Spacer Clans Adventure 2: Naero's Gambit

by Mason Elliott

  Vane departed.

  As soon as the High Master got far enough away, Naero felt Om trying to come back online. It might take Om a while to do so. Vane’s tek-dampening effects felt that powerful.

  Hashiko sneered and turned to glare at Naero once more.

  Naero stood at attention and raised both of her palms straight up.

  She did as she was told.

  Hashiko launched into her any way.

  Another one-sided match ended quickly, with Naero battered and bleeding, face down in the grass and dirt.

  She was getting used to the earthy smell and the gritty taste by now.

  Hashiko ignored her and went back to practicing on her own.

  Naero stood by watching, trying to learn, for about an hour before she raised one hand.

  Hashiko sneered, faced the other way, and kept working for another hour.

  Naero dared to walk around and face her again. Raising both hands and staring at her.

  “I can make you wait all day, if I choose to, adept. I am not required to respond or grant permission to speak.”

  Yet another hour passed as the Janoshan sun clicked off shadows in the ring of weird trees.

  Tired of standing, Naero sat down, folded her legs beneath her, and attempted to meditate, calming her mind and practicing some of the breathing exercised her parents taught her as a child.

  She lost track of time and almost took a nap at one point.

  When Hashiko looked like she was taking a break, Naero lifted one hand.

  Hashiko did not even glance her way.

  But she did sigh. “Permission granted. Speak.”

  Finally.

  It was then that Naero noticed that Mitsubishi Hashiko was almost precisely five millimeters shorter than her.

  How nice.

  “Questions, Maeris? I don’t have all day.”

  “Vane–”

  Hashiko flashed her eyes. Her body snapped with power like a whip when she moved.

  “Master Vane to you, adept.”

  “High Master Vane said for you to finish orienting me in the protocols and patterns of our ways here. Please enlighten me.”

  “First, stop addressing us like you’re in some insipid old martial arts vid. “

  “I’m sorry.”

  Hashiko laughed. “Apologies are for non-adepts and the weak. Like you. No true practitioner of The Ways of Chaos wastes their time on apologies, being polite to each other. Ugh! Lies and bullshit. Respectful of those superior to you, yes. Apologies and politeness? Never. Like I said. Don’t waste our time. Don’t go out of your way to insult us or our intelligence.”

  Naero raised her hand once more.

  Hashiko rolled her eyes.

  “Are you demented? Permission to speak has not ended. Speak. Just don’t interrupt your superiors.”

  “What do I call you?”

  “Superior Adept or Adept Hashiko. Master Vane and I will call you whatever the hell we like. Adept. Inferior Adept. Adept Maeris. Maeris. We can call you, hey, shitbrain. Hey, dumbass! if we want to. Get used to it. You will respond briefly when spoken to. Yes, no, or ready will usually suffice.”

  Naero waited until she was sure Hashiko was finished speaking.

  “Adept Hashiko. You don’t like me. Why?”

  Hashiko’s eyes flashed and she snarled again.

  “Like you! Like you? Typical newb, whiney bullshit. I don’t know you, Maeris. What’s more, I don’t care to know you, adept. No one here is going to wipe your nose, or your ass for you. It is so obvious you don’t belong here. You shouldn’t even be here. Three years are going to pass, and then you’ll be dead. The Master might as well kill you now.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? You don’t have a Chaos mindset or even the most basic comprehension of the value of The Way. You have no business here wasting our time. Distracting us from our own important goals.”

  And just what were their goals that were so important?

  Hashiko walked around her, appraising her. “You have no special abilities that I can see. Your brain is obviously damaged. You can’t biomance and repair it, or you would have done so by now. Other than a slight genetic advantage higher than most Spacers, I don’t see why we should even bother trying to train you. You don’t have any psyonic abilities. You’re a nud.”

  “What then are my duties?”

  Hashiko glared at her.

  “You want to live out this farce? Starting one hour after dawn, three or four hours each morning in the sparring circle with me or whenever and wherever I say. Go with Master Vane whenever he summons you. That could be at any time during the day. He usually won’t bother you while you sleep. Otherwise, stay out of our way. Don’t bother us or distract us unless you are dying. When you are not with one of us, we do not care one bit what you do. Train on your own, sleep, dally with the rats, make baskets, draw in the sand for all we care.”

  “That’s it?”

  “You want me to complicate things for you even more, Maeris?”

  “No. No, I do not.”

  “Because I can if you want me to. If you insist on annoying me and pissing me off more than you already have!”

  “No, I think that will be sufficient.”

  Hashiko sneered. Then she chuckled.

  “You’re not even going to be able to handle this much,” she said.

  Naero would see about that.

  Hashiko chuckled again. “I’m going to really beat the hell out of you tomorrow morning, Maeris. And you know what? I’m going to savor and enjoy it. A lot. You were right about one thing. I don’t like you.”

  “See you then, adept Hashiko.”

  “Permission ended. Stick around until I’m finished, inferior adept. I have not dismissed you yet.”

  Naero sat down, returned to her meditations, and took that well-needed nap.

  16

  The next morning, one hour after dawn, Naero arrived at the sparring circle once more, warmed up and ready for what became her daily beat down.

