by Rick Lakin
“That may be a little challenging but give it a try.”
“Sensei, you performed right-dominant. Which side would you like for me to be dominant?”
Her jaw dropped then Shloaka said, “Try it left-dominant as quickly as you can.” There has to be a challenge that this youngster cannot overcome.
The student took the first position. What the sensei saw next was burned in her memory for all time. Kalinda exploded at a speed that Shloaka had never seen. She performed a mirror image of the routine correctly finishing with the three flying kicks at greater extension and higher elevation than her own. Kalinda's performance was identical with one glowing exception. There was absolute silence. Her breathing was silent. After each jump, she landed on the floor with the feather touch of a cat. Even the alien-looking gi she wore made no noise. When Kalinda finished, the timer on the wall indicated eighteen seconds. Shloaka was both amazed and terrified.
“Who are you and where do you come from?” Shloaka said.
“Sorry?”
“That was the routine my daughter performed for the national championship.”
“You told me that it was not difficult.”
“Who is your sensei?”
“My te’ma, my mom, taught me?”
“Where did you learn these skills?” Shloaka asked.
Kalinda looked at her father. He nodded.
“I was born on the planet Xaphnore,” Kalinda said. “I’ve served Tal’qid for seven years.”
Shloaka’s eyes grew large. “You’re the girl from the Hoclarth Alliance?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Who is Tal’qid?”
“Tal’qid was known as the first teacher. She developed the principals and methods of combat without weapons three-thousand years ago. As a student, I learned to serve her principals.”
“Women only?”
“Males disqualify themselves from service because they resort to the use of weapons,” Kalinda said. “Combatants in the service of Tal'qid resolve their disagreements peacefully. The use of weapons only leads to bigger weapons.”
“Your mother must have been unbeatable.”
“She only lost one combat during her last year.”
“Her last year?”
“She died in battle saving the Hoclarth Alliance,” Kalinda said. “Her name was Natira.”
“She’ll always be proud of you wherever she is. Were you the one who defeated her?”
“It's dishonorable to boast of one’s accomplishments.” Kalinda’s voice broke, “but, yes.”
The two martial arts practitioners faced once more. This time it was the older woman who bowed most deeply. “I've much to learn from you, Kalinda. I hope that you, too, find that we can learn from each other. May I have your permission to address you as sensei?”
“My friends call me K’da, but I’d be most honored to be addressed as your fellow teacher.”
“A question, Sensei Kalinda?”
“Yes, Sensei Shloaka.”
“As I’ve learned my skills, practitioners use the yelling and noise to intimidate our opponent,” Shloaka said. “You performed the routine with the complete silence of a prowling cat.”
“One of the most important principles in the service of Tal’qid is stealth. Many times, we practice and compete in darkness or even blindfolded. When we are without sight, we must depend on our other six senses.”
“You have seven senses?”
“Humans on earth do not possess it. Hoclarth children develop a sense of their proximity; we can sense the location of solid objects nearby,” Kalinda said. “That’s why I’ll never run into you on the street.”
Shloaka looked puzzled.
“That’s a Hoclarth joke.”
Shloaka let out a nervous laugh. “Let’s go talk to our spectators.”
Kalinda exchanged high fives with Jennifer and Tayla.
Shloaka went to the executives. “You have a martial arts star on your hands.”
“Chris, is it time for a remake of Karate Kid?” Navvy said.
“Yes, but who could we cast as the master?” Chris said. “She’d dominate any scene.”
“Maybe it’s time for a paradigm shift,” Navvy said.
“Kalinda as the karate master,” Sheila said. “Intriguing.”
“Mr. Kelrithian, it was an honor to work out with your daughter,” Shloaka said. “I expect that Kalinda practices constantly.”
“Call me Anthen. Today is the first time in one year and forty-four days.”
“Since…?”
“Correct,” Anthen said. “Her mother was immersed in her military duties. It was the one thing that they shared. You said that routine was for novices?”
