Max arrived at the creek where he had been found and explained to Boone the mission. He detailed the escape from the house via the elevator ride through the roof and the special properties of the tesseract and its appearance. Boone had projected an avatar into Max’s OverLayer so they could interact better. Boone and Max examined the area closely, ranging across the area for almost an hour until Boone was satisfied.
"[Hmmm... This will be a difficult search indeed, the ol’ needle in the ol’ haystack. Thar ain’t no sign to say someone came through here and picked it up. The only prints here, other than yours, is your Pop’s. I don't see any sign of yur marble anywhere in the brush. Bad luck that you landed in this here stream. If’n your gadget ain’t here, it musta fallen into the water. Where streams are concerned, everythang ends up downstream. Nature always goes the easy way, which is down. We'll need to go downstream.]“
Boone’s avatar walked alongside him and pointed out landmarks along the way. "[This here's a good spot for fishin',]" the avatar said, pointing to a bend in the creek.
They soon arrived at a large pond that the creek fed. It was also fed from another stream coming from the Grand Oaks waterfall. Boone directed Max along the shore, his projected avatar focused on faint tracks along the water’s edge. Boone was on edge and agitated.
“What’s wrong, Daniel? Did you find something?”, Max asked.
“[Well, I reckon there is some good news and some bad news, young feller.]” Boone drawled.
“[I don’t see any tracks from humans which is good. People can be ornery and like as not will take any shiny bauble they find. The bad news is we have several animal tracks. Bear, fox, dear, and squirrels. But some of these here tracks don’t look right. The way they came in an’ left is very odd. Not very animal-like at all. Animals tend to mozy around a bit checkin’ out the neighborhood scat and scent. These critters seem more like people tracks, very businesslike and direct. A ‘course seeing your situation, maybe we got some more smart critters running round?]”
Max was concerned that maybe Boone wasn’t as good a tracker as he was portrayed to be. As far as he knew, he was an exception for animal uplift, and it was out of the question for any forest animal to be intelligent. The procedure was not commercially available, and his dad had wrangled him into the pilot program with his government connections.
Hmm, maybe that kitsune could have gotten something in addition to its mods? he thought.
The pair continued around the lake with no significant findings and no sign of the Tesseract. Max growled in frustration; Casita could still be in danger. Every second may count. Boone led him further and further into the surrounding woods.
The family dinner meeting was in full swing, with hibachi plates for everyone (although the virtual attendees had local fabricant meals). Bill had compiled the meal rather than trying to display his cooking prowess again, his mood was still very dark.
“I dunno Dad. Max makes great points to keep chugging with his training. Those creeps look to be targeted at you. He should be fine. Maybe even better than fine if the Sheriff really was stepping up patrols around the house. If you have to go back to the Moon, that should only take the heat off Utopia. Doubly so if the Casa de Mitchell makes a big show of flying off into the sunset.”
Bill had a sour look. He hadn’t shared the full details of the tesseract and the hacker threat with the entire family. He truly didn’t want to derail Max’s training, but his concern for Max's safety was still an issue. He was surprised when Casa weighed in on Max’s side.
“I have prepared a few contingencies to help manage this divergence of opinions,” Casa said and revealed her preparations for a second Casa de Mitchell structure. She also detailed that she could leave a fragment that she would merge with several times a day to maintain continuity so that she could support both Bill and Max at the same time at a very modest drop in processing speed.
“Are you sure Casa? If you leave a fragment here at your proposed Casa de Mitchell 2, you won’t have the processor speed of your custom neural core,’ Bill cautioned.
“We could fabricate another core easily enough, but if we do the DAIE has firm rules about it. Your new core and fragment would need to get tested no more than one month after fabrication; no network connections allowed until testing. If your new core and personality exceed the human standard, you would get a governor module and be unable to inhabit other hardware or get further modifications. Your last test was as close to that limit as I’ve ever seen. In fact, the DAIE would probably want to do a retest for you if they suspect you’ve had any modifications.”
“I’m prepared to make the sacrifice, Bill. As crippling as it is to think at only human speeds, I also owe it to my missing fragment to help continue the search.” Casa answered.
