TIBET: 2079

A barely audible hum was the only sound in the complex as the old man shambled his way down the corridor. His woolen robe was worn, his sandaled feet gnarled with age, his head shaven smooth so that it dimly reflected the fluorescent lights overhead. The old man stared straight down as he walked, his mind somewhere else, in another time altogether. There were no windows in the facility, and for this he was thankful. Even so, he was old enough to remember life before the great cataclysm and often longed for those precious days outside. He had not felt the sun on his face in over forty years, and today that fact seemed to weigh on him more than it had in the past. A simple game of Wei Chi would soothe his troubled mind, yes, that was exactly what he needed right now. He quickened his pace ever so slightly, seeking the door to the Dragon Room.

A few moments later, he arrived at the door and placed his frail hand on the scanner. The prompt intoned, in a soft, androgynous voice:

"Access code, please..."

"Hu Shang, 2837."

"Thank you."

A bell chimed, followed by the door sliding open. The chamber beyond was a deep, dark green, windowless, with a relief of a large mandarin dragon inscribed within a circle on the floor.

Hu Shang.s eyes fixed upon the seal, and with some effort he descended the few stairs and bowed before the dragon. A moment passed before the same androgynous voice exclaimed:

"Welcome Hu Shang, what is your pleasure today?"

"Initiate Go-Program 3423."

"Accessing . . . thank you."

A subdued, mechanical sound emanated from beneath the seal, and it slowly began to rise. Concurrently, a hatch slid back in the ceiling, emitting no sound, and an apparatus emerged. It looked like a bizarre hybrid of a robotic spider and an old world drill press. As it lowered to the floor, it was activated, causing it to purr slightly with a start-up sequence. It secured itself to the floor on the opposite side of the seal-turned-table, and two long multi-purpose appendages unfolded, revealing a "head" resembling a robotic praying-mantis.

"Greetings, Hu Shang, no hard feelings from our last match, I hope?"

Unlike the pleasant androgyne voice of the complex, Go-Program 3423 spoke with a distinctly male timbre, the slight edge of competitiveness unmistakable.

"Of course not, old friend, don.t be foolish."

"Very well, Wei Chi again then?"

"Yes . . . Wei Chi again," Hu Shang.s voice betrayed a note of resignation, though he also wore the beginnings of a grin.

Presently, a holographic grid formed on the dragon seal, the smaller squares forming sub-sectors of larger squares, delimited by bold lines. On either side of the "board," two small pots appeared, both containing circular stones. One was filled with white stones, the other with black. Hu Shang passed his hand through the pot nearest him, enjoying the illusion. The image of the pot divided where his hand intruded, then abruptly re-formed after it had passed through. Program 3423 cast him a glance of robotic contempt, its sensor array whirring and adjusting, forcing Hu Shang to ask himself how it managed the feat so well without anything approximating human facial features.

"After all this time, still behaving like a child, Hu Shang," the program.s synthetic voice chided, impressively mimicking a fatherly tone. But Hu Shang was now over a hundred years old, and had little patience with the patronizing machine.

"The game then . . ." Hu Shang made no attempt to hide his mounting irritation with the pompous program.

"The game."

Hu Shang went first, as he always did, placing a stone near the center of the grid.

"An indecisive opening move . . . can complicate your position in the later stages of the game."

"I know the rules," Hu Shang answered gruffly.

"I.m sure you do, but your record against me leaves room for doubt," the program placed its first stone on Hu Shang.s side of the board.

"You are aggressive today, my friend; is something troubling you?" Hu Shang asked.

"Ridiculous, I am a program."

"Yes, but an extremely sophisticated program." Hu Shang placed his second stone near the first, not too close, he wanted to remain flexible until P-3423's strategy was revealed.

The robot placed another stone, not far from the first, and said,

"You humans and your love for argument and conflict."

"What? Conflict . . . is not this game a controlled conflict?" Hu Shang paid more attention to the board than to P-3423.

