Watching the Flying Cormorants of Derby Ball
This is Day 5 of the “Twelve Days of Sci-Fi”. You’ll get a free story each day. You can also get a discount on sci-fi stories for next year.
Ricky was completely absorbed in the Derby Ball's semi-finals being broadcast live on the wall-sized screen. Humanoid giants clashed and chased a ball around the field.
The Detroit Bucks were playing the St. Louis Cormorants.
Except those weren't the players that Ricky was watching. Rather, they were being rendered as anthropomorphic avatars through real-time volumetric and motion capture. Hulking, sand brown buck morphs with giant horns slammed against sleek, feathered birds who seemed to move with a light grace.
Sabina watched her son and drank a fresh cup of warm tea, watching the game with the critical eye of a historian and amateur player during her undergrad years. She remembered her blood, sweat, and tears as she played. She thought about the chill of the stadium and the feeling of turf grass as she slid. Now, she constantly tried to look through these digital recreations to see the real people playing.
Yet to Ricky, seeing these animals fight was the game.
"Look at that charge! Awesome!" Rick shouted as a Buck defender used its bulk to shove a Cormorant player, sending the avatar skidding across the colorful turf. Each impact was full of force even as the participants all looked like a high-budget fantasy video game.
"That's simple blocking," Sabina remarked. "But watch that Cormorant winger, number Seven. He's anticipating the ball rebounding."
"The one with the wing-flash?"
"The avatar has the wing-flash. The person underneath has a name, Arthur Shearer. He's got the fastest reaction time in the whole league."
She had actually had a chance to speak with Arthur for her last book, "Risk It: Reward Systems in Modern Sports".
The game continued, with many fast and brutal moments. The heavy ball slammed between players and was driven forward. Tackles that could've been considered penalties in the past were just part of the flow today. Their brutal collisions were captured by the omnipresent cameras so that replays could be recreated from any angle.
Then Cormorant 7 made a quick juke to get close to the Bucks goal. He ran while keeping the ball tucked in his arms.
Then, A Buck defender came in hard from the side. The collision was legal perhaps, but absolute. Arthur's forward momentum stopped as he seemed to fly through the air and landed in the turf.
For a split-second, the avatar recreation showed the avatar spasming. Then there was a strange digital flickering around the 3D model, as if the human injury was infecting the motion-capture system as well.
Where a mangled limb or pooling blood would have been shown, instead the broadcast depicted a glittering rainbow spray. The downed player's avatar was obscured by a cloud of family-friendly, sanitized light.
The live human announcers still spoke with alarm.
"Wow Shearer just went down hard. Did you hear that crunch?"
Their narration was smoothly faded out. In its place was the broadcaster's AI voice which was perfectly calm and reassuring.
"Cormorant Seven is being rotated off the pitch for a standard energy recharge. The coach will send in a substitute momentarily."
"Wow he's so colorful," Ricky leaned forward. "Did his system crash?"
Sabina hit the mute button. There was an uncomfortable silence.
"Ricky, there wasn't a system crash," her throat was dry. "And she isn't recharging."
"But the voice said..." he was confused.
"It's lying," she looked him carefully in the eye. "That's the broadcast protocol for a serious injury. Those colors are covering up what's happening. But that is where he is bleeding. He might have broken bones too."
Ricky frowned, looking between her and the large screen.
"But why are they lying?"
"There's a person under that avatar who is really hurt."
"I guess that looks bad. Colors are better."
"Are they? Ricky, under that avatar is a real person who just got badly hurt because of how the game is played. The League uses these avatars because seeing the full scale of the violence makes viewers uncomfortable. It might make people ask if it's too dangerous. They'd stop watching. Sponsors would pull out."
She paused and leaned in.
"But if you never see the full consequences, how are you supposed to decide if that cool charge is actually good for the real athletes involved? They treat you like a child who can't handle reality, and they treat adults the same way."
Ricky nodded to what his mother was saying, although his face continued to contort as he kept thinking.
"But I like seeing the animals. It's more fun. It's less messy."
Sabina let out a loud sigh. There was a deep ache in her chest, a mix of frustration and sadness.
"Yes, that's the problem I guess," she looked at the screen, at the digital players who were devoid of pain and consequence. "They've made it palatable and people get used to it."
The game continued but she left the sound on mute. She was deeply worried about a world that believed protecting people from the truth was the same as keeping them safe.