Nothing happened.

31

Solaris VII (The Game World)

Rahneshire, Lyran Commonwealth

20 April 3027

"Gray!" Kym's silvered fingernails sank into Noton's arm. "What's happening?"

Noton's drink splashed to the ground, forgotten. He leaned forward, ignorant of the pain in his arm, to better see the image on the viewing screen. "The autocannon! It's jammed!"

"Oh, God!" Kym's breathless whisper was trampled beneath the stampede of comments from the other spectators in Shang's private box. "He's got nothing else!"

Noton wrinkled his forehead as he strained to see. "No, he has those titanium nails," he murmured. Like some half-remembered invocation, he repeated the words, "The nails and his brain."

Jammed, dammit!Justin spun his Centurionback behind a hill as the Rifleman's,left arm appeared. He saw the flash of the large laser reflected from a thousand shiny leaves. The staccato bark of autocannon fire hammered through the jungle, but neither weapon touched his Centurion.

Blake's Blood!Justin watched as his helpful computer outlined the Rifleman'scapabilities. Their speeds matched exactly, but the Rifleman'sweaponry grossly outclassed the Centurion. Even if my damned autocannon worked!

Justin sent his Centurionsprinting north. He worked around the tight spaces, then swung back into line with them in case

Wolfson decided to follow on a direct line. Behind him, Wolfson sent bolt after bolt of coherent light burning through the forest. None of it touched the Centurion,but Justin had the distinctly unsettling feeling that Wolfson merely wanted to bracket him.

He's playing with me. Idiot.. . he should finish me.

Justin glanced at his own heat levels and saw that his 'Mech was handling the buildup admirably. His status monitor showed the blinking outline of an autocannon shell in the Pontiac 100's breech. He lifted the 'Mech's right arm and rotated it. Damn! Armor melted over the gas exhaust port!

The bole of a tree exploded on Justin's left as the Rifleman'sleft autocannon launched its cargo of metal. Justin's phantom left hand dropped the rear laser's crosshair on target and loosed a bolt of ruby fire at his tormentor. It sliced armor from the Rifleman'storso, which made Wolfson bring his 'Mech up short.

I'm still dangerous, Wolfson.Justin smiled and slipped his Centuriondeeper into the rainforest. Don't worry. I'll be back.

* * *

Asmile crept over Noton's lips as he watched the Centurionvanish amid the thick forest. "Yes, Justin, yes. Get away." Noton sat back as side-by-side comparisons of the status of the two 'Mechs bled onto the screen.

"There! The Capellan is in trouble." A white-haired man whose thick middle and scarlet nose betrayed his area of true expertise, gestured toward the screen with a frothy mug of Tim-biqui. "Never should have modified that monster. Armor's almost gone on the only weapon he's got. Rifleman'sgonna kill him."

Kym shot Noton a worried glance. Noton patted her hands, then turned and stood. "Is that your guess, or your opinion?"

The drunkard straightened up. "Son, in my day, I blew Centurionsapart with glee out there in real battles." He looked at the others in the room. "Fought with the 10th Lyran Regulars, I did, and sent Marik Centurionshome in pieces."

Noton nodded, then leaned forward. His voice dropped to a bass whisper, but no one had difficulty hearing him. "Then you'd not be afraid to accept a bet for one thousand C-bills, would you?"

The man swallowed hard, but could not resist the challenge. "Done."

Noton smiled and surveyed the audience. "Anyone else?"

* * *

Justin examined the autocannon's exhaust port again. Though the weapon used caseless ammo, it still needed to vent the explosive gases produced when the propellant exploded in the breech. Without the open port, the gun's built-in safeguards would not allow the weapon to fire. If it did, the gun would burst and could possibly explode all the ammo in the Centurion.

Hopeless. It'll take Tung a week to open that tube up again. He’ll probably have to replace it.Justin glanced at his monitors to see if the Riflemanhad continued pursuit, but his foe had stayed put. I don't want to do this, but I'll be damned if I'm going to carry live ammo for a weapon I can't use.

Justin punched a button. A port normally used for loading ammo slid open in the Centurion %back. Justin flipped a switch, then punched the button again. In a long stream, the autocannon's shells, all two-hundred rounds, shot out over the green landscape. Once the ammo had been utterly evacuated, the port snapped shut.

Justin glanced at his monitor. Why hasn'? theRifleman moved? I couldn't have damaged anything inside.Justin punched up the computer projection of damage done by his laser blast. Ninety percent chance of internal damage . . . Even so, at best, his engine is kicking out a little extra heat.

Wait!Justin flicked his scanners over from magnetics to infrared. The jungle faded away into a background of blacks, blues, and dark greens. The Rifleman,where Justin could see it between blue stripes of tree trunks, glowed orange and red.

Justin almost laughed aloud. Yes, how stupid of me not to have seen it sooner . . . Wolfson almost fried himself running after me while firing wildly like that.Justin flexed the Centurion'sleft hand and looked at the gleaming blades on the last three fingers. Smiling to himself, Justin turned his 'Mech to face in the direction of the Rifleman.

Ready or not, here I come, Billy Wolfson. One of us has lived too long.

The Centurion'sloping run carried it around toward the east. Justin allowed the Riflemantantalizing glimpses of his 'Mech as he brought it in closer. If I can just keep the useless right arm covering my flank, he can shoot all he wants.Sweat stung Justin's eyes. Gotta be close.

The Riflemanturned. The silhouette pulsed yellow-white on the lower part of its arms. Twin laser bolts ignited tunnels through the green canopy, but neither struck the Centurion.

Justin watched on his monitors as the Riflemancontinued to track his 'Mech. Wolfson kept the larger machine turning slowly to match the Centurion'sorbit. As breaks in the woods allowed, Justin made the orbit decay. Like an errant planetoid, the Centurionslowly spiraled in toward the hottest thing in the artificial arena-solar-system.

Again and again, Wolfson lashed out at the Centurionwith his large lasers. The beams continued to miss the swiftly moving

Centurion,but succeeded in burning an open kill zone 300 meters around the 'Mech. When heat made using the larger lasers impractical, Wolfson blasted away at the Centurionwith his auto-cannons, though their voracious appetite for ammo soon tempered their use.

Justin tightened the circle again, and Wolfson reacted as though Justin were a moth to flame, never imagining that his Riflemanmight be a neck to Justin's noose. Justin's view of the Riflemanflared and vanished, but he saw what he had been waiting for. Now!

* * *

The white-haired warrior thrust a fist in the air. "Yes, the Centuriondies now!"

Noton stared unbelieving at the screen. Justin's Centurionappeared on the fringe of the kill zone. He circled fast, while the Rifleman,turned at the waist, tracked centimeters behind him. "No, God, no!" Noton slammed his right fist into his leg and felt Kym's hands tighten on his left arm. "Not again, Justin! Not what I did to you."