I 01001100 01101111 01110110 01100101 You #10

Thursday

Jefferson held the door open for T1N and Albro to pass through. They were in the back of the Lectronics Shoppe, Gwen waiting for them next to her uncle. This was Uncle Sam’s domain; shelves full of broken, obsolete electronics, a counter top covered with assorted repair projects, a second counter top with three computers running antivirus programs or disassembled, and of course the tried and true coffee maker still half full with the morning’s pull.

Sam eyed the three who stood uneasily under his gaze. He especially looked over Albro, who had taken off his motorcycle helmet, but still wore his gloves.

“Thank you for letting us use your space, it’ll help a lot.”

“Make sure you inventory everything,” he said to Gwen and then to Jefferson and Albro, “Don’t steal anything.”

It was a warning, threat, and bit of friendly advice rolled into one that both men intended to follow implicitly.

“Well, I’m off. Expect me when you see me.” He picked up a manila folder from this desk, checked to see it was the right one, and started towards the front. Gwen followed and stopped him before he got far.

“It’s not even nine?”

“Indeed it is not.”

“You never leave.”

“Well I have business in town today.” Gwen gave him a puzzled look. “I’ll see you at closing. Ken, you’re in charge.”

“Quick! Quick! Locks the doors,” said the bald headed man who had been watching the baseball game on several sets of TVs.

“Now I know something’s up, you never leave Ken in charge.”

“These are strange days, niece.”

Gwen came returned to the back to find Jefferson, Albro, and T1N in the same place she’d left them.

“Oh, boy.” She opened the door to her left and motioned for them to go in. This half of the back was a large bay that stored extra product, rolls of cable, and the packages waiting for pickup. See the packages Albro turned to Jefferson and asked, “How did you get the day off with such short notice?”

“Get the day off? You make it sound like I need permission.”

Albro and Gwen looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

“Anyway, I’m still waiting for the official story. Unlike some people…” he glanced at Gwen, “I’ve been out of the loop.”

“Let’s start bringing and I’ll explain while we get setup.” Gwen raised the man door to the outside and they started to move in the boxes of supplies out of the U-Haul truck.

“The quick version is, while I was in college my roommate and I started a robot league.”

“Automaton,” Jefferson interjected.

“No, robot. They had to be preprogrammed or remotely controlled. It started with just us and grew to the point that we were having meets with other schools. We had strict rules and it was focused on problem solving not fighting. Where I was drawn to the skill side of the game my roommate, Cal, was drawn to a darker path. Unbeknownst to be me had started his own underground robot fight club. When I did find out things came to a head and we decided to settle it with a duel.” Albro gave Gwen a furtive look, which she caught but pretended not to notice. “But before I arrived, campus security closed everything down and shortly after Cal was expelled. In addition to his unsanctioned use of school property for his fight club, he was also gambling on the results. The University came down pretty hard on him. I blamed me, thinking I was the one that hat ratted him out.”

“Did you?”

“I’d known about the fight club longer than I had let on and we were weeks away from graduating when this all happened. I expected to have our duel and then go our separate ways. Instead he’s hated me for years.”

“Which is why you’ve been hiding! It all makes sense now.”

“Uh… yeah.”

“So how does this duel work,” Gwen asked carrying out the last box from the truck.

“It seems Cal hasn’t forgotten a thing, it’s the same rules we’d agreed to way back then. It’s a mix of skill and fighting. Each player is able to field a team of up to six robots or a team weighing no more than a half ton.”

“That’s interesting.”

“We had that rule because Cal use to build his team out of big, bruisers that could just run you over. A half ton was a good limit that still let him field two of his big robots but kept him from overpowering everyone. It also adds an extra layer of strategy.” Albro started to arrange a miniature playing field in the middle of the floor. “Each team has a goal to protect. Scoring a goal is 5 points, this was how I liked to win. Disabling one of your opponent’s players is worth 3 points, although Cal argued it should be worth more as this was his preferred style. You play to fifteen points or thirty minutes, whichever comes first.”

“So it’s like football?”

“It’s sort of a mix of football and soccer, because you have goalies guarding your goals. But, yes, it is a lot like football.” Albro stood up. “Would you guys like to meet the best goalie in the league?”

They followed Albro into the back of the U-Haul to a tarped mound. With a flourish Albro threw sheet back to reveal Ito, still deactivated.

“Ito?”

“He was the first fully autonomous robot to be fielded. I won every match I played him.” Albro was quiet for a long time and then went down on his knee and switched Ito back on. The two were impossibly still and seemed to be communicating without words.

“I need your help old friend.”

Ito laid a manipulator on Albro’s shoulder.

“Till all are one,” Jefferson whispered reverently. Gwen gave him a side long glance.

I think when I'm done I'm going to make a Geek Reference Check List to see how many I made and from where. Just two days left - Friday and Saturday. I hope you've enjoyed it so far and have shared with your friends and family my quirky little story. Leave your comments and be back next week!