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.#Z-Crosse was one of those games that the Academy pushed very hard on its young cadets.Not everyone chose to play on the team, but everyone had to pick a sport.Not surprisingly, all the sports were so designed to train the cadets in zero-G maneuvering.Z-Crosse was the most brutal of the sports, so the instructors liked it the most and took it very seriously.Their reasoning was simple: if one could play Z-Crosse with any level of confidence then zero-G combat was going to be a snap.They were right, but Alexander suspected the real reason was because it was loads of fun.Unlike Terran based Lacrosse, a Z-Crosse match took place in a spherical bubble of space with a rotating goal in the center.Like the Terran based game the object was to put the ball into the net.The net itself was smart in that it always turned to face the location of the ball wherever it happened to be.This made it doubly difficult for the goalie, who had a tough enough job already.To make things even tougher, there was only one goal but of course there were two goalies, one for each team.The goalie turned into an attacker when his team had possession of the ball, but that meant that he had to retreat beyond the “red zone” of the goal, a bubble designated by a spherical laser shell ten meters in diameter.The goalies therefore shuffled back and forth, in and out of the goalie bubble throughout the match, but there was no rule that said they had to be polite about it.Similar shells designated the attack zones and the midfield or “middie” zones.Middies could only jet around in the middie zone, and Attackers could only jet around in the attack zone, unless, of course, there was a change of possession and the attackers became defenders.Middies had the most ground to cover and had to be to best at “zooting.” Centurion Fjallheim handed out the assignments, but his logic was somewhat suspect, at least towards Alexander.“After watching your zooting round last night Cadet Wolfe, I’d say you’re a natural Middie,” he smiled.Yet instead of handing Alexander the standard stick, he gave him the big net.Alexander stared at it, wondering what it meant.“You need to work on your coordination and your toughness; you’re a goalie.”“A goalie,” Alexander repeated, mechanically taking the stick.“Yeah, you and Sampson can fight over the net.You’re pads are over there; better get them on, you’ll need them.” Centurion Fjallheim handed the other goalie stick to Cadet Sampson, who smiled.He was a foot taller than Alexander and twice his size.“Sorry Alexander,” Sampson smiled.“I’m not supposed to cream the guys from my own flight, but you know how it is.”“Right,” Alexander said with very little excitement.Z-Crosse was as much an exercise in Newton’s laws of motion as it was a game, or survival for Alexander.Alexander found that out when he tried to transition from playing attack to goalie.His team already scored twice on Sampson, who wasn’t especially quick or coordinated, but easily frustrated.The bigger boy was eager to take his frustrations out on someone, anyone, and Alexander was in the way.The ball whizzed by Samson’s head.He missed it so badly; he whirled around and got caught in the net.As he frantically tried to disengage himself, Sampson’s teammates intercepted the errant ball, passing it out to the middies as the rules dictated, and then back on the attack.Treya, who was an outstanding zooter already, dodged several of Alexander’s teammates and got ready for a shot, only she couldn’t take it because Sampson was still lodged in the net.“Hey Sampson, get out of there; what are you doing?”Samson turned red with embarrassment.Alexander’s first instinct was to help, but that just made Sampson even angrier.He punched his zoots full bore and the net finally let him go—straight at Alexander.He hit Alexander in the chest with his stick sending him cart-wheeling out of the goalie bubble, through the defense and attack bubble and careening into the middie bubble.“What are you doing all the way out there Cadet Wolfe?” Centurion Fjallheim shouted.Now it was Alexander’s turn to be embarrassed.He hit his zoots and sped back to the net.The rest of the period he spent trying as best he could to stop the ball and avoid getting plastered by Sampson, who made it his personal goal to try and smack Alexander all the way out of the game.Fortunately, the larger boy was a poor zooter.More than once he missed Alexander completely and zooted into the other bubble, running over someone else.It was a long and trying hour, and though Alexander couldn’t say he had any fun, he had to admit that he learned more about zooting while trying to preserve his life than he would have doing any number of drills.After practice they hit the showers, having a full fifteen minutes before they were scheduled to be in math.Sampson searched him out, shrugging an apology.“Sorry if I got you, but man you’re hard to catch.I can’t go easy on you; you know that don’t you?”“Don’t worry about it,” Alexander said.“We’ve both got to try as hard as we can.”Sampson smiled, and punched him in the shoulder, “You’re O.k.Wolfe, but next time, try not to make me look so bad.” Alexander laughed good naturedly, happy to be in one piece and happy that he hadn’t made an enemy.Later that day, at the evening mess, Sampson sat next to him.They ate the computer processed concoction that was supposed to be meatloaf, but which looked and tasted like anything but meatloaf.There was no reason for Sampson to talk to Alexander but he did anyway.He couldn’t help but wonder if he’d made a friend.The next day went much like the last, as did the following day.By the end of the week, Alexander was getting the routine down.The morning reveille always sounded too early.He always had trouble staying awake in Professor Nussbaum’s class even though it was Galactic History which he loved.In math, Lt.Mortimer never, ever, repeated herself no matter how they begged.Of course, she realized that half the time real reason was the boys simply wanted to hear her musical voice.Lieutenant Mortimer looked as though her name should be should be Lieutenant Merryweather, or Lieutenant Summerford [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl centka.pev.pl
