Chapter 23

..[ SYLVIA ]..

The Swift was gone, and with it Jacy and Mativo. And every other crew member from the Swift that had been in the Sho’sla System. They had only left twenty-four of them including her and a shuttle to help them catch up to the Swift. She wasn’t planning to stay on the Sho’sla System for more than a Month. As it was, the main ship was travelling at near full speed to snap back the net in place.

When the Swift had stopped at the Sho’sla System, only the outside shuttles of the net had maintained their speeds. All the inner shuttles had travelled slightly slower than the next outside shuttle. By the time the main ship was back on travelling, a reverse wedge had formed with the tip at the Sho’sla system. Now, everyone was hurrying up to reform the net. They might miss a few possible civilizations but there was a much rather thorough net behind them. There was nothing to worry about.

For them to catch up with the Swift, they would have to travel at the shuttle’s recommended fastest speed. She would try and make sure they didn’t stay long. One Month, it was all the time she gave herself.

“Should we feel slighted that Mativo and his Second are gone?” Ngu’mbi asked next to her. They were on a break from another session.

She could blame Mativo for a lot of diplomacy negligence, but he had had the decency to attend the meetings that introduced the new comers. They would be spending the next six Months on the Sho’sla System before a colonization ship passed by. Depending on how things went by then, the Colony Class ship would either leave a shuttle or it would stay. Sylvia hoped it would leave a shuttle; that would mean that everything was going well and the system was part of The Empire. If the Colony ship stayed, that would mean war.

When she looked at him, he was smiling. Letting those smaller creamy white teeth peek through. A joke then, an icebreaker. But a reply was the most diplomatic thing to do.

“You should be glad they are gone. That means you are now dealing with actual politicians, the real law makers,” she said as she turned to stare at the Tan’gta spread below them.

Unlike in Komenga, the cities in Mu’sma had a lot of high reaching skyscrapers. Taller than the ones back on Earth and Ũsumbĩ IV. The average height of a building in the capital was around five hundred meters.

“And how long before you leave too?” She barely glazed at him before he continued, “Don’t give me that look. You are a part of them, an explorer. Not part of this real law makers.”

She gave him a half smile before turning to watch as Ingu’sman flew all over the city. “A Month at most,” she said after a while, trying to add a hint of sadness to her tone.

He gave a small smile of his own. “My wife is glad they are gone though. Mondhe especially.”

“I tried, I really did.”

“Yeah. But I think she takes after Mativo too much,” he laughed fully then. Mativo might not have attended the meetings but he did visit the ruling figures at least once every Week he had been in the Sho’sla System. Mondhe had come with him more often than not.

“You would think she was his actual daughter,” she half whispered to herself, but she was sure Ngu’mbi picked it up. “Do you know she started attaching to him when she was less than a Year old. A little furry thing, more fur than body, that could barely walk let alone talk. And she knew what she wanted. She first spoke to Mativo when she was three Years old. They had been hanging out together for over two Years without her saying anything.”

“Children. They are mysterious things. My Fuse didn’t start talking until he was four of your Years. That is long for an Ingu’sman. Asyo’wi had thought him waande, deaf. Until Lu’mwe started talking nonstop at one Years, early, and the first thing he said was a’lki, shut up.”

She laughed with him then. Siblings always made life enjoyable, one way or the other. Maybe she should have had more than one kid. She knew she and her brother had had lots of fun times growing up.

“If it were just up to me, I would sign the thing be done with it,” he said as they calmed down from the child talk.

“Don’t you think you would be rushing it?”

“We already known as much as we are going to without visiting your colonies. Plus, I had a long talk with Siass, the Sientian. The sooner we join The Empire, the sooner my people can get out there. There is a reason all astronomical things are named by us around here.”

“What about the Kimuvians?”

He looked thoughtful for a moment, gently pressing his comb left and right. “I don’t know. We have had our historians scouring them clean, but they come up with nothing concrete. They have been under slavery for a very long time. Everything about them from before is completely lost.”

“I see,” was all she could say.

“They have stories about visiting the stars; but that could have been just wishful thinking. An escape from their oppression,” he said.

“Hardship is the truest motivator.”

“That it is.”

Soon the break was over and back to the monotonous meeting. It had been fun when her main ship was a few million kilometers away. With Jacy as her constant companion, the meetings had been bearable. They had actually been more productive than they currently were. They feared her, Sylvia had realized. Whether it was because she was Second to Mativo, albeit unofficially, or because she carried herself like she could discipline anyone who so much as looked at her wrong. Sylvia couldn’t tell. But it had been good for the meetings. She felt like they were taking steps back the further away the Swift went.

..[ MATIVO ]..

“Rules—”

“What rules?” Jacy asked.

