8 Trials Deep

CHAPTER 10: WALLS HAVE EARS. DOORS HAVE EYES

As soon as he stepped into the carriage RF-13 was met by an elegantly dressed man. The young man swiped his MA and sent a confirmation copy of the invitation to the well-dressed man.

After giving it a cursory glance, the man gave a slight bow and introduced himself in a well cultured tone, “Welcome sir, I am the butler for the 8 Trials. I will be attending to the contender’s needs throughout the event. Please approach me if you need assistance.”

RF-13 returned a polite bow. The butler seemed to be momentarily surprised. Majority of the contenders were from powerful and influential families, it was after all the competition for the princess’ hand. Hence he was unsurprised when he had received disregarding or even rude responses from the hundreds of contenders. However it was still pleasant to encounter well-mannered young men every now and then. He had been going back and forth throughout the Visus Alliance to pick up the carefully selected participants and this was fortunately the last batch.

The young man followed the butler as he led him towards his suite, his was suite 158. RF-13 thanked the butler who bowed before turning his back and strolling away on the marble and glass corridor.

RF-13’s eyes followed the retreating figure thoughtfully. The butler was overqualified to be babysitting a bunch of spoiled young masters. Others would probably not notice it but for RF-13 who could never forget faces, the butler was a remarkable personality.

During RF-13 almost four years of stay in the academy, the royal family had visited twice. A grand parade and aerial exhibition was set in their honor. On both occasions, RF-13 had spied the butler staying inconspicuous beside His Majesty. When he had occasion to discreetly ask, not even the gossip-loving cadets nor the mentors had any idea who he was. In fact some of them did not even notice the butler. To be able to stay beside a powerful figure in close proximity and be low-key, the man was likely a trusted aide. It looked like the royals were really taking great interest on the Trials.

RF-13 wondered what would happen if one they did not particularly favor emerged as champion. It would be amusing to watch the political manipulation once he was out of the competition.

The young man pressed his hand on the scanner-enabled tinted glass door. A slight glow surrounded his hand followed by short confirmation beeps. The door slid open to reveal a tastefully decorated interior. The room, like the sections of the Trichotomous that he had observed, had cool tones as motif. It was a play with either sleek metal, cool glass or stylish marble. It felt like he was on a high end hotel rather than travelling miles underground. Luxury Trichomatous by the royals really did not spare any expense in comfort and extravagance.

He gave the room a sweeping look as if he was a guest giving a customary inspection on his temporary living quarters, which he was. However, it was not his purpose. Aside from the mini-bar, bathroom with a ridiculous Jacuzzi and a single gateway pod to connect to the virtual community, there were also five surveillance devices installed. There was only one area that had no surveillance.

RF-13 casually peeled of his clothes and threw them on the laundry cabinet. He had taken off everything except for a towel and his MA while maneuvering through blind spots. Then he walked in the bath and set the shower before requesting for a communication connection with Leta. He didn’t request it with the visual projection, only opting for audio.

“What is that sound?” Leta’s voice channeled through the earpiece. One convenient feature of his MA ear accessory was that it was miniscule, about as the size of a grain of rice, and waterproof. It was implanted in his ear canal. Like his contact lenses, he didn’t have to routinely remove them and they required minimal maintenance.

“Water. Want to join me in the shower?” RF-13 nonchalantly responded, as if he was asking the most innocent question.

There was a contemptuous snort, “You wish. Avatars don’t need showers.” Leta said the last sentence like she was talking to a 5 year old. RF-13 could almost see her scornful grin.

He sighed exaggeratedly, “Well, it was worth a try.”

“So what’s this not so obvious invitation in a not so suggestive place about?”

“My suite is bugged, I suspect the whole Trichotomous is,” RF-13 answered turning serious. “It looks like they would be broadcasting earlier than I anticipated.”

“And you stripped right in front of millions of viewers?” came the incredulous reply.

“You think I would really parade what’s yours just like that?” RF-13 replied, flippantly. Then he let out a chuckle of amusement, “Is that really what matters right now?”

After not receiving a response, RF-13 couldn’t let Leta go too easily. His tone was loaded with lighthearted mockery, “I didn’t know you were so protective of my integrity.”

“Your general well-being is indeed a primary concern to this magnanimous soul,” Leta was finally able to give a reply that neither fully assented nor dissented.

The avatar’s reply garnered a quiet laughter, “Then I’m counting on your continued solicitous affection.”

There was a moment of silence before Leta spoke worried, “Hey, do you need me to check on leaks about the first trial?”

“There is no need for that,” RF-13 said as he turned the shower off. He made sure that the sound jammer was active. He could have just used the jammer to ensure that nobody was eavesdropping on them. However, he suspected that they were under a restricted communication radar on the Trichotomous. Radar restrictions usually imposed the limitation of the communication within a certain range, meaning no one could connect with them outside the imposed radar. If anybody noticed that he was receiving interactions not from anybody in the Trichotomous it would result in complications. Worst, they may even try to trace Leta.

