by Randal Sloan
Once more Julie sat on the grass, feeling the energy of the little garden. She suspected it would be the last rest she would have for a while. She hadn’t been sitting there very long before the four monks arrived. It was a good thing she had those few moments, because when the four arrived, they started Julie in the most intense training she had ever known. Training, break for food, more meditation, more training. The next two days would be consumed from early morning to late evening. Even with all they threw out at her, Julie subconsciously continued to hold the tiniest bit back, saving it for the match to come.
#
The black ops team parachuted exactly as dictated by their ops plan. The young major in charge made sure of that. Carla was not at all surprised that one of them was injured due to the pitch black landing in the rough terrain. She had done many jumps before when she was a paratrooper, but none had been worse than this one. The injured man was out for the rest of the mission. The com tech arranged for his pickup as soon as help could be sent, and he was carefully concealed in a hide. The team had already lost a man, and they had already lost time.
Their baby-faced officer had finally lost the dress uniform the day they left, but the clothes he had on were so new it was obvious. Luckily they were in the middle of nowhere, so no one was close enough to see him. Carla suspected that by the time they made it anywhere, the man would fit right in. His clothes would be filthy by then. Right now though, he stood out so much that, If there had been any of their enemies around, a sniper bullet would probably have found him.
They had only been moving a few minutes when they came to the place where the trail split into two passes that led over the mountain. Making no attempt to reduce his visibility, the idiot officer stopped there out in plain view. He told them, “We didn’t cover this in our mission brief, but there are two passes we could choose from. I have decided that we will take the pass to the right side.”
Again Carla couldn’t help but think a sniper bullet would solve their problems. The fool was standing there in the open, an easy target. “Sir, based on our intelligence information, the one to the left is the best choice. The one to the right is much more difficult and will take even more time out of our schedule.”
For a moment, the man just looked at her. “You really should have stayed home if you can’t cut it. We are taking the one to the right because no one will expect us to do it. We’ll make up the time when we get to the roadway.”
Carla took a deep breath. She knew it was hopeless, but she had to try. This was probably the last chance to save the mission. “Sir, I thought I was brought along to provide the team with my intelligence on this country. Why did you bring me if you ignore my advice? I know this country and the pass to the right is almost impassable in places.”
The man turned red with anger. When he spoke, spittle came out of his mouth. “I didn’t choose to bring you along. I don’t care what you think. We are going to the right. Keep up or else.”
Everyone stared at the two of them as he turned and started up the pass to the right. No one else dared say a word, but they all were beginning to be worried about their mission.
Carla began to pray that somehow they would get out of this thing with any possibility of success. She didn’t see how they could, since their chances were getting lower and lower with each bad choice. If she ever got out of here alive, she was going to punch in the mouth whoever assigned that fool to this mission.
As Carla had tried to tell him, the trail he had chosen was very difficult. The mountain trail was very dark, made worse by the fact that the moon had already set. Not even their night vision goggles were much help. Another hour or so and everyone was exhausted except for the nutty leader. He was so full of himself, Carla figured he must spend most of his day in the gym.
Pushed to the limit, team members started to make mistakes. As they were crossing a steep section, the accident Carla was expecting to occur happened. The rocks underneath one of the men’s feet started sliding, and he could not stop himself from sliding down with them. By the time he stopped sliding he had numerous injuries, including a leg fracture. They had no choice but to stop to let the medic set and splint the leg.
When they started out again, the team had to take turns carrying the injured man on a stretcher. What remained of their time soon evaporated, and they finally had to stop to find shelter before the light would expose them. Luckily, the scout for the team found an old abandoned mine, so they all made their way to the shelter. The com tech called in their position on the sat radio and informed the brass that another of their team was down. He also warned them that it might become necessary for a rescue unit to pick him up.
So they all settled in for the day. Carla knew that they had already missed their window of opportunity for the attack, but she knew there was no way that idiot would admit that he had killed the mission and turn back. When she got hold of that person who planned this mission, after she gave him a punch in the mouth, she was going to kick him where it hurt the most.
#
The morning of the match came much too quickly for Julie. She had meditated so much, she didn’t have to go somewhere off from the compound to meditate. She did it in her little room. She guessed that would be her last lesson. You didn’t have to be somewhere special to meditate. That only made it easier and sometimes more fun, depending on where you were.
Finally, it was time for the big match. All of the monks were there. A few had even flown in to see the match. Julie bowed to the Master, student to master. “Thank you for all you have done for me, Master. No matter what, I will treasure my time here.”
She dropped into her zone, deeper than she had ever gone before, and like that, the match was on. The Master was very fast and very slippery. He was also very smart. He was able to use her moves against her as if he could read her mind. It wasn’t very long before he managed to score the first point!
