泽的闹钟响了。
他慢慢起身，在客房服务菜单上点了几下，要了一杯果蔬汁。
他穿上衣服。
3分钟后，果汁送到了。泽几口喝完，一刻也没耽搁，开门下楼。
到了大堂，他看见大堂餐厅里有人朝他招手。
他转头一看，是白。
泽走过去，在白身旁坐下。
“jie mo kai tu jie hei ja ma？”她用甜甜的声音问，分明是在拿餐厅机器人打趣。
“我喝过果汁了，不用”，泽答道。
“你最近怎么样？”
“你不打算问问我，都摸清了其他选手什么战术？你今天就要进半决赛了。”
“那你说说，都摸清了其他选手什么战术？”
随即他赶紧补了一句：
“你打听消息，没用过什么见不得光的手段吧？”
“放心，我不是什么北极间谍之类的人。我只是把比赛全看了，跟几个选手交上了朋友，他们让我跟着一起练了几盘。”
泽微微翻了个白眼，随后松了口气。
“基本社交技能罢了。我从小就得靠这些活下来。”
“谢谢你，白，真的。”
他停顿了片刻。
“那你有什么建议？”
“要挑一个反复出现的规律”，白说，“那就是这个。其他选手——贡绝对算一个，其实别人也都一样——都太急了。他们不只是想赢，而是想快点赢。”
“我知道资格赛的计分方式在鼓励这种打法，可是……就算过了8,000回合这条线，他们也还是这样，连我看到的那盘贡对德鲁因的练习局也一样。他们不是在打策略，只是为快而快。”
“所以能不赶就别赶，好吗，泽？”
泽点点头。
“谢谢你的建议。”
机器人送来了白的素菜米饭和一杯茶。泽也给自己点了杯茶，边喝边看白吃饭喝茶。
10分钟后，泽的手表震了一下。接他去半决赛的车到了。
“欢迎来到半决赛”，广播里高声宣布。
“我们一路走到这里。这40天里，各位见证了开赛以来最艰难的一些对局。资格赛前4名是：红郡的德鲁因，六战全胜；帕佛盖都的泽雷民，六战五胜，平均5,047回合取胜；尊代的贡蔡白，六战五胜，平均5,699回合取胜；盖雅肯的寇塞扎，六战五胜，平均6,740回合取胜。”
“今天这一轮格外特别：我们将看到泽雷民与贡蔡白对决。紧接着，另外两位选手的半决赛也将开打。15天后，两位胜者将展开一场三局两胜的史诗对决，全国冠军也就此诞生！”
“当然，还有今天的规则变动。每个干预回合你能调配的资源减少80%。除此之外，棋场上会有5座神龛：4座分别位于棋盘4条边的正中，一座在正中。每1,000回合，神龛内容发生过的所有变化，都会以异或的形式作用到神龛四角附近的区域，然后神龛会重置为默认的石阵。”
"FI LE GEI TAU FA."
泽立刻明白了新规则的含义。神龛是唯一违反物质守恒的东西——不过即便如此，在新规则下也没有任何东西会减少熵。异或不保持权重，却是可逆的。所以随着时间推移，棋盘会越来越满，也越来越乱。资源配额减少，意味着干预回合不是用来建造的——而是用来掌舵的。
泽照例布下墙、滑翔机和飞船。不过这次他用了几种不同的设计——一种可操控的载符飞船，是他几个月前做出来的，只要在少数几格上干预，就能改变它的方向。
"MU GU GEI TAU FA."
泽又想出一个办法：他重新摆了摆飞船的位置，让它们在两次干预回合之后正好停在神龛外侧。这样他就能朝恰到好处的方向放出一架滑翔机，把两座神龛变成一座永恒的滑翔机工厂：滑翔机会来回弹跳，每撞一次就崩下岩石，向北喷出更多滑翔机；而每1,000回合，岩石都会重置。
"PA GU……"
泽把全部精力都投到滑翔机风暴上，好掩护飞船前往中央、东面和南面；他决定放弃西面。
"SO …… BI …… ZE …… HA …… MU …… FO …… SHI …… LE …… PA ……"
直到最后一刻，泽都在不断优化自己的结构。
"TAU FA."