“For the bout?” I half asked in confusion.

“No.”

“What do you mean ‘no’?” I air quoted and mimicked the flat voice she had used. “We’ve always had rules for all the bouts we’ve had before. Now they would be needed more than ever.”

She didn’t say anything, but she got a grumpy look that I couldn’t tell her was cute. Especially not when we were about to duke it out at each other.

“Look. I’m not trying to demean your progress. I’ll try to be near hundred percent as I can.”

“I want hundred percent,” she said. She was starting to sound like a petulant child.

I fast threw an air-blade centimeters off the top of her head. She was less than a second too late. But still too late.

“I don’t even let my normal sims use the air-blade all the time,” I told her as she recovered. “Only the low level ones. And only if I’m well rested.”

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We had tested the edge of the air-blade, both mine and Mondhe’s. And let’s just say I didn’t even trust the combat gear to offer enough protection. It wasn’t as fast as a bullet but somehow it could wreck more havoc.

I donned my helmet, moving my head around to get used to the feel of its weight on my neck. It wasn’t heavy, but every gram mattered in a life or death situation. Which was what we currently were in. I had finally agreed to a bout with Jacy, and we were in the simulation room getting ready to begin. Depending on how the first bout went, we planned on going for three bouts before we called it a day.

“Fine. Rules then,” she finally said.

“No air-blades.”

Silence. A whole minute passed by while we stared at each other. I was already priming myself for the bout, checking that everything was in top working condition. And still keeping an eye on Jacy. So yes, staring.

“Is that it?” she asked, breaking the silence.

“Unless you have others you want to add.”

“You…” she was definitely fuming, not cute anymore. “All that talk about rules and… I’ll turn you into minced meat.”

And she was already moving, a fireblast leading her. See, I knew to be well prepared. You never know what your opponent might decide to do. But I hadn’t expected her to attack so fast. Also, why was she angry? Did I do something wrong? I made sure that there were as few rules as I could comfortably allow. There were others I had ignored just to accommodate her for the bout.

And I got a punch to the head for my absentmindedness. It was with the bioaugment arm too. I only got a rattled brain, thank you helmet. But I was too rattled to do anything about the follow up roundhouse kick, bringing me down hard. I think I lost consciousness for a fraction of a second there.

But I had been training for over thirty Years. A rattled brain and a concussion weren’t enough to keep me down. By the time she followed me, I wasn’t already up. But not ready to do anything other than defend against the foray of punches and kicks she sent my way. An effective way to keep me from doing anything at such close range. Though, was it a conscious thing or her just letting off steam?

Redirecting a punch or a kick was a much simpler thought process than creating an intent and activating it with a redirection. Also, taking kicks and punches from an experienced bioaugment such as Jacy required more than just the average fighting skills. I was sure some of them were breaking the sound barrier, or that she was soundly breaking every centimeter of bone I had on me.

But the more glaring question was, why wasn’t she using the Energy? Other than the initial fireburst, everything else had been purely physical. Like with the punches and kicks and such. No air, fire, water, nada. None of those made an appearance. Could it be that it was a double edged sword? Oooh Jacy! You have a lot to learn.

She was starting to show signs of lactic acid build up. Her bioaugment limbs were still going strong, but her biological ones were tiring. And I didn’t let that chance get away from me. She was still trying to cover up that weakness by coordinating her biological limb with her bioaugment limb. But it wasn’t enough, and one intent finally managed to make it through.

Sadly for me, it was the air-blade. I was forced to cut it short, which meant that I passed out.

No. Not from cutting off the flow of energy, I had done that countless of times without any issues. Even from my first time doing it. You would need something much more deadlier, like a well-placed bioaugment punch, to get the shock through the helmet, the skull and finally into the squishy brain inside.

When I came to, Jacy was standing a few meters from, slowing massaging her biological limbs. A convoluted hand to arm to leg.

“You are back,” she said, keeping to her massages.

“How long was I out?” I asked as I slowly sat up. My brain was feeling a little woozy, but I could work with that.

After a minute sitting up, I felt like I was ready to stand on my own two feet again. Slowly and carefully, I got up shakingly. I took a few steps front then back, letting the blood get all over my body again. I sent a diagnostic check throughout my nanobots as I jumped up and down a little. I got the a-okay from the chip. I was ready for round two.

“Remind me to add power to the sims. I’ve been using an outdated version apparently. You hear that Andrew?” I didn’t need to speak louder to be heard in the observation room. Even a whisper in the simulation room would be heard loud and clear in the observation room.

“Noted.” He replied over the speakers.

I joined Jacy at the center of the simulation room where she had moved to during my checkup and note.

“How are you feeling?” she asked as she jumped, twisting left and right.

