VII

Treasure Hunt

"So now you’re a condemned prisoner that was sent here for hard work!” Captain Roger chuckled. “Tell me, mate, was Director so mad at you?”

Misty thought for a moment, trying to remembered Director’s facial expressions.

“No, I don’t think so. He’s just trying to avoid me.”

“I wonder what happened,” Dorkins was curious as always. “Was he cross with you because of ByePacker? You spent a lot of time with him playing games and making videos.”

“To be honest, it isn’t anything to be cross about,” remarked Misty. “I visited him in my spare time and I haven’t neglected my duties. It isn’t my fault that I don’t have many duties, Director hasn’t assigned me any. He just asked me politely if I can help you with that Treasure Hunt, nothing more.”

“But you said that you had a quarrel, didn’t you?” Captain Roger was suspicious and not without a reason.

“Some kind of,” sighed Misty, unfolding the map. “He told me that he didn’t like me, since his father praised me a lot.”

“And what did you say?”

For some reason, Dorkins seemed concerned as if there was a kind of trap in this conversation, so trivial in Misty’s memory.

“Well, I told him that I don’t mind.”

Dorkins winced involuntarily, losing a balance for a second.

“Sink me, that’s the worst thing to say, ain’t it, Dorkins?” Captain Roger was also surprised.

Misty had no idea why his friends were so concerned. He had an honest conversation with Director and nothing spectacular happened. Director felt uneasy about drinking in his presence, so he avoided Misty. And that suited him well.

“Humans take it hard to be ignored,” stated Dorkins with patience. “They prefer emotions to a logical reasoning. If you told Director that you don’t like him, you’d be even and everything would be back to normal.”

“I cannot lie, you know that,” Misty squinted his eyes.

“But you cannot harm a human either,” replied Dorkins. “And you hurt him with your words so that’s why he is avoiding you. You should have told him that you don’t like him, it would be possible to say in this case.”

Misty was silent for a moment. Were his friends right? But why Director expected him to lie, to form this ridiculous bond of mutual dislike?

“He spent some time with you as a child,” explained Dorkins, considerate as always. “You taught him how to read, you carried him around the circus on your shoulders and helped him with his homework.”

“Yes, I did, and I liked him at that time,” answered Misty. “But then he left the circus and studied for a few years, which changed him completely. He doesn’t like me now, he tried to dismiss me, don’t you remember?”

“And why aren’t you angry at him?” Dorkins watched him closely. “Because you were expecting that? Have you told Director that you were prepared for that? That you expected him to do fire you?”

“I don’t know, maybe?” Misty wasn’t sure of that.

“Well, I don’t know how to fix that,” sighed Dorkins. “You know that people can like and dislike somebody at the same time. And it would be better for your both if you don’t take his dislike so literally, Misty.”

“Anyway, let’s get down to business,” Misty bent over a map.

He didn’t want to think about Director and his continuous changes of mind. Of course, he was just a young man, burdened with responsibilities, but shouldn’t he treat his robots with more respect? They were all working in this circus, they were in the same team. It’s not Misty’s fault that there was some bad blood between them. He was just a robot, he was designed to be a household robot, everything else he acquired was learned from scratch. And Director never seemed to appreciate it, he praised him but without being sincere. So Misty didn’t care either. They were both even, there wasn’t anything to fix.

“All right then,” Captain Roger sighed. “I’ll ask Shiny to turn off my pirate mode so we can talk more freely.”

It took Shiny five minutes to turn off the pirate mode. She did it remotely and without further questions.

“So she can switch now between different modes?” asked Misty.

He was curious of Shiny’s possibilities. Was it her technical abilities or acquired knowledge?

“Yes, she is very apt in these things,” answered Captain Roger.

His real voice sounded different. It wasn’t hoarse, but rough, a bit uneven as in the prototypes of early speech modules. And although it was hard for Misty to admit, his friend sounded old. The pirate module had made him more enthusiastic and optimistic. Now he was tired and weary.

“So we are supposed to prepare a team game for teenagers, a scavenger hunt with tasks and prizes,” stated Captain Roger with a hollow voice. “The game should take place in the circus. Three groups of four members. The problem is how to plan it well. I don’t want them to interrupt our work, setting up a crowd in random places. Director wants it to be entertaining and for some reason, he wants the players to come back to our circus. He said something about creating memories and establishing connection with the younger generation,” Captain checked his notes for accuracy. “I came up with the idea of looking for pirate treasure with a map, it works well with kids, but Director wasn’t convinced. Teenagers are more demanding. So please, help me, comrades.” Captain Roger sighed deeply. It sounded a bit hissy, like a sigh from rusty pipes.

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“Comrades?” Dorkins seemed to be surprised. “You don’t need to call us in this way. Don’t you hate your pirate mode?”

“Sometimes, I really hate it,” replied Captain Roger with a grin. “But it’s a good thing, it changed my life for better. I just need to turn it off from time to time to gather my thoughts quickly.”

Misty recalled that Captain Roger had a dark past. Designed as a robot to work in mines on Mars, he had to deal with explosives and nuclear devices. Then, three months after the famous Button AG-3 disaster, he was turned off and spent a decade in a standby mode. If Misty remembered it correctly, it was Director who insisted to equip Captain Roger with a pirate mode. The reason was simple; his grippers reminded him of Captain Hook. Misty always found it as a downgrade, another proof of Director’s commercial way of thinking. So he was surprised now to hear that Captain Roger found it beneficial. In any way.

