Psion Gamma

by Jacob Gowans

  Brickert and Jeffie high-fived each other.

  “A couple of stipulations first. Anyone can use them as long as it is for training purposes, and it must be done in your free time, not during your sims. Now, I am not going to advertise this news, and neither should you. But if someone comes to me I will send them your way. Okay?”

  “Okay,” they both answered.

  “I have to go,” Byron said, handing Brickert a small piece of paper, “but I hope it helps you both. That is his password. Make sure you wear zero suits while you watch.” After giving them both a long and solemn look, he left the room.

  Jeffie huddled close to Brickert who was already examining the paper. Before she got a chance to see it, Brickert let out a loud laugh and passed the paper to her. She snatched it to see what was so funny.

  She read the words aloud: “User Name: Samuel Harris Berhane, Jr. User Password: fjords.” She couldn’t help but smile. As they walked to lunch, Brickert chatted animatedly to Jeffie, but she was oblivious to it. All she could think about was how she would see Sammy again after her sims.

  As always, she took a minute before launching her first trial to remind herself why she was training. Sometimes she remembered Martin’s memorial service or the way Cala looked when she got back from the hospital. Mostly she thought about her family and Sammy. Doing this helped her push herself harder and longer in the sims.

  While she still hadn’t completely accepted Sammy’s death, there was an ever-enlarging part of her that believed she wasn’t going to see him again. Her best friend had been cheated of his best years of life. Each time she thought about that, she found a deep reserve of anger to tap into and channeled it into her sims.

  Two Thirteens appeared, one in front of her, one to her side. She raised her blast shields and blocked their first volleys. With a jump-blast, she flew straight into one Thirteen, her hand blast bowling him over. Her other hand was extended to shield the bullets at her flank.

  She landed neatly and kept up her shield. Three blasts in short bursts kept the fallen Thirteen off balance. When his face was exposed, she hit him with another powerful blast. His head slammed back against the floor, oozing liquids. The kill fed her fury, which she, in turn, fed into her aggression on the remaining Thirteen.

  Spinning quickly, she fired at him with left and right-handed blasts, keeping him moving. He responded by using random levels of attack, forcing her to adjust her hands and second-guess her assaults. All she had to do was wait for him to reload.

  There it is!

  The Thirteen dumped his clip just as Jeffie ran at him. He bared his teeth, dyed black and ground into points, and sprung off the wall trying to avoid her blasts by landing on top of her. Jeffie used a jump-blast, flipped her body backwards mid-air, and connected with the man in the neck. He collapsed to the floor, and she landed neatly, watching him disappear with a hate-filled grimace.

  That night, she and Brickert met outside sim room four wearing their zero suits. Jeffie hated wearing hers. The suits were skintight and even had to cover the face with a thin netting. Not wearing one could be deadly in an interactive hologram simulation. Her hands twisted around each other as Brickert opened the door and led the way. Her breath caught in her lungs as she expected Sammy to be waiting inside.

  The room was a dark, empty tomb with ghostly white walls. The panel on the wall glowed with life as the motion sensors in the room detected their presence. She had the simulator create two chairs for them, and then, with shaky, sweaty fingers, entered Sammy’s name and password into the computer. Only a half second passed before the entire list of Sammy’s holo-records displayed along with dates and times and outcomes. She narrowed the list down to records of Sammy fighting four Thirteens or more. A blink of light and a new list appeared.

  “Start from the beginning?” she asked Brickert over her shoulder.

  “Sure.”

  Jeffie selected the first item on the list and took her chair.

  “I feel like we should have brought popcorn or something,” Brickert commented.

  She tried to smile, but her heart was pounding a techno beat in her chest. And then he was there—right there inside the room with them. The beat of the song picked up ten points on her internal metronome while Brickert grinned goofily.

  “Cool.”

  Jeffie nodded. She stared at the face she thought she’d memorized perfectly.

  So many things I’ve forgotten.

