The Artifact Competition (Approaching Infinity Book 1)

by Chris Eisenlauer

  Merasec could not remain silent. “First of all, I find it hard to believe that that young man is capable of what you’re describing. I assure you, my report on his achievements was accurate in every detail. But even more than that, Kim, assuming just for a moment that Mr. Holson is capable of such, are you telling me that you helped develop something so powerful in someone besides your own student?”

  Furst cocked his head. “Right now he is my own student. I’ve taught Ren for many years. Over that time we’ve developed his skills and powers to a level that we have lately been unable to top. I know Ren’s strengths and weaknesses and we’ve focused on them to death. The whole point of this exchange was to provide our own students with a fresh perspective and have them learn from other masters things we were unable to teach them. We all recognized some aspect of our own students that we couldn’t address for whatever reason. I hope that my own student, and I mean Ren Fauer, has received the same dedication and treatment from both of you. Right now, my own student, and I mean Jav Holson, is my only priority, just as your students now should be yours. Anything less is a waste of time.” He glared at Merasec’s image in one screen. “Cov, are you suggesting that I recall Ren straight away?”

  Merasec was unprepared for this and was noticeably flustered.

  From another screen Hol interrupted. “That’s not what he’s saying at all, is it Cov?”

  “Well, uh, no, of course not.”

  “Look,” Hol continued, “since Froster is in Block One, any rivalry issues are strictly between Kim and myself.” She turned to face Furst. “Right, Kim?”

  “Right,” he said. “And as far as I’m concerned, there are no rivalry issues. We’ve both taught Ren and Jav. It’s not as if two students from the same school never had to fight one another. If they do end up fighting each other at the final competition, which is likely, they will both receive my support. The outcome is by no means a foregone conclusion. Jav’s ability is remarkable, but it isn’t infallible. And I can’t say that I won’t favor Ren over Jav at that time. Laedra, I’m sure, is the same. But we as teachers owe it to our students; and as former squadmates—as friends—we owe it to each other to give everything we can to our students of the moment. Anything else amounts to no less than sabotage, and I’d like to think we’re all above that.”

  After recovering some degree of decorum, the communication was brought to an end, and everyone parted amiably enough. At least to appearances.

  Merasec tried to bury his building outrage, which quite honestly even he didn’t fully understand. He liked Jav well enough, had been good to him, but the boy just didn’t get it. Or did he? Was it possible for him to be doing the things that Furst claimed? Was Furst exaggerating Jav’s progress—or even lying? To make himself look better, would Kimbal Furst do such a thing? Merasec didn’t know the answer to that anymore. Of course in the past, Furst had been above reproach. So what had changed? And if he wasn’t simply trying to make himself look better, what then? Had Jav Holson, a man who didn’t even exist five years ago, sought to make a fool out of him, Cov Merasec, legendary member of the Triangle Squad? For a brief moment, Merasec recognized this possibility rightly as ludicrous, but not before it had taken root as truth in his subconscious. He was the only one who hadn’t fully recognized Jav’s potential, and only at his school had Jav failed to learn important and advanced arts. That made him look like a fool. The conclusion was inescapable in his mind and made permanent by his own published reports.

  He would try to forget about the matter for now. Everything would go back to normal soon and the competition would settle things, but if Jav did win, Merasec wondered if the bonds of friendship between the members of the disbanded Triangle Squad would remain intact, or if Furst would finally realize how much Hol had been taking for granted. The fact that the idea of this exchange originated with Furst and himself and not with Hol was easily and summarily forgotten. And as for Jav Holson, though it wasn’t something that danced blatantly among his surface thoughts, Merasec’s opinion of him thereafter deteriorated into burgeoning and irrevocable hate.

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  Jav had progressed further with the displacement technique, learning not only to go forward, but backwards and in any other direction the physical conditions of a given fight allowed. He became adept at quickly memorizing his surroundings so that he could retreat to anywhere within a short range—his limit seemed to be about four meters—and put himself in any orientation he wished. Generally, he could not go anywhere he could not see and always the threat of mortal danger was required.

