House Rank: 1, Squad Zero
M1 Rank: Unknown
Term 1, Round 1
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The cadets gawked at Master Nader.
Master Nader never removed her mask. She’d walked around in an exo with closed-face helm since they arrived. Daedo wondered if she would ever take it off.
“Daedo,” Master Nader continued, “In my office.” The door to her room slid open upon her words and he followed her in.
Inside her room, there was no bed and no shower, just an amazing display of data and feeds on two of the four walls. Her office was programmable as well; she could adapt it to her needs of the day or hour.
A programmable room was broken up into numerous metre-squares of a cubed floor, ceiling, and walls. Master Nader could programme these into any configuration she wanted, and they were sure to be hiding hundreds of accessories and even entire connected rooms.
“Sit,” she said in her robotic voice.
“You don’t sleep here?” Daedo asked.
Daedo: Are you sure she isn’t a bot?
The screens turned opaque, and the door closed behind him as he sat.
“No, I sleep topside, as do all the masters. Now that was your last question. Listen to me,” she said ominously. “You barely passed your physical. Your teamwork is abysmal, let alone your leadership. The only reason you are rank one is due to the weighting in Thoth where math and physics, the foundations of engineering, have a 1.2 factor. If you were in Horus, you wouldn’t be in the top fifteen, let alone Squad Zero.
“I just set a target on your back. I’m explaining this because you are probably too naïve to realise that each of those cadets out there is now wondering why you are number one and what they need to do to beat you. They are also wondering why you’re getting special treatment right now. If you do not show strong results in all subjects over the next two weeks, you will lose number one standing. The current ranking is based on entrance exam results, which now count for nothing.”
Daedo was shocked. He had never been spoken to that way in his life.
She paused, waiting for what she just said to be processed. When he opened his mouth, she silenced him. “No questions. You must figure this out on your own with the information I provide. But,” she held up a solitary finger and paused for effect, “Because you are M1, and it is your first day, I will give you a general strategy outline. This will be the first and last time.
“You must first get your teammates to stop thinking about the intra-house ranking in Thoth. They must think about Squad Zero leading and winning representation for Thoth, and for Thoth to become the number one house in M1. You are to offer assistance or ask for help in order to form a one-on-one bond with each and every member of your team.” She thumped her desk to accentuate her point.
“Why?”
“You don’t need to know why,” she said. “You need to follow directives. This is a military academy. It is not an academic institution or a holiday resort. The word ‘military’ is there for a reason.”
Daedo: She didn’t even know what I was asking why about. Why give me advice? Why single me out? Why do I need to stay rank one?
Myrmidon: I like her.
Daedo: How do you know you like her? You only know me, and all we do is play games and complete engineering projects together.
Myrmidon: I observe, and I read.
Daedo: As long as you keep it all in the cloud, I don’t mind how much data you collect. Just don’t slow down your core processing. It would be nice if you assisted me socially; I really need it.
“One last warning,” Nader continued. “If you do not finish in the top seven cadets, in Thoth, during the first term, you will no longer be in Squad Zero in term 2. Understood?”
Daedo just nodded.
“You’re dismissed,” she said curtly, and the door opened behind him as his chair disappeared beneath him.
Daedo almost fell but regained his feet. Master Nader had given him a lot to contemplate. He left her room, his first inclination to head back to his own room and avoid questions. But his room had just a bed and ultrasonic shower. To head there now would seem cowardly, so he went directly to the seat he had vacated earlier and sat back down.
Before the door reopened, he knew there would have been a robust discussion taking place, but since he had walked out, everyone was silent.
It was Barran who broke the silence. “So what gives?”
“Yeah what was that about?” Picard asked confrontationally.
Daedo considered telling them it was confidential, but Master Nader didn’t say that anything they discussed was confidential. She had given him hints on how to forge bonds, what he needed to do to rank highly. The question was, did he really care? Myrmidon cared more than he did.
Picard’s blue-tinted hair shone as she shook her head. She was about to say something when Vannier held up her hand. “He is collecting his thoughts, give him time,” she said, urging patience amongst the Squad Zero cadets.
“At first,” he began, “She gave me a dressing down, making sure the rank didn’t go to my head and saying I could easily lose it because I am weak physically. My piloting and gunnery are probably poor due to the amount of time I spent in CyberMech.
“Then she told me that I had to refocus you six from wanting number one rank in Thoth to being more concerned with Squad Zero winning the right to represent Thoth and beating the other houses in M1. She told me to do this by assisting each of you with something or asking for help.”
