February 19, 2363 AIA
Daidas
They'd had one week to prepare. It was enough.
Jane, Ciro, Reyer and Lynx all stood outside the special entrance reserved for the contestants.
“Adan says everything's ready on their end,” Alix said.
“You've checked all the coms?” Ciro asked.
Jane nodded.
A man with a clipboard and a harried expression walked past them. He didn't look up as he called, “One minute to entrance.”
Jane sighed. “Well, I guess I’d better get to my seat.”
“Is it a good one?” Ciro asked.
She winked at him. “I’m barely off the ring, third row back.”
“Good. Place a wager for me.”
“Ciro,” Reyer chided.
“But not an unreasonable one,” he amended.
When Jane left, he turned to find Reyer still staring at him with disapproval.
“Are we going to pretend she wasn't going to do it anyway?” he asked.
“Don't you have more important things to be worried about?”
The man with the clipboard was back. “Are you ready?”
Ciro looked at the bot beside him. “Lynx?”
“I'm ready, Master Ciro.”
Alix nodded to the man.
He pushed the button down on his com. “We’re ready here.”
From his com they heard, “Let's go.”
The man pointed out through the doors, along the lit path.
Reyer started the long walk to the platform.
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
“Look! I’m his master, I should be the one going in!” Ciro cried.
“Then who’ll do the tracing?”
“It’s not tracing, Adan! And Jane and Tennama are both good enough to handle it.”
“Tennama should be on the outside.”
“Jane then!”
From over at the side of the room, Jane said, “Ciro, I’d be more comfortable if you did it.”
For a moment, Ciro’s face was twisted with frustration, but he forced himself to ask in a calm voice, “Why, Jane?”
“We’re talking about finding the one person who might be able to help us, and you want to wager it all on my ability to spot a processor speed difference while a billion other complex programs are already running? Ciro, I’ve only ever done the hacking. I’ve never been on the security end.”
Ciro turned to Tennama.
The xeno raised a hand defensively. “Don’t look at me. I’m the same.”
Ciro said, “If we can’t get to the final round, it won’t matter who’s watching the processors!”
“Lynx is good enough we could probably send him in with a toddler and he’d make it,” Adan said.
“That’s incorrect, Captain,” Lynx said.
The crew all looked at the bot.
“Many of the robots have capabilities and specifications comparable to my own. If we want to maximize our chances of winning, it would be advisable for us to have a capable person supporting me.”
Ciro stepped forward. “Lynx, who would you recommend?”
The instant answer was “Miss Reyer.”
Ciro was so shocked he couldn’t speak.
Jane snickered. “If you cared about Ciro’s well-being, you should’ve at least hesitated, Lynx.”
“Why Alix?” Ciro demanded.
Lynx didn’t respond.
“Stop hesitating and answer the damn question!”
“Miss Reyer has the most experience, and experience is invaluable in situations that require rapid reactions.”
“She’s never even been to a bot fight!”
“On the contrary, Miss Reyer has personally destroyed more robots than anyone else on the ship, I estimate, by as much as a factor of five.”
By then, everyone was looking at Reyer. She couldn’t do anything about the amused smile on her face, but she offered them a shrug.
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
Reyer stood in her place on the platform and listened to the confused hum of the crowd. She thought she could guess why they were puzzled. Above her and all around her, the arena screens showed two profiles.
Tavros: master, Leonidas.
Lynx: coach, Alix Reyer.
She was glad someone had thought to go in and change it.
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
“And you’re his master?”
“No, I’m his coach.”
The man dropped the paper he was holding and looked up at her. She appeared unassuming, but there was something unnerving about that gentle smile on her face.
“Uh, look, ma’am—I’m sorry, what’s your stage name?”
“Alix Reyer.”
“Reyer? I’ve never heard that one. Was she a pirate?”
“Just an old warrior.”
“I’ll have to look her up when I get home.”
“You should.”
“Reyer, tradition says that the robot’s master goes into the ring with him.”
“Cool. What do the rules say?”
The man’s exasperated sigh was interrupted by Alix.
“‘One human is allowed to act on behalf of the competing robot, to be present on the platform during the fight, to give instructions during the fight, and to work repairs without replacement during each match.’ It never said that person had to be the bot’s master.”
“And you’re prepared to do all that?”
“Yes.”
Without taking his eyes off her, he reached for his paper copy of the rules.
