Oddly, I just noticed this discussion
Here's a bit I put in as a hook in June of 2020
First, the news item
Tureded (C465540-9 Ag Ni 614 Im M3 V) Date: 287-1113
After months in production in the Quopist system, IMS Golden Gauntlet
has moved on to the Tureded system with intentions to sell episodes and
seasons of the game show "The Gauntlet". It is expected the ship
will proceed along the spinward main from Tureded to Pirema, Echiste,
K'kirka, Rech, Wypoc, Dinomn, Dinom and Jenghe before turning to Regina
or Extolay.
It is uncertain where the Golden Gauntlet will stop next to film
as they offer challenges and rewards again? While that is uncertain,
it will certainly be true that their bursars will be busy raking in
the many credits their sales will capture. Even now, the names of the
few new champions are becoming better known. They will be even more
so now the ship moves closer. And few will speak of those who
failed the test.
Then the chatter:
Stepping into the place, they realized they could not have been more wrong. At the back of the bar was a large, wall-spanning display on which "the action" was happening while about half those in the bar were cheering, jeering, making bets or bitching and celebrating depending on how other bets had played out. Caught in the entrance with the eyes of a bartender and at least one of the wait staff on them, they decided they couldn't just turn and leave so they stepped in and tried to figure out what was happening on the screen? What they saw was a group of humans in a set of "common blazon" outfits which could be called uniforms. Each was emblazoned with the words, "The Gauntlet!" That made everything clear.
It was a reality vid! Out there in the black, there was an old cruiser the Imperial Navy had sold off to a production company. They had renamed the ship the IMS Golden Gauntlet and burned out to worlds poor and desperate to issue a challenge and make cash. Lots of cash. The show paradigm was to offer a single competitor Cr 1,000 to make it through challenges - some of which can be damaging or even fatal. Competitors could bring in a team of nine other friends to help them get through the challenges. If the competitor succeeds, they get paid and earn bonus payments for their friends. Along the way through the challenges, there are sometimes bonuses that add to the overall payouts. Sometimes the "fatal" events are fake and those who appeared to have died are captured safe. To add to the excitement, for the average viewer, they also have VIP series where they offer celebrities MCr 1 or even MCr 10 to compete.
As they watched, a crew of ten players were arguing about a situation Jocelynn and Fesic didn't understand because they'd come in late. It took them a bit of watching to finally figure out that the holographic countdown in the compartment with the competitors was the time left before the walls closed in and trapped them off...if not killing them all? Those instructions had been given through an announcing screen when the team had entered and the door behind them closed and locked. Either way, they lost. While those in the bar watched, one of the "helpers", who it would turn out was an engineer, pointed to a wall panel in the compartment and screamed, "That panel is different!" Rushing over as the holographic clock ticked down close to zero, the competitor hit the panel and it opened a door.
Moving even as the walls started moving, the team rushed through the door, which slammed shut and locked as soon as they passed through. At the same time, with the competitive team scattered from the locked door halfway across the room, the floor of that compartment split halfway across the room, from side wall to side wall. And when it split, two of the team members lost their balance and fell into the fluid below. As the fallen screamed and started to freeze, everyone realized the "fluid" was liquid nitrogen! At the same time, a door was suddenly bordered in lights on the far side of the room. So this "challenge" was to get across the room which meant getting past the Li-Ni barrier. Seeing the death of two team members, Jocelynn cringed and said, "Harsh!" Judging by the reactions in the bar, the others mostly agreed. Some few collected bet winnings.