  The four Thirteens took form in various spots around the room. Jeffie noted Sammy’s apprehension by the way his eyes shifted faster than normal and his face took on that stony appearance. She also saw the same shrewd, calculating look he wore in the Arena as a seasoned honcho who’d never known defeat. The silence of the recording was punctured with gasps or utters of surprise, mostly from Brickert. All in all, the battle lasted well under two minutes, ending when Sammy sacrificed too much of his backside. In a desperate attempt to take one of them out, he received a volley of shots in his back.

  “Can you believe how fast he was?”

  Jeffie didn’t answer. She’d just seen Sammy for the first time in months.

  “I knew he put himself through a strenuous exercise routine,” Brickert continued, “but . . . wow!”

  “Yeah . . .” She was eager to watch another one. In fact, she felt like she could sit there all night. “Did you know he was that fast?”

  “Kind of. I know he focused on long-distance sprinting, different kinds of things to build up his white muscles.”

  “His what?”

  Brickert chuckled with a half-shrug. “I don’t know. He explained it to me once. There are different types of muscle fibers, slower ones and faster ones. Fast ones are white and help improve short bursts of speed.”

  “How come I never knew about this?” she wondered aloud. “All our time talking, and I didn’t even . . .”

  Brickert put his hand on her arm in a way that communicated his sympathy. “I was his roommate. I took him for granted, too.”

  Another holo-record started and ended with similar results. Brickert and Jeffie took verbal notes about what they needed to improve. Jeffie still couldn’t believe the quickness of Sammy’s reflexes, the perfect timing of his jumps, and his sheer recklessness. Sometimes she and Brickert caught themselves groaning or cheering along with the sims.

  After an hour of the same result, Jeffie got up to pick a different record. “I want to see his first victory. It took him a month before he won. Let’s watch it.”

  “Okay,” Brickert said with a shrug.

  This victory had special meaning to her. The night he told her about beating the four-Thirteen sim was the same night she’d forced him to play six hours of Star Racers until she beat him. The spontaneous embrace they’d shared in that moment had left her wanting more. Jeffie had experienced a few flings, all of them squeezed into a busy life of sports and other activities. She’d had kisses and romantic moments during those brief relationships, but being in Sammy’s arms felt better than anything else.

  She wanted Sammy.

  In a huff, she broke her thoughts away from the memory and turned her attention back to the holo. Sammy sped toward the ground faster than anyone Jeffie had ever seen before, breaking the neck of a Thirteen with a loud and quite gruesome SNAP! Then, after removing the Thirteen’s finger, he used the gun to finish the other three.

  “I know I’m starting to wear the word ‘wow’ out, but the only other ones that come to mind are too obscene.”

  Jeffie nodded in agreement.

  “You think we can fight like that?” Brickert asked her.

  “He taught Al to beat the four Thirteen sim, didn’t he?”

  “But that’s Al . . .”

  “And I’m Jeffie. And you’re Brickert. So what? Start the next one.”

  Brickert started to respond, but Jeffie got a text from Kobe.

  Hey J. Where are you? Wanted to hang before bed.

  She wrote him back a short message saying she wa
s too busy. Brickert tried to act oblivious, but his small, annoyed snort was enough to tell her that he knew what was going on.

  Please don’t come looking for me, Kobe, she begged silently. But about five minutes after she sent the text, the sim room door opened, and in walked Kobe with his brother reluctantly following behind, both in their own zero suits.

  “Is it okay if we watch?” Kobe asked them.

  “Err . . .” Brickert slowly glanced over at Jeffie. His eyes told her plainly the answer was No, not okay.

  Kobe noticed this and turned to her. “Do you mind?”

  “No,” she answered. She kept her eyes on the action in front of her. And though she tried to concentrate on what Sammy was doing, her mind kept thinking about Kobe’s presence, wishing he wasn’t there. Perhaps she wasn’t alone in her feelings, because as the four of them watched, no one spoke. She had a pretty good idea why Kobe had come, but hoped she was wrong.

  Brickert stayed another hour before announcing that he was going downstairs for a late dinner. She begged him with her eyes not to leave her with Kobe and Kaden, but his own silent reply was, You said he could stay, not me.

