by Ivan Kal
As soon as she finished Adrian smiled widely. “Well done! How soon do you think that we can start producing the hulls for the Tiamat and the Titan? And do you think that it will be possible to update the hulls of the rest of the ships?”
“Production can start in a few days, as for the updates, that will depend on the ship, for a few we can replace the old hulls as they aren’t that far ahead in the construction, for others we will need to improvise. Maybe add a lighter layer of the ri-steel over the existing hull, we will just need to try and see how it goes. In any case all of the ships will have the shimmering field installed, whether they have the ri-steel hull or not.”
“Great, good work chief. I will leave you and your team to the work.” Adrian said, then he turned to now grinning Isani and together they walked out of the room. All the while Adrian thought how things happened to fall into place at the exact moment he needed them to. But then again, it was nice that things went their way for a change.
Chapter Five
Adrian sat with his legs crossed on the floor of his bedroom, if anyone was to look at him now they would assume that he was meditating, relaxing. But the truth was far from it, inside his mind he fought a battle.
More than thirty years ago when he was barely a teen, Adrian received a prototype implant inside his head. This implant came with its own Ai, an Ai that wasn’t programed with all of the knowledge it required, instead it was given only enough to know what it was, and the rest the Ai would learn as human children did, from experience alongside Adrian. The Ai with Adrian’s help chose its name - Iris, and ever since then the two had grown together. Adrian was the only person who had this experimental implant put in before their brain was fully developed, and as Iris and he grew their connection deepened, and unforeseen side effects occurred.
The interactions between the Ai, the implant, and Adrian stimulated his brain, to the point where he developed unique abilities. Or more precisely allowed him a greater control over his brain and body’s abilities. The human brain was an amazing thing, it was powerful, capable of so many things that would seem supernatural. But most of humans never used their brain and bodies to their full potential, the human brain was inefficient, its potential and power bundled up inside a net of pathways.
It was capable of so many things, abilities that human brain was already capable of subconsciously, altering the perception of time – like when solders or martial artists suddenly start seeing events in slow motion during tough situations, conscious control over mind’s information processing, ability to consciously remove the limiters that the brain puts on the muscles strength – like when a mother suddenly gained the strength to lift a car and save her child, and others like shutting off pain receptors. And ever since the moment he realized he could do this, Adrian trained in order to master it. For now he was still the only one who could do it all consciously, but his mind was constantly scanned and monitored by the Empire’s scientist through his implant in order for them to replicate the effects, they were still unsuccessful.
But along with the ability to consciously do things that any human could do subconsciously or in times of great need, Adrian had developed one more unique ability that had never been documented before. He simply called it mind space. It was an ability where his brain suspended most of its control functions over the body in order to focus everything on a single thing, thought and imagination. It was very dangerous, the first time Adrian accidently went into mind space while meditating, he had stopped his heart, or rather his brain did. He would have probably died if it weren’t for Iris and his control implant. The only reason he survived was because Iris through his implant and nanites inside his body temporarily took over the control of his vital processes, while his brain focused on something else.
The mind space ability allowed Adrian to enter a world inside his own mind where time flowed at a much faster rate than it did in the real world. It was all an illusion of course, his mind was processing and imagining things at a much higher rate than it usually did, he wasn’t spending more time in mind space, his perception of time is what was altered, like dreams – a dream usually lasted about 5 minutes but it always seemed longer.
That allowed him to ‘shadow train’ inside his mind, and coupled with his unique ability to have greater control over his body’s function meant that theoretically anything he trained for or learned in his mind space would transfer over into the real world, what his brain learned his body would be able to replicate without the need for him to develop muscle memory. He still had to keep his body in a fit condition, real strength, agility, and stamina couldn’t be trained inside mind space. But the mind space allowed him to do so many things that he otherwise wouldn’t have the time to do. It was also one of the reasons why he wasn’t worried about the participating in the games. Others might have spent years training in the real world, but Adrian had spent decades training inside his mind space, coupled with his other abilities he knew that there were very few people in the Empire that could challenge him in hand to hand combat.
That being said, he still needed to prepare himself. That was what he was doing in mind space, training. He was fighting against conjured images of the masters he had sparred with. Even though his conscious mind might not remember every single nuisance of another person’s fighting style, his subconscious did, and in the mind space he had access to everything he had ever seen, heard, or learned. Every book he read, he remembered perfectly as if he had just read it, every memory as fresh as if it was made moments ago.
The scientists that were testing his ability had told Adrian that by focusing so much of brain’s processing power on the mind space it allowed him to refresh pathways to memories and data stored in the depths of his brain. That was also the reason why he remembered everything perfectly when he came out of mind space, but over the past thirty years he had learned that memories and knowledge that were not used frequently would become… Not forgotten, but buried beneath new knowledge and memories. Buried until he refreshed the pathways of his brain in mind space.
