Chapter 6

After one more tournament loss Sammi went on a tear, winning the next three tournaments in a row. "You realize what this means, don't you?" Suzy asked her as they were riding home from the tournament in South Valley.

Sammi didn't care. She was tired, she just wanted to sleep, and said so.

"You've got enough points to qualify for the Center Cup."

"Huh? You're kidding."

"Nope. I was just counting them up. With today's win you have enough points. You're going to the Center Cup."

"That's good," Sammi murmured. She pulled her coat tighter around her shoulders and settled back against the window. She knew she'd won, but it hadn't sunk in until she'd heard the umpire say "Game, Set and Match." She had just stood there like an idiot, staring at the other girl while everyone began clapping. She didn't think about it again until Monday afternoon at practice. Mrs. Gresham handed her an invitation to a meeting the next night.

"Do I have to go?"

"The meeting is mandatory," Mrs. Gresham replied. "Everyone competing in the Center Cup has to attend."

Sammi read the invitation again, and sighed. She was supposed to go to Terminus for orientation. "If you say so."

The next afternoon, after school, she took the tram to Terminus. She followed the directions to an office building near the gate building. When she opened the door to the meeting room she saw a half-dozen gals of all ages. After signing in she took a seat on one side of the room. Two others, both girls her age, followed her, so at least she wasn't the last.

"I think that's everybody," a woman in the front row said as he stood up. "I'm Dierdre O'Brien, and I'm the Center Cup Coordinator for North Valley." She passed out a small booklet. "All of you have qualified for the Center Cup for the first time. This meeting is to teach you some of the things you'll need to know when you're in Center. This booklet will answer most of your questions. We'll cover most of the things in here, but there are things we didn't put in print that I'll cover today. By the way, for those of you who are wondering, the guys are having a similar meeting next door.

"We all know what the Center Cup is, the championship of each sport for the citizens of First Phase. It's similar to the Olympics in Zero Phase, but not nearly as big. You'll be competing with people from all over the Project in a variety of sporting events. That isn't what brings us here. Instead I'm going to talk about culture, and the differences between Three Valleys and the rest of the Project." She glanced at two girls sitting slightly apart in the corner of the room. "Especially the cultural differences.

"Let's start with clothes. Just like us, the women in the rest of the project wear skirts and dresses. Hemlines are at the knee or slightly lower except for the really young, where it can be at the top of the knee."

She held up a shimmery white garment. "This is called a slip, and it is very common in Center. It's worn under a dress. There is a version called the half-slip that is worn under a skirt. Virtually every woman wears one or the other. Most women wear one because it adds a layer of warmth. Remember, Center is only a hundred miles south of the main ice sheets and the weather there is much colder."

She handed the slip to a girl in the first row and picked up another garment, like a skirt, but fuller and with lots of ruffles. "This is called a petticoat. It's a very popular undergarment that people wear when they go dancing. It makes the skirt stand out a bit more. I understand that in some of the more mountainous places it's popular because it helps keep your legs warm, too."

"Why do they wear these things?" a girl asked from in front.

"Several reasons. First, when you're wearing a slip people can't see through your clothes if you're silhouetted against the sun. That's important elsewhere in the Project. Second, it smoothes out any lines caused by your underwear; looking smooth is very fashionable for women in Center. Third, and last I think, is that it gives a girl one more layer of warmth. Remember, Center is only a hundred miles south of the main ice sheets and it's colder than it is around here.

"Here in Three Valleys we wear ankle-socks, or knee-highs, when we bother to wear socks. I've always liked the idea that we don't have to wear leg coverings. But in Center, just like in the rest of the Project, women wear stockings. These are nylon and they are mostly transparent.

"All right, I can already see some of you asking, if they're transparent, why wear them?" She sighed. "Well, first, it's fashionable. A girl's legs look tanned, or can look tanned. Second, they are a covering, and you can choose shades that complement your clothes. They can also shape the leg, making it look a little more attractive.

"For the most part they haven't caught on here in Three Valleys. Having worn them, I'm glad they haven't. They're a pain to take care of. They snag and tear on the slightest thing. They aren't any warmer than anything else you wear, and they take time to put on and take off. But you'll see them everywhere, and in a locker room you'll see girls rolling them on. You'll all need to practice with them, and before you leave today you'll be given several pairs.

"Dressing and clothes - you'll see this if you do any shopping. What do we do here when we see something we like? We try it on, don't we? We find the nearest mirror, and there are plenty of mirrors, and we try it on, skirt, blouse, dress, bra, most anything. In Center there are dressing rooms for that sort of thing. You take the clothes into the dressing room and try them on there in private. Then you change back into your regular clothes and take the clothes to the register, or take them back to the rack.

