“Are they?” it replied as one eye glowed brightly while the other diminished.
“Well, yes. Look at how they have it so together.”
“Together? Is that an apt description of them? Do you believe your statement possess any logic to it?”
Breeze grew irritated. “What do you mean? Why do you keep leaning on me? They have control over their powers. They went to good schools that trained them. They had parents who paid attention to them. I didn’t.”
Achilles raised a hand and shook its head. “Your attention please, my captain of the skies. Do not confuse false bravado and high handedness for mastery of any skill. What amazing displays of wizardry have they performed for you to give you that impression?”
“Well, just the fact that they can use their powers without a second thought. It’s like they’re always on and ready to go.”
“And this is enough to give you the impression that they possess ultimate mastery of their abilities? That they have exploited them to their fullest potential?”
Breeze shrugged. “Well, yeah.”
Achilles pointed a finger at him. “Your basic assessment is correct. They have attended academies that have taught them what they need to know. Listen again to what has just been revealed to you. They were taught what they need to know. Nothing more. Nothing less. Do you understand?”
Breeze looked at the robot with a blank stare. “Yeah, they can use their powers without thinking about it while I have to stand around like an idiot wishing to fly.”
“What this humble robot wishes to convey to you is that they were never given the keys to become any more powerful than what they are now. They were taught enough to perform the most basic tasks, nothing more. Do not allow the supposed prestige of whatever academy they attended to blind you to the obvious.”
“You’re saying that Sally can do a lot more?”
“Infinitely more. Remember, the path before you forever recedes. You are an eternal student, Breeze, and one’s work is never done.”
Breeze’s gaze drifted toward the mountains in the distance.
“Master Corinth, you mentioned earlier that your father never trained you in the use of your skills. Do you sincerely believe that to be true?”
He nodded as he returned his attention to Achilles. “Yeah, I mean, it wasn’t like he tried to send me off to some school or anything, and if he knew Oslo for so long, he never once mentioned him to me or about Perihelion. He only sent me away after I went to the air show and…here I am now.”
Achilles placed a hand on Breeze’s shoulder. “You had said that your father possessed no concern for your safety by allowing you to work so close to the molten slag buckets of the foundry. Did it occur to you that he very well knew it would be safe and that no harm could come to you?”
“What are you getting at?”
“You just fell out of the sky, master. And yet observe yourself, no harm has befallen you, with the exception of the hapless earth and the crater you left behind.”
“Well, yeah, my shield always seems to kick in before I crash into anything.”
Achilles gripped his shoulder a little tighter. “Listen carefully to your words. Any sign of danger and your shield raises to protect you. You worked in dangerous conditions at the foundry, yet were you ever involved in an accident?”
“No, not that I can think of,” Breeze tilted his head, “wait a minute, I do remember a bucket that was traveling above me on the overhead gantry. One of the arresting cables broke and the bucket tilted and molten slag fell out. I remember that it almost hit me, but then it just seemed to, I don’t know, slide away from me?”
Achilles nodded its head. “Activation of your shield for the first time.”
“I don’t get it. What are you trying to say? I don’t remember doing anything at all.”
“Did it occur to you my fledgling, that your father purposefully placed you there in an attempt to jump start your abilities?”
“You’re saying that my father risked my life? On a hunch?”
“Your father was training you, but in secret. Think back over your life to this point in time. Everything your father wanted of you, every chore and task you had to perform more than likely possessed a direct correlation to your training. Not just in the use of your gifts, but in your mechanical skills as well. You possess an adeptness for machines and how to fix them. Have you seen these skills on display from your teammates?”
Breeze didn’t answer as he stared at the robot.
“I will accept your silence as a no. There were taught what they needed to know in a controlled environment. Pull them out of that environment and they seem unable to function, so they default to the only person they know who possesses any level of real world skill. That is you.”
“But I still don’t know what I’m doing when I’m up there.”
“Negative. Your subconscious has been filled to the brim with all of the knowledge you need to know to maximize your potential. Together, we shall demonstrate it. Return aloft, young man.”
Breeze closed his eyes, stretched his arms out and within seconds he felt the air rushing across his face until he came to a stop. He opened his eyes and looked down where Achilles was just an ant on the ground from his vantage point.
Achilles’ voice crackled through his earpiece. “We shall relive the molten slag incident at the foundry in order to prove the mastery of your abilities and the level of power you posses. For this exercise, you will close your eyes. Do not open them until you are told to do so.”
Breeze complied. He concentrated on maintaining his position when he began to wonder what Sally was doing.
“Now, young aviator, with your eyes firmly shut, sense your shield. I want you to picture it as a bubble and expand it.”
“My shield isn’t up because I’m not in danger,” Breeze retorted.
“Ones does not need visual receptors to sense or recognize danger. Expand your shield, please.”
