The Artifact Competition (Approaching Infinity Book 1)

by Chris Eisenlauer

  “So, yes, AI very definitely affects real space. Most students are too preoccupied with perfecting the visualization and fighting the necessarily increased gravity to realize the truth and scope of what Dragon Dances on Raindrops really teaches. Similarly, the last form in the Eighteen Heavenly Claws is filled with strikes and because those strikes are bound to impact with or without AI, the affects upon real space go largely unnoticed.

  “But it’s those principles, in a grossly overstated form, which provide the basis for the Copy Twin you saw Gast perform yesterday, as well as almost all of Ren Fauer’s incredible movement.”

  Jav could scarcely believe it. He thought, and accurately so, that he had a deep and well-informed understanding of AI, but here were two new, fantastic avenues of use he had never even dreamed possible. He had taken Hol and the girls at their word about the limitations of the technique, but now he began to think about the endless choices which arose from adding the variables of position and movement, those of both oneself and one’s opponent. With so many points of reference and so many constantly changing variables to consider and then manipulate, it would be easy to become overwhelmed just as Merasec had said. But rather than fearful, Jav was excited. In his heart, he thanked the Emperor for putting him in a position where he could learn so much. AI was power; it was a vast and shoreless ocean as well, but Jav vowed to himself that he would master as much of those depths as his sanity and self-discipline would allow.

  10687.010

  A little over a week later, Jav found himself seated on a cushion before a mirror, concentrating all his attention on his reflection. Merasec came up behind him.

  “How’s it coming, son? Can you feel the mirror?” the big man said.

  Jav rubbed a noticeable lump on his forehead. “Yes, Teacher.”

  Merasec laughed. “The goal is to stretch out gingerly, but that’s decent progress. Come on, let’s go up to the roof.”

  Up on the roof, Jav was always inspired by the clean blue sky, even if it was just an illusion. Merasec directed them to a painted scale that looked like a fallen ladder. It was marked in half-meter increments up to thirty meters and fanned out away from the zero point. Standing at zero, Merasec used the Copy Twin technique to create a duplicate a little over three meters away.

  “Now,” both Merasecs said in unison, “we’re going to try some real, unrestricted projection. Pick a point on the scale, and try to approach it. The concept, as I have told you, is basically the same as when you punch or kick. Even though you’re already in motion, you can only do the calculations if you visualize your fist and its target as static. The momentum helps with the physical follow through and drastically increases the kinetic energy, but it’s not strictly necessary. Make your body go where you want it to.”

  Jav nodded and began concentrating on the three-meter mark nearby Merasec. His face was red with effort, but nothing was happening.

  Reaching out with his attuned senses, Merasec saw how far Jav was attempting to go and he shook his head. “Jav, you’re trying for too much too soon. In AI degree counts for everything. Distance is a very big problem because the initial step is always the biggest and requires a directly proportional expenditure of energy. Not as much as if you were to actually exceed infinity, but don’t forget: the visualization has the potential to affect your position in real space. A beginner simply hasn’t got the strength to make a first step that big. All you’re going to end up doing is exhausting yourself and giving yourself a headache. The mirror meditation is a basic projection exercise. It teaches you to expand your senses and attempt to touch your reflection. Think about how close your reflection appears to be and how difficult it was to reach it the first time. Nothing’s really changed now except that there’s no mirror to bump your head into. Pull back and start short.”

  “Yes, Teacher.” Jav focused on a point a half-meter away and tried again while listening to Merasec’s further instructions.

  “Visualize reducing your distance from the target by half and then by half again and so on as many times as possible, getting closer and closer until the very moment that insanity threatens to intrude. This is the same with your strikes, but the more you approach your target in those critical milliseconds before exceeding infinity, the greater your chances of producing the first of a series of temporary displacements that results in the Copy Twin. The main difference between what you learned from Laedra and what you’ll learn here, is that with the Copy Twin you don’t have to exceed infinity. In fact, exceeding infinity will ruin the technique. When you think you’re close enough, you have to keep going until you can’t go any further then pull back as fast as you can. When you start splitting those impossibly small distances near the end, you’ll start to. . . to gather at the destination point and leave a ghost image so we’ll know if it’s working or not.”

  Jav’s face was bright red, and he was dripping with sweat, but he was finding that the painted lines were insufficient for him. Without his own reflection or any three-dimensional point of reference, he just couldn’t manage even a short-range projection.

  Merasec clapped him on the shoulder. “You’ll get the hang of it, son. Keep trying.”

  Jav practiced all day and finally made some progress. It was haphazard and terribly disorienting, but he was getting closer.

  10687.011

  The next day under Merasec’s critical eye, Jav was able to do one complete sequence of the technique, placing himself for a fraction of a second a half meter away before snapping back to his original position. The sensation was alarming, like falling straight ahead with little or no control and it left him feeling nauseated.

  “Excellent,” Merasec commended.

  “I feel a little sick.”

