by Jace Kang
A Peacekeeper in a burgundy uniform stood on the east bank, pointing a sidearm with one hand while holding his wrist communicator to his mouth.
One would be easy for Ryu or Siena to handle, but tactical teams would be mobilizing at this very second, and in moments would come pouring out of the nearest transit hub.
She had to go back into the EtherCloud. A frightening prospect, given her recent experiences. However, there was a softer target: the transit hub required so much energy to fold space that it had minimal defenses.
Jacking in through her EtherCloud bridge into the transit station’s EtherSpace, she shuddered. Pain from the earlier damage to her Avatar manifested as pain in her real body, which she felt here. Level Three AI Operators, appearing as Dwarves, worked the cogged machinery representing the folding space apertures; meanwhile a Level Three Repairer, which looked like a gnome, fixed broken code. The bushi in light armor, representing Level Two Sentinels, patrolled the area.
Level Twos were usually easy to avoid with a cloak or a shell, but given the amount of damage her code had sustained, her perception of the EtherCloud had slowed. One charged, sword raised.
As someone who always relied on stealth, her combat skills were lacking. She needed to get out—
A Level Four samurai in armor mail appeared, blocking the exit.
The first chopped.
Fighting reflexes she didn’t realize she had kicked in, and she caught its arm, torqued her waist, and threw it over her hip. It wasn’t a perfect throw, and she went down with it. To her surprise, the techniques she’d learned in the real world took over, somehow manifesting as combat subroutines in the EtherCloud. In half a second, the Kappa’s Way of the Swirling Fist had helped her overwhelm the bushi. She wrapped it up and choked it out, representing a decompiling of its code. As quickly as possible, she copied its Shell and donned it.
If she succeeded, the Sentinel by the door would think its comrade had defeated her. Otherwise, she was no match for it. She stood and gave a thumbs-up.
Did it work? She held her virtual breath…
The bushi went back to their patrols, and the samurai blinked out of existence.
Now disguised, she opened her menus and copied the Level Three code for the Repairer’s outer shell. Appearing as a gnome, she went over to the teleport machinery and inserted looping code. It appeared as an extra gear, and would cause anyone arriving at this station to reappear back at their point of origin. Once the Peacekeepers realized what was going on, they would then have to find more conventional means of coming to the Shijo bridge. Only a Level Four Repairer would be able to find and debug the code she’d used to sabotage the system.
Now the hard part. Leaving the local transport station’s EtherSpace, she jumped to the local Peacekeeper’s data node. Like the one she’d visited for the Higashi Honganji area to copy the Tofu-Kozo’s attack, this data node appeared as an old library.
As before, she disguised herself as a horse-drawn cart and entered. At the archives, she passed the Level Two Sentry and accessed the scrolls. Here, she brought up her menus and found a piece of code that would seek out and destroy any file that was an exact copy of the one she planned to infect. In her perception, it appeared as an insect infection of the scrolls, and she added them to all data coming from cameras near the Shijo bridge for the last half-hour.
Satisfied, she disguised herself as a peregrine falcon, sped out of the town, and jacked back out.
Her real body ached both from her fight with the Kappa, and now with the additional burden of having used her damaged Avatar. As always, her perception had turned sideways with the resumption of real time. She blinked several times to find Teppin was close to her, collecting the Kappa bowls. Kentaro and Siena hovered above her, looking concerned. And Ryusuke…he’d reached the far end of the bridge, and was knocking the Peacekeeper out.
He turned around. “Hurry, collect the Kappa’s Cores.”
“What do the Cores look like?” Ken asked.
“For a non-ranked being, it’s intangible energy swirling around a grain of sand. You have to sense it.” Ryu dashed over, arriving in one blink of the eye. “Try now, but if you can’t find it a few minutes after death, they’ll dissipate.”
Aya frowned. They didn’t have much time with the Peacekeepers on their way. “How?”
“Close your eyes, establish your stance. Deep breaths. Connect to your Core via the Microcosmic Orbit and sense the water vapor around the Kappa remains.”
