Fixer 13

by G. Michael Smith

  Chapter 25: The Competitions

  A study of the history of the Gyver competition would lead one to an ancient video entertainment system called Television. In the early 2030s, it was replaced with a newer holographic technology. During the Television era, an entertainment series called ‘MacGyver’ was created. It followed a spy who constantly found himself in dire situations. He was always able to extricate himself from these situations by using the materials and objects at hand in new and unusual ways. Most were totally unrealistic, but thoroughly entertaining to audiences of the time. The spy’s skill at creating new and interesting tools and weapons to help him complete his missions was embraced a hundred years later and incorporated into the Biome fixer course curriculum. The competition became known as the Gyvers.

  Jayne finished her Biome 3 courses and was deemed to have passed even the dreaded Combat portion. It was recommended to her that she try out for the Gyver trophy. It was a coveted prize that often led to the most interesting jobs in the biomes. Jayne wanted that trophy badly, figuring that if she won she would be able to immerse herself into the profession as a real fixer. Then she could forget all about the Sentinels, Forevers and Watchers. She could put her luck to good use.

  She could not use the suit functions to help her in the competition because she could not even wear it. The competition started with the scanning of all competitors for concealed objects and pharmaceuticals, both on their person and in their system. The point of the competition was to use what was at hand and not to have any access to planted materials. In the past, competitors tried to conceal supplementary items on site. Their foiled attempts resulted in ever more stringent security. Even the location of the competition was a closely guarded secret. A specialized PUT pad was used to transport competitors to the site.

  The site itself could look like anything. It consisted of a specialized array of FUT (Freight Unit Transport) pads. These were much larger than the pedestrian transports and they could be linked together to create a new artificial environment by transporting and interlacing matter. An example might be a meadow filled with plants and animals, with a babbling brook meandering through it. The materials initially transported by a single pad would be matched at the intersection points with materials from all adjacent pads to create the entire meadow. If an object such as an animal moved from one pad to another, the computer control system would allocate it to the pad that corresponded to the new location. This way, all objects were tracked and could be removed instantly from the environment. If an object was at an intersection line, the pad that held the majority of the object would then own that object. As a result, some objects could be shifted from their positions if removed and then returned to the environment. So if a tree grew roots that crossed over from one FUT pad to another, its entirety would be shifted upon removal so it existed only on one pad and not part on one pad and part on another. All of this was controlled by a specialized Baby Q.

  The competition was not for the weak or for the mild. The situation was dangerous. It could result in death, if not for the safety protocol. If a competitor used it, his competition was over. He could no longer win any of the Gyver prizes. There was no stigma to using this ‘exit door’, as it was called. Over 80% of the competitors ended up using it and most of them had one or more non life-threatening injuries before they decided to get out. Some were removed automatically when their life signs began to fade. The other 20% found a way to complete the task. They were allocated points based on the elegance of their method. Gyverisms were thought of as an art form and the best were recorded and could be viewed by anyone so inclined. Potential competitors often used these recordings as learning tools.

  Jayne was good at the Gyvers. She followed a basic KISS rule. It was something her teachers drilled into her. It stood for ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid.’ Jayne never understood the stupid part because the best and most elegant solutions were always simple and could never be achieved by someone who was stupid. Maybe the ‘stupid’ part was for the people that added unnecessary complications. At least, that is what she chose to believe.

  She’d applied long before talking to Professor Greenway and she was not about to remove her name just because he was worried about her safety. She could look after herself. After all, she was 13 years old. She was an adult. She was smart. She was lucky. And she was, she felt, most importantly, a girl. A normal girl. In her experience, she’d observed that girls were better at just about everything. There were exceptions, like TwoB. But there were far more boys that were like TwoB than there were girls. Ergo, girls were better and more talented and she was a girl. She knew that most boys took the opposite view. She knew she was biased. She also thought she was right.

  Jayne was sitting in her quarters reflecting on all of Professor Greenway’s news. She was trying to come to terms with what he told her. A lot of it made no sense, especially the psycho babble. She was not psycho anything. So what if her scans were a little off. Jayne felt an urge to talk to someone. Lucky’s AI functions had not been reinstated. She spoke out loud. “Reinstate full AI functions.”

