by Simon Archer
“So granted,” Andi decreed.
“You shall only proceed under the guard of two mandated chaperones, however,” Vila added. “Do you agree to our terms?”
“Yes, masters,” I answered. The title of ‘Master’ had become an inside joke with the three of us because when I first discovered the girls, they referred to me as Master. The term felt so far out-of-character when applied to me that I’d asked them to call me anything but that. When I began calling the two of them Master on occasion, they humorously understood the reason for my original put-off of the term.
“In that case, away with us!” Vila announced, and we headed out the door. The red Mustang was still sitting in the driveway, and I was excited at the opportunity to be behind the wheel again. Once we were in the car and headed off to the club, I made a mental note to give Glen more paid time off so that I could enjoy the pleasure of driving more often. The trip was not a long one, and when we pulled into the club, I flashed back to the first time I’d been there. I hadn’t even owned a vehicle at the time. The girls had brought me by way of magic. My reminiscing reminded me of something else they’d done that had turned out to be an extremely beneficial bit of magic.
“Hey, can you two tame the heat a bit? The last time I was here without you I just about melted, it was so hot,” I asked as the valet drove away with my car. That first day had been a scorcher as well, and the girls had merely snapped their fingers and created an invisible, air-conditioned atmosphere around me.
“Of course,” Andi replied cheerily. She proceeded to cross her arms and nod her head dramatically, just once. I instantly felt cool air surround me. That didn’t stop me from shooting her a disapproving look.
“You can’t do that!” I hissed at her as we started up the stone steps to the club’s entryway.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean!” she responded with mock-indignation. Of course, she did know what I was talking about, but I decided to spell it out for her.
“Your whole ‘I Dream of Genie’ routine is going to get you found out one day!” I whispered harshly. She smirked back at me.
“It’s perfectly harmless fun for magic that is invisible,” she started. “Anyone who sees it will simply be reminded of a ridiculously inaccurate, ancient TV show and get a laugh out of it. Besides, most people weren’t even born yet when the show was airing!”
“Your job is not to entertain the world around us!” I argued, realizing that she really didn’t see any danger in her playing around. I was about to toss more reasoning her way when Vila stepped in the conversation.
“Andi, he’s right. Stop it.” I was surprised at the drop-dead seriousness in her voice. It was so commanding that Andi nearly shrunk back.
Vila caught my shocked look and explained further. “There is a way to see invisible magic. I’ve only known one person who could do it, but it can be done. If anyone else were to acquire the skill, they could see it too.”
Andi looked instantly apologetic and nodded her acknowledgment. It was the first time I’d seen either one of them take an order from the other. It was the first time I’d seen either one give such an order, in fact.
“Who did you know who could see magic?” Andi asked Vila quietly. She was controlling her tone so that Vila would know she was asking her for information, not questioning her, per se.
“Gisele,” was Vila’s response. Her voice was forcibly even, and she offered no further explanation.
Andi and I both knew to whom Vila was referring. Whereas Andi had been a princess before becoming a genie, Vila had been a slave. Her only caring human connection had been with an elderly woman, a slave also, who had raised her like a granddaughter. The woman, Gisele, had also been a witch. She was the one who created the original genie’s lamp just before she died as a way for Vila to escape death by her captor. Gisele’s intention had not been for Vila to be trapped in the lamp, but she was unable to finish her spell before death came to claim her. She had, however, created Vila’s dream world inside it. That was the reason Vila, and later, Andi, both loved their homes inside their magical container.
I stopped just short of the door into the club to make sure the girls had a chance to reset and dispel any darkness that crept into their moods. I looked at Vila as I lightly slid my arm around her waist and hugged her close.
“Are you alright?”
Vila stared straight ahead for a long moment, her eyes blank as she retreated into her memories. Then she blinked, shook her head slightly, and looked up at me with a bright smile.
“Of course!” she replied as though nothing had just happened. She stepped away from me and hugged Andi. Neither of them said anything, and by the time they released each other, both were back to their bouncy, joyful selves. They turned to me, linked arms with each other, and stood, waiting for me to lead them into the club. Their change in demeanor was so quick that it took me a second to catch up.
Finally, I shrugged, grinned at the two of them, and we headed inside.
10
Just to the right of the club’s reception desk, Jack, Tommy, Asher, and Sven were lounging in a waiting area. I was surprised to see them. There had never been a time I had not arrived before they did when we’d scheduled a game together. The receptionist waved us through, and the girls and I approached them.
“Did I get the time for our meeting wrong?” I asked Jack as I shook hands around the group. Jack looked over at Tommy.
“No, we figured we’d play a bit of a joke on you, though. You kept showing us up by arriving before us, so we agreed to meet a half-hour earlier just to get your panties in a twist.” Jack laughed as all of them stood up. “Consider it payback for making me play this ridiculous game!”
“Ah, I see! Too bad you didn’t place a bet on arrival time, you could’ve won yourself a change of game!” I teased. Jack dropped his head in mock-defeat.
“Touche, touche,” he muttered. He lifted his head, smiling, and reached past me to urge Andi and Vila forward.
