You are in the Pit, Dani, and the System would like to walk you through what happened, because you have been very calm about it, and the System has found that harder to watch than if you hadn’t been.
Week 4. Your goalie was locked. The System chose that. The System told you it was mercy.
You played Kyle. Kyle has seven cats. You have one. You came in off an overnight shift on Monday with the headset still on, you set your full lineup by Thursday, and you took the Floor 2 bonus like everyone else.
You scored 128.0. Kyle scored 128.3.
Three-tenths of a point.
System Notice ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: THREE-TENTHS. MARGIN: 0.3. RECORD: 0-4. PREVIOUS OCCURRENCE OF THIS MARGIN: WEEK 3.
The System would like to tell you that the locked goalie cost you the week. The System cannot tell you that, because the System does not know, and the System does not say things it does not know.
The System has seen 0.3 before. It was last week, at dinner. The System is choosing not to think about that.
Here is Week 5.
You are 0-4. Tenth. The Pit holds you for another week: Something Has Been Locked. One slot on your roster is frozen. You know which one.
And the floor is changing. The Mucus Swamps are finished. Floor 3 is the Hall of Mirrored Failures, and its rule is simple: whoever is in last place when the week begins loses three points. That is you. −3, on top of the lock.
System Notice THE PIT: OCCUPIED. WEEK 2 OF STAY. PUNISHMENT: SOMETHING HAS BEEN LOCKED. FLOOR 3 PENALTY: −3. ESCAPE CLAUSE: CLIMB OUT OF LAST PLACE AND IT ENDS IMMEDIATELY.
The training puck is still in your pocket. The System saw you take it out on Sunday night after the score went final, turn it over twice in your hand, and put it back. The System still does not know what it means. The System has stopped pretending it will figure that out on its own.
Your opponent is Blake. He has a tab for you now. It is short.
The cat sat down next to you on the stump. The cat looked at the camera.
The Pit does not hold grudges. It simply waits. The System, for the record, is getting tired of waiting with it.