"Keep that in mind. People in Center have a thing about seeing too much of a girl's skin." She glanced at the two girls in the corner of the room. "This will be particularly hard for you girls from Seaside. You're swimmers, aren't you?"

"I'm a diver," one girl said. "Tiffany is a swimmer."

"See me after this meeting. We have to get suits for you."

"Suits?"

"They cover your body when you swim. You'll need several of them, and you'll have to get used to wearing them and putting them on and taking them off." Mrs. O'Brien looked at the rest of the girls. "There's a pool in the building where you'll be staying, and the normal rules for swimming apply there as they apply in Three Valleys or Seaside, with one exception: no swimming in the evening. We get a lot of visitors in the evening, and they would be upset if they saw people swimming like we do here.

"That brings up pool parties and other forms of recreation - in a word, no, don't have them. I know you gals from Seaside won't mind, but for the rest of you, there's a place upstairs where you can socialize as much as you like. You just don't do it around the pool. That's mostly because of our visitors.

"Now if you'll open your booklet, we'll start going over some of the other things you need to know. To begin with..."

It was well into the evening by the time Sammi got home. She had a slip, a half-slip, a petticoat and four pairs of nylons. She had practiced putting them on and taking them off. Only the nylons felt uncomfortable. The slip had been okay, and the petticoats had been kind of fun; she liked the way they felt around her legs when she walked.

First, she thought they were stupid; but people outside of Seaside and Three Valleys were afraid of nudity. She wasn't half as horrified as the gals from Seaside. They'd looked uncomfortable in the clothes they were wearing; how much more uncomfortable were they going to be when they wore clothes all of the time?

Her mother asked her about the meeting while she ate. "Are the people weird?" Sammi asked after explaining some of what she had learned.

"They think we're the weird ones, dear," her mother replied. "I've got my own collection of slips and nylons that I had to wear when I was studying in Center."

Sammi followed her mother upstairs and sat on the bed as her mother showed her the undergarments. "How can you stand to wear all of this stuff?"

Her mother shrugged. "You learn. It's like when you learned to wear a bra. At first you didn't like wearing one, did you?" Sammi shook her head. "Now, though, you're used to them."

"I guess, unless I put on that beige one. It pinches me."

"It's probably too small. When you stay in Center, like I did for that movie a couple of years ago, you get used to putting all of these things on every day. After a while it's just a habit. You'll find the same thing if you travel around First Phase. Things aren't the same everywhere, people have little quirks and social habits that they've grown up with, and you just have to adapt to them."

"What about big social quirks and habits?"

"Such as?"

"Well, I was thinking, if I meet a boy I like, I take it I shouldn't have sex with him."

"It depends upon where he's from. If he's from Three Valleys I'd say go ahead. But if he's not from Three Valleys, well, they have different ideas. Almost all of the people outside of Three Valleys think a girl has to be in love with a boy before she has sex with him. A lot of people will say they have to be married, first."

"That's bizarre."

"They think we're bizarre, dear. We don't tell them otherwise."

The next few days flew by. Sammi spent Thursday night packing and unpacking. After repacking three times she was satisfied she had everything she wanted to take. She was a little worried, the trip from Three Valleys to Center was long, roundabout, and involved more traveling through Zero Phase than in going to the other valleys. After school on Friday she gathered at Terminus with everyone going on the trip. The security people gave them packets to be opened in case there was an accident. They all dressed warmly - the weather in Zero Phase was cold and snowy - and they went through the gate.

A different bus was waiting for them. This was large and bulky with heat and fumes curling out of a grate in the back. Their luggage was collected and put in a compartment under the bus. The interior was warm and the seats were comfortable and everyone quickly found places to settle in.

The bus used a different route to get to the main road. Sammi watched the snowy landscape for a bit - she couldn't see much because of the low clouds and the wooded hills. After a while she turned on the light over her and began to do her homework.

They eventually descended out of the hills and passed buildings and other vehicles. Eventually, after dark, they joined some larger road. Hours later they came to a city, lights, ships in the harbor and a lot more people. By then Sammi was half-dozing and not really paying attention. She woke up when they pulled to a stop in the middle of a complex of buildings.

The lights in the bus came up. "Everybody up," Mrs. O'Brien called. "We're almost there."

Kids grumbled sleepily as they filed off the bus. The air was cold and they could smell the water. A man in the dark uniform of the Security Commission checked their names off of a list and directed them through a door into a building. Sammi yawned as they climbed a flight of steps and walked down a hall.

Two smiling women checked their ID and showed them into a room where they could leave their coats and pick up their luggage. Then it was down a short hall to a gate. On the other side of the gate they went through another hall and down a flight of stairs. In front of them was a door, and on the other side of the door was Center.

