novelraw Chapter 628: Puzzle.
Chapter 628: Puzzle.
"What is it?"
The previous night, Finn tasked his friend with diving into the processor of the android they stole while he handled taking its body apart. As it had been captured by the police, there was a big chance that all of its data had been automatically erased, so he wasn’t expecting to find much of anything. To his surprise, it seems like something was left behind after all.
[You gotta see for yourself.]
A panel popped out from Jake’s back and several plugs jumped out, each connected to a cable of a different thickness. Though he had been converted into an android, Jake was technically still Finn’s exo-core, so he had been equipped with the tools to help him dive.
Taking the plugs, Finn inserted them into the ports on the back of his head. He could feel a faint tingling sensation in his brain, but it was something he had long since gotten used to. Taking a deep breath, Finn gave a mental command and made the jump.
The familiar sensation of cold water quickly enveloped his body. The plunge made no sound, barely stirring the surface of the ocean manifested from countless lines of data. There were no waves or currents, a clear sign of the local data ocean being disconnected from everything, save for the single stream leading back to Jake.
A cartoonish yellow octopus swam toward Finn who looked like a young fishman with a toned, scaly body that was more than a bit taller than his real one. In his hand, he held a golden trident, which represented a set of his trusty Diving tools.
"This way."
Jake motioned for him to follow then started spinning his tentacles like the wings of a fan. The clear water was a testament to the good work Jake had done in clearing out the android’s defences. As they cut their way through it, Finn soon spotted the thing his AI friend mentioned, but it was only once they got closer that he allowed himself to form an opinion on it.
"What the..."
In front of him, a massive contraption glowed with a faint white light. It seemed to be a coalition of randomly stacked identical cubes, all sharing the same size and color. Finn couldn’t even begin to guess what their purpose was, and so he shifted his attention to the surrounding water.
"This file was completely disconnected from everything else." Jake said. "If it wasn’t for the tough shell that encased it, I would have just assumed it was some junk they forgot to delete."
"Nah, those people don’t do junk." Finn said. "They’re way too clean for that."
The Gear cult seemed to have the highest standard for their creations, even if it was just some mass production androids. Having messed around with a few of those before, he knew exactly that they didn’t have anything similar to the file he was looking at.
"It’s... a puzzle?" Finn muttered.
"Exactly!" Jake exclaimed, extending his tentacles in all directions.
Just then, the stack of cubes began to move, shuffling at a speed that was difficult to follow. Finn was startled for a moment, then he squinted and focused on the movements of the blocks.
"It does that every three minutes." Jake said. "Guess the challenge is to solve it under that time."
"I guess..." glancing at his AI friend, Finn raised one scaly eyebrow. "So? Why haven’t you solved it yet?"
"Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to share this curious finding with my dear friend."
"... You couldn’t solve it, huh?"
"Of course I can! I just thought that maybe you would want to give it a try first, in case it’s a one time thing."
Jake had two of his tentacles crossed like a pair of arms, nodding repeatedly as he spoke. It was almost as if he didn’t know that would cause Finn to tease him a little more.
Once the cubes shuffled around again, Finn turned his attention back to them and let go of his trident and stretched his limbs. Cracking his fingers, he gave his AI friend a grin.
"Sit back and watch."
Finn had already figured out the cubes’ controls from his previous observation. Taking hold of them, he began commanding the stack to move. From an outside perspective, it appeared as if he was using some telekinetic power to swap the cubes and rotate them at random, but that was far from what was happening.
An experienced Diver like Finn could find out a lot just from looking at the water making up the data ocean, as well as the object submerged in it. After all, everything around him was data and lines of code given form. He had already gleaned the solution the first time he saw the glowing cubes move and confirmed it the second time. All he had to do was move the blocks in the right sequence and then-
"Damn it!"
Before he could reach it, time ran out, and the stack shuffled again.
"My turn!"
Not even giving him the chance to vent his frustration, Jake shoved the boy out of the way and took hold of the controls. He was moving the blocks twice as fast as the boy, but halfway through, the stack froze, and everything shuffled once more.
"Wha-!!?"
"That wasn’t three minutes, was it?"
"Not even close!"
Furious, Jake took hold of the controls. This time, the stack shuffled again barely half a minute in.
"Maybe... maybe it’s rejecting you?" Finn said.
"Damn you!!! Robophobic piece of shit!!!"
Throwing his eight tentacles up in protest, the yellow octopus backed away, and Finn took over the controls. Not wasting a second, he began moving the glowing blocks once more. Following a sequence he figured the moment the stack finished shuffling, he brought each block to its right spot, and the solution began to take shape.
"C’mon, c’mon..."
There was no counter to inform him of the remaining time, but Finn felt the end approaching. Only a second separated him from the finish line. That was when he slid the final piece into place, turning the messy stack into a single cube.
"I did it!"
No sooner had he raised his arms in celebration than the cube began to brighten. As the white light washed over him, panic struck Finn’s heart, but it was too late to do anything.