"Kobyashi Maru" ~ for the Short Affair
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section7mfuChallenge: The Short Affair
It wasn’t the first time Illya Kuryakin had been trapped in a maze, and from his past experiences he’d learned a thing or two about them. There were a number of algorithms he could use to solve it; the Wall follower, Pledge, and Trémaux to name a few….all designed to be used inside a maze by a person with no prior knowledge of it.
Standard mazes contain no loops and are equivalent to a tree in graph theory. Therefore, many maze solving algorithms were closely related to graph theory. If one pulled and stretched out the paths in the maze in the proper way it would resemble a tree. Basing the way one moved on mathematics, it seemed that the wall method would be the best solution to the problem.
The Russian put his hand on the right wall, in this case it was a hedge, and not lifting his hand, continuing to touch the wall; he would emerge at the egress. This was the best known method for traversing mazes.
If the maze was simply connected; that is all its wall connected together or to the outer boundary, then by keeping one hand in contact with the wall, he was pretty much guaranteed not to get lost and reach his goal, the exit.
The approach had worked for him in the past, that was until today. He’d spent far to much time making right hand turns and the maze was simply not that big. Something did not seem right.
Illya looked at his wristwatch. It was time to cheat.
Kuryakin pushed his way through the hedge, still continuing right. As he forced his way through each wall, again and again until he heard a ripping sound. He’d pulled a ‘Napoleon’, damaging his new navy blue suit. It was merely a torn pocket on his jacket, and that Del Floria could easily repair. Illya moved on quickly, looking at his watch again.
Not long after that Kuryakin pushed through and to his right he saw the exit at the end of the path. He emerged from the maze, meeting his partner with a smug look of satisfaction on his face. Raising his wristwatch he noted the time with a brief smile.
“Fifteen minutes. I do believe I have beaten your record by a good two minutes my friend. You now owe me dinner at a restaurant of my choosing, and a bottle of Stolichnaya,” he brushed off his sleeves, eyeing the look on Solo’s face. “I think I would like to go to the Russian Tea Room.”
“You cheated,” the American growled.” There’s no way you completed that maze in only fifteen minutes. No one can, or has, except for me.”
“The challenge was to find the exit to the maze, was it not?” Illya began walking away.
“Correct, but you had to have cheated.”
“Did the challenge specify the method by which we were to achieve the goal?”
“No but…”
“I rest my case. There was no clause stating we could not cheat. Napoleon are we not spies; do we not complete our assignments by any means necessary?”
“Gentlemen,” Alexander Waverly’s voice came over the public address system.
“The purpose of this exercise is to see how an agent deals with fear and failure. You were not supposed to find your way out of this maze. It was designed so you could not win...yet here you two have done so."
Napoleon was taken aback by that statement. “We were supposed to fail sir?”
“Precisely.” The Old Man puffed on his pipe as he looked down at his agents from an observation platform."We need to assess how agents react to frustration, fear and failure...the three F's. " Waverly chuckled at his unintended alliteration. "It's obvious that both of you cheated in order to achieve your goal, which I suppose is acceptable in the final analysis. So I must congratulate you both on thinking outside the box. Very well gentlemen, dismissed, and you are not to discuss this test with anyone. Please send in Agents Dancer and Slate.”
Solo and Kuryakin walked side by side, glancing at each other out of the corner of their eyes.
“So you cheated as well?” Illya whispered.
“Yes I did,” Napoleon squared his shoulders.
“I still beat your time by two minutes,” Illya finally grinned."A bet is a bet." He was thoroughly satisfied he'd finally beaten Napoleon at his own game.
Solo crinkled his nose at that comment. “So dinner tonight I guess?”
“Yes please, and do not forget my bottle of vodka.”
“Gee, thanks for the reminder….”
*Kobayshi Maru: from Star Trek. A test adminstered at Starfleet Academy where officers were confronted with a 'no-win' situation. Captain Kirk was the only one to ever beat the Kobayshi Maru scenario and win...because he 'cheated.'
-Prompt Word #2 – Maze
-Prompt Colour – Navy Blue
Author: mrua7
Title: Kobayashi Maru
Word count: 850
It wasn’t the first time Illya Kuryakin had been trapped in a maze, and from his past experiences he’d learned a thing or two about them. There were a number of algorithms he could use to solve it; the Wall follower, Pledge, and Trémaux to name a few….all designed to be used inside a maze by a person with no prior knowledge of it.
Standard mazes contain no loops and are equivalent to a tree in graph theory. Therefore, many maze solving algorithms were closely related to graph theory. If one pulled and stretched out the paths in the maze in the proper way it would resemble a tree. Basing the way one moved on mathematics, it seemed that the wall method would be the best solution to the problem.
