Pit Fight

The smoking and thoroughly perforated cybercab deposited Mini-Steve and Dash on one of the dozen or so rooftop landing pads of the Wayward Stargazer. The cab had been circling the landing pad for nearly twenty minutes before it could land due to the outrageous amount of traffic buzzing above the roof. The Gazer was neither the most popular nor the most respected establishment in the Hospitality Zone, but something big was obviously happening tonight. Thousands of beings were streaming from vehicles into the upper floor of the casino talking, chittering or expressing pheromones excitedly at each other. While the friendly robot who had introduced himself as Steve paid and then unfolded itself from the cab Dash was able to overhear snippets of conversation from passing beings. They were all speaking about the fight between Gorzal and Cheyenne, who Steve claimed was his friend Eva. Cheyenne seemed to have been a very popular and brutal fighter who had vanished from the fighting circuit a number of years ago only to suddenly reappear for tonight's bout. Dash ran a quick query on his 'net implant and read conflicting reports that Cheyenne had either been killed in an unsanctioned fight, crushed in a black hole incident, succumbed to fatal exhaustion during a multi-species orgy or undergone intensive reconstructive surgery and was currently competing as a hyperpod racer on the desert planet circuit. Her surprise reappearance on Corgol was the source of a great deal of conversation, both pleased and skeptical amongst the pit fighting newsnets.

"I thought you said your friends name was Eva, but everybeing here is talking about 'Cheyene'."

"It is and they are." Said Mini-Steve as he walked towards the glowing entrance of the Stargazer with Dash beside him. "When Eva used to fight she used the nom de guerre 'Cheyenne', she never really explained why and I didn't press her for the reason since talking about the pits seemed to make her sad. No one wants to make their friends sad do they?"

Dash didn't answer that but continued to follow Mini-Steve deeper into the casino along with the throngs of other beings who all seemed to be heading to the same place that they were, the subterranean fighting pit which the 'Gazer advertised as having "the best food, wettest drinks and highest payouts in the Zone". To which a passing Stofarsi said to it's identical twinmate companion, "Well the drinks are definitely wet here." Most of the beings surrounding them seemed to be tourists, mid-class gamblers or pit fighting fans of either Cheyene or Gorzal. This made sense to Dash since he knew that the super rich would all have landed in the high security private docks away from the sweaty, chattering masses with their banners supporting the combatants and hovering infant pods.

They entered the pit's outer concourse which contained dozens of betting kiosks where creatures were placing wagers on the undercard battles, a Churosi attack squad verses two Jountari snails, a pair of grapplers from the super dense world of Breen and even a robot melee. However the real action centered around the main event, Gorzal the Bone Eater against the former champion Cheyenne.

"Hold on, Steve, I'm gonna place a bet. No reason to come to the fights if you aren't going to participate." said Dash as he made his way towards one of the less busy kiosks. "The odds don't seem to be in your friends favor, pal. They are giving her a fifteen to one shot of surviving this match."

"Gorzal is certainly formidable Dash, but Eva won't lose." Mini-Steve stated without hesitation.

Dash's antennas slowly rotated while he considered the small drone then he said "OK, Blue Eyes, you've convinced me." as turned to the kiosk and placed his wager on 'Cheyenne' to win. Dash collected his betting chit and he and Mini-Steve wove their way through the press of beings towards the closest entrance to the pit.

The open gateway was framed by two eighteen foot long mottled brown tusks curving inwards to cross over the top of the entrance, the former owner of which, Dash noted, probably hadn't parted with happily. They made their way to a broad stone bench on the lower tier of the arena which already held a loud and drunken group of Anchar'i marines on shore leave. The marines were young and shouting wildly at the robot melee which was already underway on the floor of the pit. The bipedal humanoid robots were armed with three foot long spikes or heavy maces protruding from the ends of their arms which they had been using to either bludgeon or stab each other respectively. The robot warriors had obviously been programed to fight at a much slower pace than they were capable of to aid the organic spectators' comprehension and enjoyment of the fight. Most of the twenty robot fighters were already incapacitated  and lying around the pit smoking and sparking like twisted metal skeletons. Of the few who remained mobile only one of them still had two functioning legs and it was using this to it's advantage. The undamaged green and black robot was charging around the pit towards a blue robot with a mace on it's one remaining arm who's crushed leg was squirting hydraulic fluid into a spreading puddle beneath it.  Dash collected a drink from a passing vendor as the green robot delivered a crushing blow to the head unit of the blue robot, cracking the head in half and releasing a shower of sparks. Some of the marines had obviously bet on the green and black robot because their hysteria went into overdrive every time their 'hero' collected another victory. While the green robot was attempting to free its mace from the crumpled head of its latest victim it was taken unaware by a red robot streaked in black fluid which had crawled up behind it and speared it through its upper back into it's skull with the severed arm of another fallen robot. The drunken marines howled with displeasure at their defeat as they were mocked by their compatriots.

Dash looked away from them to avoid eye contact and a possible brawl as he said to Mini-Steve "I never really cared for robot fighting. It's just too weird the way they dont make any noise as they fight. Just beeping and clanking. No real stakes to the fight in my opinion."

Mini-Steve didn't respond to Dash as he continued scanning the arena for signs of his best friend Eva.

"Hey, I didn't mean to offend you buddy" said Dash "I just meant that it feels more, I don't know, real when the fighters care if they win or not."

"You haven't hurt my feelings Dash. These constructs are not sentient like me. They are only appliances which will be repaired or scrapped depending on their level of damage. Then charged up and released to destroy each other again and again. As you say, they do not 'care' about anything any more than your boots are able to 'care' about walking. They are tools and nothing more."

"I guess you're not a member of the robots rights movement, huh?"

"I am no more a robot, than you are a singer, Dash."

A team of squat janitorial robots rolled onto the floor to sweep up the remains of the robot fighters as the massive, shiny Jountari snails were led into the arena. They left thick trails of foul mucus in their wake as they blindly followed their trainers who were brandishing heavy nets full of meat dripping gore along the path that the snails were intended to follow.

Dash turned to Mini-Steve and said "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Have you been talking to my manager?"

Mini-Steve turned his hand-painted blue eyes toward Dash in a way that he knew made beings feel as if he was looking directly at them though it made no difference to his actual scanning instruments and said "Even the worst of singers do not wind up in shoot outs with private security troops, and you would be the first entertainer that I have ever met who is able to send alpha level distress signals to cybercabs. I don't know who or what you are and I am willing to allow you to keep your secrets because I do not think you intend to hamper me in my plan to help my friend. In fact I think that you could be very helpful today if things go as they usually do for us."

Dash looked at Mini-Steve and took a slow pull from his drink but said nothing in response.

Mini-Steve turned back to the arena floor as the Churosi squad advanced carefully towards the pair of snails with practiced precision and said "now lets watch the next bout, hopefully these creatures' deaths will be 'real' enough to keep you entertained."