Naero's Mastery

by Mason Elliott

  She was pretty well known by now, and did carry the rank of fleet admiral.

  The Captain who saluted her was a young woman with shoulder length, violet hair and gray eyes. All of the Marines were in combat armor, jungle mode to help them keep cool.

  “Captain Mitchelle Ramsey, Admiral Maeris. Welcome. We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow, we were told.”

  Naero smiled and returned the salute. “You and your Marines be at ease, Captain. Thank you. I am a little early, please excuse me.”

  “Not at all, sir.”

  “Captain Ramsey, are we related in any way, through my father?”

  “I sure as hell hope so, sir. But my folks tell me it’s pretty distant.”

  Naero shook hands with the woman. “Blood is blood, cousin. I just called the main compound a minute ago. You should be hearing something back from them shortly. Mind if I go in?”

  “Of course, Admiral. Shall I send an attachment with you as an escort?”

  “No thanks. I think I can find my way. They’ll meet me on the inside in any case. Just stay at your post here. A pleasure to meet you, Captain Ramsey.”

  The captain bowed slightly. “You honor my family, and our Clan, Admiral.”

  “The honor is mine.”

  She left the Marines at the gate and kept walking within, entering the wide Mystic labyrinth that drew all guests and travelers into the center. There were many patches of manicured forest, garden, and meditation pools, waterfalls, and outlooks along the path she chose. Very scenic.

  This entire area was clearly designed for serenity, contemplation, and enlightenment.

  You certainly need all of that that you can get.

  Quiet, Om. I need to focus.

  Yet in the distance, she could sense the shocks and blasts of Mystics training in earnest to develop their various powers and talents. They trained at the very highest levels of strength, speed, endurance, and Cosmic might.

  Around the next bend, another white marble gate awaited her and more.

  Along with the Marine guards and an entire Mek unit, two beings stood at hand.

  High Master Jo sent his Prime Adepts to greet her and bring her into the fold.

  Tess Fae, one of the greatest Biomancers and shapeshifters ever known to exist, stood upon a low hill inside the gate. Naero knew her. She shifted form every several minutes, from one creature to the next, many of them the most unique and dangerous of their kind from throughout the known galaxy.

  On Oorrii she had countless specimens to observe and practice with.

  “Greetings, N,” Tess called out, returning to her base form. “Glad to have you among us here finally.”

  “Thanks, Tess. Glad to be here. I still have so many questions that need answers. I hoping to find some of those answers here.”

  “You may find answers to questions you never thought you had,” another voice said. “Or simply more questions that you never thought possible.”

  “Don’t get too cryptic, Den.” Naero told him. He was the hazy energy form, a shifting, shapeless miasma with blue eyes flickering out from its amorphous midst. “You might scare me off.”

  Den Kurtz laughed. “Nothing scares you off, Maeris.”

  That enough might be true, but she still had many fears all her own, whether they stopped her or not.

  “Let’s go, Den,” Tess said.

  “Yeah,” he snorted, “can’t keep the big goofball waiting.”

  Naero chuckled. “So irreverent. Is that how you refer to your High Master?

  “With affection,” Tess added.

  “Wait until you see it first hand,” Den said. “He contains himself outside of Oorrii. But once he returns home, his true nature reveals itself, the little imp.”

  Tess rolled her eyes in her current form. “Yes, he thinks himself quite the trickster. Jokes, pranks, goofy tricks–an endless stream of them at times, completely without warning. His sense of humor and whimsy are near limitless.”

  “Yes,” Den said wearily, “all the more annoying.”

  “Well then,” Naero said with her customary half-smile. “Let the games begin.”

  “Be careful what you wish for, Naero,” Den warned.

  They flew toward the center of the Mystic compound, with Tess and Den as her escorts and guides.

  She could see the smart labyrinth from the air and even note how it shifted with time, revolving, evolving, and never the same thing twice. Yet within, the shifts were so subtle that most did not notice them while inside.

  They had no idea that what they walked ahead into had not been there before, and that what they had seen behind them was most likely gone.

  At its center, the Mystic compound was a series of artistic buildings, built out of various materials, and set upon several disks or within interlocking, moving wheels, walkways, platforms, and movers.

  Part of the center was a gigantic, working clock with certain buildings in great proximity and congress with each other at certain times of the day. All seemed to be in motion.

  Towers rose and extended and collapsed like living telescopes of shining metal, plasteel, and smartmaterials.

  One gigantic building alone was like a huge, transparent oblong melon. The top parts flexed and irised and collapsed inward at a rate of fifty-percent reduction, revealing the flat expanse of a vast floor of training stations, kilometers wide and long.

  If a tropical storm rushed in, various parts of the clear ceiling and its superstructure could be raised to keep out the elements and collect water for the compound’s use.

  All highly efficient, N. A marvel of modern, hi-tek Spacer engineering and art.

  A series of smartdomes and smarttowers worked their way up the low mountainside, looking out to sea to the south and east. Different portions of their surfaces could be programmed opaque, clear, or tinted, for windows, ventilation, or wide open views and gravwing ports. Several persons flew outside over the compound and back within.