“Ladies, it’s great to have you join us today,” Jack started. “You remember Sven and Asher, yes?”
“Yes, of course,” Andi said graciously as Sven took her hand from Jack and bowed slightly to greet her. He repeated the gesture with Vila.
“It is an honor to have you here with us,” Sven told the girls. Asher followed suit with his greetings. Then the girls each hugged Jack and Tommy as they said ‘hello.’
“Now that we have confirmed that nobody has amnesia, let’s get this game started!” Jack chuckled at his own joke as he made his way out of the seating area, and the seven of us started down the long hall to the caddy room.
Jack was very particular about who caddied his games. When he saw his preferred assistants, Len and Jess, he strolled up and shook hands with each of them. He was in the habit of tipping them generously before his games, as well as after. It was because of the unusual respect and consideration Jack showed that Len and Jess went above and beyond to make his outings at the club the most comfortable possible. The three of them chatted while the rest of our group met our caddies for the day. I’d once overheard a group of caddies chatting about how they liked getting frisbee-golf assignments because they didn’t have to lug around heavy golf bags. The comment made me smile, knowing that I’d made their jobs easier.
“Ladies,” Tommy said as he turned to Andi and Vila. “Will you be playing today? I only see caddies enough for five of us.”
“Sweet of you to ask, Tommy,” Andi replied. “We prefer to cheer you all on and silently judge your form from the sidelines today.” She tossed a good-humored wink at Tommy, and he tipped his head in acknowledgment while he chuckled. Jack cleared his throat loudly to get all our attention.
“Ready to head out so the ladies can gossip about how ridiculous we all look?” Jack joked.
While so many comments regarding Andi and Vila could be mistaken by an outsider as chauvinistic and rude, all of us knew they were in good fun and that the girls enjoyed the humorous na
ture of them.
“Yes, boys,” Vila piped up. “Be certain to impress us out there, or we may have to take our gossip to the Lady’s Luncheon this afternoon!”
“No pressure, though,” Andi followed up, smiling innocently.
“Wow.” Sven lowered his head dramatically. “If there ever were a situation where the outcome could be predicted as a certainty, then the chances of us getting out of here with our reputations intact in the eyes the ladies of the club is zero!”
Andi and Vila both started nodding their heads just as dramatically as Sven had lowered his.
“Yep!” Andi agreed as she giggled.
“Alright, alright,” Jack interjected. “Let’s get on with our embarrassment then!”
The seven of us headed out to get our game started.
The first half of the game turned into an instructional session. Tommy and I coached the other gentlemen on proper form for throwing discs while Jack, Sven, and Asher begrudgingly made attempt after attempt to land a throw. By the eighth hole, all of us had given up, and at a suggestion from Andi and Vila, we changed the objective of the game. Instead of getting the discs in the baskets, we would stand and throw from the same spot and celebrate the person’s disc who landed the furthest from the intended target.
The rule-change served two purposes: decreased frustration for the golfers in our group, and Tommy and I quickly losing the lead in the score. It also elevated the amount of laughter our group had as a whole as we made our way through the course. It wasn’t until the fourteenth hole that business was brought up. Sven made his throw, and his disc bounced off the basket and fell straight to the ground.
“Hey, that reminds me of the program Asher and I are considering funding,” he said. We all knew he had brought it up in good humor, but his remark opened the door for me to explain the details of the project as it had advanced since their last visit.
“You aren’t far off, Sven,” I replied with a chuckle. “However, we now know which disc is continually bouncing off the basket.” The expression on his, and Asher’s faces told me that they followed my metaphor, which was a relief. Nobody likes a failed joke.
“Which disc is that?” Asher asked. It was time for me to bring the conversation around to a more serious tone, however.
“Last time we spoke about your participation, we knew that there was code being changed inside the program somehow. Regardless of how many times we reprogrammed to our specifications, the code would morph. I’d never seen anything like it,” I started, being certain to stick to terms they would understand. “Just a couple of days ago, we identified the exact line of code that is repeatedly changing. Now that we know what is changing, we have systems to observe and hypothesize about how to keep it from doing so. The experiments have already begun and are being run twenty-four-seven.” Sven and Asher nodded slowly as we walked to the next hole. Jack stepped up for his shot and paused, looking back at the two of them.
“As simple as identification may sound, gentlemen, let me frame it for you for perspective’s sake. Have you ever read Mission Earth by L. Ron Hubbard?” Jack asked. He waited while Sven and Asher looked at each other and shook their heads. When the two of them returned their attention to him, Jack continued. “Imagine over twenty-six hundred pages of single-spaced type. That is what Bennett’s team had to read through and test to find one line of code.” Jack threw his disc and waited for it to land before turning back to his investors.
“I thought games were usually limited to around two-hundred-thousand lines of code?” Asher asked.
Jack nodded to me to jump back in.
“Most are, but our program isn’t a game,” I started to explain. “It manipulates information from custom gameplay and compiles it into an entirely new, one-hundred percent personalized code sequence so that an individual has access to an original game that is designed for them alone.”
“How is that different from what the original program does?” Sven asked me.
