VOLITION (Perception Trilogy, book 2)

by Strauss, Lee

“And poor me. I still need training if I’m going to win this fight, and not from the sidelines. In the ring.”

  “I could train with you,” I said, catching his eyes. “Better than no one.”

  Noah smiled a little and shook his head. “I’d never forgive myself if I hurt you. Even if by accident.”

  Jabez moped around like a baby for the next two days while Noah trained on his own. I waited until he was finished before working out myself. Mary stopped training me personally, and being alone in the gym with Noah was too intense.

  Jabez left early one morning and came home a few hours later, all excited. His brown eyes glimmered like a little kid waiting for his dad to open the tie he’d made him for Father’s Day.

  “What is it?” Mary asked

  “I found the solution to Jude’s problem.”

  “My problem?” Noah asked. “Which one?”

  “The one about needing someone uninjured to train with. Wait here,” he said going back to the front door. Like we’d go anywhere else.

  And why would he leave someone standing outside in the cold?

  He came back with a guy in tow, who wasn’t dressed nearly warm enough for the weather. At first glance I thought he’d found another guy they’d want to train to fight. He was a little over average height, with short brown hair and blue eyes. I smiled at him, wanting to appear friendly, but when he smiled back, chills ran down my spine.

  The skin around his eyes didn’t fold quite right. His face was a little too perfect, a little too plastic.

  Mary’s eyes narrowed. “You brought home a humanoid?”

  I gaped at Noah.

  “It’s fine, Mary,” Jabez said. “I know a guy who programs them. Don’t worry. This one’s not going to take over the world.”

  “How’d you pay for it?” she asked through tight lips.

  “I told the guy I’d pay after Noah’s fight. He’s gonna win, now, don’t you see? If he can beat Fred, here, he can beat any virtual ass.”

  Noah shook his head. “I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

  “I thought you guys were anti-gap, anti-robots?” I said, still incredulous.

  “I’m anti-big brother,” Jabez said. “I don’t want nobody following my every move from some space station or monitoring how much money I have and where I spend it. I’m not against technology. It has its place and purpose.”

  An uneasy quiet descended in the room.

  “Okay, let’s not be rude,” Jabez said. “Everyone, this is Fred. Fred, my sister Mary and our friends Jude and Chloe.”

  Fred took a step closer. “How do you do?”

  Jabez opened up a collapsible chair and told Fred to sit. He did. “Jude is the guy you’re going to train,” Jabez said. Then he turned to us. “I worked all morning going through the fight moves. Fred’s program is perfect. He’ll be an excellent trainer.”

  “Great,” Noah said grimly.

  Jabez jumped to his feet. “I’ll take him to the gym. Jude, you can come as soon as you’re ready.”

  Jabez left to play with his new toy and Mary slipped into the bathroom.

  I leaned toward Noah and whispered, “Are you really going to train with it?”

  Noah huffed. “I don’t see that I have a choice. It’s just a big gadget programmed to help me train.” His eyes lighted on my nervous look. “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”

  Chapter 28

  NOAH

  Truth was I was worried. A humanoid was a machine. It could crush my face with one punch, shoving my nose cartilage to the back of my skull.

  An experience I’d rather avoid.

  But I had to train and hard to have any chance at winning. My gut told me we needed to leave after the fight no matter what. My nerves shimmered under a thinly guised veil of controlled panic. We had to get away from here. Despite the fact that Zoe and I weren’t a romantic couple anymore, I was dedicated to keeping her safe, even if I wasn’t sure how it was all going to end.

  Were we to be on the run for the rest of our lives? If so, we could be running for years, decades.

  I couldn’t worry about that now.

  I headed down the hall ignoring the old, musty scent of the ghosts of factory workers past. I spotted Zoe through the window in the courtyard, bundled up against the cold. She’d developed a perpetual frown, and it killed me to see her grow to be so sad. She leaned up against the cement and puffed on a cigarette.

  Another reason we had to leave. Jabez was a bad influence.