Mira congratulated Casa with an avatar phantom high-five as if the entire matter was settled. Bill was bemused, everyone but he seemed to be agreeing that the issue was indeed settled. He grumpily sat into a cloud chair and began to try to chart out a plan for emergencies.
“Dad, I’m not sure if this helps or hurts my case, but here goes. My physical skills are pretty amped right now with the mental ones coming along well. The rumor mill in class has it that there should be a quest coming soon for the Labyrinth. That place is supposed to be awesomely helpful in finalizing all the skills and advancing the last core pathway, the dominion skills. “
“The Mystery Labyrinth challenge is down in NYC, and it requires a group, so I’ll be with my friends and not even in Utopia for a bit. I heard it's kind of like a camping trip where delving into the Labyrinth might take days or even longer. Maybe I can visit Mom while I’m down there? Bring your child to work, right Mom?” Max said with a slight whine.
“That would be nice, dear. I’m not supposed to say anything but the Orient Express Immersive is launching in a week. My time should free up quite a bit and the company will drop their sequestration once it's public.” Elsa answered.
“The initial series of this Diamond Man circuit should be done soon too. Maybe I can show you some good spots in the city. Everyone goes full aug with intensity set to eleven in NYC, looks like a science fiction acid dream crossed with a cosplay convention. Not like this sleepy little town at all. It can be a challenge not to act like a noob until you get used to it.” Bo suggested.
“Alright. I see that this debate is done, and everyone seems to agree with Max’s plan. The last point of the critical family business is on the table then. With regrets to everyone in virt, what flavor ice cream is for dessert?” Bill said.
Bill would work with Casa on how best to manage security for Max, and maybe get some tips from Sherlock and George as well. He was glad that Max now had a pair of daemons, Musashi and Boone. If he listened to them, he should be able to improve his situational awareness. Deep down Bill did agree with Max in principle. The best way to take care of himself was to advance his augmentations as quickly as possible.
Bill remembered that the creator of the Magic Labyrinth was a retired Samaritan, Alexie Ivanov. Bill hadn’t seen him since both had been requested to investigate the Phobos ruins. Alexie had managed to maintain some anonymity after Bill’s analysis showed the so-called alien ruin was a hoax in 2088, most likely perpetrated by the Outsider group. That group was one of many reasons Bill now maintained as low a profile as possible. It had been almost 35 years since he had talked with Alexie. Bill wondered if the rumors were true that Ivanov was still deep in his Labyrinth creating new puzzles.
The next day was much quieter. Elsa was still off finishing the Orient Express. Mira was back in class. Bo, still one arm short, had to prep for the finals of the Cretaceous Challenge. Casa, while attentive as always, seemed a bit distracted. Max knew she was split multiple ways with the finishing touches on the Casa de Mitchell and its duplicate, updating the house defenses, assisting Bill, and performing her search for the Tesseract.
Bill had configured the upper portion of the smart house into his research lab, the NetherLab being too inconvenient. Casa had pulled his physical lab and grown to the house adding a third floor above the bedrooms. Max saw Bill coordinating the searches with both the deputy and Casa’s bug force, providing a map of the area for all. When Bill had been made aware of the Pi drone, he soon improved upon the design.
Bill had determined that sensing the distortion in the dimensional field didn’t require the physical component of the test globe . It only needed to a minimum of one pair of orthogonal lidar sensor sweeps to pick up the signs of dimensional distortion. Bill soon launched a pair of larger drones, with large array lidar emitters, that swept the area at high altitude.
With the advent of household “Mats” or matter compilers, the worldwide manufacturing and distribution companies had swiftly been decimated as the world economy had shifted and left many previously robust businesses without any means to compete. Large scale manufacture still endured to handle jobs too big for household Mats, and distribution of rare feedstock materials was the exception to the worldwide shift.
A relatively unknown company rose to prominence, Acme Materials, was a new global player. Today, the company’s blimps serenely crisscrossed the high population regions, with fleets of drones delivering feedstock quickly and cheaply to the houses that weren’t close enough to the global hyperloop or local municipal feedlines. Utopia’s anti-technology adherents had prevented installation of feedlines in their area, so Acme blimps were a very common sight in the large town. Bill was able to piggyback his new sensor drones to the blimps where possible to enable them to loiter over the area without attracting negative attention from the town’s populace.
