Nic remembered the taste of his own blood and tears on the last day he saw his mother. It occurred to him that he’d never even met his father, or his other mother, or whomever was the other genetic donor. There was probably only one; throuples and other multi-genetic-parent families were only really common in Sol, where everyone was born richer than he’d likely ever be. His imagination conjured a father. He wondered what advice this silhouette of a man would give to him in a moment like this.

But all he had were the last words of his mother.

Don’t ever give up, okay?

Nic had lived by those words for all 18 of his years. At this point, he wasn’t even sure how to give up even if he wanted. His perseverance was like a limp or a stutter that he could never shake; it was simply part of him now. He saw a reminder of it every time he checked a mirror, his PPI student profile, or a holophone camera. The ghost of that day carved into his chin.

Pitted against a squad with more experience, more confidence, and quite possibly a great deal more skill than his, perseverance was the last card he had left to play.

said RTIFIS.

Nic respawned from a proxy holding module somewhere toward the middle of the battlefield—he felt a sudden surge of hopeful adrenaline. He bolted straight south for Team Azure’s base to stop Edith from scoring. His metal feet pounded the thin layer of sand on Gwher’s surface, making soft, muffled thumps in quick succession as he ran.

“Status report!” he shouted into the team chat.

“We got it, we got the flag!” Jarek answered immediately. “Me and Shanti. We’re headin’ back to base now! No vehicles in sight, but you gotta believe I’m haulin’ some serious—”

“Good! Keep going! Don’t slow down! Shanti, give backup. Use your gun if you have to—do not let them land a single shot on Jarek!” “Okay... Okay, good. Perri! Maqsud! Sound off!” No response from either of them.

“I don’t know where Max is, but Perri got wasted on Blue Base. We iced both the blue proxies that were there between the three of us. No sign of the others!”

I forgot to tell them, Nic realized. “Edith! Edith has our flag! She killed me to take it from Red Base—she’s on her way now!”

A couple seconds of silence were punctuated by Jarek’s panting. “You want us to turn back? Should we try to stop her?”

“Absolutely not,” Nic answered. “No, I’m closer. If you score first then it won’t matter anyway. Go as fast as you can back to Red Base—straight shot!”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Jarek boomed. Nic didn’t have to worry about Jarek’s resolve faltering at a moment like this—he could hear a passion for victory in his voice that rivaled even his own. Seconds oozed by like minutes as the Squad Leader poured sweat into his SimSuit trying to reach Blue Base.

“I’m back in,” said Perri. “Jarek, do you two still—”

“We got it, Perri! We’re closin’ in! No sign of Team Azure anywhere.”

“I’ll head to Blue Base then.”

“Negative,” said Nic. “I’m going to Blue Base. Perri, head to Red Base and give covering fire for Jarek.”

“Are you sure you can take Edith on your own?”

Whatever that’s supposed to mean. “Forget Azure, forget defense—all we need to do right now is win this. Find a vehicle and pick him up if you can!”

“Oh, now I have permission to...” Her voice trailed off. “Got it. On my way.”

“Nic, can you hear me?” said Maqsud. “I’ve just respawned.”

That’s everybody, Nic thought. Good. “Go!”

“Edith has our flag in the southeast quadrant. I’ve got eyes on her from a distance but no ranged weapons. This is not good, Nic. She’s close. Where are you in relation to Blue Base?”

“My HUD says I’m still... about 300 meters out,” Nic huffed, vaulting over a thin canyon in his path. “Max, head for whichever base is closest. If it’s Blue, kill Edith, if it’s Red, support Jarek! Jarek, give me an ETA!”

“Under 30 seconds!” Jarek answered, his voice shaking from the exertion. “Man, just... hold her off! 30 seconds... and we win!”

As Nic approached Blue Base, he saw the Squad Leader closing in on Team Azure’s third captured flag. Edith sprinted with just as much tenacity as he did, red flag in hand. There was no sign of any other blue proxies—it was just him and her. He knew he wouldn’t reach her in time to stop her manually and pry the flag out of her hands like he wanted. Even his SMG would be too slow; he’d have to empty a clip and then reload before he could get a kill.

