Aspirations: A Near Future Sci-Fi Thriller

by Randal Sloan

  When Julie finished her meditation, she walked the rest of the way out on the point to look at the channel between the two parts of the island, feeling the wind blow through her hair as she walked.

  It was really a beautiful spot. Looking below, It still looked like a fearsome task, with the current very strong, although she could tell the tides were beginning to be a little lower. She knew she would have to train if she did it. In high school, among other things, she had competed on the swim team, but this was something else entirely. She had even done a triathlon her last summer in school, just before her life changed so much. That had included a 1-kilometer swim, perhaps close in distance to what she was looking at, but nothing like the level of difficulty she knew it would present.

  That night Julie talked with Uncle Ted. So far he was being stonewalled by their contacts, which told him for sure that something was going on. Looking at him for a moment, Julie sighed and decided it was time to explain. “Uncle Ted,” she told him. “I know you knew a little bit about my mother and her visions. What you may not know is that it is something in her family that has been passed from mother to daughter for many generations. I also have the gift, although it has not yet fully manifested itself in me. What I mostly have right now are premonitions that are very strong. I had one about my friend from Kinza last night, and I don’t know what is wrong, but something is.”

  Julie paused a moment, giving her uncle time to digest what she had just told him. She could tell that he wasn’t entirely surprised. “I don’t think it is completely worked out yet, so we have some time, but I need answers. I believe it is time to go over the heads of those first level contacts. Tomorrow, I need you to contact someone at the White House. Since you told me the Presidential Chief of Staff is our top level contact, I would like you to go straight to him. All I know is that in a few days, I will be needed to help resolve this, and I need this information. I also think we need to have that mercenary team that came so highly recommended to be brought on contract.”

  When her uncle just stared at her, Julie went on. “This is something we have to do, my dear uncle. I suspect we will have a number of these situations from now on, so you might as well get used to it.”

  Uncle Ted nodded but told her, “I know, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. You are still my little niece.” She could see there were tears in his eyes.

  Julie nodded. “I know. I love you, Uncle Ted. I promise I will behave as much as I can.” She closed the connection but sat there for some time thinking about her family and friends. She would do what she had to do.

  The next day Julie rose and meditated lightly like she had done before the first competition. Today the competition would be a little tougher than the last one. She would be competing with full monks, some of them having spent most of a lifetime doing this. But her conversation with John those few days ago had helped clarify things for her. Her position within the hierarchy of the monks was important for some reason related to her future. That was why she was really here now, and that was why she had the vision that she had that day while flying in to the island. So again, she would do what she had to do, no matter how hard it was to do it.

  When Julie arrived at the competition, some of the monks there were new to her. She knew that she had not seen them before, but she realized that they had come to compete. Included in the group, she saw a few higher monks. None of the monks were required to compete, but competition was still the way that most of them would be able to improve themselves, even the high monks, so they came out for the competition. She was glad to see Brother John there. She felt he had a good chance of winning most, if not all of his matches, to advance his position.

  The competition began shortly afterwards. Again, Julie’s stone was placed in the second basket, so she once again only needed to watch the morning matches. The matches for this competition were handled a little differently. The stones were used much less, choosing an initial set of contestants. Once a monk was chosen, he could continue to compete until he either lost or chose to stop competing. The matches for him were based on a challenge system, whereby a monk would challenge the currently competing monk if he wanted to compete against him. A match could also be deferred by either competitor if they so chose, setting that match up for late afternoon. Whenever it became necessary, the stones were used to choose the next match.

  All of this made the competition much more interesting. The matches in this round of the competition tended to last longer, since most of the monks were well matched. Several of the monks were able to compete in a number of matches before they were defeated, although most only lasted two or three. Jerrem was able to win his first match, although it was a very close match. After the next one didn’t go so well, ending in a rather quick loss for him and a couple of bruised ribs, he decided he would be content with the one win and did not put his stone back in. He would remain near the bottom end of the ranked monks, but he was content with his position.

  When they got to the afternoon, Brother John, also in the second group, was one of the first to compete. He did very well, winning all of his matches for which he had a monk challenge him. Having stood across from John quite a few times, Julie knew how good he was, so she wasn’t surprised that he pretty well annihilated his competition. When he reached the point that no one would challenge him, Julie tried to do it, but smiling, John deferred the match.

  Finally, Julie’s stone was chosen. She bowed to her first opponent and easily dropped into her level of concentration. Because she had watched the level of each opponent, she knew what level to expect from each one. Therefore, she started out taking it easy on her first two opponents, easily defeating them without showing the rest everything. She saw John give her a nod of approval. No one liked to be totally humiliated, and she would do her best to not do that.

