Click here to read earlier chapters
Chapter 15
Exploration time had to wait, as the organizers scheduled their first on field practice less than an hour after they signed up. It had to be punishment for being so late. Instead of Jessie and Ryder exploring the space station, the team grabbed their equipment, including Pitch, and hustled to the stadium.
Coach led them past the entrance, where they'd been not an hour before, to a small side door in the structure. They walked down a short plain hallway, this one made of concrete, not metal. As they stepped out of the tunnel and onto the field, Ryder echoed Jessie's thoughts with a "Wow."
The hologram they'd watched back in the ship did the playing field and the stadium as a whole little credit. The grass looked greener, the walls higher, and that pitching machine way closer. The ring of seats around looked never-ending. Was this what it was like to step onto the field of a major league stadium back home?
Jessie closed his eyes and let everything wash over him. The grass smelled crisp and clean, like it had just been mowed. Did they cut it with a lawn mower, or did they have some sort of space-aged method? Since it was a space station, he'd assumed it was artificial, but his nose didn't agree. It felt real under his feet, too.
He opened his eyes and looked up. Disappointment hit him at first. The dome, while see-through from space, looked solid from the inside. As he kept his eyes on it, though, it went from dark gray to an intense black. Seconds later, he could make out stars.
Stretch broke his concentration. "It's designed to look gray for ten seconds or so from the field. Long enough to track the ball. Then it turns so you can enjoy the view."
"How come? Shouldn't the ball be easy enough to track through the black of space?"
"Yeah, but there are the occasional passing ships or other anomalies. This way it's the same for all teams."
Jessie pointed to the stands. "How about up there?"
"No, it's always see-through there. No need to wait for the view."
"Cool."
"Ryder, Jessie, catch." Rake dug into the equipment bag and tossed them each their mitts from home. Jessie had forgotten that the ship had beamed those up when it pulled them onboard.
"I was wondering what we were going to use," Ryder said. "I sure didn't want to break in a new glove during games."
"Out to your positions," Coach said. "Rake, show the kids where to stand. You two take turns out there. For every two plays you make, switch."
"He can have them all if you want," Jessie said. "Since he's the starter."
"You need to stay sharp, too. Get out there."
As everyone jogged to their positions, Jessie scouted the field. There was a path to the outfield on either side of the playing field. As he remembered from the halo, the first tier wasn't very big, but being so close to the plate, the fielder there wouldn't have much time to react. It also lay a few feet lower than the batter's box. He hadn't noticed that in the hologram.
When they passed the wall that separated the first two tiers, he saw the second was quite a bit bigger than the first. It was at least twice as long from foul line to foul line. No wonder a fielder with good range, like Mickey, was needed to patrol it. In the hologram it had looked like it had towered over the batter, but since the plate was elevated a bit, he could see that it wasn't really that much higher. A couple of feet, at the most.
"Holy cow," Ryder said as they came to the third tier, the outfield. Jessie could only nod. His mouth fell open, and he didn't bother to shut it. This had to be like looking at an outfield in a major league park from the infield. It was huge! He saw the yellow line that divided the grass from front to back. As they reached it and he looked back to the plate, he marveled that anyone could hit it this far, let alone for just a double. If the simulation in the ship could be believed, Ryder had cleared it by a lot. Almost to the wall. True to the hologram, the only bit of ground out here that wasn't covered in the lush green grass was a strip of dirt that acted as the warning track in front of the home run wall.
Rake held them up. "Here's the default position. It's easy to remember, just a game of halves. The first part's easy enough. We're halfway between the line and the wall." He pointed to the middle of the field. "Picture a line in the middle running from front to back. You stand between that phantom line and the foul line. Got it?"
Jessie nodded, and Ryder said, "You bet."
"Prove it to me. Take your position in right field. Both of you."
They started off jogging, but after a few strides picked it up and sprinted, each trying to get there first. Jessie pulled ahead, but as he looked to get his bearings, Ryder sped in front.