飞船和滑翔机动了起来。
1,000回合后，第一次干预回合到了。泽放出几架滑翔机，把更多石阵变成符记和滑翔机工厂。
他意识到自己有一个很大的弱点：他能造符记，但造一艘载符飞船或一座滑翔机工厂要花4个干预回合。也就是说，他那3艘载符飞船就是他的全部舰队，他必须保住它们。
就在第二次干预回合之前，他的飞船和贡的两艘飞船在中央擦肩而过。显然，贡想在中央做文章的劲头比他还足。
泽意识到自己必须做选择：放出滑翔机攻击贡的飞船，筑墙防御贡的飞船，或者布下那座永恒的滑翔机工厂。
第二次干预回合到了。他选了最后一条路：放出滑翔机，让它们在中央神龛与南面神龛、中央神龛与东面神龛、南面神龛与东面神龛之间来回弹跳。
干预回合刚结束，泽就发现贡做了完全相同的事，动用了他在中央的两艘载符飞船。贡还调整了两艘船的航向，让它们也朝南去。
泽和贡都看不到全局，但观众看得到。
几百回合后，泽意识到贡的攻势更见效。他不仅在中央与南面神龛之间、中央与西面神龛之间造出了永恒的滑翔机工厂，还发动了一波滑翔机攻势，摧毁了泽的载符飞船。
与此同时，贡的两艘载符飞船正向南移动，其中一艘的航线正好撞上泽的飞船——这次相撞会发生在下一个干预回合之前。
泽将只剩一艘载符飞船，就是东面那艘。
泽叹了口气。他意识到，自己那艘载符飞船，已经是手里最后一件贡还不知道的可移动结构了。让贡继续不知情，也许就是他最大的优势。下一个干预回合，他让那艘飞船暂时停下，就停在贡东北基地的视野之外。他设定飞船放出滑翔机，去摧毁贡东北基地里那些必定存在的符记。为了不暴露位置，滑翔机不会直接向北飞——而是先撞上北面的岩石神龛反弹过去。
与此同时，在东南面，泽自己的符记开始一个个消失——先是给贡的永恒滑翔机工厂打掉的，接着又被贡那艘从南面转向东去的载符飞船新放出的滑翔机打掉。
就在下一个干预回合之前，泽短暂地瞥见贡的载符飞船出现在他西南基地附近——紧接着，它就放出滑翔机把基地摧毁了。
然后，第四次干预回合到了。
泽清楚，贡在子力上优势很大。他唯一的优势就是藏得住。永恒滑翔机工厂放出的滑翔机四处乱飞，而东北角稍往南的位置，算是比较好待的地方之一。
泽决定继续潜伏。他让载符飞船停下，开始了一项需要5个干预回合的工程：再造一艘。
与此同时，他回想起中央那艘载符飞船被摧毁之前，自己看到的附近石阵是什么样，在沙盒里照原样复现，然后想出一套策略：在中央与北面神龛之间造出一座永恒的滑翔机工厂，把贡的西北面搅得天翻地覆。
到第五次干预回合，他的攻势已经重创贡在西北的基地——不过泽无从得知伤害有多大。泽继续造他的第二艘载符飞船。
不久之后，泽在东南的最后一处符记也毁于一场滑翔机风暴。他在东南看到的最后景象，是贡的载符飞船开始向北移动。
泽放出滑翔机，又造了一座永恒的滑翔机工厂，这回让滑翔机铺满西面中线一带。
他没有移动自己的飞船，也动不了：接下来3,000回合，他一边造新飞船，一边只能当活靶子。
第六次干预回合到了，正赶上贡的载符飞船被一阵密集的滑翔机击中。这让贡得到一个幸运的机会，来得及替它挡下滑翔机，使它多撑了一阵。
那艘飞船最终还是被摧毁了，但那是它已经进入泽那艘飞船视野之后的事了。
泽盘算了一下：贡看得到他那艘飞船，却看不到他正在造的新飞船。
泽决定只做唯一能做的事：继续建造，同时沿着西面和棋盘对角线多筑了几道墙。他明智地不管南面：已有的滑翔机风暴，加上贡那艘飞船的残骸，本身就是足够的屏障。
第七次干预回合到了。泽把所有资源都投进新飞船的建造。快完工了。下一个回合刚好够把它造完，再给两艘飞船各下一条掌舵指令。
随后，一场滑翔机风暴从四面八方朝泽的飞船涌来。
起初，墙还撑得住。可滑翔机源源不断，很快就冲破了墙。
第八次干预回合来得正是时候。泽最后一艘飞船还没被打掉，但也快了。他现在能把新飞船造完，再给旧飞船下最后一条指令。
泽把两艘飞船都设成向西航行。他估计旧船上的符记会在100回合内被摧毁，但残骸还能继续向西滑行，撞上北面神龛，向南释放一大片滑翔机风暴。至于新飞船，它也向西航行，但会停在北面神龛稍稍靠北的位置。这样多少能替它挡住那些越来越猛烈的滑翔机风暴。
第九次干预回合到来时，泽利用附近一处快被滑翔机打光的石阵，弹出一架滑翔机向南，去重新调整南面那些正在进攻的永恒滑翔机工厂。他没时间算清调整后会变成什么样，也无从知道确切的后果，但他希望这能让原本安全的区域变得不安全。他还额外向西发动了一波滑翔机攻势。
第十次干预回合到了。似乎什么都没发生，只有残骸。越来越多的残骸。
泽加固了最后一艘载符飞船东侧和西侧的墙。
他放出几架滑翔机，想再造几座永恒的滑翔机工厂，最好能在南面制造更多混乱。其中一架还没飞出泽的视野，就被另一架乱窜的滑翔机撞毁了。
第十一次干预回合到了。泽想出了最后一招。他琢磨出怎么利用自己的一道墙把滑翔机往南弹，让它贴着神龛的边缘走。在沙盒的模拟里，他看到只要它撞上中央神龛的角，就会反弹回北面。滑翔机就这样在中央与北面之间来回弹跳。每撞一次中央，它就同时放出一架向西的滑翔机。而当那架滑翔机撞上西面神龛时，它会反弹转向东南，有望破坏南面的一切。他照做了，同时把这套策略在东面照样复制了一遍。
