8 Trials Deep

CHAPTER 13: LIFE IS NOT A SOLO ACT

RF-13 gave the holding cell a sweeping glance. The enclosure was made of all glass walls, Inviola glass. Unlike tempered glass, Inviola glass was mined rather than manufactured. During its initial discovery it was as precious as diamonds due to its rarity. However, when a dead planet was discovered with vast mineable Inviola the glass’ the value dropped while its industrial uses skyrocketed.

The glass had almost unrivaled strength, able to withstand great force. Hence paired with its transparency it was ideal to use for high security prisons and reformatories. All RF-13 could see were identical versions of himself reflected on the mirror walls of the cell. Even the ceiling and the floor was made of Inviola mirrors. It could practically drive one mad. But RF-13 was sure that from the outside of the cell people could see him through the glass, like a caged beast for display in a zoo.

In a mothership the most secure chamber was not the control room or the commander’s bunk, it was the holding cell. These confinement structures made sure that what was inside was kept in. Unfortunately for RF-13 he was now one of these prisoners. And aside from the almost microscopic holes for ventilation there were no other openings.

He was thinking whether he should have started considering weaponizing his MA in these kinds of situations. The organizers had made sure that none of the contenders were carrying intrusive devices when they made them change into the uniform. It was virtually impossible to break out from inside. The only way out was from outside. RF-13 realized that the first stage of the Trials was not a test on ability, it was a measure of influence and connection the contenders were able to raise and build. Whether these acquired allies could stretch their hands long enough to get him out and watch their backs.

This was the Royals impressing on them the necessity of connection and human networking when climbing towards the imperial circle. At that moment RF-13 was beginning to doubt whether he should not have made use of the pampered prince’s offer. However, he brushed the idea of as soon as it popped on his mind.

RF-13 stared at the floating analog clock in his vision, they were given an hour to get themselves out of the confinement or rather to get others to break them out of the holding cell. He was racking his brain frustrated when a ding sounded and the mirror-like surface of the glass had become transparent. His lips curved in a sardonic smile. Of course, in this grand play the royals wanted them to play the game, ‘Who are your allies and who are your enemies? Who will you breakout and who will leave behind?’

He could see hundreds of individual holding cells neatly lined in rows on the vast chamber. Several orderly palm-sized drones flew below the high ceiling and there were several patrolling sentinels on regular intervals.

A pair of guards passed by him and started dragging the contender next to his cell. The captive attempted to retaliate to no avail, one of the guards shot him with a stunner. As he was led away the other contenders stared in confusion and bewilderment. They were at loss for words, barely having adjusted to the situation. They had thought they would be directly transmitted into the cockpit of a warship and the Trials would begin.

RF-13 in contrast knew clearly what was happening. The cells to his right were all empty. The contenders on those cells were dragged one by one to the torture chamber. This was Morret’s favorite ‘bedtime story’. He would retell it to every batch of newly arrived yearlings on their first night at the barracks. Morret narrated the torturing episode of the Novian Tragedy with just the right kind of flourish and so much detail that even RF-13 had shivered.

Any harm on his body while he was on the virtual dimension would not be carry to his physical self when he gets back in the other dimension. However extreme trauma could imprint on his brain and could trick the body in thinking that it was wounded or in pain. RF-14 had seen soldiers in wards screaming madly that some of their limbs were missing despite themselves flailing the said organ. And now he was next.

He looked to the others to find that they were just like him, scouring their cells for a hint of a flaw or a means of escape. However, just as RF-13 had expected there were also individual opened cells. Some had already made their escape. If this was an actual crisis, the crew would obviously try to get everybody out. But this was after all the Trials, in the end everybody was their rival.

It was no surprise to him when a couple of contenders passed their holding them without looking sideways. The prince’s group however stopped in their tracks to throw several crushed miniature automatons just outside his cell before leaving with smug expressions.

When RF-13 leaned down to inspect the discarded automatons curious, he was impressed by its ingenuity. The Prince’s liberator was a cast of crustacean-inspired miniature robots. They most resembled crabs with spined claws, running legs and pincers. Some of the limbs were still moving. It was a pity the pampered prince had to crush them beyond repair. He could remember these swarm of bot crustaceans causing quite a lot in the auction, second only to the Coder. They were probably the real reason why the prince attended the auction.

He had known in advance the setting of the first trial. And he had also bribed an organizer to let him slip the automatons. It looked like RF-06 had quite a good competition. If only he could be one of those viewers seating while speculating how RF-06 would get himself out. However, he was not and he had stay in the competition until the third trial.

RF-13 sighed, there was only one way left. He had avoided using this means since it would cause significant disadvantage to him once he got out of the cell, not to mention it would be excruciatingly painful. But as the maxim goes, ‘desperate times breed desperate measures.’

He pulled up the fabric on his right hand until it almost reached his shoulders, took a deep breath and was about to slam his elbow against the wall when a short ring timely sounded on his earpiece, “What are you doing?”

It was Leta, he had set his MA to automatically connect any communications from Leta. RF-13 paused, his arm midair, “I’m about to hit the wall.”

Leta’s voice was sketicap, “You do know that your arms will break even before you put a tiny crack on that, don’t you?”

“That is the point of the exercise,” said RF-13. “My right arm is a cybernetic protraction. All of the bone structure is made of Fabril metal and some delicate mechanisms which can be remade to tamper the locking mechanism of the cell. I just need to break it first.” RF-13 spoke coolly.

