The Matho-Dungeon Settlement Sphere, Part 3

I woke up, and turned on the TV in my hotel room.

"... first Platinum-Track Green Belt in region 104."

Click.

"...Bauer"

Click

"Hey kids! Remember to ask your parents before you try any math at home. Home Accidents are preventable. Math is dangerous! Until you're ready for Math, stay safe and use protection."

The gov funded ad ended, and a show came on. It was about a forensic science team, like CSI or something.

"What did you find out Billups?" the lead agent was asking.

"Our perps definitely were running an underground math lab. One of them got a little excited and actually talked to the other about math, and managed to cut the sorry sap's head in two."

"What kind of purity are we talking about? Tell me its just algebra?"

"No such luck. This is some highly pure stuff. Mathematical foundations," the CSI agent whispered one more word, "proof".

Math everywhere, and no one breathing a word of it.

I clicked off the TV, took a ten minute shower, got dressed, and went down to get breakfast.

Some big wig came down and sat next to me.

"Special Forces are tracking your progress. Congratulations, you have a standing letter of acceptance the day you reach Journeyman rank. You are big now, Bauer. Bigger than you even know. Go with the best," the guy in a black army jacket said to me.

"I'm just a novitiate! I could fight those zombies in my sleep. What makes you so impressed by that?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Most regions have never seen someone breeze through the Novitiate stages so quickly. Do you realize it takes some dungeoneers 6 months to get from No Belt to Green Belt. Some never get past Yellow belt at all. You just blasted through all of that in one day."

The bell man at the door already had a limo prepared while I was eating.

"Mr. Bauer."

I pantomimed talking to the people in the Novitiate common room when I got there. And the people in the dungeon door room. Most people spent more time in the common room than in the dungeon door room or in the dungeons themselves.

I said good luck to some No Belt. He turned white after being addressed by me. I jumped into the green belt dungeon with ablomb.

I saw the pattern, first a few puzzle monsters, to establish the new concept, which was very simple divisions in Green Belt dungeon. Then regular monster fights.

28 / 4 = 7
12 / 3 = 4
90 / 10 = 9
45 / 9 = 5
44 / 11 = 4
2 / 2 = 1
0 / 37 = 0

One tiny dragon whelp down.

16 / 2 = 8

after the first puzzle, the second tiny dragon said, "I am 8 and my friend is 0, what am I when divided by my friend?"

Division by 0 was not defined, so I said nothing.

The monster said after a minute, "Good answer."

His puzzles continued.

4 / 1 = 4
0 / 1807 = 0
56 / 8 = 7
49 / 7 = 7
15 / 3 = 5

Then I faced the combat portion of the dungeon.

Addition and subtraction weren't cutting it anymore, so I used multiplications and divisions to toast the dragon whelps without getting any blood on me.

108 / 12 = 9  was an impressive cracking and gruesome death but no splatter.
735 / 15 = 49 was a blood splattering.

I got bored with the easy again, and so I stumbled upon splattery problems.

The battle finale wasn't too bad, I stuck to simpler divisions and finished with a perfect.

I got my Diamond Star back, now with a Blue Belt.

The day was a blur! Blue Belt Dungeon was about Wolves and multiplying 2 digit numbers by other 2 digit numbers.

I made a mistake in one of the puzzle problems. I didn't even get a Battle Finale, and I ended up with a Purple Belt - Gold Star.

Purple Belt Dungeon was about dividing 2 and 3 digit numbers by 2 digit numbers, and including the remainder in the answers.

I restored my dignity by getting a perfect on the puzzles, the battles and the battle finale, but it looked like my star rating could only go back up one level at a time, as I was awarded a Brown Belt - Platinum Star

Name: Edmond Bauer

Ranking Status: Novitiate (Brown Belt - Platinum Star Track)

Sphere Ranking: 92,379,522nd (21%)

Lives: 27

Race: Elothean

Race: Streak 2 - Skip two enemies with full rewards for every eight you defeat without getting defeated.

Class: N/A

Class Bonuses: None Unlocked


The brown belt dungeon was different from the ones before.

Just inside the entrance was an oak podium with a laminated note and stacks of paper and pencil.

I read the laminated note:

"Ability unlocked. Write mathematics on paper to solve puzzles or for combat. Separate each problem with a line across the page. Order of operations, except for where modified by parentheses, multiplication and division come first and then addition and subtraction. Within these two groups, operations go from left to right. Monsters will be giving you their puzzles on paper.

