Mindguard

by Andrei Cherascu

  ●

  “Ah, Mr. Ayers, I half expected you’ve run away. I was terribly concerned that perhaps you didn’t enjoy my wine.”

  Miller’s joke was lost on Sheldon. “The wine was fine,” he said and promptly sat at the table. He seemed unwell. He appeared to be shaking.

  “Are you all right, Mr. Ayers? You seem ill. Should I get you anything?”

  “Nothing, thank you,” Sheldon answered, avoiding eye contact.

  “All right, well, let’s finalize this then,” Miller suggested.

  Ross, who had thus far simply stared at his partner expecting an explanation, turned around and placed the palm of his hand on Miller’s holopad. The device collected his DNA and proceeded to encrypt the contract.

  “We leave in three months,” Ross said. “I suggest you start preparing as soon as possible. There are biweekly training camps and you can find a spot in one of them next week, but I’m sure you already know that.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Miller said smiling.

  Ross knew of Horatio Miller’s reputation as an adventure traveler. The man had explored many new worlds, together with his friend Nikolaos Apostolos, co-founder of Mylonas Industries, until the latter’s mysterious disappearance on one of their trips.

  “With all due respect to your extreme survival experience, Educator, this is a desert region. It’s probably more dangerous than anything you might have encountered on your – “

  “It’s not him!” Sheldon said abruptly. Horatio Miller gave him a look that Ross couldn’t decipher.

  “It’s my daughter,” Miller told them, never taking his eyes off Sheldon. “She will be joining you on the mission, not me. The information package you need to protect is inside her mind.”

  Chapter 4

  No matter your place or your point in time, the study of history – if performed correctly – will teach you that you are in the most fortunate possible time, in the best of all possible places.

  Kinsey Ayers, A Brief History of the Mind

  Tamisa’s determined walk left angry echoes on the hallway of the administrative building. She had resolved to control herself this time. This time she wasn’t going to let her temper dictate her actions. It wasn’t easy - her heart pounded with rage. Tamisa’s problem was that she was absolutely gorgeous. Her tall, curvy body, dark brown eyes and wild, curly hair exuded a raw sexuality that had been a constant thorn in her side, ever since she had enrolled in the Enforcement Unit Academy. She hated her beauty and tried her best to hide it. That was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

  “You look lovely, sweetheart,” said Martin Anderson, who had just bumped into her. If those words had been spoken by anyone other than Marty, that person would probably have gotten punched. Anger was boiling inside her, but she knew that she could not afford another slip, for fear of getting a dishonorable discharge. Also, she knew that Marty wasn’t making fun of her. The man was all heart. He would have never been disrespectful to any of his cadets.

  Martin was Thomas Anderson’s brother. He had two things in common with his sibling. The first was that, although large and physically imposing, his otherwise benevolent appearance gave him the aura of a loveable grandfather. The second was the fact that he was an extremely dangerous soldier who had, in his lifetime, killed more men than most people meet.

  Martin noticed that Tamisa didn’t say anything. “You’re not going to go talk to him like this, are you sweetheart?”

  “I’m fine, Marty,” she lied. “I just need to get back in the loop, that’s all.”

  The old man gave her a smile one would normally offer a five-year-old trying on her mother’s shoes. “You know, if Tommy sees you like this, he’ll send you right back home for another six months.”

  “Like what?” she asked, with a lump in her throat.

  “Come on, you’re angry as hell,” Marty said, laughing. “Hiding your feelings was never your forte.” Tamisa let out a frustrated growl. Marty just continued laughing, irritating her even more.

  “Look,” he said, “I don’t even know what you’re angry about. You look much better now anyway.”

  “Damn it, Marty, I lost six months!”

  “You haven’t lost them, you trained… with me. That’s hardly lost time. You know, most people don’t even make it to this point.”