“Whereas the original program pulled from existing games to combine them into a personalized gaming experience, this new software will write all-new, completely original gaming code for the user. This allows us to cut royalty payments to the companies whose code we use with the original program, upping our profit margins by millions.” As I stepped up to take my shot, I whispered quickly in Tommy’s ear so that no one else could hear. I threw my disc while Sven and Asher processed the information. When I turned around, Tommy stepped up next to them.
“So, Bennett, please clarify something for me,” he started. He was staring intently at me. My pulse sped up a little, and I mentally crossed my fingers. “You’re basically saying that the artificial intelligence of your program will be able to ‘read’ my preferences, remember my actions, and reactions, while I play existing games... and then it will make me my own game that appeals to those personal preferences?”
Tommy had basically just outlined the future sales pitch in the form of a question so that I could present the benefits of the product in a more sexy manner. I shot him a grateful nod.
“Yes, Tommy. That is what I am telling you,” I answered him, exaggerating my agreement with his list of benefits.
“And all you have to do to move the project forward is continue code-testing an already-identified line of code?” Asher jumped in with his own question. My idea had worked, and Tommy had pulled off his part flawlessly. When I whispered to him, I had told him simply, “Ask an audience question.” My intent was for the two of us to make Sven and Asher feel more comfortable asking questions. I felt they were hesitant occasionally when their question would make it clear they weren’t programming experts.
“Yes, exactly,” I confirmed for Asher.
“Give us a moment,” Asher told me as he and Sven walked a few paces away to discuss the information amongst themselves. The sidebar wasn’t unusual for them, and it gave Jack, Tommy, and I a chance to regroup.
“How quickly do you think you can get that line to behave itself,” Jack asked me in a hushed voice.
“I’ll make it happen sooner rather than later. We’ve over-delivered on every project those two have funded for us, and I don’t intend to stop now,” I replied. I looked at Tommy and made a point to shake his hand while Jack was watching.
“Thank you, Tommy. Your question was perfect,” I told him. Jack looked at the two of us and tilted his head.
“You two planned that?” he asked, sounding more surprised than I expected.
“Of course,” Tommy chimed in. “You don’t think Bennett would leave a sentence uttered out here in the hands of chance, do you?”
“No, you’re right, Tommy,” Jack agreed. “I should’ve known.” Jack smiled and patted me on the back. I couldn’t let him give me all the credit, though.
“The question was all Tommy,” I told Jack. “I simply asked for an audience question because I knew I could trust Tommy to come up with a good one.”
“That he did,” Jack patted him on the back as well. “Way to think on your feet!”
“Thank you, Jack,” Tommy replied quietly. He shot me a smile full of gratitude before the three of us broke apart to receive Sven and Asher, who were returning from their private conversation.
“Count us in,” Asher said as he approached us. Without another word, he took a disc from his caddie and stepped up to take his shot. That is just how he and Sven operated. Once they were satisfied with our ability to deliver as promised, they made a decision, and let us get to work. It was quite possibly the most pleasant investor relationship any corporation could ever have.
The rest of the game was played out in good humor and lots of laughs. Andi and Vila decided to try a shot each. Both landed their discs in the baskets, and the mischievous looks on their faces convinced me they had ‘helped’ themselves out. Upon stunned looks of disbelief, each was quick to point out that, unfortunately, their ‘beginner’s luck’ meant they lost due to the rule changes.
While my colleagues’ astonishment didn’t
dissipate, at least their egos were kept intact. After the last hole was played out, the seven of us returned to the clubhouse. Our caddies were tipped and had departed with our equipment when we walked down the long hall and back to the entrance once again. Sven and Asher confirmed that they would be in town for the next week, and we set the appointment for them to come in and sign the contracts. We all walked out together and went our separate ways as the valets brought us our vehicles. It wasn’t until I was back in the Mustang with the girls that the joy fully set in.
“Woohoo!” I shouted. Andi and Vila jumped in their seats. They started laughing and then started counting backward from five.
“Five, four,” they called out.
“What are you two doing?” I asked, shaking my head at their randomness.
“Three,” they continued. I rolled my eyes and dismissed their weirdness as some game I wasn’t made aware of the rules for. My mind immediately drifted back to the benefits 14Tech would reap from the contract I’d just helped land.
“Two,” they continued, now in the background of my hearing. I was consumed by the overwhelming need to fix the coding issue with the new program. The faster I could get it done, the more time we’d have for practical testing. I decided that I needed to get started right away.
“I’m going to drop you two off and head into the office to work on the code,” I told them both. They started laughing hysterically. “What?” I asked, surprised at their reaction. As far as I knew, I hadn’t said anything particularly funny. Vila, who was sitting up front with me, reached over and put her hand on my arm as if comforting me.
“Darling, that only took you until the count of two to decide,” she laughed.
“To decide what?” I still wasn’t sure what they were so amused by.
“To get straight to work on the coding,” Andi chimed in. “The second Sven and Asher said they were in, Vila and I predicted that it would take you less than five seconds to decide not to wait until tomorrow to go in and get started.”