  As the first days droned on, the basic pattern repeated.

  But Naero learned some things through direct observation, if nothing else.

  Hashiko seemed to be able to use tek if she wanted to. Perhaps it was some special perk from Master Vane. But with her obsession with discipline, she apparently seldom did so. She lived aloof and ascetically from what Naero could tell.

  She had little apparent concern for how she looked or what she ate or drank. Her short black hair for example, was kept out of her face but usually looked a little tousled.

  Yet for inexplicable reasons, Hashiko changed the hue of her togs to different colors each day, perhaps out of boredom, perhaps just to flaunt that she could. And that Naero could not.

  Every morning, Hashiko motioned for Naero to enter the circle.

  As soon as she did, Hashiko went on the attack.

  She proceeded to beat, kick, stomp, and pummel Naero relentlessly for nearly two straight standard hours.

  Naero never said a word.

  She did not ask for permission. She got up, time and time again, defending herself to the best of her abilities.

  Finally Hashiko would take a break to replenish fluids and nutrients with the standard lix packs kept nearby, under one of the benches.

  Which of course tasted like Thelurian pink squirrel urine, or some unpleasant facsimile.

  What Naero wouldn’t give for a frosty borble of Jett.

  Soon she’d have dreams about juicy tubs of sweet blue Spum and frosty borbles of ice cold Jett.

  Haisha! What was she in for? Master Vane seemed way beyond hot-headed. Borderline unstable and crazy.

  Naero hoped mercurial proved to be a better description.

  On the other hand, Adept Hashiko remained cold, indifferent and wrapped up in herself and her own destiny, to the exclusion of all others.

  Especially Naero, it seemed.

  Hashiko even seemed asexual, almost not human any
longer. Just obsessed with power and control, and her own advancement to the rank of High Master. She wasn’t about to allow there to be any competition or let anyone get or stand in her way.

  Again, especially Naero. And frankly, Naero couldn’t care less about that gig. Hashiko was welcome to it. In her own way, Hashi was born for the job.

  How were either of these hardline practitioners of the Mystic ways of Chaos and Entropy going to teach her biomancing and how to repair or control abilities that had not even fully returned to her yet? None of that seemed very likely.

  Then there were the Tua. They seemed like harmless pawns in the scheme of things. Master Vane ignored or used them offhand as servants and willing sex surrogates. As he repeatedly stated, they were vermin to him. Worthless garbage. Genetic dead ends. Boring.

  Hashiko ignored them almost entirely. Like almost everything else and every one else, the Tua were not even worth her contempt, let alone any of her precious time. The earthworms under ground probably had more of her consideration. Which meant none.

  In fact, unless forced to do so by Master Vane, Hashiko ignored and avoided Naero in the exact same way, perhaps for the same reasons.

  Hashiko literally did not give a damn about anyone but herself, and achieving what she wanted to achieve with her life. To become the next High Master of Chaos, after Master Vane.

  What frustrated and maddened Naero the most, was that neither Master Vane nor Hashiko would use their biomancing abilities to heal the blockage in her brain so that she could actually begin to use and explore the possibility of controlling her abilities.

  Either of them could do so at any time and with great ease, according to them.

  Yet both vehemently refused to do so. No matter how she tried to get them to help her.

  In fact, they both thought it rather funny, and took no small amusement whenever she attempted to persuade them.

  Naero did everything but beg. And she was damned if she was going to beg them. Not that it would help.

  They’d just enjoy it more.

  It seemed to please them both greatly when she found herself at a loss or helpless.

  Were all full-time practitioners of the Ways of Chaos major, petty assholes? It sure seemed like it.

  Had it not been for Om, and the simple amusements and comforts she found among the Tua, Naero might have gone total apeshit crazy from the get go.

  It seemed as if both Mystics conspired against her to hold her back and keep her from progressing in any way. She guessed they’d train her only so far and then stop before she learned enough to put herself anywhere near to to their level. They would intentionally hold her back.

  And yet at times they seemed worried, or afraid, or even threatened by her. Was that why they held her back on purpose? Because they were afraid of what she might do and become?

  If she confronted them with such facts, both Vane and Hashiko would insist that it was not their duty to solve any of her problems. She would either learn to do so on her own, or she would fail and die. Simple as that.

  Naero had the feeling by now that the two of them more or less hoped for the latter. They obviously weren’t going to do anything to make her dilemma any easier. Like they said. They would give her the basics and the building blocks. The raw concepts and theories that she needed.

  The rest was all up to her.

  She could find a way. Or she could give up and die. It really did not matter to them either way. They might even lean toward her failing and dying.

  That would get her out their lives.

  But Naero wasn’t about to give up on herself, or her quest to discover, explore, and master her own abilities. Whatever they were.

  Hashiko especially seemed bent on not making things any easier for her. But sometimes, even Hashiko let a few things slip while Naero had permission.

  “You’re a blockheaded stubborn fool,” Hashiko exclaimed in frustration. “Just like Khai was.”

  “Who’s Khai? The adept before me?”

  Hashiko nodded. Strange emotions playing across her face.

