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I was standing up in the gallery of the Starfarer’s cargo hold. There was an acrid smell in the air with a hint of beer and sweat. Down in the cargo hold, two bare-chested men were circling each other. They kept hitting each other with their fists. Around the fighting arena stood several dubious figures with bottles of beer in their hands. And in the middle of it all was a greasy guy with long hair and a moustache, who was jumping around the fighters as a referee. Anatol Annal, the organizer of ‘The Cage’, a boxing match with simple rules:

No weapons, no armor. Just raw meat and brute force. Whoever gets into the cage wants to see blood.

Standing next to me was Xine, whom I had only recently met. We had both accepted the VIP invitation as spectators and watched the fights together. I couldn’t understand why people were voluntarily hitting each other until someone was lying on the floor. However, I was not surprised that Ray Keaton had entered as a fighter. This kind of pastime suited him. Nevertheless, I was not pleased to see him and tried to avoid him. I could only hope that he wouldn’t think of attacking a spectator. Danger hovered over me like a dark cloud, as it always did when Ray Keaton appeared. At least the supplies were good. Mr. Hide proved to be a good host, just like at the party we were invited to some time ago.

Once again, one of the fighters went down and was treated by Dr. Van Dull, the doctor from the pirate station GrimHex. Another strange guy who we didn’t know if he really was a doctor. What could possibly go wrong? Anatol chose the winner and called the next fighters into the ring. It was Ray and Hermieoth.

This was the moment when I threw my principles overboard. My reticence, my desire not to stand out and stay under the radar, was suddenly wiped away. It was an opportunity for Ray to really get his head kicked in. Besides, Hermieoth was my friend. Two reasons to get loud and cheer Hermieoth on. It didn’t help, Hermieoth lost the fight. And to make matters worse, I had provoked Ray. Aggressively, he hurled his words up at me.

“Zero, come down and fight instead of just making stupid comments up there!”

“I’m not stupid. If you want to wreck your faces, that’s your business. I’ll stay out of it,” I replied.

“You’re a fucking coward. Come on down!” Ray shouted at me.

Then the next fighters got into the ring. Anatol opened the fight, fists flying. Ray followed the fight and verbally let go of me. I also decided it was better to keep my mouth shut.

Suddenly, a beer bottle flew past my head and smashed against the wall behind me, clinking. Then a second one. A third bottle flew through the cargo hold and landed on the head of one of the fighters in the ring.

“Hey, who’s throwing bottles here,” I shouted into the cargo hold.

The hit fighter looked up at me and shouted: “I’ll get you for this!”

The words had not yet died away when he had already stormed up the stairs and was standing in front of me. A mountain of muscles with a naked, sweat-covered upper body. I froze in shock and took a step back. The fighter shoved me and lashed out with his fist. Unable to react, I stood there expecting a painful blow.

But suddenly the fighter dropped to his knees. When the giant was on his knees, I was able to look over his shoulders and saw Hermieoth punching him in the kidneys. Then a guard appeared and put an end to the commotion. I was glad that Mr. Hide had provided security and taken care of the spectators.

The competition continued. Xine, Hermieoth and I continued to stand in the gallery and watched the fights in silence. In the end, Ray Keaton won the tournament. I looked at Hermieoth and said quietly:

“I’ll jump over my shadow and congratulate Ray.”

I slowly walked down the stairs into the cargo hold, my knees still weak. All the competitors and spectators were gathered and waiting for the award ceremony. At the bar, I grabbed a bottle of beer and stood next to Ray.

“Congratulations Ray,” I said and toasted him.

Puzzled, I looked at Ray. He didn’t react, he didn’t even look at me. He completely ignored my congratulations. Annoyed, I turned away. Ray was and remained an ass.

Suddenly someone shouted:

“Where’s that sleazy organizer?”

“He’s made off with the entry fees!” shouted another.

“And hasn’t paid out the prize money. Let’s get him,” added another.

“Zero is involved,” Ray suddenly shouted. “The organizer is a fourth cousin of Brubacker. And Zero is a big buddy of Brubacker’s. Zero must be in on it!”

I went hot and cold. Ray didn’t have to goad the crowd for long. The atmosphere heated up of its own accord and became increasingly aggressive. Everyone ran around like a pack of wild wolves in a bloodlust. I carefully retreated into a dark corner. I was trapped. The Starfarer was floating somewhere in the middle of nowhere. As we were not allowed to take spacesuits on board, I had no way of leaving the spaceship and escaping. I only had a small pistol in my coat, which I had secretly smuggled on board. But I didn’t have enough ammunition.

Suddenly someone tapped me from behind. I turned around in panic. It was Hermieoth.

“I also have a spacesuit in the container with the drinks. Take it and go on board my spaceship. It’s behind the Starfarer.”

Hermieoth had delivered the drinks and had come to the secret location of the event in his own spaceship. As so often, he had thought of everything. Relieved, I made my escape.

*

A few days later, I had a conversation with Xine.

“Ray Keaton, Valentin Benz and that guy Black have you and the reporter in their sights. I don’t know if you had anything to do with it, but consider it a nice gesture that I’m keeping you up to date. I could also lead them on a false trail and get your name out of the number.”

“I can’t understand how anyone can assume I’m involved. Only Ray has a method to it. He likes to look for debtors for his problems and especially me. But Valentin, he should know better,” I replied.

“Another topic,” Xine continued. “I’ve just had a look at the current jobs. Wildstar is looking for new racetracks. Ray Keaton is managing that. Now imagine you’ve got a cool track up your sleeve, but you don’t feel like hanging out with Keaton. That’s where I would come in. I take the job for you, you do the job, I get the payment and give it to you. You stay invisible and still get paid.”

That used to be a cool idea. A job through a middleman. Kind of like my first deal with Xine. And I actually had a racetrack up my sleeve. It was illegal and dangerous. Just the thing for competitions that Ray took part in. It was a track through the city canyons of Lorville. I had used it back then when I had stolen my White Rabbit back.

After flying the route again, I sent Xine a description. But Xine seemed to despair of Ray. He had problems doing business with him. Even arranging a meeting turned out to be difficult. As so often, Ray was being stupid. I was glad not to be directly involved and not to have any contact with Ray Keaton.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)