In mind space, Adrian moved sideways as one of his opponents attempted to kick him in the head, raising his hand to block the inevitable attack of the second opponent as Adrian stepped inside his reach. Blocking the attack, he gently guided the hand of his second opponent as he spun around, then Adrian pushed the hand towards the incoming attack of the first opponent. Losing his balance the second crashed into the first opponent, both of them falling to the floor.
The two on the floor looked like masters of martial arts that Adrian had sparred years ago, before the forming of the Empire. His mind recreating them exactly as they looked like, both young looking as all humans now looked. Their styles of fighting were different both from Adrian’s and from each other, but ultimately Adrian knew that they were just shadows of real people, Adrian was fighting his own impressions of those people. They might have the styles of those two people, but ultimately the two were figments of Adrian’s mind, they ‘thought’ like he thought. He was fighting himself.
Adrian stepped back and relaxed, the two opponents on the ground immediately dissolved. He closed his eyes and then opened them to see Sora and Akash sitting in front of him in his quarters. The two of them always sat and gazed at him attentively when he went into mind space, watching over him. Adrian tried to smile but his body still felt numb and unresponsive, he always needed a few minutes to recover completely, for his brain to reassume control over his body’s functions from Iris and his implant.
“A productive session I assume?” Iris asked through the implant.
“Yes.” Adrian responded simply, he was still a bit unbalanced from the experience, his mind needed to adjust to the waking world again.
“How long were you in there this time?”
“Somewhere between a few days and two weeks I think.” Adrian responded, it was very hard to keep ‘local’ time inside mind space, his perception of time was so warped that he couldn’t keep an accurate account of how much tim
e has passed. “How long was I out?” Adrian asked.
“An hour and seventeen minutes.” Iris answered.
“Hmm… Closer to a week then.” Adrian said. They had a rough estimate of how fast time passed in mind space compared to the time that passed in the real world.
“Well…” Adrian started speaking as he stretched his arms above his head and then moved to stand, shaking off the last bit of stiffness. “How long do I have until my match?” Adrian asked.
“The semi-finals ended a few minutes ago. So about an hour and a half I would say.” Iris said.
Adrian nodded absently as he started walking around the room and stretching. The martial-arts tournament, which was held twice a year was extremely important for Warpath, every citizen of the clan prepared for it intensely. Not every hand to hand specialist attended every tournament, people in Warpath were very busy, but they tried to attend at least once a year. Adrian could have entered the tournament as any other person that was fighting, but he chose not to. He had already won the tournament once and didn’t need, nor had the time to fight through the ranks until he reached the finale. But he needed to show his people that he was still strong, better than anyone else.
There had been rumors circulating for the past three years about how he wasn’t the best hand to hand specialist anymore, probably originating from the knowledge that Adrian was rarely seen training, with his mind space he didn’t have to. But as the leader of the Warpath clan, he needed to put those rumors to rest. People needed to see him as something more than an ordinary person, he needed to be a goal they all strived to reach. He was still the undisputed champion of fleet command, as he held the top scores in Warpath.
There were two ways that Warpath citizens advanced and showed their prowess. One was the tournament, where people fought against each other in hand to hand combat, although it wasn’t as crucial as the second. The trials, these were yearlong events that a citizen could enter whenever he wanted, they ranged from solo trials to group. And they ranged across every area of significance, from simulated fleet scenarios to weapon courses and physical feats. Each accomplished trial gave a certain amount of points with every citizen of Warpath having his place at the clan Leaderboard. Adrian rarely did the trials, but when he did he always chose the hardest ones, those that were worth the most points. By doing that he had managed to keep his name in the top 10 spots, even without doing a lot of trials, quality over quantity.
“I guess it’s time.” Adrian said, Sora and Akash tilted their heads and then got to their feet, together they started towards the arena.
***
Clara Bengtsdotter and Meifeng Zhao sat in the Warpath’s arena, the tournament was a bit of a surprise. The winner was actually someone who was on the tech path. It was the first time someone who wasn’t on the warrior’s path won. Now the two of them and the rest of the arena watched the five people on the rectangular platform in the middle of the arena, and even more watched via video. Clara could see the five of them bickering among themselves, laughing and teasing, they were the five people that accepted the Clan Leaders challenge.
Adrian didn’t join the tournament, instead he organized an event and he issued a challenge to anyone who wanted to accept. And the five people on the platform were those that accepted, two were former winners of the tournaments a Nel –Isurani, a human Olja Itic, three were Sentinels that Clara and Meifeng knew very well as they trained together often, Mario, and two Nel, Banei and Lei.
They were supposed to fight Adrian in one on one matched one after another, although they believed that Adrian wouldn’t get past the first match. Clara on the other hand wasn’t so sure, she and Meifeng had spent a lot of time with Adrian and they knew that he didn’t train his martial arts at all, save for a few training sessions once every few months. He was however spending time training his body, pushing his physical limits. But simple strength and speed wouldn’t help him much against the people in the arena.
And yet, Clara had seen in him yesterday complete confidence. And thinking back about all the time she spent with him, the way he moved, how he was always aware of everything and everyone around him made her doubt her initial judgment. Adrian Farkas was not a man who was overconfident, who was rash and impulsive, if anything he was calmer and more contained than anyone Clara had ever known.