  “And I think I’ll go with him,” Kaden said without hesitating. “Later, guys.”

  Jeffie closed her eyes. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

  Kobe moved over and took the holo-seat next to her.

  Please don’t do this, Kobe. Please don’t make me talk right now.

  His first words were: “Can we talk?”

  She knew she was doomed. She swallowed hard and said, “Do we have to do this?”

  The room was silent for a moment. The holograms of Sammy and four dead Thirteens slowly faded away. Jeffie wanted to take off her zero suit now as the room seemed to have gotten very warm very quickly. Kobe watched her with a nervous expression, which for him was rare.

  “Are you watching these recordings to get better in the sims or just to see him?” He nodded toward the empty space in the middle of the room as if Sammy were still there.

  “I—I don’t know why you’re asking that.” It threw her off balance that he had gone right for the point. She’d expected him to build up to this moment. “You know how much I want to be better.”

  “It’s been months now. Don’t you think you should consider moving past it? I mean, you weren’t married . . . or in love. You know?” He laughed, but without his usual gusto. “We’re too young for that stuff!”

  “None of us feel our age here.” Her tone told Kobe that he should know exactly what she meant. “Look at Al and Marie! When they were seventeen they were already practically engaged.”

  “So you’re saying you were in love with him?”

  “How could—I don’t know, Kobe!” she answered. “I never really had a chance to find out.”

  “How do you feel about me?” he asked, putting his hand on hers. “I know I blew it before, but we’ve had great times together.”

  “I’ve had great times with Strawberry, too.” Even though she wanted to move it, she left her hand under his. She liked the touch.

  Kobe snorted and that wry smile crept back on his lips. “Funny,” he offered. But then he was serious again. “Do you feel like you’re ready to—I don’t know—date someone else?”

  “Do I have to answer that? Can’t we just do what we’ve been doing? I can tell you’ve got . . .” She searched for a word that didn’t sound like something she’d just heard Brickert say, but failed, “ . . . the hots for me. You make it pretty obvious, and it hasn’t stopped me from hanging out with you every weekend.”

  “I know. I’m glad, but I feel like the memory of Sammy is keeping us from being more than friends. I miss him, too. I was there. He saved my life.”

  “I know!” Jeffie said much louder than she meant to.

  “Do you blame me?”

  “NO!” she shouted, then caught herself and calmed down. “No. Not at all.” And she meant it. “But what’s the point if I’m so mixed up right now? Can’t you give me some time?”

  Kobe’s face was now more serious than she had ever seen it. “Jeff, I was there.” His eyes were fixed on the wall opposite them, unblinking and lost in its perfect whiteness. “I took two bullets near the end of the battle. It was all on Sammy to get us out of there. He fought . . .” Kobe cleared his throat and looked up at all the micro-projectors hanging in the ceiling. “You had to have been there to believe how he fought. I was slipping out of consciousness, but I still knew I was seeing something special. Then a bomb went off, and he threw himself in front of me to—you know—to save me. That blast knocked me out. I can’t imagine what it did to him. I—I don’t think he’s coming back, not after what happened in there. And I’m not saying that for me. I got over it. It took time, but I did. I’m saying it for you. I’m sorry. I’m very very sorry.”

  Jeffie folded her arms across her chest. “If anyone could have survived, it’s Sammy. After what I just watched, I know that now more than ever.” Her tone had an icy temperature that made Kobe look away again.

  “I agree.” His voice was quiet, maybe even embarrassed, but Jeffie couldn’t tell for sure. “I’ll give you all the time you want.”

  Jeffie whispered her thanks with closed eyes. She wasn’t sure she could handle all of this. Suddenly Kobe’s warm lips pressed against her cheek.

  She opened her eyes and looked into his. “Thanks for telling me that stuff, Kobe.”

  As soon as Kobe was gone, Jeffie started the next recording. She paused it just as it started so there were no Thirteens in the room. She stood next to the three-dimensional image of her best friend and looked into his eyes. The holo-record was so perfect that it was easy to pretend he was right there with her, looking at her.