  Marty was Thomas Anderson’s first lieutenant and was also in charge of training the cadets in the final stages before active duty. And he was right, most cadets never made it this far, especially women. She let out a deep breath. “I know. Thanks Marty.”

  “Don’t thank me,” he said in a reprimanding tone. “You shouldn’t be thanking me at all, because I shouldn’t have to tell you this, not at this point. You have come further as a female cadet than anyone in the past two decades. Now you’re doing exactly the things that get others kicked out in the first place. You’re too easy to provoke. If Tommy decides that can’t be fixed -”

  “He’ll send me home?” she asked, her voice trembling at the thought that the last decade of her life might have been for nothing.

  “No, not at this stage,“ Marty said. “But he will probably assign you to a desk job for good and you’ll never see any action as long as you live. Then those six months won’t seem like such a long time.“

  Marty was right and Tamisa knew it. She had been taken off active duty right as she was about to embark on her first mission, as punishment for shaving her head. She had always struggled to do everything right. She had been the most determined, hard working cadet in her group. She was obsessed with becoming the first female Enforcer in over twenty-four years, proving that she can be just as efficient as her male counterparts.

  The system was so biased against women that it deterred most of them from even joining. Those who did, ended up dropping out because of the brutal training. Tamisa considered her childhood on Aanadya brutal training. Nothing the Enforcers could throw at her could ever be worse than what she had already endured. Consequently, she hadn’t dropped out. Instead, she proved to be an excellent cadet. She trained to become just as strong, as fast and resilient as any of her male counterparts.

  Tamisa believed that her only weakness was her extraordinary beauty. She feared it might distract others from her accomplishments, so she struggled to reduce it in any way she could. She made sure her clothes were fit in such a way as to deemphasize her curvy body. She even practiced her speech to be as raspy and sharp as possible, hoping it would grant her a more masculine image. Then, right before her first scheduled mission, she decided to get rid of the last feminine trait she felt had left: her voluminous curly hair.

  When she had reported in front of Thomas Liam Anderson with a shaved scalp, the commander had sent her packing and told her to return only when her hair was back to at least a third of the level it had been before.

  “That’s ridiculous, sir, what am I supposed to do in the meantime?” she had protested. Anderson just nonchalantly shrugged. “I would suggest training.” That evening, the punching bag in the training room was nicknamed Commander Anderson.

  Many times she had felt that she hated the man with a passion. More times still, she felt she loved him like a father. Such was the nature of the High Commander of the greatest military in human history. Whatever her personal feelings toward him at any given time, she knew better than to question his judgment. So she trained for another six months, knowing that she should actually be on field missions instead. She waited for her hair to grow back a little. Now, she was returning for a private consultation with him, at his request. Marty was right, she needed to get the anger out of her system first. Luckily, she knew just the way to do that.

  ●

  Tamisa decided to put off her talk with the commander for a few minutes. First, she had to talk to a friend. She had promised herself that she would not get close to anyone at the academy. She didn’t want to create any emotional bonds which could be perceived as weakness, but she had no choice when it came to Vi
llo.

  He was one of her trainers, in charge of mental conditioning and meditation. The Enforcers focused on enhancing the body’s fighting ability with a natural approach. They lacked any of the neural or muscular insertions that other fighting units used to enhance strength or speed. They didn’t download any fighting techniques into their memory insertions. Instead, they developed their own.

  They were not prototechs because they used technology to compensate for abilities that were not natural to the human body, like retinal insertions for thermal recognition or the solar positioning system. However, they didn’t technologically enhance the body’s natural abilities: strength, speed, balance and endurance. Those were trained and perfected using flawless control of the mind and nervous system.

  “The mind can be taught to do amazing things,” Villo had told them, smiling like he always did. “You don’t have to technologically advance your body in order to be invincible. You can teach it to become invincible.”

