THE DEVIL’S INN

Every single colony and space station had a tavern or bar. It was the community center. Movies and books and videos showed these watering holes time after time. It probably wasn't a law but Hollywood respected the convention and The Space Opera Universe did too.

In a game, it gave players someplace to gather or talk with NPCs. From time immortal there were quests and information to be had at the local tavern.

The Devil Center honored this tradition. At this moment, in fact, there were two gathering places, a festival outside the building where fans of the game could gather and cosplay and game and all of the other things that fans do. That gathering place would fade away in a few days.

The other gathering place, a permanent gathering place, was the Devil's Inn. It was a mega hospitality suite with food and drinks for players, staff and VIPs. If you needed to see a human who wasn't on your team or a fan boy, the Devil's Inn was for you. If you wanted to vent to somebody who understood you, the Devil's Inn was for you.

Right now, standing in the middle of the Devil's Inn was a hot mess. That hot mess went by the name of Mata, short for Vanessa. Her hair wasn't done, last night's makeup was still on even though it was 4pm. Her black jeans were skin tight. The t-shirt she wore was too big for her. If you saw her on the college campus you would think she was doing a walk of shame from her most recent one night stand- and she took his t-shirt.

Here in the development center it probably just meant she was working all night in one of the game labs. Almost everybody here in the Devil Center had been working all night.

As she stood there, a guy, Gary, brought her a beer. She thanked him with a sexy smile that had gotten her out of speeding tickets. It was with considerable pride that Mata and her friends never ever had to pay for a drink when they were out.

Mata had her own code she tried to live by. Part of the code said that she owed anybody who bought her a drink. That didn't mean mean sex. Sometimes it was a smile and sometimes it was chatting for a few minutes. She would make sure she talked to Gary, but Bruce was talking now.

"And that's why team Frontier Traders got disqualified." Bruce was finishing the answer to Mata's question. "I think they're trying to keep it quiet."

"Wow, I can't believe anybody would try that."

"It's something everyone things about, but nobody would ever do."

"Until now," Mata concluded as she brought the beer bottle to her lips.

"Until now," Bruce agreed.

Mata looked at one if the many TVs in the room. "Do you work for that team?"

The guys looked at the TV. Gary laughed. "No, that's team Bloop. Stupid name."

"For a stupid team," Billy agreed with Gary.

"I though you had to be a super genius to enter this competition?" She turned the statement into a question. I don't even need to twirl my hair, she thought.

"Oh, Angie and Janet and Billy are plenty smart. They just, I mean..." Gary didn't know how to explain it.

Billy summed it up. "They're just stupid."

"How?"

"Heh, they got played by PepMotion and now their team leader is playing instead of leading the engineers. Engineers design and build and repair. Players play." The guys all nodded their heads.

Gary would not be outdone. "Look at what's going on now. Instead of just getting to the pickup point, they're doing a quest."

"I thought quests were just part of the game," again Mata's inflection made it a question.

"In a regular game, yes." Bruce chimed in. "But this is a special scenario. They should just finish and move on to the next part of the competition. The hardware is the important part, not the gameplay."

Gary dissented, "you need to play well to show off the gear." He turned to Mata, "they say the devs give teams extra points for gameplay."

Mata nodded. "So what's going on now?"

"The Bloop have one guy and an NPC playing tunnel rat and blowing stuff up,” Gary explained.

“Stupidly blowing stuff up,” Billy added.

“And nearly getting himself killed. Stupid,” Gary concluded.

Bruce tool his turn. "The rest have joined the rebels and are going to attack.”

Mata turned from one to the other. Having guys “fight” over her was nothing new. Geeks or jocks, guys are all the same.

"The TU'COns are off fighting or patrolling somewhere-"

"Same thing" interrupted Bruce.

Gary ignored the interruption, "and the TU'COns left human mercenaries in charge of the base.

"That's interesting," Mata lied, "what are your teams doing?" She looked around. "Are they on a monitor?"

Mata listened as Gary and then Bruce answered. It doesn’t take much skill to keep them talking.