  When Ren’s jump ship arrived from Planet 1251, both Jav and Furst were a bit surprised to see that Cov Merasec was also on board. As he and Ren stepped down from the ship, Furst welcomed his former squadmate.

  Merasec was all smiles and good cheer, patting Jav on the back and congratulating him on his miraculous progress here. Jav, sensing nothing untoward in his manner, thanked him good-naturedly.

  “I really owe my success here to you, Teacher,” Jav said to Merasec. “Your lessons prepared me for what I learned here, and if not for your teaching I never would have been able to learn the displacement technique.”

  The smile on Merasec’s face didn’t exactly go away, but he sucked air in a hiss through clenched teeth and the smile took on the aspect of a grimace. “Well, that’s wonderful.”

  Furst alone understood what was happening beneath Merasec’s affected exterior.

  “Say,” Merasec said brightly, “why don’t you give me a demonstration, son?” Though he said this as if the idea had just suddenly struck him, testing Jav had been his singular goal from the start.

  Jav had no reason to deny this man who had been his teacher and so he agreed. Furst backed away warily with Ren at his side.

  “All I’ve got are the real things,” Merasec said, referring to the sickles at his sides, “but with this technique of yours, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

  Disgust and outrage were competing within Kimbal Furst, but there was little he could do. “Well, you’re a professional, Cov. Knowing when to stop is part of your job,” he said coldly.

  Merasec chuckled, “Right. Ready Jav? Here I come!”

  The big man dashed forward, swinging one sickle. The curved blade reached out for Jav again and again, but Jav slipped fluidly beyond it each time. Jav was using AI, but only for basic movement, and so far, it was enough.

  Merasec scowled. Was Jav trying even now to make a fool of him? Merasec increased his intensity, brought both sickles to bear and Jav soon felt Vacuum Drag at work. Feeling really threatened for the first time, Jav at last relied upon the displacement. But Merasec was apparently unsatisfied. A Copy Twin appeared, swinging wildly immediately before Jav in his new position.

  Jav swatted at hand and handle, sending the strike harmlessly past him, but more strikes were coming. After a few more failed attempts with the Copy Twin, due each time to Jav’s displacement, Merasec summoned forth the power of his Artifact, the Fugue Inducer and went Dark. Copies of Merasec were appearing all over the sparring area in the middle of the amphitheater, only now the Shade—every one of him—was a jet-black figure, covered in light, form-fitting plates of what looked like leather or flexible steel. His head was a giant glossy parody of a crow’s, sharp and steely with nothing to recall his humanity.

  Jav blinked out of harm’s way again and again, responding to countless attacks by as many Cov Merasecs. So far, his escape rate was very high and he came away with little more than shallow cuts and scrapes, but Merasec was increasing his presence, filling the amphitheater with copies, and giving Jav nowhere to run.

  Whether Merasec suspected this weakness in Jav’s technique, or he was urged on by growing frustration, Furst could not be sure, but he saw a danger to Jav in this ridiculous and unnecessary test and shouted for the fight to stop, “Enough!” His voice boomed through the amphitheater commanding the attention of both combatants.

  Jav dropped into a sitting position, pan
ting in exhaustion, as Merasec returned to normal. All of his duplicates were gone now and he faced Furst who approached.

  “I trust the demonstration was satisfactory,” Furst said a bit sharply.

  “Oh, yes, very.” Merasec laughed and waved his hands in a placating manner. He shook Jav’s hand and maintained his forced cheerfulness to such an expert degree that both Jav and Ren had no idea that it was completely false.

  Under the pretense of being extremely busy, Merasec excused himself and was gone only a few minutes later. The silence that followed made everyone a little uncomfortable, but not everyone knew exactly why. Both Jav and Ren could see that Furst was upset, and both thought that maybe he found Merasec’s abrupt departure somewhat rude. His manner relaxed soon enough, though, and he returned to his normal good humor.

  “It’s good to have you back, Ren,” Furst said.

