Clue 01
A new take on an old classic Parker Bros game
All characters described in this story, whether game "pieces" or players, are over 18. Parts of the story attempt to duplicate the stream-of-consciousness, freedom from the rigors of sentence and punctuation grammatical rules-- popularized by the Irish novelists of the post-war period, like James Joyce. Copyright ©2024, Brunosden. All rights reserved.
In the first person by Cameron Clay --
"Mr. Green, the gardener, fucked the Earl's youngest son in the Conservatory, over the potting bench, bareback."
The laptop suddenly exploded with a fireworks display and loud explosions backing up an anime of a muscular, dark- haired man, clothed only in an open green plaid flannel shirt, fucking a naked young lad's bubble with passion and determination. The man's muscular butt was pounding into the lad, and the young boy was obviously enjoying the "crime."
"Unbelievable, Cam. You've won again. How do you do it? Every fucking time. You're either cheating. You know the algorhythm. Or we need a handicap."
I was accustomed to such comments and threats. I knew they were idle. They were repeated almost every day after my win. But, never acted on. Let me back up a bit and explain.
I'm a transfer-in junior, majoring in computer engineering and computer graphic arts. This is a fairly new school: Gailord College of Science--the first three letters coming from the major purpose of the curriculum: Games with Artificial Intelligence (GAI). It's April. We are near the end of the year.
It was founded three years ago by Rupert Gaylord, CEO of GAI Enterprises--he was a 34 year old tech billionaire. No one had ever seen him at the school. But, he was nevertheless a legend in the on-line gaming community. GAI was the most successful "real life" gaming producer on the planet.
The physical plant of the college looks old, really old, although it's been around only about 35 years. It was Creation Bible College in Fosterville, VA, roughly mid-way between Richmond and Raleigh. It had been founded by a successful televangelist. He had built a massive stone and timber Neo-Gothic structure, now covered in Virginia creeper, roughly the size of four city blocks--in the wilderness, straddling the border of two states. It was a quad, with a large austere chapel facing east and a grander admin building facing west, the square built out with lower buildings and corner towers to fully enclose the large center greenspace. The structure was designed to permit rigid surveillance of all student activities. It was self-contained and entirely residential. Unfortunately Tommy Foley (the golden-tongued televangelist) was a fraud and a child molester, and he and the school went bankrupt four years ago. Tommy went to jail, and the buildings were scooped up by Rupert. The previous student body was required to re-matriculate elsewhere.
The chapel had been unceremoniously "deconsecrated" and converted to a large computer lab--where students worshipped the ever-growing god of technology. The quad consisted of two floors of rooms over ground level. Basement classrooms were spread around the perimeter of the quad. The corner towers held study halls (and, it was said, but never proven, dungeons). A large student union stood (actually it was mostly underground) in the center, reached by underground tunnels.
I've been here a year--this is my second. Virtually all of us are transfers in with industry experience and educational credits. There are currently about 300 of us--about 200 guys and 100 women. Gailord plans to double in size, but it is doing so slowly.
There aren't many faculty members, as so much is handled with electronic teaching--teaching continuously updated by AI. Cross-education by students is the norm. There is no tuition. Instead, each of us is expected to devote time to creating and programming for the owner's further commercial exploitation. Thus, all of us are "work-study" and resident.
Typical of the general population, about 40 of us belong to the LGTBQ+ Society and there are doubtless others--closeted or curious.
Now to the game....
The student union is a haven for computer geeks. It consists of a large food court surrounded by study and game rooms. It imitates the glass pyramids of the Louvre--so almost everything is underground except the food court and the side rooms are lit by the pyramidal skylights. The pastoral green with its two to three story perimeter structures is in sharp contrast to the technical capacity of the rooms down below.
We are engaged in the current game-rage on campus--not yet released to the public, based on the classic Parker Bros "Clue." There are threee versions: one is PG, one, hetero, one, homo. The board itself has touch-activated squares, reached with the throw of an octagonal die. It is linked Bluetooth to a laptop. Clue had been adapted at Gaylord, and again by the gay community (although the PG and hetero versions are about to hit the street). The folding board has the map of a large old estate with multiple rooms, gardens and outbuildings. As in the classic, the players attempt to guess the crime scenario: the perp (in our case, the top, the victim (bottom), the technique used, the place, and the "instrument" used. The player pieces are various colors of lifelike dildos.