第十二次干预回合到了。到这时，棋场上的残骸和乱窜的滑翔机已经密集到根本无法进攻。泽只管继续筑墙。缩住阵脚，稳稳防守，看谁耗得过谁。
第十三次干预回合到了。泽在这艘飞船周围筑了4层墙，但墙终于开始崩得比他补得还快。
终于，几百回合之后，警报响了。
“那么……泽雷民获胜！”
泽松了口气。
泽坐在等候室里，看德鲁因和寇的对局。从一开始，德鲁因的战术就让泽既意外又佩服。德鲁因早早把全部注意力放在利用北面和东北面石阵里的资源筑墙上，同时放出滑翔机，想造出朝南的永恒滑翔机工厂。
德鲁因一艘可移动的载符飞船都没造，只是单纯加固防御。寇的永恒滑翔机工厂用处有限：滑翔机虽然永远不停，但真正起作用的只有很短一段时间。滑翔机风暴一来，德鲁因总能想出办法把它反射回去。
泽很是佩服。看来德鲁因也琢磨明白了，自己得更有耐心。
7,000回合后，寇被打得只能躲到南面神龛背后。但他又勉强撑了3,000回合：乱窜的滑翔机和残骸越来越多，而德鲁因有墙护着，处境比他好得多。
对局进行到10,200回合，德鲁因胜出。
德鲁因从电梯里走出来。
“那盘下得真漂亮，德鲁因。”
“谢谢！墙能撑那么久，我自己都吃惊。现在我很想看看你那盘是怎么打的。”
“哦——我那盘比你难看多了。不过说到底，我也是靠防守赢的。”
“待会儿去喝茶吗？”
“好啊！”
德鲁因正坐在院子里喝茶。泽一看见他，就小跑着过去打招呼。
“德鲁因，见到你真高兴！”
德鲁因挥手回应。泽跑完最后一段路，到桌边坐下。
一台机器人立刻滑到他们桌边。
“jie mo kai tu jie hei ja ma？”
菜单弹了出来。
“哇”，泽轻呼一声。
“怎么了？”德鲁因问。
“我觉得这些是他们为泽国语第九版做 A/B 测试的一批新符号。”
他立刻意识到自己在跟一个外国人说话，连忙补了一句：
“你听说过泽国语第九版吗？”
“哦，听过，有几个人跟我提过。就是把语言做成看得见的：为每个词根恢复象形符号，读音却能直接从字形里读出来。另外还有一层，他们想让语法看上去更像数学。”
“对，我正试着拆这个。这个杯子形的字是‘水’——‘ja’。我看到杯子上有两处不寻常：横线比平常多，右边还有3条斜线。也许这些是读音标记？一条标辅音，一条标元音？”
“右上角那个是‘kai’。我看到的不寻常之处是……左边多了一条竖纹，然后往右，纹路越来越弯？不过……我不确定该不该把图像做得这么细，它们的意思常常要看上下文。”
“等等，你懂泽国语？”
“泽啊，泽国语的重点就是它只有256个词根，不到一个月就能学会；细微之处你抓不到，可走到哪儿都应付得来。”德鲁因摆出一副教训人的口气。
“佩服，你都快成本地人了。”
“那，明天跟我一起回红郡吗？我得飞回去给我爸妈过生日，他们的生日只差几天，顺便让我们那边最强的几位选手给我临阵补补课。而且你要是来，我就能跟他们说：既然你也不补课，那我不补也就说得过去了！”
“我很想看看红郡，可惜我实在没这笔钱。也许过几年吧。”
“不过我特别好奇红郡是什么样子！给我发照片吧。”
“哦，我现在就能给你看几张。”
德鲁因掏出手持终端，给泽看了几张红郡的照片。泽看到城堡、松林、大片原始草原、山顶积雪的红色山脉，还有一条巨大的冰瀑。
“哇，真美。”
“你知道吗，我小时候觉得，夸一个国家的自然风光美，其实是明褒实贬，差不多是一种侮辱。那时我想：如果你能对一个国家说出的最好的话，是那些连当地人自己都没造出来、只是轨道动力学、生物演化和地质构造这几股力量随手白送的东西，那其实对那里的人挺刻薄的。”
“但长大后我慢慢明白，根本不是这样。哪怕是美的自然，也需要大量人力去维持。要有人修步道和公路，人们才能走进去、开进去。要有人维持一套政治制度，才能挡住人们污染它、砍光森林、在山坡上乱盖房子毁掉景色、把山体剥开来露天采矿——同时又得允许人们在看得到风景的地方建房，还得让这些房子普通人买得起，并且维持住工业。要有人去修复那些破坏，那些在我们变得足够明智、或者也许足够有钱、懂得在乎这些东西之前留下的破坏。”
“等我攒够钱去，第一时间告诉你。”
“但愿15天后我就攒够了。”他开玩笑说。
“因为我会用我的冠军奖金送你去”，德鲁因笑着回敬。
Zei's alarm buzzed.
He slowly stood up. He tapped a few buttons on the room service menu, and ordered a fruit and vegetable juice.
He put on his clothes.
Three minutes later, the juice arrived. Zei quickly drank it, and without wasting time he opened the door and went downstairs.
