Chapter thirty three 

          The fan streaked towards my face at a speed that made it a blur to my sight but after weeks of training my reflexes kicked in and my back bent backwards like a rubber band to avoid getting hit by the incoming weapon, but I wasn't out of the woods yet, another fan fell towards my neck from above like a guillotine.

          A few weeks ago if you had asked me if it was even possible to dodge such an attack from such an awkward position I would have told you hell no, but since then I have learned that you can do incredible, almost superhuman feats by being in constant motion.

          Like for example when I had bent backwards to avoid the attack I had also crossed my legs in the same motion and by using the muscles in my legs I started spinning while dodging to the right. Now most people would think that this would make me too unstable to keep my balance and I would fall over but even though I'm in a position where my center of mass is so off kilter that I should have fallen over I am kept aloft by something called the gyroscopic effect.

        The gyroscopic effect is a fascinating phenomenon that occurs when an object is spinning. In the simplest terms the gyroscopic effect is when an object spinning at sufficient speed resists changing its axis of rotation even when other forces are acting on it. In my case I was spinning parallel to the ground, so it helped me resist the pull of gravity and prevented me from falling.

        When I had spun enough to completely uncross my legs I extended my hands outwards to slow down my spin ( conservation of angular momentum ) while at the same time using that momentum to generate enough speed to make the fans I was holding in my hands turn into deadly weapons.

         Sensei deflected my attack with her own fan and started spinning along with me to dissipate the energy. For a second we were both spinning like dervishes , continuously dishing out and receiving numerous attacks but in the end sensei had way more experience than me and she was able to knick me on the elbow, drawing first blood and causing the match to end with her victory , again.

         I put my fist to my palm and bowed to my sensei and she reciprocated when I heard clapping coming from the door of the dojo. Apparently Kazimir had been watching us spar and judging from the big smile on his face he was pleased by my progress.

        "That was amazing Sophia, I know professional martial artists that didn't last as long against  my wife. In fact I think that that might have been the longest I have ever seen anyone last against her. You weren't cheating were you?"

         I knew what he meant, sensei didn't know about my powers and he was asking me if I was using them during the match.

        "No I didn't, that was just hard work and dedication."

        "Then I believe that means you deserve a reward."

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          I became very excited and looked at him expectantly but he just laughed and said," It's not here , it's back at the bunker."

          He said goodbye to his wife with a farewell kiss and headed out the house to the Mercedes parked in the driveway with me following close behind him. If I had a tail, it would probably have been wagging and who can blame me? The last time Kazimir gave me a gift it was a sniper rifle and a surface to air missile. Granted the missile was use and drop but I got to keep the sweet rifle and before that he gave me a freaking Lamborghini. At first I thought it was a loaner but when I asked him about it he said not to sweat it. On our drive home my imagination started conjuring up fantastic images of what my reward could be.

            At the bunker all my excitement was extinguished as if it was doused with cold water when he handed me two fans. They looked like they were made up of silvery blue plastic. They felt grainy to the hand but they didn't seem to be particularly hard or sharp. Unless Kazimir was giving me the fans as an accessory to cool myself off, which would be ridiculous since winter was approaching and we were in St Petersburg, I didn't get why he gave me the fans. When I looked at him quizzically he finally answered my unasked question.

           "I know they don't seem like much but they are made up of a special plastic that was developed after millions of dollars of research. See the plastic you are holding is the hardest material on earth."

            I bent the fan back and forth, "No it isn't."

            "You didn't let me finish, that plastic is the hardest material on earth some of the time. See those fans are made up of a special polymer that has very long stable chains linked in a lattice like structure. The scientists used a special process to trap a salt molecule in the middle of each gap in the lattice. The idea was that when the salt molecule is oriented correctly it causes the appropriate charges to shift in the chain causing an imbalance that would greatly strengthen the bonds between the molecules and it worked better than they ever dreamed. The material they created was twice as hard as anything else on earth, the problem was the orientation of the salt molecules shifted randomly making some parts hard and other parts soft, that is what gives it the grainy texture. They attempted to use magnetic fields to properly align them but each salt molecule needed to be in a slightly different orientation to the one next to it so they failed miserably. The whole thing was labeled a failure and the project was scrapped. Thankfully I have a friend in R&D who owes me a favor so I was able to get these made especially for you."

          My earlier excitement started to return, if what he said was true then these two fans were the perfect weapons for me.

          There was only one thing left to do, it was time to try them out.