  As long as they were respectful. Julie’s next opponent was not one of those. He barely gave her a bow, and she guessed he really didn’t know what she was capable of doing. So she took it up a notch. He needed to learn this lesson now. The next time might not come as easily. Before he knew what was happening, Julie was in the groove, and a split second later had scored the first point. He stood there unbelieving as the point was called. She had hit him so fast that it took him a moment for it to even register with him what had happened.

  For the second point, Julie let him make the first move, but she easily blocked all of his moves. Seconds later she had the next point. All of the bystanders had stopped moving about and talking, and were watching the match closely. Master John had known what would happen as soon as the fool disrespected her. He was thankful that the Master had told him to use his other vision the first time he met her. It prevented him from making such a foolish mistake.

  But this fool was not going to learn the lesson the easy way. He still refused to give Julie the respect she was due, not even bothering to give her a pretend bow this time. John saw the flash of anger in her eyes and knew this would be a test for both of them. Would she be able to maintain her control? The control that she had finally seemed to master the last few days.

  He was totally surprised at her response. Julie merely stood there and let the fool flail away with everything he had, blocking every single move with no effort. She didn’t seem to move from where she stood. After a minute or two, it finally sunk in to the man. He was making a total fool of himself. He stopped his attempts and gave Julie a real bow, student to master, and walked out of the competition, forfeiting the final point.

  #

  After that display, none of the remaining monks were willing to challenge her. John knew she needed to face at least one high monk to move up her level. So he stepped forward and bowed to her, master to young master. But he was surprised when Julie returned his bow, student to master, indicating that she knew she still had much to learn.

  Julie had known he was pleased with her solution to the last man. For an instant, she had wanted to knock some sense into him, but she had realized what that w
ould have meant — loss of control and loss of much of what she had spent the last few weeks accomplishing. Afterwards, she had seen John’s nod of approval. It had been her next lesson and it appeared she had passed.

  Julie wanted to savor the time with her friend, and he felt the same way. The onlookers could only stare as the two moved back and forth in what could only be considered a demonstration of ability. They managed several minutes before finally John missed a block to give Julie the point. Smiling, he bowed to her again, student to master monk, and stepped out of the competition. Julie grinned and bowed to the group, the simple bow of thankfulness. She also removed herself from the competition.

  But before she left, Julie approached Master Kash, who was standing beside the panel of high masters. Bowing the bow of student to master, she told him, “It appears that I have a destiny that, although I do not wish to follow, I must. As well as any additional training you and my friend Master John are willing to give me, I must begin my training for the swim across the channel. On the day of the low tide, it appears I must attempt the swim between the islands.”

  “It will be as you say,” Master Kash told her. He gave her the bow of highest master to high master apprentice. “You will begin your training tomorrow.”

  Julie noticed the look of surprise on many of the faces on the monks nearby and a look of understanding on a couple of the High Masters. Although surprised at her demonstration with Master John, at least a few of them had expected that this was her final destination. She bowed to them again, eager student to many masters and quickly escaped, retreating to her room at Mama Kash’s cottage before anyone could question her.

  That night, Julie felt like she was still going wide open. Unable to even think about sleep, she dived into her work on the prototype power source. Late that night, she completed the final steps of the design. The only missing piece was Zeke’s control code. She longed for the day he would wake up, and she could get him back. The control code would only be extra as far as she was concerned. She missed him so badly, and although she didn’t want to think about it, she worried that something would still go wrong with the nanites. VR updates from Emily had told her that every thing was still status quo with Zeke, but Julie still worried. She did order the stock parts from Space Tech, and sent in the design specifications for the custom parts, requesting completion within two weeks.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Swimming Against the Current

  The next morning, Julie wanted a deeper meditation to clear her head, so she went back to the mountain to meditate. Deeply feeling the life flows across the island, she again sensed the mother eagle but did not intrude. However, she looked to see how much the young eagles had grown, giving the mother a big flash of pleasure at seeing her babies. She felt the mother’s sense of pride before the flows carried her off again. Coming back to the cottage, she almost flowed through the dance with Mama Kash’s group.

  While she was eating her lunch, Brother John came by to see her. Smiling, he told her, “You did very well yesterday. So no training today, you need to rest your mind and body, but you have been given permission to swim in one of the quieter areas of the island for training. You will need to train every day for the swim, as it is only a few days until the low tide for the season. Also, you will need someone with you at all times during your training. If I cannot be there due to other duties, I will designate someone to go with you.”

  He looked at her a moment, not sure how to ask her the next question. Smiling, Julie told him. “Yes, I packed a swimsuit. My triathlon suit, which is conservative enough to wear on the island. It was one of the things I somehow knew I would need when I packed to come. I had no idea why at the time.”

  “Excellent. Meet me in the Master’s garden when you are ready.”

  It didn’t take her long to change. It was only a few minutes later that Julie stepped into the garden, wearing the hi-tech triathlon suit she had gotten for school, now seeming like a lifetime ago. It was designed to protect the core of the body and would help her in the very cold water she expected to face. She wore the overwrap that went with it for additional warmth and so she would be covered more appropriately until she got into the water. She hurried to the Master’s garden, nervous but eager to begin.

