Just Play the Game

In this short story, government decisions are based on the outcomes of violent tlachtli games. The player Ollin has always performed his civic duties honorably. When he is disgraced and sidelined without pay, he is desperate for money to pay for his father's medicine. A foreigner offers him money and the chance to play again, but will the cost be one Ollin can accept?Part of the "Break Bites" Series: Stories short enough to read when you get a break from your everyday activities. About the author: Amber D. Sistla was born in Oklahoma and now lives in the Pacific Northwest. She has a degree in computer science and has six U.S. and E.U. patents. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Nature, Jim Baen's Universe, Postcripts, Cosmos, Bull Spec, and Daily Science Fiction. She is an active member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.