"This one's gonna be intense." Dylan grinned. "One team on motorcycles has to deliver a package to the destination while the other team, in fully-armed helicopters, tries to kill them."

"Sounds kinda one-sided." Kolya rubbed her hands together. "Not that I'd have a problem with it if I'm on the helicopter team."

"In the first round, you are, but then the teams swap out for the next round."

Grishnag readied up her character and watched the new guys from the corner of her eye. She'd played this game mode fairly often during the past few months, and the sheer chaos it always turned into never ceased to amuse her.

Dylan and Nishara stared intently at their screens. Cora had stepped out to talk with the science team and run a visual inspection on various ship's systems. She could keep an eye on everything with her wireless link, but she liked to double-check the settings visually. Their other wives had wandered off to take care of a variety of other tasks, planning to come back later and switch out with Grish and the others if the game was still on. That left Kolya, Donovan, and Lorkis on the opposing team.

The young mekharan held his controller in his upper hands and drummed his lower ones on the table. "I would never have guessed such an outdated game would be so much fun. My people have the latest in full-immersion simulations as entertainment, but nothing like this. I might have to look into the copyrights and whatnot, and see if there's a way to convert this game into a full sim."

"That ought to be interesting." Dylan chuckled. "Especially the parts where you can pick up hookers."

"Oh, I've already done my share of that." Lorkis glanced up, blushed again, and shrugged. "In the simulations I mentioned. Not in real life. Been trying to get the real thing without renting a ‘consort,' but I've had no luck with that."

"Well, if you ever get tired of waiting, a significant number of my people have found employment as sex workers." Grishnag shrugged. "Well, a lot of us have what you might call ‘mainstream' careers, but do the sex-worker thing as a hobby just because the average zorai libido easily outpaces that of most teenagers."

Dylan nodded emphatically. "I can personally attest to that."

Donovan glanced at him and arched an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, I've been wondering how you can even keep up with six wives, especially when one of them is a zorai. Even with those teenage hormones at full-throttle, I'm amazed you can even walk by morning."

"Well, they tend to each other's needs, as well. It's a group effort." Dylan grinned. "Plus, I got a prescription for ‘boosters' a while back, so I can blow several wads in a row and keep on going."

"I gotta get me some of those." Donovan winked at Kolya.

"My species isn't ruled by teenage hormones as much as humans are, but they do have an effect on us." Lorkis took a few slow breaths and made a visible effort at focusing on his monitor. "Much more of this and I'll need to retreat to my quarters for some ‘self-maintenance.'"

"Right, back to a whole different kind of action." Kolya laughed softly, leaned over, and nudged Donovan's shoulder. "You might want to ready up your character."

"Oh!" Donovan pushed a button. "Sorry."

Grish chuckled and turned back to her own screen. The match started and she raised an eyebrow at the dozen clowns carrying baseball bats roaming around the three motorcycles parked in front of her character.

Huh. That's new. She approached the nearest bike and four of the clowns charged her. Uh-oh.

Over at the other table, Donovan let out a startled grunt. "Why are there clowns?"

Dylan snickered and Donovan started jabbing buttons in a panic.

"And why are they beating me up?"

"They're just obstacles. You have to fight them off and get into the helicopter."

Grishnag blasted the nearest clowns with an assault shotgun and climbed onto her motorcycle. A yellow line appeared in her mini-map, showing her the route to the destination four miles away. In the background, Dylan and Nishara mounted their own bikes.

"Okay, I've cleared the road for you." Kolya giggled. "Who gets to fly the chopper?"

"Guess I'll give it a try." Donovan waited for her and Lorkis to get in. "Alright. Um, I have no idea how this works, so …" He started pressing buttons gingerly.

Grish got her bike up to speed and passed by the helicopter just as it rose slowly into the air. It immediately turned sideways and scraped across the highway. Grishnag burst out laughing.

"Uh." Donovan panicked again and started jabbing buttons at random. Kolya slumped over the table and laughed so hard she could barely speak.

"Jesus … Christ … Donovan."

"Oh, um … uh … oh, no." The helicopter rolled upside-down. "Uh, fuck me." The helicopter exploded and killed everyone onboard.

Grishnag laughed even harder as she raced away from the carnage.

An NPC motorcycle shot out from the right and collided with her, sending her flying off her bike. She had just enough time to gasp before she tumbled back toward the pavement and a car slammed into her from behind, sending her cartwheeling into the oncoming lane. She landed on top of a freight truck, bounced across it, fell off the end, and died on impact with another car directly behind the truck. She collapsed into another laughing fit and was dizzy by the time it subsided.

"Moments like these are what make the game worth playing." Dylan smirked -- then he released a high-pitched squeal. A notification of his character's death popped up on Grishnag's screen. "I just drove straight into a tree!"

"Bunch of big damn heroes." Kolya giggled and shook her head. Dylan laughed.

"Ain't we just?"