The Roar

Aboard the space station, the Queen of the North, Gorman impatiently entertains visiting dignitaries. Afterward, Gorman is summoned to an observation room where a staff member is keeping watch on a blindfolded, sleeping Ellie. He’s noticed something strange—her shoes floating along the ceiling, a result of a psychic dream. Gorman decides to uncover her eyes—a dangerous tactic—in order to further study her ability. He threatens to kill her family if she doesn’t cooperate.

As Ellie’s blindfold is removed, Mika awakens to a blinding flash of light (it’s his television, although it seems “unusually bright”). He gets out of bed and takes a shower when a friend from school—Kobi Nenko—stops by to bring him enough Fit Mix for each day he’s out of school. After his parents leave for work, Mika sorts beads—a Sisyphean task designed as further punishment—until Helen arrives. Between his dreams, his paranoia, and his social isolation, he fears he’s going crazy. They watch a promotional video for a Pod Fighter video game, and Mika has the sensation he’s actually inside a real fighter. Helen then advises him to play the game and drink the Fit Mix, although he senses she’s not being honest. When he presses her for the truth, she replies: “You’re a very special boy. Trust your instincts, play the game, and be careful” (106). She moves to the door, but Mika begs for her help. She finally agrees under the condition that he keep the information secret. She tells him, “If you play the game, I think you will find Ellie” (107). 

Hopeful of finding his sister, Mika becomes a model of cooperation, drinking the Fit Mix and obeying school rules. That night, Mika and Kobi head to the arcade to play Pod Fighter. The arcade, part of a flashy new mall development, is filled with excited kids, although the ubiquitous YDF logo unsettles Mika. They enter the darkened arcade and climb into a Pod Fighter video game—Kobi in the pilot seat, Mika in the gunner’s. The sensation of being in the cockpit feels oddly familiar to Mika. They fly through the clouds into outer space where they are immediately shot down by enemy fighters. For the next game, Mika takes the pilot seat, and he instinctively knows how to fly: “[T]he link between the subtle movements of his hands and those of the Pod Fighter seemed to have been made before he ever climbed in it” (122). They defeat the Red Star Fleet, complete Level 1, and Mika is the new Pod Fighter champion.

That night, Mika’s dream dog—Awen—returns. He is agitated by something in Ellie’s cupboard, and when Mika opens it, all of her clothes and toys, untouched since her disappearance, are gone. In their place is a shadowy figure, a Telly Head. It holds a Fit Mix cup crawling with spiders. Mika slams the door before the spiders can escape.

Gorman summons Ellie to his office, ostensibly for a game of chess, but questions her about Mika. Why is he the only student to refuse Fit Mix? Ellie denies any communication between them, but Gorman threatens to kill him if his stubbornness jeopardizes his “Fit for Life” program. They play the game, Ellie moving her pawn psychically.

The next morning, Mika’s parents receive a letter from Helen terminating their relationship. Mika is devastated, so he pays her a visit. In the elevator, he senses Awen’s presence, urging him to stay away. He ignores he dog, but he finds Helen’s apartment door ajar and armed men rummaging through her things. Helen is gone, apparently having left in a hurry. Mika flees down the stairs.

After a few weeks of Fit Mix, Mika is growing unnaturally fast. At school, they’ve begun “Fit Camp,” a punishing, three-hour regimen of physical exercise. Although physically exhausted at the end of the day, Mika will not be denied his trip to the arcade.