House Rank: Unknown, Squad Zero
Term 1, Round 1
----------------------------------------
Daedo was wearing his polymer-black custom Axel Corporation bodysuit with a dark grey backpack. His cybernetic implant’s capping was visible at the back of his neck where it was located at the base of his skull. His dark, close-cropped hair and light olive skin were visible above his neckline, and the rest of his body was covered with his tight-fitting suit. His suit’s helmet, which was capable of VR and AR, was stowed in his backpack.
The suit itself had dozens of tiny apparatuses and its dark grey seam lines – the multitude of add-ons – were impossible to totally obscure. The white epaulettes on his shoulders almost glowed as did the zero on his upper right chest. He was the shortest of his group, almost the same height as a couple of the female cadets, but not quite. It was most likely they were all thirteen. Despite taking three years off playing CyberMech and developing his AI companion, Daedo had still entered the academy a year ‘early,’ at age twelve.
A girl, the second tallest of the group, took a step forward and said confidently, “I’m Vannier. I suggest we quickly introduce ourselves and head to our apartments as ordered.”
She was light-skinned and had violet-red hair. It wasn’t a natural colour, but it didn’t seem dyed either. Daedo guessed she’d had it genetically modified to grow such a colour. Her eyebrows were also the same intriguing colour. Her voice was raspy, giving the impression that she talked herself hoarse.
A second girl stepped forward. She had dark hair, but Daedo swore it had a dark blue tint when the light hit it at a certain angle. “I’m Picard. My family is military and on base at the Loire Valley. I want you to know now that I am here on a scholarship, and I will not take any crap from you rich kids.” Her eyes gleamed a deep amber as she spoke, and Daedo immediately respected her forthrightness, especially since it did not apply to him.
A boy with light brown hair leaned forward. He was only slightly taller than Daedo. “I’m Gaumont. My parents are shareholders and research engineers at Fortescue Composite and Fortescue Mech.”
The tallest boy stretched, his strong physical frame obvious through his tight-fitting suit. His blonde hair was cut extremely short. “I’m Barran, and I’m rich.” He flashed a smile at Picard.
The only person remaining that Daedo did not know finally introduced herself. “Mace,” she said succinctly. She was striking with her pure white hair and bright blue eyes. There was something different about her bodysuit too. It had metal pieces on her shoulders, elbows, and knees, almost as if it was made with enhanced impact reduction as a primary feature.
Pascale stepped forward. “I’m Axel. My family is from Germany, and we make the best bodysuits in the world, amongst other things. My brother Jules is also in M1, in another group.” Her dark bob bounced as she turned quickly to look at Daedo.
“Daedo,” he said, then nodded towards the direction of their quarters and started walking.
Gaumont pulled up beside him as they walked through the underground corridors. Daedo was guided by Myrmidon, and the rest followed. He wasn’t sure if they had their own methods for finding their way through the maze.
“Daedo … that’s an interesting name. Is it spelt D-a-e-d-o?” Gaumont asked.
“Yes,” Daedo said.
“Do you follow CyberMech?”
Daedo stopped and looked at Gaumont. Picard moved past, avoiding a collision by turning sideways and sidestepping through the gap between the boys. Barran manhandled Daedo towards the wall so he could pass.
“Come on,” Vannier with the violet-red hair said. She grabbed one shoulder from each of them, propelling them forward. “I hope you two aren’t CyberMech junkies; that thing is useless in here,” she said knowingly.
“What do you mean?” Daedo asked, intrigued. CyberMech had an extremely high development value, with its millions of combination and optimisation possibilities.
“Well, for one, it’s far too arcadey,” she said. “The physics and responses aren’t realistic at all. If you play too much of that game, it could ruin you, and you’d have to unlearn everything from it.”
“Oh,” Daedo said.
“Did you play much?” Gaumont asked.
“A little,” Daedo lied.
“I got in the top two thousand for the EU regions,” Gaumont said proudly. Vannier looked unimpressed by the ranking.
“I’ll have you know that in the last year with the price drops, there are over fourteen million players in the EU region alone and closing in on one hundred million worldwide,” Gaumont said. “It’s open to all ages. Being in the top two thousand players puts you in the top 0.01 per cent.”
