Ellison entered the room where it was kept. John Henry was moving a piece on the chessboard that was in front of it. 'I don't think I'll ever get over the primal fear that it inspires in me' he thought to himself.
It looked up, and he fought back a shiver and forced a smile.
"Playing against yourself?" he asks.
"No." Flat, dead. " Ms. Weaver has given me access to a chess server online and has encouraged me to play this way. Reproducing the electronic board physically. She says it will be instructive."
"Why?" Ellison is genuinely curious. Its head cocks slightly.
"She believes it will help me prioritize data. Concentrating on the game while I'm receiving input from this body makes it more challenging... more engaging." while it is speaking, it moves a piece and... is that frustration? If anything this disturbs Ellison even more.
"What is it John Henry?"
"This game is going to end in a stalemate. A tie."
"And that bothers you?"
"I don't know, I have no parameters for 'bothers' in this context." John Henry moved another piece.
"The game is still going on?"
"Yes."
"But you said it was a tie."
"I said it will be. In twelve moves with best play."
"So...if your opponent makes a mistake you could still win?"
"Yes, however, I've played this user on seven other occasions and I estimate the chances of a mistake at less than 0.5%."
Ellison frowned.
"What kind of opponents are you playing against?"
"Unknown. Ms. Weaver has only allowed me access to a games interface. I can make moves and I can observe the game, that is all."
"Are they other computers like yourself?"
"Unknown, although in analyzing some of my matches I've determined a strong possibility that some of the users are AIs, I recognize some of their patterns."
"And this one?" Ellison gestured at the board which, as John Henry had predicted, was in a stalemate position.
"Unknown. I've devoted significant time to analyzing our matches, they are the most... intense I have ever played."
"What's your record?"
John Henry gestured to the display that the AI had previously used for communication and a list of times and user names and results appeared. One user name caught his eye and held it: 1H8TFuTuRe.
"It's a funny user name isn't it." He turned to John Henry who was attempting to smile.
"1 meaning "I" in this case, H-8, meaning 'hate' the eight is being used phonetically, the capital T is an abbreviation for 'the'. So it actually reads I-hate-the-future, although I still don't know why alternate letters are capitalized in 'future'."
"I think that was done for emphasis John Henry." The AI cocked it's head in thought.