Leta was not sure how to react, the way he stated it made it seem like he was talking about something that was not part of his body. Though Leta knew that RF-13’s hand had been amputated as a result of an accident, she also knew that the cybernetic arm had as much sensation as the left. It would be agonizingly painful to break it apart.

There was a short silence before a section of the glass wall slid off noiselessly. RF-13 stood agape for a moment. Then he finally stepped towards the opening with a somewhat a disbelieving look.

Leta said with a trace of light mockery on her voice, “You know you can depend on me sometimes. You don’t have to go bashing yourself on almost indestructible walls when you can just ask me to open the door.”

“You how did you-“

“I told you that I would go snooping around,” Leta said, visibly delighted by RF-13’s incredulity. “I intercepted a communication from the Prince. You know the one we encountered during the auction? When I saw him on the list of contenders I figured he at least would have intel on how the trials would be. Sure enough as I was waiting, Vintan sent a communication to a staff working under the Royal Affairs Division. The staff does not belong to the upper tier but since he’s a hands-on backstage employee he has direct control on some of the operations. Prince Vintan was making sure that the staff slipped some automatons on his uniform. I attached some of my scout bots on his communication request and when the staff accepted Vintan’s request the AI bots shifted to his MA. The bots successfully infiltrated into the virtual control system when the staff used his MA to open an access door which is also connected to the operations control center. Then I had my bots open the backdoor for me, so here I am. I just needed to take a little detour.”

“Are you sure you did not leave any data trace?” RF-13 asked, worried.

“Positive, I breezed through their network as light as a ghost.”

He nodded in relief.

At the operations control center of the Royal Affairs Division a senior officer frowned as he looked at one of the screens. A cell had opened independently without anyone or anything opening it from the outside. He turned to his assistant and asked, “Whose cell is that on screen 34?”

The younger man consulted a mm-thin tablet for a moment before replying, “RF-13 sir. Though there is no recorded transaction of him with any of our staff or patrons.”

“And yet he was able to open the cell,” the senior officer frowned deeper. “Does he have any known prominent connections?”

“No record sir, aside from that of Marcus Saundur the Third, eldest son of the Pontus Prime Minister. He is known as RF-06 under the Academy. But it appears that RF-06 is still in his holding cell.

Keep him under surveillance, I want to see his every move,” the officer commanded.

“That is where we’re having some complications sir,” the assistant responded, turning somewhat mystified. “RF-13, since he got out of the confinement, seems to be adeptly evading the sentinels as well as the surveillance drones.”

“And you’re saying that his doing this alone?” the officer asked doubt heavy on his tone.

“It seems that he is. We have thoroughly checked all the contender’s MA and had performed a security scanning sweep on our mother AI to make sure that no AI have slipped through our firewall. We found no anomaly”

When the younger man saw the officers increasingly unsatisfied expression he consulted his record and said, “The young man seems to be highly regarded by brigadier general Morret. He had the cadet trained under his tutelage for the past two years and he passed with outstanding marks on all courses.”

“Turn the listening device on his suit,” the officer replied.

The young man nodded towards an operator seated in front of a wide control table. The operator fiddled with the controls for a while before a notification popped onto the projection screen,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Device defective, unable to transmit connection.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The room was silent for a while. It was not impossible that the spying device on the uniform suit of the contenders happened to be damage. Statistically there was a less than 2% possibility out of a hundred that it would happen. However, the device and the suit were made to withstand excessive force and resist tampering. This was the first instance that it occurred.

“Get the hounds on this contender,” the older officer said to the increasingly silent room.

“Turn to the right, a sentinel is coming,” Leta warned and RF-13 promptly turned in the other direction just in time to avoid the sentinel’s vision. The sentinels were robotic dogs thrice as big as an average canine. In all senses, they were far superior in actual hounds, except on the sense of smell. The technology on their hardware had not yet developed to rival a real trackers’ nose.

“I can somehow control non-independent mechanisms such opening doors or getting surveillance feeds but I can’t get too close with automatons that have their own independent programming. If an automaton detects me it would send a report to the mother AI behind the virtual dimension.”

“It’s fine,” RF-13 said as scanned the remaining occupied cells. “Don’t step out beyond caution. If it risks exposure I can find another way.”

Leta was nodding despite knowing RF-13 could not see her. “Cadet RF-06 has already broken off his cell. It looks like he’s looking for you. Should I lead him to you?”

The young man responded with a shake of his head, “No need. He’ll probably find me later.”

“Hey, can you throw that decorative pin away?” Leta said out of the blue.

“Why?” RF-13 asked, perplexed.

“It’s annoying me,” Leta replied, frown deepening.

RF-13 detached the pin adorning his left chest, it was elegantly engraved with a rearing Pegasus, the symbol of the Regiis royal family.

“I didn’t know you had a grudge against the royalty,” RF-13 remarked.

“I don’t specifically like or dislike them,” Leta responded frankly. “That pin has been buzzing for a while. It’s distracting me.”

RF-13 threw the pin on an open cell and closed the door on it. Since the holding cell had transmission jammers for security purposes the device would no longer be able to communicate with others outside the cell.

Back in the control room a list was continuously being updated,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Voluntary Withrawal:

Alexander Brice

George Harrison

Philip Quincy

Charles Davidson

Frederick Hameston

Thomas Chardnian

Edward Indulf

Kenneth Octavious

Xavier Zeid

Missing in Action:

RF-13

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The senior officer’s expression became severe. How could they lose a target in a virtual dimension that they had specifically designed and set-up?

“Have all surveillance drones we can spare tracking RF-13,” he ordered the people on the room.