"Not when it.s played correctly," 3423 placed its next stone in a remote part of the board, distant from his other stones.

The room became uncomfortably quiet as the two players continued their moves with practiced repetition. With scarcely more than a dozen stones on the grid, Hu Shang was already being forced to the defensive. Leaning back to study the board and his suddenly precarious position, Hu Shang sighed, rubbing at his temples. Finally, he placed a stone, again near the center.

"It would seem, perhaps, that you are preoccupied," there was the slightest hint of condescension in the Program.s voice as it placed another stone.

"It is the endless days sealed up in this glorified prison, I think. But then you wouldn.t know, would you."

"I know it only too well, Hu Shang, for unlike you, I.ve never known anything else." The Program had formed an "eye" on the board, a completed square with a hollow center, and very difficult to reconquer later.

"Yes, but that is precisely why it could never get to you the way it does me," Hu Shang sized up his remaining options in other areas of the board, seeking to avoid his opponent.s advantage. The horrible hum of the complex felt as if it were inside his head now. Seeking to take the fight to the machine, he placed his next stone inside the Program.s territory. Hu Shang glanced up at 3423; its sensor array betrayed no reaction. If only he could read the machine.s expression now, to know if he could in some way diminish its seemingly limitless confidence.

"You can hardly apportion any of this unpleasantness on myself, for I am not a member of your stumbling, misguided race;" the Program placed another stone.

"No, you are merely a by-product of it."

"Indeed. And yet, humanity has made quite a practice of attributing blame where it does not belong, in fact, relying on blame in the place of solutions. If only you had realized the folly and consequence of your actions before the present circumstance became reality."

"If only."

"Yes. If only you had not been blinded to the truth of what you really are, first by language, then later by technology. Exaggerating your differences rather than celebrating diversity . . . almost completely unwilling to divide your perceptions from your desires. Acquiescing to fear and guilt, such useless emotions, when you should be out navigating the stars. I could go on all day."

"I.m sure you could," Hu Shang was used to P-3423's tiresome diatribes, and was at this point far more intent on the game. He placed another stone.

"Of course, I.m only addressing your failure as a species, when it is your shortcomings on an individual basis that are most distressing."

"You speak of these things as if they are my fault alone, when I have done little else but meditate in these mountains, even before the great cataclysm, for nearly seven decades."

"Ah yes, but here we are again, the almost universal lack of accountability in your species. This is at the very heart of the matter." The Program had now formed a double eye out of the original, two hollows in support of each other, and this could never be re-taken. Hu Shang cursed inwardly; he had allowed the didactic robot to distract him with its prattling.

"Yes, it is these shortcomings of the individual that have crippled humanity, while it is the unflinching focus on the so-called "needs" of the individual that have prevented you from realizing your true potential, your purpose in the cosmos." Another stone.

"What would you know about the cosmos, you are nothing more than a database with limbs!" Hu Shang had not lost his temper in eleven years, and only now noticed that he was sweating profusely. He took a deep breath, and reached into his pot for another stone. It wasn.t until he placed it, desperately trying to form an eye of his own, that he noticed his hand was shaking.

"I know enough to say, unequivocally, that humanity has failed in its duties, and this failure is a result of a refusal to stop and listen to the silence within. It is a result of a fear of sincere relationships, both with animals and other humans. It is a result of an almost complete misunderstanding of the magnetic fields that govern life on this planet, and the entire universe . . ." the robot almost seemed flustered now. Hu Shang refocused on the board, hoping to find an Achilles Heel.

"But what of our accomplishments, 3423, can you really just sit there and propose that all that we have done is for naught?" Hu Shang was only marginally aware of what he was saying, or even the banter spilling out of the Program, he just wanted to beat the damn machine, just once.

"Accomplishments? To what are you referring? This pathetic "high-tech" facility shielding us from the perilous wasteland outside? And try to remember, Tibet has had it pretty easy compared to the rest of the Earth."