Julie bowed to him in acknowledgement of his ability. She decided that she would have to use that trait against him. She started adding extra moves that were really not her intent, but she camouflaged them so well he missed one of them. That brought him in a little too close so that Julie was able to use a sudden burst of speed to block his move and attack him. They were moving so fast it was an almost total blur, strike, block, double moves to one side and finally she caught him moving just a little too slow, letting her get a strike in to score her point. One point to one point!
They both changed their strategy to straight attack, defend, attack. They continued that for several minutes. The Master tried to fake a slip to draw Julie into a trip, but he faked it just a little too well. Instead of moving where he expected her, she faked her own move, and when that made him minutely off balance, she was there for the response. She scored her second point!
One more point to win. Maybe she had a chance, but she knew she hadn’t seen everything the Master had. Again they managed to continue for a couple of minutes. Then the Master used a move she had never seen that almost got through her guard. That got her a tiny little bit out of position, and then he followed up with two other moves she had never seen, scoring his point.
One more point to either would win the match. Bowing again, Julie stepped back out for a moment, temporarily pausing the match. She knew in her heart that if she allowed the match to continue like it was going, she would lose. Her only chance was a move that would leave her exposed if she missed her point. It was the equivalent of the swordsman knowingly leaving himself open for a lesser strike from his opponent in order to strike the killing blow. So it was win or lose. Stepping back in, she took herself to that final level, deeper than ever before. Throwing herself forward, she moved so fast to strike, the Master was not able to react fast enough block it. Match!
That was when Julie discovered that she had been had. Bowing, the Master gave her his biggest smile ever, and bowed subservient master to high master. “You are now in charge,” he told her and all those around them nodded, and bowed, monk to highe
st master.
Totally shocked, Julie stared at them all. “But I thought that all it meant was that I had reached the top level.” She desperately looked around. Even John nodded his head. Julie couldn’t believe it, turning back to the monk she would always consider the Master. “You sneaky thing, you all knew this all along, that I had no idea what winning might mean.” Then she smiled a big smile. “My first move, I’m drafting you as my deputy. You will run this place. I’ll even double your salary.”
The Master gave a big laugh. “You have passed the final test that I have to give you. You could have done a lot of other things, all of which would have been about you and not the Order. Instead, you see the bigger picture and I applaud you for that.”
Bowing once more to her, the Master grew serious. “Still, really, you are now the official head of the order by winning. Your only constraints will be those placed upon you by the Council.”
Julie nodded. “That’s ok. You really are my deputy in charge, and especially when it comes to the Council.” Then she gave him a big smile. “Of course, Mama Kash told me when I first got here that your salary was zero, so double zero is still zero. I’m really sorry about that.”
#
That night the monks had a big party. Even the ones who had come in just to watch the match stayed for it. Everyone was happy and celebrating, and Julie knew she had to spend time with them all. She looked for the Master, but she didn’t see him. She suspected he had deliberately left her alone with them.
One man tried to offer Julie rice wine, himself already a little tipsy. Julie looked at him with a laugh. “Sorry, I’m still underage, so no on the rice wine. But thank you.”
That got a number of them looking up at her. “Tell us your story,” another one said, and suddenly a large group was standing around looking at her. She could see the questions in their eyes.
Julie wished she had drunk the rice wine. Finally she sighed, standing up so they could all see her. She knew she would have to tell them told an abbreviated version of her story, starting from when she woke up from the coma.
She tried explaining as much as she could about her nanites, but to a group that was technology backwards, that must have sounded astounding and she doubted how much they understood. When she talked about her new power unit, she could tell few were able to understand the ramifications like John had done.
By the time she had finished, a large group had gathered to hear her. Quickly wrapping it up, she ended the story by explaining why she was there. “My nanites were changed by the explosion, causing me to have to struggle to control my movements. So I came here to learn that control, which being here has really helped me to do. By the way, thank you all for that, but especially John and the Master.”
“That’s me. I have learned so much here, but I think I was had by the Master. I never wanted to be in charge of anything. Now I’ve got you guys, and I’ve got Space Tech to deal with until we find my father. I plan to build that power unit to solve the world energy needs, although we know it won’t be that simple, because it will change everything in the world. Then I’m going to go find my father, and fight the evil that calls themselves the Organization.”
John gave her a big smile. “Agent of change. The Master meant much more than we thought he meant. You will indeed change the whole world. I’m sure he’s seen that and much more.”
“I’m sure he has. Unfortunately, I don’t dare ask. Some things you’re better off not knowing. But I guess I’m not the only one the Master took with this one. We’re all in this together. I expect that I will be bringing you in on missions in the near future. I think the Master already knew that too, what do you want to bet? So he set all of us up, I guess. Anyway, I will be leaving tomorrow, but I will try to come back when I can. It may be awhile. I told you guys my list of things to do. I suspect I’ll find one or two more along the way.”
