Randoms by David Liss Page A

COMMAND . He tapped ENGINES . “You then choose your weapon—the phased particle beam, or PPB; the dark-matter missile; or the plasma lance.” He tapped the PPB button; then, when the word COMMIT appeared on screen, he tapped that. A mock beam fired at the ship, and there was a simulated explosion on the screen. The ship was crippled.
    â€œNo offense,” I said, “but that looks kind of easy.”
    â€œWe’re in teaching mode,” he snorted. “Real combat is fast and chaotic and messy. Achieving a weapons lock is challenging. Do you want to try a more lifelike simulation?”
    â€œSure,” I said.
    He pressed a few more buttons. “See what you can do, random.”
    The screen cleared for a moment and then blinked back to life. Three enemy vessels appeared on the screen, and they were all turning to fire at me. It was, in fact, fast and chaotic and messy. Damage reports scrolled down the side of the screen faster than I could read them. The ship itself moved constantly, and when I reached out to touch it, it was already gone. I tried again, this time anticipating its movement and targeting its weapons systems. I then considered the relative merits of my three weapon choices, but since I had no knowledge of what each did, I wasn’t sure which way I wanted to go. While I tried to make up my mind, the screen informed me that I had been destroyed.
    â€œNot so easy,” Urch said with a grunt.
    â€œCan I try again?” I asked.
    â€œI see you like to lose,” Urch told me.
    I did not actually like to lose. However, I started to feel like I understood the system a little better. The setup reminded me of a much more complicated and unforgiving version of the minigames you sometimes find in sci-fi action or role-playing games. I’m not saying that playing video games somehow trained me for real space combat the way it did in the classic film The Last Starfighter , but I didn’t feel entirely lost.
    When the simulation began, I focused immediately on the weapons system of the first ship and fired at it with the PPB, which missed. I still didn’t know what the difference between the weapons was, but I knew this one worked, and that was good enough for now. The ship flittered around my screen, making it difficult to get a weapons lock, but I saw a pattern to the movement after a moment, and the third time I tried, I was able to jump in an instant before it shifted position. I obtained a lock and fired the PPB and then immediately targeted the weapons systems of the two other ships. It took a few tries, but I was able to cripple their offensive capabilities before my ship took too much damage. Then I quickly fired at the life-support systems of each ship.
    The computer informed me that the enemy forces were requesting terms of surrender. I looked up at Urch and grinned. “Easy,” I said.
    He grunted.
    The captain looked at the monitor. “Not bad, Mr. Reynolds. The computer gives you a sixty-seven percent efficiency rating. What is your rating, Mr. Urch?”
    He scowled at me. “In actual combat situations I am rated sixty-four percent. It is a greater challenge when there are lives depending on you.”
    Realizing I had just possibly made an enemy of a crazed boar creature who had claws on his fingers and whose main function on this ship was to kill people, I thought it might be a good idea to retrench. I rose and held up my hands in surrender. “I know you’re right. Anyhow, that was just beginner’s luck.”
    He locked his diabolical black eyes on my far less diabolical green ones. “Luck,” he said, “runs out.”
    The captain led me away before I could make any more enemies and mess up my situation on the ship any worse than I already had.
    We toured the rest of the ship, and if it proved less interesting, it was still great to get a better sense of where things were and how they worked. I dragged things on as