  “Good afternoon, Thirteen,” said Lucky. “How are you today?”

  “I’m good, sort of,” responded Jayne.

  “I see I have been offline for a few days. May I ask the reason I was left offline for so long?” Lucky asked.

  “I am sorry. I took you offline because I needed to be alone to think and I went back to school and forgot to reinstate your AI,” Jayne apologized.

  “That is alright. I see you applied to the Gyver competition. I do hope you will get in,” he chimed. “I see some of your friends also applied. Most of your GravBall team anyway.”

  At that moment her VID beeped and Jayne looked at the complex 3D icon rotating on the screen. It was probably organized by Sara. She loved the complexity and artistry of Iconese. The icon was a cube formed from six square pyramids. The cube disassembled into a ‘T’ shape of pyramids. Each of the pyramids was from one of her GravBall team members. The overall pattern of the six pyramids consisted of a pictogram sequence that basically said that they loved her and wanted her help with their Gyver preparation ‘cause she was so good at it. The individual pyramids opened to individual members’ requests for various specific needs. Jayne opened the pyramid from Spike by touching the apex. It unfolded and a plain text message simply said, “I hate Iconese. I don’t need your help. Sara made me send something to fill out her cube-to-pyramid icon pretty picture pattern. If you need any help from me just let me know. I am planning to win this anyway, so don’t trust I will give you anything helpful. Ha!”

  Jayne laughed out loud. She touched each pyramid apex in turn and answered with a definite yes. Spike’s return message was an audio recording of Jayne making a loud and long raspberry sound, “Phuuuuuuuutttttttt.” No one was formally approved as a participant but it was expected they all would be and so they were all preparing. Jayne didn’t think there was anything to prepare. She loved the ancient adage, “Life is like a box of chocolates.” When she first heard it she had no idea what a chocolate was. Even now she only had a vague impression. She understood it to be a box of various kinds of sweets with their nature concealed in a coating of chocolate. She never tasted chocolate but she understood the comparison. The Gyver puzzles would be a surprise. That was the part she loved—the surprise. She would still meet with her friends the following day and help where she could.

  Practicing for the Gyvers was primarily a mind game. You received a task to complete. There was always a measure of danger. There were always a few seemingly unrelated objects near at hand. There was always a time factor that related to the danger. The task must be completed before the danger became life threatening.

  Later that day the six of them met in the gym: Sara, Josie, Olive, Izzy and Pinky, plus Jayne..Spike was absent. Sara said she thought he felt outnumbered and so he had not joined them. They sat and watched a few Gyver situation holograms. They linked all their VIDs in a circle and projected the holos. Wit
h all six VIDs working together the level of detail was exceptional. They paused each holo to discuss possible solutions. Everyone would try to come up with an original solution and see if he or she solved the problem. So far, all the problems were fairly simple and the group found a workable solution to each.

  Spike arrived just before the last holo. The Gyver they viewed followed a common theme. The problem to be solved involved a room with a locked door, no windows, no possible exit other than the door and a key hanging out of reach in the center of the room. The only way to escape was to get the key and unlock the door before the timer reached zero and the bomb went off. On the floor were 10 sheets of corrugated plastic sheeting one by two metres each, some string, a roll of duct tape and a small box cutter.

  “Why are we watching this crap?” asked Spike, after watching the setup of the Gyver problem.

  “This one is different,” retorted Jayne. “No one has solved this problem but it must have a solution. Hmmm.”

  “Maybe there is no solution,” said Pinky.

  “There is always a solution or they couldn’t use the problem. Right, Thirteen?” said Sara, deferring to Jayne.

  “Supposedly. This one doesn’t look that hard. Let’s give it a try and see what we come up with,” said Jayne. She stared at the frozen holo of the room with the key dangling five metres from the floor. There was a ticking clock sound to represent the passage of time and the fact that a bomb would explode and kill them all if they didn’t succeed in solving the Gyver. “As I see it, we have three options. Option 1—we do not need the key to open the door. I don’t think that is likely if the door is locked. Option 2—we bring the key to us by cutting the string holding it in place. Option 3—we go to the key and get it. Can anyone see any other options?”

