Daedalus 8 M1 - Term: 1, Round: 1

House Thoth, Squad Zero

M1 Rank: ?/1275, Tier 3 M-Rank: Null

Term: 1, Round: 1

The cadets gawked at Master Nader.

Master Nader never took off her mask, she walked around in a full armoured bodysuit with full face helm since they arrived. Daedo wondered if she would ever take it off.

"Daedo," Master Nader continued, "in my office."

The door to her room slid open, she must have requested it as she had not moved. Inside her room, there was no bed, no shower, just an amazing display of data and feeds on two of the four walls. Her office was programmable as well, she could adapt to her needs of the day or hour.

A programmable room was broken up into numerous meter squares of a cubed floor, ceiling and walls. Master Nader could programme these into any configuration she wanted, and they were sure to be hiding hundreds of accessories and even entire connected rooms.

"Sit," she said in her robotic voice.

"You don't sleep here?" Daedo asked.

Daedo: are you sure she isn't a robot?

The screens turned opaque, and the door closed behind him as he sat.

"No, I sleep topside as do all the Masters. Now that was your last question. Listen to me," she said ominously.

"You barely pa.s.sed your physical. Your teamwork is abysmal, let alone leaders.h.i.+p. The only reason you are rank one is due to the weighting in Thoth where math and physics, the foundations of engineering, have a one point two factor. If you were in Horus you wouldn't be in the top fifteen let alone group zero," she said scathingly.

"I just set a target on your back, I am explaining this because you are probably too naïve to realise, that each of those cadets out there are now wondering why you are number one and what they need to do to beat you. They are also wondering why you are getting special treatment right now. If over the next three months you do not show strong results in all subjects you will lose number one standing. The current ranking is based on entrance exam results, which are now thrown out the hatch and count for nothing," She continued to drill Daedo, he had never been spoken to this way in his life.

She paused waiting for what she just said to be processed and when he opened his mouth she silenced him.

"No questions, you must figure this out on your own with the information I provide. But," she held up a solitary finger and paused for effect, "because you are M1 and it is your first day I will give you a general strategy outline. This will be the first and last time."

"You must first get your teammates to stop thinking about the intrhouse ranking in Thoth, they must think about group zero leading and winning representation for Thoth. And for Thoth to become the number one house in M1. You are to offer a.s.sistance or ask for help in order to form a one on one bond with each and every member of your team," she thumped her desk to accentuate her point.

"Why?" he began to ask.

"You don't need to know why," she answered, "you need to follow directives. This is a Military Academy. It is not an academic inst.i.tution nor a holiday resort. The word Military is there for a reason."

Daedo: she didn't even know what I was asking why about. Why give me advice, why single me out, why do I need to stay rank one.

Myrmidon: I like her.

Daedo: how do you know you like her? You only know me, and all we do is play games and complete engineering projects together.

Myrmidon: I observe, and I read.

Daedo: as long as you keep it all in the cloud I don't mind how much data you collect, just don't slow down your core processing. It would be nice if you a.s.sisted me socially, I really need it.

"One last warning, if you do not finish in the top seven cadets, in Horus, during the year you will no longer be in squad zero in M2. Understood?" Nader asked, almost rhetorically.

Daedo just nodded.

"You're dismissed," she said curtly, and the door opened behind him as his chair disappeared beneath him.

Daedo regained his feet. Master Nader had given him a lot to contemplate. He walked through the door, his first inclination was to head back to his room and avoid questions. His room was just a bed and ultrasonic shower, to head there now would seem cowardly, he walked directly to the seat he had vacated earlier and sat down.

Before the door reopened there would have been a robust discussion taking place, but since he had walked out, everyone was silent.

It was Barran who broke the silence, "so what gives?"

"Yeah what was that about?" Picard asked confrontationally.

Daedo considered telling them it was confidential, but Master Nader did not say anything they discussed was confidential. She had given him hints on how to forge bonds, what he needed to do to rank highly. The question was, did he really care? Myrmidon cared more than him.

Daedo considered his predicament for a short while, Picard's blue-tinted hair shone as she shook her head. She was about to say something when Vannier held up her hand, "he is collecting his words, give him time," she said urging patience amongst the squad zero cadets.

"At first," he began, "she gave me a dressing down, making sure the rank didn't go to my head and saying I could easily lose it because I am weak physically. My piloting and gunnery are probably poor due to the amount of time I spent in CyberMech."