When using spoken mathematics use phrases like all together or put that together to indicated that a parenthesized group has some other mathematics done on them. Or you can laboriously speak out your parenthesizes for slower detailed work.

Feel free to pick  your favorite pen from the bucket."

I picked up thirty pieces of paper and two gel pens.

The first monster was a troll, he handed me a piece of paper with puzzles.

1 + 6 * 8 - 2 = 47
2 * 3 - 2 * 3 + 2 = 2
2 * 4 * 8 - 4 / 4 = 63

The second monster was a troll too.

(17 + 34) / 17 + 2 * (1 + 3 / 3 + 1) = 9
(2 * 2 * 2) + (3 * 3 * 3) - 1 * (2 + 2) = 31

I spent time working on these problems on paper.

The combat section was even slower zombies. Spoken math had no effect because they were waiting some kind of heavy duty plate armor as they shambled extremely slowly.

I started a new page of paper, and wrote:

1 + (1 + 2) + (1 + 2 + 3) + (1 + 2 + 3 + 4) = ?
1 + 3 + 6 + 10 = 20

The first zombie collapsed. The second platemail zombie shambled towards me.

1 * 2 - 3 + 16 / 4 - 1 * 3 + 5 + (1 - 2 / 2) * 5 * 25 = ?
2 - 3 + 4 - 3 + 5 + 0 * 5 * 25 = 5

The second zombie collapsed.

"Perfect! Bonus Brute-Type Challenge. Come up with a mathematical attack that can hit this brute covered in five feet of concrete."

I couldn't even see the brute, just the concrete.

I started a new page.

In my head I was thinking about the binomial expansion: (1 / 2 + 1 / 2) ^ 4

I wrote down:

(1 * 2 * 3 * 4) / ((1) * (1 * 2 * 3 * 4)) / (2 * 2 * 2 * 2) + (1 * 2 * 3 * 4) / ((1) * (1 * 2 * 3)) / (2 * 2 * 2 * 2) +  (1 * 2 * 3 * 4) / ((1 * 2) * (1 * 2)) / (2 * 2 * 2 * 2) + (1 * 2 * 3 * 4) / ((1 * 2 * 3) * (1)) / (2 * 2 * 2 * 2) + (1 * 2 * 3 * 4) / ((1 * 2 * 3 * 4) * (1)) / (2 * 2 * 2 * 2) = 1

The expression was simply an expansion of 1 ^ 4 so the result had to be one. To actually calculate it out in every detail would take fractions, I realized.

It rapidly dawned on me that I'd done too well a job. The brute exploded so hard that a piece of concrete smoked me in the eye.

I had already received my Diamond-Star Red-Belt when I came back to consciousness.

I shakily walked out of the dungeon with an injured eye. Already covered in whelp blood form earlier.

The entire Dungeon door room was filled and flooded with people.

There was a scuffle as a dozen reporters tried to shove microphones in my face. One lady won the fight.

"It's official! You are the 2nd person ever to be awarded a Diamond Star Red Belt. The 1st is President Phearson. I expect you're going to be invited to the Presidential Palace in the next few days. What do you think about all of this?"

"I'm just having fun, bored actually."

"Bored," another reported gasped. "You move so fast this has to all be brand new to you. I spent three months on the dungeon you just came out of. Anyway, what's going on with your eye?"

"Flying chunk of concrete. The bonus brute exploded when I defeated him," I said. "I need to see a doctor or someone about this eye."

The reporters were stunned.

"I've never heard of anyone even causing a crack in the concrete, except for the president maybe?"

The murmur amongst them was steady.

I didn't care about that. I waded through people like a sea, and got to the limo outside.

"The nearest hospital please, and step on it."

The waiting room at the hospital was a mile long. I felt a bit nauseous about being let in first ahead of all of those waiting.

The Matho-Dungeon Settlement Sphere, Part 2

I walked into the Novitiate's Yellow Belt Dungeon

A gnoll in leather armor stood twenty feet into the dungeon.

100 - -700 + -400 = 400
1 + 4 + 9 + 3 - -7 = 24
-0 - 0 + 10 - 10 - -10 = 10
80000 - -20000 + -70000 + -30000 = 0

I had to think for a second with some of these. Not too hard though.

A gnoll in chain armor was next.