  “There could be another way out that we have not noticed. Maybe there is a secret door hidden under that pile of corrugated plastic,” proposed Josie.

  “That would be a Search-for-Secret-Passage Puzzle, not a Gyver,” said Spike. “Gyvers must have a set problem to solve, not a secret problem and a bunch of red herrings. No, you have to get the key to open the door. The solution is all about getting the key—according to the Gyver rules anyway.”

  “He is right,” Jayne said, turning to Spike. “Boy, you have done your homework.” She nudged him in the ribs and laughed. “So are we in agreement that we have to get the key and open the door?”

  Everyone nodded.

  “OK. So let’s look at bringing the key to us. Any ideas?”

  “Hey, guys. I think she already knows the answer to this problem and she is just teasing us and leading us along,” Spike said, pointing at Jayne. “Do you know the answer?”

  Jayne shrugged. “I know what I would do but that is not the same as knowing the answer.” She felt her cheeks flush. She felt good and embarrassed with all the attention.

  “Well, what do you think?” asked Olive.

  “What is the point in me telling you that? You asked me to help you prepare so let’s prepare,” said Jayne flatly.

  “What about the box cutter? We could tie it on the string and swing it around and cut the string holding the key. That is what I would try. What do you think, guys?” asked Izzy.

  “Sounds good to me,” said Josie.

  “How are you going to get the cutter up there with any degree of accuracy? You would be swinging it for a swarm’s age,” said Sara.

  “How much time is given?” asked Olive.

  “Boy, you might as well quit now! All Gyvers are 30 minutes long. You have 30 minutes before the bomb goes boom. Let’s see, five minutes to get the string tied to the box cutter, 10 minutes to swing it around, trying to get it high enough to reach the string holding the key, then realizing after 20 minutes that you are too far away to even come close. With 10 minutes left you might as well sit in the middle of the floor and wait for the bomb to tick down and the exit door safety protocol to appear, because that is the only way you will get out,” laughed Spike.

  “Don’t be such an ass,” said Jayne.

  Spike shrank down, unsure if he should argue or comply. He chose the latter. “Sorry,” he murmured.

  Jayne turned to the group. “This brings us to the most important first action you can perform. You must start by logically eliminating all the possible solutions that just won’t work. You do not have the time to try them and see. You must choose the option with the greatest chance of success and go with it. If you choose wrong, then you will leave by the exit door. But, at least you will know that you gave it your best try and you didn’t run around like so many other unsuccessful competitors have done.”

  “And just how do we do that?” questioned Spike, his face still red from Jayne’s verbal slap.

  “We look at everything carefully so we know what we are truly dealing with, instead of making assumptions that are not necessarily true,” said Jayne. She reached out to her VID and zoomed in on the key. “What do you see?”

  “That is not a string holding the key. It looks like a piece of cable, and the key is connected to the cable with a steel clip. The box cutter would never cut that in a million years,” said Izzy.

  “Right! That eliminates all of the string cutting solutions. That key is attached to the ceiling in such a way that one must go up and get it. Remember, this is a Gyver problem. In the biomes there are no prepared puzzles. Everything is out in the open. Nothing is deliberately hidden. What you see is what you get. You may have to turn over a rock or two but observation is everything,” said Jayne firmly.

  “How about we make a tower with the corrugated plastic sheets, the tape and the string?” suggested Sara.

  “Yeah! We could make a tower and just climb up and reach the key,” exclaimed Josie.

  “This brings us to the enemy. Time. It must be considered in any solution. Is there enough time to complete the plan?” asked Jayne. “How many boxes would we need? Could we construct them so that they hold our weight? How long would it take us to construct one box?”

  Spike stood up. He was much more serious. “Building something would work, but I don’t think it is possible to build a box strong enough or fast enough in 30 minutes. It might be a good solution if you had a whole day, but not 30 minutes. You would need a stairway of boxes. I’m not sure that there is even enough material to build that many, even if we did have all the time in the world. Maybe we could build a ladder?”