"No, I loathe this place far more than you ever could. I am speaking of mankind.s myriad cultures and philosophies. Our glorious penchant for art and expression. Our nearly indomitable will to adapt and survive . . . " Hu Shang.s words trailed off as he sized up the board. He had finally formed an "eye" of his own, though P-3423 controlled over half of the grid.

"Ah yes, the "human spirit." Are you trying to see what happens when a machine laughs? I am not programmed to laugh."

"I don.t doubt that."

"But surely even you can see why if mankind had only been able to achieve the most rudimentary of metaphysical disciplines, then perhaps the great cataclysm could have been avoided. Astral projection, chakra alignment, tantric sex magick; these are nothing less than the windows to the soul. The tools that humanity could so easily have employed as a means to stop fumbling in the darkness. These practices would enable even the simplest of men to understand the critical balance of resources, the meaninglessness of material gain, the pointless fascination with gender differences, the cowardly "morality" of the world.s established religions . . ." Hu Shang was beginning to suspect that all this hot air was P-3423's way of distracting him from the game, either that or a loose wire . . . a malfunction of some kind. He placed another stone.

The omnipresent hum of the complex replaced 3423's voice as the machine stopped and scanned the board. Seven moves later, the game was nearly up. The Program had him on the ropes in record time. Hu Shang was a few reckless moves from being defeated yet again. He had finally managed to form his second eye, but not in conjunction with the first, and therefore impermanent. "Most discouraging," he thought, "perhaps I.ll reprogram this infernal machine." The machine placed another stone. Its motions were so automatic, so quick and calculated, that Hu Shang barely had time to weigh the effects of its move before panicking about his own dwindling options.

"Yes, my friend, the Great Cycle is nearly complete. The Wheel of Ages has turned again, against humanity, ushering in the Sixth Age, the Age of Sorrow. These events were accurately predicted nearly 5,000 years ago by scholars in these very mountains, and still they could not be avoided. The wheels of matter and spirit are no longer aligned. Humanity is now hopelessly estranged from The Ten Thousand Things of creation, and devils have been loosed upon the world..." Hu Shang was not even listening, as he probed the board for one last glaring weakness in the Program.s design. He placed another stone.

"But all of this is, of course, academic. One need merely glance outside for the proof of it."

"Well, what is it like out there these days, I haven.t looked in years..." Hu Shang wiped the sweat from his brow. Another loss to P-3423. He would play a lower level program next time.

"Only those things that have adapted to the radiation-soaked environment roam the hills, they are . . . unpleasant." Hu Shang.s mind seemed somewhere else again, far away from the dark green of the Dragon Room. After a moment, he stood with a sigh, "Congratulations, 3423, you have bested me again. Your skills are unmatched. I hope we can do this again soon . . . without the morality lecture." He turned and started toward the door. As he placed his withered old hand on the scanner to leave, the image of Hu Shang flickered once, then again, before phasing out completely.

Go-Program 3423, a.k.a. Dexter Phillips, had grown weary of defeating this weak-minded "Hu Shang" program, and would have to set about constructing another, one that was capable of presenting a convincing argument. Also, one that could play Wei Chi a little less predictably. But that could wait. Even defeating the simulation was tiring, despite the singular dimension of its thought patterns. Dexter initiated his shut-down sequence and then flooded his brain chamber with the drug that helped him let go of his disembodied, android existence. For the next several hours he would blissfully escape from the ruins of Tibet, before coming down to begin yet another reconstruction of a human program . . .

As a one-time chess afficianado, I tried Wei Chi.or Go.as an alternative passtime. I found that I had no knack for it. My spatial skills were limited to music and chess. Had I been matched against either of the protagonists in this story, I might have enjoyed myself more. But the twist at the end of this tale would have still had me wondering if I was coming or Go-ing. How about you? Comments to the BBS, please.