Max stalked towards the teller windows under the watchful eyes of Tony and his goons. He summoned his nano tracking mote window to check on Xavier and his team. He growled as he fought through the crowds, the kid’s tracker had either been disabled or destroyed.

  Both Leah and Charlie were filling up the comm line. Max mentally answered them as he got to the window. He split his thought stream to order chips from his credit while talking with his team.

  “[I’m telling you something’s wrong! I said that I’d be right back. No way would he leave his sabers behind. He loves those things.]” Leah sent. Max was about to interject when Charlie beat him to it.

  “[I don’t see his tracker on our location sharing. And none of the players we’ve successfully tagged are near you.]” Charlie answered.

  “[Hey guys, I have a lead. I’ve got a bunch of NPC androids who seem to be playing at being thieves. They pretty much admitted to snatching him. They want me to play at the big table with their boss, an android named Kane. As long as I play along, they said he’d be okay.]” Max sent, his thoughts racing ahead.

  “[What?! I don’t understand. What do they want with you? And why snatch Xavier?]” Leah asked. Max didn’t want to share his latest nighttime stalking activities, so he built a quick story.

  “[I…I’m not sure. I caught one of them watching me play dice. I think maybe they thought I was cheating, maybe. I’m not sure. They're watching me now. I’m supposed to see their boss at the high roller table. Hey, when I saw the creep following me, yesterday; I tagged him. Let me share the spot where he went afterward. If this group has a base, maybe Xavier is there.]” Max said, as convincingly as he could.

  “[Fuck, Max. I’m not far. Do you need backup? Shit, are they going to try and pick us off…one by one?]” Charlie sounded concerned.

  “[No, I don't think so. Check that location for Xavier with Leah. I’ll drag this out and stay on the gaming floor. Unless security here is on their payroll, I should be safe enough.]” Max replied.

  “[Stay safe, Max. Holler if anything changes. We’ll go after Xavier while you stall.]” Leah said.

  “[These fucking NPCs are about to learn why they shouldn’t mess with players. If they’ve hurt him…I…fuck.]” Charlie promised, his rage flaring.

  “[Go! Keep me in the loop. I gotta move, my escorts are getting antsy.]” Max said. He turned from the window holding the large racks of chips nervously. He wasn’t sure how much he needed for the big table. But he’d pulled 300K of credits, half of his balance. He needed to buy some time for Xavier.

  His shadows followed him closely, as he made his way to the center of the gaming floor. The casino security boss around the massive central table saw the amount of chips he carried and let him through their cordon with a smirk on his plastic face. He called out.

  “Good luck, kid. Tyche’s in a good mood tonight. Maybe he won’t take your whole stack.” The boss said, waving him on. Max grimly approached the table. The massive Tyche was hard to miss. A smaller swarthy android adorned in jewelry and expensive clothes sat opposite him. Abigail Humphrey from the Europe team sipped champagne across the table, trading stories with ACME’s leader Carl Mueller. Max grimaced as Tyche’s massive frame turned to regard him.

  “Oh, my dears! Max has joined us. Please, have a seat, my boy! I’ve been so eager to hear more tails from you. Hah hah. Tails! I must behave myself. It's unbecoming to tease. You’ve been racking up some good wins, Max! I’ve even bet upon your success. Yes, indeed.” Tyche said in a non-stop stream of bonhomie. Kane smiled crookedly showing his teeth and nodded to Max as he took his seat but said nothing.

  Max nodded back nervously, his mind racing as he tried to stall for time. He placed the massive stack of chips on the table, trying to appear confident despite the gravity of the situation. Tyche's booming voice continued, "Excellent, my boy! Now, let us see what fortunes the cards have in store for you tonight." The android gestured grandly and pressed a button on the table.

  The thick utility fog solidified in a curtain around the table, affording them all some privacy from prying eyes. Tyche’s eyes glowed with avarice at the stacks of chips on the table and licked his lips. He bowed slightly.

  Max started, realizing that the foglet dome had isolated the table from the Casino chatter…and wireless communications. He wouldn't be able to get or give updates from his friends.

  “Carl and Max are new to my table, so I will explain the rules once. Unlike those lesser games out on the casino floor with the unwashed masses, my table won’t disable any of your skills. Oh no my dears, I expect you to utilize them to the fullest; although I doubt that they will help much with such a simple game. No fighting here though, my dears.” Tyche twittered.

