PELOTA

Bomb (in Pelota Kit Bag)

Makes your head look like a giant pelota ball. The attached braids are a tribute to Valdemar Ocho, striker for Recreación.

Pelota Hat

Pelota Jumper

Pelota Shorts

Quisach Pelota Club Visor

Squished Pelota Ball

"I'd take whatever horrors over televised pelota and fried corn."

"Do I want her to watch?" He whispers. "Oh... maybe, in theory, but... you should see the way she's dressed. She's wearing some sort of... pelota mascot head. Highly disturbing."

"It's not meant for me, is it?" His eyes flicker, like sparks on metal. "Not these days. I remember being twelve, me and my friends coming here just to watch the pelota fights. Drunk fans going at each other with screwdrivers. There were bets and shit."

Even the pelota ball, tossed back and forth by forces greater than itself, occasionally gets the chance to crunch against the nose of those who would try to catch it.

Suddenly the four kilograms of PE-4 in the pelota bag become a leaden thousand.

The explosive device is completely silent. For all anyone can tell, it is a regular pelota bag, a muddied kit rammed inside, waiting to be thrown in the corner of a non-existent bedroom.

"How about some pelota?"

"We love pelota!" She leans forward. "Do you like it too?"

"We already watch pelota at home, with mum anyway." She smiles. "But it was a good suggestion!"

An ad for secondhand pelota equipment, 'Match Tested'.

Heads bent together, the man with dark floppy hair and the woman in the pelota jersey are lost in private conversation.

He glances at PSEUDOPOD, who's busy wrestling with one of his pelota socks.

In year zero, the masses burn calendars in the streets. In 13, the People's Republics open to foreign investment. In 56, the first lunar cadmium deposits are discovered. In 61, you're born. In 62, the city-state of Portofiro accepts a loan it will never repay. In 79, you fall in love for the first time. In 85, the consumer-grade audio disc hits the market. In 89, Quisach PC wins its last pelota championship.

Pelota, I don't get it.

Each member of the crew was allotted 1.5kg for their personal preference kit. Cmdr. Roque's kit contains a visor for his beloved pelota squad Recreacion.

"Here, this will help." (Hand him the pelota ball.)

"... I'm just a simple local pelota man."

Woven sweater, triple bands around the wrists and neck. Thigh high socks. He's wearing a pelota kit.

"A persona." He looks down at himself, then back to you. "Local pelota player."

"But... the pelota ball. We're fated to redeem the textile industry together."

"But... I don't know any topics. For conversations. Other than pelota and textile unions. I've learned a lot about pelota. I hope he likes pelota."

"She told me some pelota stories, anecdotes to help with my persona." He smiles. "She told me I was going to be great."

"Here, a prop for your disguise." (Hand him the pelota ball.)

"But it would be his something useless. And his death. All I have is... a pelota uniform."

"I knew it. The pelota ball. We're fated to redeem the textile industry together."

Woven sweater, triple bands around the wrists and neck. Thigh high socks. He's wearing a pelota kit.

"There's a book? First I'm hearing of this. Do you have a copy on you? I haven't the time. And I've learned all this about pelota..."

Is the pelota ball cursed?

Toss the pelota ball to the piglets.

You find yourself staring at the much improved television screen. The intricacies of pelota continue to elude you.

Above her, the small mounted television fizzes with the tinny shouts of a pelota match.

With the purple bloom gone, you can clearly see the action as the pelota players volley the ball back and forth across the court.

"Turns out 'handball' is what they call pelota where he's from. Isn't that interesting?"

"Yes, a very good day -- we were just chatting about 'handball', which is what they call pelota where he's from."

"This stranger was just telling me about 'handball' -- which is what pelota is called where he's from."

"Some scofflaw has wedged it open with a pelota ball."

"What your problem with the pelota ball?"

"You considered the pelota ball. You know it doesn't belong there, but you left it all the same. Very difficult to watch." He sighs, looks down at his hands.

Conspiracies, pelota, and sometimes, conspiracies about pelota.

Behind the acrylic display case, your eye catches on a scene of an amateur pelota squad, smiling against a sun-bleached wall.

"Right. I'm going to leave the pelota ball out of my records."

"I found this pelota ball in a doorway."

El Dolor de Viudas. Extremely popular at pelota matches and the main cause of Portofiro's looming epidemic of atherosclerosis.