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Chapter One: The Treasure Hunters- Part A

Spacecadet was curled up on the bed in his cabin rereading his comic books as he had countless times before when the door chime sounded. At the time it was no more than an annoying distraction, often the moments that herald momentous changes seem trivial or mundane and so it was in this particular case. Even perceptive people often miss important clues that drastic changes are about to take place and Spacecadet was by no means perceptive.

"Yeah, what is it?" he called out, not bothering to move from his bed.

"Yo, Spacey, Gestalt asked me to come fetch you," Zeitgeist replied through the door.

"It can't wait?" Spacecadet asked. "I'm busy here."

"No it can't," she replied. "Now stop reading your comic book or jacking off or whatever it is you're doing and get out here."

"You'd think that being the captain of this tub would get me a little respect around here," he grumbled as he rolled off the bed and threw open the door to his small cabin. "Okay, now just what so damn important? And I wasn't jerking off either!"

"Smeg, but it's easy to yank your chain," Zeitgeist said, giving him a leer. "Anyway, we're going to insert into geo-synchronous orbit in twelve hours and we've just been contacted from planetside."

Spacecadet stepped through the doorway and into the narrow grey steel corridor, closing the door behind him. "So what's that have to do with me? It's not like you need my help. Or rather, it's not like Harrison needs my help."

He studied the girl without enthusiasm. Zeitgeist wasn't unattractive, she was even sort of cute in a street urchin sort of way. She had neatly trimmed short black hair that reached just past her ears and equally dark eyes. These dark features gave her somewhat of an exotic appearance when contrasted against her pale skin. Her nose was a delicate little thing that Spacecadet had to grudgingly admit was cute but was ruined in part by her lips which were usually firmly pressed into a tight frown.

The rest of her wasn't much to write home about in Spacecadet's opinion. She was short, topping out at 162 centimeters with her shoes on, and slender to the point of being skinny. Not much in the breasts department and while her a** wasn't unattractive it was rather small for his taste. Put her in a typical school uniform with a short skirt and she would be a pervert's fantasy.

"Hey, don't ask me," Zeitgeist said, "I'm just the messenger girl. Gestalt is on the bridge so go ask her yourself."

Spacecadet sighed and followed the girl to the ship's small bridge. Crowding in behind her he bumped into the bridge's other occupant, Gestalt, who was sitting in the command chair.

"Ah, Captain, here, why don't you sit down?" she said as she pushed herself out of the chair.

"Sit down," Spacecadet said as he put a hand on her shoulder and tried to push her back down into the seat. "It's crowded enough as it is without trying to play musical chairs."

Gestalt looked down at the chair she was occupying. "I had no idea that chairs are musical. What a novel idea."

"That was just an expression," Zeitgeist said. "Musical chairs is a game involving a group of people with a number of chairs. There's always one less chair than there is people playing the game. The music comes in because as long as music is playing the people have to walk around the chairs but once it stops playing then everyone must sit down-"

"But there's not enough chairs," Gestalt said. "How does that work?"

"That's the point," Zeitgeist answered. "Whoever doesn't make it into a chair is out of the game. Then a chair is taken away and the music starts again and the whole process is repeated. It goes on until there's only one chair left. The person to sit in that last chair is the winner."

"You biologicals do like your games," Gestalt said.

"It's not like you Gestalten can't appreciate them either," Zeitgeist shot back. "You seem to like to play chess well enough. And who's a biological? One hundred percent artificial lifeform here, baby."

"The point of the game seems to be to sharpen one's tactical and analytical skills," Gestalt said. "As such it is a worthwhile endeavor. As to your compositional makeup, while it's true that your current body is artificial you are an implanted memory set that is biological in origin and your preferences are proof of that."

"Yeah? Well why don't you go smeg yourself?" Zeitgeist snapped and the stomped her way off the bridge. "And the point of any game is to win, you stupid robot!"

Gestalt looked up at Spacecadet. "Did I say something wrong?"

"It's not a big deal," Spacecadet said. "She doesn't like to be reminded of her humanity, such as it is. She'll get over it so don't worry about her. Anyway, what's so important that you needed me?"

