| Nah... Your thinking too high tech. They were drugged pure and

simple.

| Crystaline slivers piercing the back of the neck. Or small darts

later

| removed by the medicals. With all the blood who'd notice a puncture
| wound.

Amazing targeting system they have for these slivers... precise hits on
two fast moving and presumably very difficult to hit people.

And having a system designed to track the necks of two people leaping
randomly about, one of whom hasn't had the chance to be bugged or

tagged in

any way, isn't too high-tech? We've already seen that the Arena floor

CAN be

made electrically conductive in places; all that's required is to

mediate

the amperage a bit and presto.

But if they do a post-fight blood workup - just to make sure no one was

on

steroids or some such - the neurotoxins are going to show up. Which

will

still lead for a means for Running Deer to spill the beans to Shampoo.

Or

perhaps she caught a glimpse of the sliver-guns doing their dirty work.

The Fight was broadcast live, or at least that was the impression the
story gave.  That means that anyone with a recording and the appropriate
picture enhancement software will stand a pretty good chance of spotting
the slivers *IF* they think to take a *CAREFUL* look.  The slivers can
reasonably be expected to be effectively invisible under normal
circumstances, but it is highly unlikely that they could be made
unspottable.  But then, who would believe that the Arena would rig
it's own fights this way?  The chances of someone *looking* for
something like this are negligible... you would have to have made
paranoia your job to want to do it. ^_^

By the same token, a post match blood test should also show drugs,
however it is unlikely that this timeline has strict laws against
performance
enhancing drugs, and it's almost certain that the arena management
can make the final report say whatever is best for them.  But if it
should happen that someone with... influence... wanted to see the
true report..., well, afterwards it would depend on what this
hypothetical
"person with influence" wanted done about the situation. ^_^

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"The Major"             |  "Funny Games, Strange Cartoons, Confusing
David Bateson           |     Computers and too many Books!  No
                        |     wonder you're weird."
majorb@one.net.au       |       - My Sister.
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