart, and it broke mine. It took a long time to rebuild our friendship. He eventually built a life for himself. His own life, a free life. He found love, happiness and a family. We were so close he was part of my family, as much as my sisters or my parents….
“But no matter how happy he was, how much his wife loved him or how much he loved her and his children he yearned for home. For all his days he yearned to go back and see his home one more time. To say goodbye to his loved ones, to let them know he was well and happy. But he couldn’t.…”
She stopped and narrowed her eyes. The tears stopped and she glared around the arena.
“Because we would not let him!” She shouted. “Because we viewed him as less than a person! A lower being! Something to be owned and controlled and to bend to our whims!”
She was so angry. So, so angry. Angry with herself, angry with the thousands in the stadium and the billions watching all across The Empire. She breathed quickly, in and out, trying to stop the vitriol burning a hole in her chest from pouring out.
“He was not a lesser being. He was a person. A kind and caring, gentle man. Wise and strong. Better than any man I have ever known. And we stopped him from ever seeing his home again. It’s not right!” she shouted, voice rising with every word.
“It’s not right!” she cried again, her voice echoing around the arena.
“I cannot stand here and call myself a champion, a supposed hero to hundreds of millions across the Empire, and not say that this is wrong!”
She paused, and drew in a shuddering breath. “Two days ago a ship landed at Titan Station. From Earth. Built by humans, piloted by humans. They landed and made first contact with the Empire. A species we think capable of no more than performing little tricks and sleeping for half the day built and piloted a ship across the vastness of space and peacefully came up to us, knocked on our door, and said ‘Hello.’
“And yet all across the Empire, tonight, millions of Humans will be sitting in terrariums, in cages, on their masters’ tables, owned, property, robbed of their chance to live their lives as they would.”
In an apartment in New Trantor, a woman cringed, and a man glowered, and two humans looked at each other, mouths agape.
“It. Is. Not. Right!” she roared, her eyes fixed on the stands, slowly moving around the arc of the stadium, burning into every person there.
“We cannot do this anymore! We cannot deny that this species is more than what we’ve been led to believe. More than just a primitive, simple, smaller version of us. They have every thought, feeling and emotion as we have. Everything that drives you in your life, that you strive for, they strive for too!
“I cannot stand here tonight and not speak out. I cannot just hold my tongue. I would be betraying my best friend if I did. I don’t care if this ends my career, if my sponsors desert me, if you hate me! I cannot let this atrocity, the enslavement of an entire race, carry on anymore without speaking out.”
She stopped and turned in a circle, her arm extended out towards the stands.
“We are all responsible. We are all guilty of allowing this to happen. Those of you who own a Human can’t tell me you don’t see it too. That spark in them, the intelligence. Go home and give them a chance. Teach them, guide them, help them! They can be so much more than we let them be!
“Every one of you can help to right this wrong. Tell your Representatives, scream at them that Humans must be freed! That they must be recognized as equals with us! Not someday, not in a century, not in a decade, but now!
“Luke died knowing his people had made it to Titan Station. If he had lived just a little longer, he could have gone to Earth to see his home one last time. But he died. He died with my people treating his like animals.” Tears started to flow freely down her face once more.
She stopped and bowed her head, looking at the floor in front of her before raising her head again to address the crowd. “I swear to you all, I will not play another game of Tol-Bot until this wrong has been righted. Until my best friend is recognized for the person he was, until his family is recognized as the people they are, and until it is made clear that this will never, ever, happen to anyone again.”
Aisell watched, waiting for the response from the crowd. There were mutterings and discussion, the occasional flash from an imager. It started with what sounded like one lone voice, repeating Felltree, over and over again. It grew louder and more and more voices joined in until it grew into a rapturous cheer.
Aisell kept her face, stony stern and suppressed the great swell of emotion long enough for her to raise her hand once more quickly before dropping it.
She turned and started to walk down the long ramp towards her dressing room, the crowd still shouting her name over and over again. As she entered the tunnel her façade cracked. She wept openly and freely. She never got to say goodbye. She couid have. She should have. But Quendra had told her to stay, to play. This was the best goodbye she could think of in lieu of the one she should have said in person.
Leaning against the wall, she sobbed.
“I’ll miss you Luke. So, so much.”
By far my most favorite chapter so far. While the suspense of having a madman ready to kill hundreds of people to start a war is thrilling, and watching Alex be Alex and Rixie be Rixie. It is scenes like this, that show so much raw emotion it makes you want to cry with the cheracter, that truely touch my soul. I feel that scenes like this blur the lines between fantasy and reality. As such, moments like this are golden.