  Those were his first words to his students, on their first ever lesson with him. Since then, Tamisa had lived her life according to the wisdom of those words. Without any trace of neuroinsertions, muscular insertions or memory enhancements, the enforcers had become the most effective fighters in the man-inhabited universe. They were near impossible to defeat in battle, whether it was tactical warfare or hand-to-hand combat. While the planets of the IFCO all had their individual militaries, the enforcers were at the top of the hierarchy, responsible with the protection of the entire IFCO.

  On their first lesson, in order to exemplify the power of the mind, Villo Kantil challenged any of the twelve cadets in the group to engage him in a fight.

  “All you’ve been doing for the past three years is physically training. Your bodies should be in pretty decent shape, right?” he said, taunting the cadets. The entire group agreed; some laughed. Only Tamisa remained silent.

  “Now, look at me,“ he continued, smiling in his usual cheerful fashion, “I’m not very tall and not very muscular, right?” Nobody said anything. He seemed amused at their reluctance to admit the obvious. Next to a bear like Martin Anderson, or Jeanette Lukad, one of the weaponry instructors, Villo was positively petite.

  “Since you’ve been training with guys twice my size, it shouldn’t be all too hard for you to go toe-to-toe with me, correct? So who is willing to try? The rule being that you must stay on your feet for ten seconds.”

  None of the eleven male cadets stepped up. They all knew that appearances could be deceiving, especially with Villo Kantil. He was the youngest instructor at the academy on Terra Antiqua and also the only one who was at the same time an active field soldier. None of the cadets had ever managed to find out why but they assumed it was a testament to his ability.

  Tamisa took one step forward but Villo just chuckled and looked around. “Any boys willing to try?” he said, paying no attention whatsoever to the woman. “Come on lads, are you going to let yourselves be upstaged by the girl?”

  He looked at Tamisa. The then twenty-year-old woman said nothing but it was clear from the look on her face that she was fuming. That seemed to amuse the young instructor greatly. “All right then, this is your lucky day baby-girl.”

  She stared into his eyes, wishing she could knock him out with her gaze.

  “Take a deep breath,” he said, “then relax and when I say ‘go’ you can attack.” He turned his back to her, which added to the affront but also fueled her anger. “All right, go!” he said.

  Before he had even finished pronouncing the last vowel, she lunged at him with lightning speed. He did not defend himself. He did not hit her or throw her to the ground. He just moved out of the way so quickly that he almost seemed to disappear, right as she was about to grab him. As she passed the spot where his body had been just a fraction of a second ago, his agile defense surprised her so much that she lost her balance, tripped and fell to the ground with an impact that retained the force of her attack.

  She found herself lying on the ground on her stomach, her mouth open in astonishment, feeling completely humiliated.

  “Two seconds,” Villo announced.

  The other eleven cadets started laughing. Tamisa couldn’t even find strength to stand up. At the sound of laughter, Villo suddenly lost any trace of his smile.

  “Is this funny to you?” he asked. Silence immediately ensued. “Is this funny?” he repeated. “Do you think she embarrassed herself? I’m an active field agent in the Enforcement Unit and I have been one for fifteen years. This is your first mental conditioning class and I am your trainer. Realistically, what else where you expecting to happen? The way I see it she is the only cadet who had the proverbial balls to answer my challenge. The ones who should feel embarrassed are you eleven gentlemen, for being too scared to step up.” He looked at Tamisa. She was still on the floor, breathing heavily, more from anger than from the impact of the fall. “Her quick defeat just put her way ahead of you, with your lack of participation. It just made her the cream of this particular crop.”

  Now, Tamisa’s colleagues seemed ashamed.

  “Get up!” Villo ordered. Tamisa appreciated that at least he didn’t humiliate her further by extending his arm to help her up. “Thus,“ Villo addressed the others, paying no more attention to the defeated woman, who was scrambling back to her feet, “she will be the one cadet I will tutor privately, while you gentlemen will have the privilege of enjoying each other’s questionable company. She will have learned in three months what you will learn in three years.” He looked at Tamisa and saw that she was hesitant. “Don’t worry,” he said, “I do this every year with the most promising student. You are not special in that respect.” Tamisa nodded but said nothing.