But still she worried about this event, there had been rumors about Adrian, how his prowess in hand to hand combat was no longer absolute, and in any other leader it wouldn’t have mattered. A leader didn’t need to be someone who can fight, he only needed to lead. But Warpath was different, to them strength and knowledge in all its forms mattered, and most of all fighting ability. Adrian had turned this clan into a warrior society, they applied the teachings of the ancient martial arts in a modern form to all areas of their lives. They didn’t just train in them, they lived them. It mattered to the people of Warpath whether their leader was the best fighter or not.
Then suddenly, a person walked into the arena. Immediately the arena quieted and the five straightened. Adrian Farkas walked slowly onto the platform, his two wolions following and stopping just below the platform. Adrian walked onto the platform and then stopped in front of the five who had accepted his challenge. Adrian, like every other person in the Empire, wore a skintight suit based on Nel skin-suits, it fulfilled all functions that conventional clothes did during the Human history.
It was a mixture of bio materials and a nanite mesh, it kept the body at the optimal temperature, providing protection from heat and cold, while also satisfying the need for modesty. It felt like a second skin, giving the wearer full range of movement. It was also easily removed or put on, using an implant the wearer could send a signal to the nanites mesh that would release the charge and make the suit loose and separate it into parts, similar to clothing’s of the past, which could be taken off in the usual manner. The need for fashion identity was satisfied by people wearing overcoats in different shapes and colors. The skin-suits were the norm.
Adrian’s muscles were clearly visible through the suit as it offered nothing in terms of layers, except in the private areas, groin, and chest for women. Adrian was close to stocky in shape, his muscles clearly defined without being bulky, his dark hair cropped short and his face was clean of facial hair, he didn’t really make an imposing figure. He was pleasant to look at. At least according to Clara’s preference, good looking but not overly so, he was of average height just a bit over a 180 cm tall. There was nothing really special about him. And yet there was something about him, it was not apparent when one looked at him at first, but over time Clara had started to see something just beneath the surface.
Down on the platform, four of the five moved away and left one of the Sentinels – Mario, on the platform with Adrian. There was no announcement of what was about to happen no pomp and fanfare, everyone knew what was coming next. Mario bowed to Adrian shallowly, a bow of someone superior to an inferior. It was an insult, especially in Warpath where almost half of their population was Nel and where they had adopted many of Nel gestures and forms of body language. Adrian didn’t respond verbally, only acknowledging Mario with a dip of his head, a gesture of someone who was an absolute superior.
Mario grimaced and his face visibly darkened, he brought his hands up in a ready position and started walking slowly towards Adrian, who was standing there with his hands behind his back, relaxed. Quickly Mario closed the distance and executed a few testing jabs. Adrian used foot work to step just barely out of range. Mario kept attacking faster, and Adrian kept moving out of range, towards the platform’s edge. Clara could clearly see the frustration on Mario’s face, he wanted to fight Adrian truly, and Adrian wasn’t letting him, he never engaged.
The faster Mario went the more impressive Adrian’s movements became. He made it look so effortless, he moved out of every attack’s range by a hairs breath, his movements smooth and flowing. It looked as if Adrian knew when and where Mario was going to attack before he did. And Mario wa
s becoming increasingly more irritated. In a moment Clara understood and saw the skill that Mario possessed.
Even without being able to touch him, Mario was guiding Adrian towards the edge of the platform, which in turn narrowed the space that Adrian had to maneuver. Clara saw the moment, Mario moved a step back, making a half second pause in his attacks. Then she saw him leap forward with a direct shot to Adrian’s head. His attack will force Adrian to either block or move to the side, where he would be in range of Mario’s other hand.
Mario had put all his body’s weight and power in the strike, and in the split second it was flying towards Adrian’s head Clara knew that there wasn’t enough time for anyone to block that strike, Adrian would need to dodge into the Mario’s attack zone. And then something happened. As Mario’s attack almost reached its target, Adrian blurred. The next thing Clara could see was Mario hitting the floor, unconscious, Adrian standing in almost the same spot he was before the attack, only his body was twisted to the side and his elbow was up, as if he just attacked.
Everyone in the arena was deadly silent, the only sound came from the soft buzzing of the drones that recorded and transmitted to the rest of Warpath.
“Holy shit.” Clara heard Meifeng whisper. Clara simply couldn’t comprehend what had happened. Mario was a Sentinel, one of top Warpath’s warriors, skilled in hand to hand combat, Adrian shouldn’t have been able to do what he did. Especially when Clara knew that he almost never trained his hand to hand, and she and Meifeng had been with him for the past ten years. Clara saw Adrian motion to the medical team to gather and treat Mario, although it was unlikely that he incurred any kind of permanent injury. Everyone had medical nanites nowadays, which could quickly and effectively treat any injury, even a broken neck could be treated if it didn’t cause immediate death. Then Adrian turned to the rest of those who had accepted his challenge.
