VII
Treasure Hunt
"So now you’re a condemned prisoner
that was sent here for hard work!” Captain Roger chuckled. “Tell me, mate, was
Director so mad at you?”
Misty thought for a moment, trying
to remembered Director’s facial expressions.
“No, I don’t think so. He’s just
trying to avoid me.”
“I wonder what happened,” Dorkins
was curious as always. “Was he cross with you because of ByePacker? You spent a
lot of time with him playing games and making videos.”
“To be honest, it isn’t anything to
be cross about,” remarked Misty. “I visited him in my spare time and I haven’t
neglected my duties. It isn’t my fault that I don’t have many duties, Director
hasn’t assigned me any. He just asked me politely if I can help you with that , nothing more.”
“But you said that you had a
quarrel, didn’t you?” Captain Roger was suspicious and not without a reason.
“Some kind of,” sighed Misty,
unfolding the map. “He told me that he didn’t like me, since his father praised
me a lot.”
“And what did you say?”
For some reason, Dorkins seemed
concerned as if there was a kind of trap in this conversation, so trivial in
Misty’s memory.
“Well, I told him that I don’t
mind.”
Dorkins winced involuntarily, losing
a balance for a second.
“Sink me, that’s the worst thing to
say, ain’t it, Dorkins?” Captain Roger was also surprised.
Misty had no idea why his friends
were so concerned. He had an honest conversation with Director and nothing
spectacular happened. Director felt uneasy about drinking in his presence, so
he avoided Misty. And that suited him well.
“Humans take it hard to be ignored,”
stated Dorkins with patience. “They prefer emotions to a logical reasoning. If
you told Director that you don’t like him, you’d be even and everything would
be back to normal.”
“I cannot lie, you know that,” Misty
squinted his eyes.
“But you cannot harm a human
either,” replied Dorkins. “And you hurt him with your words so that’s why he is
avoiding you. You should have told him that you don’t like him, it would be
possible to say in this case.”
Misty was silent for a moment. Were
his friends right? But why Director expected him to lie, to form this
ridiculous bond of mutual dislike?
“He spent some time with you as a
child,” explained Dorkins, considerate as always. “You taught him how to read,
you carried him around the circus on your shoulders and helped him with his
homework.”
“Yes, I did, and I liked him at that
time,” answered Misty. “But then he left the circus and studied for a few
years, which changed him completely. He doesn’t like me now, he tried to
dismiss me, don’t you remember?”
“And why aren’t you angry at him?”
Dorkins watched him closely. “Because you were expecting that? Have you told
Director that you were prepared for that? That you expected him to do fire
you?”
“I don’t know, maybe?” Misty wasn’t
sure of that.
“Well, I don’t know how to fix
that,” sighed Dorkins. “You know that people can like and dislike somebody at
the same time. And it would be better for your both if you don’t take his
dislike so literally, Misty.”
“Anyway, let’s get down to
business,” Misty bent over a map.
He didn’t want to think about
Director and his continuous changes of mind. Of course, he was just a young
man, burdened with responsibilities, but shouldn’t he treat his robots with
more respect? They were all working in this circus, they were in the same team.
It’s not Misty’s fault that there was some bad blood between them. He was just
a robot, he was designed to be a household robot, everything else he acquired
was learned from scratch. And Director never seemed to appreciate it, he
praised him but without being sincere. So Misty didn’t care either. They were
both even, there wasn’t anything to fix.
“All right then,” Captain Roger
sighed. “I’ll ask Shiny to turn off my pirate mode so we can talk more freely.”
It took Shiny five minutes to turn
off the pirate mode. She did it remotely and without further questions.
“So she can switch now between
different modes?” asked Misty.
He was curious of Shiny’s
possibilities. Was it her technical abilities or acquired knowledge?
“Yes, she is very apt in these
things,” answered Captain Roger.
His real voice sounded different. It
wasn’t hoarse, but rough, a bit uneven as in the prototypes of early speech
modules. And although it was hard for Misty to admit, his friend sounded old.
The pirate module had made him more enthusiastic and optimistic. Now he was
tired and weary.
“So we are supposed to prepare a
team game for teenagers, a scavenger hunt with tasks and prizes,” stated
Captain Roger with a hollow voice. “The game should take place in the circus.
Three groups of four members. The problem is how to plan it well. I don’t want
them to interrupt our work, setting up a crowd in random places. Director wants
it to be entertaining and for some reason, he wants the players to come back to
our circus. He said something about creating memories and establishing
connection with the younger generation,” Captain checked his notes for
accuracy. “I came up with the idea of looking for pirate treasure with a map,
it works well with kids, but Director wasn’t convinced. Teenagers are more
demanding. So please, help me, comrades.” Captain Roger sighed deeply. It
sounded a bit hissy, like a sigh from rusty pipes.
Stolen novel; please report.
“?”
Dorkins seemed to be surprised. “You don’t need to call us in this way. Don’t
you hate your pirate mode?”
“Sometimes, I really hate it,”
replied Captain Roger with a grin. “But it’s a good thing, it changed my life
for better. I just need to turn it off from time to time to gather my thoughts
quickly.”
Misty recalled that Captain Roger
had a dark past. Designed as a robot to work in mines on Mars, he had to deal
with explosives and nuclear devices. Then, three months after the famous Button
AG-3 disaster, he was turned off and spent a decade in a standby mode. If Misty
remembered it correctly, it was Director who insisted to equip Captain Roger
with a pirate mode. The reason was simple; his grippers reminded him of Captain
Hook. Misty always found it as a downgrade, another proof of Director’s
commercial way of thinking. So he was surprised now to hear that Captain Roger
found it beneficial. In any way.