John gave her a big smile. “So ok, I guess we will send you off tomorrow, but as new Master, you will have to help us put on our little show for the newbies.” They all laughed at that. Apparently this was a private joke to them. She wondered what that meant.
#
Even though Carla’s team had missed their attack window, the young major insisted that they had to continue the mission. They started out again the next night. Of course, they had to leave the injured man in the mine alone with a few provisions. “One day in and out,” the Major told him.
Carla just shook her head. She still couldn’t believe someone put this idiot in charge. As she passed by, she slipped the man extra rations, “Three days,” she whispered to him, “If we come back. If we’re not back in three, call for rescue.”
The part of the pass they traveled on the second night was not nearly as bad as that of the first night. But it still was very difficult, and very hard to see. They had to move rather slowly and again everyone was exhausted by the time they had been traveling only a couple of hours. But as usual, their idiot leader was totally blind to the needs of the team and pushed them on. He seemed quite oblivious to it all.
They finally made it out of the pass. Somehow they managed to get a good way along the road without being spotted, but even so, before they could get to the compound it was nearly daylight and they had to go to cover in the woods. A small ravine with an overhang was the best they could do. Carla knew that there was unlikely to be anyone flying overhead, which was the only way that they would be spotted. But still it was going to be another miserable day that the team would have to spend trying to get a little rest. They should have known something was up when the idiot leader volunteered for the first watch, but the team was so exhausted, no one argued with him.
#
The next day Julie joined the monks in the show they put on for the newbies. The routine that they did was actually quite easy. It was nothing compared to the dance in Mama Kash’s group. Just keep it smooth, efficient and keep it slow, we don't want to scare them off. Julie was able to fit in with the rest quite easily. Well, except she was much younger than the rest of them and was the only girl, her blond ponytail flying in the wind. Of course, the thing that finished off any chance of her fitting in, they made her wear a robe that labeled her as the Master.
When Julie prepared to leave, the man who to her would always be the Master, as well as John and a number of other monks, came out with her. They all bowed monk to master, but she messed them all up by grabbing the Master and then John and pulling them each into a hug. “Agent of change” she told them. Then she boarded the helicopter.
This time the high tech transport was cargo. On the trip out, she stared out at the island, and this time when she looked at it, everything looked very different. It was home and the source of a lot of memories, a lot of them good, especially the last ones.
The helicopter flew her to Hong Kong, where she called her taxi driver, who eagerly came to pick her up. First, she had him take her to the man making her knives, Master Spartan, telling the driver, “I would tell you to take your time, but you probably have no idea how to do that. I leave it in your masterly control.”
Smiling, the driver immediately started the wild drive across the city, once more impressing Julie with his skill. Arriving at her destination sooner than she could have imagined, she told the driver, “I will be only a few minutes here if you will wait. Double the tip, if you take me by the pizza place on the way out.” That brought another smile to her driver, who just nodded his head in reply.
Julie entered the store, the signs of a monk background obvious to her. When she reached the counter, she bowed to the young man, master to young student. He was so flustered by it all, he almost messed his bow up.
Julie laughed, telling him, “I’ll just not tell your Master about that.” Once again growing serious, she went on, “But you’d better work on it. The next time I won’t be so lenient. I have come to pick up my knives.”
The young man nodded to her and went into the back to find his master. He also needed to learn to speak a lit
tle softer, not that it would have mattered with Julie. She would have been able to hear it anyway with her super hearing, but she expected almost any monk would be able to hear him. It only took a tiny bit of concentration from her.
“We have a customer,” he told his master. “And she comes as a Master monk with the proper robe and everything. She said we have her order of knives.”
Julie really had to concentrate to hear the master’s answer. He knew how to talk quietly and yet still communicate. “We have indeed. Please invite the young lady back and prepare her tea. We must show her the proper respect.”
Julie spent several minutes with the master craftsman, talking and drinking her tea. She told him how her former Master had tricked her into doing more than she intended. “But I got him back. I left him in charge anyway. But I will be expanding the monks involvement in the world when it is appropriate. So you will probably be getting more orders for weapons soon. It will be good for your apprentice. He will have much opportunity to learn.”
“Yes, like how to bow to a Master. You know, I felt you the moment you entered the building, so of course I heard your exchange with him. I thank you for giving him the opportunity to learn. I will make sure he learns his lessons well.”
Master Spartan reached into the drawer beside him, pulling out two sheaths containing knives. The sheaths were beautiful, made of well-oiled leather. Then he slipped one of the knives out of the top sheath, holding it out to her handle end first.
When she held it in her hand, Julie could not help but gasp. The knife was light to hold in her hand, but when she flipped it up into the air, it was so perfectly balanced, she knew she could hit any target within practical limits. And it was perfectly made. She held it up to the light, somehow able to sense the metal within. It’s metallic structure was aligned within to just the same perfection.
