The Relics- The Keystone Trilogy - Part 1

by Michael K. Damron

  “All right, seven to four, my advantage,” said Garnet.

  Ferra flung her dart at the board with enough spin to make its trajectory have an extra curve to it. Garnet sent hers flying along a straight path, timing it for when she thought she could knock Ferra’s dart of the way. When they collided, Ferra’s dart hit the bullseye while its intense spin sent Garnet’s straight to the floor.

  “Tied,” said Ferra.

  Garnet quickly sent her dart flying to try and bewilder her sister. Ferra threw her dart even faster, able to hit her mark and nudge Garnet’s outside of the bullseye.

  “Dang it, Sis!” said Garnet.

  Ferra shot her a devious smile, bowing down and motioning to the dartboard to signify it was Garnet’s turn again.

  “Are you enjoying the sibling rivalry?” said Bridgett, coming from behind Jack and sitting down beside him.

  “I don’t know what I enjoy watching more, their throwing skills or their bickering,” said Jack.

  “Once you get used to their skill, the bickering is what you’ll stick around for.”

  “I get the feeling you came over here for more than entertainment from the twins. Did you want to tell me about Marcel?”

  “I didn’t feel you do telepathy on me. How did you know?” said Bridgett.

  “No, not quite. I don’t think my exo has given me that ability yet. So what’s the guy’s deal? Why doesn’t he like me?”

  “He’s jealous of your potential, because he envied your father.”

  “What potential is that? You heard what he said. My gene sequence for operating my exo is probably a lot different than my dad’s.”

  “You don’t know that,” said Bridgett. “You at least have enough of the sequence intact to control morphacite, which not everyone can do.”

  “I don’t know,” said Jack. “It seems like if I get stronger with my abilities, Marcel will resent me more than he already does.”

  “As bad as it sounds, that’s probably what would happen. When I joined the Searchers, Marcel was always training with the hope of eclipsing your father’s abilities. After Mark and the others rebelled, Marcel thought he had a shot at being the most powerful Searcher. But no matter how much he trained, your father was always ahead and unlocked more of his exo’s potential than Marcel could with his own.”

  “So Marcel’s mad because he wasn’t as adept with his exo as my dad?”

  “That’s my guess,” said Bridgett. “He seems to have a jealous kind of personality. And he’s probably worried your skills may surpass his own one day.”

  “I don’t think he has anything to worry about,” said Jack.

  “We’ll have to wait and see, won’t we? Just don’t go picking any fights with him while you’re still outmatched,” said Bridgett, flashing a quick wink. “Now what do you say to some dinner? I’m starved.”

  The elevator chimed as the doors opened to the main room, revealing Marcel standing behind them. He shot a glare toward Jack before disappearing into the dining area.

  “I think I’m still full from my second breakfast,” said Jack.

  “Look, you can be a chicken all you want, but I will not allow you to starve,” said Bridgett. She took Jack by the arm and helped usher him to his next meal. “We’re grabbing some grub, if anybody wants to join!” she shouted.

  “Heck yeah, I could go for some food,” said Butch.

  The twins threw their darts one final time before they also joined in.

  Jack soon found himself alone in his room, thinking of screening with his mom, as he promised he would. When he tried to make a connection, there was no signal available. He couldn’t reach her anywhere online, as if all satellite communication was blocked. In that moment, unable to access the social sites he regularly visited, he wondered what his old friends were up to. How was Robbin getting on with her internship? Is Hao happy working as an executive with his family at Sanctuary? Was Cong still up to no good, as usual? It wasn’t lost on Jack that he didn’t take the time to contact them while he was back home for a couple days. Now, without the ability to do so, he wanted to hear from them—any one of them. He didn’t yet feel like he belonged with the Searchers.

  It was strange not having the privilege of going online and virtually connecting with friends, like he had grown accustomed to, but Jack also faced the reality that he had little to no engagement with any of his virtual spaces since flying home from college. Not able to think of another way to pass the time, Jack sat on his bed and began to riffle through his father’s small notebooks again. Sections that made little sense before the day’s meeting were now a little easier to understand. Among some of the pages he had only glanced over before was an in-depth overview of what his father could do with his exo. James described controlling morphacite like it was an extension of his own body. Pairing that control with the ability to overcome gravitational physics yielded powerful results, much like Jack saw Alexie demonstrate earlier in the day. James also described his improved physical strength and intuition. Soon after learning to form telepathic links, he described noticing the ability gaining strength and evolving into a kind of mind control. Also described was a more abstract feeling he was starting to experience—one that involved a stronger connection to the physical world. The people surrounding him, the structures, the plants, the earth under his feet, even the elements within seemed linked together in some cosmic way.

  Jack, feeling overwhelmed, closed the notebook and stared for a moment at the ceiling. I never realized how little I knew my own father, he thought to himself. I don’t even know if mom really knew about this part of his life, or how much he was hiding from her. The more he learned about his father, the more Jack thought the odds of him achieving the same feats with his own exo were insurmountable. He wished his dad was there to answer questions so he could gain some clarity. But Jack was starting to split his dad into two people in his mind. There was the loving father who raised him and kept no secrets, and there was the stranger who led a life of adventure, mystery, and danger.

