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 As
you probably know, AIT-Brooks remains a leading source of new gladmech
tech, and our labs have done much to help sculpt the development of
the stuff that makes the Circuit so successful. This story comes from
one of our well-placed friends on the arena road, who brings us some
wild, troubling news in his own entertaining prose. It's a scandal in
the making, so remember you heard it here first…
Something's hinky with Trident, the AI in charge of systems at the Cathedrium.
This first sign of trouble went unnoticed by Cathedrium shop techs (and
who can blame them, it was THz) but in hindsight it becomes apparent
that there're odd doings in this little part of the datasphere.
THz linked for his regular backup before the pre-tournament Fourth of
July exhibition. The backup went off exactly as planned, and then, says
Cathedrium shop tech Osvaldo Jaconi, "THz just kind of sat there
for a minute. I tabbed his occipital restart a couple of times, and
nothing happened. Then, right when I started running the diagnostic,
he snapped out of it and said, 'Whiteness of the whale.'
"'What?' I said. But he just got up and winked at me. 'Took me
a second to get going there. No problem,' he said, and headed for the
arena. I didn't think much of it. He's like that sometimes. All of those
Tazinfo data-miners hiccup like that."
Well, THz went out and whipped the scales off poor Piranha, and after
that Pinkerton and Brick slugged it out. The next two matches involved
Harpoon and Sticky Fingers, followed by Burbage and Hippolyta. No surprises.
Until the next day, when the Cathedrium held a battle-royale seeding
match. Eight mechs fought until one was left standing. Battles royale
are glorious examples of pure sensors-frying, pieces-flying destruction;
the Sportsphere can't get enough of them.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the mayhem.
The eight mechs entered through eight different doors, at all different
levels of the Cathedrium. The audience cheered. Signs were waved, slogans
chanted, mechs vilified and lionized. In those first seconds, each mech
made its initial move. Pinkerton dropped from the third level all the
way down, missing Lungfish by centimeters. Lungfish flipped away. Burbage
launched into one of his old standards, "Cry havoc!" et cetera
and so on. Sticky Fingers and Bigfoot leapt toward each other, landing
on the third-level island. Gary bounced from the first level all the
way up to the fourth, dodging Paul Bunyan's axe on the way up.
THz stood quietly in the shadow of the second-level entrance.
And all eight froze.
"Whiteness of the whale," they said in unison, and then fell
silent. Bigfoot teetered on the edge of the island, then fell to the
arena floor with a crash that silenced the crowd.
Nobody is sure what happened. Clearly THz spun out some of his mimic
'warez, but nothing in his arsenal should have been able to simply shut
the other seven down-where's the fun in that?-and even if he could have,
he wouldn't have done the same thing to himself.
Every one of the eight mechs in the Cathedrium was wiped clean. Their
autonomic systems still worked; there was no physical damage evident
in any of them except for Bigfoot. But something happened when THz sent
out his feelers, and it all traces back to Trident because it was after
his backup with Trident that THz came out and said, "Whiteness
of the whale."
Trident has been removed from service and sent for therapeutic evaluation
at BWU-NY (where, as the DI noted above, the staff is still reeling
from the death of their guiding hand, Jeannine Salla). Until the
cause of this problem is determined, the Cathedrium will rely on neighboring
Water Villa for backup and facilities services. Trident says it doesn't
know anything about what happened except that during THz's first backup
on the Fourth of July that phrase-"Whiteness of the whale"-was
inscribed all over its subconscious. We suggested it start calling itself
Ahab if it intends to talk like that, but beneath the humor, there is
real concern on the part of G3. The last thing they need is some kind
of virus propagating through Circuit facilities.
For the record, we here at the Sportsphere don't think that's
what it is. A system as complex as a facility AI is bound to hiccup
once in a while, and it was just the Circuit's bad luck that the hiccup
was propagated by and through THz (who maybe should have his mimic 'warez
re-evaluated).
Let it be, we say. Trident will straighten itself out. But it's still
a little squirrelly.
More as we know it.
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