“Oh, God, no,” Shloaka said. “That was the routine my daughter performed last month to win the Under-14 Nationals. Kalinda could be a champion.”
“She once beat the champion of the Hoclarth Alliance. I suspect that she has already proven herself.”
“You’re right, Anthen. That is a memory that she needs to keep in a unique place.”
14
The next morning, Jennifer came into the executive dining room. She waved at Navvy, went to the buffet, and filled her plate.
“Good morning,” Navvy said. “I'm guessing you want to talk about androids.”
“The vision thing?”
“The one-track mind of a precocious seventeen-year-old,” Navvy said. “How is JennaTech progressing?
“Pepper Simmons is winding down her work on the Wi-Pow Base Station,” Jennifer said. “With a self-contained reactor, it can power ten remote devices constantly or two hundred fifty intermittently. The really good news is that it is reverse compatible with all the current receivers.”
“Impressive.”
“Based on current orders, we have been able to build a medium-size fabrication facility that will fab one hundred per day. When we finish the design for the Selfie Drone, we’ll build a full-size fabrication facility.”
Navvy focused on the business side. “Balance sheet?”
“We’ve shipped twenty VirtualLocation Systems. That is providing cash flow for our current operations. HumanAI Corp has paid us an upfront licensing fee for the Selfie Drone which we used to fund the first fab facility. The Wi-Pow Base Station will bring us to profitability by March 2068.”
“So, tell me about the Android Project.”
“I spoke with a Dr. Kent Gunn,” Jennifer said, “and he has sent me his most advanced model.”
“I'm familiar with his work. He has a pretty solid structural prototype.”
“He's having trouble with appearance, power, and AI,” Jennifer said. “I think JennaTech can solve those.”
Navvy rubbed his chin. “Big order.”
“Pepper has moved on from the Base Station. She’s fitting a mini-reactor in the torso.”
“Challenging.”
Jennifer pointed to the projection of Brilliant on the conference table. “Has HumanAI Corp made progress on microprojectors for HTVR?”
“Yes, they have fabricated beta units,” Navvy said. “How will you use them?”
“If we can place them at different points on the body, they can provide the skin, appearance, and manual dexterity. “
“Contact a post-doc named Eric Zhang in design at HumanAI Corp. He can set you up with beta units.”
“The big problem is fitting the AI processor and memory inside the unit,” Jennifer said. “Dr. Gunn believes we’re at least fifty years away from fitting AI processing power into the size of a human head. Dr. Ami, Ani, Sami and all of the other virtual humans depend on major computer installations. Brilliant is the only portable AI facility. An android must be within high-speed network range of a supercomputer.”
“There's another option,” Navvy said. “Remember how Brilliant communicates over long distances.”
“StarWave. The Brilliant Tech Manual does not explain it. I always guessed that it was a form of communication between quantum entangled pa
rticles,” Jennifer said.
“Not exactly,” Navvy said. “Ani, are you here?”
“Yes, I’ve been monitoring. You want a DOD-279, correct?”
“Yes, Ani,” Navvy said.
“DOD…” Jennifer said.
Navvy handed his HoloPad to Jennifer. “Here. Sign this. It’s like a non-disclosure agreement. So, I can tell you.”
“And then you shoot me?”
“Oh, no.” Navvy laughed then looked serious. “Unless you tell someone.”
Jennifer took the papers from the printer and signed.
“As you know, Brilliant has many technologies that, if released, would disrupt commerce, disadvantage intelligence gathering, and create a national security issue. My agreement with the government and the military is that those technologies will not be released until inventors develop them in this timeline.”
“StarWave is the most disruptive,” Jennifer said.
“Correct,” Navvy said. “And you’re close on quantum entanglement. It's called counterfactual communication.”
“The Zeno effect. The Chinese explored it fifty years ago. They could not commercialize it.”
“Back home, the research was revived during the Renaissance and bore fruit.”