  “Of course you do,” Merasec said, laughing. “That’s normal. You’ll get used to it. You see, Jav, that’s the core of the Copy Twin. Done in persistent repetition, you can make both you and your twin solid. With more finesse, you can add movement on the fly so that both you and your twin can act together. Independent actions aren’t impossible, but they’re a real hassle. Mirrored actions are usually enough, especially after you’ve learned to alter the orientation of your twin—having it face different directions and operate at various distances from you. That’s the long-term goal.

  “But for you, we want to focus on this first step and turn it into a viable defense—getting you out of the way for a split second to avoid incoming attacks. Once we’ve done that, we can advance to other applications.

  “When you feel a little better, I want you to do what you just did for me until you get used to it. Again, keep it short. Distance isn’t something I want you to concern yourself with right now. Lots of short trips will get you used to and past the motion sickness.”

  “Yes, Teacher.”

  • • •

  Jav did as he was instructed and through constant practice he overcame the motion sickness in two days. While Jav was pleased, Merasec seemed a bit reserved, offering only token words of praise. Jav had no real interest in praise or rewards, but he did wonder what, if anything, Merasec’s manner suggested.

  In the following weeks and months Jav did improve, but he began to realize that he wasn’t learning nearly as fast as Merasec would have liked. Jav did everything he was told and performed the technique to the best of his ability, but Merasec often seemed preoccupied, and his preoccupation soon developed into obvious impatience. He always treated Jav well, but his disappointment was becoming more and more pronounced.

  Because of Jav’s difficulties, Merasec started to question Jav’s AI ability altogether. Having never seen Jav use AI as he had been trained to by Hol, Merasec prepared a test. In the middle of one sparring match, he had almost magically produced a high-density hardstone block, flung it at Jav, and challenged him to break it. If he wanted to live, Jav had little choice but to oblige and so shattered the block to pebbles with a backhanded claw.

  Reassured and impressed with Jav’s ability, Merasec renewed hi
s efforts. With Jav’s aptitude for AI no longer in question, Merasec began binding his arms during their sparring matches, forcing him to avoid contact either by physically dodging or through AI.

  This method seemed to work well. Jav fell to using AI more and more as an escape, but his timing remained a problem. Also, upon returning to his original location, he was often disoriented long enough to cost him his advantage. The motion sickness was gone, but in the intervening moment of departure, if his opponent shifted even minutely, it disrupted his plans for counter measures. Because of his timing problems, he often snapped back just in time to receive the full force of an attack. Because of his disorientation, he often had to pause long enough to collect his bearings and thus lose any advantage he may have gained, once again receiving the full force of an attack.

  It was almost comical. Jav received a lot of punishment, but he never complained. Whenever he had spare time, he’d practice his forms on the gravity block, further increasing his strength and toughness. Forms practice was of course important to him, but this real goal on the gravity block was to inure his body to Merasec’s practice sickles, and in this Jav made satisfactory progress—at least as long as Merasec didn’t use any Vacuum Drag techniques.

  Jav had come to feel very isolated and alone. He trained as much as possible, but spending any extra time with Merasec just made him feel guilty that he couldn’t meet his teacher’s expectations. He was afraid, too, of turning to Mai excessively to make himself feel better. He wasn’t about to stop contacting her—or others from his school back on 1287 if only to maintain appearances—but he saw that doing so repeatedly had the potential to develop into an unhealthy habit. He didn’t fear discovery; he was more concerned about what such activity suggested about his character—was he really so weak? Also, he didn’t want to make Mai responsible for something over which only he had any real control. So Jav was careful. He worked harder and harder on the gravity trainer, since results there were easier to achieve, and he strove to overcome his insecurities. Eventually he found some balance, but his progress with the basic building block of the Copy Twin seemed stunted if not entirely checked.

  10687.051

  VEAD Official Notice

  From: Silowan Haspel, Director, Astrophysics Division

  RE: 4th Update on Spatial Anomaly Distribution

  Through forced closures and apparently natural expiration, the number of spatial anomalies has fallen to 27, an almost negligible figure. However, those still under observation have re-entered a phase of instability. Some have recommenced erratic and unpredictable movement patterns. Some exhibit sudden and/or constant changes in size or magnitude. It is impossible to foresee what and how many dangers may arise from what one observer has labeled “the death throes” of this phenomenon. S-Bomb crews are standing by, but please be advised that some of these last remaining anomalies may be resistant to such measures, making evacuation a possible necessity.

  Affected systems are as follows: 281, 280, 276, 261, 257, 249, 244, 238, 226, and 218. Updates to follow.

  10687.122

  In spite of his troubles and even though he felt like he had accomplished nothing but shame both Laedra Hol and Cov Merasec, time had gone by quickly for Jav. In the end, he had increased the success rate of his AI escape to just fifty percent. If it remained at that level, he was better off not using it at all. He repeatedly apologized to Merasec for his failures, and Merasec felt sorrier and sorrier for Jav, thinking his chances at the final competition had been substantially reduced. Because Gast Froster was in Block One, Merasec genuinely felt sorry for Jav and, by extension, for his own former comrade, Laedra Hol.