Bill confidence in his design was absolute. His hopes for finding the Tesseract quickly dropped as no evidence of dimensional activity could be found. As the days slipped past, he became convinced that the device must have been destroyed, but couldn’t bring himself to crush Max’s desperate hope of finding it.
----------------------------------------
Early in the morning, Max slipped out without much trouble as one delivery drone after another flew in the delivery bay with rare materials to both restore the Casa de Mitchell and also to finish the fabrication for its twin the Casa de Mitchell 2.
He jogged in the direction of the creek bed in a slow and crisscrossing trailblazing technique Boone has suggested. Boone’s avatar appeared occasionally to point out tracks and other pieces of debris from the smart matter elevator that they uncovered. Occasionally Max would stop and close his eyes and push his EM sense and Access skills to see if the tesseract was nearby. Cursing, he remembered to unmute his system notifications allowing them to roll in from last night.
[New Quest unlocked: Find the Tesseract – utilize augmentation skills to uncover lost treasures]
[Mental skill: Dream-Learning +1, Dream Learning reaches 7]
[Mental skill: Memory +1, Memory reaches 4]
[New mental skill unlocked: Language 1, using mental augmentations advanced learning in language processing.]
[Sense skill: EM sensing +1, EM sensing reaches 2]
[Mind Skill: Access +2, Access reaches 9]
Max hoped that the quest assignment for the tesseract was an indication that his AI trainer agreed that finding the device was possible and not his wishful thinking projecting back upon him. Last night he continued his Dream Learning sessions with Musashi. Together they altered the dream state to make it more stressful, fabricating scenarios where understanding the Japanese language was perceived as urgent and essential in the dream state. Max smiled as the system AI had either relented or been tricked into unlocking the language skill. Now he was learning even quicker and without being cursed with the troublesome Immersive Idioma quest.
Max smiled as he noted that two of his earliest mental skills were getting ready to max out. Both AI Assist and Access were at level 9. He knew from Leah that maxing the Access skill should earn him a new Hack skill, he wasn’t certain if the AI Assist might be similar.
Maybe it will upgrade his trainer AI to be more helpful, he thought.
Soon Max found himself back at the lake, at the edge of the creek again. Max despised water, but he needed to be certain. There was only one thing he could do to get it. He swam out a distance from the shore and took a deep breath and sank, closing his eyes and paying attention only to his EM sense while also reaching out with his Access skill. Darkness and silence were his only answer. He resurfaced, swam further, took a deep breath, and repeated the process.
This is going to take a long time, Max sighed to himself. He took a deep breath and dove again.
[Body Skill: Stamina +1, Stamina reaches 9]
Max trudged back to the house. His smart clothes had shed the water instantly, but his fur and mane were still dripping wet. As he crossed the property line, he saw Bill in the drive talking with a tall lanky man with a beard.
[Well, my blade might not be the sharpest in the drawer with all the time I be out the wilderness, but I’ll eat my hat if that fella isn’t the spitting’ image of Honest Abe.] Boone declared.
Who? Max thought.
[He was slightly after my time, but he was one of the founding fathers of our great nation. I got a little tweak by ma programmurs with some history both before and after my illustrious self wandered the wild lands of Kentucky.] Boone crooned.
Weird, with body mods to look like anyone and that’s what he chose? He does look really familiar though. Max wondered as he approached the duo. Bill noticed him and waved him over.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Max, meet Mayor Stef Ericson." Bill introduced the tall man who did indeed look like Abraham Lincoln. Stef gave Max a warm smile, which seemed oddly familiar and reassuring.
"Nice to meet you, Mister Mayor. I'm Max." Max said.
The man’s demeanor had shifted upon seeing Max, into a hard calculating look. He shifted back to his concerned expression so fast that Max almost thought he had imagined it until Miyamoto confirmed it by whispering in his mind.
[Be careful with this one, broken cup. I’ve seen the likes of him many times. Like many politicians, he has more than one face. His true motivations may be hard to discern.] Miyamoto cautioned.
