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Max was grumpy. He’d made it back to his room and after only an hour was down in the lobby with his team eating at the buffet. Xavier was talking…loudly…and nonstop about their opponents and all the battles he had watched on the television last night.
Max snorted and guzzled more coffee. At least Xavier was also suffering from a lack of sleep due to staying up watching the fight recordings. The triple gong had sounded minutes ago. Charlie had asked the server android what that meant, and the server replied that gong meant another team was due in an hour. The gong would sound out every hour until the team arrived.
“So, we have about 50 minutes until everyone gathers at the level’s entry doors. What do you guys want to do until then?” Leah asked.
Max groaned lightly. He was still green with nausea from his misadventures last night. The greasy breakfast food was helping but he was still hurting. Charlie laughed, ignorant of the reason for Max’s gruff attitude.
“I want to go shopping. I need some replacements for my frag grenades. I’m certain I saw some in the store window of the Army Navy Store on the way here from the main gaming floor. Max, you can hook me up with some extra copies using your jailbreak MC right?” Charlie asked.
“Byeongshin! Keep it down. The AI might not be in the damn walls watching us anymore, but all these androids have ears!” Leah scolded in a hiss. Charlie looked chagrined but raised his eyebrows to Max. Max nodded but said.
“You guys know what I need right? Atmospheric elements like carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen are easy. Lead, mercury, and titanium would go a long way to replenish my poor fab stocks.”
“Hey, Max. Scan this spoon!” Xavier exclaimed, passing his utensils over. Max and the team had developed a crude method to check for rare elements. He triggered a low-power laser from the embedded augmentation emitter that was housed in his forehead to burn off the spoon's surface layer. His advanced senses scanned the traces of gaseous glow at the point of impact. His DigiSense skill could parse the wavelengths and determine the elemental makeup. Max’s furry eyebrows rose.
“Wow! Pure titanium. Good find, kid. Guys, I'll take all of those if you're all done with them.” Max said. As the cutlery was handed over, Max made them disappear into his portal space, keeping the transaction under the table and out of sight.
“Hey, I didn't sleep that well last night. If it's ok with you all, I'm going to go back to my room for a quick nap. I'll meet you at the doors in…shit…45 minutes.” Max said.
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The team quickly made for the door without him, and Max made his way back to his room, hoping to catch some much-needed rest before the next team arrived. His mind was already strategizing for the upcoming challenges they would face. As he lay down on the bed, Sherlock pinged him.
“[Begging your pardon, Max. While you were eating with your friends, I learned something that you will be very interested to know.]” Sherlock sent.
“Ugh….ok. Hit me.” Max mumbled; his eyes shut. He sighed as he sunk into the cloud bed he had set up on top of the old fashion crap bed.
“[While you were engaging with the other team last night, I took the liberty of sending a mote tracker to both of your opponents with Mal’s help.]” Sherlock began. Max interrupted.
“Sherlock, I appreciate that but it's unlikely to work for long if they are paying attention. Those trackers send out signals too often not to be noticed. They’ll just find them and destroy them.”
“[Ah yes. I shared your opinion, but Mal and I modified these motes to stay passive, logging locations without sending broadcasts…at least until requested. This morning, Mal and I sent the request and found something interesting. Look here, I'll display your location and those of your opponents for last night on your internal map.]”
Despite his tired state Max couldn't help but sit up and see the movements with interest. He saw the dots representing himself, Nigel, and Abigail. They stayed put for hours until his dot finally moved away, making a very unsteady and meandering path back to the Villas.
Max’s attention spiked as three more dots moved in. He highlighted one and its label showed that this was his earlier motes that he had used to tag the thieves that Dominic had pointed out. Max growled as he saw them intersect his dot in the alley. After a brief moment, the three took off and his dot no longer moved.
“No shit, Sherlock. Casa already told me I got mugged by those bastard android thieves. So what?” Max said angrily.
“[Keep watching.]” Sherlock insisted.
The three dots made a beeline to a region outside of Max’s mapped area…where another dot waited. Max focused and the tag bloomed…Nigel Farnsworth. Max sat up, agitated and growling, no longer tired at all.
“Son of a bitch!”
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Max was at the gaming tables with his team, only half listening to the discussion about which team was coming. Both Dominic and Sonny McGuire from the Team LeaderBoard MVPs had come over with greetings and offers to bet on the next team identity.
No one from Team Utopia wanted to bet, feeling the information disparity on what the others had seen in recordings was too big. Both the older players retreated with good humor. Max discreetly tagged both with inactive tracker motes. While he participated in the discussions, he was arguing with his daemons internally.
