The Alpha Choice by M.D. Hall

villa, Genir turned to Gorn. ‘Think they’ll have a decent team?’ He was, of course, referring to zagball. ‘Absolutely,’ replied his friend, ‘but don’t think it’ll be as easy as school, we’re not automatic shoo-ins.’  
    Genir shook his head and smiled. ‘I think you’ve forgotten just how good we are!’
    ‘We are pretty good,’ Gorn agreed, as he recalled their introduction to the game. By law, students could not participate in zagball until they were in their sixth year at school, this usually meant they were eleven. As soon as they left year five, the two of them volunteered for the school team.
    Their coach, Zaran, observed them closely as he taught the fundamentals of the game. Slowly, but surely, he manipulated the team selection until eventually, the two were paired together. To the coach, it was clear from the moment they first entered the cuboid, they had an almost telepathic rapport.
    For Genir the joy of competition lay in being the best. Even in team sports, he needed to excel over, not only his opponents, but also his teammates and this he achieved comfortably with everyone, except Gorn, in whom he found an equal. In reality, they were not equals; no matter what Genir did, he was unable to better his friend, but sooner than anyone else, he had come to realise that Gorn was different, unique and the gulf between them became a source of pride, not resentment. In seeking to emulate his friend, Genir became better than he ever thought possible, achieving what would otherwise be just beyond his grasp.
    Gorn had an uncanny ability, from the time he first hovered within the cuboid, to read the speed of the ball as it came off the deflectors, varying from level to level and constantly changing intensity throughout the course of a match. He could, on occasions, perform the hitherto impossible feat of scoring from three deflections. Until then, the maximum deflections utilised in scoring had been two, if the rumoured achievements of Zaran were ignored!
    Genir found he was able to anticipate his friend’s intentions, and place himself at just the right position, without any obvious indication being given by Gorn as to which deflector he was targeting.  
    Physically, both of them were of almost identical height and build, but they differed in that Gorn was fair skinned and fair-haired. Genir, on the other hand, had jet-black hair and an olive complexion. Unlike his friend, his looks and stature were very similar to his father.
    For Gorn, merely getting into the Academy was not enough. He needed to prove himself to his father and brothers, long since concluding that only by excelling as a cadet would he earn their respect.
    When he was with Genir’s family, he would regale them with the stories he had heard from his brothers, Jaron simply smiling and nodding, never talking of his own experiences in the military - his experience at Gallsor had been edited for public consumption, so that very few outside the service, realised who he was, or what he had done. Instead, he encouraged the boys to tell of their adventures. They duly complied, and despite Gorn's own stories being limited to the goings on within the cuboid, and the latest scientific experiment he was conducting, Jaron appeared to be fascinated. He enjoyed his son’s stories no less, which Genir carefully steered away from any accounts of academic studies and, when under the watchful eyes of his mother, girls.  
    Jaron attended the boys’ first zagball match and it came as a surprise to both of them when their coach invited Jaron to sit in during the pre match tactical planning. The proud father sat rapt, and said nothing. After the game, the two men spoke and embraced. Jaron then beckoned the boys over. ‘You lads are good, but you’ll be going some to match Zaran,’ he clasped the bigger man’s shoulder and added. ‘The best player I've ever seen, probably the best there ever was.’
    The two boys managed to resist smiling, as the