1985
R-Fair City was a relatively new addition to the star maps, having been flung into orbit less than a decade ago. Yet in that short time it had seen a rapid growth in popularity as both a vacation destination and permanent residence to borgs from all walks of life. For Ada, the site served as a getaway. On the days when the stresses of running Project: Cyberchase were getting to be a bit much, it was among the Countess of Lovelace's most frequented haunts.
On that morning in particular, after a brief glance through the reports that had stacked up in her boudoir, she hopped in a taxi and requested to be dropped off at the shipyard. To say the air by the waterfront stank of fish would have done the overpowering reek of salt and rot a disservice. It was a smell that hit even Ada's experienced senses immediately upon opening the taxi door.
A less knowledgeable person might have made some disparaging remark towards the management sensibilities of its harbor master, but Ada knew all things in Cyberspace existed for a purpose.
"Close the rusting door!" Her driver roared from the front seat before slapping a hand on the dashboard which automated the action.
In less than an instant he had sped off. Such was the typical reaction for anyone who found themselves on that side of town. Ada glanced back the way the car had come, to ensure she hadn't been followed. All she saw was a darkened street bathed in the dull light of lamp posts.
Reassured of being alone, she continued at a hurried pace towards her final destination, a block of warehouses nestled in the shadow of Balancing Pointing Bridge. It was right as she arrived at where the pier met the lapping and squelching depths of the R-Fair Sea that she met the face of a derelict and dilapidated structure which looked one strong sneeze away from crumbling into the water.
On one face of the building was a sliding door that stretched almost the height of the wall. Ada positioned herself in front of it and waited. The gateway to her destination ran on uncommon logic. She waited until the world around her momentarily blinked, throwing her into darkness before her surroundings phased back in.
At the center of her new surroundings was a small, but striking, oblong racetrack. Wrapped around the circumference were several rows of seats which stacked slightly atop of one another. Ada stood along the top row beside a small window occupied by a grizzly faced borg.
"Here to spectate or place a bet? We're still at ante-post odds for next week's Merry Go Mayhem."
Ada closely inspected the odds board before glancing at the track where several runners were lined up jogging in place and doing stretches before the next race.
"A round or two to judge form, first," she informed the man. "Then, I think, I should like to place a bet on Savannah Sunset."
She walked down several rows until she found a seat with a comfortable view of the proceedings. A dozen or so borgs sat around her at intervals, spread out to make as little eye contact with each other as possible. A silent pact that their affairs were theirs alone to mind. It was an oddly tense atmosphere that starkly contrasted with the flashing lights and eye-catching decor of the track.
All in all, a rather seedy set piece. Not something Motherboard herself would have been keen on had she an inkling of its existence. Despite a database that consisted of the collective intelligence of man, the AI's worldview had always been an idealistic one. Naive perhaps, but founded on strict principles. Not that Ada herself lacked such standards.
Their visions were simply different.
Or maybe that was just her wishful thinking. For despite the utopia she had created, Ada found herself wanting to escape to the same sorts of places she drifted to when on Earth. Something her mother would be quick to blame the Baron Byron for. Yet what else was she supposed to do? Sit at home and stare at formulas that weren't piecing together, waiting for her body to give out again so she could spend the next six months in bed?
Ada propped her feet up on the vacant seat in front of her. If she was going to be a disappointment, she was determined to at least get comfortable. After all, Cyberspace was a stimulation. How could it be a representative one without some healthy local color in the metrop?
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but these don't look like fair odds." The sudden hiss of an audience's breath in her ear made Ada nearly spring out of her seat. She spun around to see Hacker draped over the row of seats behind her like a wet rag on a clothes wire.
Over the last several weeks she'd grown increasingly concerned over the task of re-tuning the borg and his moods. She hadn't been able to find anything close to a real solution and worse still, it seemed the technician had clued onto this and had made it his mission to toy with her where possible.
"What a surprise to see you here," she said sarcastically, acting like the revelation was not enough to make her scream on the inside. As unfortunate as this malfunction was, she found that reacting to it the way she would have liked to would only encourage his act.
"I was curious to learn what you got up to in your spare time. I knew you couldn't be all stick-in-the-mud."
"How very kind of you to say."
"I've never heard of this game. How do we play?" he asked, not entirely deterred, but wavering in the face of her dry retorts.
"And what do you mean by we?"
"The two of us." He raised a brow at her, his expression now visibly puzzled. "We're friends, aren't we? With that comes the caveat of secret sharing. And this place is obviously a secret."
The borg pursed his lips on seeing her disinterest. "Have our numerous, tortuous poetry sessions not served as sufficient bonding?"
"No," she said, flatly. "They weren't bonding at all. Just you making a nuisance of yourself and proof that the relationship algorithm still needs adjusting."
She sighed, wondering if she hadn't been a little too harsh. His blatant disrespect aside, she wasn't setting the best example by lashing out. Yet, she wasn't sure she had the energy to be the bigger person. "Don't you have assignments to get back to?"
"Only one. And it's around the corner. Boring job anyways. Have to survey Sensible Flats for a good spot to put tracks down. A job a podling could do." He spoke more slowly and with a caution that hadn't been in his voice before. With a deep exhale, he shrank into his shoulders and rested his chin on arms folded across the seat in front of him.
"I don't see why Motherboard doesn't just have Judge Trudy take care of it. Isn't she supposed to be the admin of that place?"
"Motherboard assigned the job to you because she trusts you. Would you betray that trust by slacking off?"