“[…I understand the trackers might be discovered. As long as they can’t be tracked back to me if there found, the possibility of extra information is essential. Speaking of which, when we get back to our rooms, remind me to scan myself and inform the team to do the same. Now stop trying to distract me. I need a plan on how to get my money back from that snake, Nigel.]”
“[Broken Cup, you should treat this whole level as a combination of a puzzle level and a combat level. The Casino Terminal, akin to Yoshiwara or Las Vegas, appears to be a den of treachery and corruption. Its dangers extend beyond the glitz and glamour, hiding in shadows and whispered alliances. Arm yourself not just with your weapons, but also keep vigilant with your mental and sense skills.]” Miyamoto said with solemn conviction.
“[I get it, already, Sensei. I need some practical suggestions.]” Max said impatiently.
“[Hey there, Max. Like, information is power in this type of environment. We need to sync up with some of the locals like your frenemy Nigel did. They know the rules better than any of the players as to what the Level's AI will allow. There’s a ton of wireless traffic, but most of it is encrypted, though. Maybe keep me running and I’ll see if I can crack a couple of sources. Cool beans?]” Captain Cypher said.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“[Good! You got it. Anything else?]” Max said. Mal jumped in and spoke.
“[Like Miyamoto said. You’ve got skills for a lot of these. You need to keep those mental skills running at all times. PokerFace, Empathy, PreCog, Intrusion, and all your senses and maps, too.]”
“[This is precisely why you included me, my boy.]” Sherlock crooned. “[We need to think a couple steps ahead of our enemies to lead them into our traps instead of the other way around. You have that new skill, SkinWalker, that might be perfect to sow a little confusion.]”
“[Good point, Sherlock. Although, my blade arms are hard to conceal.]” Max said.
“[Ah, young Max, fear not the gaze of your foes! Most rely on primitive backpacks for their gear. Allow me to refine your exo-blade arms. With some modifications to their design, they can be concealed until the opportune moment!]” Tesla exclaimed with enthusiasm. Max snorted and was about to reply when the gongs sounded again, and the level doors entered.
A five-person team stalked in cautiously, armed and on guard for a fight. Max realized that he and his friends must have looked similarly comical with their looks of confusion and shock. The entire team looked older and all carried a certain manicured style with cultured gravitas. Max pulsed out his highest skill for identification, Expose.
[Expose - Partial Success: Carl Mueller, CEO and Lead of Team ACME, Perception: 100 ****: ****, 100 Energy: 1686, ********: **********: **]
[Expose - Success: Jennifer Parker, HR Director of ACME, Intelligence: 100 Strength: 43, Energy: 325, Intrusion: 8, Unbreakable: 2]
[Expose - Success: Ethan Chen, Logistics Dir of ACME, Will: 92 Endurance: 64, Energy: 370, Pilot: 10 Intrusion: 3]
[Expose - Partial Success: Brandon Ramirez, Marketing Director of ACME, Vitality: 100 ****:*** , Energy: 740, Invisibility: ******: 8]
[Expose - Success: Sarah Patel, Sr Accounts Mgr ACME, Intelligence: 95 Agility: 38, energy: 315, Daemon: 9, ExaVision: 8]
[Expose +1, Expose reaches level 4: Pry open the secrets of even guarded devices, beware failed attempts will be noticed and incomplete. Level this skill to further expand the amount of information gathered from targets.]
Max smiled, judging by the wild looks on the team’s faces. They all probably just leveled their privacy skills hard against the combined intrusive inquiries of the casino players. The slight pressure imbalance from the open doors between levels created a slight breeze.
Max sent a quick acknowledgment to Mal as she sent a pack of power bank motes aloft. The slight wind was an excellent opportunity to float his swarm closer with minimal energy signals. With his EM sense and ExaVision attuned for mote activity, he saw he wasn’t the only one with this idea. He saw several well-concealed mote signals, that weren’t his own, delicately land on the new players.
“[Shit. I really need to check myself for trackers and warn the others.]” Max sent to his council of daemons.
“[Captain Cipher and I are on it, Max!]” Tesla said. [“We are already constructing a zero-g scrubber bubble inside the Tesseract. It will have abrasive nanofog and localized EMP to ensure we collect any foreign tags.]”
Max sat back, watching the new teams and the older players with intense scrutiny. He saw in his expanded perception a slight nod pass between Dominic and another player. The man looked like a seasoned adventurer. He had all manner of armor, belts and buckles, knives, and pistols, openly carried and ready for action. The man’s bald head and close-cropped grey beard made him look older, but his body revealed a spry athlete physique. He grabbed his drink and approached the team. Max risked pinging him.
