some very rigorous calisthenics, with dark sweat rings. Suddenly, Brody got talkative, like she was his sudden de facto rabbi. Brody: [ stunned ] Dunno what went wrong, the mission was, uh – then boom – nothing [ dazedly ] I was – I mean – [ Mabel encouraged him to con- tinue, letting him focus ] Yeah, we uh, my flight in the game, was attacking this Japanese convoy, right? [ she nodded ] And uh, suddenly my #3 just [ makes explosion with his hands ] POOF! He’s gone – then the game crashed – couldn’t get it working [ paused for another gulp of chocolate milk ] They were trying to get their troops out and we had em! Argh, barfed a detail about the rockets, bruh! You gotta lead ‘em so I guess they got through, you know, to Barangah or wherever. Mabel: [ stiffening when she heard the name Barangah, which made her pause, but she tried to act normal ] Batan-gah? Is that what you said? [ he nodded ] Where is that? [ he shrugged ] Hmmm, that sounds like a place I remember from my childhood. Brody: [ ignoring what she said, too focused ] Uh, yeah Ba-ran-gah I think, it was the place the ships were headed [ thinking about the mission briefing ] to uh, rescue their people or something… Mabel: [ staying even ] Ah, well, if the game crashed good luck, right? Let me know if you get it working again, I mean you spend a ton of time playing so it does kinda matter, eh? Brody: [ big nod ] Yeah, fo-sho [ pause ] bruh, the ‘board – it’s like mega, [ frowns ] this gonna so tank my alpha bid [ frowns ] Woof! While Brody attempted to deal with falling in the game’s leaderboard, Ma- bel listened but checked her phone and yeah, there it was as a news story – a multilateral relief force was heading to Baraga, a port city in the Cordo- van archipelago. She felt blood rush to her face, like she knew her hunch was right and this was her proof. Whatever Brody was doing, and he was always playing some game, felt different to her. There were too many de -
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