Chapter 15: A Sporting Chance

It almost breaks your brain, but somehow you manage to remember twenty numbers in a row. Suddenly the grid vanishes, and the Queen seems to come out of her trance. She blinks and puts a hand to her head. “Thank you Player, and you too, little missile.” With effort, she sits up proudly. “I cannot thank you enough for returning my crown.” She looks back at the delicate golden crown you restored to her, now resting peacefully in its alcove. “I did much computing while you were away, and have a better understanding of the gaps in my memory… in the gaps in everyone’s memories. Now that the crown has returned, some of those memories are coming back to me. You see, each treasure stores part of the memory of our kingdom. With so many treasures missing, much memory of what was is missing as well. But you have returned the first of the twenty-six treasures, and so, perhaps there is hope of restoring all of them.”

Melvin does a sort of a bow. “My Queen, if I may ask, did your computation reveal how this all happened so fast? I’m sure there were thousands of players here just a few days ago.”

The Queen looks at him sadly. “Oh, little missile, that is not so. I know there was a time when there were so many Players that your services were required constantly. But what I now recall is that gradually, the number of Players declined, putting our land in peril, because Players have always protected us from great dangers. I believe that eventually, Players stopped coming altogether for many years. During that time, little missile, your services were not required, and so you were not in active memory.”

“Wait a scan line,” says Melvin, “are you saying that the kingdom fell apart, and I slept through it? How long did it take? Weeks? Months?”

“What year is it now, little missile?” asks the Queen.

“Why, it’s 1984, of course!” pipes up Melvin.

The Queen looks at you. “But it isn’t, is it, Player?”

You look down at your blocky shoes. “No, your majesty.”

“WHAT?” says Melvin, “Then what year is it?”

You shift uncomfortably. “It is decades after that.”

“WHAT? What am I, Rip Van Pixel?” says Melvin, astonished. “Were you asleep too, my Queen?”

“No, I was not. Missiles are special, because they only appear with Players. There have been no Players for a very long time.”

“So, what happened to the kingdom? How come no one remembers you?”

She shakes her head. “I was not asleep, but I don’t know what happened, either. Too much of my memory is missing. All I have are some fragments of memory, much like the fragments of rubble that litter this throne room,” she says looking around sadly. “However, now that you’ve returned the crown, helped me to reconnect to it, I have new fragments that did not exist before.” She looks at you. “Player, are you willing to help recover another treasure for us? You are under no obligation.”

You find yourself surprised to remember that you’re supposed to be wanting to go home. Just as you used to get lost in videogames when you were young, you realize that you are becoming lost in this one. But nothing feels bad about that. Gradually, this strange world is becoming more real for you, and you realize how much you want to help Melvin and the Queen.

With a mixture of pride and surprise you hear yourself say “I would like to return home sometime. But right now, I see that your kingdom is in need, and I would like to help any way I can.” Melvin zips around you in an excited circle.

The Queen says, “Your bravery and loyalty are much appreciated, Player. It is enough to make one wonder if you could indeed be the Player of legend, said to have the power to restore our fallen kingdom.”

Inwardly, you shake your head. You were just a goof at a yard sale. “I appreciate your confidence in me, but I have no idea where we should go, or what we should do to recover the other treasures.”

She looks down sadly. “My memory fragments don’t amount to much, but they do tell me this. Some of the treasures were stolen by villains and other evil forces that have long existed in our world. The lack of Players emboldened them. I have a vague memory of some of them… but not enough to be useful.” She sits quietly, brooding.

Melvin breaks the silence. “So… can we help you remember, somehow…?”

“No,” she says, sounding almost angry. “No, I don’t think I’ll be able to recall them without more treasures. However, I have other memories.” Another long pause.

“Such as…?” asks Melvin, nervously.

“Memories of discord in the Kingdom. When the Players stopped coming, some people panicked. People lost faith in the kingdom.” She pauses. “People lost faith… in me.” If she wasn’t so regal, you think she’d probably start crying. “They lost faith in my leadership, and they had all kinds of ideas about how to use the treasures to lure players back into our world. I can’t really remember everything that happened, but I do know that one treasure was to be the prize of a sporting contest. Here is what I see.” Her eyes start projecting again, and in the blue light you see a hologram of a baseball, a bat, and a shiny ring hovering in the air.

Melvin says, “This is great! All we have to do is win a baseball game, and we can get the next treasure!”

She shakes her head grimly, “I don’t think it will be so easy. I recall that the contest was quite difficult, which is why no Player ever achieved it.”

“Have no fear, my Queen!” says Melvin boldly. “We shall win the contest, and recover the treasure!” You smile a little seeing how much he likes playing up this “servant to royalty” stuff. But you suppose it makes sense – he is sort of a squire, and you realize that makes you… a knight?

You look around at the rubble again in the sad, gray castle. “Your majesty,” you venture, “are you sure that we should leave you here? The castle is in such ruin, and, well, will you be safe here?”

Melvin seems worried too. “My Queen, there are things you should know about our quest for the crown.” He proceeds to tell her about it in much detail. The jumping car, the pirate, the boys, the igloos, the dangerous spaceship, and the pirate again. The Queen listens to it all, and pronounces, “The pirate you mention does our kingdom a great honor, helping with the crown quest when he could not even remember his own Queen.”

“Yes,” says Melvin, “but what worries me is that spaceship. Who is it? And what if they come for you?”

The Queen is stern now. “You have not lost your memory, little missile. You know I cannot leave the castle. I will be safe here – everyone has lost so much memory, they don’t even know I exist.” She now sounds angry with herself. “And if something does happen to me, it is my own fault for letting the kingdom fall, and nothing can be done about it.”

Melvin objects, “But, my Queen…”

“Enough. I know what I have done. I appreciate your help to make things right, but if I have put myself at risk, I must accept that. We all must be brave if the Kingdom is to rise again.” She looks tired, and now speaks quietly. “I will rest now, and later compute some more. There are great dangers we will have to face, but for now, they cannot find us. If you can recover the ring from the baseball challenge, it might be enough for me to remember more that we can use.”

Melvin bows. “We will do our best, my Queen.” She closes her eyes. You bow as well, and you both turn and exit.

As you walk from the gray castle into the gradually more colorful town, Melvin explains where he is taking you. “There are a lot of baseball stadiums around here, but I don’t know which one has the challenge… if the challenge even still exists. But I know a place where people will know.” You turn a corner, and see some steps going down under a building. A pixelated sign reads “POOL” with two crossed cues underneath. Melvin explains, “These guys bet on every game in town. If there is some baseball challenge around, they’ll know about it.”

You walk down the stairs into the smoky pool room. Various shady characters are playing pool and otherwise loitering. Nobody really seems to notice you. Melvin says, “I need to chat with some of these guys to find out what is going on. Since people are suspicious about Players right now, maybe you should stay out of the way until I know what is going on.”

“Should I leave?”

“No, no, I might need you. Hey, I know – how about you play that pinball machine?” He points to a game labeled “BUMPER BASH.” You shrug, and saunter over to give it a try.

Put the Bumper Bash cartridge into your Atari 2600. Play until you get 50,000 points. Post a link to a video in the comments section of yourself completing the challenge.