Chapter 2
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The rest of the week came and went uneventfuly but Sal’s project was on their minds the whole time. Often times in the middle of something one or more of them would blank out distracted by their own imaginations and the knowledge of Sal’s eccentric behavior. This caused each of them a few injuries in sparing and other tasks. Despite all this they survived to find out what Sal was up to this time. They arrived at sunrise and waited ten minutes before Sal opened the the door. “So I’ve been working on an obstacle course and besides myself you three are the only ones who might use it.” The three began to pace the room each looking into the task on the course that most interested them. “There is one more big thing come stand over here.” The three went over to the cook who was standing by a control panel. “It has difficulty options, it is currently set to standard now but watch when I move the nob to extreme.” With the click of a button the course sank in to the floor. Moments later the course rose more obstacles were added many were removed but the more difficult looking ones had reappeared in new places. “It also has a scramble button so the course is never the same twice. So what do you think.” The kids were shocked so many questions crossed their minds but none came out. “Speechless not the reaction I expected from you three but flattering all the same. I assume your first question is why I invited you here. I have a few reason but the one you want to here is because building it was simple, but I have a lot on my plate and keeping everything in running order will be a tad time consuming. If you guys can keep it running for me your welcome to use it any time you like. I have some people to meet with some payments on this and other business deals you wouldn’t be interested in I’ll be back in a couple hours or so but I should warn you to start on easy some of the harder task could seriously injure you and with out my supervision I’d prefer you not take any risk.” Sal turned to walk away. “Final note it has a battlefield option on the switch, the computer to the left can be used to control the terrain so have fun and don’t kill yourselves.”
Bris made the decision she would go first. The guys knew it would just waste time to argue and it would be easier and leave them more time to just agree. Data turned the nob to easy while Bris waited at the starting zone. When the easy course was revealed Data noted there were seven obstacles. They ranged in difficulty from a rope swing to a climbing wall to a balancing beam. The only thing to fear would be a fall and the the highest point of the wall was only twelve foot a broken bone was the worse scenario that could occur at this level. It took nearly twenty minutes for Bris to finish her run. She was pouring with sweat but but at the same time she was excited by her finish time. Axel was up next they left the course the same to compare times. Axel finished with a time only a few minutes quicker than Bris due to problems with obstacles caused by his height. Data began stretching before starting his run. Just as he was about to hit the timer button the course sank below the floor. Looking over he saw Bris at the control panel. “Bet you can’t beat the course on standard. I’ll buy your dinner for a month if you can finish it in under thirty minutes.” Data counted there were now ten obstacles quite a few of the obstacles were part of the easy course only two were replaced in addition too the three new obstacles. Data noted the wall was taller and gaps had been increased in distance. Data considered the situation for a minute. “Okay your on but I only lose and have to pay your bill if you can beat my time if I fail to beat the thirty minute mark.” Bris pouted a little before agreeing. “But if you don’t beat thirty minutes I owe you nothing.”
Data took out his stick before hitting the timer. The first obstacle was a machine with rotating arms, using the stick to parry the arms he made it past no problem. The second obstacle was the balance beam, using the stick for balance he passed this task with no problem as well. The third task was the rope swing unlike on easy the rope sat in the middle of the gap so instead of just swinging you had to jump to it, He threw his stick to the other side, took a step back, ran forward, jumped, grabbed the rope, swung, and let go. He had to catch himself from slipping back but he made it. The next five task proved to be a bit more difficult he failed a few of them once but he had five minutes left of his half hour hour as he reached the ninth task the wall. His ascension went a little slower than he had hoped, if he climbed down he would not make the time so he decided to jump. His landing was poor and caused a strain on his left ankle. Determined to make time he continued on. The final task was a series of three four foot gaps on to small islands progressively getting smaller giving less room to build up speed. Data ran and made the fist jump, landing with his weight on his left foot he stumbled backward off the island forcing him to restart the task. He was careful not to repeat his mistake again but this did nothing to slow him after the final jump he hit the button and looked at his time 00:30:00:09. Sighing in defeat he went back to retrieve his stick from beneath the wall. Despite being over by only nine one-hundredth of a second Data new Bris wouldn’t give him the ground for anything as it would be admitting defeat. Just as he got to the others the door opened Sal had returned,
“Either you guys have just been playing with the scramble button or one or more of you tried the standard level.” Data nervously admitted he had attempted it to show up the others. Sal didn’t look mad but curious. “So what was your time? My best time is just under twenty-eight minutes.” "Thirty minutes." Data’s reply was timid, still expecting the cook to be upset. “Interesting. Follow me and I can take a look at your ankle.” The kids were all surprised by this remark. “Simple observation skills he is using his stick on his left side despite being right handed, I assumed it was to keep weight to the right side. You guys should improve you observation skills if you want to improve yourselves.”
