Everything is anathema

Sammy Neutron dreamed of fixing ships in the Intergalactic Fleet. He had always been good with his hands and had duly enrolled in the space core as soon as he was old enough. Sammy had a pleasant life, his family were supportive and he had a sweet girl from Centaurus who loved him. In his spare time Sammy liked to play poker, he was easily better than the other cadets and soon turned his hand to playing online, not just in the canteen. Sammy lost all his credits a few times over but was not one to easily give up. Sammy had smarts. Sammy had a plan. Sammy hired a coach and found a training site and within months was creating a steady stream of cash into his account. Sammy became obsessed with becoming better and better and the more he obsessed the more he fell behind in his studies and the more he neglected his family and his girlfriend until one day he woke up and he did not have a girlfriend.

Sammy donned his spacesuit and floated out amongst the stars to gather his distressed thoughts. He cursed the thousands of luckboxes on ridiculous heaters. He was better than them. All he needed was a big cash one time and he would be rolled. One Time. Must. Be. Nice. Yes, he thought, he had decided. He was going to drop out of the core and devote more time to poker, all he needed to do was put in more hours. More time. More hours at the table. More grinding. No more five hour sessions, now eight would be his minimum. As he bobbed through the warm solar winds an object glanced off the gleaming dome of his helmet. A book, withered with age, floated infront of his visor:

"The Apocryphal Tale of Captain Picopiko"

Sammy took the fragile pages in his gauntlets and began to read...

"Captain Picopiko was a pinball wizard. He practised all day every day honing his game until none could touch him. But Captain Picopiko was not happy. Captain Picopiko was afraid to play at the arcade, he didn't get on with the other kids. And so Captain Picopiko played pinball online. He played four tables at a time and rose to the top of the pinball leaderboards like a glorious, regal rocket-ship. Captain Picopiko was still not happy. As much as his pinball was precious to him, it was not making him any credits. No, to make the credits he required he was going to need to replace pinball with a new love:

Poker.

Only this time it was going to be bigger. Better. Poker was going to be his friend, his family, his lover. Captain Picopiko was naturally gifted and transitioned from pinball to poker as neutrino through matter. Ten tables. Fifteen tables. Twenty tables. His ascent was astounding and truly stellar. Captain Picopiko had accumulated more credits than he knew what to do with but he did not stop. He could not stop. He was not playing for the credits any more, he was playing because he did not know what else to do.

But Captain Picopiko had another reason for playing so much poker. Fame. Every since he was spurned at the pinball arcade Captain Picopiko had wanted to be loved. But he was loved now, wasn't he? He had showed them. He had. Captain Picopiko sat in his plush armchair on a rare break and waited for his invite to The Galactic Game, the biggest game in all known dimensions. He wanted to show off his skills on television. He wanted to share his charisma with the multi-verse. The invite did not come. Perhaps it would come tomorrow. It did not come. This made Captain Picopiko sad and his sadness turned to anger quicker than electromagnetic radiation. Getting drunk from half a cup of wine he attacked the high stakes tables, but he was not in his usual mindset. Nothing was working, why wasn't it working? His credits were going down. They're not supposed to go down. On and on he grinded until he could grind no more, his face meeting the keyboard in a union of sleep.

Whilst asleep Captain Picopiko dreamed a curious dream...

There was a brilliant shining light and a serene voice surrounded him. "Captain Picopiko, I am Angel Angelus and I have come to offer you a choice. You don't need to be this way, you can still play poker and be happy. Come with me towards enlightenment. It will slow you down a little, your emotions don't have to be so brittle."

"Fuck you!" raged Captain Picopiko, "I am Captain Picopiko! I don't need your sage advice."

The light was gone as quick as it had come. Captain Picopiko woke with a start, jerking his crusty face away from the sodden keys. And then he started playing again. To his credit Captain Picopiko made his money back, and some more on top. But as the years turned to decades he found himself overtaken. Robots from Andromeda who could play one hundred and fifty seven tables at once took his place, but Captain Picopiko could not stop. If he stopped, what else would he do? Captain Picopiko is still out there, somewhere, and he is grinding. And when he can grind no more, life will go on without him."

Sammy Neutron stopped reading and glanced around him. A strange light was filling the void. "Sammy Neutron," it said in a magnificent voice . "I am Angel Angelus and I have come to offer you a choice".