Chapter 14: A Crowning Achievement

 Using the flags you planted on the way up the mountain as a guide, you ski down the mountain at incredible speed. Finally things level out, and you find yourself running out of snow, your skis skidding onto the grass below the ice line. You stop and turn, and see the spaceship circle the mountain once, and then zip off into the sky. You get the feeling it didn’t like being seen in the daylight.

Still looking up at the mountain, you see Melvin zipping down the mountain toward you. He arrives, and plunks down on the ground next to you, panting. “I’ve never seen anyone ski so fast!” he says, still out of breath. “We sure showed them,” he says triumphantly. “Take that, space jerks!”

You take off your skis, and your winter coat, and pack them up, since it is warmer here, especially with the sun shining on you. “Melvin, what was that spaceship?”

Melvin looks serious. “I don’t know. But I think they didn’t like us taking the crown back.” 

Behind you, suddenly, a voice. “Har har, har har, so ye got the crown, eh?”

You both turn to see the pirate, holding up his pistol.

“That’s right!” shouts Melvin. “And no two-bit pirate is going to take it from us!”

“Har har, har har,” says the pirate. “I have no interest in crowns, especially ones that aliens be looking for.” He holsters his pistol. “Besides,” he says. “I’m out of bullets. But I have two items of business to discuss with ye. First,” he produces a small patch with a picture of a skier on it, and flips it to you. “That was some mighty fancy skiing. I believe ye have earned membership in the Activision Ski Team.” He goes on. “Second, it seems you two had quite an adventure. I watched the whole thing with my spyglass.” He holds up his brass telescope. “And while I don’t want yer crown, there is one thing I do want from ye.”

You and Melvin look at each other. “Ice diamonds?” you ask. He shakes his head.

“Gold nuggets?” asks Melvin.

“Har har, har har,” he laughs. “Of course I’d be glad to have some of that treasure, but no, what I want is more valuable than that.” He draws the pistol again.

“I thought you were out of bullets?” says Melvin. BANG! A warning shot grazes the top of Melvin’s pixel.

“Har har, har har,” he laughs. “I was just joking about that. No, it’s about the flags.”

There is a long silence.

“The flags,” says Melvin.

“The flags,” you say, wondering what he could possibly want now.

“They were ‘elpful, waren’t they?”

You look up at the trail of flags that guided you back down the mountain, and realize that, yes, they actually were.

“In fact,” says the pirate, cocking his pistol, “you could say they saved your life.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” you admit.

“THEN SAY IT!” shouts the pirate. “SAY THE FLAGS SAVED YOUR LIVES!”

You both stare him, and repeat in unison, “The flags saved our lives.”

“Thar,” he says, holstering his flintlock again, “was that so hard? Now, if I might inquire, where are you two adventurers heading next?”

“Yeah, Melvin, how are we getting back? Our car exploded all over the beach, remember?”

Melvin hesitates. “Yeah, well… uh...”

The pirate speaks up. “I thought ye might be in need of transport, and though I don’t remember our Queen, I very much like the idea of doing a favors for royalty. To that end, my pirate ship is at your service.” He makes a sweeping gesture with his feathered hat, and makes a surprisingly deep bow for someone with a peg leg.

Melvin hesitates. “Do you promise you won’t shoot at me again?”

The pirate makes a strange salute. “Pirate’s honor.”

Melvin asks, “And what will you charge us for the trip?”

The pirate smiles. “Well, now that ye ask, some gold and diamonds would help me cover… expenses.”

You pull Melvin aside. “Can we trust this guy?”

Melvin shrugs, not that he has shoulders. “Maybe? He’s definitely crazy, but I don’t think he’s dangerous, and I believe him about the Queen. Besides, what other choice do we have? I wanna get out of here before that spaceship comes back.”

“I guess you’re right.” You return to the pirate. “Okay, I guess we have a deal.” You shake his hook.

“Arr, ye won’t regret it. I’ll have ye back to yer castle before the next vertical blank.” You follow him over a sand dune, and see his ship. It is a small pirate ship, but you have never seen anything so festooned with flags in all your life. It has pirate flags, flags of all nations, and flags of all colors. You both climb aboard, and you both fall asleep on the deck, caressed by warm ocean breezes. By the time you wake up, the ship is already at the port near Queen Stella’s gray castle. The pirate lets you off, and you pay him with gold nuggets and the diamonds you collected inside the mountain. “Much obliged, me hearties! Give my regards to yer Queen, and perhaps I’ll see ye again one day.”

You both wave to him as he sails off. “That guy was nuts,” says Melvin.

You make your way back to the castle, which is still in a gray gloom. You clamber over rubble as you enter through the hole you made a few days ago. Inside, the Queen still sits amongst wreckage, her glowing blue eyes in some kind of a trance.

“My Queen!” says Melvin. “We have returned, with your crown!”

She makes no movement, no response. Her eyes are lit, but appear to be closed. After some awkward time goes by, Melvin whispers, “I think she’s computing. Try putting the crown on her.”

You take the crown from your backpack, unwrap it from the treasure map, and reverently place it on her head. Like when you blew the whistle, there is a sudden pulse of color and warmth in the cold, gray room, and a large “1/26” floats in the air for a moment. Also, you could swear that some of the rubble has vanished, that the room looks less ruined than before. Electric currents seem to be pulsing through her crown, which floats up into one of the alcoves behind her. The Queen’s electric hum rises in pitch until it is more of a whine, and suddenly, with a chord of musical notes, her eyes project out a grid of nine squares. One of them lights up and makes a tone.

“Is this more tic-tac-toe?” you ask Melvin, a little confused.

“No,” he says, “this is more like… what do Players call it? Oh yeah, ‘Simon.’ Just do what she does. I think this will help her access the memories in the crown. I hope that your memory is better than everyone else’s around here.”

Insert the Brain Games cartridge into your Atari 2600. Use game select 2 for the “Touch Me” game, and set difficulty switches to b. Play until you are able to get a score of 20. Post a link to a video in the comments section of yourself completing the challenge.