By Frank Roberts

Sir Galahad left the sword inside the freshly killed bandit and looked around the battlefield. Although "battle"-field isn't exactly the right word for it. It was more of a "massacre"-field: six cutpurses and two thieves are not exactly what you'd call a serious challenge for two trained knights. But then, it's not much use trying to uproot the bigger weeds if you ignore the small ones that spring up in their place. Sir Lancelot was already cleaning his sword's blade with a cloth cut from one of the thieves' clothing. Galahad gripped his own sword's handle and pulled it out of the body.

"Hey, Valiant," he turned to the bushes. "Got anyone?"

There was a rustle and out stepped a young man, sheathing a sword.

"You guys always have all the fun! Nine people and only one of them thinks about trying to run away. And he tripped on his own feet straight on his own sword…" He said, in an offended voice.

Lancelot roared with laughter and Galahad smiled.

"We all had to go through that. If you want to fight so much, next time I'll be on the look-out for the run-away, alright?" He suggested.

Valiant's face brightened up.

"Would you? Great. I'll finally get…" Then his face fell again. "Right. With my luck, next time half of them will try to run off and the other half would all go for Lancelot, not bothering to leave anyone to deal with me…"

"Oh, come on," Galahad smiled again. "It can't be all that bad. You'll get your share of trouble in due time. But now we should get going. You know how Arthur gets when we're late for a meeting."

Valiant giggled.

"And Merlin's face goes completely red. It's so much fun making him angry."

Lancelot's face lost the smile.

"And it's one of the things you should never do. Merlin is older than both of us together and have seen things you would never get the chance to. Listen to him carefully. He has many a good advice for youngsters like you." He snapped.

"All right," said Galahad, putting his hand on Lancelot's shoulder to calm him. "Let's go."

He pushed Valiant slightly ahead and followed him on the way to the castle.

* * * *

The lights flickered and went out. Then the room was illuminated with a bright white light. !@$@ depressed the button holding his straps and scrambled out of the machine. He stretched and turned to look at the operator, who was fiddling with some controls on the dashboard.

"Thanks, @$*. A good game. It's about time you started giving me some more role-playing situations." !@$@ said.

The operator turned to his friend and grinned.

"It's about time you were ready for them." He stretched as well. "But it was a good game. I enjoyed it. I'd say these simulators are well worth their money. I've been trying to get Earth into a game for some while now. Speaking of which, did I tell you the inhabitants still think the planet is a disk?"

"Yeah, three times already."

"Good," said @$*. "Please remember not to blab it to the NPCs, or I'll have to get your character killed. They'll discover it in due time. As well as the other major continent of the planet."

"I'm offended", scowled !@$@. "When was the last time I blabbed something?"

"When you lost your last PC. About a week ago. I think you named the guy Galileo. Just couldn't mind your own business, could you?"

!@$@ chucked.

"Now, that was a fun game. Anyway, I intend to keep this one for a bit longer. I want to see Arthur's reign through. There's a richly created NPC."

@$* smiled.

"Yeah, that one took a lot of work. So, when do you have time to play again?"

!@$@ thought for a minute.

"Mmm, next week, same day, same time?"

"Nah, I got a little something going on next week. How about in two weeks?"

"Sure, I can do that."

"Good." Said @$*, opening the front door. "We'll pick it up where we left. Till next time then."

"I'll see you later." Said !@$@ and left the house, heading for his transporter.