When he was in the lobby, he could see someone in the lobby restaurant waving at him.
He turned to look. It was Bai.
Zei walked over, and sat down beside Bai.
"jie mo kai tu jie hei ja ma?", she asked, in a cute voice that was unambiguously making fun of the restaurant robots.
"I already had my juice, I'm fine", Zei replied.
"How have you been?"
"You're not going to ask me what I've learned about the other players' strategies? You're going into the semi-final today", Bai replied.
"Well what have you learned about the other players' strategies?"
Then, he quickly added:
"You haven't been doing anything illicit to get your information, have you?"
"Don't worry, I'm not some kind of Arctic spy or anything like that. I've just been watching all the games, I made friends with some of the other players, and they let me participate in some of their practice sessions."
Zei rolled his eyes slightly, and then sighed with relief.
"Basic social skills. I needed to learn them to survive growing up."
"Thank you Bai, I appreciate you."
He paused for a few moments.
"So what kind of advice do you have?"
"If there was one pattern that came up again and again", Bai replied, "it would be this. All the other players - definitely Gun, but really all the others too, are way too impatient. They don't just want to win, they want to win quickly."
"I know the scoring system of the qualifying rounds incentivizes this, but ... it carried over even past the eight thousand turn threshold, and even in the practice game that I saw between Gun and Deluin. They're not being strategic, they're being fast for the sake of being fast."
"So please don't rush things if you don't have to, okay Zei?"
Zei nodded.
"Thanks for the advice."
The robot arrived, carrying Bai's vegetable and rice dish, and a tea. Zei ordered a tea for himself, and drank while watching Bai eat and drink.
Ten minutes later, Zei's watch buzzed. The car that would take him to the semi-finals had arrived.
"Welcome to the semi-finals", the announcer voice shouted.