“I guess the teenagers won’t be
thrilled to see how I excavate the treasure with my drills,” Captain Roger
considered it for a moment. “Kids love it, but well... it should be something
else, I guess.”
“So there will be a treasure at the
end, right?” Dorkins was in his focused mindset. “And the prize are extra
tickets for right?”
“Yes, but Director wants everyone to
win. It’s a new attraction and he wants to promote it in all ways possible. He
said that the participants can go back to the circus another day to try again.
I don’t know how to encourage them, they are probably busy playing or something like that, am
I right, Misty?”
“This game isn’t so popular,”
answered Misty. “Shooters are more trendy. The
Ghoul Labyrinth is number one now. But don’t forget that these groups also
consist of teenagers who don’t like these games".
Misty wondered if Kate, dr
Kazatsky’s granddaughter, played The
Ghoul Labyrinth. Maybe it would be a good idea to ask her for help? She
knew trends well. But they were up against the clock, there was no time for a
longer brainstorm. To be honest, they should expect Director any minute.
“So I prepared a map and divided it
into three parts,” Captain Roger unfolded carefully a few prints.
It was rather a sketch on an
isometric grid than a map. Some landmarks were exaggerated. Misty recognised
the comic style of their main graphic designer. Morgan Fata was a freelancer
who designed their leaflets and tickets. Misty suspected that Captain Roger
took the pirate map of the circus, erased some points and let the Ground
generate random trees to fill the blank places. But the final effect looked
fine, as ByePacker would say.
“So the group is supposed to collect
three parts of the map to find the treasure, right?” Dorkins approached the map
carefully, zooming with his cameras.
“Yes, but I don’t want them to do it
at the same time, it would be a disaster. And if one group will find the
treasure or the map, the other group may see it and end the game too quickly.”
Captain Roger seemed to be genuinely concerned about this possibility.
“How are you so sure of that?” asked
Dorkins. “Wouldn’t they be too busy with their own tasks? I don’t expect them
to watch other groups.”
“Not everyone in the group like to
fulfil the mission,” stated Captain Roger. “There are always some that wait for
the end and other that watch everything around.”
Misty guessed that his friend knew
it from experience. Captain Roger was the first lieutenant before the accident.
Then he was promoted due to his excellent performance at evacuation. A poor
prize for a traumatized robot whose parts need to be replaced due to the
radiation. Captain Roger didn’t like to mention his past, but something was
still present in his way of thinking and talking. He knew when he should treat
people as individuals and when as a crowd. Very useful skill for a ticket
seller and a kid animator.
“Maybe we should make it more
virtual,” suggested Misty after a moment of silence. “If you don’t want to dig
up the treasure, then just skip this part. The students can collect the parts
of the map in the tents or wagons. Or even the treasure. It doesn’t have to be
a chest as usual. It can be an envelope. And only one group will be allowed
into the tent, so they won’t interfere with one another.”
“Sounds good! We can also ask Skinny
for help,” suggested Captain Roger. “She can make tubes stylized as telescopes,
we can put maps or tickets inside.”
“She’d be delighted to have another
thing to do,” buzzed Dorkins in his malicious manner.
“All right, have you figured it
out?”
A brisk voice sounded in the wagon,
making them all jolt from surprise. Director. He seemed to be in hurry, with
his hair ruffled and cheeks badly shaven.
“We prepared the map,” Captain Roger
looked pleadingly at Misty, begging him for help.
It took them five minutes to
summarize their ideas and judging from Director’s expression, it wasn’t nearly
a half of what he expected.
“And what about this traffic
problem?” asked Director impatiently. “Do you know how to separate these groups
so they won’t appear at the same place at the same time?”
“Of course,” replied Misty and
suddenly it wasn’t a lie. Any idea is better than none, isn’t it true? “We can
prepare three missions to choose from. When a group completes the mission, it
will be rewarded with a piece of map. These missions will take place in
different parts of the circus. I doubt that all groups will choose the same
mission. We can make them draw the first one to avoid confusion. Anyway, if we
organize these missions as side quests like in the video games, the teenagers
should understand the concept quickly.”
“And if they don’t complete all of
them, we can guarantee them a free admission to the circus to try again,” added
Captain Roger, thanking Misty with a quiet smile.
“Good idea, I want them to visit the
circus at least twice,” Director was still analyzing the map. “We need to
improve this map, I don’t want it to be generated. Send it to Morgana, as soon
as possible. What kind of tasks did you prepare?”
“We haven’t listed all of them yet,”
said Dorkins.
That was a big lie, Misty wouldn’t
be able to say it aloud. Maybe the drone was constructed in another way?
“We think that practical tasks would
suit teenagers the best,” added Dorkins without hesitation. “For example, they
should list three coffees served in VIP
Jazz Lounge or count the mechanical birds in the aviary.”
“They can find the answers in the
Ground,” Director thought for a while.
“But they still need stamps from the
staff to complete the tasks,” Dorkins was ruthless.
“All right, prepare the sketches and
ask Morgana to draw it all. Tell the staff what to do and prepare the props. We
need it for tomorrow morning. Any questions?” Director looked around with hope
that nobody has further questions.
Then he left the wagon and all
robots relaxed in relief.
“That was a close one,” said Captain
Roger. “I’m afraid we need to focus more on work than chit-chatting.”
“And what’s fun with that?” asked
Dorkins. “We came to some solutions only because we had some pressure. We’re in
the circus, shouldn’t we have a good time?”
“Aye, aye” laughed Captain Roger,
again in his pirate mode. “So let’s bury the treasure, lads! Tomorrow we sail
and I want all hands on the board!”