"Yes! Winner!" Ryder slowed and stopped, his arms raised in a "V" for victory.
Jessie came up behind him, his eyes scanning for the imaginary line. Ryder might have got there first, but maybe he wasn't in the right spot. Nope. Jessie came in second fair and square.
"Excellent, you two," Rake called. "Jessie, hit the sidelines. Remember, Ryder, when you make two plays, switch. Okay?"
"Yeah," Ryder called. Jessie jogged to the side to watch. Coach, standing at home plate, looked like he was holding a bat, but instead of tossing a ball into the air and smacking it into play, he held it on his shoulder and stuffed a ball into its end. The ball, with a sharp crack, shot out to the field. Whoa, it was a baseball bazooka. Cool! This shot flew up to the outfield. Rake took a few steps in and made an easy catch. Instead of firing the ball into the infield, he tossed a lazy grounder to foul territory. It smacked against the stands and came to a stop. As soon as it did, a small round metal object zipped over and sucked it up, just like one of those self-vacuuming robots he'd seen on infomercials. He scanned the foul territory on his side and saw one against the wall not too far from him. Though he knew it wouldn't hurt him, he took a couple of steps away from it.
Coach aimed in Ryder's direction and shot a ball. Ryder took a few steps back, watched the ball, and jogged forward to make the catch. Following Rake's example, he threw the ball to the side. When it stopped rolling, the vacuum robot sucked it up.
Everyone got balls shot at them, and after Ryder's second catch, he motioned for Jessie to switch. Jessie took a deep breath and hustled into position.
Ryder jogged past and said, "Just stay calm. You'll do fine." Jessie tried to nod.
As he watched first Mickey and then Stretch catch screaming line drives, his chest hurt from his heart beating so hard. Stop it, he told himself. Don't ruin everyone's practice by passing out again.
Coach shot the next ball deep over Rake's head. He sprinted back and snagged it just before it hit the wall. Jessie's heartbeat stabilized a bit. If Coach didn't shoot it right at him, he could do it.
Coach pointed to Jessie and launched the ball. Jessie took a step back and stopped. Shoot, where was it going? He took another step back, and then one forward. No, it was coming straight for him. At the last second, he ducked and threw his glove hand up. The ball nicked off his mitt and fell to the grass.
"Come on, Jessie." Coach's voice carried a little too well. "Use your mitt and you won't get hurt. Play the ball. Don't let the ball play you."
Jessie picked it up and lobbed it to the side. He didn't know if he got anywhere near the robot. He felt his face heat up, and the world went blurry through his tears. He didn't watch anyone else take their turn. When he heard the ball snap into Rake's mitt, he looked up and wiped his eyes to clear his vision.
"Let's go, Jess," Ryder shouted. "Show everyone you can do it."
Coach launched the next one. Jessie saw right away it was well short of him. He took off in a sprint. He passed the yellow line, still tracking the ball. It screamed down about halfway between the second tier wall and the yellow line. Jessie threw himself towards it, feeling it smack into the pocket of his mitt. The soft grass cushioned his fall, and he used his momentum to pop back up to his feet, his mitt held above his head to show his catch.
"That's the way, Jessie," Coach shouted. The others also yelled their encouragement.
"You got it, kid!"
"Way to go!"
"Knew you could do it, Jess!"
Jessie rolled the ball over towards the robot as he switched spots with Ryder, who gave him a high-five as they passed. That was why he loved baseball.
--------------------------------------
That's it for the sample chapters. I hope you enjoyed reading them. Roughly two-thirds of the book is left, so if you want to see how it all turns out, you need to buy it. It'll be available tomorrow, December 1st as an ebook on Amazon for the Kindle and at Smashwords for most other formats. It'll likely be available for the Nook at Barnes and Noble and (hopefully) in the iBook store for the iPad sometime soon. I will, of course, have easy-to-find links on the front page of my blog, so you won't be able to miss how to purchase the book. It'll be $1.99. I hope you not only buy the book, but also recommend it to others!
No comments:
Post a Comment