"We have come far to get to where we are. We have had forty days of some of the most challenging matches we have seen. The top four players in the qualifiers were: Deluin from Redshire, who won six of six games, Zei Leimin from Pafogai Du who won five of six with an average win time of 5,047 turns, Gun Caibai from Dzundei who won five of six with an average win time of 5,699 turns, and Kau Seiza from Geijaken who won five of six with an average win time of 6,740 turns."
"Today, in this very special round, we will see Zei Leimin and Gun Caibai face off. And right after this, the other two players will have their own semi-final match. And in fifteen days, the two winners will face off in an epic best-two-out-of-three, and we will have our national champion!"
"And of course, today's rule change. The resources you can allocate in each intervention turn are reduced by eighty percent. But in addition, there will be five shrines, four arranged along the center of each edge of the board, and one in the center. Each thousand turns, any changes that had taken place to the contents of the shrine will be applied as an XOR to the regions near the four corners of the shrine, and the shrine will reset to being a default rock formation."
"FI LE GEI TAU FA."
Zei immediately understood the meaning of the new rules. The shrines are the only objects that violate mass conservation - though even still, with these new rules, nothing decreases entropy. XOR is not weight-preserving, but it is reversible. So the game board would get more and more full, and more and more messy, over time. The reduced resource allocation meant that the intervention turns were not for building - they were for steering.
Zei put down his usual walls, gliders and spaceships. This time though, he used some different designs - a steerable symbol-carrying spaceship he had developed months prior, that could change its direction if you intervene in only a few cells.
"MU GU GEI TAU FA."
Zei figured out one additional adjustment: he adjusted the positioning of his spaceships so that they could be located right past the shrines after exactly two intervention turns. This would let him send out a glider in exactly the right direction that it would turn a pair of shrines into an eternal glider factory: a glider would bounce back and forth, at each collision it would break off rock to spray even more gliders further north, and then every thousand turns, the rock would reset.
"PA GU..."
Zei put all of his effort into glider storms that would protect his spaceships as they went to the center, east and south; he decided to sacrifice the west.
"SO ... BI ... ZE ... HA ... MU ... FO ... SHI ... LE ... PA ..."
Until the last moment, Zei kept optimizing his structures.
"TAU FA."
The spaceships and gliders started moving.
A thousand turns later, the first intervention turn came. Zei shot off a few gliders to turn more rock formations into symbols and glider factories.
He realized that he had one major weakness: while he could make symbols, it would take him four intervention turns to make a symbol-carrying spaceship or glider factory. That meant that his three symbol-carrying spaceships were all the fleet that he had, and he had to protect them.
Just before the second intervention turn, his spaceship and two of Gun's spaceships flew past each other in the center. Evidently, Gun was even more intent on doing something in the center than he was.
Zei realized that he had a choice to make: he could send gliders out to attack Gun's ship, he could put up walls to defend against Gun's ship, or he could set up the eternal glider factory.
The second intervention turn came. He decided on the last course of action, sending gliders out that would bounce between the center shrine and the south shrine, the center shrine and the east shrine, and the south shrine and the east shrine.
Right after the intervention turn finished, Zei noticed that Gun had done the exact same thing, using both his symbol-carrying spaceships in the center. He had also adjusted the heading of both of his ships, so that they would also head south.
Zei and Gun could not see the full view of what was going on, but the audience could.
A few hundred turns later, Zei realized that Gun's attack had been more effective. He had not only created eternal glider factories between the center and south shrines, and the center and west, but he had also unleashed a glider attack that destroyed Zei's symbol-carrying spaceship.
Meanwhile, Gun's two symbol-carrying spaceships were moving south, one of them on a collision course with Zei's own - a collision that would happen before the next intervention turn.
Zei would only have one symbol-carrying spaceship left, the one in the east.
Zei sighed. He realized that his last symbol-carrying spaceship was the last mobile structure he had that Gun knew nothing about. His best advantage might be keeping it that way. On his next intervention turn, he steered that spaceship to temporarily stop, just outside of visual range of Gun's northeastern base. He set the spaceship to fire off gliders to destroy the symbols that were undoubtedly in Gun's northeastern base. To avoid giving up his location, they would not fly north directly - instead, they would reflect off of the northern rock shrine.
Meanwhile, in the southeast, Zei's own symbols began to disappear one by one - first, from Gun's eternal glider factories, then from new gliders fired by his symbol-carrying spaceship now moving eastward from the south.