[Expose: Failed. Attempt detected. Sonny McGuire, Team lead for MVP Leaderboard, Agility: 90, Strength: 80, Energy: 330, AI Assist: 8, Swarm: 1]
The man shot a knowing glance at Max and then returned his attention to the new team. Max’s enhanced hearing gave him the speech the man gave, almost word for word what Dominic shared with his team. Max snorted at the information, suspecting that like Abigail's this was fake info too.
Mal had sent another mote gliding over to latch onto the MVP leader, but it was deflected off course by a slowly swirling mass of almost imperceptible foglets cocooning the man. After a short conversation, Sonny was leading the new team away to the Casino Credit Exchange. Max shared a look amongst his team when three more gongs peeled out.
“That’s the signal for a new team incoming, but from what I gathered earlier it will be six hours until the door opens for the next group,” Leah said.
“So we got some time to kill. I haven’t got my shopping list completed yet and I want to map more of the trading streets. Should we split up?” Charlie asked.
“Ah. I think we should take Dominic’s warning seriously. I don’t know if there are even any rules against player versus player out here, but I think the androids definitely don’t have those restrictions.” Max pushed hard on his PokerFace skill to avoid his instinctual, tail and ear drop. He hadn’t told the team about his late-night misadventure. Charlie shrugged and answered.
“Fine, who wants to come with me?”
“I’m all set with ammo, thanks to Max. I want to check out the tables and competition.” Leah said.
“Crap! I want to play, too. But I also want to see the pawn shop. Argh!” Xavier said, clearly agonized over the choice.
“Chill, Xavier. We have time to kill. Go with Papa Bear Charlie. Leah and I will scope out the rest of the floor. I have to fill my map in some more. Meet at noonish for lunch, in private, to share any news?” Max asked, with a hand signal to imply listeners were nearby.
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Max and Leah made a full circuit of the floor. They had found more lounges, gaming areas, live show dens, a street filled with bars and restaurants, a section devoted to training of all types, and finally a business section.
They were back at the craps table at Leah’s urgings and Max had discovered something he didn’t know about Leah. She was very intense about dice games. Max was trying to carry the discussion as she was getting more and more irate at the game.
“I still don’t know why anyone would use the business section…and those connection rates were ridiculous.” Max groused.
“Just another way to separate players from their credits. It’s been over a month, and this floor promises to be just as long if not longer. I’ll admit that I’m getting a little homesick. My parents and my Sifu are probably desperate to know how we are doi-…Ssibal! Damn it, these dice are so rigged!”
The android croupier used his rake to pull the dice back with a comical expression of sadness. “My apologies, my lady. I did warn you that this table accounts for the special augmentations of the players and has an added layer of difficulty to prevent rampant abuse of your skills.”
“Aigu…Max, why don’t you take a turn? Maybe I’ll have better luck betting on someone else instead of myself.” Leah said, passing him the dice.
Max hesitated, but Captain Cipher chimed in. “Max, remember the Pass Line bet—it's your safest play as the shooter. Place your bet before the come-out roll. If you roll a 7 or 11, you win. Stick to the basics and avoid the riskier bets. Keep it simple, and you'll increase your chances of coming out ahead."
Max grimaced and placed his bets as Leah did the same. Despite the croupier's warnings, he tried to force the roll with his Ballistics Skill. He hyped his senses to the maximum and tossed the dice.
[Ballistics +1, Ballistics reaches level 10. Skill Cap award +100 XP. New Skill Unlocked.]
[New Body Skill: Ricochet 1 - Augmented digital muscle control and ballistic calculation combine to allow trick shots with high precision. Advance this skill to increase accuracy and extreme multi-impact control.]
Max was cheering even as the croupier announced his loss. He was happy to advance his skill even with the loss in chips. He was glad he had stopped at the credit exchange before catching up with his friends. It would have raised questions about how he’d lost his initial withdrawal.
The dice passed around the table, to a couple of NPC androids filling the betting line, then to Leah, and back again to Max. He had been playing the single toss in over and over in his head. Tesla had a theory.
He explained that the dice must have rolled counter-intuitively due to internal nano-scopic gyroscopes programmed to disrupt its normal path. He advised Max to hold and shake the dice for longer to feel out if there was a pattern to their gyroscopic manipulations.
Max received the dice and placed his bets. He dropped into his maxed FastCog speed, with his mental skills for memory, patterns, and decoding ramped. His system wasn’t triggering a lock, but Max sensed something in the chaotic perturbations. He yipped and tossed the device with an extra twist that he hoped to counter the confusing pattern.
“Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!” Leah screamed in his ear. Max allowed his tongue to hang out. He was going to earn back his money!
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