The Amiibo

The cat’s tail swung from left to right. Detective Santos watched its hypnotic swaying against the crackling of the fireplace. The flames swayed too, up and down, bubbling.

Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of ex-commissioner Rodriguez the remnants of brandy warmed the atmosphere. Torres and Rodriguez were playing Go. The former commissioner had a romantic idea of the game and the weakness of the white stones was so evident that it provoked the detective’s smile as she stroked the cat’s ears.

“It has started to rain,” said Rodriguez; he had made a fatal mistake and was trying to divert Torres’ attention.
“I see,” said Torres, placing a black stone on his rival’s weak spot. “Atari.”
“I don’t know what time this girl will be back,” said the former commissioner, passing his turn.
“Good game,” replied the inspector.
“That’s what it is to live in this lost town,” grumbled Rodriguez, draining his brandy. “Here everyone is so calm, they never think that anything could happen. The kids do whatever they want without thinking about whether their parents might be worried.”
“Never mind, commissioner,” said Santos softly, “perhaps you’ll win the

next one.”

Rodriguez looked up and caught a knowing glance among his guests. Disguising his annoyance, he got up to refill the glasses.

“Here it is,” said Torres as he heard the gate creak and footsteps on the lawn. A key turned in a lock and a door opened; they heard the splash of a coat on a rack.

Then she entered. It was a thin girl, with large dark circles under her eyes and a pale face.

“My daughter Blanca,” said former Commissioner Rodriguez, introducing them. Blanca shook their hands, kissed her father and sat down on the rug by the fireplace.

The cat jumped onto her lap, she cuddled it and began to talk. The three men looked with interest at this girl who talked about manga, social networks and strange video games.

“Twenty-one years ago,” said former Commissioner Rodriguez, smiling at his guests. “When she was born she had spiky hair and huge feet. Look at her now.”
“Time seems to have been good to her,” said Santos, amused.
“I’d like to play one of those video games sometime,” said former Commissioner Rodriguez. “Just to understand what it’s all about.”
“You wouldn’t last a minute, Dad,” replied the girl, shaking her head. She stroked the cat and shook her head as she chuckled under her breath.
“I’d like to see those imaginary worlds and heroes and tournaments,” said former Commissioner Rodriguez. “Camilla, what was it you started telling me the other day, about an “amiibo” or something like that?”
“Nothing,” answered the girl, making the cat growl. “It’s bullshit.”
“An “amiibo”?” asked Detective Santos.
“Well, it’s an object that connects to the game and gives you extras… just a bit of what you might call magic, perhaps.”

Her three interlocutors looked at her questioningly. Blanca absent-mindedly stroked the cat’s head: it stretched out and offered her its belly.

“At first glance, it looks like a normal toy,” said the girl, showing something she took out of her pocket.

Detective Santos approached, curious. It was a figurine with a stand representing a little monkey prancing on one paw.

“And what’s so extraordinary about it?” asked former commissioner Rodriguez, taking it from his daughter’s hands to look at it.
“A hacker has reprogrammed it,” answered his daughter, holding the cat. “A very geeky guy… He wanted to prove that video games are part of reality and that everything you do in a video game has consequences. He gave it this power: Three separate people could each have three wishes on three different video games.”
“Well, why don’t you have three?” asked Inspector Torres.

Blanca looked at him anxiously.

“I still have to find out in which video game they can be ordered… they’ve already used it twice,” she said, and her pallor deepened.
“And did the wishes come true?” asked detective Santos.
“It seems so,” said Blanca.
“And do you know who has already used it?” insisted the detective.
“Yes… Laura and her boyfriend. I don’t know what they asked for, but he had an accident shortly after and they broke up… so Laura gave it to me.”

She finished the sentence almost in a whisper. The cat let go and tried to reach the monkey figurine that the former commissioner was twirling between his fingers.

“Nice gift,” said Rodriguez worriedly. “Are you sure you want to keep it?”
“Actually, Dad, I’ve thought about selling it. I’ve been looking on Amazon and amiibos are super hot. But I don’t think I’ll do it. It’s already caused enough misfortune. Besides, people don’t want to buy it. Hacked “amiibos” you can’t guarantee they will work. Several buyers wrote to me who were interested but wanted to try it out before making a payment.”
“What if Laura were granted two more wishes,” asked the former commissioner, “wouldn’t she ask for them? She could reconcile with her boyfriend.”
“I don’t know,” Blanca answered. I don’t think she ever wants to see him again.

The cat managed to claw at the figurine, which flew away and ended up in the fire. Blanca rescued it with a scream.

“Better let it burn,” said former commissioner Rodriguez, “so at least you won’t be hooked to the computer every night until all hours. Nothing good can come of it.”
“Don’t be a fool, Dad,” Blanca answered, wiping the monkey clean of ash. “There are people who make a lot of money playing video games. You could ask the amiibo to unlock some rare item for free and resell it, or get an undetectable hack that makes you win tournaments.”
“Santos, do you understand anything he’s saying?” asked the former commissioner.
“Something,” replied the woman with a wink. “Blanca, how do you do it?”
“You have to connect the “amiibo” to the computer, and you get a web page with a riddle. If you solve it, it tells you which is the next game where you can make your wishes. But I’ve been told that when you enter the riddle website, if you don’t get it right, your computer crashes.”
“Your computer crashes?” Santos asked.
“Yes, totally. Laura told me that the first time they tried and failed, they had to buy a new computer because theirs was unrecoverable. There was a power surge and the board burned out.”
“It sounds more like cyber terrorism than hacking,” said Santos. “If you’re determined to try it, we’ll have to take some precautions. Let’s take a look at your computer.”

Blanca put the amiibo in her pocket. She invited the detective to accompany her to her room. Torres and Rodriguez put down their empty glasses and followed her.

“I’m glad Santos took the initiative to take a look at that thing,” the former commissioner commented to the inspector in a quiet voice, as they climbed the stairs leading to the bedrooms. I brought it up precisely for that reason.
“Is there something bothering you?”
“That boy, the one who had an accident… I don’t know what happened to him with Blanca’s friend, but everything about the accident was very strange. In fact, he’s still in a coma. They don’t know if he’ll come out of the coma.”
“And when did that happen?”
“A week ago. Since then Blanca hardly sleeps and she always carries that thing around with her, as if she was afraid of something. I’ve insisted that she throw it away, but she refuses.”
“No doubt,” said Torres, with mock horror, “she will solve the riddle of the web and be happy, rich and famous. For starters, she’ll ask for a videogame-loving father, so she won’t have to play at night in secret.”

A black shadow slipped between their legs and entered the room before them. It was the cat. A scream was heard. Torres and the ex-commissioner rushed into the darkness.

“You’re just in time to make a wish,” Santos murmured, greeting them without taking his eyes off the quantum computer.

Blanca hung in the middle of the room with her Virtual Reality helmet sparking.