45 – Round One//I have the final brackets from the company’s net page, Hector.//Hector held up a finger, interrupting Sass, who was trying to explain to him why the Redwick Mining Consortium had such a storied history with fighting tournaments.She closed her mouth with an audible click of her teeth, then lifted an eyebrow. “What is it?”“Fight brackets.” Silently, he thought, Go ahead, Evie, and a window appeared on his AUI, populated by the information:Final-tier Fights: Round One: Jack Sparks vs. Liquid LeeRound Two: Vek vs. Hector ValeriusWinners fight in the final round!“The hell is a Liquid Lee?”“That’s the other high ranker?” Sass asked, craning her neck to the right to look down the bleachers past a heavyset man in front of her. “Don’t see anything. Almost done with the ring, though.”Hector nodded.“You up first?”“Round two.”“Against who? Liquid?”“Vek. That’s the synth, right?”“Right. He’s, um, fast-fast.” When Hector didn’t react, she added. “At least you’ve got a minute to rest.”Hector arched an eyebrow at her.“I guess you don’t need it.” She snorted, looking down, then she shook her head and said, “Anyway, like I was saying, when the miners started organizing fights down in the pit and people from the town started showing up, the corpo-suits naturally smelled bits and decided to get a piece of the pie.”“So they started all this up, huh? How much do these people pay to get in here?”“Way more than the cost of the prize pots, but that’s the smallest bit of the income. They stream the fights all over the planet and manage live bets.”Hector groaned, slapping his palm to his forehead. “Gimme a minute, kid; need to message somebody.”“Kid?” Sass’s voice rose an octave in outrage as (...)