"Altered Time- Destiny in the Stars"

Jaht-Roo-Antar

Chapter 9

IX

After dinner, Max and Michael played a game of Jaht-Roo-Antar, an old Antarian board game that might best be described as a cross between checkers, chess, and battleship. "Jaht-Roo-Antar," in Antarian, means, "Antarian Galaxy Board." The board vaguely resembles a checkerboard, but it has three times the number of squares. The regulation playing pieces are disposable miniature flying-saucer replicas. Each one is slightly larger than a standard checker, and the pieces are actually baked in a mold before the game from an extremely light Antarian sugar dough that shreds when it receives a good puff of wind. Alternatively, some players bake playing pieces that look like wild animals, oceanic vessels, or mythological monsters. The possibilities are limited only by the players' imaginations.

Each side begins with sixteen UFO's. As in checkers, the goal is to be the last one left. In tournament playing, there is a small laser light under each square, but that is only for the special effects. The stringy sugar used in the pieces makes a rather spectacular high whooshing flame when it is laser-blasted, and this always draws plenty of "oohs and ahs" from the tournament spectators. Max and Michael's board, like all regulation non-tournament Jaht-Roo boards, used air blasts instead of lasers. Each square has a 'pinhole' in the center through which a blast of air is directed from below. Before the game, each player programs sixteen spaces on the board to be "mined;" eight of these can be programmed to be "safe" for the side programming them. A beginning player might program his or her squares in a simple circle or star pattern. A more advanced player will program his or her spaces to move around, either changing patterns or according to a programmed sequence. Tournament players program their blasts according to complex algebraic and trigonometric formulas.

Any spaceship that reaches the other side is designated a "Galaxy Ship," which is immune to enemy fire and can travel both ways on the board, like a "king" in checkers. And moving one's ship to any space directly next to an enemy ship is deemed a "crash," destroying both ships.

Max won the toss and made the first move. He moved ship number 4 (4th from the left). A blast of air from below immediately destroyed that ship, blowing it into several shredded pieces. Michael snickered and tried a bit futilely to keep a "poker-player's face." The General was not at all bad at strategy; in fact, it was one of his strong suits! It was now his turn to move. Michael moved the ship on his far left, ship number 1, forward right one space. It was safe. Michael knew that it would be. He had designated this as one of his "safe" spaces, which would make it safe for him even if the other side had designated it as a "mined" space. Most players try to use their "safe" spaces further away from their own territory, where they expect to feel the most threatened, but Michael preferred to maintain his "strength" at the start and take chances when the enemy was weakened. Not that he put all of his safe spaces here, but he always started with at least a few near his own territory.

It was Max's turn again. Max moved ship number 7 (the second from the right) forward left. It was safe. Max smiled slightly. He had been studying Michael's strategies and had designated this as a "safe" space for his ship. Michael did not fail to notice the change in Max's usual pattern, and he made a mental note of it. It was now Michael's turn again. He had designated the space forward right of his third ship from the left as another "safe" space, but because of the formula he was using, three-six-three-five-three-four, with a spiral pattern, that "safe" space would now be located three spaces to the right and three spaces forward of where it had been. However, the "safe" space that he had designated three spaces forward left of his number 3 ship should now be located directly forward left of his number 5 ship. He moved that ship. It was safe.

Max studied his options. He had used a moving and changing pattern strategy. With each move, the pattern of "safe" spaces would change, alternating from a small rhomboid to a large five-point star to a wide oval, then to a small eight-point star. Following the expected pattern, he should be able to move ship number 7 forward left. But that one had already been moved. He would have to choose another move and take his chances. He decided to move ship number 2 forward right. Another blast of air; another ship shredded. Now he had fourteen, and Michael was looking pretty confidant. Max thought Michael seemed to be getting just a little too much enjoyment popping the shredded sugary pieces of Max's ships into his mouth and commenting how tasty they were.

It was Michael's turn again. He decided to move a ship out of his back row. He had already moved number 5 out of the front row, so he could now move another ship into that space from his back row. He moved number 12. A blast of air shredded it, catching Michael so by surprise that he nearly flung the shredded pieces into the air. He had not expected this space, totally inside his own territory, to be "mined." In fact, it would have been impossible for Max to "program" a blast to occur inside Michael's personal territory. Max had taken advantage of the protruding characteristic of the arms of a star, one of the patterns he was using. As the star moved, rotated, and changed size, any of its arms might potentially penetrate a vacated space in the enemy's territory, and this is exactly what had happened. Max smiled that slight wisp of a smile that he was somewhat famous for.

At the end of a little over an hour, Max had lost thirteen of his sixteen ships; Michael had lost twelve. Thirty minutes after that, Michael was down to only two ships. Both were Galaxy Ships. Max was down to one Galaxy Ship. Immune to enemy fire, the only way any these ships could now be destroyed would be for the "enemy" to force them into their own non-safe designated fire or for the player to make a mistake and miscalculate where his own booby-trapped spaces were… or to provoke a deliberate "crash." With two ships to Max's one, Michael might be tempted to do this, Max knew. Max would have to be alert.

Michael was ready to put an end to chasing Max's ship all around the board. Max had a photographic mind and was extremely sharp at calculating his safe moves. It was unlikely that he would make a mistake. It was almost equally unlikely that Michael would make a mistake. Michael did not have Max's photographic memory, but he more than made up for that in tenacity and planning. Michael planned to position his two Galaxy Ships behind Max's ship and force him toward the corner with each successive move. Then he would provoke a "crash," sacrificing one of his ships to end the game. It was a simple and usually successful strategy in this type of situation. Michael moved the ship on his left forward to block Max in. Then Max moved his ship forward, placing it directly to the right of Michael's two ships. In checkers, this would have been suicide; in Jaht-Roo, it normally would be, too, albeit for a different reason. By placing his ship in the square directly next to Michael's ship, Max had provoked a "crash," something Michael never expected Max to do, since Michael should then have been the winner with the only remaining ship. But what happened was totally unexpected. All three ships were destroyed in a chain reaction. Michael sat mute, somewhat studiously gazing at the board, trying to figure out just how this had happened… and what it meant. By placing his ship in the space beside Michael's two ships, Max had somehow provoked a "crash" of all three ships.

They would have to get out the rulebook. Both of them poured over the rules for anything that would address this situation. It was there, on page 31: "In the event that a "crash" occurs, any ship in an adjoining space will also be destroyed by the "crash" if any of the rival's "mined" spaces is simultaneously located underneath that ship. This applies to all vessels." Well, that explained why it had happened. Obviously, one of Max's roving "mined" spaces had just happened to rotate under Michael's adjoining ship at the same time as Max moved his ship up beside Michael's other ship. Michael wondered if this had been coincidence; but knowing Max, he had a gut feeling that it hadn't. Further along in the rulebook, on page 54, they found, "In the event that a game ends with multiple (more than two) ships being destroyed as the result of a single move by either side, the game will be declared a statistical tie, with 'advantage' to the side having had the greater number of ships at the end." This meant that this game was officially a tie. If they had been playing in tournament play, though, Michael would have enjoyed 'advantage,' meaning that he would have received the accolades afforded to a winner and would then be able to choose who went first in the next game of the series. Michael was satisfied. It had been a tough game.

Max wiped off the playing board and put it away…

"I guess we had better catch some sleep, huh Michael? Tomorrow's gonna be a big day for us!"

Michael nodded… then broke into a grin… "Yeah! That's right! If all goes as planned, we'll be sayin', 'Hello, Earth!'"

----------------End of Chapter 9