  “Thank you, Teacher. It’s good to be back. I’m anxious to show you what I’ve learned.”

  “There’ll be time for that later.”

  “Yes, Teacher,” Ren said. Then, turning to Jav, he said, “That technique is incredible. See, I told you you were overreacting. You’ve got nothing to worry about at the final competition except me,” he said, smiling broadly and bouncing his thumb off his own chest.

  Jav grinned in turn.

  The three spent the day recalling funny stories and generally celebrating the success of the exchange program. Furst gave them the best advice he could, knowing full well that they may have to use it against each other. He begged them to remember, at the very least, one point in particular. “Your friendship and the competition are independent, separate,” he said. “Don’t let one affect the other.”

  Without yet really realizing the weight and importance of Furst’s words, both responded, “Yes, Teacher.”

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  The jump ship from 1287 arrived, and Jav said his goodbyes. He couldn’t adequately express his gratitude for the priceless instruction he received or for the bond of friendship the three of them shared. Knowing they wouldn’t see each other again until the final competition, Jav and Ren shook hands and wished each other luck. Furst gave Jav a bottle of his homemade brandy to take back and share with everyone then Jav boarded the jump ship.

  Once the ship arrived at the jump deck, the nearly instantaneous journey began. However, just as the jump was underway, the cabin lights dimmed to red, and the emergency alarm began to bleat. Once a jump was initiated, there was no sense of momentum, but suddenly both Jav and the pilot were flung back in their seats. Through portholes, Jav could see stars streaming by.

  “Pilot! What’s wrong?” Jav shouted over the alarm.

  The pilot was struggling with the control yoke, which rattled in his hands. “I don’t know, sir. We’ve apparently left the warp field.”

  “How is that possible?” Jav was reaching for controls to aid the pilot in stabilizing the ship.

  “I don’t—”

  “Look out!”

  But it was too late. The jump ship pierced the broad side of a large metallic structure, ripping through layer after layer of steel, high tensile cables, glass, and ceramic plating until burrowing deep enough to kill its forward motion.

  Once the wild ride had stopped, Jav tried to rouse the pilot, but the way his head lolled on his neck made doing so understandably impossible. The alarm continued, but it warbled sickly now and warning lights flashed across every panel. Sparks showered from various locations, smoke rose from others. Through the portholes, Jav could see that they were still inside something, maybe a ship or some kind of station. He became dimly aware of other alarms sounding outside the jump ship and also caught the sound of a voice over a PA system.

  At first it was meaningless, gibberish. Somehow it felt maddeningly familiar, though, like the words of a song slowly coming into focus as they roused you from sleep and then the voice over the PA was suddenly intelligible.

  “Hull breach. Superstructure compromised. Section twelve support struts seven, thirteen, and twenty-two: not detected. Main computer routing conduit three: not responding. Coolant levels to sections twelve through twenty-four approaching critical levels. Emergency personnel to section twelve. Repeat: Hull breach. . .”

  Jav opened the hatch and forced his way through the tangle of plastic and steel that had ensnared the jump ship. He climbed through the latticework of twisted girders and dropped down to the compartment floor several meters below. Nothing about this place or its construction was familiar, and Jav was fast coming to believe that it was no product of the Viscain Empire.

  Men with piecemeal environmental suits were flooding into the compartment now. Emergency plates slid slowly into place to seal off each successive compartment the jump ship had torn through. One of the emergency workers had noticed Jav and was speaking into a communicator.

  Suddenly, about twenty burly men, all dressed differently in ragged clothes and each armed with a heavy, dangerous-looking pistol, rushed towards him. Jav raised his hands as they surrounded him and waited for someone to speak. He didn’t have to wait too long before a big man in a great, flowing coat appeared.

