He told himself, Win. Win. Win. Valentin rallied himself. He could see that he was not the first to reach the clearing, but it was also apparent that there were probably only one two or three men in front of him. Valentin looked behind him as he picked up the ancient daggers. He had to throw seven daggers as close to the bullseye 15 meters away as he could.
Valentin stood, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. His hands and arms were shaky from exhaustion. He tried to concentrate only on the target and not the crowd talking nearby. As soon as he was ready, he began systematically throwing the daggers, cold in his hands, one right after another as if he were an organic machine made only to do this. Soon he was down to his last dagger and he had yet to hit the bullseye. He concentrated and then threw. Finally, he thought as he hit the bullseye at last. As he ran past the spectators who cheered for him, he saw the human woman again, in another beautiful maximum class gown and she even gave him a smile and a wave. He was so tired, he didn’t acknowledge her with his face, but his heart would remember her actions forever as he ran past.
It was also clear as he ran by the rest of the targets that he had been the only one to hit even one dagger in the bullseye from those who had come before him which would mean extra points in the end if he was in close proximity with another man crossing the finish line. He thought to himself, All I must do is be one of the first five to cross the finish line. Valentin made his legs carry him as fast as they could. His feet were so bloody and numb it didn’t even matter, he just willed his body to do it as if nothing else mattered in the galaxy. Hungry, exhausted, and thirsty. He just remembered the human’s smile and wave and thought, To meet her, to kiss those pink lips. To win the UCs. It was all he thought about for the next three hours as he ran at a steady pace. He had been unsure if the woman had been married before but now, he was sure that she was single, she wore no man’s jewelry on her dress and her actions were that of a single woman. He had no doubt this was the same woman who came over with his parents.
As he neared the finish line, he heard the crowds before he saw them. The sky was turning purple. The day was almost done. He didn’t care about what place he was in anymore. He just wanted to stop moving and to be finished. He had given this race everything he had, and he was ready to collapse. Every movement was agony, but yet he continued in a daze of blood and pain.
After a few minutes and rounding the final hill beyond the trees, Valentin saw the crowds cheering, but nothing registered for him anymore he was delusional. It was all a blur. He crossed the finish line only because it was the brightest thing he could see and then instantly collapsed. When he was greeted by some of the gamekeepers, he tried to ask for water, but he was so dehydrated he couldn’t speak, but they were helping him up and carrying him to a medical tent anyway. He closed his eyes relaxing into the strong hands that carried him, unable to listen to the words of the men.
Valentin came to and found himself laying on a medical bed while maximum class doctors attended to him.
One woman smiled sweetly, “You don’t realize. You have won and you will be able to meet her. She is not married, Commander of the Nage.” The doctor was searching his thoughts only to make sure that he didn’t have any more wounds or hadn’t killed any of his competitors that wasn’t recorded by the monitoring satellites or drones.
“What did you say?” Valentin asked in disbelief.
The doctor smiled and placed a hand on him to show him how he had won with her mind.
Valentin closed his eyes and watched the doctor’s memories in his mind’s eye. There had been three other men in front of him, but they had fallen behind fighting with one another just 200 meters parallel to him. It was only his tiredness that kept him from running in a straight line that he didn’t become caught up in their fight. “I won,” he said as if it was a dream.
The doctor removed her hand, “You did. Hail the Yoli victor.”
Valentin couldn’t stop smiling. He would have the UCs and, of course, the great honor of being the winner. This would add to his list of impressive legal accomplishments in his life and maybe gain him a wife as well. He leaned back into the pillow and smiled.
Once the medical team released him. Valentin walked out as healthy as he was before he began the race to find his clothing. He hadn’t expected to be met by a crowd of Alliance men all congratulating him, patting his back, offering him zota in black ceramic mugs and telling him to wait for the awards ceremony before putting on his clothing. For the first time in his life he thought, Is this what it feels like to be part of the Empire? Valentin would have never admitted it to anyone, but sometimes he did wonder what his life would have been like if he had been an Imperial citizen.
Ellie was excited. The handsome middling class man she had smiled at, had won. She wanted to go over to him now, but the finish line and competitors’ area were off-limits to all women except for doctors. Ellie was content to be patient, she knew his name now, it was Val and he was a commander of some sorts so she assumed that he must be a part of some a middling class military unit she had never heard of before. There was so much she didn’t know about the Empire, Why not a middling class military unit? she thought. She had also made up her mind that if he was at all interested in her romantically, that she would take him as a lover. In her semi-zota drenched mind it seemed high time that she seduced a man into her body and who better than the Yoli victor? Ellie watched him mingle with other men smiling. He was very handsome, and she swore his eyes were blue.
Valentin stood with four other men on the awards platform and was honored on a universal galactic broadcast. He felt a sense of accomplishment. People knew his name for his occupation which wasn’t altogether clean, but this was pure and simple, and it made him feel good to be honored as the Yoli victor. After the ceremonial awards were handed out, each was given an ornate dagger with their name, the date and the insignia of the Yoli race and in addition Valentin was also awarded a ceremonial sword for display marking him as the overall victor. He took it from the head gamekeeper with both hands and for the first time in his life, thanked the Alliance gods out loud for the privilege of competing in the race, which was what was expected of him.
Valentin got dressed and checked his GC account. In complete Alliance style and efficiency, his UC winnings were already in his account. He was very satisfied with himself. He put on his clothing before heading back up to his ship to change clothing before the big party. He hadn’t wanted to jinx his chance of winning by bringing any formal clothing down as he had no intention of going to a party if he hadn’t been one of the winners.
Ellie looked at herself in the mirror then went out in the corridor and knocked softly on Tamsin’s door. No answer. Then she pressed the bell. Tamsin answered.
“What is it?”
“What do you think? Good enough for the winner?”
Tamsin looked Ellie up and down. She was wearing a long black loose-fitting dress with a moving thunderstorm across it, as was the fashion in the Empire for maximum class women to have faux movements across their formal dresses. “It’s nice but you will look like everyone else. Why not wear a dress with more color? I imagine that everyone will want to speak to the winner.”
That wasn’t the answer that Ellie had expected, and she was disappointed her new friend didn’t love her look, “But Alliance people like formality and conformity.”