  John was somewhat taken aback when he saw what she had on, but he gave her a bow of teacher to high student when he met her in the garden. He had no idea such a thing existed, but he immediately saw how practical it was.

  Julie returned his bow, high student to master, giving him a tentative smile. “I am ready; as ready as I ever will be, I guess.”

  John, having regained his equilibrium, indicated the path before them. “Then let us be off. Follow me to the training area.” He led her along the path which descended to a little cove that for the island had quite tame waters, continuing until he reached an area that was deep enough to swim in. “You will start your training here. Only when you have built up sufficient strength will you be able to practice in the more advanced swimming areas. It is good that you have such a good suit. The water is very cold.”

  Julie nodded at that. She could tell from the spray she was feeling in the wind, but there was only one way to do it. She pulled off the overwrap she had on, slipping into the water and standing there a moment, trying to adjust to the temperature. It was extremely cold, but Julie wondered if she could do something about that. She concentrated on her nanites for a moment and felt a little extra warmth from them. She suspected she would need to eat a little extra every day she was swimming to provide additional fuel for her nanites.

  She swam across the cove a number of times before John waved at her to get out, pointing to the shallow area where she could more easily climb out, offering a hand to her. Quickly pulling on her overwrap to help with the cold, she realized that she really wasn’t that tired, although she could tell she was using muscles she hadn’t used in a while.

  She gave John a big smile. “You’re right,” she told him. “It is very cold. But I will be able to handle it. I can tell I am out of practice in my swimming, but all the work I have been doing on the island has really built up my strength.” She paused a moment, looking out over the water. It was certainly much more docile here. “Will you take me to the shore where we do the swim? I think I need to see it up close one time.”

  John nodded. “If I didn’t see a glimpse of your destiny, I would tell you that you are crazy.” Pointing behind them, he told her. “We can follow the path. It’s actually not that far from here.”

  He led her along the path that continued down the shoreline. At first, it carried them close to the water, and they had to dodge the spray a number of times. Then the path turned up and across a point of land, which Julie suspected was the reason the little cove was so sheltered. That and the fact it was on the back side of the island, away from the open ocean. They rounded a little bend and there it was. Julie looked out over the channel and it was terrifying!

  They were several feet up from the water, but it was plenty close enough for Julie to see more than she wanted to see. She could tell it was closer to high tide than low tide. The water rushed into the channel between the islands, crashing over the rocks at the edge and splashing water high into the air. Even where they were standing she could feel some of the spray in the wind. The sound of the waves crashing on the rocks was extremely loud and intimidating.

  Yelling a little so that Julie could hear him over the noise, John told her. “It will be much lower than this when you swim. We will be going at the time of not only the low tide of the day, but also one of the lowest tides of the year. But it will still be very difficult. You will have to enter the water just below where we are standing, and as you swim, you must swim slightly against the current and let the water carry you along down the channel. You will only have the amount of time it takes to go from this end to the other to complete the swim. If you get too close to the rocks at the other end, we will pull you out.”

  Julie nodded. “It’s pret
ty much what I expected. You’re right about me being crazy, but I somehow have to do this.” Shaking her head as she realized again just how daunting the task before her was going to be, she turned back to the path, the two following the course that led back to the compound. By the time she had reached the end of the path, Julie had strengthened her resolve. She would do what she had to do.

  Thanking Brother John again for his assistance, Julie returned to the cottage, where she changed back into her robes and carefully laid out her swim suit to dry. She would need it again tomorrow.

  #

  Still a little overwhelmed, Julie left to meditate for a while, but returned to the cottage in time for her psychic training with Mama Kash and Loraine. She had come to look forward to the classes, although she still didn’t understand where it was all going. The day’s class didn’t go very well, her mental distraction affecting her too much.

  After only a few moments, Mama Kash threw up her hands, looking pointedly at Julie. “What is going on with you, child? You are not with us today.”

  Julie gave a sigh. “I’m sorry, Momma Kash. I started swim training today, and I can’t help but feel it is too difficult for me, despite seeing it all in a vision when I first came to the island. And I still don’t know why I must do it.”

  “Ah, now we are getting somewhere. Let us talk about your vision a moment, and maybe we can figure out the why. That will be our new lessen for today.”

  The next hour turned out to be some of the best work the three had done together. Julie, although still unconvinced of how she would be able to do it, was at last at peace with herself with what she was doing. Hugging Mama Kash when they finished, Julie was very glad that she had her as a teacher and mentor. She had grown quite close to her and Loraine in the short time she had spent with them. They felt like family. To Julie, it felt like Mama Kash was the grandmother she had never known, and Loraine like a close cousin.