"We've received a request from planetside," Gestalt said. "Two individuals desire transport to Senedai. Payment and terms to be negotiated upon our arrival. I assume that you'll meet with them but I wanted to make sure before I reply."

"I never turn down free money," Spacecadet said. "It won't hurt to at least talk to them."

"Very well then," Gestalt said.

"Hmmm, Harrison has been pretty quiet today," Spacecadet observed. "It's not like him to miss an opportunity to make a bad situation even worse."

"I've been ruminating about my next move," the ship's AI said.

"Your next move?"

"Yes, we were in the middle of playing chess," Gestalt said.

"She has me between a rock and a hard place," Harrison admitted. "She picked the game up quite quickly."

"She should, she's Gestalten," Spacecadet muttered.

"Ten, you never play chess with me anymore," Gestalt said. "Why is that?"

"What's the point? You'll just stomp me into a mudhole."

"True, all your strong points involve being lazy, reading comic books and getting us into trouble," Harrison said. "None of them include the type of thinking required to excel at chess."

"So it's not enjoyable if you lose then," Gestalt said.

"It's not the losing I mind," Spacecadet said. "It's the fact that I know I'm going to lose even before I start. I don't have a chance against you."

"So to be enjoyable a game must have a certain element of uncertainty," Gestalt said.

"Yes, that's pretty much true," Spacecadet said. "Knowing what the results are going to be before hand takes the fun out of it."

"I see," Gestalt said. "Is that true for you as well, Harrison?"

"Please do not judge me as if I were some limited biological intelligence like Spacecadet here," Harrison answered. "Even for a biological he is a pretty poor specimen. I'm at least good enough to compete with you. This game is by no means a foregone conclusion."

"Oh really?" Spacecadet said with a sneer. "That mean you're ready make your move then?"

"Hey, back off," Harrison said. "I'm still thinking."

***

Zeitgeist ignored the door chime and continued with her game as if no one were at the door of her cabin. At least she did the first dozen times the door chime rang. After the chime sounded a couple of dozen times she leapt up from her chair and ripped the door open. "Yes, okay! I'm here, now what the hell do you want!" she screamed into Gestalt's face.

Gestalt while inhuman wasn't completely immune to surprise and imperceptibly flinched. "I want to talk to you."

"For that you found it necessary to ring the doorbell for five whole minutes?" Zeitgeist said.

"You weren't answering the door chime," Gestalt said.

"Some people can't take a hint," Zeitgeist muttered. "Fine, what is it?"

"I want to apologize for offending you," Gestalt said. "Even after studying biological humanoid interactions there is still a lot that I don't understand."

"You can say that again," Zeitgeist said. "Look, I over-reacted to what you said on the bridge. I know that you weren't trying to be cruel. You were just stating a fact because that's what you do. I tend to forget that you're not capable of spite because you don't have any emotions."

"I was designed to interact and understand biological lifeforms," Gestalt said. "While I don't yet understand these emotions you have I must have the capability to have them. Otherwise my design is defective."

"Uh, yeah, whatever you say," Zeitgeist replied. "Look, how would you like join me in the game I'm playing? It's lot more fun than boring old chess."

"You'll have to show me how," Gestalt said. "But I accept, a new experience and further interaction with others is my primary purpose for being here."

"You'll pick it quick I'm sure," Zeitgeist said. "Unlike chess this is a real-time strategy simulation. You control one of the major powers of the galaxy. Such as the Hegemony, Gorinoy Protectorate, Imperium Gloria, Interstellar Republic, Independent Worlds or even your own Gestalten. The point of the game is galactic conquest."

"The possibility of galactic conquest has been calculated and-"

"It's just a game," Zeitgeist said. "No one said it's possible in reality. I like playing Galactic Wars because it's a challenge not because I plan on trying to actually conquer the galaxy some day. Look, I'm going to reset the game now. Which empire do you want to play?"

"I'm most familiar with the Gestalten," Gestalt said.

"Somehow I thought you'd say that," Zeitgeist said. "It'll take me a couple of minutes to set up a new game so be patient."

