The painful memory of fumbling through the roughand-tumble courses at the Star Watch Academy surged through Hector’s mind. What he remembered most vividly was lying flat on his back with his instructor screaming, “No, no, no!” at him.
Odal stepped out from behind a full-length viewscreen. “You seem less than eager to do battle with me. Perhaps you’re afraid that you’ll hurt meLet me demonstrate my qualifications.”
Odal’s foot lashed into one of the desk chairs, smashing its fragile frame against the tough plastic of the viewscreen. The chair disintegrated. Then he swung an edgeof-the-hand chop at the top of the nearby desk: the metal dented with a loud crunk!
Hector backed away until he felt another desk pressing against his legs. He glanced behind him and saw that it was some sort of master control unit, long and filled with complicated switches and monitor screens. Several roller chairs lined its length.
Odal was advancing on him. Something in the back of Hector’s mind was telling him to run away and hide, but then he heard the baridng voice of his old instructor insisting, “The best defense is a fast, aggressive attack.”
Hector took a deep breath, planted his feet solidly, and launched himself at Odal.
Only to find himself twisted around, lifted off his feet, and thrown back against the desk, banging painfully against the switches.
“LOOKING FOR THE IDEAL VACATION PARADISE?” a voice boomed at them. From behind Odal’s shoulder a girl in a see-through spacesuit did a free-fall somersault. Hector blinked at her, and Odal looked over his shoulder, momentarily amazed. The voice blared on, “JOIN THE FUN CROWD AT ORBIT HOUSE. ACQUATAINIA’S NEWEST ZERO-GRAVITY RESORT….”