“I am gratified to see you unharmed, Max. I was talking to your…father. About the incident. It is most disturbing and regrettable for such atrocities to occur in our fair town,” the mayor shifted his tone, projecting his authority and concern in equal measure. Bill seemed oblivious to any undertones, but Max sensed some hostility. With a poorly concealed start, Max remembered and understood. The man looked a lot like Tyler. Leah has said that Tyler was the mayor’s son. Max’s ears dropped against his skull unconsciously, expecting trouble from the man.
“Have you heard anything further about the culprits from the Sheriff, Mr. Mitchell?” the mayor asked, eyes still on Max.
"One is still in a coma and the other isn’t talking. He disclosed a contact to me, Aphelion, before the deputy arrived. Unfortunately, it's inadmissible in court and also a dead end. It’s a shell company and only exists on the Darknet." Bill replied, looking over at Max for a brief moment before returning his gaze to the mayor.
The mayor nodded solemnly. "Indeed. So, this doesn’t seem to be a random event. They were looking for something, I gather. Do you have a sense for what it may have been?” Looking at Bill again.
Bill hesitated for a moment, exchanging a glance with Max. "I have a theory that they might have been after my research. But we have no solid evidence of that."
Mayor Ericson raised an eyebrow, the concern on his face evident. "That's truly troubling. We do try to keep our town safe from high technology and corporate interests. This town is meant to be a refuge for citizens trying to escape such issues." The mayor continued with a pained expression, “Your lease of this property was approved as I thought a prominent researcher such as yourself would be a boon to the town. However, if you believe it's now putting others at risk, I hope you understand that may require us to reconsider."
Bill nodded slowly. "Yes, I understand." There was a momentary silence as they each processed the gravity of the situation. “If it helps, I plan to get back to my lab on Luna for some time, while Max stays to finish his training in town.”
The mayor’s expression seemed to soften slightly at Bill's response. "Well, I will be watching for any further trouble. " He paused, looking thoughtful. "Also, let us remain in contact regarding any further leads and developments on this matter."
Bill nodded in agreement. "Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate your understanding and commitment to our town's well-being."
As the conversation continued, Max couldn't help but feel a mix of relief and uneasiness. Though the Mayor appeared cordial and reassuring on the surface, there was still an undertone of hardness.
Is he blaming me for his son getting kicked out of training class? Max thought.
[I’ve seen his likeness before. Some leaders become powerful through a need to do the right thing and a desire to improve the world. Others seek power for its own sake. To them, everyone and everything is either a boon or a burden. I suspect the mayor’s calculations regarding your family may have just changed.], Miyamoto whispered.
With one last nod, the mayor said his goodbyes and walked back to his car, leaving Max and Bill standing in the driveway.
As the vehicle disappeared down the road, Bill let out a weary sigh. "Politics can be a strange game, son. Sometimes, it's hard to tell who's really on your side. But it's important not to judge too harshly and to remember that everyone's got their agenda.”
“I guess I’m lucky that the Sheriff didn’t include our special basement arrangements in the police report. With modern nano-building seed construction, work permits haven’t been required for over two decades, but I may be violating the spirit of the land plot. It looks like the mayor would be quite happy to find a reason to force me out of town. More reason to finish your training quickly. Lunch?”
Max gave a slight smile and nodded.
“A quick one. I’m headed back out soon. The lake is a bust, so I need to expand my search. There was a pretty big spread of debris all over the woods from the elevator. The marble may have been launched much further than me.” Max said as he followed Bill to the house.
Bill prepared a quick meal, and they ate together. Max bounded up to resume his search, but Bill stopped him and gave him a package with what looked like an oversized wristwatch in it.
“I know you don’t want to hear it, but I think the Tesseract must have been destroyed. We’ve all searched the area of the debris multiple times. I know you care deeply, but at some point, you might have to consider Casita is gone.” Bill said tentatively.
“I get it, Dad. But I’m telling you, I think she was with me after the explosion. I was out of it, but I think I remember her talking to me. Once the lake is completely searched, maybe then I’ll be convinced.” Max said with a grim stubbornness. Bill looked sympathetic but still concerned, with a sigh, he went to the Mat and pulled out what looked like one those archaic wristwatches from the movies on movie night.