Old faithful, don’t fail me now. He drew both of the Fragmentation Grenades from his ammo belt. The battle-assisting AI that presided over Wargame immediately highlighted optimal paths for him to throw—but, as always, it was up to him to follow its guidance, as it would not win the match for him.

He wound up and chucked them both at the same time with as much force and accuracy as he could muster.

In what felt like slow motion, he watched the Grenades arc through the air, tugged down by Planet Gwher’s 96% gravity. His heart skipped a beat as they did not cut Edith off before she reached Red Base like he’d intended—rather, they came down just behind her.

But they exploded at just the right time.

NIC >FRAG> EDITH

“Yes!” Nic exclaimed.

Edith’s proxybot crumpled in a broken heap at the foot of Red Base, shoved by the force of the blast wave. Even Gwher’s thin air succumbed to that rapid expansion of pressure, scooting the life-sized robot forward—and the bot’s movement tossed Team Scarlet’s flagpole several meters ahead.

Straight into the Capture Zone.

SCARLET FLAG CAPTURED! SCARLET: 2 | >AZURE: 3 GAME OVER TEAM SCARLET: DEFEAT

“I got it!” Jarek called out. “I did it—I scored the flag! What happened?”

“A mistake,” Nic answered, his voice cracking slightly at first. “RTIFIS, update score, please.” There was no response. “RTIFIS, I killed the flag carrier. Correct the score.”

“Did we seriously just lose?” Perri asked dejectedly.

“It looks that way,” Maqsud sighed.

“No,” said Nic. “Stop! That’s not true. RTIFIS, fix the damn score!”

MATCH OVER TEAM SCARLET: DEFEAT PLANET GWHER SECURED BY BLUE CORP.

Lights came on in the Simnasium as their suits cracked open and hissed with the depressurization of the gel within. Nic hung there, limp, unwilling to move. Unable. Support cords reeled the suits of his squadmates back into the ceiling, but he remained.

“I can’t believe it,” said Jarek. “I was there. I did it—I mean... I thought. Sorry, guys.”

“I think we all did the best we could,” Perri offered. “I really believe that. All of us. Let’s not beat ourselves up too much, okay?”

Maqsud nodded, rubbing a tender spot on his arm, possibly from residual effects of his simulated injuries. “‘The greatest test of courage is to bear defeat without losing heart.’ Robert Green Ingersoll. Nineteenth century. Earth.”

Shanti was back to her reserved, attention-avoidant self, slinking into the background of the Simnasium to await further instructions. Only Nic remained now in his SimSuit, dangling like a puppet on strings. We should have won, he lamented. We did win. That’s not fair! “RTIFIS, correct the final score,” he commanded, feigning confidence. “I killed the flag carrier before she was able to capture our flag. Jarek did capture the enemy flag successfully. Please correct the final score or I’ll report your malfunction to Red Terraforming, Inc.”

RTIFIS replied dispassionately. Nic said nothing. Reality was starting to set in like a bad odor.

Nic yanked off his suit, balling up the thin, rubbery material and throwing it against the floor, but the support cords pulled it back up into the ceiling all the same, unfolding it as it went. He might have laughed at the sight of his ineffectual display on any other day. Just like in the Wargame, all his anger and vigor had no bearing on the outcome.

“It sucks, man, I know,” Jarek consoled him, patting him once on the shoulder. “My bad. I moved as fast as I could.”

“It’s not your fault—you did everything right,” said Nic. “So did I. I did everything right and we still lost.”

“Well...” There was hesitation in Max’s voice. “Even if you did do everything correctly, sometimes one is simply outmatched.”

“You think I did something wrong,” Nic accused him.

“Wrong? No, I’m just—”

“You said even if I did, meaning you think I didn’t. Go on, spit it out, then, Max! I’m a big boy. You think you could have done my job better.”

Jarek stepped between them. “Hey, guys, come on, let’s just—”

“No,” Nic cut him off, bucking away another shoulder pat, “I want to hear what he has to say!”

“You want my honest opinion, Nic?” Maqsud said in a careful, calculated tone. “I don’t think you’re a good leader. I think that’s why we lost today.”

