The Artifact Competition (Approaching Infinity Book 1)

by Chris Eisenlauer

  “Wha-hut? That’s not possible, is it?”

  Sessa shrugged and put her arm around Mao. “Well, if not you then your technique. Does this look like anything you’ve ever seen from AI? You didn’t break it, you. . . reduced it. I’ve never seen anything like that before. And I’ve never seen AI applied to the dragon’s head claw before, either. That was pretty amazing.”

  He helped Mai up and self-consciously disentangled himself from her. “I just did what I thought would work.”

  Mai didn’t let him go entirely and reached up to kiss him on the cheek. She firmly held on to his arm and wouldn’t let go. He blushed furiously, but smiled at her, making her forget that she’d almost died right there.

  “Guys, don’t be mad, but I think I want to go home,” Mao said.

  Everyone laughed and agreed that that might be best.

  • • •

  They made their way back up through the top of the pyramid and found things just as they had left them—under tons of rock sky rather than airy, faraway stars. After the trouble they’d gone through, there was no way they were going to leave the book behind. Jav had also gathered up the automaton and its little head and dragged it all the way back to the jump ship. That would be Hol’s souvenir and the book would be Lili’s. They didn’t want to leave Mei out, so they combed the city on their way back, being careful to stay clear of lighting strikes. Mao ended up finding a necklace she thought Mei would like and with that their trip was concluded. Once aboard the ship, they cleaned the wound in Jav’s side, which was by far the most serious, and found, to their amazement, that it had already closed up. He had in fact almost forgotten it.

  They were all exhausted, and after setting course and taking off, everyone fell into a deep, restful sleep. Everyone, but Mai. She was both pleased and concerned about her feelings for Jav, which were starting to grow beyond her control. Eventually, though, she, too, settled into peaceful sleep, untroubled by any potential distress their cargo may have been expected to induce. Many having been snuffed out as food for the Viscain Emperor, the stars would never again be right for the rise of the dead god in that buried temple. From it and its monstrous influence, everyone was safe.

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  Arriving at the villa while it was still dark, the four travelers lugged their things in from the ship and settled down to get a few more hours of sleep. Since they were still on vacation, they each took their time getting up the next morning. Once they were all awake, though, they gathered together and readied the souvenirs for presentation. Hol had been busy all morning, making an official report—something she almost never had to do—and more than likely didn’t even know that they were back. They waited patiently for her to finish.

  • • •

  In her locked study, Hol was kneeling before a floating holographic screen, which held the image of the Viscain Emperor.

  “I must say that utilizing Professor Cranden’s skills was a showing of true intelligence. Making that young man more manageable and balancing his RPP spikes has obviously speeded his progress.”

  “Thank you, Lord Emperor. His progress has been remarkable. He is perhaps the perfect student and his aptitude for Approaching Infinity is very nearly frightening.”

  Hol wondered if what she was witnessing was the Emperor chuckling.

  “I see that you have given up on your inquiries.”

  Hol winced. “Forgive me, Lord Emperor.”

  “Forgive? There is nothing to forgive. The rumors were unconvincing, I suppose. His RMP is above average, and he would have made a fine addition to Mr. Barson’s Coordinators. You found no records, of course, within Palace personnel, within Land Army personnel. I think you suspect where we found him.”

  “Who is he, Lord Emperor?”

  A long, wheezing sigh escaped the Emperor’s carved mouth before he spoke again. “No one. A boon. An experiment. Irony come to life.”

  His words trailed off and she nodded in silence, not really expecting anything more in answer.

  “Don’t let his origins trouble you. Through your molding, he has become a new individual. Tell me, does he remind you of someone?”

  Hol could not help but react to the Emperor’s question. She abruptly raised her head and made brief eye contact with Samhain then rectified her breech in protocol. Now he was chuckling, and Hol was burning with shame because of her mistake and because it seemed the Emperor had read her thoughts.

  His tone became almost grandfatherly. “There are few with whom I can reminisce of a time so far gone. Indulge me, won’t you?”

  “Y-Yes, Lord Emperor. He does remind me of someone.”

  “Of course he does. But even I was shocked at the name you picked for your young student. They look nothing alike, but there is some quality they both have—had—in common. Jav Corso. I expected great things from him.”

  “So did I, Lord Emperor.”

  “I know you did. How could you not? You knew him best of all.”

  Hol lowered her head further and squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to force back tears. “He was the greatest man I have ever known. Strong, upright, dedicated.”

  “Yes, and more. You two made an excellent team.”

  “Thank you, Lord Emperor.”

  “You miss him still. I knew your heart then and I know your strict personal code holds as firmly today. I shall simply make clear that the only rules you would be breaking are your own. You are retired, yes, and long-lived, too, but some experiences never grow old, or so I have observed.”

  “Lord Emperor?”

  “It is true that you have work to do, but you are free, Laedra Hol. You have indulged me in a moment of nostalgia, now consider, should the mood ever strike you, indulging yourself.”

  She nodded but was too embarrassed to speak.

