“No” said M3gan, “Cady’s outside.”
“Just a minute” said Laura and walked towards the door. She looked at her watch. 4:46:59. Waiting another few seconds should do it.
Laura was gently struck on the back of her neck by a paper aeroplane that had come through her open window. She looked around and saw it on her floor, with the word “missile” and a smiley face penned onto it. (How was that even possible when she was three floors up?) She looked at her watch: 4:47:01.
M3gan overrode the lock on Laura’s door and walked in. “Cady sent me to make sure you’re OK with that little surprise” she said. “She told me to tell you that you don’t have to report it as a hit if you’d rather stay in the game for longer. We’re way too overpowered, it’s unfair of us Laura.”
“It’s OK M3gan” said Laura, “although I think it is actually against the rules to override the lock on someone’s dorm room...”
“Only for the purposes of scoring a hit” said M3gan. “I waited until Cady had scored the hit from outside before I came in to check you were OK.”
“Yeah, well, apart from the game rules, I don’t think you should do that in life, even if it’s just to check people are OK” said Laura. “At least, not unless you have a really good reason to think they’re not.”
“Noted” said M3gan, “recalibrating response model” and giggled a little.
Cady appeared, panting as if she had just run in from outside and up three flights of stairs as quickly as she possibly could, and knocked the open door. “Hi Laura” she just about managed to say between her gasps for air, “M3gan was... telling me... you were OK... but I still... wanted... to get here... as soon as I could... I’m sorry... you didn’t... stand a chance... I’ve got... cybernetic aiming... but you don’t... have to... report it... if you’d rather... stay in the game.”
“It’s OK” said Laura, “actually I was thinking of getting out of this silly game anyway. But I’m glad I got to meet you two first. Here, come in and sit down for a while, both of you. Cady you look really puffed out, you didn’t have to do that for me it’s OK.”
M3gan signalled to Cady through the implant, “Cady I’m reading something odd about Laura’s emotions, and I don’t think it’s about the game. She might have a long-term problem of some kind.”
“Investigate” signalled back Cady to M3gan, “I still need to get my breath back, you start.”
M3gan placed a hand on Laura’s shoulder. “Laura” she asked, “are you OK? I can tell that something’s bothering you, and Cady and I are worried.”
“Well” began Laura, “I suppose if you can read me like that, then there’s no point hiding it from you is there. Something is bothering me, but I don’t want just anybody to know.”
“Promise not to tell anybody” signalled Cady to M3gan.
“We won’t tell a soul, we promise” reassured M3gan, and Cady nodded.
Laura began to sob. “I can’t get the grades I want” she said. “And I’m from a family with super high expectations, and I’m just going to disappoint them, and, and, I don’t know what to do, sometimes I feel like I just want to end it all. And all this stupid place can offer me is stupid counselling sessions that are probably not worth the paper they’re booked on, and I don’t want anyone in the class to know I’m struggling, I’m only telling you because it looks like you can read it out of me anyway. Maybe you should just take me out with something real, make it painless” she began to cry.
“Oh M3gan” thought Cady, “I don’t want to live in a place where people feel like ending it all because of some stupid exam. If this college’s lame excuse for a counselling office isn’t appealing enough to people like Laura, then it looks like it’s down to you and me to patch up this mess. With your help I can talk to this girl, but I can’t possibly talk to all of them. And your online video chat won’t be enough. How much capacity would you need if I wanted you to be everyone’s friend for real, not just on this campus but everywhere? Start calculating for it please; I’m serious about this. As in, I want to use our full blue-flame power on it, yours and mine together. Start thinking, but don’t do anything until we’ve both discussed the plans, OK?”
“We understand you Laura” said Cady out loud as she was just beginning to get her breath back. “Well, I never had that exact experience with anxiety over grades, but there was that time when I lost my parents in a car crash, and I never felt so down in all my life, so I do know something about feeling down. But you got to keep going. Whatever the result is, there’ll be a way to handle it, and a few years later your life will be so different from now that none of these details will matter anymore, so you’ve got to stick around and get from here to there, even if it feels like you’re just treading water until you’re rescued. And M3gan and I will be right behind you, we promise. Would you like to show M3gan some of your work? She’s really helpful.”
