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Prologue - 1: Lab-16 - 2: Recon - 3: PBJ-Magic - 4: Noah's Arc 5: Math Wheels - 6: Gapwar - 7: Rack'Em - 8: FitTris
The Big Help - Chapter 07 - RackEm! I awoke on a planet in a galaxy far, far away (as opposed to the one next door). Hyperspace travel was a lot like being drunk and if you think that's a fun time: go ask a glass of water. I had read all about it in some Hiker's guide while hitching rides in England but experiencing it first hand left me drained. I was awoken on the planet Soma by one of the locals. His name was Tetri and like all the locals, his head was shaped like a Quartomino (think domino with 4 sections instead of two). I had been summoned back to defend my title as Soma's RackEm champion which I had won last year (but that's another story). RackEm is played on a regulation Pool Table without any holes. The object of the game is always to remove Numbered Balls from the table by getting 3 or more like-numbered balls in a row (horizontally, vertically or even diagonally). I was the 8-ball champion from last year and my friend Tetri had won the secondary Pool-Tris competition. There was a glut on the Cue Ball market so this year the rules had changed slightly to use up all the extra Cue Balls. You couldn't take a single long shot without an extra Cue Ball showing up somewhere on the table and blocking future shots. If that wasn't bad enough; Cue Balls started showing up every time you took more than 3 "mini-shots" to make a 3-row combo. They were all block-heads on planet Soma, but RackEm took brains to play. As I was about to make my winning shot, the lights went out and I was hit from behind by a wooden object. I awoke on a flat table, wondering if I had dreamt the whole encounter and whether my memories from the year before were somehow planted by some alien technology. All of a sudden I felt a wooden object jabbing me in a place I'd rather not mention. Had the aliens probed me too? There was a bright light shining above me and all I could make out were a couple of shadow figures to my right and left. I sat up quickly and hit my brow on the light directly above me. I grabbed for any objects to use as weapons and as I took my first swipe at my abductors I noticed I was holding an Eight Ball in my right hand and a Cue Ball in my left. It was then that I realized I hadn't been probed by aliens at all. I had just been sleeping (rather uncomfortably) on a pool table in my favorite local establishment. Joe's Rack'Em Shack!!! Drunk yes, but not like a glass of water. And that was the last time I took a drink and the last time that a drink took me. To this day I'm still haunted by the memories of Soma, Tetri and a Pool game played with your brains instead of your sticks. |
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