  Master Jo’s private compound was the highest of all the structures, placed upon the summit of the mountain itself. It consisted of a series of cylindrical dwelling pods of various sizes and purposes, stacked and nestled together in a rough, vertical pyramid structure that looked as if they could be shifted about for any purpose from an open party, to enduring a major military assault.

  Naero and her escorts actually flew through an open wall on one of the upper levels of the largest, top cylinder.

  Within, the levels were part clear, and part opaque. Programmed color changed walls, floors, and ceiling panels in a shifting pattern. Stairs, flight shafts, and movers came online or collapsed randomly or as needed.

  To Naero, the interior seemed almost fluid, rather liquid in its design and function–amazing both as art and as utilitarian structure. It was a complete smartdwelling made of highly reactive smartmaterials that literally flowed, shifted, and interacted with and around the users.

  Naero relished it, but to others, like High Master Tree and the former Master Vane, it would have most like proven distracting, if not maddening.

  When Master Jo appeared, he did so speaking to her and flashing from place to place, every few seconds or instants.

  That did take a little getting used to.

  “Naero! So glad you made it. Welcome to Oorrii!”

  Master Jo’s physical form was that of a glowing, golden Spacer boy between the age of eight and ten, both eternally young and wise.

  A holographic storm of brightly colored birds passed around them and out of the open walls and windows. The screeched and shrieked just like the real thing.

  Thankfully, he didn’t have them holographically poop, at least not this time.

  He’s still nuts.

  Quiet, Om. He’s eccentric.

  Okay.

  Stop it.

  Master Jo laughed. “I was born with the gift of constant, hyper teleportation at age ten, when my further physical development was arrested by the energies inside of me. Much to my parents’ concern.
My mind still continues to expand. Around others outside of Oorrii, I suppress those abilities since becoming a High Master. But here on my world, I can let them run free and relax.”

  Naero thought that she would start right in. “Master Jo. I have a complex problem involving the enemy and my Cosmic energies. There have been strange occurrences and then a serious incident on the way here. I hoped that you might help me.”

  “Of course. Sit down and explain it to me. Tess, Den. Stay or go as you please. I can always summon you.”

  Tess left them. Den hung around, floating about at will. He seemed to enjoy the transitioning structure in a way that Naero could not fathom.

  Naero told Master Jo about all that had happened, and explained her concerns about her Cosmic energies and abilities, and her fears about the enemy and them somehow escaping into the Astral Plane.

  He agreed with her. That would be very bad. Together they would explore her fears and concerns and all that they entailed.

  Of course he did not have any ready answers for her. Her situation was particularly unique to her. But there was one big consolation. Once they went into the Time Dilation, that should cut them off from her, and she should be able to train freely, without limits.

  11

  Even the Mystics wore the simple Nytex, smartmaterial jumpers for practice, garments that were common on Oorrii. Perfect for the tropical jungle, form fitting, utilitarian, in Mystic whitish gray.

  The very next morning, Naero mindlinked with Master Jo and they spent much of the day meditating together, exchanging thoughts and insights on Change Wisdom in general, and the differences between random change and enlightened change.

  With Master Jo’s natural abilities, he flitted about the labyrinth at will and even out into the wilds. It was Naero’s physical task to track and follow him wherever he went, through their link.

  That was not as easy at it sounded.

  Master Jo psyonically drilled her constantly, no matter what else was happening.

  What is the nature of Change, Naero?

  She strove to remain composed, sitting lotus fashion just like him, hovering over a small, tinkling waterfall among floating, pulsing, Cosmic energy crystals.

  The crystals occasionally collided and rang like finely tuned bells.

  Change is constant and Eternal, Master Jo. Things change as long as they exist.

  What stay’s the same?

  Nothing. That is an illusion of Order Wisdom. Yet there is value and logic in sustainability, and seeking to maintain harmony and balance. One more enlightened view takes into account that Change has always taken place in the past, things are currently changing in the present, and they will continue to change in the future. To deny those facts is not logical.

  Must everything be logical?

  No, of course not. Sometimes things are random or simply the way that they are in a current state. But logic can be very useful in maintaining balance, seeking rational sustainability for a purpose, and guiding Change as it comes.

  They switched to sitting on the edge of a sea cliff, while below the waves of the mighty ocean crashed again and again against the rocks and crystals piled up against the shore.

  What is the basis of the pursuit of Change Wisdom, Naero?

  Questions that probe inwards and outwards. What kinds of Change are inevitable and must be accepted? For example, eventually, all things come to an end: sentients, stars, even universes. Change Wisdom examines things closely through many questions and seeks understanding.

  What Change can we control, entirely of in part? In what time frame? Why or why not should we seek to control matters? In each instance, what is the best way to attempt to control Change? Should Change be resisted or suppressed? What is possible and feasible, and what is not? If change is desirable or going to occur in any case, what is the best way to guide or direct Change?

  Change is not always good or desirable, master. Sometimes it is destructive and chaotic, like a hurricane, a volcanic eruption, or some kind of natural–

  War is an upheaval, a destructive event caused by sentients trying to seize territory or treasure, or enslave and eradicate other sentients.

