Y: 2143 - M2
Daedalus Financial Position: +14,340,000 bitcreds
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“You can use the cafeteria or facilities until the appointed time,” the dark-haired young lady ignored Chief Austin. Barran pointed to the transparent material on the far side of the foyer that was two levels up and, inside, there seemed to be a large open space. “What’s that up there?” he asked.
The young lady turned around to see what he was pointing at, “That is the gym so that would be the martial arts sparring mats.”
“Can we go there?” he asked looking around at his friends, nodding and smiling.
The young lady replied, “Yes, it’s part of the facilities that I just mentioned, so follow me but we will need to register you, and then you can access all the common areas.”
Vannier walked next to Master Haddad, “Will they be watching?”
He nodded, “Or review later,” he then directed his next statement over towards Daedo, Barran and the person in question, “have the master put on a show.”
“Very well,” Master Picard replied.
When the door opened, they could see a fully equipped academy gym and, after wandering through, they arrived at the section which could be seen from the foyer, namely, the sparring mats. The young lady who had not introduced herself formally, still accompanied them. Usually, a bot would perform this duty; it was unusual to waste precious human labour on such a mundane task.
Master Picard’s bodysuit turned completely white with a single black line around his waist. He beckoned Daedo, “Show me!” Vannier looked at Master Haddad who shrugged. It was one thing for them to know Daedo’s status, but it was something that they would want to keep hidden from the rest of the world although martial combat was hardly something that would expose him. Daedo walked calmly to the middle to face the master. Not one person in Daedalus could take their eyes off the pair. Everyone was curious to see what would happen, now that Daedo had changed. Historically, Daedo had been one of the weakest among them in martial combat.
Even if his mind had changed his body hadn’t. Barran, especially, was dying to see any change. “Begin,” the master simply said. Daedo stood stock still. He didn’t move a millimetre and neither did the master. They faced each other like statues, waiting for the other to make a move. The master, not impatiently, said, “I said, show me!” There was an imperceptible nod from Daedo and then he moved. His speed was normal Daedo speed, nothing spectacular but his technique was flawless. The master fended his attacks away easily. “Good,” he said, “now, hit me.”
“Not happening,” Barran breathed so only those next to him could hear. What happened next surprised everyone. Daedo’s flawless display of Kung Fu vanished, and it was replaced by something that nobody recognised.
“What’s he doing?” Vannier asked, as the Master seemed to struggle to avoid another blow.
“No idea,” Master Haddad replied and everyone either shook their heads or shrugged as there was much confusion.
Daedo was still only moving at Daedo speed, and this was what was saving the master from being hit because the combination of moves was erratic and random and all over the place. “I recognised a kick that looked like Taekwondo and an elbow block from Aikido but it’s still strange,” Chief Austin commented. After successfully repelling his attacks for numerous rounds, the master hopped back. “Good,” he said, “very good, now hit me.”
Daedo moved in with an immediate attack, so an immediate block was avoided. The secondary dodge from the master was predicted and he hit the Master in the centre of the chest. A feat Barran had only managed three times in almost six months of daily sparring. “Damn!” Barran swore.
The master nodded and he turned the tables going on the offensive himself. Daedo was able to block everything thrown at him. His arms and legs were always moving to the correct position. He was predicting every move from the master, no matter how well hidden. After fifteen minutes they finished and the master asked Daedo, “Sensors?”
“Yes,” he said nothing further knowing they were under surveillance. However, it was obvious to the Daedalus team what it meant. Daedo was able to use his bodysuit sensors live in such an incredibly efficient manner that he could use them while sparring. He was probably picking up twitches and internal muscle movements from the master which alone wouldn’t give him a massive advantage over the master’s speed and ability to adapt. However, it was that ability to sense combined with his predictive capability which was always good but now it was off the charts.
“You must improve your physical speed and strength,” the master concluded, “It is still lacking.”
“Yes, Master,” Daedo replied respectfully and presented his master with a martial arts style bow. The Master returned the bow but not as deep as was the tradition.
The young lady had not left, “Are the rest of you going to spar or do you want to move on?”
“Cafeteria, please,” Vannier requested before Chief Austin could say anything further to embarrass them.
The young lady talked while she led them to the travelator, “Headquarters is not a normal workplace. We have many people representing or servicing the regions and tiers.” As they passed another large facility she mentioned, “All the voting takes place in the great auditorium and, while most academy representatives remotely attend, it can get crowded for important votes.”
Their admission would be decided by the small governing committee, not a full vote. However, the election of this committee was a function of the full voting process. As it was over thirty minutes until their meeting, they took their seats in the large cafeteria. There were a few staff members having an early lunch but, otherwise, it was empty. A large table was in place to accommodate their group. It was a fully programmable seating layout in the cafeteria. A short time after ordering, a small army of drones flew in with the orders, placing them neatly in front of each guest.