Breeze reached out with his mind and could feel the energy radiating from his shield. “It’s on!” he called out excitedly.
“Excellent. With your eyes firmly shut, expand it to its fullest extent.”
Breeze kept his eyes closed and could feel the energy coursing through his body as he expanded the shield. Suddenly he felt resistance. He grunted as he strained to push the shield out further, but couldn’t.
“Something’s wrong Achilles, I can’t.”
“You cannot, or you are unable to perceive the danger that surrounds you?”
“What are you getting at?”
“Open your eyes.”
Breeze did and was stunned. He was surrounded by a squadron of hovering attack ships. They throttled their engines and he was overwhelmed by the cacophony of whining turbines.
He struggled to maintain his shield as they pressed against it and responded by thrusting the shield out, but to no avail. They continued to push harder and the shield began to collapse. Amidst the assault, he could see into the canopies of the ships. There were no pilots.
As he began to black out from the strain, he was still able to recognize the triangle symbol painted on the side of one of the ships. Exactly like the one he saw in Achilles’ barn.
“Do not surrender my young warrior, you must resist,” Achilles called out over the earpiece.
“Just…can’t,” Breeze gasped, as the ships pressed and squeezed the shield against him.
“You can and you must. From deep inside, you will find the infinite energy that powers and guides you. It is the eternal fire that cannot be extinguished unless you allow it to do so. Resist!”
Breeze was choking as his eyes rolled back. He surrendered himself to the inevitable when he heard a voice.
“Don’t give up,” said a young woman.
“Nina?”
Breeze spun around as he tried to find her.
“Move everything around you,” she said.
He relaxed the shield and it collapsed. He was able to draw a deep breath and steady his nerves as he calmly watched the hover ships rush him for the kill. He heard a hum in his ears as he narrowed his eyes, and in a flash, he flung his shield out in a mighty rush, impacting the ships and sending them hurtling across the sky in all directions.
“Excellent!” Achilles boomed through the earpiece, “but do not celebrate this victory yet.”
The attack ships immediately regrouped. With turbines whining they fanned out into a diamond formation, then advanced towards him.
Breeze glided back in an attempt to place some distance between them. The ships responded by accelerating towards him.
“Strategy, young aviator. Only retreat against impossible odds. You possess the advantage here.”
“Advantage? These things are about to run me over! I’m going to do what I do best; fly away.”
Achilles shook its head as the voice within spoke: What did you expect from this fledgling, my dear Achilles? He has been a loner for most of his life and is not capable of the things you wish him to do.
“No, this unit will not agree with your assessment, he is capable of so much more,” Achilles replied.
“What did you just say to me?” Breeze tapped his earpiece, “I can hardly hear you.”
Achilles rapped its head with a fist. “Ignore the previous transmission, Master Corinth, and think. You have just demonstrated how your shield is an offensive weapon, and that a strong defense is a devastating offense. Now, what can you do to achieve victory with the scenario you are now faced with?”
Breeze stared at the advancing ships as he thought of Achilles’ words. The whine of their turbines grew stronger, making it harder for him to concentrate as each ship shimmered from the hot exhaust of their engines. “I guess I can just…expand the shield again and bump them again?”
“No,” he heard the robot’s voice over the earpiece, “think between spaces. How can you affect the space surrounding them, or between them?”
Breeze continued to drift backward, mindful of the receding gap between him and the ships. “Wait a minute, I get it. Watch this,” and he accelerated backwards as the ships raced to keep up. In an instant, he came to a stop, then lunged forward, which allowed him to slip into the center of their diamond formation. With a mere thought, he rapidly expanded his shield and again they were flung across the sky like toys.
“Precisely,” Achilles said, “your shield protects you no matter what the circumstances. It is impervious and it will defend you. It will also fight for you, so do not be afraid to use it as a weapon.”
Breeze listened while giving chase to a ship that was flying away. “I’m going to give this little piggy a bump it’ll never forget,” he said as he drew closer to it.
“Beware, young man. Not every victory is so easily achieved.”
Breeze trailed it, and then expanded the shield just as the ship ejected hot flame from its exhaust. A wall of fire blinded him and he veered off course.
“Always expect resistance as not every adversary is so easily defeated. In the same manner you feigned weakness and set a trap for them, the tables can be turned on you as well. Be mindful of that.”
“Yeah, yeah. Blah, blah. I get it.”
“Do I sense a case of wounded pride in the tone of your voice? Forgive me, master, if I am wrong for my processors do not appear to be functioning well today.”
Breeze ignored the robot as he looped around in a wide arc to find and give chase to the other ships, never realizing they were trailing him the whole time.
You are making this far too easy for him. A few quick victories and he now believes he is an invincible warrior. You should really hammer down on the whelp.
Achilles’ body shuddered as it cocked its head. “I shall ask you to cease and desist. You plainly have no interest in helping,” it responded to the voice.