  The fact that she didn’t really remember loving me last summer still felt like a sack of rocks in my gut. Us breaking up was better for her in the long run. Yeah, if I kept telling myself this, maybe I’d believe it one day.

  Either way, it sucked for me. Would always suck for me.

  Her confession of falling for me a second time almost undid my resolve. Her dewy eyes pleading and the pain that filled them when I’d crushed her by letting her believe I wasn’t interested in her like that anymore.

  It was true that Zoe had changed. It was a lie that I’d stopped loving her.

  I almost blew it the day Mary asked me to pin Zoe to the floor in training. Almost. Blew. It. The temptation to kiss her possessed my whole body. Holding back made me crazy, like all my mental synapses were unhinging, invisible stitches popping along the seams of my soul.

  An outside force, something stronger than my will, helped me to move off her without doing something I was sure to regret later.

  I was in some kind of twisted purgatory with Zoe Vanderveen. I couldn’t have her and I couldn’t leave her.

  The rank of the gym assaulted my nose when I entered, but it was the sight of the humanoid standing statue-still in the ring that gave me pause.

  It wore shorts and a muscle shirt, clothes I’d seen on Jabez before.

  I changed quickly and warmed up by attacking a hanging bag. Jabez must’ve noticed my frown and how my eyes kept darting to Fred, who continued to stand there, unmoving.

  “It’s gonna be fine, man,” Jabez said. “I’ve got him programmed on easy to start. A child could beat him.”

  “That’s what you said about Mickey, and he beat the crap out of me.”

  “Fred’s programming is more delicate.”

  I’d have to take his word for it. I sipped water from my bottle, then entered the ring.

  Fred blinked and I kind of freaked. Its face was too real looking. The skin, the hair, the glossiness of its eyes. Technology was moving so quickly it made my head spin.

  “You ready?” Jabez asked. He stood at the consul on the floor. I nodded and he pushed a button.

  Fred moved into the fighting stance, legs bent and apart, its fists close to its face, elbows in tight.

  I did the same.

  We circled around like two wild cats.

  Jabez watched from the side. “Are you going to hit him already, or should I come back later?”

  I struck Fred’s jaw with a right upper-cut, holding in my surprise at how real it felt. For some reason I though punching it would be like punching a steel wall.

  Fred struck back and I saw stars. I was right that it would be a tough opponent.

  I threw a punch to its abdomen. It blocked me and recovered. We both fell back into position.

  “A child could not beat this,” I shouted to Jabez. Liar.

  Fred proved to be a worthy opponent. We worked through a rally of kicks and punches, until I was out of breath and beading sweat.

  Fred, of course, showed no human-like weakness.

  “See?” Jabez said. “He’s good.”

  It annoyed me that Jabez used pronouns normally reserved for people and animals. Real flesh-and-blood organisms. Fred wasn’t a person.

  “It’s good,” I said loudly. Fred raised an eyebrow at my declaration. It’s very human facial response unnerved me.

  “Kick him in the head,” Jabez said.

  “What?”

  “Come on, Jude. You’re limber enough now. You gotta get these kicks
in. They’re the knock out shots that’ll win the fight for you.”

  I should know. A kick to my neck had taken me out last fight. But I was caught off guard that time. That wouldn’t happen again.

  I twirled and landed a kick on Fred’s head. He didn’t even blink. Encouraged, I wound up again. This time Fred was ready. He blocked my kick and I flipped in the air and landed with a thud on the mat. I wheezed hard, gasping for breath.

  Jabez laughed. “Knocked the wind outta ya, huh? Next time don’t announce it. You have to mix your kicks up with punches.”

  I pulled myself off the mat, determined to take this AI down. All my frustration, anger, the weight of the injustice going on in the world wrapped up into a fiery ball in my gut. I went after Fred like my life depended on it. Punch, punch, jab, kick, punch, jab, kick. The last one, pushed Fred off balance and he fell to one knee.

  I thrust my arms into the air in a victory V. “Yes!” I knew this was the closest to a win with Fred that I’d ever get.

  Jabez’s eyebrows jumped with approval. “See man, you can do it. Whatever demon you just wrestled to take Fred down, make sure you bring it along with you to the fight.”

