Interlude

Maria

In her sanctum, she studied the chessboard. Her queen had again taken a Cybrid pawn, another victory that put her that much closer to life. The ghosts of the fallen were arrayed behind the Cybrids, never having had a chance to fight. The Cybrids she had destroyed... ah, but the array of toppled white pieces behind her was a lovely sight. She smiled faintly, flicked the pawn into the pile of white, and considered the day's salvage.

A Bolo, captured by Altas, ironically. What thoughts went through his Cybrid head as he sliced apart a twin of his own vehicle with his ELFs? What did he think when the Zeta reactors the things usually carried were hauled into the construction level, to be incorporated into Fantasma's power grid?

No matter. The computer in front of her spit out a move and she moved the white rook into the indicated position.

She raised an eyebrow. The queen had two possible moves: one that would bring her into range of a knight in two turns if the gambit she had planned was not successful, one that would allow her to capture several pieces in succession but lead her into a fatal trap.

She captured the nearest knight.

Perhaps the Knights when they dropped would be as incompetent as the AMG forces they had destroyed, she thought. Rockhammer's sneering face filled her memory. He did not sneer long, she thought, with a touch of anger. She touched the queen's crown, considered. The computer's next move was a vicious trap. It would put her queen in a bind between two rooks within a turn if she didn't extricate herself. She shoved the queen forward, into a pawn. She tossed the pawn in the scrap heap.

The computer blinked a new move and she smirked. So, the thing didn't think she would commit suicide and gave her an opening, as it opted for a conservative move.

She captured the rook on a diagonal. The other rook in the next file sat there forlornly, its trap impotent.

Who says you can't psych out a computer?

Del certainly did it enough. Empty heavy autocannon were not much threat, but charging and firing empty weapons often made the Cybrids blink... just long enough for Maria to EMP their heads off. She remembered an Executioner they had toppled the previous day. It had provided salvage. Sport, as well: the pilotform had survived, for awhile. Del chased it around for awhile before EMPing it to death.

One of the white rooks was carved from the Cybrid's eyepiece.

As if sensing her thoughts, the computer moved said rook into a position that might actually accomplish something, a few turns later.

Damned thing threw her entire game plan in the trash chute.

Very well, she thought, and created a new one from scratch.

Laughter.

Her head snapped up and her eyes fastened on the door.

Nothing.

Her eyes narrowed. "Identify," she snapped.

Nothing.

She closed her eyes, waited for several minutes.

Nothing.

She returned her attention to the board. The rook had moved.

No? She cycled the computer back a move or two. The rook was in the right position. She knew the rook had been in QK2. Why was it in KK2?

Her hands trembled as she moved the queen again, in a more conservative move this time.

So it begins, she thought thinks is thinking will think will have thought.

The next time the queen moved, nothing touched it. And no one was there to see it...

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