12 + 11 = 23
37 + 14 = 51
19 + 13 = 32
19 + 19 = 38

A gnoll in plate armor was next

19 - 12 = 7
32 - 3 = 29
81 - 18 = 63
1 + 99 = 100

An orc in no armor was next

-72 + -13 - 80 + 93 = -72
11 + 11 + 11 + 11 + 11 + 11 + 11 = 77
99 + 98 + 97 + 96 - 95 - 94 - 93 - 92 = 16
1 + 10 + 100 + 1000 + 10000 = 11111

An orc in leather armor was last

7 + 7 + 7 = 21
3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 21
2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 10
5 + 5 = 10

"PERFECT SCORE! Bonus Challenge: Battle Early Bird Test!" said the big orc in plate armor

"Show me something!" the orc said. A rack of spears was next to him. The orc picked out a spear and slowly cocked back, ready to throw it.

Another strange voice shouted, "Use your mathematical knowledge to attack the orc. Shout your favorite math, if its true you'll get a hit, if its false, you're getting speared."

As the spear flew through the Air I shouted, "73 + 37 = 110"

He started chucking spears fast, but after "88 * 8 = 704" the spears were flung back at the goblin and he exploded.

"Bonus - Combat Test complete. Remember, more advanced mathematics may take more time to prepare but has a much deadlier effect on your opponent and his or her attacks!"

I had 30 more silver and an Orange Belt with a Diamond Star.

I hadn't had a chance to use my Streak special ability yet. I wonder when they are going to start throwing this so-called math combat stuff at me.

Name: Edmond Bauer

Ranking Status: Novitiate (Orange Belt - Diamond Star Track)

Sphere Ranking: 112,551,001th (3.75%)

Lives: 12

Race: Elothean

Race: Streak 1 - Skip one enemy with full rewards for every five you defeat without getting defeated.

Class: N/A

Class Bonuses: None Unlocked


I rushed into the Orange Belt dungeon without any fear or hesitation. It was zombie themes

It started back with the non-combat problem solving monsters again. Zombies who wanted to multiply.  It all blurred together for me in boredom. This was times table shit, not something that should challenge an adult.

3 * 9 = 27
0 * 1 = 0
2 * 2 = 4
4 * 10 = 40
1 * 3 = 3
2 * 8 = 16

8 * 3 = 24
4 * 3 = 12
1 * 5 = 5
1 * 5 = 5
10 * 2 = 20
8 * 2 = 16

Finally they got into the combat challenges, as the zombies who sludged towards me didn't have any numbers on their heads. I toyed with them, trying to see how hard different mathematical facts hit.

.The zombie barely twinged in response to 1 + 1 = 2. 0 + 1 = 1 somehow had a bigger impact. 9 + 12 = 21 was like a slap to the zombies face.

I finished the zombie that was getting close with 45 * 8 = 360. I was best at using heuristics and algebra to solve multiplications that looked hard without much difficulty. 45 * 8 equals 90 * 4 equals 180 * 2 equals 36.

Then I was facing two zombies, both as slow as the first one. 19 + 29 = 48 {20 + 30 - 1 - 1 = 48} knocked the first zombie down but didn't kill it.

I tried to figure out how to use algebra for combat. "If x^2 + 6x = -9 then x = -3."

There was no impact. I tried one more, "For the polynomial x^2 + 1 = 0, the roots are i and -i."

No impact. Maybe I had to somehow advance more before I was allowed to use algebra in combat. 

More arithmetic for me. I wondered if I would get applause coming out of this one. I decided to dispense with the games and just spit math rhymes like a rapper.

"101 * 101 = 10201"   boom!

"5 * 99 = 495"  boom!

I ran forward trying to see what my max range on mathy destruction was. From sixty feet, "10101 * 11 = 111,111." The zombie was flayed and gibbed something fierce.

For my next test I tried decimals . "4.3 * 4.3 = 18.49."

Nothing. I tried fractions.

"7 / 3 + 5 / 7 = 64 / 21."

The zombie was splattered so explosively some of it ended up on me. Combat respected fractions but not decimals. Interesting.

I decided I didn't want zombie gunk  all over me so I stuck to multiplication and big additions and subtractions.

I tried a division problem and got even more splattered. 

1170 / 13 = 90 

Zombie grossness was running all over me. My nose was splattered in that stuff.

"Perfect!Battle Finale!"