  “So, what’s your name?” he asked.

  “Tamisa Faber,” she said proudly.

  “Tammy Faber. All right then, you are excused from this particular session. Come back in two hours when I’m done with these losers and we can start the really cool stuff.”

  After that day, Tamisa and Villo quickly bonded. Now she was just as strong and as fast as he was. He trained her with the dedication of a consummate mentor and she absorbed the information with incredible speed. He was, by far, her favorite instructor. She wanted nothing more but to become his favorite student.

  She loved his company, the constant smile on his face and the glimmer in his eyes. His whole demeanor was so different from that of the other instructors. Villo would always joke around, wink at his cadets when they did something right and sigh theatrically whenever they screwed up. In the rare moments when he became serious, all his students walked on eggshells, a sign of the incredible respect he commanded.

  What Tamisa loved most about him was what he represented. He was unusually young for an instructor just like Tamisa always felt ‘unusually female’ among the others. She was, at that time, the only female cadet dispatched to the academy on Terra Antiqua. She feared that it could become a problem for her. Still, the fact that Villo had been accepted as an instructor, in spite of his young age, and that he was also a field agent, were signs that the rules were not as strict as everyone expected. Or, at least, that exceptions were made for the truly exceptional. Tamisa had every intention of becoming exceptional.

  She also loved the fact that he was such a contradictory figure, even in appearance. His hair was almost as long as hers, as opposed to the short hair or lack of hair that were common to the enforcers. He had an earring in his left lobe. Much to the amusement of his cadets, it sometimes sparkled. His clothes though, contrasted strongly with the rest of his colorful aspect. He never once wore an outfit that was not entirely black. When Tamisa finally worked up the courage to ask him about that, she expected him to be elusive or, at best, give some sort of a puzzling answer to deepen the mystery. Instead, he just said that he wore it as a way of mourning the people the enforcers had to kill in battle.

  She found him meditating in his favorite spot, a rock on the eastern part of the estate, overlooking the sea
. Enforcement Unit academies existed on seven planets, but the most important one was the one on Terra Antiqua. This also served as headquarters for Thomas Liam Anderson and his brother Martin. Together, they were the backbone of the Enforcers. The academy had been constructed on the remains of what had once been one of the many Orthodox monasteries on Mount Athos. Only two of the monasteries remained and the peninsula was now used as training grounds for the Enforcers.

  Villo encouraged all of his students to pick out their own private place to meditate. They were taught to establish a spiritual connection with that place, to make it a vital part of who they are.

  “When you will find yourselves on dangerous missions all over the IFCO and beyond, I want you to think about returning to that place,” he taught them. “Think of your chosen location fondly, as a place of complete peace and serenity. Your greatest goal at any moment should be to return there. When you are in situations of combat, the mind must be at peace. There must not be any lingering thoughts - important or trivial - clogging your mind. Thoughts are the slippery surfaces of the consciousness; if you trip and lose your balance, even for a fraction of a second, you are dead. That would look very bad on our record.” Everyone laughed; Villo loved making his students laugh.

  “You need to train your mind to go into state of mindfulness in an instant, leaving room for nothing but the situation at hand. The mind obviously doesn’t have an off and on switch and in the case of some of you gentlemen, I only wish there was an on switch (laughter). Since that is not the case, you must teach it to go into that state and exercise it as you would your body. Some of your other instructors have surely told you ‘you are not your body, you are your mind’. I’m here to tell you that you are neither and that you must learn to control both.”

  As Tamisa approached him, his back was turned to her. It was just like the day of their first encounter, when he told her to attack. This time, he was merely admiring the sea. According to him, the view had the effect of strengthening and inspiring him. Every academy was built in such a way as to highlight the beauty of nature. Perhaps it served to compensate for the hardship of their day-to-day training.