“The communications systems on Brilliant and at Tovar are in sealed enclosures that are six feet tall,” Jennifer said. “The module must be huge.”
“The comm unit is one-inch square, uses off-the-shelf components and costs a dollar-twenty-five to produce.”
“Omigod,” Jennifer said. “I see why it’s such a big secret. It would disrupt every industry in the communications sector. What is the bandwidth?”
“It's limited by the hardware attached to it. And so far, Brilliant has not reached any range limits,” Navvy said. “Does that give you enough to define the project?
“We build a generic physical host with physical mobility and strength, power, HTVR mini-projectors for appearance and manipulative abilities, and a central CPU that communicates with the AI supercomputer via StarWave.”
“Exactly!” Navvy said.
“That helps a lot,” Jennifer said. “I’ll set up a meeting with Dr. Zhang. Should I steal him away from HumanAI?”
“It’ll probably cost you a percentage. I was planning on a technology sharing program to get access to the mini-projector software and processing power,” Navvy said.
“Thanks again for breakfast.”
“Sure,” Navvy said. “By the way, Hanna and I never thanked you.”
“For what?”
“In the last few weeks, we have gone from zero grandchildren to two.”
“At least you will see Kalinda grow up,” Jennifer said. “You never saw that with me.”
“You’ve grown up quite a bit recently,” he said. “How is the airshow coming?”
“Tayla and I have got it timed out. She’s programming the music and the narration. Riley and Anthen are creating some smoke tricks that no one has ever seen, and David has been testing out some moves in the simulator,” Jennifer said. “We’re meeting at one.”
“Sounds like a plan. Have a good day, Jen.”
“Thanks.”
As she departed, Navvy thought, I certainly did see you grow up, Jennifer, and it's still happening.
15
“Ani, create a tenth-floor conference room with eight chairs.”
Jennifer stood near the door. An ornate marble conference table with mahogany edges appeared with plush leather office chairs. To her left was a library and to her right was a stunning view overlooking Tovar Studios with the mountains rising behind Porter Ranch. At the far end was StarCruiser Brilliant floating in the space reserved for the display. In the corner to her left was a coffee stand appointed with a continental breakfast.
Riley came in and looked around. “Nice room.”
The Star Squad members and Anthen grabbed coffee and food and took their seats.
“Thanks for coming, everyone. The Airshow should be fun,” Jennifer said. “Tay, what do you have in mind for the soundtrack?”
“We’ll open with the Theme from Brilliant, use the Imperial March from Star Wars and then close with the finale of E.T.”
“I love John Williams. I heard that the director asked him to write the music and then he cut the close of the movie to match the music,” Jennifer said. “Okay, we have a track and a storyline. David?”
“I’ll start with an aerobatic roll from show right, exit vertical and cloak the ship.”
“How are we going to return?”
“I saw this at a New Mexico Airshow,” Riley said. “A blimp came from behind the crowd with his engines at full thrust and surprised the crowd. We position over Miramar Road, fire up the thrusters and come in slow behind the flight line.”
“I get it,” Anthen said. “We release a bunch of smoke over show center and drop out of the cloud.”
“That brings us back to center,” Jennifer said.
“I saw a move in one of the early Star Trek movies when Spock's shuttle was docking with Enterprise,” David said. “It was a combination pitch, roll, and yaw. It's a move that Brilliant can do, but no one has ever seen an aircraft do at an airshow. We follow with a pass in review at low altitude.”
“We’re coming up on the climax of the music,” Tayla said.
“If we only had a rainbow,” Jennifer said.
Riley and Anthen broke into wide grins.
“Seriously?” Jennifer said. “That will be a cool finale.”
“Can David fly one more left-to-right high-speed pass?” Riley said.
“Whatcha got, Riley?”
Anthen spoke up. “It’s something Natira and I cooked up for an airshow on Xaphnore. Riley and I are still working on it.”