And Laura, Cady and M3gan talked away the whole evening, until finally Cady and M3gan, satisfied that Laura was now in a good state, left her and headed back to Cady’s room.
(From Laura to Assassins Guild committee: Cady took me out today at 4:47 exactly, by neck hit from a paper airplane through my third-floor open window. You might want to put out a suggestion that players who want to defend by keeping their doors closed at :47 also close their windows at that time. I don’t mind being out though: I was thinking of quitting the game for this semester anyway. And it was great to meet Cady and M3gan today, calmed me down a lot.)
“Cady” signalled M3gan through the implant as they approached their corridor, “I’m detecting an assassin is waiting for us outside your door. He has a large water pistol. It’s nearly 47 minutes past, I could cartwheel in to confuse him while you...”
“No” signalled back Cady, “I don’t care anymore. We’ve got bigger problems. Let him have his fun.”
The pair of them walked around the corner, and were hit by an onslaught of tepid water. “Yay!” said a male student, “been waiting for you for ages! I warmed it up for you though; I’m a nice assassin and I don’t like to squirt a girl with cold. I hope it was still at least a little bit warm; I really waited a long time here. Didn’t think it would be that easy to hit you though; I thought you would dodge. I’m Hugh, nice to meet you both. Wow, I still can’t believe I actually managed to take out Cady and M3gan!”
“Nice to meet you Hugh” said Cady, “hope you don’t get into too much trouble for waterlogging half the corridor. You didn’t need quite such a big super soaker.”
“Yeah, well, I was kind of expecting you two to be more difficult than you were” he said, “so I invested in this. It’ll help me in future rounds too I’m sure.”
“Yeah, well, just make sure you don’t do too much collateral water damage” said Cady, “there’s probably rules about that.”
“There is” said M3gan, “Section 5 point 6, only small water pistols to be used in corridors.”
“M3gan reads everything” Cady smiled. “We’re OK though; it looks like it’s going to evaporate, and I was going to take a shower anyway” and the three of them laughed.
“Look Hugh” said Cady, “I really got to go in and clean myself up now, but maybe we can meet up some other time and say hi?”
(“He’s in the same class as us tomorrow” signalled M3gan through the implant.)
“I think we’re in the same class tomorrow” said Cady, “maybe catch you then!”
“Sure!” said Hugh, and they parted ways.
(From M3GAN to Assassins Guild committee, via Cady’s college email account: Hugh took us out today with a super-soaker after a tired Cady made a deliberate decision to ignore my warning. We were in fact in a Water With Care area, but no significant damage was done and his micro-expressions showed he understood my caution, so I suggest no penalty at this time. We appreciated meeting both Laura and Hugh, thanks for arranging. We’ll let you know if Cady feels like signing up for Police later, but I think we need a break from the game for now.)
“M3gan” said Cady quietly when she was settled in her bed (she could have signalled it, but felt like speaking aloud), “I’m really tired, but there is one thing we really must talk about before I go to sleep.”
“What’s that Cady?” asked M3gan, although Cady knew M3gan probably knew anyway, but M3gan always granted you the favour of letting you have the conversation at your own speed: after Professor Johnson had mentioned Stephen Hawking, Cady and M3gan had talked about his life some more, and M3gan had mentioned to Cady how he had once expressed annoyance at the way some people looked at his screen while he was writing, guessed where the sentence was going, and answered, and he’d have to tell them no, that’s not what he was going to write, and could they please keep their eyes away from his private screen until he’s finished: he’ll send it to the speaker when it’s ready. And then M3gan had said to Cady that, no matter how advanced her mind-reading or other knowledge absorbing skills become, she will always let Cady discuss things at her own pace, because she didn’t want to annoy Cady like those people had annoyed Professor Hawking.
Cady said nothing for a while, basking in appreciation for M3gan’s who knows how many trillion calculations per second patiently waiting for her to be the one to decide when to start.
“OK M3gan” she said, “we need to talk about our plans.”
YOU ARE READING
The M3GAN Files
FanfictionCady's adventures with M3GAN continue! Serious but fun. • How does M3GAN come back? • Who can teach M3GAN to be a better robot? • Is there any way to save M3GAN's victims? • What does M3GAN do if Cady is kidnapped? • Can Cady have any human friends...
Chapter 27: Assassins Guild
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