Renegade World: Future Past (17 page)

Hearing her five-minute alarm, she quickly finished her
mock scrambled eggs.
Disgusting.
She left the last few bites, unable to
force any more down.
Hi ho. Hi ho. It’s off to work I go. To fix the bots that
blow.
Her job was to monitor and repair the numerous mining robots. The
bots had a terrible performance record, despite her preventative maintenance.

S
he snuggled against Ralph. The bed, only a meter wide,
made it hard to do anything else. She lifted her head, and his eyes stayed
closed. She kissed him on his cheek and sighed. “That was the most fun I’ve had
in weeks.”

“Me too,” he mumbled.

“You didn’t tell me about your visit to the ANT facilities.”

“Nothing much to tell, except that those five women have less
personality than the automated equipment they maintain. Talk about cold.”

She already knew that the ANT facility was highly
automated, but she hadn’t known that the employees were all women. “Women, huh.
What’s their facility like? I’ll bet its better than ours. Did they show you
around?”

“We only saw the tunnels and one room.”

“That sounds kind of boring.”

“They spent most of the time demoing some of their new
manufacturing tech. I wasn’t aware of how much of their stuff we already use.
At the end of the meeting, they picked my brain about the difficulties of
helium-3 processing. They didn’t say anything, but I got the feeling that ANT may
be considering taking over the helium-3 part of LunarX’s business.”

“Huh. I wonder why?”  She waited patiently for him to
respond until she heard him begin snoring.
Shoot Ralph. We were just getting
to the good part. What is ANT up to?
She got up without disturbing him,
dressed, and slipped out of his room.

T
he fall flew by. Eddie, Kim, Raul, and Naami became
inseparable outside of school as well as in school.  On the days when Kim and Naami
had gymnastics, Raul and Eddie played Code of Euric, a multi-player simulation
with fifty players in their session. The goal was to survive the entire game
and to increase your wealth and stature. Players were dropped from the game if
they didn't participate within each 24 hour period, in which case the computer
took over their roles. Each week was one year in the simulation, which was set
in fifth century France and Spain, beginning in the year 456 and ending in 481.
The computer played some of the roles including the two main characters,
Theodoric and Euric.

Raul and Eddie had so far survived the years 456 to 464.
They sometimes played while they were together and sometimes when they were
apart. When they were apart, they could see each other's avatar and talk to each
other through their avatars.

The boys had tried to interest the girls in the game, but
Kim had no interest in it, and Naami said she’d wait until next summer to try
it.

All four of them frequently hung out together at Naami's. In
the early fall, they had played outside when they could, usually on the
trampoline. Kim and Naami taught the boys how to do the basic tricks. While Eddie
was happy doing the basic tricks, Raul was more competitive, learning to do a
front and back somersault, even when the girls said he shouldn't. Kim and Naami
didn't do any of the really difficult tricks that they had learned in class,
afraid that Raul would try them.

Now that it was cold and threatening to snow, they played
inside. Today, they were going to play Ultimate Martial Arts Tournament for the
first time. Naami had talked her dad into buying it for her. Ultimate Martial
Arts Tournament tournaments always had sixteen competitors, and since there
were four of them, the computer played the other twelve. They set the
difficulty to level one out of ten for the first competition. 

The game came with two sets of sensors that they used to
control their avatars. Naami helped Eddie put the sensors on his head, hands,
stomach, elbows, knees, and feet. Each sensor tracked the motion of the body
part to which it was attached and gave them feedback when they hit an opponent
or an opponent hit them.

Naami said, “We each fight a computer-generated opponent
for our first match. Ready, Eddie?”

“Ready.” Eddie could see the contest through the eyes of
his avatar displayed on his glasses.  “This is so cool!”

Naami watched Eddie bow.
Abraham, half view, fully
opaque, spectator perspective.
She saw Eddie’s avatar bowing to a lizard
man, and she yelled, “Go, Eddie!” While she had selected the spectator
perspective, she could have watched from Eddie's or his opponent's perspectives
instead. She heard Kim and Raul yelling encouragement as part of the crowd of
spectators.

Eddie shuffled in and out and kicked at the lizard man.
“Yes! I scored.”

The lizard man moved sluggishly, and Eddie won the match
twelve to one. As Eddie took off the sensors, he said, “I won, but I really
wanted to knock him out.”

The next match was a contest between two computer-generated
fighters. Naami studied their moves. After that contest, Kim fought next and
won nine to seven.

When Raul’s turn came, he attacked much more aggressively
than the other two. He was leading his wolf-headed opponent six to two when he
landed two punches to the wolf's head. “Stay down,” he yelled when the wolf man
fell and then tried to get up. He struggled before falling back to the ground.