“I’m tired,” Daedo announced suddenly and closed his eyes.
“Check him,” Vannier said in a panic.
Master Picard took his pulse remotely using his bodysuit, “He’s sleeping,” he stated.
Daedo had fallen asleep sitting upright at the table.
“Grab him,” Master Picard ordered. Barran grabbed his chest and slowly lowered Daedo’s head onto the table in a balancing act.
Vannier: What do we do!
Master Haddad: We wait because, for all we know, he could have set an alarm to wake himself in thirty minutes.
Barran: Does this happen often?
Vannier: He’s mostly been working with Cisse but, no, I’ve never seen this happen before.
Mace: I hope he has only overworked himself and that something more serious isn’t happening.
Master Haddad: I know it’s not easy but don’t show concern, just get busy with your task, Cadet Mace.
Mace’s role was to protect their data security from local hacks and to monitor the local security for possible attacks on them, physically. She would also keep in contact with her parents who were running counter-espionage ops.
The minutes ticked by; the group anxiously waited for the allotted time, whilst trying not to look nervous. Whilst the young lady did not sit with them, she was never far away and, at the allotted time she approached announcing, “It’s time!”
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Vannier wished for Daedo to wake up which he did, opening his eyes and saying, “It’s time,” before standing up. Vannier breathed a sigh of relief that they all felt and followed the slightly confused young lady towards the travelator.
The travelator in the high-rise headquarters was different from the type in their old academy. It was not used for mass transit of cadets and was more versatile in its delivery. It was primarily used to pick up passengers from high-traffic areas and then move them to the central conduit where it could take them up and down levels. Like most transportation in 2143, it utilized magnetic force for propulsion and deceleration.
The Daedalus group was not used to walking into a meeting room which was not like boardrooms the world over. Instead of the long oval table, the committee sat up on a dais and looked down at the petitioners like judges in a courtroom. Just like a courtroom, there was someone at the opposing table as two men and a woman sat waiting for them to take their seats. The entire room felt like it was judging all who entered here. Vannier, Master Haddad and Daedo took their seats at their presentation table. The rest of Daedalus were behind in the audience seats where they could be called upon to speak but were not active participants.
A gentleman in his sixties read out the obligatory introductions and other formalities until he got to the matter at hand, “… and we have Daedalus’ petition to join the Federation of International Academies in front of us now. The members of this committee have reviewed all the submitted information. You are allowed a presentation of fifteen minutes and then we will have questions. Opposing counsel will be allowed to submit live contributions or examinations from the member academies. When the session is concluded, the committee can either make an immediate judgment or take the application under consideration and render a judgment within 14 days or order an additional interview.” Anyone at their table could speak during the fifteen-minute oral submission. Master Haddad stood first.
“Thank you for this opportunity,” he began. “Daedalus has a strong foundation in personnel, facilities and academic readiness.” Master Haddad proceeded to highlight their proposal in the three areas. The only glaring issue was the lack of cadets but what came first the chicken or the egg?
When he had finished after ten minutes, Vannier stood to talk, “Thank you for this opportunity to present,” she began, “as a cadet of this academy, I would like to impress upon the committee the advanced delivery of both the academic and practical curriculum. Having attended a tier three institution, I can attest that the unregistered institution, Daedalus Academy, is ahead in all regards.” She went on to illustrate their training and projects and how Daedalus embedded practical projects into its learning increasing their productivity. The committee seemed interested in the famous Daedo, but he had not spoken by the time their fifteen minutes concluded.
“Thank you,” the second Chair replied. “We have questions prepared, as well as new ones appearing during your presentation, and our focus was entirely on your submission. We take new entrants extremely seriously, it is not a common occurrence, and we need a minimum level of quality to maintain, and that minimum is quite high.” Mace almost scoffed thinking at some issues at Fortescue but, on reflection, she had to admit the academic regime was very good.
The last and lowest committee member went first with questions, “In your submission, I can see the funding of the academy, but it appears to be entirely funded by Daedalus Military. There is no reference to fees which is understandable given your current number of cadets. Can you please submit a fee schedule? Now, is perfectly fine. I would expect if you are recruiting students you must have one available.”
Master Haddad stood, “Sir, there are no fees.”
The last Chair responded. “Are you using scholarships in order to recruit top cadets from other academies? This is quite concerning, Master Haddad, so please explain.”
Master Haddad had not retaken his seat, ‘Sir, we will not be recruiting any cadets from other academies and there are no scholarships because there are no fees for our successful applicants.”
“No fees?” the term confused the committee “and no poaching!” was just as confusing!
The second Chair took the floor, and his tone was odd, “This is quite unique so let’s move to the next question.” The last Chair followed up, “The Daedalus corporation’s financial status is an unknown quantity. It is less than a year old and its tax status is unknown. Its full-year P&L is unknown, let alone a five-year track record. Given there will be no financial windfall from cadets, how can you guarantee the financial stability of the academy?”