In the 50 years since the beginning of the Project the town of Center had grown from a few shacks hastily thrown up as a base camp for an exploration team to a town of more than 50,000. The main offices of the Project had been built here, but as the tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States rose during the 1950's the thousands of people brought into the Project needed more than just an administrative office. Since direct support by the US government was terminated in the early 1960's the town of Center had grown into the political, commercial and social heart for the more than one million people who now lived in First Phase.

The town itself was a modest rambling community sprawled on both sides of a meandering river that in Zero Phase had been erased by the Ice Ages. The hills, woods and river naturally divided the town into smaller communities devoted to commercial, political or any of the myriad other activities a growing populace needed. There were a few impressive buildings in the middle of town along the river. These looked like they were built of spun glass and towered above all of the other buildings and formed the shopping and retail heart of town.

The gates were in the middle of Center just a few blocks from the retail center. Their destination was one of the smaller communities a few miles away. When they left the gates they walked to a tram and a few minutes later got off near a five-story apartment building. A woman met them in the lobby of the building and motioned them to gather around her.

"Welcome to Center," she said, holding up her hands. "I'm Loni Simpson and I work here, though I grew up in Terminus in Three Valleys. This building is owned by one of the companies in Three Valleys. In many ways it is exactly like home. You'll all be staying here. We are about a mile from the main tournament site. Trams run there every 15 minutes during the day and every hour after that all night.

"You'll get a lot of questions about what life is like in Three Valleys. A lot of the kids, and probably some of the adults, will ask you questions about Three Valleys. I can't tell you what to say, but a lot of people have funny ideas, and I would advise you to be careful when you speak.

"As you know, this is part of a bigger sports event called the Center Cup. There are dozens of different competitions going on at the same time. The winner of each one wins a cup, the Center Cup for that sport. In the next 16 days feel free to travel to the different venues to see these other events. Your competitors badge will get you in for free, though you won't always have the best seats. If you're not watching or competing, take the opportunity to look around Center. There's a lot to see and do here, and a lot of you won't get another chance to see the sights.

"All right, one last thing. We serve two meals a day here, breakfast and supper. You'll have to procure lunch for yourselves. The only venues that serve lunch are the tennis and the shooting sites. Every day you'll be given meal money, but if you eat at either of these two venues you can eat for free just by presenting your badge.

"Now the coordinators will help you get settled. We don't have any competitions tomorrow. Instead, tomorrow afternoon there will be an opening ceremony. Tomorrow night there will be a party at the main Center Cup stadium. Following the ceremonies there will be a party just for the competitors but hosted by the Center Cup staff. You'll need your badges to get in. I encourage everyone to attend. Part of the fun of the Center Cup is getting to meet people from elsewhere in the Project. Some of the friends you'll make in the next two weeks will last a lifetime.

"The first competitions will start the day after tomorrow. Information about competition draws will be posted in the lobby the night before. Thank you and have a fun competition."

Mrs. O'Brien raised her hand and Sammi and Suzy drifted over to her. "After tonight you can make your own sleeping arrangements," she said. "For tonight, it's late, and I want everyone to just get some sleep. There will be a small dinner in your rooms."

Two girls from a different school met them at the door to their room. When Sammi unlocked the door; she wasn't surprised to see a pair of double beds in the room.

"Who wants which bed?" she asked as she stood there.

"Doesn't matter to me," Suzy said. She dumped her suitcase on the far bed. "How about you and me on this one, at least for tonight?"

"I guess," Sammi said. "I didn't see the pool they mentioned. Where is it?"

"It's in the atrium," one of the other girls said. "I'm Jeanette, this is Robin. We're from Hydro."

"We live near Midtown," Suzy said. "I'm Suzy, this is Sammi."

"Ah, the big city," Jeanette said, "at least compared to Hydro."

Sammi began getting undressed. "I'd suggest a swim, but it's got to be after midnight, and I'm bushed."

Jeannette and Robin nodded. "Dibs on the bathroom first," Robin said.

It had been a long day. As Sammi curled up on her half of the bed she reflected that it had started in her own room at home, and here she was thousands of miles away in Center. She regretted that Tom hadn't made the trip - he hadn't done well in the qualifying tournament. Rod wasn't here, either. The school people insisted that every student get involved in a sport; she didn't know what his sport was, but she'd checked and he hadn't made the trip.

In the morning Mrs. O'Brien called them together as breakfast was being served around the pool. "We're not leaving for the venue until 12:30," she said. "Before we go, though, there are some things we need to cover.

"Okay, you're going to get people asking you about Three Valleys. The best way to answer their questions is to not answer them. Find some graceful way to slide past the question."

"What kind of questions will they ask?" Ted Chambers asked.