“It’s section twelve,” she said helpfully.
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
The murmur of the crowd grew momentarily quiet, then swelled again with a new edge of excitement. Lynx had come into view. Alix remembered the first time she’d seen him and smiled.
Ciro, you deserve every ounce of pride you have.
The bot came up beside her.
Across the ring, Tavros was undergoing one last inspection from his master.
Reyer didn’t bother to pretend Lynx needed another one. She and Ciro had pored over him so much in the last week she’d had dreams about it. Instead, she and Lynx stood side by side, watching their increasingly nervous opponent.
“Analysis.”
“We know them, Miss Reyer. We’ve seen eight recorded fights. The bot’s name means ‘bull.’”
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“Ah. Heavier chest-plate and front reinforcement. His master likes to go for the fast take-down.” She thought for a moment. “His back is weak.”
“Leonidas is good at compensating for that.”
Alix raised an eyebrow. “Only good?”
Two massive drum beats concussed the speakers. Reyer stepped aside so Lynx could enter the ring. As he walked toward the middle, she tapped her earpiece.
“You hear me, Lynx?”
The bot’s voice came back: “Yes, Miss Reyer.”
“At the bell, jump back, hold, and wait for instruction.”
Lynx took his place at the center and waited. The bell rang. Before the crowd had time to cheer in response, Lynx leapt back eight feet and landed in the ready position.
Tavros went for the charge.
“Lynx! Down three!”
The bot dropped straight back onto his reversed arms. His elbows and knees bent low, and his wrists contorted into a position no human could hold. By the time Tavros was passing over him, Lynx was no more than four inches above the platform.
“Push off left,” Reyer said. “Full arc.”
Lynx shoved hard from his left arm and leg, throwing his body up and pivoting over his right side. He brought his weight down on top of Tavros hard enough to crush the bot to the platform, facedown.
“Right arm, pierce his chest. Get—”
Before she could finish her order, Lynx drove his rigid hand into his opponent’s back. Metal parts and wires bent out of the way. Lynx curled his four fingers under the glowing blue speck buried inside.
“—the power source,” Lynx said with her.
With one great wrench, he levered it out of the bot’s body.
There were a few seconds of stunned silence while the audience tried to process the fact the fight was over.
Then it started to get loud.
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
Adan found Alix in the open field by their motel. She was watching Lynx, who was a few meters off, moving through a series of complex poses.
The captain came up behind her. Since no one else was around, he put his arm around her waist.
There was a startled look, but then she saw who it was.
She put a hand to her ear. “Okay, Lynx. Rest.” She pulled out the micro-headset. “Adan.”
“Hello, beautiful.” After a brief kiss, he said, “You’ve been out here for hours.”
“I need to study Lynx’s full range of motion so I know what he can do.”
“How’s that going?”
She smiled. “Oh, Adan. Have you seen the videos? Those boys may be good at throwing together a pile of wires, but none of them know the first thing about fighting.”
“Ciro says that most of those bots have thousands of fights in their memory and are programed in a dozen different fighting styles.”
“Yes. Boxing and mixed martial arts. And their recordings are of robots trained by watching boxing and martial arts.”
“Alix, that may not sound impressive to you—”
“They’re fighting like humans, Adan. But they’re not humans. They’re bots.”
Vas looked over as Lynx raised his finger so a large winged insect could perch on it.
The captain felt a sense of horrified awe creep through him.
Reyer went on, “The first thing about fighting—use anything, do anything, to win.”
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
Not all their fights were decided as quickly as their first. Each time they had to struggle to gain the advantage, the audience’s excitement climbed to a new pitch.
This fight had dragged on. Their opponent was good at dodging, patient while waiting for an attack, and excellent at fast strikes. It took Reyer some time to discover his weakness was grappling, but once she knew that, Lynx took him down on his next pass.
“You’ve got him, Lynx.”
“Yes, Miss Reyer. It’s inevitable now.”
The tensile strength of the metal and joints in the bot’s neck were impressive, but they weren't rated to withstand Lynx’s pull strength. It would only be a few more seconds.
In her ear, Reyer heard, “When I’ve succeeded in removing his head, should I hold it up and bellow?”
“You’ve been watching Ciro’s pro-wrestling matches again, haven’t you?”
“I thought it would be appropriate.”
“I didn’t even know you could bellow.”