  “I do not believe it will be necessary to report in this manner in the future. You, through training, and Mr. Kalkin, by keeping him apprised of Imperial matters, have the young Mr. Holson well under control. I expect a great showing from you—from him—at the preliminary match. It is less than one year now.”

  “You won’t be disappointed, Lord Emperor.”

  “No, of this I am certain.” He paused in his speech for a moment then said, “That is all.”

  “Yes, Lord Emperor.” The screen faded and was gone before she finished. She stood, composed herself, and left her study to find that everyone had returned.

  • • •

  Once everything was ready and everyone had gathered together, the souvenirs were handed out with all due pomp and dramatic flair. Hol wasn’t quite sure what to make of the stone automaton, especially when Jav offered her the head separately. Mei quietly thanked Mao for the necklace. The twins sifted through their pile of military wares, thoroughly pleased and silenced by the varied styles and the sheer volume. Tani seemed especially fond of the ceremonial dagger.

  Lili, too, had a pile to go through. Jav had collected about twenty volumes in a range of sizes, but she was clearly fixated on the book found in the pyramid. She was turning the pages with reverence and finally looking up she declared, “You guys, this is the most incredible gift I’ve ever received. I think the Cultural Studies Division would kill to get their hands on it.”

  “Good thing you’re a trained fighter, then,” Sessa said.

  “Ha ha,” she replied sarcastically.

  “Well, Lili,” Hol said, “if you think it’d be worthwhile, I can invite the CSD to investigate the pyramid they found. But I’m not giving up my robot.”

  “No, Teacher, of course not. I do think it would be very worthwhile to have them look into it.”

  “Okay. I’ll contact someone tomorrow and we’ll make some arrangements. As far as your book is concerned, though, even if they try to appropriate it in the name of academia, everything on this planet belongs to me,” Hol said with a shrug. “So don’t worry.”

  “Right!” Lili smiled and nodded.

  “Teacher, look at this,” Sessa said, regarding t
he automaton’s head.

  “Yes, it looks like it’s seen better days.”

  “I’ll say! Before Jav got to it, that piece was the same as those two there and that one on the bottom.”

  “The same size?”

  “He did that with the dragon’s head claw,” Mao nearly shouted. “He saved Mai’s life. It was fantastic!”

  “Really? Well you’ll have to tell me all about it.”

  They relayed the story in as much detail as they could and Hol took special interest in the possibility of one of her techniques producing power. In the following days and weeks, she worked very closely with Jav in an attempt to reproduce what he accomplished in the pyramid. She was frankly astonished, as everyone else had been, that he so effectively incorporated AI into that strike.

  The dynamism of the dragon’s head claw required multiple opposing reference points—just one was enough to keep a practitioner’s mind occupied, but the dragon’s head claw required two to start with and those tracked a hundred and eighty degrees, necessarily in perfect alignment and harmony, until completion. The result was deadly. The attack most often targeted the head and Jav, pushing sixteen times gravity, would have little trouble loosing even the most stubborn of heads from its shoulders with no application of AI. But backed by AI, it was frighteningly more potent, and over time, with Hol’s guidance, Jav was able once again to achieve the same results he had against the automaton.

  Usually, AI was used to drastically increase the kinetic energy of a given strike, but when Jav used the dragon’s head claw and had it right, first molecular then atomic volume was reduced down to its constituent particles, releasing power in the process and diminishing the target physically. This alone would be devastating to a living target, but the final, climactic twist ensured a conclusion to any fight.

  Hol was very proud of Jav, and everyone but him noticed that she started calling him by his first name. More and more she allowed herself to really appreciate him, and not just for his genius, which she now recognized. Pride was warranted, but what was stirring in her was something she had all but forgotten a long, long time ago.

  4. PRELIMINARY MATCH

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  From the roof of the villa, Hol and Kalkin watched the fighters practice down below.

  “I’m glad you could join us,” Hol said. “You might never believe it, but Jav’s pretty nervous about tomorrow. I know he appreciates having you here.”

  “Me?”

  Hol smiled. “He respects you more than you realize.”

  “Well, it seems to me that he’s as ready for the match as anyone, maybe more so. I’m still shocked that he’s reached twenty times gravity in so short a time. Most of the participants have been training two years longer than he has and he’s got most of them matched and a number of them beat.”

  “Like Mei.”

  “How’s she doing? She seemed to be the last holdout on the Jav Holson Appreciation Society.”

  “Still is, but she’s quiet now. Once in a while the pressure builds up and she can’t keep from doing something stupid, but Jav is always good about it. She obviously can’t bully him anymore, but I don’t think she’ll ever completely accept him or his presence here.”

  Kalkin nodded solemnly. “Well, there’s one psyche report that won’t be necessary.”

  “If she even gets that far. She still trains, but any real motivation she may have had is basically gone. The day she lost to Jav was the turning point.”

  “How do you think she’ll do tomorrow?”

  “She should do well. I am her teacher, after all. Anyone who beats her will have earned his or her victory. If I were making bets, though, Jav would be my choice.”

  “Is he really that good?”

  “At the Eighteen Heavenly Claws? Yes. He has very little real experience with it, though, and there is plenty left for him to learn. Just a word of advice: if you challenge him on the gravity block again, I’d recommend you do so fully transformed.”