"20 * 19 = 380

  123 + 456 = 579

  18  * 3 = 54

  107 + 93 = 200

  -50 + 145 = 95

 73 * 7 = 490 + 21 = 511

 88 * 7 = 560 + 56 = 625  (INCORRECT!)

I had made my first arithmetic mistake. The zombies came rushing much faster. I recovered and finished the last five.

88 * 7 = 616

100 * 10000 = 1,000,000        (I got splattered with zombie guts for this easy one.)

 9 - -23 = 42

77 + -33 = 44

16 / 4 = 4                              (splattered)

"Battle Finale successful! Green Belt with Platinum Star constructed."

I returned to the Novitiate Room.

It looked like there was a group of novitiates wanting to accost me for going to fast when I came out of the dungeon. One look at the zombie junk that was covering me and they skedaddled.

It was time to go back to my room. The Novitiate gathering room went from a dull roar to dead silence as I came through.

My mind came back to the fact that I didn't seem to be getting my streak special advantage. Unless the enemies I got to skip were just never showing up at all, so I didn't know that I would have faced them?

Name: Edmond Bauer

Ranking Status: Novitiate (Green Belt - Platinum Star Track)

Sphere Ranking: 108,165,897th (7.5%)

Lives: 16

Race: Elothean

Race: Streak 2 - Skip two enemies with full rewards for every eight you defeat without getting defeated.

Class: N/A

Class Bonuses: None Unlocked

My streak bonus had increased. And I now had a total of 85 silver and some miscellaneous coppers in my pocket. I used to have to sweat every copper.

The Rank-Master was standing at the outer door of the Novitiate dungeon grounds. 

"Let me get you a limo. Region 104's first Platinum Star Green Belt! Ever! You'll be mobbed if you try to walk back. How did you manage to get zombie juice all over your face?"

"Fractions," I said.

"You realize that's black belt and beyond stuff right? Really its a tool for Initiates, but you pick it up as a Black belt," the Rank Master said.

The crowd pressed in around the limo, but the driver managed to get me in, and I waved goodbye to the Rank Master as the limo driver slowly moved away and weaved through the crowd.

Why was I famous just for knowing basic grocery store arithmetic? And no one seemed to know about decimals, just fractions.

Despite all the questions, sleep found me soon at the hotel.

The Matho-Dungeon Settlement Sphere, Part 1

My character status filled my field of view as I entered the Novitiate's No Belt Dungeon.

Name: Edmond Bauer

Ranking Status: Novitiate (No Belt)

Sphere Ranking: 116,936,105th (0%)

Lives: 4

Race: Elothean

Race: Streak 1 - Skip one enemy with full rewards for every five you defeat without getting defeated.

Class: N/A

Class Bonuses: None Unlocked

No one else was here at the start of the most simple, poorest paying dungeon on the sphere. I had no scale for what kind of threat I would be facing.

I had nothing but the robe I was wearing, with no belt I had to keep pulling it to prevent exposing myself. I had my fists and my feet. But everyone said this wasn't that hard yet.

Sword Go

Part 6 of The Sword and the Go Stone


Pulse 110 and climbing. Capillaries spreading blood to the face and extremities. Brain regions corresponding to social niceties and human interaction at high activation state. Subject is embarrassed based on the words of another. How is it that humans become embarrassed at another person's social faux pas. Uno knew the answer on a deeper level, but from a higher conceptual perspective it still seemed odd.

Perhaps there was once a time when grandiose statements were a successful strategy, but at some point they became selected against. Nonetheless, if the two spent some time together, Uno was confident they would be perfect for each other.

One of his goals was the make humans happy, but not the idle happiness of a holo-suite. His goal was the ensure they pushed themselves and achieved fulfillment. The Eudaimonia Project.

He was running at above-normal but not max power since Michael and Sandra arrived. This allowed him to watch for any moves by those two and come up with a strategy that maintained their cooperation but also prevented an undesirable action. It was a grand game of Go played at one move a millisecond for their happiness.

He didn't have time to explain to Sandra that Michael was right. Uno's analysis confirmed what the Shinamo Duos had found. The two of them had a higher compatibility score than he'd ever seen.

Her chair sliding backwards, milli by milli, as she started to stand up. Locking the door that was behind her would stop her from leaving, but it would render her uncooperative. A different approach was required.

A much quicker approach than talking was to insert a mental note from him.

"Do you trust me, Ms. Kikkert?"