Luke has always been my favorite character. He suffered and fought for his own survival. he faced challenges that would break most men. He earned his happy ending. And his happy ending didn’t end in fame and glory.
Goodbye Luke. I will always miss you
Goodbye
Iron Maiden and Puppetmaster should come out of retirement to announce their support of Felltree’s cause. Nobody would be surprised to see the human champion in support of it, but if they announced it together… now that would have a big impact. Who knows, maybe they could get other champions to support it as well. Gathering up all of the most famous people in the empire together under a single cause… that would be monumental.
Wow, a powerful and passionate speech by Aisell. However she did make a classic mistake. She also lectured the audience directly – that never gets the intended results and sometimes backfires. I understand her passion – love it but it tends to cloud one’s thinking. Since she is grieving the death of her friend I can understand.
What should be interesting is the reaction of the crew of the Lem and the subsequent reaction of the governments back on earth. I can guess their reaction.
Earth governments have to worry first and foremost about how Earth residents react once they start to get the picture of how the galaxy really works. Feltree’s speech gets played to terrans only after the initial reaction when it’s time to sell decision makers on Earth of the need to understand that there are titans advocating for human rights.
Of course once ESPN-TolBot gets added to basic cable the days of managing that sort of message will be at an end 😉
Big deal….Its not a matter of advocating humans rights. Nor does it matter how many laws granting humans rights and privileges are enacted. The earth governments will see how Titan society views humans – culturally and make a decision based on that. It will take a very loooooooong time for culture to change, especially a race as hidebound as the Titans. As I said before culture drives everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if Earth accepts the Titans offer of ‘friendship’ and then decides to keep them at arms length. At best be cool and aloof. Of course the Titans would be hurt by this behavior and would demand why the earthlings are not jumping up and down in excitement over formal contact.
In other words why be friends with beings, who not a short time ago viewed your race as animals? Commodities and things… And still will despite a C1 classification..
It’s not about whether humans find the titans warm and cuddly or a dire threat to life and feedom. For an Earth politician the greatest threat to survival is not a race of 140 foot giants, 600 light years away. It’s a registered voter motivated to cast a ballot. How politicians deal with the Empire is entirely driven by how the voters react and to this point all those billions of voters on Earth have only a vague idea of what’s even out there.
Once Eyrn and the Empire Welcome Wagon show up at the UN in New York there’s going to be every possible reaction under the sun by the people of Earth and the one thing all the sensible politicos will be doing is trying to prevent mass panic while a few less scrupulous politicians will try to exploit that panic. Either way nearly all of them will be wanting to be seen as the ones with the power to deal directly with the titans so whatever their personal feelings you can be sure that every last politician on earth will want to be seen standing next to Eyrn, if not kissing her big toe 😉
Right. The majority of humans will not like the Titans for their past history, despite what is occurring presently. The Earth politicos will recognize this and take advantage of voter sentiment…meaning a hard line..You will have the usual stuff like trade and cultural exchanges blah de blah… Sooo you can rule out the warm fuzzies..
Eyrn will have a hell of a hard time doing her job, I don’t envy her. Her first gig too..
Well the crew of the Lem already knows about pets, so to see a Titan woman they haven’t met that’s apparently a huge celebrity, winning what could be described as the World Cup on steroids, and making a passionate plea for Human rights. I can only imagine they’d see it as a overwhelming positive, especially since the crowd erupts with applause. Really anyone who knows about the situation would see it as a great moment.
As for citizens of Earth…yeah best to keep this moment under wraps for a few more decades…
I was referring to this part of her speech;
“Luke died knowing his people had made it to Titan Station. If he had lived just a little longer, he could have gone to Earth to see his home one last time. But he died. He died with my people treating his like animals.” Tears started to flow freely down her face once more.
Its an admission that Titans are complicit in the abduction of humans from earth – recently. I don’t think that will sit well with the crew of the Lem..Or Earth since now Los Titanos are all lovey dovey..Some on earth would see that as an act of war (not that I’m advocating a war…except in the case with a myriad of multi-dimensional giant rampaging robots controlled by 16 YO computer savants in Albuquerque, NM)
The crew of the Lem are some of the best and brightest that Earth has to offer. They recognized Niall Freeman on sight and Eyrn Fitzgerald too. They know of Darren’s and Izzy’s disappearance with Eyrn. Odds are Pryvani will give Xu as complete an accounting as she has of Sam and the 2013 kidnappings which she tried to track as well as Sophia and any others she has knowledge of.