“Wow, you must be good,” Vannier said, sounding genuine. “Pity it will ruin your piloting of a proper mech, with the preprogramed combat manoeuvres and the interface all wrong as well. In a real mech, the pilot moves their whole body for control. This puts less strain on your sync rate while enabling you to perform precise manoeuvres. That’s the main difference, but there are others, like how the damage done by weapons in that game is not realistic. And mechs jumping off buildings with no boosters would have too much downforce for the structural integrity of legs used in that game. I could go on. I was warned off playing it by my father.” She talked the whole way to their quarters.
“Is your father a mech mechanic?” Daedo asked. Surely her father wasn’t a mechanic also. They already had one scholarship.
“No,” she said. “He owns several blueprints, and he continues to research and develop new mech part designs.”
“Your family makes money from selling mech part designs?” Daedo was intrigued. He really did not know how the world worked. He was master of Spacebuild; it had not occurred to him that he could make real designs and sell them.
Vannier smiled, clearly proud of her family. “It started with my grandparents. They designed an actuator and an energy delivery system which were used in every mech for ten years. The law changed well before we were born. It used to be that when you held a patent, no one could use it without your permission. Now, anyone can. There’s a treaty preventing anyone from hoarding tech, although people still do. Now to use a design, people have to pay the calculated market value. My family primarily designs mech parts. We don’t manufacture parts or mechs, but the people who do pay a small amount for each time they use one of our blueprints. I think we have thousands in all, but only thirty or so actually make good bitcreds right now.”
“Do you take after your family?” Gaumont asked Vannier, and Daedo remembered their assignment to get to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Vannier laughed. “Hell, no. I will never be half the engineer my father is. I’m guessing you’re only asking to complete the assignment, so I will tell you: I am a crack shot; I love to help people, and my cyber bandwidth sucks balls.”
Gaumont smiled weakly. Daedo grinned. She was so honest, and it was refreshing.
They arrived at their living quarters, and Gaumont said meekly, “Well, I will return the favour. I received the silver math medal from the EU Academic Authority two years in a row. I love mechs, I’ve watched every vid from Ascaperone studios, and I love CyberMech. I used to, I mean. I mentioned I was ranked in the top two thousand – I spent nearly all my free time playing and following professional CyberMech. Did you know that Daedalus disappeared a month ago? He was the number one ranked player in the world for nearly two years, and then one day, he just … disappeared.”
“I have heard the name,” Vannier said. “I don’t follow CyberMech, so I didn’t know he left.”
“It’s strange,” Gaumont said. “He never joined a team, and it was rare to hear his voice, if it even was his voice. He never appeared in public or stream. He could be anyone. He could be Master Nader, for all we know.”
“How do you know it’s a he?” asked Daedo.
Gaumont shrugged. “I just assumed … by the playstyle. And girls probably would show their image; they make bank from that.”
“That’s so Neanderthal,” Vannier said before walking off to inspect her room.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Gaumont looked at Daedo, helpless. Daedo just shrugged and went to check his own room. If this was where he was going to be living for the next year, he was interested in seeing it.
Each cadet had their own sleeping quarters which included an ultrasonic shower. There was not much room for anything else – no study area, no workshop, and barely any storage space. Daedo deduced they were only meant to sleep and clean themselves in here; meals, toilets, study, and anything else would be done in communal areas. This was the opposite of what he was used to.
He had been able to shut himself off from the whole world in his own space. He took after his father in this respect. For some reason, the academy didn’t make use of the technology available. Almost the entire curriculum could be learned from home; only the actual physical mech combat would need to be completed in person. Even physical training could be completed remotely and monitored. Yet they brought everyone together, even pushed them into teams, and then forced them to interact, to work together.
Daedo sighed. He wasn’t looking forward to mixing with the wealthy brats, but so far they seemed okay. He was the one who had issues.
“I can’t believe this!” Barran yelled from the central room that was probably used for meals, study, and socialising.
Daedo walked out to see what the fuss was.
He was sitting on top of one of the tables and calling out for anyone who wanted to listen. “I thought my sister was lying. I thought she was teasing me. But this place is like living in communal slums.” He stood and swept his arm around in a wide arc. Now he had four of his team members observing his speech – or what some would call a tantrum. “My wing is ten times bigger than this whole area. And this area is for the seven of us!”
“Eight,” said Master Nader, standing in the doorway. “Every squad quarters has eight, including this one.” Nader’s voice was synthetic. The master was either hiding something or had been in an accident and lost their vocal cords, something that could be regrown if a person had the cred.