Not using full last names was a false substitute for lack of privacy, an effective strategy to combat paranoia since it had been implemented decades ago. Using her full last name now would be a shock that could disrupt her focus. She was running on autopilot, her chemical system overwhelming higher reason. Funny that social graces could cause such a old part of humanity to activate so strongly. But then again, human thought evolved for the purpose of status and social competition.

She stopped, halfway to the door.

"What does that mean?" she said out loud.

Michael didn't realized that she was responding to Uno.

Michael said, "It means, will you go on a date with me Sandra K?

Uno, meanwhile said, "Do you trust me?"

Sandra held her tongue, thinking.

She was angry at Uno for springing this on her when she thought it was just about the investigation.

"Yes, I trust you," she said reluctantly.

"I can't explain everything," Uno said. "But I can tell you that I would bet a million to one on you two hitting it off. You're both experts in your own pursuits. Michael in sword martial arts and you in Go, but both of you still have more to achieve, a higher pinnacle to fight for. And if things go well, the distance between Toyota and Google's networks doesn't have to be a big thing. You could be the first to establish a Google style Go community on Shinamo or elsewhere. Or perhaps Michael could get permission to establish a branch of the Sword Masters on Exeter. Either way, I think it will work for you.

I have come up with a cooperative game that I think would be fun for both of you, and would be a way to get to know each other. It'll be running in the holo suites on the 7th floor. If you are willing to try?"

"We could give it a try," Michael said, looking towards Sandra.

"Alright, but if I find anything offensive or embarrassing about it, I'm taking the first ship out of here, and filing a complaint at central," Sandra said.

Uno had to laugh at that, not that he had a mouth to laugh from, but he did make use of the human concept from time to time.

"Its an abstract game, a variant I designed to appeal to both of you. You can have the holo code for it, if you end up enjoying it," Uno said, and his holo faded from the room.

She wouldn't complain to central, and even if she did, he hadn't done anything unlawful or even borderline.

"Alright, if its board-game like I'll always try it," Sandra K said.

He called the game Sword Go. One player would be the strategist (Sandra), who played against the holo-suite (on an appropriate difficulty setting), and the other player was the swordsman.

When, in Go, stones would have been captured, instead a sword battle happens, each stone representing one soldier in the battle, and the swordsman could choose to take the position of one of the soldiers on his side. A sword fight would start, and the side which defeated all of its opponents would remove their stones from the board. The attacking party would lose the stones which directly took liberties away from the group in danger, while the defenders would lose their cluster that was under attack.

Because of the battles games could go on for quite a while, so captured stones counted as score, and once players had exhausted their supply of 361 stones, the game would be over, and the team with more stones won. The enemy and ally sword fighters were also tuned by the difficulty level. He set the holo-suite to medium level for the first game. The strategy will be rather different than a normal Go game, so it will take Sandra time to adjust. He would let Michael show off against medium sword-fighters.

Compatible

The Sword and the Go Stone, pt 5


It was the day after the tournament. After defeating the newcomer Michael M, she lost in the semis to the 2 seed. The game against Michael had been exhausting. He played strangely, so she was unable to rely on familiar memories and had to play by good principles instead.

Uno 'asked' her to come to the central compound to help with his investigation of the hotel intrusion two nights before.

The elevator was smart, immediately dropping eight floors below ground level as she entered. This was the Uno central computer's 'secure' area. This was her second time visiting such a compound. She had submitted to an evaluation when she went pro to prove that she'd never used a central computer to get better at Go.

She heard that in the old days, computers couldn't defeat humans in Go, but they dominated in an old game called 'Chess', and that it was difficult to prevent players from cheating through communicating with a computer or with someone else who had one.

Nowadays, anyone who went through a computer training program in Go would be able to dominate all of their tournaments. Computer training removes a lot of the variability and fun from the game. Its been banned for decades, but if Michael M had done some computer training, Go tournaments on Google colonies could start banning unknown players unless they submit to an evaluation. But to her thinking, if Michael was computer trained, he would have defeated her soundly in their game.

The elevator door opened, and she stepped out into the gloomy hallway. The walls were a lifeless silver grey. Dots played out on the floor, leading her past locked doors on both sides. It was cool and dry. The soft sound of distant computer fans was an ambient presence.

The pulsing lights on the floor lead her into a conference room, decorated only by a long mahogany conference table and roller desk chairs surrounding it.