  The man’s hair—long, brown, and kinky—merged with his bushy beard, giving him a wild, bedraggled appearance, but the air of authority that surrounded him suggested that he was in charge. As if to punctuate or confirm this impression, the man pulled a big pistol from the holster at his hip and held the weapon across his chest while he stared at Jav with commanding black, shiny eyes. He tipped his head from one side to the other, appraising Jav then suddenly realized something. “You aren’t with the Patrol, are you?” His voice was hard and gravelly and it wasn’t a question. He let out a long, tired sigh, his voice becoming calm and controlled, like a vice. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done, my friend?”

  Jav swallowed, “I-I’m terribly sorry. I don’t know how it happened. The pilot said we left the warp field, but that’s impossible.”

  The captain sneered and shook his head as if Jav were speaking nonsense.

  Jav composed himself a little. “I don’t know what I can do, but I’ll help in any way that I can to repair your ship.”

  The big, bushy man stared at Jav for a while with his obsidian eyes then snorted. “He’s going to help us with repairs. You hear that, boys?” The surrounding crew laughed bitterly. “Maybe you don’t know, but we were in bit of a hurry.”

  “Do you have some kind of deadline to meet? A cargo to deliver? Really, I’ll do all that I can.”

  “Aye, a deadline. And each and every man on this ship is the cargo to be delivered safely from the Patrol. But that was before you put a hole in us. We’re marked men, mister. Your little accident is going to cost us our lives it seems.”

  The captain began bouncing the side of his gun against his broad chest, wondering what he should do with Jav, when he glanced up at the jump ship. Shocked by what he saw, his gun arm dropped to his side and he moved directly under the alien vehicle to get a closer look.

  “There isn’t a scratch on her,” he said to himself. He turned to Jav again. “How is it that you’re still alive after a bang up like that? And how is it that your little scooter isn’t in a million pieces? It did a fine job of tearing up the Kalnia, though.”

  “I guess I’m lucky. The pilot wasn’t. As for the jump ship, well, it would take quite a bit more than your Kalnia to wreck it.”

  “That so? About how much more?”

  “Uh, I don’t really know. The composite armor alone got us through your hull. If the shields had been engaged, we would have gone right through without getting stuck. We can’t use the shields during a jump, though; they interfere with the warp field.”

  “So the shields still work.”

  Jav shrugged. “No reason they shouldn’t.”

  “Boys!” the captain shouted. “Get that scooter free and bring her down. I want to get a good look at her.” He turned to Jav. “Maybe I should thank you for crashing into my boat. Maybe this little inconvenien
ce, instead of costing us our lives, is going to reverse our fortunes.”

  Men started scrambling up into the network of plastic and steel above.

  “I really want to help,” Jav said, “but I don’t think I have the time to let you examine that jump ship the way you want to examine it. Besides, I don’t think I can allow you to examine it.”

  “I’m sorry?” The captain glared at Jav menacingly.

  “What I mean is that the jump ship’s technology is Imperial property and. . .”

  “But you said you wanted to help.”

  “I do. So, if you’ll tell me what I can do, I’ll get started. Otherwise, I’m afraid I’ll need to be on my way.”

  “That was fast. Now it seems like you’ve got yourself a deadline.”

  Jav sighed in frustration.

  “Where you from, mister?”

  “Planet 1287, Viscain Empire.”

  “Viscain Empire? Never heard of it. Hey, boys!” he shouted to his crew. “Any of you ever heard of the Viscain Empire?”

  No one had.

  “Sorry, mister. We want your ship, but no one’ll miss you.”

  Jav’s eyes narrowed. He reached out for the man nearest him, grabbed his gun hand and smashed his elbow, making it bend the wrong way. The next nearest man had his gun hand arm dislocated at the shoulder with a nasty cracking sound. A palm to the chest compressed the ribcage of a third man who collapsed, gasping and wheezing. A fourth man found his gun hand twisting until it snapped backwards. A fifth man clutched at his throat, which had instantly swollen after being quickly crushed and released. A sixth man flew back with the imprint of Jav’s palm heel on his forehead. A seventh man’s face erupted in a bloody mess with the impact of Jav’s backhanded claw. And then the captain’s cry of, “Shoot!” could be heard.