"Then she told me that I had to refocus you six from wanting number one rank in Thoth to being more concerned with group zero winning the right to represent Thoth and then beating the other houses in M1. She then told me to do this by a.s.sisting each of you with something or asking for help," he reported.

"So…," Mace questioned, "she basically gave you special treatment, advice and a directive. And you, rather than act on that advice, you just blab what it was to us? Is that your way of achieving this directive?"

"Yes, that's right. If it makes sense to you, there is no need to try and manipulate you into doing what I want. In that, I am sure I would fail. So I will give you the information, and you will be able to work out whether our paths align or not." He answered.

"And what could you give me a.s.sistance with?" Picard asked.

"And me?" Barran asked eagerly.

"I am sure opportunities will arise," Vannier said, "once the reason he is rank one becomes known, and his special skills are revealed."

"Picard, if you have no creds, what AI kernel were you going to use for the AI nurturing subject?" Daedo asked.

"An open source one. A free one," Picard answered.

"Why don't I write you one?" Daedo suggested.

It was Axelzero's turn to splutter a protest, "what? You can't possibly write one."

"I have before, it took me three months," he said.

Mace was protesting as well, "it has taken a team of Fortescue's best developers over a year to write the base code for an AI, and it was rejected as being inefficient, we are still purchasing Svarski's Military AI. Why should we believe you can write one that works at all and even if it does that it is better than an open source AI?"

"I am offering, and I can do it. The only proof I require is delivering one to Picard. I will create a bespoke AI, tailored to her requirements ready for the first day of AI:N cla.s.s," Daedo answered.

No one asked if he could do a second as they all doubted he could do one.

"If you just copy an open source or a purchase AI we will be able to tell immediately, you know this?" Gaumont asked.

Daedo just stared at Gaumont as if the question offended him, which it did.

Barran clapped his hands, "I like this game. Do me next Daedo, what can you do for me?"

"I don't know you well enough yet, I could a.s.sist you in an academic subject, or you could train me in physical," Daedo suggested.

Barran barked a disappointed sound, "Bah, I want something cool like a bespoke AI."

"What is it that you need more than anything to succeed here?" Daedo asked seriously, and Barran took on a thoughtful appearance.

"I don't know. I have everything money can buy, the best gear, I am naturally talented in piloting, I can do the math and physics, and they are only two subjects out of the ten. If you could help me with anything, anything at all it would be to beat my sister in a mech duel. I am a better pilot than her, but she always tunes and adjusts her mech so its much better than mine. Whether it's an exo or four-metre she always wins," Barran looked seriously at Daedo, "can you tune a mech?"

"I have only seen them on rare occasions, I can't remember touching one," Daedo answered.

"What? Doesn't your family have at least one?" Barran asked.

"No," Daedo answered, "Dad brings home the odd robot from work to repair, and he gets to keep the odd retired model. But other than that we don't even own a vehicle."

"Are you on scholars.h.i.+p?" Picard asked in awe.

"No," Daedo answered.

"Then how?" Vannier asked she leaned into Daedo he was an enigma and she found the short boy fascinating.

"My mother," he began, "I … didn't really want to tell you all about my …" Daedo began to stutter splurt, and a tear ran down his cheek. It had only been a day, and he was already embarra.s.sed. He had never been like this in front of adults, but these cadets were his peers, almost.

He wiped his face and stared at them sternly, "I will send you a doc.u.ment outlining my history," and with that, he stood and walked to his room. His door closed behind him. It must have been Myrmidon.

Daedo lay on his bed and prepared a one-page doc.u.ment outlining where he lived, his parents, his mother's death, how he failed at nine years old to enter. He paused at mentioning he was Daedalus. Why would he need to hide that? If anything it was a weakness. The only thing he needed to hide was Myrmidon, he had prepared a clean slate AI already, which he could tweak for Picard and present as his own. Then after time had pa.s.sed, he could pretend his AI had evolved into Myrmidon. The security measures could be falsified, he would present them as code, but they would not run. He would cla.s.sify the lines as a text entry and hide the cla.s.sification.

He added details about the s.p.a.cebuild shop and his years spent playing CyberMech as Daedalus. If they doubted him, he could easily prove it. It would be his test for them, he was already p.i.s.sed about being doubted with the AI kernel programming.

Once he had completed the doc.u.ment, he sent it off to the other members of group zero.

Then he lay in his bed staring at the ceiling. Within moments a loud banging was at his door.

Gaumont was shouting, "how the f.u.c.k are you Daedalus, come out here and login now I want to see this."

Daedo sighed at the failure on group zero's part.

He stood and walked out.