"Sex." Mrs. O'Brien looked around, nodding her head. "There are people who don't think sex education should be taught. There's a lot of misinformation out there and there are a lot of rumors about what we teach in school. Some of you know what I mean. You've either lived in Zero Phase, or you've visited places outside of Three Valleys, and you can tell the others what I mean."

Suzy nudged Sammi with her elbow. "You lived in Center," she murmured. The other kids at the table all nodded. "What does she mean?"

"They think sex is dirty," Sammi said. Before breakfast Mrs. O'Brien had singled her out and asked her to explain some of what she knew. "They don't like to talk about it. Oh, they'll make jokes, but they don't like the idea of kids knowing anything about their bodies or what goes on in a bedroom."

"That's stupid," Jasmine Davis said. "Kids could learn all sorts of bad things. I've read that in Zero Phase there are a lot of teenagers who get pregnant."

Sammi nodded in agreement. "The school my cousin was in had a day care for the babies the students had had."

"So what do they do if they ask us if we have sex with boys in school?" Jasmine asked.

Mrs. O'Brien, who was circulating through the tables, smiled. "Some of them might ask that very question," she said. "Don't lie, that's wrong. But you can change the subject, or slide by it. Debbie, you go to tech school here, what do you say?"

Debbie, an older girl sitting at one of the other tables, smiled. "I tell them there's this one really hot boy in school and I wouldn't mind sleeping with him, but you know how parents are."

"But you probably did have sex with him," Jasmine said. "I don't get it."

"I didn't say I didn't have sex with him," Debbie said. "I just said I wished I could, which is true enough, and then I implied my parents were in the way, which they weren't, but that's not what I said."

"And it worked?" Jasmine looked shocked.

"Everyone looked at each other and nodded, and that was the last I heard of it," Debbie said. "I didn't say I did, I didn't say I didn't, I slid the topic away."

Sammi nodded. She could see how that worked. Mrs. O'Brien bent over and spoke briefly with Jasmine. Sammi knew she wouldn't have to split hairs like Debbie. She could refer them to Rod. She had had three dates with him and they hadn't had sex yet.

"Anybody who's having doubts," Mrs. O'Brien said, "see me after breakfast."

"Can we go for a swim after breakfast?" somebody asked.

"Well, yes, today only. Just remember to be dressed and ready for the trip to the venue by noon."

Some kids started undressing right there. Others waited for the first splashing to stop before jumping in the water. A few kids were shepherded to one side; Sammi saw that Jasmine was one of them.

Sammi dove in and swam several lengths of the pool before finally pulling up to catch her breath. Jeannette ended up next to her, looking morose.

"What's the matter?" Sammi asked.

"I'd better enjoy this while I can," Jeannette said. "I'm in the diving competition."

"Oh? Why..." Sammi remembered her experiences in Zero Phase. "Oh, that's right. You've got to wear some sort of clothes, don't you, some sort of suit or something."

Jeannette nodded. "I've been practicing with it on. Yuck. I hate the way it feels when it's wet and clings to me. I've never understood how people can wear those things. If they don't want my boobs or my sex visible, why not cover just those places? I don't understand why they have to cover everything."

"One of those mysteries," Sammi said. "I'm competing in tennis."

"That's what I saw. They have a list up in the lobby showing what everybody's events are. You have to do all of that running back and forth, so at least there's a reason for you to wear a bra and other things."

"You sound pretty upset."

"I'll get over it. It's not like I haven't been practicing for this for some time. I don't have to compete until next weekend. Until then it's practice, practice, practice. At least this time the judges don't get to see us practice."

"Oh? I didn't think that was a problem."

"Oh, yeah, there are a couple of sports where they watch people practicing, and they probably form opinions about the competition while they're watching them. After some complaints last year they changed the rules. The first time a judge or official will see a competitor is during the competition. They won't even know our names, just our numbers."

"It doesn't really apply much in tennis," Sammi said.

"Yeah, you guys have it lucky; you just hit the ball back and forth."

"Are you and Robin staying there, or... ?"

"Robin has already hooked up with a guy she met a few weeks ago. I figure I'll see what happens at the party tonight."

Sammi remembered hearing about the Olympics back in Zero Phase. The Center Cup was the same thing in First Phase, but they held it every year, not every four, and it was divided into a youth competition as well as an open competition. The tennis competition was a good example. It had two parts: the youth tennis that she was entered in, and the Open Tennis, that was open to all ages. You could qualify for one or the other, though the Open had a much tougher qualifying format.

There were more kids entered in the youth tournament than in the Open. There were so many that it was organized in two round-robins to seed the single-elimination round. For five days she was going to play three matches a day; she figured she'd be so busy she wouldn't have a chance to do anything but play tennis.