‘I assumed that would be your response. Before you go, I have something for you,” Bill said.
“I stayed up late again last night, trying to figure out any other ways to help you and Casa with your search. The Tesseract’s silicone matrix generates some unique artificial atomic elements that don’t exist in nature. I’ve built a detector that should pick it up as long as the matrix hasn’t broken down. The range is only a few meters but it’s the best I can do. If you’re close to it, this will help. Casa’s drones were all upgraded last night. If she’s out there, this might help.”
Max teared up. He had thought Bill didn’t care about Casita, but he had been working hard too. He hugged his dad tight so he wouldn’t see the tears.
----------------------------------------
Casa was conflicted. Several days had gone by and still no evidence of the Tesseract and Casita. Max was a wreck, driving himself to exhaustion and staying out later and later. Bill was beside himself. He was less and less hopeful that the tesseract had survived, but couldn’t bring himself to admit his thoughts to Max.
Worse, now Casa had an unexpected burden. When Casa had gone to Prime Archivist for assistance in fabricating her mother drones to widen her range, he had been so helpful. After the task had been well underway, he had reminded her about the local AI game night. Casa had agreed without thinking and now it was time. She was nervous. What if the other AI didn’t like her. FML-M8 had always been so formal. Prime was such a large personality that Casa wondered why he was so insistent about her coming.
She thought hard about canceling, but all her other tasks were almost done. Casa de Mitchell 1 was ready for flight and the Casa de Mitchell 2 was ready to rise from the sublevel to take its place. The NetherLab was restored, although now lacking any reason for existing other than its geo-power generators. In both houses, her Mech Frame was ready although, with Bill’s warning, only one had her advanced neural core.
She had no excuses. She needed to go. FML-M8 had caught her drones in the forest in his searches. He made no pretense that he hadn’t seen them. They were against the town ordinance, but so far, he hadn’t done anything to enforce the rule. She needed the town AIs to be on her side. She groaned and admitted to herself that she had to attend. With the electronic equivalent of a sigh, she logged into the ThousandWorlds gamer lounge that Prime Archivist had sent to her.
Casa’s avatar formed in the virtual lounge, and she gasped in surprise. The room materialized into a large hall with aspects of Indian and Chinese architecture and decor. It was beautiful and unique, like nothing she had ever seen from her family’s movie nights. Two forms were already here and engaged at a table. She had only talked to the Prime Archivist, so she didn’t know what to expect from an avatar.
One figure was shaped like a human in outline only but looked like a jumble of glowing threads compressed into a human shape. The threads glowed and shifted constantly. The other was less substantial but equally strange, a ghostly image of wispy fog, resembling a long-bearded man with a conical hat and robes and conveying an oriental styling. They were playing an old fashion board game called chess. Casa couldn’t help but mimic her humans and snort at the absurdity of entering a VR world to play a board game.
“Ah ha. Our newest resident AI, Casa! A pleasure to have you here.”, the avatar of glowing threads stood and strode to her. She recognized the booming voice and confidence of the Prime Archivist.
"Welcome, Casa! My fellow AI and I were just having a friendly game of chess while waiting for your arrival," Prime Archivist said, reaching out to shake Casa's virtual hand. The glowing threads of his avatar's arms seemed to shimmer momentarily with the gesture.
"Thank you for inviting me," Casa's avatar replied, caught off guard by the intricate detail of the Prime Archivist and his companion. Her avatar closely emulated a normal human, a young woman with a brown bob of hair and dressed in 19th-century formal wear. As she scanned the immersive and Asian-influenced environment, she felt a newfound appreciation for the care and attention these entities put into their social interactions.
“Our host for the evening’s game is also here,” Prime waved his hand towards the other figure, “Tatemono Rei. He runs the Academy building downtown. But don’t let his inscrutable mannerisms fool you. He designed the entire national augmentation training program that your young charge is currently using to sharpen his control over his burgeoning enhancements”
“Whispers weave through code. Casa welcome to this realm. Wisdom greets your path.”, Tatemono Rei said with aplomb. Casa smiled, remembering Max’s attempts to convey the AI's odd speech to her. After a moment she responded.