Naami didn't try to knock out her opponent, a female
vampire dressed all in black leather. She easily won sixteen to zero.

The next round, all four of them again fought
computer-generated opponents. Eddie, Raul, and Naami won their next fights, but
Kim was knocked out. After she took off the sensors, she rubbed the right side
of her head. “The sensor vibrated so hard when he punched me that my head still
feels weird. Is it bruised or red?”

Naami looked. “No, it looks OK.” She slowly rubbed her hand
across the area. “I don’t feel anything either.”

 Kim rubbed her head again. “It’s going away now, but I’m
glad I didn’t get hit by a real punch. I guess I was lucky to win my first
fight. I don't really know what I'm doing.”

“You can learn by just watching Raul, Eddie, me, and the
computer-generated fighters, or if you want, I can teach you punching, kicking,
and blocking.”

In the next fight, Naami fought Osiris, the green-skinned
god of the underworld. As the bout ended, Raul said, “Wow. You made that look
easy. Twelve to zero, and Osiris didn’t land a single punch or kick.”

“Well, it is only level one, and I have sparred before.” Naami
took off the sensors and handed them to Raul. Eddie already had on the other
set of sensors.

“Guys, you need to stay far enough apart so that you don’t
hit each other for real. Good luck to both of you.”

 As the fight started, Raul laughed wickedly. “You're going
down, Eddie.”

Naami saw that Eddie looked nervous. “Don't worry, Eddie it’s
only a virtual fight. You've got good defense. Use it!”

For every punch or kick by Eddie, Raul was throwing four or
five, but Eddie was able to block them all. Finally, Raul broke through Eddie's
defense and landed a backfist punch combination just before time ran out.
“Score. Yes.”

Naami congratulated Raul and then turned to Eddie. “You did
great too!”

“Well, I have been watching my brother and sister for four
years. I guess I learned a few things.”

After Naami won her next match again a computer-simulated
opponent, she pointed at Raul. “Whenever you're ready.”

“I'm ready. You don’t want a rest?”

She shook her head, and he shrugged. They backed away from
each other and bowed. Raul growled, and Naami giggled. “I'm so afraid.” She
whimpered very dramatically. The first time Raul's avatar charged her, she side
kicked it, and it doubled up.

“You can't do that again!” Raul said as his avatar charged
in. It was met by another lightning fast side kick, and Raul's avatar was
suddenly on the floor. “I guess you can,” he laughed.

O
ver the next few weeks, the four of them played Ultimate
Martial Arts Tournament many times.  After a couple of matches, they would move
the difficulty level up one level. This was the first time they had played at
level four. As always, the first two matches were against a computer-generated
fighter. They each won their first fight, but their opponents now moved much
quicker.

Although Kim lost her second fight, the boys applauded her
close score. They both told her how much better she looked now than the first
time they played. What the boys didn't know is that Naami had been working on
techniques with Kim after each gymnastics class.

What the girls didn't know was that Eddie's brother,
Daniel, had been working with Eddie and Raul. However, even though they had
gotten much better, Eddie and Raul lost their next match too.

Naami easily won the championship, but she did let one of
the opponents kicks get through.

Raul applauded. “I want to be as good as you, Naami.”

Naami knew her plan was working.
If I can keep them
hooked on this game, I know by spring that I can get them to join the studio.

Abraham notified her that Camila had just let Kim's father
into the house. “Kim and Raul, time to go.” They all walked upstairs together.

Eddie and Naami walked outside with them and waved goodbye
as they drove off.  Eddie turned back to Naami. “I'd better go too. I've got
math homework to finish. I suppose you finished yours.”

“Almost.” Actually, she had finished it during class. “I'll
walk up the block with you.”

Eddie lived at the top of the hill on the next block. They
walked up the street together while they talked about school. From up ahead,
Naami heard whispering from behind a hedge. She knew who the voices belonged
to.
Abraham, enhance the audio on the voices up ahead.
She put her arm
out to slow Eddie down as she listened to Brenda say, “This is the perfect time
to jump them.”

She whispered to Eddie, “I just saw Brenda, Lori, and
Jennifer hide behind that hedge. Let’s walk to the
other side of the street. If they come out, you run to your house, and I'll run
back to mine. We can both outrun them.”

They watched the bushes as they walked, and saw the three
girls make a run for them.  Eddie put his head down and sprinted towards home. Near
the top of the hill, he stopped and turned back to see what was going on.

Naami circled but didn’t back away as the girls approached.
“You couldn't catch us before. How silly to think you can catch us now!”