And just before the next intervention turn, Zei briefly saw Gun's symbol-carrying spaceship come into view near his southwest base - just before it sent out gliders that destroyed it.
Then the fourth intervention turn came.
Gun had a large advantage in material, Zei knew. Zei's only advantage was staying hidden. There were also gliders flying all over from the eternal glider factories, and the spot just south of the northeast corner was one of the more comfortable spots to be.
Zei decided he would continue to lay low. He stopped his symbol-carrying spaceship, and started on a five-intervention-turn-long quest to build another one.
Meanwhile, he remembered what he saw of the rock formations near the center just before his symbol-carrying spaceship there was destroyed, replicated the pattern in his sandbox, and figured out a strategy that would spawn an eternal glider factory between the center and north shrines to wreak havoc on Gun's northwest.
By the fifth intervention turn, his attack succeeded in heavily damaging Gun's bases in the northwest - though Zei had no way to know how much damage was done. Zei continued his quest to build another symbol-carrying ship.
Shortly after that, Zei's last symbol in the southeast got destroyed by a storm of gliders. The last thing he could see in the southeast was Gun's symbol-carrying spaceship starting to move northwards.
Zei sent gliders to create another eternal glider factory, this time flooding the space along the center of the west.
He did not move his own spaceship. He could not: for the next three thousand turns he was a sitting duck, as he was building his new spaceship.
The sixth intervention turn came, right when Gun's symbol-carrying ship was getting hit by a barrage of gliders. This gave Gun a lucky chance to protect it from gliders, allowing it to survive a little bit longer.
The spaceship finally did get destroyed, but only after it had gotten within visual range of Zei's own.
Zei calculated: Gun had been able to see Zei's ship, but not the new ship that Zei was building.
Zei decided to do the only thing that he could do: he kept building, while putting up extra walls along the west and the diagonal. He judiciously ignored his south: the existing glider storm, and the debris from Gun's ship, would itself be enough protection.
The seventh intervention turn came. Zei put all resources into building the new ship. Almost finished. The next turn would be just enough to finish it, and to give a steering instruction to both.
Then, a glider storm came toward Zei's ship from all directions.
At first, the walls handled it. But then, the gliders kept coming, and soon they began to breach the walls.
The eighth intervention turn came just in time. Zei's last ship was not quite yet destroyed, but it was almost there. He could now finish his new ship, and give his existing ship one last instruction.
Zei programmed both to head west. He figured that the existing ship's symbol would get destroyed within a hundred turns, but the wreck could still coast west, and crash into the northern shrine and release a large glider storm southward. Meanwhile, the new ship would also head west, but stop just north of the northern shrine. This would give it some protection from the glider storms that were getting more and more intense.
When the ninth intervention turn came, Zei used a nearby rock formation, which was almost destroyed by the gliders, to bounce a glider that would then head southward and re-adjust the eternal glider factories that were attacking to the south. He did not have time to calculate what the adjustment would look like, and he did not have any way to know what its exact consequences would be, but he hoped that it would make previously safe territory unsafe. He also launched one more glider attack westward.
The tenth intervention turn came. Nothing seemed to happen, except debris. More and more debris.
Zei reinforced the eastern and western walls beside his last symbol-carrying spaceship.
He launched a few gliders to try to create more eternal glider factories, that would hopefully create more chaos southward. One of the gliders was destroyed, hit by another stray glider before it even left Zei's visual field.
The eleventh intervention turn came. Zei figured out one last trick. He figured out how to bounce a glider southward off of one of his own walls so that it would hug the edge of the shrine. From his simulations in the sandbox, he saw that if it hit the corner of the middle shrine, it would bounce off back north. The glider would bounce back and forth between the center and the north. Each time it hit the center, it would simultaneously release another glider that would go west. And when that glider hit the western shrine, it would bounce off and go southeast, hopefully causing damage to whatever was in the south. He did this, and simultaneously set up a mirror image of the same strategy toward the east.
The twelfth intervention turn came. By this point, the debris and stray gliders in the game field were so intense that offense was impossible. Zei simply kept building walls. Hunker down, play defense, outlast.
The thirteenth intervention turn came. Zei had built four layers of walls around this ship, and finally the walls were beginning to crumble faster than he could create new ones.
Finally, a few hundred turns after that, an alarm buzzed.
"And ... Zei Leimin is the winner!"
Zei let out a sigh of relief.