Doing as she was told, Aya reached out. Sensing the water vapor had never been easy, but—
“There!” Kentaro said. He reached into the mass of jelly and pulled out a handful of goop.
“Very good!” Ryu said.
Aya chewed the inside of her cheek. Kentaro had gotten it. Why was it so hard for her?
“Time’s up,” Ryu said.
Her eyes fluttered open as he ran and plucked out more of the gelatin mass from the three remaining piles.
He offered one to her. “Eat it. You too, Ken-kun.”
It stank of rot, worse than the toxins she’d sweated out. She recoiled.
Ryu extended his hand. “Hurry, it’s breaking down as we speak.”
Beyond him, Kentaro’s face squished up. Holding his nose, he popped it into his mouth and swallowed.
And gagged.
Ryu turned to him and set the quivering mass he’d originally offered Aya in his hands. “Deep breaths. We don’t have time to process these through the Microcosmic Orbit, so we need to rely on a technique from the Earth Path. Eat the other. Now you, Aya.” He turned back, extending both hands.
She stared at the goop in both of his palms. With a deep breath, she scooped them up, closed her eyes, and pushed the first into her mouth.
Salty and putrid, it tasted of rotting fish, or at least what she imagined rotting fish to taste like. She gulped it down. The slithering sensation felt almost alive.
Like Kentaro, she nearly hacked it back up. Instead, she took the second one and swallowed it as well. She looked up to find the Purebred with his cheeks puffed up. In the low light, it was hard to tell exactly what color he was.
“Now,” Ryu said, “we need to get some place safe.”
“Can you teleport us?” Kentaro’s voice came out as a croak as he looked to Siena.
“It takes more energy than I have now,” she answered, shaking her head.
Ryu looked around. “Where’s the nearest green space?”
Aya and Kentaro exchanged confused glances.
“A park. Some place where there’s soil.” Ryu rubbed his index and thumb together.
“Oh!” Aya said, and understanding bloomed on Kentaro’s face.
“Pontocho Park, a little to the north on the opposite bank.”
“Then let’s go,” Ryu said. “Lead the way.”
Aya held up a staying hand. “Cameras.”
“Can you disable them?” Ryu asked.
Going into the EtherCloud earlier had restored some of her confidence, but it was one thing to hack a data node and plant a virus in files, and another to attack the cameras in the Peacekeeper’s network. Given the fight on this bridge, no doubt the Peacekeepers would be using those very cameras to monitor the area. More security measures would be put in place.
Not to mention, the damage to her Avatar code would cause pain in her real body.
Still, if she didn’t do it now, they’d be identified and tracked. And there was the inexplicable transfer of her new fighting skills in the real world to the EtherCloud. “All right. You’ll need to carry me part of the way.”
She jacked back in, immediately disguising herself as a Level Two Repairer. She opened a portal from her EtherSpace and studied the network of roads. In the distance, the Peacekeeper’s Castle remained on high alert.
“Ai, scan my combat subroutines and compare to the latest backup file.”
The fox spirit popped into vision. New subroutines found.
“Where did they come fr
om?”
Your neural engrams, translated to code.
How was that even possible? “Explain.”
The real world combat techniques you recorded were translated into code already. When I embedded them into your neural engrams, I had to first copy to your Avatar as a filter. I had yet to delete them.
Well, that serendipity had saved her life. “What is my combat level?”
Level Three.
From Zero to Level Three was unheard of. Still, it wouldn’t have helped her against the Sentinels in the shocktrooper hovercraft, and it would do next to nothing against the defenses inside Peacekeeper Headquarters’ EtherSpace.
She looked over to the Data Hub from just a few minutes earlier, where the cameras were sending backup files. It was generally a one-way path, but would it be possible to use that link to affect the cameras, thereby bypassing Peacekeeper Central?