High above, Breeze was scanning the skies. “Achilles, I can barely hear what you are saying. Did you just say the session is over? Because I lost track of them, so I guess I won.”
“I apologize, master, I seem to be having...issues with my intercom. Nevertheless, there is no such victory as a partial one. Victory can only be achieved by absolutely defeating your opponent along with their acknowledgment of it. No firm and clear victory, no peace can be established.”
“You’re not kidding, I saw how you fought at Hammer Jack’s. You’re a robot that plays for keeps.”
“Pay heed to the battle space. Victory, as well as defeat, can be found lurking around the next corner.”
“Don’t know about corners up here in the sky, Achilles. Plenty of clouds though.”
“Focus, young man.”
As if on cue, the sky was shattered by the sound of high pitched turbines coupled with multiple sonic booms. The ships were in single file as they charged him then peeled away in different directions when they drew closer to him.
“They have learned. They are wary of you, but possess no fear. They are relentless, and like all machines, they never stop until the intended goal of their programming has been achieved. They are fully aware of your capabilities and have adapted with their own countermeasures. Beware,” Achilles warned.
He drifted across the sky and watched the ships scramble into position as one hovered above him and another below. The remaining two hovered to his left and right.
“They’re boxing me in,” he called out.
“Indeed,” Achilles’ voice crackled over the earpiece.
“That’s stupid. Don’t they know if they rush me again I’ll just use the shield and bump them back?”
“Master, it is best to overestimate your opponents than to underestimate them. Expect the worse and plan accordingly.”
“Okay, then I’ll ram them.”
He charged the ship to his right when he heard the roar of engines and was rammed from below and sent hurtling toward the attack ship above him, which was vibrating and shimmering, while a translucent bubble began to form off its bow. He could feel the bubble dragging him towards it, when it burst in an explosion of sound and fury as the space between him and the ship became distorted and the resulting impact was like a wave crashing over and sending him into a spiral to the earth below.
Another blow from a ship to his left changed his course and sent him hurtling across the sky when he was instantly surrounded by an overwhelming roar of engines. The other ships had joined in and relentlessly attacked with expanding spheres that appeared off their bows and exploded, sending shock waves crashing over him.
“Achilles, make them stop!”
“Negative. Now more than ever, it is imperative that you achieve success. You must overcome these odds.”
“But how? What kind of weapons are they using?”
“Distortion fields. They are collapsing the space between you and them.”
Another explosion from an expanding bubble sent him cartwheeling across the sky as ships from above and below moved in for the kill.
Achilles explained to him his predicament. “They know they must keep their distance from you, so the strategy they are employing is to collapse the fabric of space and time and use it as a whip. They do this by forming a bubble of intense gravitational energy just off their bows which stretches space like a rubber band, but instead of riding ahead of the resulting wave that is created when unleashed, they hang back and allow the wave to strike you.”
Another bellowing roar and his shield buckled as a pair of waves hit him simultaneously. The impact rattled him as he searched wildly for a reference point to maintain his position while fighting off the vertigo that threatened to overwhelm him. “Can’t find…ground…sky is spinning…”
See?
Not capable. You apply pressure to this one and he folds.
Achilles pounded its chest with a reverberating clang as it responded to the voice. “Your timing is highly inappropriate. This will be my final warning to you. You will recede to the shadows and allow me to train this child.”
“Achilles…what are you saying? Help me…,” Breeze’s voice came in weakly over the intercom.
“Steady yourself young warrior. Remember one of the first rules of navigation; find a reference point.”
“How? Spinning…so fast.”
“There is glowing orb above you. You cannot miss it.”
“What…are you…talking about?”
“The sun, Master Corinth. Burning with its virtually infinite flame.”
Breeze tumbled inside his shield as he fought off an impending blackout. He struggled to lock his eyes on the sun as he strained to counteract the spin he was thrown into. The more effort he exerted, the less he spun.
He broke free from his death spiral and wobbled as he tried to hover in place. Nausea roiled him as he watched the ships regroup into a diamond formation.
“Can you call off this session, Achilles? I think I’ve had enough.”
“You have accomplished much by doing, rather than discussing, the theoretical. Retreat is unnecessary when you have the upper hand.”
“What upper hand? I’m getting destroyed up here!”
“Analyze, young man. You possess the ability to expand your shield and batter the opposition. Have you not yet realized it can be utilized to draw in your adversaries?”
Breeze was silent as he studied the ships. He knew he didn’t have the strength to lash out at them with his shield. They would only fall back and stay out of range.
“Wait a minute. I think I’m beginning to understand what you’re rattling on about, Achilles. What if I expand the shield just enough, then…collapse it quickly?”
“Yes. Your shield also distorts space. If it were to suddenly collapse—”
”—it would suck them in and bring them closer to me,” Breeze concluded.
Breeze Corinth (Book 1): Sky Shatter Page 46