There were all staring at him. Again.

Even the cadets not fans of CyberMech had heard of Daedalus. He or she was the mysterious rank one player of the most popular mech VR game on the planet. The game that single-handedly caused ma.s.s uptake of cybernetic implants in order to play.

"Seriously, this is too much," Barran said.

Axelzero was caught between wanting to console him for the loss of his mother, just attending the school was a daily reminder because it was her death that paid for his entry and her qualms over his story. He could not possibly be Daedalus. Daedalus had been the number one ranked player for two years, that would put him achieving it at ten. At ten she was still playing with slider games. And he had a suit that was worth over fifteen hundred bitcreds she knew, it was from her company. How could he afford this if it was just him and his father? The story didn't add up. In her heart, she wanted to believe him, but her mind was screaming no.

Vannier put a hand on his shoulder and smiled sadly.

He sat down. "Before I do this, I want to ask, is there anyone here who believes me?"

Barran laughed. Gaumont scowled. Picard looked anxious. Axelzero, Vannier and Mace looked down not wanting to make eye contact.

Part of Daedo wanted to shout at them, f.u.c.k you. f.u.c.k you all. And go back into his sh.e.l.l. But he knew if he did that it would be a long, long year. He would be alone, which he didn't mind, he could function with Myrmidon and do his work. He could pa.s.s and excel academically. He could train himself. And when it came to team sports he could just do his own thing, as he had always done. He would never speak of this day, but they would all know they were wrong when he beat them in everything.

The challenge from Master Nader played on his mind. For some reason, he wanted to respond to it. To win against Master Nader. He did not seem it on the outside, but he was compet.i.tive, CyberMech was case in point. He didn't even allow one of his items on s.p.a.cebuild to drop from number one ranking for more than a day.

"Remember this day when you next doubt me," he said after sitting mute in thought for three full minutes.

He activated the common room's holoprojector and synced it to a feed. A feed of his game. "Only one person on the planet can use the name Daedalus in any game, or app, and that is the person who owns the worldwide rights to the name," as he spoke his game launched. A large gold number one appeared in the top right corner, with another blue number one beneath signifying his EU region rank. Only pro players had the gold ranking symbol, Gaumont knew straight away.

He launched into a ladder match immediately. Although he had not played for thirty days he was still ranked number one, he wondered if the devs messed with the system as the ranking was adjusted daily, surely after a long period of time his ranking would drop.

"It is him," Gaumont whispered in awe.

Axelzero stood in distress. She didn't know what to do.

Vannier laughed and cheered in relief, she desperately wanted him to be telling the truth, she just could not bring herself to believe the impossible. Out of the tens of millions of players of this stupid game, the number one player in the world sat right here in this room. No matter how useless this game was, the talent and dedication to achieve this feat was incredible.

Daedalus flew through the ladder map, he had unmuted his team for the first time in years, and the screams of ecstasy and surprise could be heard throughout the common room. It was astonis.h.i.+ng because this was coming from players ranked master or challenger, they were not noobs. But Daedalus had disappeared for a month, with no trace, he suddenly reappeared in their ladder match of all places.

Daedalus killed enemy mech after enemy mech with ease, as they stared at him.

As the match finished he spoke to his team, it was certain they were recording or streaming this.

"I have to say goodbye," he said unemotionally, "I am retiring. I am now attending Military Academy M1 and cannot play anymore." And with those words, he cut the connection and logged out of CyberMech for the last time.

Within minutes the audio would be sent around the globe to fansites and apps dedicated to the game. There was no doubt. Players at this level would have their own stream, they were certain to go viral with this clip.

Barran of all of his peers was emotional, "I … you … farr." He stood and grabbed Daedo lifting him up in the air as if in joy. "You're more famous than my dad!"

Barran put him down after Picard tapped him on the shoulder and indicated the floor with her head. She then shook his hand.

"I am sorry," she said.

Gaumont looked in shock. He could not say another word.

"You liar," Mace accused him, "I do know your shop from Towerdefender 2200. Daedalus auctions items twenty percent better than rank one every month. And in your doc.u.ment, you stated you owned the Myrmidon shop too. Both of them are famous."

Axelzero hugged him, "that explains how you afforded the suit. I am sorry too."

Myrmidon: I am looking forward to the next game Daedo. Do not be sad for CyberMech, we were well past it being challenging.

Daedo: I am not sad over CyberMech. I am sad no one believed me.

Myrmidon: I believe in you. If you keep smas.h.i.+ng the meatheads, they will eventually learn as well.