“I guess the teenagers won’t be thrilled to see how I excavate the treasure with my drills,” Captain Roger considered it for a moment. “Kids love it, but well... it should be something else, I guess.”

“So there will be a treasure at the end, right?” Dorkins was in his focused mindset. “And the prize are extra tickets for Mirrored Escape Room right?”

“Yes, but Director wants everyone to win. It’s a new attraction and he wants to promote it in all ways possible. He said that the participants can go back to the circus another day to try again. I don’t know how to encourage them, they are probably busy playing Space Orchard or something like that, am I right, Misty?”

“This game isn’t so popular,” answered Misty. “Shooters are more trendy. The Ghoul Labyrinth is number one now. But don’t forget that these groups also consist of teenagers who don’t like these games".

Misty wondered if Kate, dr Kazatsky’s granddaughter, played The Ghoul Labyrinth. Maybe it would be a good idea to ask her for help? She knew trends well. But they were up against the clock, there was no time for a longer brainstorm. To be honest, they should expect Director any minute.

“So I prepared a map and divided it into three parts,” Captain Roger unfolded carefully a few prints.

It was rather a sketch on an isometric grid than a map. Some landmarks were exaggerated. Misty recognised the comic style of their main graphic designer. Morgan Fata was a freelancer who designed their leaflets and tickets. Misty suspected that Captain Roger took the pirate map of the circus, erased some points and let the Ground generate random trees to fill the blank places. But the final effect looked fine, decent as ByePacker would say.

“So the group is supposed to collect three parts of the map to find the treasure, right?” Dorkins approached the map carefully, zooming with his cameras.

“Yes, but I don’t want them to do it at the same time, it would be a disaster. And if one group will find the treasure or the map, the other group may see it and end the game too quickly.” Captain Roger seemed to be genuinely concerned about this possibility.

“How are you so sure of that?” asked Dorkins. “Wouldn’t they be too busy with their own tasks? I don’t expect them to watch other groups.”

“Not everyone in the group like to fulfil the mission,” stated Captain Roger. “There are always some that wait for the end and other that watch everything around.”

Misty guessed that his friend knew it from experience. Captain Roger was the first lieutenant before the accident. Then he was promoted due to his excellent performance at evacuation. A poor prize for a traumatized robot whose parts need to be replaced due to the radiation. Captain Roger didn’t like to mention his past, but something was still present in his way of thinking and talking. He knew when he should treat people as individuals and when as a crowd. Very useful skill for a ticket seller and a kid animator.

“Maybe we should make it more virtual,” suggested Misty after a moment of silence. “If you don’t want to dig up the treasure, then just skip this part. The students can collect the parts of the map in the tents or wagons. Or even the treasure. It doesn’t have to be a chest as usual. It can be an envelope. And only one group will be allowed into the tent, so they won’t interfere with one another.”

“Sounds good! We can also ask Skinny for help,” suggested Captain Roger. “She can make tubes stylized as telescopes, we can put maps or tickets inside.”

“She’d be delighted to have another thing to do,” buzzed Dorkins in his malicious manner.

“All right, have you figured it out?”

A brisk voice sounded in the wagon, making them all jolt from surprise. Director. He seemed to be in hurry, with his hair ruffled and cheeks badly shaven.

“We prepared the map,” Captain Roger looked pleadingly at Misty, begging him for help.

It took them five minutes to summarize their ideas and judging from Director’s expression, it wasn’t nearly a half of what he expected.

“And what about this traffic problem?” asked Director impatiently. “Do you know how to separate these groups so they won’t appear at the same place at the same time?”

“Of course,” replied Misty and suddenly it wasn’t a lie. Any idea is better than none, isn’t it true? “We can prepare three missions to choose from. When a group completes the mission, it will be rewarded with a piece of map. These missions will take place in different parts of the circus. I doubt that all groups will choose the same mission. We can make them draw the first one to avoid confusion. Anyway, if we organize these missions as side quests like in the video games, the teenagers should understand the concept quickly.”

“And if they don’t complete all of them, we can guarantee them a free admission to the circus to try again,” added Captain Roger, thanking Misty with a quiet smile.

“Good idea, I want them to visit the circus at least twice,” Director was still analyzing the map. “We need to improve this map, I don’t want it to be generated. Send it to Morgana, as soon as possible. What kind of tasks did you prepare?”

“We haven’t listed all of them yet,” said Dorkins.

That was a big lie, Misty wouldn’t be able to say it aloud. Maybe the drone was constructed in another way?

“We think that practical tasks would suit teenagers the best,” added Dorkins without hesitation. “For example, they should list three coffees served in VIP Jazz Lounge or count the mechanical birds in the aviary.”

“They can find the answers in the Ground,” Director thought for a while.

“But they still need stamps from the staff to complete the tasks,” Dorkins was ruthless.

“All right, prepare the sketches and ask Morgana to draw it all. Tell the staff what to do and prepare the props. We need it for tomorrow morning. Any questions?” Director looked around with hope that nobody has further questions.

Then he left the wagon and all robots relaxed in relief.

“That was a close one,” said Captain Roger. “I’m afraid we need to focus more on work than chit-chatting.”

“And what’s fun with that?” asked Dorkins. “We came to some solutions only because we had some pressure. We’re in the circus, shouldn’t we have a good time?”

“Aye, aye” laughed Captain Roger, again in his pirate mode. “So let’s bury the treasure, lads! Tomorrow we sail and I want all hands on the board!”