Nibs fidgeted slightly on the long white couch that sat in the center of Rifter’s parlor. Nibs often wondered how it was possible for a room to be so white. His master still hadn’t arrived yet and Nibs spent the time crossing and uncrossing his legs. His gaze drifted over the room, he had been in here so many times he had lost count. On the mantle was a large framed portrait of the emperor with Rifter beside him. Next to that was a portrait of a green haired girl and after that a portrait of prince Florzel. This was Rifter’s family, not the one he was born with but the one he had built up, Nibs wasn’t surprised to never see a picture of him up there. Rifter wasn’t his father, not really. You can’t have relatives if you’re not flesh and blood. Finally Rifter stepped into the room. He had clearly been working, signified from the metal mask he wore. Despite this fact he still wore a dark suit, tailored perfectly to fit his tall slender frame. He removed the mask slowly, placing it carefully in it’s place inside the glass case that rested on the mantel. He finally turned back to Nibs, his expression as unreadable as ever. A few dark hairs had fallen into his eyes and Rifter, upon noticing them, pushed them back into place.

“Sorry I’m late. I was a little caught up with work. Could you set up the game?” Nibs nodded. He pulled out the box that rested beneath the large glass coffee table. Carefully he opened it, removing the chess board and placing it on gently on the table. Then one by one he placed the ivory pieces on the board. The chess set was Rifter’s most valuable possession. It was hundreds of years old, from the time before the New Beginning. Rifter had told Nibs that the pieces had once been made from the horn of a real living animal. Now, the few people that still played chess mostly used holographic sets but Rifter always insisted on using this one. Finally, Nibs placed the last piece on the board and Rifter came over. Without even a single word to signify the beginning of the game he moved his first piece forward.

“Any progress on the project master?” He moved his own pawn a space. Rifter nodded slowly.

“I think it’s getting there. I’m on the right track. I’m just...missing something.” Nibs moved again, then Rifter, then Nibs. Then Rifter again who immediately took out the knight Nibs had just moved.

“Um...master?”

“Yes Nibs?” Nibs was silent for a minute, finally he took a deep breathe.

“I’ve been wondering this for awhile now. Am I in control of anything I do?” Rifter stopped for a moment, arching a dark brow.

“What?”

Nibs bit his lip, attempting to rephrase what he was attempting today.

“Do I control my own actions and thought? Can I actually even feel anything or are all my emotions already pre-programmed?” Rifter simply shrugged, moving another piece forward.

“Kind of.” Nibs’s face fell and Rifter shook his head.

“Don’t be sad about it. Humans are no different.”

“What do you mean?” Rifter took another one of Nibs’s pawns.

“Well think about it, humans are pretty much just programmed a certain way too. Our emotions don’t really exist either, it’s all hormones and brain functions telling us what to do. Fear, love, panic, it’s all just ‘programs’ to keep humanity alive. Things like love and sex only feel good because it’s pre-programmed into us, we only feel fear so we can stay alive. If you think of it that way no one is really controlled by themselves, it’s all natures programing.” Nibs moved again and moments later Rifter easily took his bishop. “Going by that logic anyone with the right programing skills and a functioning brain should be able to become God.” Nibs froze.

“You’re not supposed to say that word master.” Rifter shrugged.

“I don’t give a frick.”

“You’re not supposed to say it...it’s bad.” Nibs still didn’t move, terrified that a lightning bolt was about to come down and strike Rifter into the dust.

It didn’t.

Rifter took Nibs’s queen.

They kept playing but Nibs knew Rifter was going to win, Rifter always won. Yet they kept playing, every day they played. Nibs assumed their daily game served multiple purposes. It was a way for Nibs to practice his human interaction skills, it gave Rifter a way to check in on him daily and most importantly, Rifter was waiting for the day when Nibs would be able to beat him. Nibs stared back to the board.

Well, it didn’t look like today was going to be that day.

Rifter smiled, slightly. “Stuck?” he prompted.

Nibs shifted a little in his seat. “Er, well….”

“Do you want my advice?” Rifter asked.

“If you would be willing to give it,” Nibs said.

“Look at all the pieces on the board at once,” Rifter said, “and then look at them as individuals. You use that tactic all the time in propaganda. It’s a routine from the War.”

“I can make predictions about groups of people,” Nibs said, “but not about you, master.”

“Alright. Make some predictions,” Rifter said.

Nibs shut his eyes, and everything fell into place. He spoke almost without knowing he was speaking.

“At this moment, His Majesty the Prince has decided that Jenx is too dangerous to be free. He intends to keep Jenx in a sort of gilded cage. In my conversations with Jenx I have discerned his major flaw to be shallow materialism, so I believe he will take His Majesty’s offer. Though you never can be sure. At this moment, the agitator Palea Pasternak has been apprehended. There is a 50.19% chance she still has your fiancee with her. If she does not, it is practically guaranteed that your fiancee is in the nearby village. At approximately 16:00 we will receive news of her recovery.” He opened his eyes again. “That’s all very simple-- just track the geoposition and itineraries.”

“Yes,” Rifter said. “Now look at the board. It’s the same principle.”

Nibs shook his head. “No-- no it’s not, master. I have information about the movements of groups of people. I can take a guess about what they’ll do next. I don’t know just about you alone.”

“You’ve played with me many times,” Rifter said. “Use that data in aggregate.”

Nibs pulled back the memory of every chess game he’d ever played. In previous games, when Rifter had sacrificed his queen, he had then gone on the offensive.

Nibs moved his rook.

Rifter raised an eyebrow. “Hm. Close, but no cigar.” The rook had been defending the king. Rifter moved in with a bishop. “Check.”

Nibs took this bishop with the king. But now the king was backed into a corner, with white pieces on all sides. Rifter moved forward with a pawn.

“And mate,” he said. He leaned back. “That was a bold move, at least. You’re getting more interesting.”

Nibs shrugged. “I’m still not great at this.”

“It takes time. Remember to pay attention to the pawns. They’re important, too. They’re not just fodder for the larger pieces,” Rifter said. “That will be all for today.”

Nibs stood up. He always felt guiltily relieved when these sessions were over. He was not exactly sure what his master wanted from him-- what he wanted him to become-- and what it had to do with being very excellent at chess. What he was afraid of was that he wouldn’t like the person his master wanted him to be. Perhaps he only wanted to live in a quiet house in the Waste-- some abandoned desert farmhouse, where he could raise donkeys and watch the sunrise. But then, he wasn’t a real person. He didn’t know what he wanted.

As he turned to leave, Rifter said, “Oh, and I forgot to ask. Who told you it was wrong to say God?”

“Well-- everyone. Anyone. His Majesty the Prince-- and my friends. Everyone,” Nibs said.

“Did they tell you why?” Rifter said.

“Because-- because He’s watching us,” he said. He gave a nervous glance at the ceiling.

“Hm. And did they tell you who he was?” Rifter asked.

“No,” Nibs said. “I-- I don’t think anyone knows, master.”

“Good,” Rifter said. “I’ll call you in if I need you for anything else.”

And so Nibs left the very white room and went back to his own quarters-- a dark, cluttered room full of old pieces of technology and relics from the New Beginning.