With each pulse, ripples of change had swept the board. Black pieces, representing "living" locations, turned white and died, unless conditions were right to go on living. White pieces flipped over, coming alive when the number of black neighbors allowed it. Patterns took shape, wriggling and writhing like organisms of many cells.
The forty-by-forty grid was by no means the largest Maia had seen. There were rumors of boards vastly larger in some of the towns and ancient sanctuaries of the Mediant Coast. Yet, she and Renna had worked hard to fill their side with a starting pattern that might thrive, all to no avail. Their labors began unraveling from almost the very start.
One of their opponents' designs began firing self-contained gliders across the board, configurations that banked and flapped at an oblique angle toward the edge, where they caromed toward the oasis Renna and Maia had to preserve. Maia watched with a lump in her throat as the other glider gun on this side — her own contribution to Renna's plan — launched interceptors that skimmed past their short fence barrier just in time to…
Yes! She had felt elation as their antimissiles collided with the enemy's projectiles right on schedule, creating explosions of simulated debris.
"Eia!" she had cried in excitement.
Intent as she had been on that threat, Maia was rudely yanked back by an abrupt roar of laughter. She turned to Renna. "What is it?"
Ruefully, her partner pointed toward the synthetic figure they had counted on to hold the center of the board. Their "guardian," with its flailing arms and legs, had seemed guaranteed to ward off anything that dared approach. But now Maia saw that a bar-shaped entity had emerged from the other side of the board, approaching inexorably. At that instant, she experienced a queer sense of recognition, perhaps dredged out of childhood memory, from watching countless games at dockside in Port Sanger. In a strange instant, the new shape suddenly struck her as … obvious.
Of course. That shape will absorb … .
The flickering intruder made contact with the branching patterns that were the guardian's arms, and proceeded to suck them in! To the eye, it seemed as if their opponents' creature was devouring game pieces, one by one, incorporating organs from the guardian into its growing self.
It's actually a simple shape, she recalled thinking numbly. Boys probably memorize it before they're four.
As if that weren't enough, the invader pattern began displacing the guardian's undamaged core. Beat by beat, the pseudobeast she and Renna had built was pushed backward, rending and flailing helplessly, smashing through all their fences. Helplessly, they watched the destructive retreat grind all the way to the near left corner, where their vulnerable oasis was promptly and decisively crushed. From that moment on, life quickly dissipated from their half of the game board. Laughter and amused booing had sent Maia fleeing in shame to her cabin.
It was only a game, she tried convincing herself the next morning, as she swept. At least, that's what women think, and they're the ones who count.
Still, memory of the humiliation lingered unpleasantly as glory frost evaporated under the rising sun. Those thin patches she and the other young var had missed soon sublimed. With visible reluctance, Captain Poulandres went to the railing and rang a small bell.
At once, the deck thronged with women passengers and crew, inhaling the last aromas and looking about with liveliness in their eyes. Maia saw one broadly built var come up behind a middle-aged sailor and pinch him, causing the man to jump with a low yelp. The husky-victim whirled around, wearing a harassed expression. He responded after an instant with a wary laugh, shaking a finger in admonishment, and quickly retreated to the nearest mast. An unusual number of sailors seemed to have found duties to perform aloft, this morning.
It wasn't a universal reaction. The assistant cook seemed pleased by the attentions of women gathered round the porridge pot. And why not? Aroused fems were seldom dangerous, and it was doubtful the poor fellow got much notice during summertime. He would likely store a memory of brief flirtation to carry him through lonely months in sanctuary.
Two nearby vars, a short blonde and a slender redhead, were giggling and pointing. Maia turned to see what had them going.
Renna, she thought with a sigh. The Visitor had approached one last, half-full bucket she had neglected to dump overboard. He bent to scoop a handful of glory frost, bringing it up to sniff, delicately, curiously. Renna looked perplexed for a moment, then his head jerked back and his eyes widened. Carefully, he dusted off his hands and thrust them into his pockets.
The two rads laughed. Maia didn't like the way they were looking at him.
"I guess if one were desperate enough . . ." one said to the other.
"Oh, I don't know," came the reply. "I think he's kind of exotic-looking. Maybe, after we reach Ursulaborg."