  Zoe was reading on a glass tablet when I walked into the living area after training. Her eyes moved up to greet me. “How’d it go?” she said.

  “The humanoid’s tough, but I brought it to its knees.” I felt a proud grin form on my face.

  Her’s pinched with worry. “That’s good, I guess.”

  “Of course it’s good. It means I’m ready. I can take the next guy.”

  “The next guy’s not programmed on ‘easy’.”

  “Believe me, Fred was not easy.”

  The worry didn’t leave her face. I felt a strong need to change the subject. I nodded toward the tablet. “What are you reading?”

  “A book from Mary’s twelfth grade curriculum. Biology. I may be a dropout, but at least I can catch up on some reading.”

  I cringed at that. Zoe should be in school.

  She went back to viewing the tablet. I tapped my fingers on my leg, humming a tune in my head, wishing I had a guitar here, anything to keep myself from staring across the room at her.

  Jabez waltzed through to his bedroom and returned with his jacket on and a package of cigarettes in his good hand. He looked at Zoe and nodded with his chin to the door that led to the courtyard. She grabbed her coat and left without saying anything to me.

  I tensed, wanting to punch the wall. Or Jabez’s face.

  Mary walked in and saw my pinched expression. “Is everything all right?”

  “Is there any way to get on-line without being tracked?” I asked, avoiding her question. I hadn’t posted on my blog since the commune. I also hadn’t heard how my brothers and Skye were doing. I hated being so cut off.

  Mary shook her head. “Sorry, Jude. We’re off the grid here. If we link up to the net, we expose ourselves. You could use an internet café. There’s one nearby where I go to read blogs.”

  “Yeah, okay.” I remembered seeing it. I kicked myself for not going sooner. Too wrapped up with the fact that we were fugitives and too busy training for a fight to save our lives.

  I grabbed my jacket, but curiosity got the best of me and instead of heading for the front door, I slipped into the hall to peek out the window onto the courtyard.

  Zoe and Jabez were smoking and laughing. My gut lurched.

  Fred was there, too, like one of the guys.

  Zoe spotted me and our eyes locked. Then she went back to smiling and flirting with Jabez, stepping in closer to him. If she was trying to make me jealous, it was working.

  I had to get out of this animal house. I made it two blocks to the main road when I started to slow my stride. I spotted the café and went inside thankful for the dimly lit room. I hoped the guy would accept my cash. His eyes flickered briefly to my face and I tipped the cap of my hat lower. He waved me in.

  My heart skittered as my blog page opened. If I were honest with myself, I was glad I’d had an excuse not to post. I didn’t want to be the guy who people looked to for direction in this new, terrifying world. What if I stirred everyone in the wrong direction? What if people died because of this blog? Because of me?

  Fifty-seven comments on my last entry.

  …is Brody still alive…

  …where is our fearless leader????

  My gut pitched at the next one.

  …I heard he took off with a girl…

  … I hope at least that she was pretty. Still not cool that he ditched us for a chick…

  One in particular caught my eye, and my heart chilled.

  “Why would you listen to a guy who abandoned his family????”

  It was my brother Jonathon.

  I responded to the comment: My family is in good hands. Some things are bigger than ourselves.

  A new comment popped up. Jonathon must’ve had the page opened and live.

  Some people think they’re bigger than they are.

  Jab, cut, bleed.

  Is everything okay? I wanted to ask about Davis, our little brother, and Skye who was their acting Mom.

  I waited for a response, but Jonathon wasn’t talking anymore.

  I shut it down. I hadn’t contacted him because I knew Vanderveen had his eyes all over me. In fact logging in here was a bad idea. I doubted it was secure.

  Nerves rattled my body, my face sweating as a feeling of claustrophobia enveloped me. I jumped out of my chair and dashed for the street.

  Every corner suddenly had two or three police officers or army personelle standing on it, with guns visible and at the ready. Were they there before? I hadn’t noticed.

  It was stupid of me to leave the factory. I couldn’t afford to be corralled and questioned. I wondered how long it would be before we would be forced to carry ID and be stopped regularly to produce it.