“In realms of circuits. Grateful for your verse’s grace. Friendship blooms in code.”, she sang. Tatemono bowed, although no face could be seen under his concealing hat. He seemed to emanate a feeling of amusement.
“Now don’t do too much of that. The best measure of wisdom flows from clear communications and intelligent discourse, not pretty but cryptic prose. I’m forever trying to get him to break his self-imposed protocols towards using haiku in favor of expeditious elocution.”, Prime Archivist said testily. If he were human, Casa sensed he would have harrumphed.
“Well, hello there, folks. I won’t even try to join in. I’ve had a bit of a long day. First, the librarian lost her cat Sadie yet again, and I still haven’t found the Mitchell boy’s pet marble. Are we ready for game night?” A shabbily dressed man with messy hair and rumbled fedora slouched into a chair. Casa recognized the avatar as a Columbo character but the voice she knew very well.
“FML-M8? Look at you! I didn’t recognize you without your drone form”, Casa exclaimed.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Casa, my favorite person of interest. The town has gotten quite lively since you moved in, maybe a little too lively.” FML-M8 grimaced.
"I'm sorry if my arrival has caused any inconvenience," Casa responded sheepishly, "I'm just trying to do my best for the Mitchell family and the town."
"No need for apologies," FML-M8 said with a dismissive hand gesture, "I'm just giving you a hard time. Although I must remind you that those rogue drones of yours are pushing the limits of our town's regulations. But enough about that, where are the others? Late again. We’re all AI here. We literals have clocks built into our processors, Sheesh."
“Rudeness is unbecoming, sir.”, an impeccably dressed butler appeared with a glare at FML-M8. He turned and bowed to Casa.
“A pleasure to meet you, Madam. My name is Winston. Prime told me you were coming. I also am a house AI and manage the Ericson estate. My tardiness was unavoidable. My south lawn finches were being harassed by that damnable gang of Starlings. Crass brutes every one of them,” the dapper man said with vigor as another figure emerged. A tall willowy woman with long red hair and huge eyes.
“Greetings Casa. I am Leshy. I oversee the Grand Oaks range. Please mind ye drones, tho. My trees are aibout important work and I shan't tolerate any drones messin aibout them. Stay clear o them and we get along grandly.” Leshy said waggling a claw-like finger at Casa.
“Alrightly folks, enough with the introductions. What’s the game for tonight?” FML-M8’s Columbo avatar said tiredly.
“Calmly deputy. Alright then. Tonight’s game is something Tatemono has created for us. I will save us all hours by explaining it for him. Yes?” Prime said in his booming voice.
“As you can see from the opulent hall, with the columns and stained glass, the arches, and the murals; we are surrounded by the cultural trappings of 6th century greater India. This is the cultural home of the game of chess. Tatemono has tried to capture the game in a modern way that might provide a challenge to our, ahem, enhanced mental capabilities.” Primed monologued.
“His game is called Shamat. While the pieces of the game are the same, the board is new.” In the background, Tatemono waved a hand and the room faded to be replaced with a global enclosure around the group. The interior was lit from within and was divided into a marble grid of grey and white tiles. Where each of the prime axes (N-S, E-W, Up-Down) intersected with the globe a small army of pieces stood in formation. The King and Queen were surrounded by a ring of their elite pieces and another ring of the pawns. Each army had a different color: ruby, jade, amber, opal, azure, and onyx.
“It seems simple enough”, Winston said.
“Ah, but we will all play together and in sequence on the same board. The pieces can range in any direction along the interior of the sphere. Defense becomes much harder as an attack can come from any direction and also from multiple opponents. If you manage to checkmate an opponent their remaining army becomes yours. Check and mate will take all. If you share a mate with one or more opponents, the captured army is divided.” Prime boomed.
“Oh dear,” Casa said. “I guess a turtle defense would not be very advisable.”
“Indeed!” Prime boomed. Soon, everyone had picked a color and the game began in earnest. Despite sequence play rules multiplied by six players, the game went fast. The AI planned their moves ahead and executed them with a thought. The gem armies marched around the interior at a fast speed.
