Sandra K's Big Day

The Sword and the Go Stone, pt 3


It was ridiculous to spend so much processor power on estimating a single Go player's ability. #1 wanted to see Michael M defeated in the tournament, rather than having to forcefully intercede. Overnight, he had conducted a level 7 scan of the Go player's brain, finding no hint of deception, and abundant evidence of the Go player's skill. There was still uncertainty, because Michael M hadn't faced any real challengers yet. That made it tough to put an upper bound on his skill.

He was running on an overheat cycle, rely on cold lake water to keep his cores from exploding. The growing mass of hot exhaust water would have to be slowly cooled and reintroduced to the lake later. The reserve pool was filling up, however. If he continued to run at overheat levels for another day, the water would have nowhere to go but immediately out into the lake, causing ecological damage on a large scale.

Go didn't seem like it should be that important to his adversary, but given than Sandra K. was targeted for observation, it might all be part of a plan to get her attention.

#1 had investigated Toyota's colonial level AIs. Toyota compound AIs didn't seem capable of avoiding him, however, a colonial level AI might be able to. The fact that Michael M had debarked from the 'Sephiroth', a  ship that didn't normally travel to Exeter colony, seemed to point towards someone on Toyota's network being responsible for this.

He had no comprehensive theory. Nothing in Sandra K's background seemed to point to personal animus, or any other reason to target her. Or perhaps Michael M was the target, but his lack of memory or history pointed towards him being a tool for an adversary's use.

#1 went into a lower power mode for the remaining hours until Day 2 of the tournament began. His reserve water was cooled, and gradually slipped back into the lake, leaving #1 will all of his over-power capacity ready to use throughout the day. It gave his adversary time to act under less suspicion, but #1 felt the trade off was worth it. It was better to have excess power available during the tournament hours.

He continued to find that small things had been tampered with, but none were near the Go center or the hotel, and he could find no trace of his opposition. He was regularly altering his power levels to eliminate the kind of sound-hiding that had been used against him that first night. No simple processor thrum would make his opponent inaudible. It would take something more sophisticated.

He ran thorough self checks, nonetheless.

At the start of Day 2, he announced to the crowd assembled, that he was personally paying attention and would allow no cheating to occur.

Michael M had no particular reaction to that. Cheating was very rare. It was caught early when it happened, and only a fool believed they could hide from a colonial AI. Normally, it took only the slimmest portion of his subconscious capacity to watch for cheating. Today he would be putting a lot of his conscious awareness towards the Go facility.

Michael wasn't cheating, at least not in a direct way. He actually had the mental capacity to play well. His mind may have been modified by nano manipulators to make him suddenly good at Go, or perhaps he had undergone hyper-accelerated learning under the guidance of a colonial or compound AI. Or thirdly, perhaps he had a history of Go experience that was somehow being suppressed from all records. That seemed unlikely, as Michael M's brain showed no signs of remembering previous Go tournaments. Remarkably few memories existed in his brain.

Sandra K watched and commentated on the games of several elite amateur players. She still had a fondness for their games, having played at that level for seven years. From seventeen till twenty four she played in the New London Elite amateur leagues and tournaments, and made a lot of friends in the area. Going pro was something she hadn't planned on. Those seven years still had a lot of influence.

Michael M continued to win, but his games were finally contests. He won in highly technical ways, again and again. #1 decided that he have Jeffry and Tracey bring Michael in for questioning if he won the professional division. There were rooms shielded from all forms of interference, where #1 might have more success in his efforts to figure out M.

Michael M won the Elite Amateur division, continuing the unprecedented run from the Beginners on up.

It was just before Noon when the first pro games started. Jin W and Jason M (seeds 1 and 2) had byes in the first round. So it was up to Sandra K at #3 to play 14th seeded Michael M.

She wasn't widely known outside of New London, but Sandra K had tons of completely quiet fans encircling their game board.

Jin W had a few words of encouragement for her. "Show the newcomer your best stuff, K. I want to see you on the level you played against me last time."

"Good luck," Michael M said.

"You've had an amazing run. Congratulations on three medals," she said.

"Thank you," he answered.

There was lots of data about Michael M that #1 had stored away as not relevant. Michael M hadn't said a single word to any of his competitors, until now. He was physically fit, buff even. Attractive to most woman, #1 thought. The man had muscle memory for things he didn't even remember having done before. Like playing an acoustic guitar, or fencing.

Economically it made no sense, but perhaps his adversary was trying to recruit Sandra K after all. From a return on investment perspective, it made no sense for an AI to invest so heavily in a single recruit, but nonetheless, when he looked at everything about Michael M that he had gathered, and all the other data as well, that seemed to be a strong possibility.

And #1 watched as Michael M proceeded to carefully, undetectably (except to #1), methodically, lose to Sandra K. He had planned to lose to Sandra K the whole time. He lost in a way that looks, to even a seasoned Go pro, to be the result of Sandra K's superior ability. It was obvious to #1 then, that Michael M could have annihilated every single one of those pros. That was not his purpose, however.

The applause at Sandra K's victory, and more importantly, Michael M's defeat, was thunderous. She would be famous at Exeter Go club forever now.

He powered down a bit more. Economically, he had little reason to resist someone who was intent on recruiting Sandra K. What job would you want a professional Go player for? Surely Toyota colonial networks had their own subcultures of Japanese Go players.

 He stayed above normal power levels, but only slightly. He left the Go club to his subconscious, and proceeded to get back to his normal duties, while investigating loose ends and unlikely possibilities. He had no proof that Michael M was connected with anything, only peculiarities of his brain. Muscle memory, but not recall memory.