Chapter Two: An Unsound Gambit

Rachel woke up with a crick in her back from sleeping on the hard floor. On top of that, her stomach was aching from having gone to bed without any dinner.

A quick bowl of cereal soon fixed that, though, and she found herself smiling in anticipation of the day ahead.

Today was her first day on the job and she strode out to the carpool with confidence. She might be on the lowest rung of the law enforcement career ladder, but she had great ambitions to work her way up into forensics. She was quite certain that the scientific approach was the future of crime fighting and she was planning to be there at the top, forging the way ahead.

Although her current duties as a snitch were menial, she applied herself to them with full force, hoping to get noticed for her hard work and determination. By the time she returned home in the afternoon she was exhausted and collapsed into her chair to unwind with a book for a few hours.

She was disappointed with dinner yet again when she realized that her trip to the grocery store the day before was useless, as she had no stove or microwave to prepare any of the ingredients she had purchased. Another trip was in order, this time to the consignment store.

The taxi drove her to the edge of town, where a ramshackle building sank into the mist that seeped up from the moist ground. Her suspicion that this might not have been the brightest idea was confirmed when she discovered that the shop had already closed for the day. She didn't hesitate to jump back in the cab and have it turn right back around.

After that brief adventure she spent a quiet evening in her chair, studying a book on logic hoping to find some information that could help improve her chess playing.

The next morning Rachel was glad she hadn't spent all of her money before she had a chance to pay the bills. Nevertheless, she really did need a stove and would have to brave the consignment store once again.

Heading there straight from work, she managed to arrive while the store was still open. The place didn't seem nearly as spooky on the inside, and the clerks were friendly and helpful. She was able to find a lightly used oven and stove top unit for a rather reasonable price, and arranged for it to be delivered to her house later that evening.

Her important chore of the day done, Rachel decided to sign up for the chess tournament she had read about in the paper. Her abilities were still somewhat lacking, but she just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see how she measured up against serious players.

Tanner Rice was her first opponent, and as he hunched resolutely over the board she knew that this wasn't going to be an easy game. Rachel Keatts was not one to back down, however, and she was determined to make him fight for every inch of the board.

As the game progressed it became clear that Tanner was the better player, and yet Rachel was holding her own. She had just successfully defended her Queen when he made a risky move she had not been expecting and the crowd observing the tournament gasped aloud. She was surprised to have such a vocal audience for a chess game and was slightly annoyed at the distraction until a dark shadow fell across the board.

Glancing up, she sprang from her chair in a panic. They had not been gasping at the game, but at a huge meteor that was hurtling through the air - straight toward them!

While the others cowered in fear, Rachel ran. She heard screams and shattering stone behind her, but did not look back as the wave of heat from an explosion engulfed her.

She managed to get away, singed but safe.

Tanner Rice, on the other hand, had refused to leave the table, which meant that Rachel had forfeited the match. She was not ashamed, however.

One sim had lost much more than a game in the disaster.

Poor little Harrison was still too young to understand that his father, Michael MuMacker, was leaving his wife a widow with four children to raise on her own.

Back at home, Rachel could feel herself shaking as she washed herself of soot and debris, thinking about how close she had come to meeting the Reaper herself.

Her new stove had been delivered and installed while she was gone. She had all but forgotten about it, but now she decided to make herself her favorite dish to calm her nerves.

It was only macaroni and cheese, but there was a reason they called it comfort food.

Unfortunately, things seemed prone to getting singed today.

Still, it was the first meal she had made herself since moving in, and she was glad to be alive to eat burnt cheese and pasta.

After dinner Rachel felt compelled to revisit the site of the meteor strike. The school was eerie in the moonlight and she caught a lingering scent of smoke on the wind. The meteor had broken up on impact, and pieces lay scattered across the grounds.

The alien stones were so still and harmless looking where they now rested. On impulse, Rachel bent down and picked some up -  souveniers of the day she didn't die.

That night, she dreamt of space rocks.

---

I'm really happy with how this one came out. The title is a reference to chess, which I looked up because I know absolutely nothing about chess! According to Wikipedia, a gambit is "a chess opening in which a player, most often White, sacrifices material, usually a pawn, with the hope of achieving a resulting advantageous position." I thought it fit since Tanner risked sacrificing himself in order to win the chess tournament. He also happened to be the white player, which is a nice coincidence since I hadn't realized it when I chose the name.

That tournament was actually the first opportunity I've gotten, which popped up when she went to the school for the event. It was failed when Rachel ran off the lot during the meteor strike, though, so I'm not sure if that means I technically failed the "opportunist" goal for the generation. Since it was mostly out of my control, I'm just going to keep going. I think seriously attempting all of the opportunities is more important than actually completing them, and I'm not going to restart the legacy any time I fail despite my best efforts, that would be disheartening.

Also, I'm not sure about the consignment store, but I was reading another blog where a sim bought some furniture there. I didn't see any furniture for sale when I went, so I'm guessing this is just something they wrote into the story to explain where they were getting stuff, which is what I ended up doing since I never found a stove for sale there. I haven't used the consignment store very much, though, so let me know if I'm wrong!