Nigel sat in the back of Mr. Levinson’s class, as usual, and connected to the creative thinking private network. Nigel had to be quick, before Mr. Levinson arrived. Wi-Fi access in the classroom was a bit spotty. Nigel thought it had something to do with the wire mesh that covered the walls and ceiling of Mr. Levinson's class.

As other students started entering, Nigel noticed Jet; she waved at him as she sat a row up and a couple seats to the left. It was rare for a girl like Jet to like hacking. He thought her AI idea was one of the most innovative projects in the class. Nigel's eyes drifted back to the computer screen. He launched the text-replacer program modification and minimized its window so no one would notice. He was determined to level Jake's character while in Mr. Levinson's class. Risky move, he thought, but the stakes were already high with Jake. He started sweating just thinking about it.

Just as the last student arrived, Mr. Levinson entered the room with a cup of coffee.

“Sorry I'm late, class,” Mr. Levinson said as he began closing the door with his free hand. “Screens down.”

The sound of laptops clicking closed could be heard throughout the classroom. Unfortunately, Nigel's reaction time was a bit slow. He was in the middle of setting up several controls to help mask his movements so Mr. Levinson wouldn't notice his network activity during class. Mr. Levinson was staring at him, the only student who hadn't closed the lid of his laptop. Out of the corner of his eye, Nigel noticed Jet silently mouthing the word “DOWN.”

Seconds later, he shut his laptop.

“Well then,” Mr. Levinson said. “Now that Mr. Watson has finally decided to obey class rules, I think he should start our daily show-and-tell session. What do you think, class?” Mr. Levinson didn't wait for a response before he continued. “Mr. Watson, you have fifteen minutes to convince me not to throw you out of my class.”

Nigel's mouth ran dry; his hands were trembling slightly.

“NOW,” Mr. Levinson barked.

Nigel slowly gathered his laptop and charger.

“I have no available outlets here, Mr. Watson. I trust that your battery will last for at least fifteen minutes.”

Nigel thought he saw a slight grin on his face as he approached the front of the classroom. Nigel felt flushed, his heart raced, and he was starting to sweat. He was not prepared to show the class his project.

The game was still running the screen session in the background. If the program got interrupted now, then Jake's character would probably die, and he would lose whatever he had in his game inventory. If he didn't resurrect his character within ten minutes, all of that character's worldly possessions would spill all over the dead avatar in the game world. Nigel worked too hard to let this happen; he needed to log out of the game gracefully.

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Before connecting his laptop to the class projector, he quickly pressed a series of keys. Two Dire Wolves had decided to make a meal of one of Jake’s character’s legs. Normally, Dire Wolves had only a few dozen hit points and could be dispatched with a few whacks of a sword, but Jake’s character was badly injured. Nigel had only one or two moves before the wolves would kill and eat their prey. He decided to move decisively. With a few keystrokes, he was able to summon an apocalypse spell that killed both wolves instantly; however, that meant certain denizens of the dark plane were made aware of these actions. The calculated risk of killing an imminent threat brought consequences. Nigel would need to deal with those consequences later, as there was another more imminent threat to worry about.

Nigel was glad he was in the habit of taking notes in his favorite presentation program. He hoped he would look more prepared than he felt. He opened the presentation program and sent the output to the projector. The words “Project Chaturanga” appeared.

Nigel began talking about the inspiration for the project and why it was an important research project. He briefly discussed the history of Deep Blue, one of the first computers to beat Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. This was one of the first practical uses of artificial intelligence in modern computing. Nigel scanned the room for signs of interest. He noticed that Jet was fixated on his presentation, hanging on every word. Mr. Levinson also looked intrigued.

“The aim of the project is to apply modern machine learning concepts to the game of chess,” Nigel continued. “Machine learning makes it possible for technology like artificial intelligence to exist. Think of machine learning as the fuel that drives artificial intelligence. The goal is to have the computer use machine learning to try to figure out what a human might do.”

Nigel closed with, “Thank you for your time, class.”

At the beginning of the presentation, Nigel was bordering on panic, but now he felt elated.

“We can't wait to see your working prototype two Fridays from now, Mr. Watson,” Mr. Levinson said.

Nigel didn't dare reopen his laptop until he was safely away from Mr. Levinson's class. He dreaded logging back in to Jake's account; he had no idea what he was going to find. He had made a bold move casting that spell. When Nigel leveled up a character for a client, he always tried to have an exit strategy for when things in the game got dicey. For Jake, that spell scroll was a lifesaver—and a risky one, at that.

“Hey, Bonehead!” Jake bellowed the moment Nigel left Mr. Levinson’s. “Where's my stuff? I want to access my account already!”

Nigel had temporarily changed Jake's password so he would experience minimal interference when power-leveling Jake.

“It’s taking a little longer than expected,” Nigel said.

“Well, I better have access by the end of the day, or else.”

Six Hours Later

Nigel's cell phone rang, and he immediately recognized the number.

“Needlenose!” cried Jake. “Your head is about to meet my fist!”

“What’s the matter?” Nigel squeaked.

“My account has been frozen. I just got an email about it! If you don't get my account unlocked or provide a new one by tomorrow, you're in big trouble!” Jake hung up.

Nigel checked his messages; there was an email forwarded from Jake.