"I'll be back in a couple minutes then," Gestalt said.

"You can wait here if you want," Zeitgeist said with a small grin. "You aren't required to be doing something every single second you know."

"I thought you'd like some tea," Gestalt said. "The captain always liked to have tea when we still played chess together. He said it helped him to think."

"I hardly need to tea to help me think but I'd love some," Zeitgeist told her.

***

Zeitgeist was so focused on playing Galactic Wars that it took some time before she realized that Gestalt had set her controller down and the Gestalten were inactive. Her tight grin was the only indication that she was winning the game. That grin faded when she realized that Gestalt was no longer playing. "Hey, what's wrong? Why'd you quit playing?"

"There is no longer any reason to continue," Gestalt said. "I have calculated and recalculated and there is no longer any possibility of success for me. Barring any catastrophic blunder on your part your victory is assured. The chance of a blunder of that scale is less than one in a billion."

"So you're just quitting?"

"The captain refuses to play chess against me because his defeat is inevitable in each and every match," Gestalt said. "According to him any game where the result is already a foregone conclusion is not enjoyable for biologicals to play. This is logical to the Gestalten since any effort doomed to failure is a waste of time and resources."

"There's two things you're overlooking," Zeitgeist said. "One is that people are not all the same. Just because Spacey has a certain outlook on something does not mean that all biological lifeforms share his attitude. Secondly, in many cases initial failure is vital to eventual success. It's called learning. When you and Spacey first played chess he always won didn't he?"

"Yes, for the first two games," Gestalt admitted. "I was unfamiliar with the rules. But it didn't take long before I was the superior player."

"Two games, huh?" Zeitgeist said. "He really is pathetic."

"He doesn't have my computational power," Gestalt said. "No biological entity does."

"Be that as it may, my point is that to become good at something you have to practice," Zeitgeist said. "That practice will include failures."

"We Gestalten are not unfamiliar with the learning process," Gestalt noted.

"Then why the hell am I explaining this to you?" Zeitgeist grumbled.

"Since continued effort improves one's skills isn't it logical for the captain to desire to continue to play against me despite the fact that each individual match is doomed to failure on his part?" Gestalt asked. "I cannot reconcile this fact with the information the captain has given me."

"The first thing you Gestalten need to learn if you truly wish to understand biological intelligence is that we don't- that is, they don't neatly fit into your perceptions of logic," Zeitgeist said. "Many of the things they do will seem illogical to you. Their logic is different from your logic."

"So I am coming to see," Gestalt said. "This is difficult for me to comprehend. I need time to process all this information." She stood up from Zeitgeist's chair, grabbed the tray with the tea set and opened the door of the cabin. "Goodbye."

Zeitgeist rolled off her bed and reclaimed her chair. "Damn. And I was just starting to kick her a** too."

***

Spacecadet closed and locked the shuttle's rear hatch. "There we are, cargo all loaded and ready to go. Now all I have to do is drop off our cargo, meet with our potential passengers and get paid. Thanks for the help, Gestalt."

"I'll be coming with you," Gestalt said. "If we're taking on passengers then I need to do some shopping to stock up our pantry. If that's alright with you."

"That's fine," Spacecadet said as he walked around the shuttle and opened the pilot's side hatch to the cockpit. "Better you than Zeitgeist at any rate."

"Why is that?" Gestalt asked as she climbed into the cockpit through the hatch on the other side of the shuttle.

"Cause she's a great big pain in the a** of course," Spacecadet said. "You mean you can't tell?"

"She was very helpful earlier," Gestalt said. "She taught me how to play one of her games and we had a conversation in which we exchanged information. Once I have a better understanding of the things she said I'm sure the information will be of use to me."

"I liked it better when you two used to get into catfights all the time," Spacecadet said.

"I don't understand," Gestalt said. "We've never been in any type of conflict with each other."

"A man can dream though," Spacecadet said. "Hey, Harrison, we're ready to go. Open the cargo doors."

"Your wish is my command," Harrison said as the cargo hold began the depressurization procedure that preceded opening the hold to space.

***