  I resumed a relaxed pace, not wanting to draw attention to myself and circled back.

  I wasn’t too far off in my prediction: in fact, I called it pretty close. That night on TV, there was another Breaking News announcement.

  Vanderveen’s government had made it official: the chip was now mandatory for every citizen of all ages. Clinics were being set up in each town and city across the country.

  Chapter 29

  “There’s no way in hell I’m getting one of those,” Jabez said.

  “I’m with you on that one,” I said. “But you see how Vanderveen will weed us out? He’s made it illegal for shops to take cash. It was already hard to buy and sell without one before now. Vanderveen has just made it impossible.”

  “There’s always the black market,” Mary said. “It’s about to get more business.”

  Zoe didn’t say anything, her blue eyes dim and vacant.

  “Are you okay?” I asked her.

  She shook her head, bringing her focus back to the room. “Yeah. I guess. I just can’t believe it’s come to this.”

  “Believe it, honey,” Mary said. “Vanderveen is one insane dude.”

  The weight on my chest just increased a thousand-fold. According to the news report Police and Army detail was being amped up in every city, and each member was outfitted with a portable chip scanner to check citizen ID. The curfew would be strictly enforced.

  Hiding out and protecting Zoe had just become infinitely more difficult.

  Training with a humanoid was better than training with Jabez. For one, I didn’t have to worry about killing the humanoid, and I didn’t hold back.

  And neither did it.

  I was sore and bruised but feeling strong. My flexibility matched the humanoid’s, and I was super juiced when I successfully kicked Fred in the neck. A maneuver that would knock out a human opponent. The same one that took me out in the last fight.

  Afterward, Jabez directed my attention to the monitor where he played footage of my next opponent’s previous fight.

  “Romeo?” I said.

  “Yeah, here watch him,” Jabez said, pointing
. “See how he favors his left side? Old injury. Lost part of his spleen. Just go right.”

  “And, why didn’t we review footage of what’s-his-name? Douglas?” I asked, annoyed. “Wouldn’t that’ve helped me then?”

  Jabez shrugged. “Ah, maybe. But let’s not dwell on a fight you lost. Let’s focus on this fight, the one you’ll win.”

  I was glad to hear he had so much faith in me. Maybe it was just wishful thinking on his part because he stood to pocket good cash if I won.

  “Romeo still fights with half a spleen?” I shook my head.

  “Guy’s gotta eat just like we do,” Jabez said.

  “Still, he must compensate?”

  “He does. Watch him. He’s heavy with his left hits and kicks. His left arm hangs lower, to protect his side rather than his neck.”

  Romeo’s advantage was that he was tall with at least five inches on me.

  “A right kick to the left side of his neck will win this for you.”

  “He’s a giant,” I said. “How am I supposed to reach?”

  Jabez smirked. “Now you know what you and Fred need to work on.”

  I focused my training on developing strong high kicks, first on the bags and then with Fred. I trained mentally and physically, beating the crap out of the humanoid when it wasn’t beating the crap out of me, and imagining Romeo knocked out cold.

  Finally, it was two days before Christmas. The day of the fight.

  I sat on the bench in the waiting area trying not to jerk around too much as Jabez wrapped my fists in tape. My nerves shot off with anticipation. I had to win this.

  “You are going to do great,” Fred said. My head snapped to attention. A pep-talk from a humanoid?

  “Um, thanks.”

  “That’s right,” Jabez added, finishing up. “You got this, man. You got this.”

  Like last time, the lights in the gym were low, the stench of sweat and excitement high. Was it my imagination or had the crowd swelled from the previous fight? Were all these people betting against me? The curfew had been changed to eight p.m. and they knew they were breaking it.

  I’d honestly expected fewer spectators with the police state in place. It meant being sneakier about getting here. If the fight club was busted, that would be bad. It could land Jabez and Mary in jail. I’d offered to bow out, but they’d insisted. They must’ve had a lot invested financially in this fight, too. I couldn’t see how they could carry on for long. The police were bound to sniff this out.