  The enormous android started shuffling the deck, an artistic and magical display of dexterity as the cards danced in his hands. He beamed as Kane looked bored. Both Carl and Abigail watched closely, eyes darting between each other and the deck. Max’s system pinged him.

  In Max’s augmented vision, the other players acquired colorized halos of EM and flickering beams of IR rastered over the table from each Kane and Tyche’s emitters along the tops of the brows. The table glowed with the small but intense nuggets of tritium embedded in all the high-value chips. Max boosted his cognition rate, splitting his attention between that table and pulling Mal, Cipher, and Sherlock into active status.

  “[Cipher! I need help. My motes were hijacked.]” Max sent.

  "[I’m on it, Max. I'm running a full diagnostic and containment sweep. Sorry! Somehow, they bypassed our custom mote access security. I'll try to punch through, but you'll be on your own for now.]"

  “[Max, your father mentioned that he had good success running the Chthonic block on his sensors to prevent corruption in Shadowverse. I can load it into our reserve motes and launch them.]” Mal said.

  “[Do it! I need all the help I can. Cipher, I’ve got the Chthonic skill Joining that’s exceeded every security measure we’ve encountered, but it's like a sledgehammer. Focus on subtle intrusions, better to use their extra eyes discretely than smash and grab. If I’m losing ground, I'll pulse some focused EMP out, and I expect they will too.] Max commanded.

  “Ante up, my friends. 10k to sit and play to start.” Tyche crooned. Max and the others all put some chips into the center and watched as the cards spun out toward each player.

  Max hesitated to lift his cards up to look at them. The air and all the motes around him were still a chaotic mess of contested sensors. Tyche, Kane, and Abigail were quickly forming a mote cordon around and behind them. Max and Carl had been caught by surprise. Tyche’s eyes settled on Carl, who also hesitated to lift his cards.

  “Ah…check,” Carl said without looking, his brow scrunched up in frustration. Kane tapped his finger, indicating he checked as well. Abigail confidently peeked at her cards and smiled.

  “I’ll raise. Another 10k.” She spoke. Max’s boosted thinking ran through his options. His ExaVision skills couldn't penetrate the cards, good to prevent the other players from peeking but bad because he would need to lift the cards to check them.

  He sighed, then had an idea. He slid the cards carefully between his palms and concentrated. The tactile feel in his digitized senses couldn't discern any patterns on the cards. He’d hoped the ink would be raised to help him decipher the cards he’d received, but the surface was flat.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  He pulsed his dermal contacts slightly checking to see if the cards were smart. He frowned as he realized they were dumb objects, without any tech. He cocked his head as Sherlock squeaked; the detective had also noticed what Max had. There was a very slight change in electrical resistance across the cards. Max rubbed his palms together, holding the cards and lightly pulsing current from his hands. An image formed as he compiled the data.

  A Jack of Diamonds and an Ace of Diamonds. Nice. He thought. He made sure his Poke Face skill was fully engaged before he looked up.

  “I’ll call.” He said, with a toothy smile. Tyche's beady eyes narrowed even further, and he folded. The betting continued around the table with Carl and Kane folding and Abigail checked. Max and Abigail played aggressively, with Max winning with a slightly stronger hand at the end.

  The cards flowed as Tyche drew the players out while Kane continued to play in stony silence. They talked about their wins and losses. Max shortly noticed that both Kane and Tyche had created a sort of personal wall of sequestered foglets to create a boundary that prevented other players’ motes from getting into their space. Max used his Joining skill to grab enough Foglets to do the same. He smiled as the alien skill easily rebuffed hack attempts.

  Mueller hadn’t found a good strategy to play his hand without revealing it and was quickly eliminated. Max played cautiously, waiting for Kane to talk. Abigail was super aggressive, with both big wins and big losses.

  The tide turned when Max and Cipher had managed a subversion hack of both Abigail and Tyche’s motes. Max managed a few devastating wins against her when she pulled her stack off the table. She walked past Max and spoke.

  “You got me, kid. Enjoy it while it lasts, luv. See you soon. Your immunity will be over after your next team match.” Abigail left the isolation dome and Kane cleared his throat.