Zei sat in the waiting room, watching the game between Deluin and Kau. From the beginning, Zei was surprised, and impressed, by Deluin's strategy. Deluin spent all his attention early on to use the resources in the rock formations near his north and northeast to build walls. Simultaneously, he sent out gliders to try to create eternal glider factories pointing southward.
Deluin did not build any mobile symbol-carrying spaceships. Instead, he simply fortified. Kau's eternal glider factories proved to be of limited use: though the gliders would keep coming forever, they would only have any effect for a short period of time. As soon as a storm of gliders came, Deluin would figure out how to reflect it.
Zei was impressed. Looks like Deluin had also managed to figure out that he needed to be more patient.
Seven thousand turns later, Kau was reduced to hiding behind the southern shrine. But Kau barely survived three thousand turns more: the number of stray gliders and debris kept increasing, and Deluin's walls made him far more protected than Kau was.
Ten thousand two hundred turns into the game, Deluin was announced the winner.
Deluin stepped out from the elevator.
"That was a really impressive job, Deluin."
"Thanks! I was impressed that the walls held out so well. Now I'm excited to see how you handled your game."
"Oh - my style was much uglier than yours. Though I also basically won by playing defense."
"Do you want to get tea later?"
"Sure!"
Deluin was sitting in the courtyard drinking a tea. As soon as Zei saw him, he started running to greet him.
"Deluin, good to see you!"
Deluin waved back. Zei ran the rest of the way to his table and sat down.
A robot immediately slid up to their table.
"jie mo kai tu jie hei ja ma?"
A menu appeared.
"Whoa", Zei gasped.
"What is it?", Deluin asked.
"I think these are some of the new symbols they're A/B testing for Dzegoban version nine."
He immediately realized he was talking to a foreigner, and followed up:
"Have you heard of Dzegoban version nine?"
"Oh yeah I had a couple people mention it to me. Making the language visual. Bringing back hieroglyphs for the individual roots, but pronunciation perfectly readable from the glyph. And also another layer where they're trying to make the grammar look more like math."
"Yeah, so I'm trying to parse this. The cup is water - 'ja'. I see two unusual things about the cup. More straight horizontal lines than usual, and the three diagonal lines on the right. Maybe those are the pronunciation markers? One for the consonant, one for the vowel?"
"Top right is 'kai'. The unusual things I see are ... the extra vertical vein on the left, and then the transition to veins being more and more squiggly on the right? Although ... I'm not sure if I would make the images so detailed, when they often have different meanings depending on context."
"Wait, you know Dzegoban?"
"Zei, the whole point of Dzegoban is that there's only 256 roots, you can learn it in less than a month, and you don't get all the nuances but you can make your way around just fine.", Deluin replied in a lecturing tone.
"I'm impressed, you're almost a local already."
"Well, wanna come to Redshire with me tomorrow? I have to fly back for my mom and dad's birthdays, they're only a few days apart, and get some last-minute tutoring from our top players. And if you come, I can tell them that it's okay to skip the tutoring if you're doing the same!"
"I'd love to see Redshire, though unfortunately I just don't have the money for that. Maybe in a few years."
"But I'm super curious to see what Redshire is like! Send me pictures."
"Oh I can show you a few now."
Deluin took out his hand device, and showed Zei some pictures of Redshire. He saw castles, pine forests, large pristine grasslands, red-colored mountains with their tops covered in snow, and one giant icy waterfall.
"Wow, that's beautiful."
"You know, when I was younger I thought it was a back-handed compliment, almost an insult, to praise someone's country by saying that the nature is beautiful. At the time I thought, if the nicest thing you can say about a country is something that the people did not even make themselves, rather something that the forces of orbital dynamics and biology and tectonics randomly handed them down for free, then that's actually pretty harsh on the people."
"But as I grew up I've come to realize, that's not true at all. Even beautiful nature takes so much human work to maintain. Human work to build the paths and roads so people can walk or drive there. Human work to maintain a political system that stops people from polluting it, cutting down the forests, putting their houses on the mountainsides and making them ugly, strip-mining the mountains - while still allowing housing to be built where people can enjoy the views, keeping that housing affordable, and maintaining industry. Human work to restore any damage that was done before we got wise enough, or maybe rich enough, to care about these things."
"I'll let you know as soon as I can afford to go."
"Hopefully that will be in fifteen days", he joked.
"Because I use my championship winnings to pay for you to go", Deluin playfully snapped back.