“Why not?” Leta asked hesitantly. Earlier, she was already observing the network activity of the other contenders. Their communications were coming in and out from anonymous sources. Most likely, the contenders had been intel gathering. They already probably knew what the first trial would be.

“I already know what it is,” RF-13 was already perfectly dry from head to toe as he stepped out of the bath dryer. He tapped on a glass wall to reveal a closet of garments. “Close your eyes.”

“Why?” asked Leta distracted.

“I’m going to change my clothes,” RF-13 said without missing a beat.

It was followed by a short silence before Leta yelled so loud into the earpiece RF-13’s ears almost fell off, “You! You-” She couldn’t find the right words or any word at all. At that moment when RF-13 said he was changing she had seriously dumbly closed her eyes before she realized what was wrong. They had been communicating with the holographic feature for so long that Leta had instinctively thought it was rational to do so.

Leta heard the suppressed laughter, “I’m disconnecting-“

The rest of her indignant speech was cut off by the view that invaded her periphery of vision. It was a canvass of blue, in various tones. It was a sea. Various marine life swam and fluttered, Leta could even see a gigantic whale-like creature swim past the Trichotomous. It would have been an old world whale except for its developed wing-like pectoral fins.

“We have arrived on the Ilidana Sea,” RF-said, fully dressed as he stood beside the mesmerized avatar. He had activated the projection feature on his MA and Leta’s holographic avatar appeared. She was now peering through the glass looking at the thriving Ilidana marine life.

The reason why their transport was called Trichotomous was due to its ability to travel through land, air and water. They had been passing through dead underground cities for close to an hour when the transport finally plunged into a sea tunnel and emerged on the Ilidana.

He had remembered Leta saying she favored the color blue because it was the color of the sea. There were of course replicated bodies of water in the virtual dimension. However there were still something that the real inspiration had that were lacking on the cybernetic versions.

“So what is the first trial?” Leta asked the man curled up on the dry Jacuzzi.

RF-13 woke up with a jolt. He had not meant to fall asleep. But when he saw how absorbed the avatar had stared at the marine scenery he settled himself to waiting by inclining his body on the porcelain tub. Although it had not been filled with water, one could set it so that it was warm to the touch.

The warmth and the exhaustion he had felt had led him to nod and doze off for a short while. RF-13 found it strange, he usually had a wary attitude towards dozing off in new environment.

His gaze shifted towards the figure in front of him and thought, It’s probably because of this person.

“What?” RF-13 faintly recalled that Leta seemed to have asked him something.

“You said you already know the first trial, so what is it? Is it a strategy simulation?”

“Not exactly but part of it is. It’s a simulated space warship manipulation,” RF-13 groaned while stretching his body. Sleeping in a tub really was not ideal.

“So how did you know, do you already have an ally?” her curiosity was piqued. She had not observed him gather intel or interact with any of the other contenders, but he had already known the first stage.

“I don’t plan on recruiting an ally or joining a group. I’m just going to stay until the early stages anyway. There’s no need to try so hard,” RF-13 remarked languidly. “It was just that as I passed the game room while following the butler almost all of the playoffs on the consoles were space warship simulation.”

Leta understood. The competitors were probably performing last second preparations after getting wind of the setting for the first trial. Since it was a competition, if they failed to clear the first stage it would mean automatic elimination.

“The organizers are probably aiming to cut off at least half the numbers by the first trial,” the young man continued.

Leta turned a questioning look towards him. RF-13 shrugged, “My sister told me there were only 400 quarters prepared for the 8 Trials’ contenders on the royal residence. The invitation said there were 858 handpicked participants.”

“I’ll go and check the simulation set-up,” Leta hurriedly replied to RF-13. Without waiting for a reply she had cut off the connection.

“No, wa-,” RF-13 tried to interrupt her in vain. But the ever independent avatar had already severed the connection. The young man shook his head and sighed.

There was no need to scout for information if it was really space warship. He could at least maneuver the warship to ensure not getting eliminated. Their drill master Morret had taken an abnormal interest on him since his second year in the academy and directly assigned him under the Space Security Division.

Unlike the other cadets in his year, he had not been given the luxury of choosing and was directly assigned following Morret’s choice. RF-13 did not really mind, at the very least he found space piloting interesting. Besides, as he continued to show progress in his training maneuvers, Morret had started to monitor him less. It had meant he could slip out of the academy more easily without Morret hounding him like a tracker dog.

Bored, RF-13 decided to tour the Trichotomous. By then, the view by the glass windows was no longer the dead underground cities or the blue sea but a horizon of cottony white clouds. The Trichotomous had emerged from the body of water and proceeded to travel through air. Most of the glass windows were shifted from the computer-generated interactive scenery to reflect the sea of clouds. It was a magnificent view, if only Leta hadn’t left.