Nic scoffed. “Just because half my squadmates are bad at taking directions doesn’t make me a bad leader.”

“Hey,” Perri whined in the background. “You don’t need to attack people like that. At least I’m not a sore loser!”

“You didn’t have to be a loser at all! I spent half the match arguing with you and Maqsud when we could have spent that time winning!”

Maqsud took a step forward. “I don’t know what your experience at PPI was like, Nic, but it seems like the first modicum of authority you’ve ever had in your life has gone straight to your head. Just because Perri and I have our own ideas and aren’t eager lapdogs like Jarek and—”

“Yo, what did you just say about me, man?” Jarek interrupted, folding his arms, his brow furrowing in sudden anger. “You wanna run that back for me?”

Perri pulled the hair out of her face, looking on the verge of tears. “Hey, leave Jarek out of this, Maqsud. He didn’t do—hey, guys, why are we even fighting about this?”

“Because,” Nic argued, “this isn’t just some friendly game of Conk we lost here. We lost an entire planet! We’re halfway to being fired and forced to do hard labor for life! But if you guys don’t want to aspire to anything better, then you do you.”

“Nic, I tried telling you during the match, remember? I tried telling you to ease up and listen to us and you shut down completely after the second round!” Perri buried her face in her hands and massaged her forehead.

Jarek shook his head. “Nah, he was just bein’ a leader. That’s all. You can’t have five leaders on a team—nothin’ would ever get done. And Max, I do have my own ideas. I bring ‘em up and Nic weighs the pros and cons. That’s how a team is supposed to work.”

Max let out a small laugh. “Does he, Jarek? Or does he throw you a few bones because you and Shanti never stand up to him? I’m just saying—”

“Enough!” Nic barked. “That’s enough. Everyone disperse until we get the update from RTIFIS.”

Maqsud leaned defiantly against the wall of the Simnasium. “Or what, Nic?”

Nic shot a glare at him. “In case you forgot, I’m still Squad Leader.”

“Yes, and I’ve racked my brain trying to figure out how in the Milky Way you managed to land this gig. It must have had something to do with those inscrutable algorithms, because I can tell you’re not as intelligent as I am, nor as athletic as Jarek, nor as specialized as Perri, nor as situationally aware as Shanti. What do you bring to the table, Nic? The ability to delegate? Did Red Terraforming decide you were best suited for middle management?”

Nic strode up to Max in two steps and grabbed a fistful of his shirt. “I don’t need to be as athletic as Jarek to...”

“To what, Nic? What, are you going to hit me? With RTIFIS watching, ready to relay your behavior to Red Terraforming? Huh? Is that what you want? What great leadership! ‘When a man is prey to his own emotions, he is not his own master.’ Baruch—”

“Shut up, shut up with your stupid quotes and your condescension!” Nic said through his teeth, shoving Maqsud back against the wall. “You think you’re so wise, but you’re just parroting the words of dead people who were a lot smarter than you’ll ever be!”

“Nic, man,” said Jarek, putting a hand on each of them, prying them apart. “Come on. Let’s let it go. Both of us.”

“I am not going to stand here and be lectured about...” Nic looked up, saw the scene with suddenly sober eyes. Max was nervous but standing his ground. The others looked wary of his sudden outburst—Shanti had disappeared entirely. “Seriously, after—he's the one who...” Flustered, Nic released his squadmate. “Fine. Everyone... Everyone, just go wherever you want. Or don’t. I don’t care. Just...” The right words to say escaped him. He stormed out of the Simnasium.

I lost, he thought, his mind finally catching up to what his gut already knew. Maybe I’m not cut out for this after all. I’m not a good leader. I’m just some kid from Ayrus that lucked out in the Final Exam.

Nic collapsed in Bedroom 1 of the Corvette. He longed to go back home—but that would just mean labor reassignment to something even more frustrating and less rewarding than his current job. He thought of Ayrus, the cold, dry, rocky world where he’d been born, the underground city of Paradigm Preparatory Institute, and realized that going back—even as a student with no labor responsibilities—would bring him no comfort now.

He was homesick for a place that didn’t exist.

Adrift in the stars.

Alone.