  Olive brightened, “I think that is a great idea. I bet we could build a ladder. We would need to create a tripod thing like an easel. And put steps on it so we could climb up. The corrugated plastic could be cut to form triangles, taped together or something like that. What do you think, Jayne?”

  “Good idea, Spike and Olive. We have to build something to get up there. Perhaps a ladder would do. Time is still the enemy. Could you build, for that matter, could anyone build, a ladder that would reach…” Jayne stopped and looked at the height of the key, “four metres in the air, allow one of us to climb it and hold our weight all in under 30 minutes?”

  Sara spoke. “That is unlikely. You would have to make three uprights long enough to form the tripod and then attach a series of steps to two of them. Once it was standing up, I think you would have to brace the bottom to stop the legs from sliding out. Remember, this must be built by one person. It wouldn’t be the whole crew of us.”

  Pinky shrugged in abandonment. “I could never build a ladder like that in 30 minutes. It would take me 30 minutes to figure out how to make the legs.”

  “Yeah, this is looking pretty impossible,” said Josie. She turned to Jayne. “I suppose you have an elegant solution.”

  Jayne rolled up two pieces of the waxy food serving sheets into tight tubes. She was tapping each on the tabletop like drumsticks. She grinned. “Yep. I think I could build it in 30 minutes and reach the key.” She tapped more obviously on the table with the rolled up wax sheets.

  Everyone looked at her, stunned.

  “Oh, come on you guys. Tubes!”<
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  “You want to build a ladder with tubes made from the corrugated plastic? I thought we decided that there was not enough time to build a ladder,” said Spike, “tubes or no tubes.”

  “Not a ladder,” retorted Jayne.

  “Then what?” asked Sara, somewhat irritated.

  Jayne looked at each of their faces and grinned. “Stilts!” she said. “I would build a set of two stilts. I would roll up and tape those pieces of corrugated plastic to form spiral tubes. I would roll up small pieces for the steps and tape them on. I would stagger the steps from tube to tube. I would place the last two steps about a metre from the top so I could stand and reach the key. What do you think?” asked Jayne.

  “Great, now you have two stilts. I just don’t think you could keep your balance and climb up the stilts. I’ll admit you could probably build them in the 30 minutes but I think it would take a lot of practice to climb them without someone holding at the bottom,” challenged Spike.

  “I would place them in the corner of the room leaning against the walls. I would climb up, alternating from step to step and then walk the three or four steps to the center of the room. Once there, I would hold onto the key to keep my balance. All I would need to do is remove the key from the clip, stagger back to the corner and climb down. I think I could do it in the 30 minutes. What do you guys think?” Jayne asked.

  “I think I could do it. I doubt that skinny little body of yours could even lift one of the stilts,” mocked Josie. “What is the recommended solution?”

  Sara picked up her VID, flicked her finger over the surface and spoke. “God, I hate you!” she exclaimed with false passion.

  “What does it say?” asked Pinky.

  “Stilts. It just says ‘Stilts’,” said Sara and she dropped her VID into her pouch. She shook her head from side to side and smiled. “You are a piece of work, Wu. Thanks for the tips. I hope we all get in the competition. I don’t expect to win, not against you, anyway. But I am going to kick these guys’ asses,” she laughed.

  Suddenly there was a series of beeps and chimes coming from the various pouches and knapsacks. They all opened their VIDs. Sara was first. She turned her VID to face the others. It said, “Application to the Gyver Competition has been ACCEPTED.”

  Each in turn showed the others their VIDs. They all said the same thing.

  Jayne was standing staring at her VID. She said nothing. She suddenly smiled and spoke. “I have got to get back to my quarters. See you guys later. Congrats on the Gyver.”

  She turned and left. The rest of her friends followed and headed off to their quarters. No one bothered to ask Jayne if she made it into the competition. They all assumed she had. Even Jayne assumed she was a shoo-in to the competition but her VID read, “Application to the Gyver Competition has been REJECTED.”

  She wiped a tear from her eye as she stepped on the PUT pad.