The Russian put his hand on the right wall, in this case it was a hedge, and not lifting his hand, continuing to touch the wall; he would emerge at the egress. This was the best known method for traversing mazes.
If the maze was simply connected; that is all its wall connected together or to the outer boundary, then by keeping one hand in contact with the wall, he was pretty much guaranteed not to get lost and reach his goal, the exit.
The approach had worked for him in the past, that was until today. He’d spent far to much time making right hand turns and the maze was simply not that big. Something did not seem right.
Illya looked at his wristwatch. It was time to cheat.
Kuryakin pushed his way through the hedge, still continuing right. As he forced his way through each wall, again and again until he heard a ripping sound. He’d pulled a ‘Napoleon’, damaging his new navy blue suit. It was merely a torn pocket on his jacket, and that Del Floria could easily repair. Illya moved on quickly, looking at his watch again.
Not long after that Kuryakin pushed through and to his right he saw the exit at the end of the path. He emerged from the maze, meeting his partner with a smug look of satisfaction on his face. Raising his wristwatch he noted the time with a brief smile.
“Fifteen minutes. I do believe I have beaten your record by a good two minutes my friend. You now owe me dinner at a restaurant of my choosing, and a bottle of Stolichnaya,” he brushed off his sleeves, eyeing the look on Solo’s face. “I think I would like to go to the Russian Tea Room.”
“You cheated,” the American growled.” There’s no way you completed that maze in only fifteen minutes. No one can, or has, except for me.”
“The challenge was to find the exit to the maze, was it not?” Illya began walking away.
“Correct, but you had to have cheated.”
“Did the challenge specify the method by which we were to achieve the goal?”
“No but…”
“I rest my case. There was no clause stating we could not cheat. Napoleon are we not spies; do we not complete our assignments by any means necessary?”
“Gentlemen,” Alexander Waverly’s voice came over the public address system.
“The purpose of this exercise is to see how an agent deals with fear and failure. You were not supposed to find your way out of this maze. It was designed so you could not win...yet here you two have done so."
Napoleon was taken aback by that statement. “We were supposed to fail sir?”
“Precisely.” The Old Man puffed on his pipe as he looked down at his agents from an observation platform."We need to assess how agents react to frustration, fear and failure...the three F's. " Waverly chuckled at his unintended alliteration. "It's obvious that both of you cheated in order to achieve your goal, which I suppose is acceptable in the final analysis. So I must congratulate you both on thinking outside the box. Very well gentlemen, dismissed, and you are not to discuss this test with anyone. Please send in Agents Dancer and Slate.”
Solo and Kuryakin walked side by side, glancing at each other out of the corner of their eyes.
“So you cheated as well?” Illya whispered.
“Yes I did,” Napoleon squared his shoulders.
“I still beat your time by two minutes,” Illya finally grinned."A bet is a bet." He was thoroughly satisfied he'd finally beaten Napoleon at his own game.
Solo crinkled his nose at that comment. “So dinner tonight I guess?”
“Yes please, and do not forget my bottle of vodka.”
“Gee, thanks for the reminder….”
*Kobayshi Maru: from Star Trek. A test adminstered at Starfleet Academy where officers were confronted with a 'no-win' situation. Captain Kirk was the only one to ever beat the Kobayshi Maru scenario and win...because he 'cheated.'
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no subject
Date: 2015-06-02 01:06 am (UTC)I love Illya knowing the accepted ways to solve a maze, and choosing the shortest. And I did like it when it turned out both of them had 'cheated'. I call it thinking outside the box.
I'm sure Napoleon likes the Russian Tea Room, too.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-02 01:11 am (UTC)Oh I'm sure Solo likes the Russian Tea Room...just not paying. (and you know how Kuryakin can eat)
no subject
Date: 2015-06-02 04:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-02 04:07 am (UTC)Trying my darkest to have my Picfic for tomorrow, but don't know if I can manage it. Too many curve balls being thrown at me...yikes.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-02 08:07 am (UTC)In the business of espionage, a spy must do what a spy must do :-) Great story.
(I started t write a story about solving a maze mathematically, but when I researched it, my mind glazed over. Me and maths are the best of enemies)
no subject
Date: 2015-06-02 01:49 pm (UTC)Glad ou lied the story cuz!
no subject
Date: 2015-06-02 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-02 07:34 pm (UTC)Short Stories for Sunday June 3
Date: 2018-06-03 04:00 am (UTC)RE: Short Stories for Sunday June 3
Date: 2018-06-03 02:45 pm (UTC)