  “Ah ha, now that we have separated the cream from the milk. Perhaps it’s time that we raise the stakes. I believe mister Kane has some interesting proposals.” Tyche said as he took some extra time to shuffle and reshuffle the cards.

  “Greetings, Max. We finally meet. My boys told me that you took something belonging ta me.” Kane’s traveled voice scraped at Max’s nerves.

  “I beg to differ, Kane. That money was mine, with some interest on top of the effort your guys made me use to get it back.” Max snarled. Kane’s plastic face was emotionless, but his fists turned white and the servos in his forearms creaked and groaned. Max was flabbergasted when the gangster started laughing loudly, from the belly.

  “Dint I tell ya, Tyche? This one’s got some moxie. Listen up, kid. I’m a fair guy, but ya cost me. I had da liquidate that Nigel fella to make up my quota for the big lady Lachesis. No one stays in the Casino Terminal without paying da rent. Now, my operations are missin’ a vital revenue stream. I could use a new partna’ amongst da players. Ya get me? Some would fight the honor as I share the benefits, which can be quite lucrative for everyone. Capiche?” Kane said evenly, while Tyche sampled his drink.

  Max considered Kanes offer, debating his options. The question of Xavier was still on his mind. He needed to stall.

  “Seriously. Do you call that an offer? Do you think I’ll help you get players drunk so your men can mug them? Be real!” Max exclaimed.

  “Oh my, Master Max has a bit of a temper,” Tyche said in a sotto voice.

  “Oh, Dis is like a joke. No, Max. Nigel did loser jobs cause Nigel was a loser. I expect much more from you. I want ya to win! I've been making good money on ya already. I just wanta make sure you continue to deliver. See, I can provide some…discreet assistance. Ah, I see you're interested. Tyche, tell the boy what ya told me earlier. That should interest him.”

  Tyche smiled widely and said. “I usually play for information, but I’ll humor you, Kane. After all, you've already donated so much of your stack to me tonight that I'm feeling generous. Ok kid. I happen to have many NPCs here in my debt…heavily in my debt. They will offer much to earn my forbearance, including sharing secrets. The Game Warden AI is one of my clients. The next team match isn't quite as random as everyone thinks. It will be a death race. You know what that is?”

  Max hesitated. He had reviewed some old matches with Xavier. The Death Race was a combination of combat and racing, sometimes with extra rules to keep it from being predictable. He nodded, not certain where this was going.

  “This one will have a number of different vehicles, and each must be raced upon a specific route. All are designed to be sequential and the fastest overall time wins. However, hacking the vehicles…or having their keys…would provide a significant advantage to a team.” Tyche said and took a sip of his wine.

  Max’s eyes snapped to Kane. The android pulled several items from his casino pouch. He carefully put them on the table.

  “Keys to the latest Ducati Airfoil Twin Turbo. The starter fob for a GenDyn hovercraft. An embedded mem chip with the SkillZ for flying an Ironcraft Stealthwing. Finally, the piece De resistance…the unlock codes for the RUSA Mecha Kaiju’s BFG system. Big fucking gun baby!” Kane hooted.

  Max was stunned. He stood up and reached for the loot. Kane’s eyes flashed with anger at the sudden movement and yelled. “Stop!”

  Max froze as the table vibrated and the utility fog around them shrieked, like crystals being strummed. Max looked up as did Tyche and Kane. The foglets in the air had begun to solidify and grew into thin blades extending downward. A thin mist rose from the floor. Max sniffed and regretted it.

  Max’s jaws clenched tightly as a wave of pain and paralysis hit. He couldn't even move his eyes but rather used his motes to see that both Kane and Tyche seemed to be similarly affected.

  Max tried to stay calm as his ramped cognition could feel the drug numbing his body, from the feet to the legs and quickly climbing. The system had an answer for it and arrested the drug and slowly beat it back. Max was finally free but saw his opponents were still locked up.

  “[Lachesis! She must be watching. Her security force drug is still too effective on me. I’m going to do something that I hope I don’t regret. Mal and Tesla, isolate and capture as much of it as you can.]” Max sent it internally.

  “[Max, what-]” Mal started, but froze as Max pulled a deep breath without moving. The biomorphic drug slammed into his nervous system. It cycled and this time fire raced through his spine instead of numbness. His world lit up with pain. Max’s thoughts burned as he tried to ride it out.