Xu will doubtless formally request as part of opening negotiations that all known Earth born humans in the Empire be given the option of returning to Earth and suggest that offer be made concurrent with the Empire delegation arriving on Earth. The ironic thing is Luke might have been the only who would have definitely accepted the offer.
In the last scene with Luke, he said that he wanted to take Quendra to visit earth. Visit. And then return home, where “home” is Archavia.
Niall might be tempted to go back to Earth, where he would be treated as a demi-god, since he’s not just a genius from the past. He also knows stuff that current physicists wouldn’t know for centuries without him. Imagine Einstein came back and knew how to build fusion reactors and warp drives.
As Locutus noted the crew of the Lem should already be aware of the abductions, given they’ve been talking to Niall an Darren, and they were already aware of the pet situation so there’s no new negative information here.
That ain’t gonna happen Kus, this stuff will leak out in at least a 100 possible ways
As amazing as that speech was, seriously I could hear the emotion behind her words, we are over looking the other great moment in this chapter. Darren calling Eyrn Twat in front of people familiar with the slang.
Why would a 22nd century Chinese woman be familiar with late 20th century / early 21st century American slang?
especially when a certain 20th century Canadian wasn’t… 😀
WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME WHAT TWAT MEANS?
I assumed it was intentional.
Quiet you >.>
We still use words that were coined hundreds of years ago. The word “shit”, for instance, dates as far back as the late 1500s.
Perhaps, but reading the adventures of Huckleberry Finn today, it’s barely understandable. This is a book from 130 years ago that was supposedly written in the vernacular, so it’s about the right age. Even Perry Mason books – these were written in the 1930s and are also supposed to be in real vernacular (unlike stylized fake-vernacular like Damon Runyon), and it already sounds weird. Slang changes fast.
As for the word “twat” itself, it has already fallen out of common use. Wikipedia says it’s more often used for fool (the way Darren uses “twit”) than the former meaning.
To be fair, even if you don’t know what, exactly, “Twat” means, hearing someone called “Ambassador Twat” in a diplomatic setting would be unusual, unless of course we’re talking about noted British Ambassador Sir E.Q.Q. Twat.
“As for the word “twat” itself, it has already fallen out of common use. Wikipedia says it’s more often used for fool (the way Darren uses “twit”) than the former meaning.”
See! I’m not alone!
Keep telling yourself that Dann :p
Maybe because it’s 19th century international English slang, and someone studying a language might pick up a few colloquialisms that persist more than a century.
Great speech from Ais– I mean Felltree. 🙂
It sounds like her having a human friend, viewing them as equals is some kind of big reveal to the public : I had always assumed that she spent a lot of time using her fame to advocate for human equality but maybe not.
She did it anonymously. She’s the benefactor for Yama and Gae’s foundation.
I know. What I’m wondering is if she spent time between competitions using her Felltree identity and its fame to publicly advance the cause of human equality. Like a big sports star would IRL, by going to events, fundraisers, TV shows, etc, advocating that issue.
I had always assumed it was the case, now I don’t know.
Felltree made an appearance at Loona’s campaign to become Representative.
I can’t say for sure one way or the other, but I think that Aisell has indeed been using her Felltree identity to advance the cause of human equality, just not as blatant as right now.
What should happen now is that Iron Maiden should publicly endorse Feltree’s statement…
…and offer to meet her in a special challenge match celebrating passage of emancipation. All sponsored by Bellona of course 😉
Three way tounament between Iron Maiden, Puppetmaster, and Felltree for charity. 🙂
Marionette. Puppetmaster is going to be busy doing ambassadorial work. Everyone already knew he was the real player, so him showing up without Puppetmaster won’t really be much of a surprise.
I support a Rixie-Aisell-Darren threeway.
Tol-Bot by it’s very nature ought to be far more exciting as a muti-player game than it is one-on-one. One thing’s for certain, you wouldn’t want to be the 4th player in a game with Marionette, Feltree, and Iron Maiden. They’d all keep you around as a pawn to maneuver against each other but the end would be brutal when it comes.
More to the point though, until they face each other there will always be a debate about which of the two six-time champs is the greatest player of all-time. Feltree and Iron Maiden can use that to advance the cause offering the dream match as enticement to rally millions, perhaps billions to pressure the legislature.