“I can reproduce the sounds of over a hundred Old Earth animals and twenty-five species from other planets.”
“Why would Ciro bother to program all that in? Did he really think it would be important?”
“He might have been bored, ma’am. I recommend either an Old Earth bear or lion.”
“No, Lynx. That’s not our style.”
“What is our style, ma’am?”
“Something more subtle. Like a Hamlet thing.”
“One moment.”
For a half second, all she could hear was the crowd.
“Most likely reference is to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act 5, scene 1.”
There was the painful twang of parting metal and the spark of live wires diving apart. Since Lynx was already on one knee, all he had to do was prop the robot head on his upraised fingers. He stared at it.
The ring’s microphones picked up his mechanical voice.
“‘Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio—’”
The rest of the line was lost as the crowd went ballistic.
Half the arena’s screens switched over to Reyer, who stood at the edge of the platform with her arms crossed, trying to hide the hint of a smile.
In her ear, Reyer heard, “Yes. I think that was our style. The crowd appears to like it.”
“‘To thine own self be true,’ Lynx.”
Lynx stood and walked over to Reyer. The crowd laughed when she motioned for him to return Hysore’s head to his master. The bot came back empty handed.
Alix had already pulled out her tools. “Give me a full analysis of any damage or possible damage to your hardware.”
She listened to his list as she worked on the worst of it.
She had almost completely replaced his left arm by the time he was finished. She had him bend over backward and put his leg in the air so she could work on his foot without bending down.
“How many matches left?”
“Two more matches before we’ll be facing Vanguard, Miss Reyer.”
“Tell me about our opponent.”
“Red Riot is based on a series eight battle-bot designed by Virag. All-Might is his master. He’s currently ranked third at this establishment and eleventh in the registered league.”
Reyer scoffed. “A Virag eight made it that far?”
“Possibly because it never had to face you in battle.”
“I love you, Lynx.”
“Like you loved your teddy bear.”
“That’s right.” There was a pause while she had to hold her multi-tool in her mouth. When she could speak again, she said, “Do you even need my help on this one?”
“It is faster for me to react to your orders, Miss Reyer. There’s also the matter of style to be considered.”
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
Ciro watched from the shadow of the stadium stairs for as long as he could, but when it was obvious that the last match before Vanguard was almost over, he dragged himself away. He had to set up before the show started.
He hated to admit it to himself, but Reyer had been the right choice. The way they fought together was like nothing he’d ever seen before.
He reminded himself to get two separate copies of Lynx’s programming when the night was over. There was no way he could code for experience like that. Lynx’s evolving AI had become priceless.
But for now he had to focus.
There was no doubt Bobbin was out there. In their seventh fight, the house had devoted an entire screen to updating minute by minute odds to help keep things tilted in their favor, but there were rules about the last fight. The house got to choose the odds, but it would be against Lynx, and if the cheering was anything to go by, the crowd was on his side.
Ciro sat down at the computer in the private room he’d rented, woke it up, and started checking all his connections.
He put a hand to his ear. “Good evening, boys and girls. How are things on your end?”
“Fantastic!” Jane yelled.
“Boring,” was Adan’s answer.
“Am I rich yet?” Ciro asked.
“Oh, Wonder Boy. You have no idea.”
“Are you planning on sharing some of that out, Ciro?” his brother asked.
“Well, I’ll have to give Jane her cut as my broker—”
“You know what? Forget it. We’ll talk about it later. Jane, where are we in the fight?”
“Alix has three more minutes to finish her repairs before Vanguard comes in.”
“Are you ready, Ciro?”
“Yup. The connections are all good. Hey, Jane, don’t bet on this last one.”
There was a pause. “That doesn’t sound like you, Wonder Boy. You don’t think you can handle it?”
Ciro grinned. “I figured you’d have to leave in the middle of the match because I know I can. Are you boys ready?”
“Yes, Ciro.”
“Good. I’ll keep my line open, but expect a lot of silence.”
Silence had become relative. The shouting of the audience was no longer ringing in his ears, but even through the walls, he could hear the murmur of it fading in and out. A minute later, he forgot the noise as he became absorbed by the graphic and numeric representations of the digital life displayed on his monitor. These were Lynx’s brain waves and heartbeat.
A surge of possessive fury overwhelmed him.
Reaching in to tamper with a bot was an act of god, and Ciro was the only god Lynx needed. This hacker was going to learn about the wrath of the creator.