  “Hey, wake up, sleeping beauty,” said Alexie, knocking on Jack’s door.

  Jack made himself upright, groggy and sporting a messy head of hair. “I’m up,” he said, yawning.

  “And are you decent?”

  “Um . . .” Still wearing the same clothes from the day before, he hurried to put on a different shirt so it would seem as though he had been awake and already dressed. “Yeah, I’m decent.”

  “Nice hair,” she said upon opening the door.

  Jack became embarrassed as he started to feel the unruliness of his bedhead.

  “Anyway, your training starts today. Be sure to wear clothes you feel comfortable moving around in. Maybe not those jeans. You’ll be doing some meditative practices to gain a deeper connection with your exo, as well as some sparring.”

  “Um, okay. I’ll be sure to change my pants,” said Jack. “So I’ll be meditating and sparring today?”

  “Yep, you got it . . . hey, what are these?” said Alexie, picking up one of the notebooks Jack left on his bed. “Personal diaries?”

  “N-no, I found those recently while going through some of my dad’s stuff. They’re little notebooks he wrote in while he was doing training and research here.”

  “Oh, wow,” she said, feeling a little sad they had something to do with James. “Anything good in them?”

  “There’s some interesting stuff so far. He’s pretty detailed with what he wrote about. I’m still trying to discern some of the words or lingo, but there’s nearly two hundred pages worth of material between all three notebooks.”

  Alexie paused to figure out what she wanted to say. “You know, if you have any questions about what he’s written about . . . I might be able to help.”

  “Well, yeah, that would be great,” said Jack, his throat wanting to close up as he spoke.

  “In all honesty, I’m interested in what your dad had to say. I didn’t know him for too long, but he always had the best insights. And
he really helped me figure out how I could better harness my exo’s power.”

  “You can stop by and read or borrow a notebook any time you’d like,” he said as anxiety started to build.

  “Thanks, I may take you up on that.”

  Jack felt blood rush into his face, causing him to uncontrollably blush no matter how much he tried to restrain the sensation.

  “So you said I’d be sparring with someone?” he said, focusing on something different to get his mind back on track. “Please don’t tell me it’s with Marcel.”

  “Ha, I can tell the two of you are hitting it off swimmingly,” said Alexie. “But no, you’ll be sparring with someone much tougher . . . me!”

  “You!” gasped Jack.

  “Yep, so get yourself a pair of pants that allows for better movement and don’t eat a heavy breakfast. We’ve got some training to do!” she said, shooting Jack a mischievous smile before exiting the room.

  All the blood that accumulated in his face rushed out to accommodate his heart, which was now beating much faster.

  CHAPTER SIX

  THE TRAINING BEGINS

  Later that morning, Jack joined the other Searchers in the lobby, nervous for what his first training session would entail. It wasn’t long before John emerged from the elevator to catalyze the day’s events.

  “I hope everyone’s ready for another day of training!” said John.

  “Ugh, can’t some of us take a break?” said Garnet.

  “Look,” said John, “whether we’ll need to defend ourselves against the rogues or not, we’re still trying to unlock all of the potential within each person’s exo. But the reality is, you could come face-to-face with Mark and his rogues at any moment. And I’ll be damned if I lose another Searcher because of the inability to defend themselves. Right now, this training is imperative for everyone’s survival.”

  “I didn’t mean anything bad by asking,” said Garnet. “Training and meditating just get kinda old sometimes, that’s all.”

  “I kind of like it,” said Ferra, under her breath.

  “Regardless, we have a new member that needs to start getting lots of training under his belt,” said John.

  Jack took a big gulp, smiled, and did a sheepish wave to everyone when they turned to look at him.

  “I hope you’re ready to roll, Jack,” said John. “You and Alexie are up first.”

  Not knowing what was in store, Jack followed the team as they made their way outside of the facility.

  Everyone gathered in a large grassy field at the side of the building. The well-used area had bits of turf missing here and there, causing patches of bare ground to be exposed. Jack noticed an array of weapons had been set up at a nearby table. Seeing the weapons caused him to become more nervous, given that he never had the opportunity to hold one before. For that matter, Jack had never even been in a fight.

  “All right, Jack, there are a few things to keep in mind when training,” said John. “First to take place will be the sparring, followed by a period of meditation. The meditative break can help heal your body a little faster, if you’re somewhat banged up from the sparring session. Got me so far?”

  “Uh, yeah, sounds good,” said Jack, trying to shake off his nerves.

  “Great. You’ll see some weapons on the table over there, but don’t worry. None are lethal. For sparring, we only use blunt instruments or those that deliver a light shock, nothing that outputs enough electricity to knock you out. If you choose to use morphacite, it’s important to not form any sharp or pointed edges. A good tip to keep in mind is that morphacite has the ability to become as hard as steel and block all electric current that it comes into contact with.”

  “What about firearms? Do they exist at the facility and do we need to train with them?” said Jack.

  “Same here as anywhere else,” said Butch. “Even if you could get your hands on a gun, you couldn’t find any bullets.”