  Ren’s arrival boosted Jav’s mood, but only marginally. He was ashamed of his inability and no longer felt like Ren’s peer. Merasec couldn’t hide his pity, either. Ren had seen Jav fight, had sparred with him a little, and felt that both Jav and Merasec must be overreacting. He could say so to Jav, but not in front of Merasec. Ren did his best to console his friend simply by being his friend, and for that, Jav was very grateful.

  Jav wasn’t accustomed to self-pity, or at least he hadn’t been over the last four years. He didn’t like how it crept in on him so easily, black and hateful, but also, somehow, familiar. His answer to most any problem he had encountered so far was to practice. That had worked with anything training-related, even with Mei. But this time, that method failed him. He reminded himself that he still had more to learn, and that there was always time for further practice. Regardless of his mood, he wouldn’t allow himself to be beaten by the initial failure of a single technique.

  It was time to leave. Jav shook hands with both Ren and Merasec, thanked the latter profusely for all his teaching, and boarded the jump ship. Glum, his arms folded, Merasec watched as the jump ship sped to the Vine and the awaiting jump deck. Touching the deck briefly, the jump ship almost instantaneously traveled the distance to faraway Planet 1305.

  Kimbal Furst’s home came into view as soon as the jump ship finished re-materializing. It was a kind of low amphitheater with daises supporting huge, ornately fashioned and purely symbolic gates that faced the four cardinal direction—or what they would have been when the planet still spun on its axis. Jav guessed that all of the living quarters were within the walls. Water burbled from fountains and followed meandering marble channels throughout the inside of the amphitheater.

  Like that on 1251, this planet’s artificial sun aimed a focused beam into the bowl of the amphitheater where a pink mist made the sky from within appear to be in shades of pink and orange. An automated cloud generator worked tirelessly to provide rain at regularly scheduled intervals to support the lush plants and fruit trees planted throughout the facility. Such luxuries were of course only available to retired Shades and Jav’s mouth watered at the thought of eating fresh fruit. When was the last time he had had fresh fruit?

  As they were about to land, Jav looked up into the pink sky and watched a cloud pinch through the sun’s beam and cast a faint shadow over them. He had never realized how much he liked clouds and he found himself thinking about Planet 1398, about its red sky and its fleet-moving streams of clouds. It seemed so long ago, a lifetime almost, but really it had only been four years. He didn’t remember of course, but Jav had an idea that he had done more in those four years than he had ever done cumulatively up until he lost his memory.

  Dropping Jav off in the middle of the amphitheater, the jump ship quietly flitted away. There to greet him were Kimbal Furst and Gast Froster. They all exchanged greetings, and Jav thought that the two had a pretty good idea of how his training with Merasec had gone. There was no reason it should have been a secret, but the mood was somber and conversation seemed tentative and purposefully directed away from some topics. Despite his own convictions not to let his previous troubles affect him here, the atmosphere in which he found himself made the prospect seem maddeningly difficult.

  10687.123

  Gast Froster left the next morning and, once he was gone, the mood lightened considerably. Jav hadn’t realized until given a comparison just how isolated he had begun to feel. He had worked almost daily with Merasec, but Merasec’s disappointment had created an insurmountable gulf between them. Merasec had always been kind, had often caught himself before crying out in impatience or frustration, but Jav couldn’t stomach his pity. It was like an infectious disease that fed on itself, and while Jav didn’t dislike Merasec, he was really glad that that part of this exchange was finished.

  Once Gast Froster was gone, Furst relaxed and confided in Jav. “That kid won’t learn anything unless it’s regimented and verifiable. Facts, facts, facts. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great kid and a really talented student, but he’s really skeptical of anything that doesn’t come from his own teacher. Nothing wrong with that, but having to justify everything I say for the last four months has left me rather tense.” He rolled his head around, trying to loosen the tight muscles in his neck, and setting off a domino chain of audible pops.

&nbs
p; From that moment and continuously thereafter, Jav felt not the scrutiny of a teacher, but the warmth of friendship from Furst.

  “You guys are advanced students,” Furst said. “You don’t need rules and regulations. If you haven’t internalized all that by now, you wouldn’t be here.

  “Now as you’ve probably already guessed, I got a full report on you from Cov Merasec. I don’t want you to feel embarrassed or like you don’t measure up, or anything like that. Fact is, we all have our individual strengths, which means that no one is good at everything.

  “I’m supposed to teach you movement, but I’m pretty sure we can put together some good defensive techniques for you, too.”

  “Thank you, Teacher!” Jav was beaming. The black cloud of the last four months showed signs of lifting, and Jav felt genuinely good for the first time in a long time. He was ready for whatever Furst could teach him.

  Jav soon learned that Furst’s usage of AI was very similar to Merasec’s, and a hint of doubt insinuated itself back into him, but Furst was quick to dismiss any anxiety.

  “Jav, the trouble with the Copy Twin is the scope. For defense, it’s a good idea in theory, but hard to pull off. Cov rarely uses it as a defense himself and can only do so effectively because he’s been at it for so long. The Copy Twin is an impressive technique, but not worth the effort in my mind. It’s too limited. I don’t like the idea of being boxed in—by anything. Freedom is what I’m all about. When you’re free, you can really grow and learn and improve. Rather than make a copy a few meters away, I want to be a few meters away. See?”