It didn’t take long. Lynx was enough of a threat, they needed to get him under control as quickly as possible. Ciro spotted the telltale dip in performance and grinned.
“Got you.”
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
Mick was buried in the screaming crowd, so he couldn’t hear the beep, but he felt the vibration shake the mini-tablet in his hand.
His nerves lit up like sparklers.
No one should’ve been able to reach that tablet. There was only one connection on it.
He pulled it up and tapped the message icon flashing in the middle of the screen.
Hello, Bobbin.
The blood drain from Mick’s face.
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
“That’s him.” Jane pushed the headset’s microphone closer to her mouth. “Ciro! He was only a few rows away from me. He looks like he’s going to throw up. I’ve never seen anyone look so scared.”
“What does he look like?” Adan said over the connection.
“I told you! Scared!”
“Dr. Jane, describe his physical appearance.”
“Small. He’s super small and skinny. His clothes are tight. He’s wearing a fashionably ripped jacket and red shirt. Should I follow him?”
“Can you do it without drawing attention?”
“Hang on.”
Tennama took a step closer and leaned over the com as he and the captain waited.
“He threw away the tablet!” Jane said. “Dropped it right in a bin.”
“Is he going into the building?” Vas asked.
“No. He’s going to the nearest exit. Away from the town center.”
“Thank you, Jane. We’ve got it now.”
Vas and Tennama ran across the front of the building and dove into the alley. They put themselves on either side of the first exit and waited.
There was a crack. The door beside them opened wide. A slight figure with wide eyes burst out and looked around without seeing either of them.
“Hello, Bobbin,” Adan said.
The man jumped and let out a screech in a high enough register that Vas wondered if he’d assumed too much about Bobbin’s gender.
“What—what do you want?” His voice was high and breathless. “No. Wait. Who’s…who’s Bobbin?” He laughed. It was completely unconvincing.
“We think it’s you.” Tennama said from behind him.
He whirled around. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“We think you do,” Vas said.
Bobbin whimpered, then tried to bolt past the captain.
Vas only had to take two steps to the side and throw his arms around the man’s small frame. Tennama was right there, ready to move, in case anything happened.
“Help!” Bobbin screeched. “Rape! They’re trying to rape me!”
The captain swept the hacker’s legs out from under him and slammed him to the ground. “What are you talking about? We’re not going to rape you.”
“Rape!”
Tennama dropped to his knee and pressed his e-pistol to Bobbin’s forehead. “I can quiet him down for you. Then we can rape him in peace.”
“I’m not going to—” Vas left off his protest with a frustrated grunt to glare at Tennama.
The xeno shrugged. “There’s no point in arguing with a hysterical person.”
Adan glanced down. Bobbin’s eyes were darting between the two of them as they spoke.
“Bobbin, we only want to talk to you,” he said. “Are you going to come with us quietly?”
The hacker’s nod was restricted to the slightest movement because of how hard the muzzle was pushing into his skull.
Tennama lifted away the weapon. Vas helped him to his feet.
The moment he was standing, Bobbin threw an uppercut into Vas’s stomach and started running. He got less than a yard before he was thrown to the ground by Tennama. His next scream was muted by Anthony pushing his forearm into his mouth.
A second later, Tennama let out a shout and yanked his arm away.
Vas had already recovered. He caught the hacker before he could try running again and twisted Bobbin’s arm up behind his back. When the hacker opened his mouth to scream in protest, Tennama shoved the muzzle of his e-pistol in deep enough to make the man gag.
“Try biting that,” the xeno growled.
Adan’s voice was quiet but urgent: “Anthony!”
Tennama realized his hands were turning white. He stepped away to breathe and get control of himself.
If Bobbin noticed, he gave no sign of it. The moment his left hand wandered up toward his mouth to remove the abandoned weapon, Vas jerked his right arm higher. The man strained to stand on the tips of his toes, and a squeak escaped around the sides of the barrel.
“You can still talk with your arms broken,” Vas said.
Bobbin held still.
Tennama came back to Vas and his hostage.
“Captain?”
“I have to admit, I didn’t think he would fight this hard. We’ll need a gag, a blindfold, and some ties.”
Anthony grumbled, “I liked this shirt.” He started removing his jacket, but then he saw Adan’s impish smile.
“It’d be a shame to ruin a shirt you like, Tennama. Use his clothes.”