Brenda got with ten yards, and as Naami danced away from
her, she yelled, “Come here you scaredy cat!”

Naami giggled. “Now that doesn't make sense. If I was a
scaredy cat, I for sure wouldn't come to you. What you should have said is that
I would be a scaredy cat if I didn't come to you. Meow!”

“Get her!” yelled Brenda, and the three charged after
Naami. Instead of running towards her house, Naami ran a wide circle around
them. They chased her around several circles, slowing down on each one and
finally stopping.

Naami stopped and looked at each of them. “First, it’s not
right to pick on people. Second, picking on people won't really make you happy.
Third, you’ll end up picking on someone who is faster, stronger, and meaner
than you.” She took three quick steps towards toward Brenda, hissed in her face,
and skipped away before the shocked Brenda could even move.

As Eddie turned and walked across his yard, he wondered if
Naami was playing with fire.

N
aami went directly to her downstairs exercise room and
worked out. First she jumped from the floor onto the platform twelve times. After
relaxing for a minute, she did three sets of power cleans with ten-kilo
dumbbells followed by her second set of jump-ups. Three sets of bench presses
with ten-kilo dumbbells came next followed by the third set of jump-ups.
Abraham recorded her heart rate and let her know when to start the next set.
She did three sets of step-ups with the ten-kilo weights with a set of
muscle-ups in between each.

I am tired
, she admitted to herself.

Drink a protein shake, and go to bed early
,
advised Abraham. He added,
Tomorrow is your easy workout day, pull-ups,
rows, internal rotations, leg lifts, crunches, and plank work. Much easier!
Naami wasn't sure, but she thought Abraham was learning sarcasm.
You could
take an extra day off.

Naami debated Abraham's suggestion. In the summer, she had
done all of her exercises every day except Sunday. When School started, Abraham
had convinced her that she should do half of them on one day and the other half
on the next day. That meant that she was doing each exercise three times a
week.
It’s only two days until Sunday.  I can rest on Sunday.

Naami went upstairs. Abraham told her that her mom was in
her office, and the door was closed, so Naami went to her dad’s office instead.
He almost never closed his door. “Hi, Dad. Would you make me a yogurt shake?”

“Sure. What kind do you want?”

“Banana blueberry.”

He put a handful of blueberries, a half a banana, some plain
yogurt, and a scoop of protein powder into the blender. He blended it, added
ice, blended it more, and then poured it into a glass. Naami lifted up the
glass. “Smells great. Thanks, Dad.” She could have made it herself, but somehow
it tasted better when her mom or dad made it.

Her dad scrutinized her. “Everything OK?”

“Yes. I’m just a little tired. I might go to bed early.”

“After you finish your shake, take a quick bath, and then
I'll come tuck you in.”

“OK.”

A
fter her dad had said goodnight and ten minutes into
Abraham’s explanation of Pythagoras' Theorem, Naami started feeling sleepy. She
yawned.
Who was Pythagoras, and when did he figure this out?

Pythagoras lived from about 570 to 495 BCE.

So he died more than 2600 years ago.

Yes. He was an Ionian Greek philosopher and mathematician.
Most people believe he was the founder of the movement called Pythagoreanism,
but what we know of him wasn’t written down until centuries after he lived, so much
of what we think we know about him may not be accurate.

Yes, but people still remember his name. It’s cool that
people know his name so long after he lived.

A
fter church, Naami and her dad stood outside, waiting in
line to pay their respects to Father Collins. She looked up at the jovial,
white-haired, slightly disheveled-looking priest and smiled
. I wish he
weren’t retiring. I liked him from the first time I talked to him last summer.

She looked up at the new priest. Young, with a shaved head
and a thin smile, she didn’t like him.
I can’t feel any love from him like I
do from Father Collins.

They stepped up, and as her dad shook Father Collins hand,
he told him that they would both miss him. The priest nodded, then smiled at
her, and put his hand on her head. “Naami, I love your pink dress. It’s like a
dress from a different era.” He laughed and tousled her hair. “And I enjoyed
our chats.” He looked over at the young priest. “Father Cassidy, this is Naami
and her father, Dr. Schmidt.”

Naami curtsied; she didn’t want to touch the man. Her dad
shook hands and chatted with Father Cassidy, but as he spoke, the priest seemed
to be staring at her. When her dad finished, the priest looked down at her. “And
when will you be joining our children’s program?”

Naami giggled. “I’d rather just go to services. I loved
Father Collins’ sermons.”
I doubt I will like Father Cassidy’s
. “Will
your sermons be good?”