A white-bearded emperor stood beside the Go board, waiting to destroy their minds.
“MORTAL DUST! CALCULATE TEN THOUSAND MOVES ACROSS THE RIVER OF—OF—OF—”
The projection repeated the last word while sixty-four thousand jade stones hummed overhead.
Xiaoyao lowered himself toward the red prayer mat. Austin caught his collar.
“Don’t get comfortable. The computer’s crashed.”
A plate on the pedestal read:
[SECTOR 04: LOGIC GATE AND DECISION ENGINE]
Austin opened the service panel. Dust covered the heat sink, two inches thick, and the cooling fan had seized.
“It isn’t thinking about eternity,” he said. “It’s stuck asking itself the same question.”
The emperor’s eyebrows twitched. “INSOLENT WORM! STEP UPON THE SACRED MAT!”
Xiaoyao looked at the stuttering face. “May we at least move before he finishes the sentence?”
“He’s had ten thousand years.”
Austin switched off the main breaker.
The hum died. Every jade stone dropped at once.
CLATTER-CLATTER-BANG!
One black stone landed in Pug’s water bowl. He fished it out, spat it onto the floor, and glared at the emperor.
“WAIT! DO NOT TOUCH THE ANCIENT LEVER OF—”
The projection vanished.
Austin checked his watch. “Ten seconds. Let the stored charge drain.”
Xiaoyao counted under his breath. At ten, Austin turned the breaker on.
The transformer started with a clean hum. Text scrolled across the display.
STARTUP: SUCCESS
MEMORY BUFFER: CLEARED
GAME STATE: 0 MOVES
OPPONENT: NO RESPONSE — TIMEOUT
RESULT: AUTOMATIC FORFEIT
The terminal chimed.
The main doors opened.
Xiaoyao picked up a white stone. “We won because the emperor failed to return?”
“Exactly. He stood us up.” Austin closed the panel. “Always restart the machine before spending forty-seven months arguing with it.”
Pug sneezed at the board. Another stone fell into his bowl.
He barked all three heads at once.
“Yes,” Austin said. “His service is terrible too.”