Hacker frowned and drew himself up. "Says the lady that led me here. Fine. I go. And when I get back to Control Central after a job well done, I'll report your little hideaway to Motherboard."
Ada grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back into his seat. With enormous frustration she had to admit he'd won this round. Although in an argument with the AI ruler, she had the confidence to stand her ground, it was not in her interests to start one if it could be avoided. Especially over a matter such as they were dealing with in the present.
Hacker grinned from ear to ear and bounced in his seat like a child about to receive a caramel apple. "I hope you don't let a little blackmail leave a bad taste in your mouth," he said, vaulting over the row between them and landing sprawled out across multiple seats beside her. "When it comes to races, I have quite the winning streak."
Ada let a half smile cross her face, despite herself. The borg's excitement had reminded her of younger years when she was still new to the likes of Ascot and Epsom Downs. A side of the borg she hadn't expected to see, nor appreciate.
"You're referring to your exploits in Radopolis?"
"You know about that?" He appeared genuinely surprised.
"Marbles brought it up before. But winning a race is a far cry from betting on one. For a start, the control is entirely out of your hands. Who can you trust to secure your victory if not yourself? That's the thrill of a gamble."
"I knew I did the right thing coming here." He turned himself upright and leaned forward in the seat as if he were about to spring to his feet again. "How do we start?"
"By observing." Ada picked up his hand and guided it inward, forcing his body to lean back in its seat.
She gestured towards the track just as the racers shot out of their starting box. They went by in a blur, each jostling neighbors in their tight knit group, like water molecules in a cloud. It didn't take long for one runner to emerge ahead of the rest, a unicorn with a curly beard that blew with the wind.
The popular favorite taking the predictable victory. Small bets for small winnings. Of little interest to her. Far better to discover an underdog in the fight. As unpredictable as races could be at times, an experienced eye such as Ada's had much room to judge. Likewise, the fastest horse did not always have the most reliable stamina, nor be positioned in the ideal place on the track.
Among the other runners were several other unicorns, some too bulky to be built for speed, others whose limbs lacked the lean muscle that induced speed, a few lions, a large bull and a three headed dragon.
The second round ended much the same. Though the runner had been moved to an outer ring on the track and had their odds adjusted slightly, they still managed to come in at a lead. But it was as the racers had entered the last strength to the finish line that Ada came across her champion.
A lioness who had hung back around the midsection of the cloud began plowing through her neighboring runners in the last few seconds of the race, finishing third in all. Ada watched as she returned to the start for the next round, shifting once to the left from the outermost ring.
That's when the Countess purchased her slip.
Her judge of form seemed to be in midseason condition as she won not just the following race, but the three after as well. Hacker, on the other hand, with his novice's eye had not fared as well. He tore up his fourth losing slip and let the pieces fall.
"Four times in a row?" He cried as he watched Ada get up and make her way to the bookie stand. "You know something I don't?"
Ada playfully tapped the side of her nose. "Intuition."
"Sure you're not getting that intuition from the horse's mouth?"
"My, are we a sore loser?" she teased.
"No." The borg folded his arms and tossed his legs up against the seat in front of him.
Ada had just started to laugh when a sinking feeling caused her heart to drop. Was he… mimicking her?
This wasn't right.
He was supposed to be better. He was supposed to carry Cyberspace on once she and Marbles were no more. She must have been out of her mind for even considering letting him stay, let alone encouraging delinquency. His corrupted files would take enough time to untangle as it was. If she could even figure out how to begin.
"Hacker," she said, laying a hand on his shoulder. He craned his neck over to eye her. "You shouldn't be here. You need to go home."
"Just one more round. I've only been making little bets, see?" He picked up a handful of the torn slips and held them up to her. No more than 10 snelfus for each race.
Ada gently guided his hands back down. "I know. But this isn't right. A Control Central technician should have no business here. Your code's been compromised as it is."
"My code is just fine," he snapped, yanking his hand away.
"Do you really think you were programmed to act the way you've been—"
"I don't see how that's your business."
"The future of Cyberspace is my business."
"And the future of Cyberspace is secure. I get results. You don't deny that. Why should I have to coddle anyone on the side? Stay home and read poetry when even you'd rather be here?"
He stood to face her, his lower jaw sliding back and forth as he grinded his teeth. He had the same poisonous look in his eye he had the day she'd forced her father's book from his hands.
"You can try to replace me if you want. But we both know you're running out of time for that."
"That's not what I'm suggesting," she cried, struggling not to lose her temper with him. It scared her how fragile the code of cyborgs could be. Perhaps no amount of good put in could shield their CPU were corruption to seep in. How quickly he jumped to try and hurt her when he failed to get his way. An about-face from how easily they'd been getting on only moments ago.
"Then what are you suggesting? What's my future, oh Countess of Lovelace? To work until I get scrapped? Buy you time to find a more convenient model?"
He drew his lips back into a snarl while averting his gaze to the ground. Ada took a deep breath. She had never felt so helpless in the world of her own creation. Was this what was meant by lying in the bed one had made? It was starting to feel more like a coffin.
For once she could think of no words to speak that would improve the situation. Hacker's anger. The future of Cyberspace. How much longer before she found herself surrounded by nothing but her own failure, with nowhere left to escape?
"I'm sorry. I only want what's best. For both of us."
Ada looked into the eyes of the young man who she'd helped create and pulled him close. She felt the return of her embrace almost immediately, along with a tightening in his chest as he buried his sniffles on her shoulder.