In all, there were sixty-three cameras between the bridge and Pontocho Park. While it would be faster and more efficient to put them all on a loop from the central EtherSpace at Peacekeeper Headquarters, it was also a lot more dangerous. Still, even zigzagging between each camera and the Data Hub, while inserting the looping code one at a time, she’d still finish faster than Ryu and the others would enter each of the camera’s zones.
She set about the task, using the backdoor and never having to face a Sentinel.
By the time she was done and returned to the real world, she found herself in Ken’s arms, jostling as he ran.
Chapter 25:
The Purebred
W ith the rest of the group following, Kentaro carried Aya as he jogged east to the other side of the bridge and turned north. He wouldn’t have been able to run with so much extra weight in the past, but Cultivation had already strengthened him. The river rustled on the right, though the churning sound could just as easily been coming from his stomach.
The Kappa Core threatened to send his stomach into rebellion; it took all his willpower to keep it down. He looked down to where Aya nestled in his arms, in that trance she went into when hacking into the EtherCloud.
She’d almost died, overpowered by the Kappa. Despite his jealousy over her how quickly she learned, he didn’t want her harmed. In fact, she motivated him to try harder.
Behind them, Master Ryu balanced the Kappa leader’s walking stick on his head the whole time. Siena followed close behind, marveling at the feat.
At last, they arrived at a strip of grass overlooking the Kamo River, barely lit by the moonlight. Cherry trees lined the banks. Couples sometimes came here to stroll during the spring bloom. Of course, those were XHumans, and no Purebred would dare come here, unless they were assigned by City Works to attend to the grounds.
While Teppin explored the area down by the river, Sienna danced around the trees, her wrist to her mouth. Was she talking to her brother again?
Ken set Aya down. Her legs wobbled, and he reached out to support her. “Are you all right?”
With a charming smile usually only reserved for the master, she nodded. “Just a little weak from the damage I sustained in the EtherCloud earlier.”
“All right,” Master Ryu said. “We need to get started now, before the energy inside the Kappa Cores dissolves. Take off your shoes, dig your toes into the Earth, and assume the Zhan Zhuang stance.”
The soil felt cool and squishy beneath Ken’s feet.
“Now, sink lower.” Master Ryusuke pressed down on each of their shoulders, pushing until their thighs were parallel to the ground. He kicked their feet so their toes pointed forward, and then nudged their spines so that they weren’t leaning over.
Ken’s legs soon began to ache as he fought for balance. Facing him, Aya looked to be faring worse, from the way her knees buckled.
Master Ryusuke knelt down and scooped up some soft loam. He ran it between his fingers. “As I mentioned before, the Earth aspects of your body relate to digestion.”
Siena chuckled. “That doesn’t make any more sense now than it did earlier.”
“Doesn’t it?” Ryu raised an eyebrow. “All nutrients come from the ground. It takes our digestive system to process what we eat. The Yang aspect relates to the stomach and the breaking down of food. The Yin aspects relates to the Spleen, and its ability to transform food into energy.”
Ken listened intently. “Before, you said that Earth controlled Water, and that’s how we could defeat Water-style techniques.”
“Yes. But think of river beds as your intestines.” The master gestured at the Kamo River, so close by. “Water winds through them, just like broken-down food passes through your intestines. Now, imagine the Yang aspect of Earth as a cauldron.”
“What’s a cauldron?” Siena asked.
The only reason Ken knew was because of Age of Greed movies. “It’s a big pot which witches used to cook food.”
“Close enough.” Master Ryu cupped one hand and wiggled the fingers of his other hand beneath. “The Yin aspect is the fire beneath. The cauldron receives food, and breaks it down through the action of the fire. The good parts mix with the air in your lungs to generate Qi, while the bad gets expelled. In some cases, like Aya’s, some of the bad mixes in with the good and becomes phlegm.”
The Kappa jelly sloshed in Ken’s stomach, no doubt filled with plenty of bad parts. “How do we make sure the good and bad separate?”
“I’m glad you asked, since right now, we want to break down the Kappa Cores and extract the good aspects, while dispersing the bad. The low stance is the first part. The next is to visualize. As you perform the Microcosmic Orbit, visualize your Qi passing through your Middle Burner.”