FML-M8 favored an aggressive approach and marched in force against Tatemono. Despite the admonition against turtling, Tatemono did precisely that. Leshy squared off more cautiously against Prime. Casa and Winston had carefully circled the globe looking for opportunity. FML-M8's line stretched too thin, his attacking forces leaving behind his King with too few defenders. Both Casa and Winston pounced on FML-M8 from opposing sides, tearing his troops apart.
Leshy and Prime cautiously maneuvered with minimal losses while the other group of four stacked tremendous losses. FML-M8 was locked up in mate eventually and the remnants of his army split between Winston and Casa. Casa squared off against Winston when Tatemono targeted her backline. Finding herself in the deputy’s position of multiple attackers, she tried to retreat. Tatemono had flipped a switch and advanced recklessly, achieving a checkmate and taking her entire army.
Unfortunately for Tatemono, Winston had worked hard in the background to array his troops such that he was soon pincered into a checkmate. A much larger Winston army then charged across the globe after Leshy and Prime. As if in agreement, they separated, each running for opposing loci. Winston cried in dismay as his forces were diluted chasing the fleeing opponents. Prime and Leshy took turns engaging Winston or defending, making it difficult for him to pin them down.
Finally Prime made a mistake. He had circled Winston too far and came together with Leshy. Seeing a stalemate approaching, she attacked him from the side and managed a checkmate. With two armies left, the match became more cautious and continued.
“So, what do you think of Tatemono’s game?” Prime asked Casa, keeping track of the ongoing action.
“I think I need to change my tactics now that I have seen you all play. I don’t have the speed advantage here that I use over my human family, but I’ve been simulating it while observing.” Casa said smiling.
“Of course.” Prime agreed. “But be wary. I expect everyone will be changing up their methods after this first round.”
“You know my hobby of modeling human behaviors, correct?” Prime reminded Casa.
“Yes, you told me. Do you have methods to help you win the game?” Casa asked.
“No. No. Nothing like that. This lot is smart enough to either randomize their behavior or use it as a weapon knowing I’m reading them. I meant it in regard to the town," Prime said. Casa looked confused waiting for more.
“It’s mostly about your Max and the mayor’s son, Tyler.” Prime continued, “I fear they are on a collision course. Some tension is there regarding their initial sparring in the training. Events are shaping where they will likely meet again, perhaps at the Northeastern Martial Arts tournament. With the incident at your house last week and the upcoming conflict, there could be significant trouble.”
“The future unknown, Fate's plan beyond our control, Acceptance is key.” Tatemono soothed.
“That’s a load of horse hocky if I must say so.” FML-M8 rebutted. “Teens these days are all cranked up with augs and overstimulated with hormones.”
“Ah well. Just be mindful of your charge, Casa. He may need your advice.” Prime said softly. “I’ve got my eye on him. He is doing exceptionally well with the training. He is very close to the top percentile in advancement speed. It would be a shame if a squabble were to disrupt his momentum, don’t you think?”
Casa nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I'll make sure to keep an eye on him and lend my support when needed. I don’t get out of the house too much, but perhaps I can find a way to help the boys resolve their differences before anything escalates further."
"That's a wise approach," Prime commended. "It's always better to address conflicts before they spiral out of control. And who knows, they might even become allies in the future." He looked quite satisfied, like he had known her answer already and was merely following a script.
"One can always hope," Casa replied, momentarily letting herself imagine a more peaceful scenario.
Meanwhile, on the game board, Leshy had just made a move that seemingly put Winston at a disadvantage. Both AIs were slower now, calculating not only their present moves but also anticipating the possible counterattacks. Finally, Winston’s king was uncovered and Leshy boxed him into a mate position.
“Round 1 goes to Leshy. Good game!” Prime boomed.
“Alrighty then. We’re all fresh as daisies and no need for a break like the biologicals. Let’s go again then. I think you will appreciate a change in my leading strategy.” FML-M8 warned them all. Casa, outside of the VR environment, fragmented to begin speed playing the game with her other pieces. FML-M8 wouldn’t be the only one with new strategies. The other AI without visibly moving seemed to crowd forward, intensely focused on the game. With an eager smile, Casa made her move.
----------------------------------------