“Who is our eighth?” asked Axel-Zero.
“It’s Master Nader,” Daedo said, noticing a larger room at the end of the living quarters. An eighth room. Unlike all the cadet rooms, its door was closed. At first, Daedo had thought it was another adjacent communal room.
All the cadets stared at him.
“We’re Squad Zero, which is the top-ranked team. There are 255 cadets in our year level. The eighth cannot come from this group, as they are all assigned. So the eighth either has to be a cadet from a higher year level, or Master Nader. But, it’s most likely a handicap placed on squad zero and Master Nader directs from the side lines,” Daedo deduced.
Gaumont, Barran, and Axel-Zero just gaped at him like he was crazy.
Master Nader did a single, slow clap. “One personal point for you, Daedo. You are correct; I am your eighth. And I only advise, I don’t play.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Gaumont interjected. “Wouldn’t it be cheating to have a master guiding our team?”
Daedo shook his head. “Not if each house is the same. And I would guess if we compete within our house, Master Nader would not take part. We would be expected to win with seven, without guidance, since we are Squad Zero.”
“You’re not getting another point, Daedo,” Master Nader said with a humorous tone through their synthesizer. “I will assist you in the inter-house competition and mentor you directly. As for the other thirty-one teams, I will monitor and mentor indirectly through U1 cadets assigned to them. Be sure to achieve the top two hundred in leadership at the end of M3, or you will receive this extra assignment in U1 yourselves.”
Daedo: Could Master Nader be an AI robot?
Myrmidon: No, not unless pulse and breathing are mimicked to fool our sensors.
Daedo: Oh, thanks – I didn’t think of that. Can you tell what gender he or she is?
Myrmidon: Scans indicate that Master Nader is female.
Daedo: That’s a great help for our report. Scan everyone else thoroughly, and if we find anything interesting, we’ll add it to our report for our teamwork assignment.
Myrmidon: May I suggest you read the definition of teamwork.
Daedo: Funny, har-har.
Master Nader entered her room and the door slid shut behind her.
“I guess the master doesn’t want to intrude on our assignment,” Vannier said to the group. She sat down and tapped the table indicating everyone should do the same.
In the short amount of time they had been together, the violet-redheaded girl had shown leadership without being bossy or causing Daedo any feelings of being pushed around.
The table and chair arrangement formed to their wishes. The entire room was programmable. They could have eight single tables and chairs or one large table with two bench seats. Almost all configurations were possible in the grid that made up the communal room. Every wall and ceiling was capable of showing an image or coloured lighting. A three-dimensional projector was present which could put a large projection on the floor or a smaller one onto a table.
Gaumont pulled up a map of the EU zoomed in to show where he lived. “I live here, south of Lyon. My family is independently wealthy, but my parents still work because they love it. As I mentioned before, both are engineers with Fortescue. I love math and CyberMech and have achieved top ranks in both. If I have a weakness, it would be physical activities.”
Daedo began to wonder if Gaumont was his clone or long-lost older brother. They were very similar in likes, dislikes, and attributes.
“You may be wondering why I am in Thoth,” Barran began. “Well, my sister is in Thoth, and she is a massive nerd. So here I am.” He didn’t need to explain that he was adept physically and probably struggled academically. His attitude said it all; he probably wasn’t stupid, he just didn’t apply himself.
“Do you want to be a mech pilot?” Vannier asked.
“Duh – I was born for this. I’m in Squad Zero, or did you miss that fact?” Barran arrogantly explained. Everyone else in the room was in Squad Zero as well. No one challenged him, though. Either they were intimidated, wanted to form cordial relations first, or just couldn’t be bothered.
“I think we should talk about our goals in addition to our strengths and weaknesses,” Vannier said, ignoring Barran. “This will tell us a lot about each other.”
Picard went next. “I was born into a military family, and as I said when I introduced myself, I received a scholarship to come here. It is one afforded by the EU military for family members, which means I’m not the genius of the entire academy, just better than other military brats. My father trained me in martial combat for as long as I can remember. I’m a hard worker; I study hard, I practise hard, and you can rely on me. My weakness is that I haven’t had a privileged upbringing with private tuition and the like. I did cyberschool and had to pass the entrance exam on my own merits. And while your bodysuits cost over a thousand bitcreds, mine is the cheapest one that meets the academy’s criteria.”