This was a new term. Ken cocked his head, and was pleased to see Aya equally perplexed.
“It’s your center, between your navel and the bottom of your ribcage.” Master Ryu pressed his hands over his belly. “Anyway, as your Qi passes through that area, visualize it rinsing away the gunk, leaving the Core clean.”
Ken did as he was told. After so many days of practice, the visualization came easily, though nothing seemed to be happening.
“Imitate my motions now.” Inhaling, Master Ryu lifted his hands, palms up, in front of his body until he reached his ribcage. Then exhaling, he pushed one palm up and the other down. He changed directions with his hands, again breathing in as they drew closer together and met at his solar plexus, then blowing out that breath has they stretched out.
The motions pulled at Ken’s muscles. At his side, sweat glistened on Aya’s forehead as she strained.
The master then turned his body to the left and repeated the motion, and followed it with a turn to the right. “This is one full cycle. Keep repeating.”
“What is this exercise?” Aya asked.
“It’s a modification of the Eight Brocades Qigong. But in the Chinese language, it’s a homonym for breaking up adhesions in your tendons and ligaments.”
Ken’s brow scrunched up. “How does this help our digestion?”
“The actions of the limbs reflect in the organs, due to the connection of your meridians. Notice how your hands separate. This motion is called Separating Heaven from Earth. That represents the separating of the pure energies from the detritus in the food.”
Ken looked at Aya, who smiled and shrugged the best she could from the stretched-out position.
“The more you separate the turbid from the clear, the more you will sense the Core’s energy. It will feel like a prickling, a tingling.”
At his side, Aya was again repeating the motions perfectly.
It took Ken several more repetitions, but eventually the twin Kappa Cores began to vibrate in his gut. “I feel it!”
Master Ryu looked to Aya. “What about you?”
She shook her head. “A little?”
“It will be harder for you, both because of your disease, and also all that metal in your brain.”
So even though she could learn the motions faster, it was still harder for her to circulate her Qi.
“Ke
ep trying. Earth manifests in your muscles, and the more you do Earth Path exercises, the more you will purify your muscle fibers. It will rebuild both fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscles, making you stronger and faster, and improving your stamina.”
“What about the Kappa Cores?” Ken asked.
“Since Kappa are manifestations of water, their Cores are Water in nature. To the Daoists, just as Earth relates to muscles, Water relates to Bone.”
That didn’t make sense, but when neither Ken nor Aya interjected, the master continued: “Keep purifying the Cores, Aya; Ken, we are now going to distribute the energy of the Core through your bones. Perform the Xingyi Fist Earth and Water Forms.”
Ken shifted from the low horse stance to the Xingyi Fist stance, then worked his way through the Water Form. The diagonal stomping steps, combined with the drilling motion of the punch, now came naturally.
Master Ryusuke nodded his approval. “Each time you bring your knee up to set up your step, clench your abdomen and imagine the digestive system compressing the Cores. Then shift to the Water Form so that the energy that you squeeze out from the Cores circulates through your limbs as you stomp and punch. This will help cleanse and fortify your bones.”
Ken concentrated on these motions, though on occasion he looked out of the corner of his eye to see Aya still doing the original drill.
Poor Aya, why was it taking her so long? Ken continued, each step of the Xingyi Fist Earth Form squeezing more energy out of the Kappa Cores, each step of the Water Form circulating that energy into his bones.
After an hour, Master Ryu allowed Aya to finish the basic purifying of the Cores. Instead of teaching her the Xingyi Earth Form, he instead explained something called Guolin Qigong. As much as Ken wanted to join in, the master told him to continue processing and distributing the energy of the Cores through Xingyi Fist.
Still, he peeked over to see what Master Ryu was teaching her.
They were waddling in a circle, heel pivoting, hands swaying. It looked ridiculous, really, especially combined with the way she was to breathe in with two short breaths through her nose and then blow out a long breath through her mouth.