  No, she corrected herself, looking through me.

  She couldn’t smell him, couldn’t touch him, but he was there. She put her hand above his shoulder, pretending it rested on his jumpsuit. Her hand hovered in place, shaking barely enough that her skin dipped in and out of him. An ache so deep and strong for him rose up that she had to touch him. Had to. She lurched for him with her arms and fell forward through his image. When she hit the floor, she knew he was gone, and allowed herself to have a good cry.

  The next morning, she and Brickert told the computer to tailor their exercise routines to helping them increase their speed and bursts of power. The first day almost killed her.

  For a week, the only difference she noticed was exhaustion, and consequently, how poorly she performed in instructions and sims. The electronic trainer assured her she would feel a difference in her performance in three to four weeks, and that gave her hope.

  Nothing more was said between Jeffie and Kobe about their conversation in sim room four. She treated him no differently than she had for the past several weeks, and he continued to be his usual, flirtatious self around her.

  Friday night, she went to bed earlier than normal. A week of rigorous daily workouts and fighting two Thirteens in the sims had taken its toll. She skipped her usual nighttime shower and collapsed on her bed only to find something bumpy in her pillowcase. Annoyed, she reached inside and pulled out a scarlet envelope with her name decorated in loopy gold ink.

  Jeffie first thought that Kawai, known for doing things just like this, was planning another girls’ night. She was sure her guess was right when she opened it and removed a very fancy invitation. But Kawai was not the type to invite another girl to a picnic. It was from Kobe. The date was set for the upcoming weekend. Suddenly, sleep was far from Jeffie’s mind as she lay back on her bed twirling the envelope and card between her fingers.

  She heard a snap and the door opened. It was Strawberry grinning like she’d just seen Antonio working out with his shirt off.

  “Oh good. You found it.”

  “This?” Jeffie asked holding the envelope.

  “What else?” Strawberry never bothered containing her excitement. “Are you going to say yes?”

  “I don’t know,” Jeffie muttered. “Tha
t’s what I was just thinking about. You put it in my pillow?”

  “Naturally.” Strawberry gave a short bow and sat down on the bed next to Jeffie.

  Jeffie exhaled hard and said, “Do you think I should go?”

  “Yes!” Strawberry said breathlessly. “Kobe is so cute. Antonio likes him, too. Well, everyone likes him except—”

  “Brickert,” they finished together.

  “But you can’t do everything to please Brickert!” Strawberry pleaded.

  “Trust me, I know.” Jeffie laughed but not in a mirthful way.

  “You don’t owe anyone anything. You’re allowed to go on dates. Especially with stunningly cute boys with stunningly cute dimples.”

  “But I told him to slow it down and give me some time. He gave me a week. I’m supposed to reward him for that?”

  “He’s a boy, Jeffie. You’re lucky he waited a week.”

  Jeffie knew her roommate was right. And after all, it was just a date. She’d never even gone on one with Sammy. “Okay. You’re right. I’ll go.”

  “Yay!” Strawberry cheered, bouncing and clapping in place.

  Jeffie looked at the envelope again with a half smile. So he can be thoughtful, she mused to herself as she pulled her com off the charger and sent Kobe a short text accepting his invitation.

  21. Talking

  March 25, 2086

  SAMMY AND TOAD SPENT TIME RESTING from their travels. Thomas and Lara gave them a bedroom, three square meals, and tried to keep them involved (or at least informed) with what was going on around the palace, but Sammy didn’t like sitting around doing nothing. Too much time on his hands left him with bad thoughts of home, Rio, Stripe, and walking forever with horrific hunger pains.

  During this time, Sammy noticed that Thomas and Lara acted differently around him than Toad. Lara instantly liked Toad and established a matronly bond with him, but with Sammy she spoke very softly, as though he was delicate. Meanwhile, Thomas would often ask Sammy if he was happy and comfortable, if he was okay with the food and living arrangements, or whether he needed anything that hadn’t been offered.