“So …” Gaumont said, “She basically gave you special treatment, advice, and a directive. And rather than act on that advice, you just blab what it was to us? Is that your way of achieving this directive?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Daedo said. “If it makes sense to you, there is no need to try to manipulate you into doing what I want. In that, I’m sure I would fail. So, I will give you the information, and you will be able to work out whether our paths align or not.”
“And what could you give me assistance with?” Picard asked.
“And me?” Barran asked eagerly.
“I am sure opportunities will arise,” Vannier said, “Once the reason he is rank one becomes known and his special skills are revealed.”
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“Picard, if you have no creds, what AI kernel were you going to use for the AI nurturing subject?” Daedo asked.
“An open source one. A free one,” Picard said.
“Why don’t I write you one?” Daedo suggested.
It was Mace’s turn to splutter a protest. “What? You can’t possibly write one.”
“I have before. It took me three months,” he said.
Gaumont protested as well. “It has taken a team of Fortescue’s best developers over a year to write the base code for an AI, and it was rejected as being inefficient. We are still purchasing Svarski’s military AI. Why should we believe you can write one that works at all? And even if it does, that it’s better than an open source AI?”
“I am offering, and I can do it,” Daedo said. “The only proof I need to give is delivering one to Picard. I will create a bespoke AI, tailored to her requirements, and ready for the first day of AI Nurturing class.”
“If you just copy an open source or a purchased AI, we’ll be able to tell immediately,” Mace said. “You know that, right?”
Daedo just stared at Mace as if the question offended him, which it did.
Barran clapped his hands. “I like this game. Do me next, Daedo; what can you do for me?”
“I don’t know you well enough yet,” Daedo said. “I could assist you in an academic subject, or you could train me in physical.”
Barran made a disappointed sound. “Bah! I want something cool like a bespoke AI.”
“What is it that you need more than anything to succeed here?” Daedo asked seriously.
Barran’s expression became thoughtful. “I don’t know. I have everything money can buy, the best gear, I’m naturally talented in piloting, I can do the math and physics, and those are only two subjects out of the ten. If you could help me with anything at all, it would be to beat my sister in an exo duel. I’m a better pilot than her, but she always tunes and adjusts her exo so it’s much better than mine. Whether it’s an exo or six-metre mech, she always wins.” He looked at Daedo. “Can you tune an exo?”
“I have only seen them on rare occasions. I can’t remember touching one,” Daedo said.
“What? Doesn’t your family have at least one?” Barran asked.
“No. My dad brings home the odd bot from work to repair, and he gets to keep the odd retired model. But other than that, we don’t even own a vehicle.”
“Are you on scholarship?” Picard asked in awe.
“No,” Daedo said.
Vannier leaned towards Daedo. “Then how?”
“My mother,” he began, “I … didn’t really want to tell you all about my …” A tear ran down his cheek. It had only been a day, and he was already embarrassed. He had never been like this in front of adults, but these cadets were his peers, and it felt completely different.
He wiped his face and stared at them crossly. “I will send you a document outlining my history.” And with that, he stood and walked to his room. His door closed behind him. It must have been Myrmidon.
Daedo lay on his bed and prepared a one-page document outlining information about where he lived, his parents, his mother’s death, and how he failed at nine years old to enter the academy. He paused at mentioning he was Daedalus. Why would he need to hide that? If anything, it was a weakness. The only thing he needed to hide was Myrmidon; he had prepared a clean slate AI already, which he could tweak for Picard and present as his own. Then, after time had passed, he could pretend his AI had evolved into Myrmidon. The security measures could be falsified. He would present them as code, but they would not run. He would classify the lines as a text entry and hide the classification.
He added details about the Spacebuild shop and his years spent playing CyberMech as Daedalus. If they doubted him, he could easily prove it. It would be his test for them; he was already pissed about being doubted with the AI kernel programming.
Once he had completed the document, he sent it off to the other members of Squad Zero.
Then he rolled over on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Within moments, a loud banging came from his door.
“How the feck are you Daedalus?” Gaumont shouted. “Come out here and logon now – I want to see this.”
Daedo sighed at the failure on Squad Zero’s part.
He stood and walked out.
They were all staring at him. Again.
Even the cadets who were not fans of CyberMech had heard of Daedalus. He or she was the mysterious rank one player of the most popular mech VR game on the planet. The game that single-handedly caused mass uptake of cybernetic implants in order to play.
“Seriously, this is too much,” Barran said while laughing.