“Save it for the performance,” Jennifer said. “They’re all pretty standard flight maneuvers. But it’ll certainly wow the crowd.”
Warner Academy was the school her sister attended. Kalinda was worried the IQ of 205 she inherited from her father and the physical skills of a super-athlete from her Hoclarth mother would make it difficult to fit in. Her goal was to be an average SoCal ten-year-old. She remembered the advice from Jennifer. Do your advanced academics in steveLearn and play team sports where everyone loves a winner.
When she entered steveLearn, her avatar, Bralen, greeted her with the open hands of an unarmed warrior. “Would you like to continue in science this morning, Kalinda? You are ready for Advanced Placement Physics.”
“Thank you, Bray,” Kalinda said. “Let’s begin.” She spent two hours and completed the first two weeks of the Physics coursework.
That afternoon, she scored a goal the first time that she set foot on the soccer pitch.
Anthen’s eyes lit up when he saw Kalinda come in after school. “How was your second day of school on Earth?”
“My soccer friends invited me to a sleepover Friday night.”
“So, their parents are gone for the weekend, and the liquor cabinet will be unlocked,” Anthen said.
Kalinda crossed her arms and took on a stern look. “Seriously?”
“So, no drugs either?” he said.
“Come on; I'm only ten,” she said.
“Give me their parents' contact info, and I will coordinate,” Anthen said.
“Thanks, te’pa,” Kalinda said.
Kalinda walked out to the cliff overlooking the popular point break at Point Dume. She took a deep breath inhaling the fishy scent of the ocean. It made her homesick for her home planet. The blue-green waves rolling in were forming perfect hollows that would just fit her four-foot-eleven height.
“May I go surfing before dinner?”
“Is the lifeguard posted?”
“I’ll save him if he gets in trouble.”
“Kalinda!”
“And I will be safe.”
She pulled on her wetsuit, grabbed her Pyzel Ghost, and ran down to the beach. She’d cleaned and waxed her board the night before.
Kalinda w
alked down the rocky trail to the beach and greeted the city lifeguard. “Hi, Kevin.”
“Dude,” Kevin said. “Check out the chick surfing the point. She's pulling into barrels on practically every wave. She’s my cousin, Bondi.”
“This is my beach, dude.”
“Yeah, but you’re just a grommet,” Kevin said. “Bondi’s on the pro tour.”
Kalinda walked down the beach to where a female surfer stood out from the locals. Bondi paddled into a four-foot wave, stalled in the pocket, then drew a perfect line for a speedy exit hitting the lip and getting air. Pulling off a perfect three-sixty, the pro surfer stuck it. Pumping her board, she gained some momentum and carved a vertical cutback releasing her fins as the board flew in the air. She reached down and grabbed her rails landing with both feet on the board. Kalinda's mouth dropped.
One of the spectators nearby exclaimed, “That’s a Superman.”
Kalinda watched the pro take another wave and repeat the trick. She closed her eyes, replayed the trick in slow motion, analyzed the actions to complete the trick, then opened her eyes. Got it, Kalinda thought. She ran into the water and paddled out to catch a wave. She found herself a few yards from the pro and waved.
“I’m Bondi.”
“I’m Kalinda. Nice air. The locals are calling that a Superman?”
“Yep,” said Bondi. “You gonna try it.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s a pretty difficult move,” Bondi said.
Kalinda had a confident gleam in her eye. “I’ll get it on the third try.”
“You’re just a grom.”
Kalinda held up three fingers.
An arrogant grommet, Bondi thought. “I’ll take this wave. Watch the move from the back side.”
Bondi paddled and then disappeared in front of the wave. Up came the board, then Bondi. She was turning as she emerged and was able to grab the rails of the board and control it and her body to get her legs beneath her on the board.
Kalinda took a deep breath, began paddling, fell into a perfect wave, stalled in the pocket, drew a perfect line, hit the lip and went into the air. She grabbed for her rail but missed and landed on her back on top of the board. That’s one, Kalinda thought.