  Yes, certainly. But wars can also be ended. War can only accomplish so much. Eventually, the costs become far greater than what can be achieved through acts of war. The only exception is the war for survival, like the ones we face with our enemies. All things have a right to exist and defend themselves against aggression bent on wiping out their existence.

  They flipped to floating slowly over the jungle canopy with the wind in their hair and faces.

  Thus, what is the difference between unenlightened and enlightened Change?

  Unenlightened Change is left to itself to do whatever it will in its rawest form. It is random, thoughtless, and anarchistic. It is Change left to itself, Change for the sake of Change by dumb, indifferent chance.

  Enlightened Change has at least in some part been examined, considered, and directed by sentient thought and will. It is an attempt at change for the better. Yet caution must be applied. Even the best of intentions for Change do not guarantee better results. For example, on Old Earth, ancient cultures built water systems and learned to preserve and store food, but they mistakenly used lead in these processes due to ignorance, and poisoned many.

  Yet there as well, in the course of history, sentients have learned from their grim mistakes, and changed for the better, as progress continued. Should we change something? Do we have a right to change something? Look at the Kexxian fixers you have introduced into the Galaxy. They are revolutionizing everything around us as we speak. Did you have a right to unleash this Change on our Galaxy, Naero? What will be the end result of opening up the wisdom, knowledge, and tek of the Kexxian Date Matrix inside of you?

  Master, I understand now that the KDM is a gift to the universe to help sentient races of good will and harmony defend themselves against threats just like the enemies we face today. Some of the same enemies the Kexx and their allies faced down long ago and defeated.

  Again, the enlightened mind asks, who decides these issues? What Change is resisted? What Change is allowed to go forward? Who decides these issues and why? By what authority? These questions always need to be asked and answered.

  I agree. But the way I see it, master. Enlightened Change should give the wise sentients of that place and time the best chance to examine the situation and come up with the best way to implement or direct Change. Change can be imperfect in any number of ways. Change may benefit a majority and even harm a minority, even against their will. What should be done to reduce or limit such harm? If Change creates winners and losers, what is owed to the losers? How do we honestly and fairly decide what Changes go forward and how they affect others?

  The Gigacorporations always say to let the markets decide, but that is a canard and a swindle that is far too elusive and evasive. The Corps always rig and control the markets to decide matters in their eternal favor, and against their populations. If nothing changes on those worlds, their various brands of corporate tyranny will only continue to enslave humanity and other sentients for as long as they are allowed to do so. They will never stop doing so on their own volition.

  Naero nodded. I agree. That is why the power of the Corps over humanity must be broken by the Declaration of Liberty of free sentients. The Corps were never meant to subjugate and rule over people. The economic systems put in place must serve their populations, not the other way around. That is where the landers went wrong. The Corps became a myopic cult of dogma and enslavement, for the good of no one but the entrenchment and perpetuation of Corps tyranny.

  When and where there is Change or lack of Change, the systems in place must be constantly tested and questioned as they go along. Liberty and enlightenment both require constant skepticism, challenge, and vigilance.

  Master Jo transported them both far away without warning, into a deep snow bank upon a distant high mountain somewhere.

  Naero gasped at th
e sudden cold temperature shift. But she recovered quickly and warmed herself.

  Master Jo thrashed about in the deep snow, laughing like a child. Ahhh…a snow bath. How refreshing and invigorating, is it not?

  I would have rather had a little warning or choice in the matter, master.

  Nonsense. A pleasant surprise is never–

  Naero knocked him head over heels with a sixty millimeter snow ball. He grunted at the impact and toppled down the mountainside.

  The snow fight was on, raging back and forth, until they triggered a massive avalanche that swept down that entire mountainside.

  Both of them transported back to the compound.

  Master Jo clapped her on the shoulder, the only High Master who was normally shorter than her. She liked that.

  “Excellent, Naero. The Time Dilation kicks in at Standard midnight. Starting tomorrow, we’ll be testing all of your powers and abilities to their limits. That’s going to be quite dangerous for all of us. So enjoy a good meal, get good rest, and prepare yourself. Good night, adept. Glad to have you here.”

  With that he vanished.

  It was evening by that time, and a spectacular sunset filled the sub-tropical sky. Tess came around to take her to dinner with the rest of the Change adepts, where she met old friends and made new ones in the elaborate dining hall.

  Everyone seemed anxious to give her trouble and ask about her many adventures, and about her marriage to Khai, and next about their children. Many of the adepts had heard amazing things about her daughter, Shetharra.

  “Such a Cosmic prodigy,” Vaeshen Taylor asked. “When will she begin her Mystic Training?”

  “Not for a while, yet,” Naero said. “I want her to have time to be a little girl, as much as possible, without so many expectations being placed upon her.”

  Yet Naero admitted to herself, that one day her little duck would indeed train with the Mystics, and find her own path. Perhaps all of her children would.

  The next day, Master Jo assured her that she was now free to use and explore her powers and abilities in every way possible. He even encouraged it.