  “I made the mistake of letting him get close to me. I will not make such a mistake again.”

  Naero got the gist. “You two were…lovers?” She could barely believe it. Cold hard Hashiko?

  Hashiko glared at her. “No love involved, Maeris. Just sex and pleasure. Mere physical functions. I was simply satisfying a brief curiosity.”

  Naero couldn’t help laughing. “I guess I have a little trouble picturing you in any kind of relationship. With anyone.”

  Hashiko let her guard slip just for an instant, and glared at Naero again. As if she might launch herself into an all-out attack once more.

  But she didn’t right away.

  Naero withdrew slightly, still going on the defensive. Hashiko was always unpredictable.

  “I mean…you’re always so dedicated to goals, your disciplines. You never make time for anything or anyone else.”

  Hashiko sneered and curled her lip up at her in haughty disdain.

  “Don’t try to flatter or patronize me. I’d rather have your contempt, Maeris. You do not know me. You will never know or understand me. And I do not want you to. I try everything at least once. Just before you came to Janosha, the last adept arrived here for special training and a competition. Against me.”

  Naero blinked. “Really? You and him? What was he like?”

  Hashiko began pacing, lifting her eye brows.

  “All right…I suppose. We were both competing for a very honored position to serve the High Masters. For three years we fought every kind of contest imaginable. Every day. In that same time, I allowed him to grow close to me. I allowed him to think we were friends, comrades. The last year, as things grew more intense, and the stakes higher, I chose to allow the relationship to turn physical between us.”

  Naero struggled not to let her jaw drop.

  Hashiko scowled at her again. “It was…interesting enough I suppose. We took our pleasures. I learned enough to know that the allure of sensual relations need not distract me any further from my goals. Baser human needs. I choose not to use them as a hobby like Master Vane. And quite frankly, I thought the relationship might complicate things between me and Khai, and perhaps give me an edge in our final contests.”

  “So what happened?”

  Hashiko’s eyes narrowed to slits. “I…miscalculated.”

  Naero grinned. “You lost. He won.”

  Hashiko’s eyes flashed.

  “It was a contest. He was a formidable foe. I was less than fortunate. Thus for once I also experienced the sting of not being the victor. I have learned from that and grown wiser from that experience as well. I have known defeat once. It shall not happen again.”

  They’d see about that too.

  “So, he won the position?”

  Hashiko almost snarled. “If you can call it that. He betrayed me. Another good lesson to have learned.”

  You can never trust this one, Naero.

  I know that Om. Let me handle this.

  “Wait a minute. How can you say that he betrayed you? You were both competing intensely for the same position. You just admitted yourself that you got close to him and basically slept with him–hoping that it would give you an edge in the contests. Just because he beat you and won, it doesn’t mean he betrayed you.”

  “I choose to see things otherwise. There is nothing between us any longer. In any case, the fool has doomed himself in his own pride. He has sworn to pursue an impossible task for the High Masters that even I would never take on. One that no other Mystic has ever been able to achieve. Not even the High Masters. And to fail at this task means certain death for him or anyone who attempts it. Either way, he has made his choice. Khai has no future now.”

  “What impossible task has he chosen? What position did he achieve by his victory?”

  “Khai is the new Mystic Enforcer, just like his father before him. But what does any of this matter to a damaged creature such as yourself? Y
ou know nothing of such things and will probably not be around long enough to do so. The secret ways of the Mystics are secret for many good reasons.”

  “Hey, you don’t want to tell me? Fine by me. You were the one that started all of this any way. Nice to know you were human enough to have a lover at least once. Even if it was just a scam.”

  “Concern yourself with your own failures. And they are many, Naero Maeris. Don’t presume to judge me or any of my actions. I am still your superior in all things.”

  Naero forced a tiny smile and walked out with her arms folded across her chest.

  “Not for long,” she said under her breath.

  17

  The dawn of another day that week came with a heavy, drenching rain.

  Master Vane simply appeared in Naero’s cave, without notice or warning, other than Om’s presence shutting down again.

  He still roared with the voice over the rumbles of thunder.

  “Get up. Wake up, fool.”

  Naero looked over at her cave pot and wondered if it would be worth getting incinerated.

  She stood up and stretched. “Great Teacher, would it be at all possible for you to turn down the volume of the voice even slightly? I already have a–”

  “No. Denied. Let’s go.”

  I’m supposed to meet Hashiko–

  “Hashi can beat on you some other time. She’ll figure it out. Stop stalling and come with me.”

  Naero didn’t relish a slippery climb, down a sheer cliff face, and in a thunderstorm no less.

  Just as she reached the edge, Master Vane grabbed her by the hair and jerked her out into the storm.

  At first she screamed.

  Then she noticed that they weren’t exactly falling, more like rushing through the sky at high speed.

  “I suppose you cannot even levitate yet?”

  Naero tried again. Om. Om?

  No reply.

  In close proximity to Master Vane, she still could not interact with Om.

  “Of course I can’t levitate. I don’t know how to levitate. You know very well that all of my Cosmic abilities are completely burned out. I can’t access them or use them, even if I knew and understood exactly what they were.”