Axel-Zero was caught between her qualms over his story and wanting to console him for the loss of his mother. Just attending the school was a daily reminder because it was her death that paid for his entry. He could not possibly be Daedalus. Daedalus had been the number one ranked player for two years, which would put him at age ten when he achieved it. At ten, she was still playing with slider games. And she knew he had a bodysuit that was worth over fifteen hundred bitcreds because it was from her company. How could he afford that if it was just him and his father? The story didn’t add up. In her heart, she wanted to believe him, but her mind was screaming no.
Vannier put a hand on his shoulder and smiled sadly.
He sat down. “Before I do this, I want to ask: Is there anyone here who believes me?”
Barran laughed. Gaumont scowled. Picard looked anxious. Axel-Zero, Vannier, and Mace looked down, not wanting to make eye contact.
Part of Daedo wanted to shout at them, ‘Feck you – feck you all!’ and go back into his shell. But he knew if he did that, it would be a long, long year. He would be alone, which he didn’t mind … he could function with Myrmidon and do his work. He could pass and excel academically. He could train himself. And when it came to team sports, he could just do his own thing as he had always done. He would never speak of this day, but they would all know they were wrong when he beat them in everything.
The challenge from Master Nader weighed on his mind. For some reason, he wanted to respond to it. To win against Master Nader. He did not seem competitive on the outside, but he was. CyberMech was a case in point. He hadn’t even allowed one of his items on Spacebuild to drop from number one ranking for more than a day.
“Remember this day when you next doubt me,” he said after sitting mute in thought for three full minutes. He activated the common room’s holoprojector and synced it to a feed. A feed of his game. “Only one person on the planet can use the name Daedalus in any game or app, and that is the person who owns the worldwide rights to the name.”
As he spoke, his game launched. A large gold number one appeared in the top right corner, with another blue number one beneath signifying his EU region rank. Gaumont knew straight away that only pro players had the gold ranking symbol. And only one had the gold number one.
The first ranked player in the world. Which, for the past two years, had been Daedalus.
Daedo launched into a ladder match immediately. Although he had not played for thirty days, he was still ranked number one. He wondered if the devs messed with the system. The ranking was adjusted daily. Surely after such a long period of time, his ranking would have dropped?
“It is him,” Gaumont whispered in awe.
Axel-Zero stood up from her chair, distressed. She didn’t know what to do.
Vannier laughed and cheered in relief. She’d desperately wanted him to be telling the truth; she just couldn’t bring herself to believe the impossible. Out of the tens of millions of players of that stupid game, the number one player in the world sat right there with them. No matter how useless that game was, the talent and dedication to achieve such a feat were incredible.
Daedalus flew through the ladder map. He unmuted his team for the first time in years, and the screams of ecstasy and surprise could be heard throughout the common room. It was astonishing because this was coming from players ranked Master or Challenger – they were hardly noobs. But Daedalus had disappeared for a month with no trace, and when he suddenly reappeared, it was in their ladder match, of all places.
Daedalus killed enemy mech after enemy mech with ease, while his teammates just followed him around firing into the air.
His squadmates just gawked at the play. He did it so easily it was like his mech was ten times more powerful than the opponents.
When the match finished, he spoke to his CyberMech team. He was certain they were recording or streaming this. “I have to say goodbye,” he said unemotionally. “I am retiring. I’m now attending military academy M1 and cannot play anymore.”
And with those words, he cut the connection and logged out of CyberMech for the last time.
Within minutes, the sound byte would be sent around the globe to fan sites and apps dedicated to the game. There was no doubt the players at that level would have their own stream and they were certain to go viral with the clip.
Barran was the most emotional out of all of his peers. “I … you …” He stood and grabbed Daedo, lifting him up in the air as if in joy. “You’re more famous than my mum!”
Barran put him down after Picard tapped him on the shoulder and indicated the floor with her head. She then shook Daedo’s hand. “I am sorry for doubting you,” she said.
Gaumont looked like he was in shock. He didn’t say a word.
“You liar,” Mace accused him, “I do know your shop from Tower Defender 2200. Daedalus auctions items twenty per cent better than rank one every month. And in your document, you said you owned the Myrmidon shop too. Both of them are famous!”
Axel-Zero hugged him. “That explains how you afforded the bodysuit. I’m sorry too.”
Myrmidon: I am looking forward to the next game, Daedo. Do not be sad about CyberMech; we were well past it being challenging.
Daedo: I’m not sad about CyberMech. I’m sad no one believed me.
Myrmidon: I believe in you. If you keep smashing the meatheads, they will eventually learn as well.