Sandra sat closest to the door and waited. Uno would have his most detailed sensors in these rooms, to aid in his analysis. She knew that her heartbeat, blood pressure and blood sugar were just a small sample of the things he could detect, moment by moment. The history holos spoke of those who feared the central computers for their perception of such things. But if Uno can see such things, he can fix potential health problems before they become dangerous. That was her excuse at least.

What else could he determine? It was hard to say, counterproductive to speculate.

Michael entered the room from an adjoining room through a door that said, "No Access". He sat down at the far end of the table.

Uno finally spoke."Half a minute, please."

The after parties the night before had been subdued. The fact that Michael had taken any the chance to win any of the lower divisions pissed off a lot of people. Of those who were there, most of them wanted to buy her a drink. She had a take a lot of rainchecks. Even 'safe' alcohol isn't safe if you drink way too much. It's not really alcohol at all, technically. It involves a different chemistry that's still fun but much less hangover inducing. Michael didn't show, despite winning 4 1st place medals, which might never happen again.

"I've made my decision," Uno said. He took the form of a cowboy holo, with two revolvers in their holsters, a cowboy hat and boots. His holo sat down at the table, half way between Michael and Sandra.

"Michael M Mitchell, you will be barred from participating in further Go tournaments here on Exeter. I can't guarantee other Google colonies will ban you from play, but don't count on it. Computer training is not allowed for competitive go players, whether they are beginners or professionals."

Michael looked glum, looking away from the holo.

"Secondly, I have determined that you were not connected or involved in any way, with the intrusion early Friday morning. I still do not know who was behind such an aggressive act, but you bear no responsibility. Thirdly, I try to accommodate healthy, safe, human desires and goals, as much as is possible. I admit that this is awkward, but I will not let that stop me."

A three dimensional chart appeared in the center of the conference table. Sandra K wasn't sure what it meant at first. It had both her name and Michael Ms, associated with a bunch of bar graphs and statistical coefficients.

"Michael, why don't you explain what lead you to visit Exeter?" Uno said.

"Before I learned to play an enjoy Go, my main hobby was sword fighting, as a martial art. I am a 7-1 level member of 'The Sword Masters' on Shinamo, in the Toyota network. One day, after my daily training and evaluation was over, Duos summoned me to a central compound somewhat like this one. He presented to me a chart quite like the one Uno is displaying here.

"He said..." and Michael paused for a moment, unable to go on.

"He said..." and Michael cleared his throat. "He said he'd never seen two people more compatible than you and I, Sandra K."

The Initiate's Path

The Sword and the Go Stone, pt 4


He'd spent the bulk of his life savings and traveled for 48 days to reach Shinamo, so that he could face the Sword Masters' Challenge.

The Sword Masters accepted only newcomers to the sport who were in good physical condition. Shinamo itself was famous for its martial arts traditions, the Sword Masters being just one of many.

Jordan had heard from the other initiates that week one was designed to weed out a lot of them. One of the initiates bunking next to Jordan said he was trying out for a second time, but he wasn't allowed to share any of the surprises of the first two weeks with any of the others. He'd made it to the last day of Week 2 before falling out. Six months later he was trying again.

Jordan had no idea how he would fare, but he was determined to fight hard to stay in the program. They were standing by their bunks, two rows of men on each side. It was strange to find a program that didn't accept women. It had to be one of the last men only organizations.

A bald tanned man, wearing a sheath at his right hip and a clipboard in his arms walked in.

"Welcome maggots! The Sword Masters are eager to hear of your exploits and guffaw at your failures. Each day will be a severe challenge. There is no rest. While you are here, your name will be your animal and your level.You will answer to your new name, and it will change often. I am Coyote 9-1, and I will be your training director. My assistants will be assigned to you, one on one. You will respect your assistant and follow his instructions. I will give you your animal names, PAY ATTENTION!"

He then started walking across the room pointing at each person in turn.

"buzzard, peacock, partridge, nighthawk, goshawk, duck, gull, swan, goose, quail, hummingbird, hawk"

Jordan frowned. The bald man called me a hummingbird. Who's afraid of a hummingbird.

"You are all a bunch of worthless schmucks right now. Level 1-1. Tell me your names.

"Hummingbird 1-1," Jordan said reluctantly.

"Louder next time. You are all baby birds. We are all trying to find out if you can spread your wings and fly! Assistants, get to work with this lot," Coyote 9-1 said, and walked out.