  “That’s correct. And as far as we know, the rogues haven’t got their hands on any guns or ammunition either,” said John. “Besides, they would have to make their own bullets. And that would be difficult, considering all the materials or supplies they would need have been outlawed for decades now. We do know they have a lot of morphacite that could cause a lot of damage in the hands of someone powerful—more damage than any bullet could. It’s also possible they’ve gotten their hands on electric-type weapons. Both Nigel and James appeared to have died of heart attacks, which seemed to have been caused by a fatal current that overloaded their exos with electricity.”

  “Huh,” said Jack, crossing his arms. “Why is this the first time I’m hearing about my father’s death being caused by an electric shock?”

  “I’m sorry, Jack. We’re not trying to keep any secrets from you,” said John.

  “I sure hope not. Can we just get the training started?” said Jack, frustrated.

  John shook his head in agreement. “Yes. Again, we have non-lethal weapons and morphacite available for the spar. Jack and Alexie, you’re up.”

  “What’s your poison?” said Alexie, standing close to Jack as as she approached the table.

  “Um, I’ve never really fought with any of this stuff before, but I can give it a shot.”

  “Don’t sweat it, Jack. You can have the morphacite and I’ll use something else to whip you into shape.”

  “Oh, how gracious of you,” laughed Jack, hovering the morphacite toward him and forming it into a staff.

  Alexie picked up a set of reduced-power stun batons from the table. She walked over to Jack, the sizzle of blue electricity sounding fierce as she approached.

  “Good luck, buddy,” she said, giving Jack a quick prod with a baton.

  “OUCH! GEEZ!”

  “Aw, poor thing.”

  She went to shock Jack again, but thought fast and formed the morphacite into a disk in front of him that stopped the attack.

  “You should watch for holes,” said Alexie, as she created an opening in the morphacite and pushed a baton through to deliver another jolt to Jack.

  “Hey, what was that!”

  “You’ve got to learn to maintain control. If the morphacite is obeying your command, it should be harder for me to overtake it.”

  She continued her barrage as Jack separated his single disk-like shield into two separate pieces. He used them to prevent Alexie’s hits from landing, but she was still able to contort the morphacite while under his inadequate control into unique shapes that allowed her batons to hit Jack’s torso numerous times.

  “AHH! OW! WHOA! BAH! STOP! YEOW!”

  “You have to stop me!” said Alexie.

  Jack, with all the strength he had, held the morphacite firm and was able to trap and then fling one of the batons out of Alexie’s grip. She then used a greater amount of her power to launch Jack’s morphacite out of his own hands and into the air behind her. As she came at him to deliver another shock, he regained dominion of the midair morphacite. He propelled it back toward his location, hitting Alexie’s other baton out of her hand and then forming the substance into a bar that tripped her to the ground. Some of the surrounding Searchers began to applaud his move.

  “Ha ha, not bad!” she said, taking back control of the morphacite and dropping him to the ground as well. The applause erupted into cheers and laughter for Alexie’s final retaliation.

  “Oomph, I thought the fight was over,” said Jack, the wind knocked out of him.

  “If your enemy’s still conscious, it’s never over.”

  “Not bad for your first time, Jack,” John said from the sideline.

  “Thanks,” said Jack, dusting himself off and becoming upright again.

  Alexie came over to pat him on the back. “Good spar. Maybe next time I’ll be impressed,” she said, winking.

  Jack watched as others paired together for training. Butch and Bridgett performed feats of strength on one another, Bridgett being the victor after the tussle. Jack observed Richard to be an excellent knife figh
ter when sparring with Marcel. Although, with morphacite, Marcel had the upper hand. Garnet and Ferra were the last to face off. Garnet wielded throwing knives and came on strong at the beginning, but Ferra overtook her by the end while brandishing only a shinai—a kind bamboo practice katana.

  “Although that was the final mandatory spar, I encourage all of you to continue training as partners or individuals, but be sure to do your meditations at some point today for a minimum of thirty minutes to better connect with your exos,” said John.

  Some of the Searchers went back inside the building while others remained outside to train with the practice weapons. However, Garnet and Ferra produced real throwing knifes they hid on themselves to use on targets around the edges of the field. Jack, before doing any meditation, walked at a brisk pace to catch up with John inside.

  “Hey John, I’m not really someone who’s meditated before. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

  “That’s not a problem. It took some of the other Searchers a little while to get into the right mindset. Just go somewhere quiet, assume a comfortable position, close your eyes, listen to ambient music, if it helps, and focus on your exo,” said John.

  “And that’s it?”

  “Yes. That’s all you need to know to get started. If you need further help, try asking a fellow Searcher. They may be able to explain it better than I could.”

  Jack walked to his room, still thinking meditation would be of little value in regards to connecting with his exo. As instructed, he closed his door, sat on the edge of the bed, and began the process. He felt as though the time was inching by and he wasn’t feeling any more linked to his exo than he already had been. Butch’s voice began to materialize in the hallway, so Jack poked his head out from behind his bedroom door to ask him a question. Butch was having a conversation with Richard, which Jack didn’t want to interrupt, but the frustration he felt regarding meditation overtook him.