Chapter 20 -- Weapons and Stuff

 Zed looked at the chip in his left hand. Marilyn had been silent for quite some time. The people of the box left no stone unturned in making Zed feel like a king and a god. But the race was not away from Zed's mind.

He sat with the leader of the people, Olag to talk about the things that were bothering him about the race. He had slightly more information about the race than Marilyn had told Zed but even he was mostly clueless. There was a race of ancient beings that often quarreled and every time their disputes got out of hand, contests like this were organized to settle their differences. No one had a choice in this matter. Once selected, they had to race.

"This contest was the reason that dinosaurs were wiped from your planet." Olag said.

"I read in a book long ago that it was because of comet strike." Zed replied.

Olag just shrugged and passed a sheet of paper to Zed. There were images drawn on the sheet of paper. "You have been cheated, Lord Zed," Olag said, "all the others came here with weapons."

"I was not supposed to be here Olag, it was a fluke that I ended up here. But there is a chance that we can rectify the situation."

Olag grinned at Zed in mutual understanding. He snapped his fingers and two minions appeared out of nowhere.

"Lord Zed's vehicle. I need it installed with weapons and stuff."

"And a bigger bar," Zed added.

The minions hurried among themselves and rushed to work on Zed's car.

"Tell me about Krazkaf. How does he know about me, and what's his beef with me, other than that we are competitors in this stupid race."

Olag gave his customary shrug again. "Krazkaf is from a planet of warriors. A large portion of their planet was destroyed by another earthman. So, they hate everyone from Earth. It's filled in their heads."

"I'll have to face him again, sooner or later. I need something that will help me kick his ass."

"You can take the sword left by the other earthman."

"I've never handled a sword before. It's all greek to me."

"Its a special sword. It will teach you how to use it."

Something struck Zed as strange. "You said the other earthman destroyed half of Krazkaf's planet. How come you have his sword?"

"Oh, we had hired him to destroy that planet. And he left the sword with us when his contract was over."

"Show me the sword."

"I will, I will. It has a name. Quicksilver."