As Maphira and Vai, bound with zip ties, were hauled into the back of a helicopter, Maphira couldn’t help but wonder what the point of it all was. Why go through so much effort just to mess with them? She’d already been captured by the Conclave of Mechanists before, and Vai had been part of the dark group back then. Con had explained his plan, blatantly copying the Galactic King from Space Battles, but she still struggled to wrap her head around it.
She supposed that Con couldn’t possibly have known Vai would screw up the Bender test by refusing to do lots of 30KW solar system installations. Perhaps after that, he’d simply wanted to test Vai, taking the opportunity to do so. Even so, it seemed more like Con was interested in the drama than actually ruling the world.
That’s it! Maphira thought. He does just prefer the drama. He’s a bored child playing chess with himself. And that means he’s not going to let this end. He’ll give us a chance to escape so that the game can continue. When it happens, we have to strike, rather than run, destroying the board this sick game is played on.
Perhaps Vai, with all her knowledge of solar power, would be able to come up with a way to stop Con once and for all. If only she wasn’t completely paralysed, she could have brainstormed with the woman for any useful solar energy information.
Most likely, Con’s helicopter would bring them right to the Conclave’s new energy base in Carnegie. There, maybe they could do something to bring down the Conclave of Mechanists. Because the thing was, when you played chess against yourself, eventually you made a move that proved to be poorly calculated. One couldn’t possibly keep track of both sides equally.
And if Maphira’s inkling about what was about to go down was correct, Con had made his most poorly calculated move yet.