  “No, no. That was a one-time thing. You guys with your F-Genes are too unpredictable. I tried it while I could and I knew what the outcome would be. I don’t ever want to get close to that matter-imploding claw I’ve heard rumors about.”

  Hol laughed musically. “Smart,” she said. “You know, there are still things I haven’t taught him, but even I can’t do that technique the way he does.”

  Kalkin looked at Hol for a moment, drinking in the significance of her statement. Her words suddenly brought into sharp focus all that he was hearing about Jav—something that the legendary Laedra Hol couldn’t pull off, and she was his teacher. “You’re obviously very proud of him.”

  “I respect him,” she said. She then seemed to smile in spite of herself, as if tickled by a sudden, unbidden thought. “He makes me feel a little nostalgic, too.”

  “How’s that?”

  Her smile faded slightly and she looked down at the ground. After a moment she asked, “Have you ever heard of Jav Corso?”

  “Corso. . . That sounds familiar. Didn’t he save a lot of people a long time ago?”

  Hol nodded solemnly. “He was a hero. He was also my training partner and,” she paused for a moment considering, the hint of a wistful frown befalling her face, “my friend.”

  The tone of her voice and change of expression were not lost on Kalkin. “Your friend?” he probed tentatively.

  She winced unconsciously. “I was confused for a long time. He was my senior in training and my mentor in a lot of things. I’ve never met a better or more capable man. He taught me the value of self-discipline, of dedication to something bigger than oneself, of friendship, and, ultimately, of self-reliance.” She sighed. “I was in love, but I realized it late and even realizing it, all that I believed in—that he believed in—made anything more than our professional relationship impossible.

  “We won our Artifacts at the same competition back in year 10,000. The Emperor was good not to pit us against each other, but what amounted to our first major assignment would be our last together.

  “It was the second planet of System 237. The inhabitants there had technology sufficient to know the threat we posed. They couldn’t beat us, but they could hurt us. It would destroy them as well, but maybe that was better than just accepting a passive defeat. They built a bomb and launched it into their sun just after we made planetfall. They offered no overt resistance; they just waited. Waited until their device started the irreversible series of reactions that would turn their star into a supernova and wipe out all of 237 and a good portion of the Vine with it.

  “The Astrophysics Division soon realized the problem and evacuation plans were made. The Emperor was in no danger, of course; he could be anywhere along the Vine he chose, but the Root Palace would be lost. It was inevitable. Most Shades had some way to cope with what was coming—a way to escape, or a way to survive. But the civilians, the doctors, the engineers, the researchers. . . In those days jump deck travel was more limited and had it’s own dangers. Conventional vessels were scarce, we’ve never relied on them. Shades were—and are—far superior to warships. Besides, what could threaten the Viscain Empire on such a scale as to make mass transports necessary? What could there possibly be to make us run? Well, it turns out than an exploding star would do the trick.

  “The Emperor ordered the Shades to aid in all possible ways. And we did. Jav and I were to finalize the evacuation, to clean up, basically. All the ships that we did have were gone, filled to capacity and on the way to safety. Together Jav and I carved out a section of the Root Palace, about one kilometer long and one third as big around. We shielded it and made it space-worthy. After loading it with passengers, we got it off planet, but that was just the first step. We still had to get away.

  “There wasn’t much I could do. Even with the Charging Fork all I could do was try to make it easier for Jav and that was really only for the launch. He got me inside and set the seals.

  “If it had been anyone else, we would have died. But i
t was Jav Corso,” Hol said.

  “What did he do?” Kalkin asked.

  “He pushed,” Hol said matter-of-factly, her eyes staring off into memory. “His Artifact was the Coat of Arms and to see it unfold. . .” She shook her head. “Thinking about it still gives me chills. It spread out, a black wing a hundred meters wide, bristling with organic ordinance and biological charge guns. You usually didn’t want to see that coming at you, but it was our salvation. The same principles that made it so destructive provided it with unimaginable thrust. We got off that planet ahead of the explosion, but just barely, and at a cost. All that energy, though the Coat translated it, originated from Jav’s burning will to save those people. And me, I suppose. I could have survived the explosion perhaps, but reaching the rendezvous point would have been impossible.

  “The strain was starting to tell on him—he was running out of power. I was watching him through one of the ports and suddenly he looked at me. I knew the truth then for the first time, that he loved me, but in that instant I think I hated him. Hated him for all the values he’d instilled in me; hated him for creating the possibility in my mind for something we could never have; hated him for leaving me alone, which is what he did after confessing his heart with those sad, sad eyes.

  “Knowing that he couldn’t sustain the required thrust much longer and knowing that the sun would explode in minutes or even seconds, he altered the Coat, bracing its defenses against the life pod and, in a last convulsive effort, he detonated everything he had, which, considering how much he’d already exerted himself, was substantial. The resulting blast gave us a huge increase in momentum and then the sun itself went. We were lucky enough to escape the reach of its destructive force but the shock wave caught us and added to our already incredible speed. That was all for the best, though, since it put us clearly within communications range of the rendezvous point.