Chapter Nine Part Two

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Chapter 9 Part 2

Before either Jessie or Ryder could ask where they should move, a home plate appeared in the middle of the room. The far wall disappeared and became a huge Over the Line field, just as it had looked in the hologram model from earlier.

"Step up, Ryder. The balls aren't real, just bursts of energy. When they're in front of home plate, they're as solid as a baseball, but if they pass it, they dissipate into nothing. So don't be afraid to take some pitches. They won't hit us back here."

Ryder took his stance. Jessie expected a pitching machine, one with two wheels that the ball shot between, but instead an actual robot pitcher stood on the mound. He looked to see if there were any players in the field, but he couldn't see any.

The pitcher wound up and fired home. It blazed in so fast Jessie almost couldn't see it. He let out a screech and leapt back. Without looking back, Ryder said, "It's energy, Jess. It's not going to hurt you."

"Don't lean into one, though," Coach said. "Remember it has the density of an actual baseball in front of the plate."

Jessie moaned and stepped towards the door. No way was he taking a turn in that death machine. Before he'd made it two steps, Stretch grabbed his arm. "We have it set to only throw strikes. You don't have anything to worry about. Just watch your friend. You'll see."

Ryder let three or four pitches hurtle past him. "Almost got it timed," he called back. He swung at the next pitch, but missed. "Come on, one more." He sent that next one arching over the first wall and into the middle of the second tier. It dribbled to the wall.

"Nice, kid," Rake said. "Would have been a single."

It took a few more swings and misses, and a few dribblers that didn't make it to the pitchers mound, but after that, Ryder got into a groove. He drove each pitch into the top two tiers. Many would probably have been outs, but that didn't matter. Jessie marveled that his friend could smack what had to be at least 100 MPH fastballs around like he was facing little league pitching.

"One more good one," Coach said.

Ryder nodded and bore down. He took a mighty swing, but all Jessie heard was a little ping of the bat. He thought Ryder had foul-tipped it, but the ball sailed up past the first wall, over the second, and deep into the third tier. For a second, Jessie forgot he was in a simulator on a spaceship, and he was instead watching a blast at Sea Lion Park. "Get out, get out!" He even waved his arms to coax it out of the park.

"Nope, just missed," Ryder said. Jessie watched the ball plummet and land a few feet short of the warning track, where it two-hopped the wall. "Almost got the whole sweet spot on it."

"Feels good, doesn't it," Rake said. He stepped up and gave Ryder a slap on the shoulder. "If you get all of it, you'll have an easy home run."

Ryder was all smiles as he put his bat back. Jessie couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw him run his finger over the edge of the rubber sweet spot where the last pitch had hit.

"You're up, Jessie," Coach said. Those words froze him. In all the excitement, he'd forgotten he was next.

"You can do it, Jess. It's not going to hit you, so you don't have anything to worry about." Ryder put his hand up for a high five, but when Jessie didn't meet it, he followed through and slapped Jessie on the shoulder.

Jessie took a deep breath and wondered if he'd actually survive all of this. Before he stepped into the batters box, Coach pulled him aside and whispered so no one else could hear. "I don't want you to swing. Not even once. Go in there and get a feel for the speed of the pitches. Can you do that? No pressure in a swing, okay?"

Jessie tried to nod, but he wasn't sure if his head moved. Don't swing. He could do that. He could. But could he stay in the batter's box? He could. He had to.

"Nod when you're ready," Stretch called from the control panel in the corner of the room.

Jessie positioned his feet in the far back corner of the box, as far from the pitcher and the plate as he was allowed to go. It was a good thing Coach told him not to swing because he wasn't sure if he could hold onto the bat if he did. He'd have to ask about batting gloves if he lived through this.

"Jessie? Ready?" In his haze, he wasn't sure who asked it, but he nodded.

He didn't see the first pitch, but he heard it whiz past him. He saw the next one and felt his knees buckle. The third one blasted past him, and it took all of his concentration to not fall down. As it was, an intense ringing sounded in his ears, and a black circle formed around the rim of his vision. As another pitch winged past him, his head threatened to implode. He'd never blacked out before, but he had the distinct idea that it was happening now. The dark outline around his vision grew more pronounced, and the entire simulated stadium tilted and spun.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard Ryder's voice. He couldn't make out the words, but the tone of encouragement caused the dark band to retreat, just a little at first, but then totally. The room still threatened to spin, but the deafening screeching in his head went away. It was a start.

"That's enough," Coach called from somewhere down a long tunnel. No, not a tunnel. It just sounded like it. The lights in the room flashed on, and the virtual stadium disappeared. He stumbled a bit and a pair of hands steadied him. His skin felt cold, clammy, like he'd been sweating in the sun and moved into an air conditioned room. The spinning stopped, but his headache came back with a vengeance. His head was only seconds from splitting wide open.

"Good job, kid. Excellent job." He looked up to see Rake saying it. His lips didn't quite match up with the words, but Jessie couldn't quite tell if that was a glitch in the Universal Language thingy or his own brain.

"Ryder, can you take him to lie down?" He thought Coach said it, but he couldn't tell. "Follow the green line. Stretch, you'd better go, too."

Jessie felt two sets of arms grab him around the shoulders, but he didn't remember anything after that. The next thing he knew he was lying in the bed that served as his own on this spaceship.

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