You know if they need a fourth, ‘The Pain’ seemed like a cool dude, and apparently he has three titles.
Truly a great tribute from Aisell there, for more reasons than one. It’s what she set out to accomplish when she took up playing Tol-Bot in 2102. It’s a passionate plea that’s the perfect companion to the facts of recent events. And it’s a send-off for Luke that I’m sure he’d appreciate much more than her presence at his death.
So expositive, so emotional. What a brilliant chapter! My eyes are leaking again… Goodbye, sweet Luke…
Good thing Aisell doesn’t need money so bad anymore… Maybe she can spend her time campaigning for human liberty now… Loona and Pryvani can set her up with events. ;-}
She’s not particularly well off. As it covered in the Nomad epilogue, she gave all her prize money away anonymously to Yama and Gae’s foundation. She’s probably done more to establish the cause now than anyone else, perhaps even more so than Pryvanni after this speech of hers that was broadcast to every corner of the empire. Even some representatives of Earth saw it.
She’s well off in the sense she doesn’t have to worry about work given she presumably still recieves a share of the farm’s profits.
That’s also assuming she gave all of her subsequent winnings to charity as well, though given Aisell’ s personality she probably did.
They said she was living on her share of the farm’s earnings. That was what I was referring to. Her sports awards are kept separate. Good thing for her, she is not depending on those as earnings. Hooray!
Yeah she has her share of what is likely to be a very lucrative business at this point.
You’d think that after 20T years that at least some of the other royal berry bottlers would have figured out by now how the Maris’s solved their berry harvesting challenge and cut into their profits. Given titans natural tendency to exploit humans I’d be shocked that hadn’t been tried by some of Lert Prinn’s business buddies.
While Aisell was going for dramatic effect, I wouldn’t worry about the endorsement deals falling through since if Feltree isn’t already endorsed by Bellona, the leading Tol-Bot gear maker owned by Momma Warbucks, it’s for certain they’ll offset any endorsements she lost to bigotry.
Trust Aisell to be the one to finally point a finger at the elephant in the room.
“Quit now! Save us all time, you jerk!” Loonah shouted.
Loonah? The love child of Loona & Nonah? 🙂
or maybe typing error!
I can’t count the amount of times I’ve done that. The two characters have similar names so it’s clear they’re a pairing. It ended up being a pain in the ass to edit! Both for me and DX. I imagine it’ll be the same for anyone else who tries out those two.
That might be my favorite Titan series moment ever. The second she came out in all black I knew she was setting up a tribute, but that was fantastic. It was only helped by the sequence of the stories being posted, Luke’s death followed by the final Nomad Epilogue followed by this wow.
yeah it’s wow, great tribute to luke.even if it may make conversative folks uneasy.
This chapter sort of came out of nowhere. I read Luke’s death scene (over 18 months ago now) and went straight out and wrote Aisell’s lament. D.X then seized it and ran with it.
There is more to come. Nice to see it aired finally. That’s my one contribution to Contact.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Aisell is a badass. That speech was so good I figured it must be DX channeling the great orators, but no, good work to you.
kudos it’s a really well done scene.
Agreed. Because I mean, Woah … its very hard to get a more impressive tribute than that, and a more in-your-face statement.
Incidentally, part of this chapter was written by one of my compatriots — a no-prize if you can guess what part and who!
Its that small dude that hangs around you guys…… *burp*
I’ll take my prize in green stamps and a case of Schlitz … (the effects are akin to how it sounds)
I think it is safe to say that Loona now knows that Felltree is Aisell.
I think she’ll take a moment to register Luke’s death, be overjoyed by the message sent, then sometime later snap “Wait I slept with Felltree?!”
The shaar is out of the bag.
I thought it would be cool to see this happen, but I didn’t think it actually would. Can’t wait to see Loona’s reaction.
Fun fact. DX emailed me the Loona/Aisell talk when I was half way up climbing a mountain. I had to stop to take a breather and read it. Good mobile phone signal too ^_^
No better way to get that message to the entire empire than at the finals for the most watched event in said empire.
Golly Aisell, that was quite the stand. I’ll back you on it of course! She had been absent for most of Contact but this will send her right back into the fray and I will love watching every move she makes!
Truly, a fitting tribute to Luke.
I don’t feel so bad about Luke’s death, now that this is the result.