.#Z-Crosse was one of those games that the Academy pushed very hard on its young cadets.Not everyone chose to play on the team, but everyone had to pick a sport.Not surprisingly, all the sports were so designed to train the cadets in zero-G maneuvering.Z-Crosse was the most brutal of the sports, so the instructors liked it the most and took it very seriously.Their reasoning was simple: if one could play Z-Crosse with any level of confidence then zero-G combat was going to be a snap.They were right, but Alexander suspected the real reason was because it was loads of fun.Unlike Terran based Lacrosse, a Z-Crosse match took place in a spherical bubble of space with a rotating goal in the center.Like the Terran based game the object was to put the ball into the net.The net itself was smart in that it always turned to face the location of the ball wherever it happened to be.This made it doubly difficult for the goalie, who had a tough enough job already.To make things even tougher, there was only one goal but of course there were two goalies, one for each team.The goalie turned into an attacker when his team had possession of the ball, but that meant that he had to retreat beyond the “red zone” of the goal, a bubble designated by a spherical laser shell ten meters in diameter.The goalies therefore shuffled back and forth, in and out of the goalie bubble throughout the match, but there was no rule that said they had to be polite about it.Similar shells designated the attack zones and the midfield or “middie” zones.Middies could only jet around in the middie zone, and Attackers could only jet around in the attack zone, unless, of course, there was a change of possession and the attackers became defenders.Middies had the most ground to cover and had to be to best at “zooting.” Centurion Fjallheim handed out the assignments, but his logic was somewhat suspect, at least towards Alexander.“After watching your zooting round last night Cadet Wolfe, I’d say you’re a natural Middie,” he smiled.Yet instead of handing Alexander the standard stick, he gave him the big net.Alexander stared at it, wondering what it meant.“You need to work on your coordination and your toughness; you’re a goalie.”“A goalie,” Alexander repeated, mechanically taking the stick.“Yeah, you and Sampson can fight over the net.You’re pads are over there; better get them on, you’ll need them.” Centurion Fjallheim handed the other goalie stick to Cadet Sampson, who smiled.He was a foot taller than Alexander and twice his size.“Sorry Alexander,” Sampson smiled.“I’m not supposed to cream the guys from my own flight, but you know how it is.”“Right,” Alexander said with very little excitement.Z-Crosse was as much an exercise in Newton’s laws of motion as it was a game, or survival for Alexander.Alexander found that out when he tried to transition from playing attack to goalie.His team already scored twice on Sampson, who wasn’t especially quick or coordinated, but easily frustrated.The bigger boy was eager to take his frustrations out on someone, anyone, and Alexander was in the way.The ball whizzed by Samson’s head.He missed it so badly; he whirled around and got caught in the net.As he frantically tried to disengage himself, Sampson’s teammates intercepted the errant ball, passing it out to the middies as the rules dictated, and then back on the attack.Treya, who was an outstanding zooter already, dodged several of Alexander’s teammates and got ready for a shot, only she couldn’t take it because Sampson was still lodged in the net.“Hey Sampson, get out of there; what are you doing?”Samson turned red with embarrassment.Alexander’s first instinct was to help, but that just made Sampson even angrier.He punched his zoots full bore and the net finally let him go—straight at Alexander.He hit Alexander in the chest with his stick sending him cart-wheeling out of the goalie bubble, through the defense and attack bubble and careening into the middie bubble.“What are you doing all the way out there Cadet Wolfe?” Centurion Fjallheim shouted.Now it was Alexander’s turn to be embarrassed.He hit his zoots and sped back to the net.The rest of the period he spent trying as best he could to stop the ball and avoid getting plastered by Sampson, who made it his personal goal to try and smack Alexander all the way out of the game.Fortunately, the larger boy was a poor zooter.More than once he missed Alexander completely and zooted into the other bubble, running over someone else.It was a long and trying hour, and though Alexander couldn’t say he had any fun, he had to admit that he learned more about zooting while trying to preserve his life than he would have doing any number of drills.After practice they hit the showers, having a full fifteen minutes before they were scheduled to be in math.Sampson searched him out, shrugging an apology.“Sorry if I got you, but man you’re hard to catch.I can’t go easy on you; you know that don’t you?”“Don’t worry about it,” Alexander said.“We’ve both got to try as hard as we can.”Sampson smiled, and punched him in the shoulder, “You’re O.k.Wolfe, but next time, try not to make me look so bad.” Alexander laughed good naturedly, happy to be in one piece and happy that he hadn’t made an enemy.Later that day, at the evening mess, Sampson sat next to him.They ate the computer processed concoction that was supposed to be meatloaf, but which looked and tasted like anything but meatloaf.There was no reason for Sampson to talk to Alexander but he did anyway.He couldn’t help but wonder if he’d made a friend.The next day went much like the last, as did the following day.By the end of the week, Alexander was getting the routine down.The morning reveille always sounded too early.He always had trouble staying awake in Professor Nussbaum’s class even though it was Galactic History which he loved.In math, Lt.Mortimer never, ever, repeated herself no matter how they begged.Of course, she realized that half the time real reason was the boys simply wanted to hear her musical voice.Lieutenant Mortimer looked as though her name should be should be Lieutenant Merryweather, or Lieutenant Summerford [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]