Ron shook his head, still bewildered.
"Good deal," Shock said. "Now let's finish that game. You play, kid?"
"No," Ron said. He staggered towards a wooden chair on the side of the
room and dropped on it heavily. "No," he repeated, still trying to
regain his breath.
_Play the game...._
His rescuer sat beside him. "Don't mind that guy," he whispered. "He
does that to everybody. He got some kind of a power in his hands. But
he's not a bad guy. Honest."
"Sure," Ron said weakly.
"We get a lot of kicks," the boy said eagerly. "You'll see. We have
dogfights with the other gangs. With copters. We only got one, that
ain't so much. But we're figurin' on gettin' some PF's next year, if we
can collect enough dough in the treasury...."
"That'll be great," Ron said. Then he dropped his hand on the other's
arm. "Listen--is there any chance of takin' a trip? In the copter?"
"Yeah, sure," the boy said warily. "Only you gotta ask for it in
advance. I mean, it's Rocket property, and you gotta sign for it. And
even then, if Shock wants to use it--well...."
"Why?" Ron said. "Why's that? Because he's the leader?"
"Sure," the boy said simply. "That's the reason."
Ron looked across the room at the card players.
"How do you get to be the leader?"
"I dunno. Shock's the leader 'cause he can lick anybody in the Rockets.
That makes sense, don't it?"
"Yes. I suppose so." He chewed his lip. "Listen. Let's say _I_ was
leader. Could I use the copter then? Any time I wanted?"
"Sure. I mean, if you're the leader, who's gonna stop you?"
"Yes," Ron said. He stood up and walked to the table, watching the
cards as they were slapped on the wood.
"Hey, Shock," he said.