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Shrugging, Tim said, “We’ve got the two, three, and four guys up.”

Natalia rolled her eyes. “Right-Farouk, who hasn’t gotten on base all year, Addison, who hits against Martinez even worse than the rest of the world, and as for Yates-Yates is past it. Yates is so far past it he’s on another planet. In fact, he’s about three star systems over, that’s how far past it Yates is. I don’t know why Diaz keeps batting him cleanup. He should retire and let Hayakawa get more playing time.”

The Pioneer Pub had come into existence about five years earlier, and during baseball season, it was always one of Pike City’s hot spots. The walls were covered in memorabilia from the Pike City Pioneers’ decade-long history: The first home-run ball hit after the CBL was incorporated, slugged by the Pioneers’ Aloysius McSweeney in the bottom of the ninth to win their first game against the Palombo Sehlats; the dirt-covered uniform worn by Illyana Petrova when she stole home to win the first Cestus Series for the Pioneers over the Prairieville Green Sox, the first of many disappointments for Green Sox fans; the shards of the bat broken when Hugues Baptiste blooped a single to center to win the Northern Division championship against the Port Shangri-La Seagulls; a chunk of Ruth Field that was blown off by Gorn weaponry when they attacked Pike City during the war; and the glove that Blaithin Lipinski wore when she threw her fifth career perfect game, this one against the Cestus Comets.

There were also three items from the various baseball leagues on Earth in the nineteenth through twenty-first centuries: the glove used by Josh Gibson when he played for the Homestead Grays in 1930, Babe Ruth’s jersey from when he played for the minor-league Baltimore Orioles in 1914, and the ball hit into the center-field seats of Yankee Stadium by Buck Bokai to win the last World Series on Earth for the London Kings in 2042.

Tim and Natalia had entertained the notion of attending today’s game, but that had been a forlorn hope. Games between the Pioneers and their toughest division rival, the Seagulls, were always hot-ticket items, and so there had been no available seats at Ruth Field. So they’d come to the Pub to watch it with fellow fans.

Sadly, today’s game wasn’t much fun to watch. The Gulls had shut the Pioneers out, negating strong pitching performances by the Pioneers. As a result, it was 2-0 Gulls going into the bottom of the ninth, and the Gulls’ best reliever, Faith Martinez, was in.

However, nobody told Yusuf Farouk that she was their best reliever-he drew a walk on six pitches. Then Nancy Addison fisted a single to left field, putting two on for Kornelius Yates. He’d been the Pioneers’ cleanup hitter since the league had been incorporated ten years earlier, and Tim had to admit that Natalia was right when she said that his skills had deteriorated to the point where he probably wasn’t a viable cleanup hitter anymore. Still, he wasn’t ready to be put out to pasture yet-

- a point Yates himself made rather spectacularly by clubbing Martinez’s first pitch over the center-field wall for a three-run home run to win the game.

The pub, which had been as silent as a tomb since the sixth inning, when the Gulls had scored their two runs, suddenly burst into life. People were shouting, hugging each other, yelling, banging their drinks glasses together, and generally acting the idiotic way people do when they celebrate.

From behind the bar, Gordon the bartender said the words everyone liked to hear: “Homebrews all around!” The Homebrew was the Pub’s specialite de la maison, and Gordon only served it when the Pioneers won.

Moments later, Tim was slugging down his Homebrew and asking Gordon if they could put FNS on.

“What for?” the bartender asked.

“They’re gonna be talking about Governor Bacco on ICL.”

Natalia almost sputtered her Homebrew. “They always talk about her on ICL, and it’s President Bacco now, remember?”

“I’m trying not to. I can’t believe she’d abandon us like