“A little woozy. But I will make you pay that,” I told her.

“You can try,” she said with a mischievous grin.

We started circling each other. More cautious now that the initial steam had worn off. Left, quarter circle. Right, half circle. And repeat. I threw a small fireburst to make sure we didn’t fall into a pattern. She didn’t even evade, taking it in stride. Our combat gear was more than a little temperature resistant. As long as things didn’t get to the materials ignition point. Or absolute zero. There would be no coming back from that.

I took a step towards her and threw two fiery-looking burst. She took the first but quickly ducked out of the way of the second.

“Sneaky little bastard,” she said as she rubbed off her arm.

“What? There is only one rule remember?”

I tried a punch taking a step closer, which she twisted out of the way. I threw a water punch to her left as she was turning and followed that with two air punches to her right as she tried to sidestep the water. She managed to avoid the air-punches and the water-punch was a little too far. I threw a fireburst followed a fiery-looking one, forcing her to move further left and into the disappearing wet spot. A huge airburst in her direction forced to jerkily try to get out of the way. She stumbled on the spot but managed to avoid the burst. But I was close to her, way closer than when we started.

“Shit,” she said as she tried to backtrack quickly but I kept pace with her.

Every step for a step, adding a punch here and there as we circled the simulation room. She was fast and nimble, evading and keeping the distance between us all the time. She used Energy kicks to her advantage, forcing me to take defensive forms every once in a while. I had never been a proficient kicker, no matter how hard I tried, and that lack of skill had translated into the Energy use. I could barely get an intent out, and it usually cost too much energy. Unless my hands were completely disabled, I would never resort to using my legs as energy conduits. Jacy didn’t have that problem, she had been a strong kicker even before I met her. And Mondhe was as well.

What is wrong with my legs? I asked as I tried an energized sweep, but got barely a breeze. Jacy though had been caught off guard and reacted like there was something behind it.

I send a moderately strong water punch as she was coming down but she cut it with a water wedge of her own. She effectively divided my punch in two and made it flow on both sides of her while her wedge continued towards me. I met it with a burst of fire, turning it to a foggy steam between us. I sent another burst of air in what I perceived to be her direction while sidestepping to the left to avoid a flame burst. The fog wasn’t helping. I tried pushing it her way but it wouldn’t bulge, so I pushed it sideways.

It quickly dissipated right after, revealing a fast approaching Jacy. I moved in too, it was too late to try and backtrack. We met in a flurry of Energized and normal punches, redirecting and avoiding most before a burst of air from me sent us a few meters apart. We went back to test jabs, punches and kicks. It was an attrition battle, where we slowly whittled each other down with the occasional clashing meet. It lasted for fifteen minutes, and by then, I was a quarter into the energy stored in my energy organ. During one of our clashes, I let one of her bioaugment punches land in a glazing blow using the moment to try and get a hold of it and sweep her from her feet.

I got hold of the arm but she kicked my sweeping leg back. I used the momentum to do a full three-sixty turn for a sweep again. This time, I pulled on her arm down hard while the sweep moved into place. It was disorientating enough to manage to land the sweep successfully. She landed on her shoulder hard, forcing me to wince a little. But she had knocked me out cold and I didn’t waste time returning the favor. Though, it took a few punches to get it done.

It took her a few minutes to recover and I used that time to recuperate and rehydrate myself. We took another five minutes for a break before beginning our third bout. It was a short-lived affair. Jacy was too low on energy, even after the break boost she had taken.

Mondhe began her simulations as we took a rest on the bench inside the simulation room. She was done with the evolution project. The results? Getting to a more human-like appearance was possible, but a lot of things had to go right for that to happen. The only species we had discovered that had achieved that were the Sientians, if you ignored the third eye. A close second were the Riteks, but those were more chimpanzee than human. Not head size; that was completely human, but facial structure.

Her first bout was with what had turned into something of a friend to her. Pink. I wasn’t sure if it was Pink or Sylvia, but she had started grooming herself. Her short hair, it had refused to grow out no matter how hard she tried. Her longest hair was eight centimeters long, located at the middle of her head. We had measured. She kept it all laid down against her scalp, making it appear sleeked up. It did occasionally rise up when she was agitated. Her blackish streaks had turned glossy black and her dirty blonde hair turned a shiny golden color.

“Should I be worried that one of your few friends is a combat simulated program?” I asked her while on a break from her bout with Pink. She had outgrown her, forcing us to raise her difficult level to keep her relevant.

“No, you shouldn’t. Pink is my only friend.”

Okay. She definitely needed to find other friends. What was she going to do when she reached the feelings phase? Ask us to create her a simulated partner? Or maybe she would be smart enough to create it herself.