Twelve assistants entered the bunkroom, one for each initiate. His trainer pointed towards the doorway and motioned. Jordan followed.

The twelve pairs spread out throughout the field, the morning sun streaming into their eyes.

Jordan's trainer had long jet black hair. His face was well worn. It was unclear how old the man was.

"I am Hare 5-3. I will test your will and your ability to follow my instructions. You were not called Hummingbird 1-1 for no reason. Uno has gained an understanding of your which surpasses your own. You will strike quickly, without being caught out in an awkward moment, that is our goal."

Hare 5-3 carried a sword sheathed on his hip, and also a thin wooden rod, which he tossed to Jordan. Jordan caught the rod on one end, barely preventing it from smashing into the dirt.

"This is your sword, Hummingbird. If it breaks, your run here will be over. Learn its weight, study its flexibility, practice with it. You may spar with the others when my time with you is done for the day, but do not let it break. This is the first commandment: protect your sword with your life.

"There are other ways to leave this program as well. If you need medical attention during your time here, you will be removed from the program. If you disobey my commands or those of anyone higher level than you, gone. If you aren't dressed, with sword and out of the bunk room by 400 each morning, gone."

"You will undergo a series of tests associated with your level. On each test you can either pass, progress, or fail. If you fail you are gone. If you pass, you will remain at your current level. If you progress, you will move up to the next level of the program. Some tests are progress or fail only.

"Go fight with the other 1-1s. I will correct your form when I can."

The other initiates were already forming up in the middle of the field.

"Who wants to fight!" Jordan yelled out.

"I will fight you, Hummingbird!"

His opponent was short, pudgy, and apparently took Jordan's animal name to mean he'd be easy prey.

Jordan chopped his sword downwards tomahawk style, and got poked in the stomach for his troubles. He stepped back, holding his side, and flailed at "Duck".

"Duck" found it easy to avoid his broad strokes, slamming his sword into Jordan's shoulder. Jordan crumbled to the ground trying to parry away Duck's relentless attacks. His own sword was slamming into his head as it took the full force of parrying Duck's blows.

"Well, ok," he said, and slid  his sword past Duck's wooden blade smashing it into the man's right side abdomen. In the same moment, his sword was out of position to parry Duck's attack and so he took a heavy blow to his forehead.

Hummingbirds must be flying around his face right now. This must be "Uno"s sick joke.

"Nice fight. Hummingbird!" Duck said, backing away holding his abdomen.

Jordan stood up, and automatically found himself backing away from the fights.

"Ow."

Hare yelled, "You fight one of them, or you're going to face me!"

"Oh Hummingbird, Let's fight," said Peacock, a big burly man who didn't fit the bird at all said.

His face was swelling, but if a new fighter could kick his ass, Hare would destroy him.

"Alright," he said, practicing a few steps. His feet had been locked in position against Duck.

He didn't try a big tomahawk chop this time. He scraped Peacock's sword away from his side, and noticed Peacock was fixed in position like he had been. Taking a step towards the right side, away from Peacock's sword, he brought his across Peacock's body smashing into his left armpit.

Peacock toppled over while trying to get another swing on Hummingbird.

Peacock crawled away. He yelled out, "whose next?"

Two wins, two losses, and he was in bad shape after losing to Buzzard. His face, his side and his left foot. were all swelling rapidly. He had never thought about going after someone's feet. Buzzard did. He wrapped his foot in gauze, and hobbled on to their first classroom lesson. He groaned at the idea of more schoolwork after he had left that all behind. His hope was that it would make him a better fighter, and lead to less pain.

"Peacock, Gull and Nighthawk have left the program. There are nine of you remaining, but there will be another group of initiates coming up in a few days, if you make it that far."

Coyote was there, teaching, but the assistants, include Hare, were off elsewhere.

"The program never stops. You will always have tests, and always have a trainer. Your trainers are off doing their own program work. Even I spend hours every day preparing for my next test. You have two days until your first one, but you will never know what your tests consist of until you are there. Be prepared for anything.

"Now the fighting out there was the rawest excuse for conflict I've ever seen. The first spars are always the rawest. Some of you started to learn, some had talent. And others failed. You will be driven to fight harder every day, because you can feel the pain of failure. That is just one of the reasons we don't fight in a holosuite. True dedication requires true danger.

"I can teach you a few things, but you must learn how to fight on your own."

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.