“Oh, cry me a river,” Barran scoffed. “You’re almost begging for one of us to buy you one.” That remark got him a scowl from Vannier.
“If she punched your face in, I would give her one,” Axel-Zero said.
“I’d like to see her try.” Barran wouldn’t back down; his ego would not allow it.
“Enough,” Vannier said, and Mace echoed her agreement. Vannier looked at the other girl. “You go next, Mace.”
Mace flicked her long, white hair out of her eyes. There was the tinniest hint of blue reflecting from her hair as it flew behind her ear.
“I’m from Paris,” she said softly, “Although my parents are rarely home. They go back and forth between here, New York, and Rome; they move around a lot for business. I’m good at logic and strategy games. I’m good with apps, computers and coding. I’m not great with people, though. I prefer machines. My goal is to build my own ...,” she paused before adding, “Mech from the ground up, machining and fabricating tweaked parts or ones of my own design.”
Mace was quiet-spoken and self-deprecating. Daedo liked her, and he thought that way about very few people. In fact, most of his team was likeable with one glaring exception.
Axel-Zero talked about her family that made bodysuits and gadgets and explained to the group about her twin and thus her name. She went on to break new ground with information for Daedo. “I’m not really an expert in any one thing, but I like learning, and being part of a team. If I could be a jack of all trades, I would be happy with that title. I am like Picard in the way I always work hard, which is probably why I scraped into squad zero.”
Axel-Zero was either humble or her self-confidence was low. She put herself down with no evidence that she had just scraped in.
“You all know me,” Vanier stated. “I’ve talked to everyone. There’s just one person who’s told us nothing so far about himself.” She and everyone else looked at Daedo.
“Ah …” he said. “I am a private person. I haven’t spent much time with others, especially ones my age. I completed cyberschool at the age of eight, and I opened my own Spacebuild shop selling models for Tower Defender 2200.”
“Which shop is it?” Mace asked. “One of the top ones that I might know?”
Daedo dodged the question. “No, you wouldn't know it.”
Barran asked what everyone was thinking. “How are you in Squad Zero?” Despite finishing cyberschool at age eight, there was nothing special about Daedo.
“What are your weaknesses?” Gaumont asked.
“What are your goals?” Vannier chimed in, trying to divert the conversation away from Barran and Gaumont and the confrontational negativity.
Daedo was becoming flustered. He wasn’t used to people, let alone being peppered with questions.
Myrmidon: Breathe. Imagine we are in an intense firefight. Now focus. I will handle background info, and you pick targets. Vannier is leaning forward; it means she is friendly and wanting to be positive.
Daedo: Okay, I will address her question. But … what are my goals?
Myrmidon: Well, we conquered the CyberMech world. Why don’t we conquer this one?
Daedo: You don’t hold back do you?
Myrmidon: Hurry, they are waiting. Tell them we will be number one ranked in the school.
Daedo: Should I tell them about Daedalus or you?
Myrmidon: From what we have read, you should not tell them about me. We have broken two laws and 27 EU and international regulations.
Daedo: We may need to pretend to birth you during the supervised AI class and then carry on as if you were new.
“My goal is to be the number one ranked cadet in the academy,” Daedo said matter-of-factly. It came out sounding like he was talking about what he had for breakfast or the weather that day.
“Is that all?” Barran asked sarcastically, receiving another scornful glare from Vannier. There were 1,275 talented and hardworking cadets in M1, and Daedo had just stated calmly that he was aiming for first-place ranking.
“No, actually,” Daedo continued, “I would not settle for less than number one ranked in all the academies in our tier and gaining promotion to the second tier while I’m in U1.”
Barran spat out a cough. He was not alone; this was too much, even for the positive Vannier. Daedo’s hubris made Barran seem meek. Gaumont stared at him as if he were mad. Picard studied him with distrust. Mace looked at him blankly, and Axel-Zero just slapped her forehead as if she couldn’t believe her ears.
A single clap came from behind the cadets. “Another personal merit point for Cadet Daedo,” Master Nader said. “Not only is he the current number one ranked in M1 Thoth, but he has worthwhile goals. I approve.”
The others in the room wore expressions on their faces that said they thought maybe there was something to Daedo after all. He was the only member of Squad Zero to get any personal merit points from Master Nader, and now he had two.