The Arcade of Doom (short story)

was the seventh short story in the Lethbridge-Stewart series anthology Lineage. It would later be packaged in a short The Lucy Wilson Mysteries anthology, Attack of the Quarks.
== Plot ==
Hobo often visits nearby Porthcawl to visit the old arcades. He convinces Lucy to travel with him to the Magic Mirror arcade, both to play a vintage Pac-Man game and then to look at a strange metal cube that has always been at the back. Lucy calls it "a totally Lethbridge-Stewart find". Mentioning her grandfather's name causes the cube to come to life and grow legs: it's a long-dormant Quark and it wants to find Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
Lucy, Hobo, and the arcade worker Tony try to hide in the arcade as the Quark goes on a rampage. Lucy is sure she's heard of Quark's before but doesn't remember where from.
Hobo decides they can "Pac-Man him", where he'll distract the Quark while Lucy gets behind it and throws a blanket over it. The plan fails as Hobo runs out of cover before Lucy can get in place, so she gets the robot's attention by announcing herself as Lucy Lethbridge-Stewart. She expects to be killed but the Quark turns out to be looking for the Brigadier for orders: she remembers that her grandfather told her about a time he reprogrammed several Quarks to disable Rill defence machines. She orders the Quark to shut down.
== Characters ==
* Lucy Wilson
* Hobo Kostinen
== Worldbuilding ==
* Lucy pretends to be unaware of what eSports are.
* Hobo says she might know the term 'Quark' from the Star Trek character.
== Notes ==
to be added
== Continuity ==
* The Brigadier once encountered the Rills and Chumblies in battle. The Quarks came from the Warehouse, the setting of HOMEVID: Auton.
* Hobo says they'll be visiting an eSports Expo in three months time, which is the setting of The Expo of Terror.
== External links ==
to be added
Category:Lineage short stories
Category:Stories set in 2018
Category:Stories set in Wales
Category:Quark stories
Category:Lucy Wilson short stories