  Max shook his head as he recovered. He smelled a groan from Kane and heard Tyche rolling his eyes as the fat android recovered. Colors blossomed and morphed. His eyes felt hungry. The fire in his head subsided and Max’s senses normalized. He fell back into his chair catching his breath, as the crystal nano blades vibrated above.

  “Don’t move! Damn it. I know the rules. I wasn't gonna let him just take it!” Kane screamed upward. “Lachesis may pretend to be absent but she’s always watching. I can’t give you anything, Max. You need to WIN it. We need to play for them. Ante up, kid!”

  Max nodded, his mind racing as he considered Kane's words. He had built upon his chip stack with his winnings from just about everyone except Tyche. He eyed the table and his opponents as he pushed his ante chips in.

  “Alright then. Dear me. I've never had the big L so cross, even if it wasn't directed at me. Each of those items is at least 50k. Kane can certainly offer them in lieu of coin. Play sharp, Max. Kane knows better than to lay down and just let you win. Lachesis would know. As for me, I’m incapable of not playing my best. It's not in my nature to give...anything.” Tyche was still sweating from earlier, his eyes occasionally glancing up at the nanocrystal blades that still hung threateningly over the table.

  Max found his thoughts sharp and fast now, even without his augs helping. He slowly ground out the poker hands, winning a steady stream from Kane, but occasionally losing to Tyche. The damn android was either supremely lucky or he was managing to cheat without Max seeing it.

  All of the prizes except for the keys to the Ducati Turbo were in Max’s hands. Kane tapped out and left, promising that if Max stayed on good terms with him, he…and his friends would get along just fine. Relieved as the gangster left, he stared into Tyche’s small eyes.

  The NPC high roller had a tight smile as their latest hand escalated in value. The keys were in the pot. Max’s motes and his subversion of Tyche’s showed the NPC hadn't made his diamond flush, but Max hesitated. He had been counting the cards and his memory was perfect. The jack of clubs he could see in Tyche’s hand was impossible, it had been one of Max’s discarded cards at the opening of the hand.

  “[Cipher, are you certain our tap on Tyche’s motes is still undetected? Is it possible that he’s feeding us fake images? This doesn't make any sense.]” Max sent.

  “[Umm, I’m pretty sure he didn't tweak to it. Nothing is guaranteed in this game. That would be quite the feat to alter his cards and maintain realism. Motes don't have a lot of processor space. He’d need to feed it…]” Cipher trailed off as Max highlighted the thick band of EM traffic between Tyche and his motes. Too thick for passive sensory feed.

  Max cursed with doubt. He thought he had a winning hand, but if the droid had the flush, he was toast. Max grinned and realized his most valuable tool could help. He visualized the Tesseract’s space and shifted himself and its anchor slightly as he played with the focus of the space.

  It warped under his manipulations and a micro aperture opened just over and behind Tyche’s shoulder. The camera obscura effect enabled the Tesseract's internal sensors to assemble a real image to compare to the image Tyche’s motes were displaying.

  “[Fucking Brilliant. He has the flush after all. This one is way too smart. Now that I know his trick I can sort him out.]” Max sent it internally by habit. He flexed his neck, not having to pretend to be tired.

  “Sorry, Tyche. You’re playing too much…like a poor little bird on the ground with a broken wing. I fold. Maybe you should invest in an acting skill or daemon?” Max said tiredly.

  Tyche’s brow knitted in frustration but quickly smoothed out. He dealt the next hand. Max took his time and waited until they both had powerful hands and escalated the bet mercilessly. Soon Tyche’s captive keys and several other of Kane’s treasures were in the middle of the table.

  “Call,” Max said with a smile. Tyche winced as his loss was made clear. He was certain he had the superior hand. His eyes narrowed but his smile was real.

  “A good game, Max. Please do come on back, even if you are short on credits. As we’ve demonstrated, we sometimes parlay more than chips at the high table. I’ve many secrets that could aid your future fights…and maybe even the next level. I’d be delighted to learn more about this device I’ve seen you use. Run along now. I’ve got more games to play.”

  The fog dome surrounding the high table dissolved and the ringing bells, jingling coins, and hubbub of the casino rolled into the space. Max nodded to Tyche and hurried away, pinging his friends. He hoped Kane’s word was good and Xavier was okay.