Master Haddad answered, “The financial support is not from the Daedalus Corporation, it is merely an asset of the Daedalus Military which will be providing the funding. The IPO verified valuation of the patents held by Daedalus Military at over one billion bitcreds as you can see from our submission. This capital valuation is our guarantee that we have enough capital to run an academy for over a hundred years and, as you pointed out, this was achieved in less than a year.”
The last Chair moved uncomfortably in his seat but had no further questions regarding the financial status of Daedalus. The third Chair took the floor and asked, “This question was established before this revelation, as it's not financial in nature. Given that it will be free to attend the new academy, I do not expect this to be an issue but how and where will you recruit cadets?”
Vannier fielded this question, “We expect the proposition of attending an academy from the currently trending Daedalus Military will be appealing to all. The subscription count to our stream is the highest amongst all corporations and academies. We will utilise this stream to recruit the best from the general public.”
Chair three quizzed, “General public?” The notion of recruiting children of the recipients of the UBI, known as ubis, never occurred to them. Their world view was so small that they expected it would be from the one percent and as anything else was such a foreign concept, so it did not enter their thinking until now. The mood of the five changed and their body language communicated it clearly. They suddenly began fidgety moving virtual documents around the surface table. Their unease was palpable; it seemed to derail their line of questioning for a minute.
The opposing counsel stood, “Permission to speak,” he said.
“Granted,” the first Chair replied.
“We petition that this experiment,” the word, ‘experiment,’ was said with slight disgust, “should run for a year before the academy be allowed into the league.”
Master Haddad immediately stood to speak, “We must enter the league this year. It is imperative to our operations, and anything else is unacceptable. Our submission asks for the regional southern European League in order to hone our skills, but we would accept entrance into the combined African and Middle East League.”
The first Chair finally took charge, “The opposing counsel is reflecting my thoughts. There is no way we would allow a new academy to enter the league without more proof of concept. You have no cadets, no administration, other than patents and a few qualified masters, so you have nothing!”
Vannier stood, “Sir, with all due respect, it is widely known that most first-tier academies will be using our patents with shielding and PPCs next year. This is the same equipment which propelled the Fortescue academy to second in tier three when our equipment was exclusively used. This equipment was designed by our current cadets in Daedalus academy. What further evidence do you require to prove our academic record? Which other academy has such innovation coming from its cadets?”
The first Chair was not moved by her plea. It was evident that Daedalus desperately wanted to enter the regional competition this year, 2143. It would mean that if they were able to pull off the achievement of being the one academy from hundreds, then they would enter tier 3 in 2144. What the committee didn’t know was that Daedo’s plan was to be in tier one before the aliens invaded and during their theoretical U2 year, 2146. Any delay to entrance was unacceptable. Daedo had made this clear to Vannier and Master Haddad and that it was their job to get them entrance into regional in 2143 and, if not, he would take over.
The first Chair replied softly and slowly, “We have no compelling reason, other than your hubris, to grant entry in 2143. Please come back in a year with a better foundation and results which will allow us to approve your application.” Master Haddad and Vannier moved to stand in order to protest. A hand from Daedo moved across the master as he placed it palm down onto the desk. It was the sign that he was taking over. They both sat in dejection and hope. Daedo stood, “I would like to address the committee.”
The chair nodded, “Granted.”
“This committee and all its members have four hours to unanimously approve our application into the European Southern region for the year 2143; anything else is unacceptable and will result in your termination.”
Daedo sat. Master Haddad and Vannier received information from Daedo directly into their AIs. Vannier gasped and Master Haddad looked anxious.
“What do you mean by termination, exactly?” the Chair enquired, shocked by the statement and seeking clarification before he became offended.
Master Haddad stood, “Our commander has issued a directive and sent information to me which will be shared with the press within four hours. He has also illustrated clearly that this information will put your lives in danger.”
The opposing counsel stood, “I..I,” he stammered, “does he think that threatening your life will gain them entry? I have never heard of anything so ludicrous, and this is an outrage, so call the authorities.”
Master Haddad spoke, as if reciting a document verbatim, “Commander Daedo has calculated all possible outcomes and no matter what happens to him, each of you will be irreparably harmed,” Master Haddad said, “with a high chance of death,” repeating it while looking at each of the Chairs, in the turn.
“The information in our possession which is information that will be forwarded to the press establishes corruption, extramarital affairs, sex with minors, sex with animals. There is even a case where clones of celebrities were created, rapidly aged only to be tortured, raped and killed. This scandal will affect you directly, place your life in danger, and it will surely turn the public against you, and it will affect your estates. They will be seized by your respective governments due to your crimes and the scandal.”
Vannier stood, “If you wish to avoid this outcome you have four hours to approve our application as is and with no alterations, thank you!”
With that, Daedalus left the building.