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Subject: +*+*+*+ Solomon's Private File #31 "Breaks" +*+*+*+
Date: Mon, 11 May 2015 18:31:57 -0400
From: " +Grant. " <+Grant@grant.grant>
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Solomon's Private File #31
These stories about Stephen and Solomon take place starting in
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 14 in this story, in the Summer of 2040.
Solomon's Private File #31 "Breaks"
START Page
I said to Ed, who was staying with me at home for the Summer, "If I'm
to be doing any more undercover work, I should learn as much martial
arts as possible. I need to be able to fight without giving away that
I'm an Adept. You're very good. I'm not. Please teach me." He said,
"But the hit to the head of the Iranian?" I said, "Just a slap. Used a
sleep projection." He grinned and said, "You fooled everybody, even me!
I think you don't need much improvement." I said, "In flattening an
opponent with one strike, probably so. But to impress somebody in a
real combat situation? They WILL know if I fake it." He said, "Right. I
shouldn't have doubted you. We'll work on technique. You already have
strength, flexibility, and speed. Your total recall will be a big help.
First, I should tell you why I'm so good at this. I had a LOT of anger
when I came to the school. Often, I couldn't sleep unless I was VERY
tired. Martial arts helped me in a lot of ways, to become a better
person, and I worked very hard at it. You already know more than just
the basics, but let's start there, anyway."
We did, with proper stances, and the basic strikes. Then we did
striking surface conditioning. Then, more advanced techniques. Most of
that was a review. I could already fight well. That's required for us.
My goal was to be a real expert. All that preliminary practice took two
weeks. Then we did some controlled sparing. It didn't work. He said,
"Wow! How can you move that fast?" I said, "Strength and coordination,
I suppose." He said, "Whatever it is, I can't train you directly. You
need another S Kid. Let's get Daren." We did, and actually got the the
whole family. I didn't mind having Galya at all, which that thought
made her almost strangle trying not to laugh. Daren was VERY good, and
almost as fast and strong as I was. It was actually fun to practice
with somebody who was more like me. I think he liked that, too, for the
same reason. Galya practiced with Ed, and improved, too. Her parents
practiced with each other. Ivanna was better than Percy, which he
didn't mind at all. Sometimes Hawk worked out with all of us. He's VERY
good.
Then other school kids, and adults, too, came and joined us in our
practicing. I was pressed into doing some of the teaching. I knew one
of the reasons why. You learn a lot by teaching. I did. We did other
sports, too, and some of us took our shifts at the Bureau, too. Then
something changed. We did breaking. My targets would break before I hit
them. The first one was the usual board in a frame. My fist was about
2cm from it, when it exploded. Ed said, "That was very good!" I said,
"No it wasn't. I didn't even touch it." He looked really surprised, and
then must have played his memory it back in slow motion. He said,
putting a new board in place, "Duplicate." I did the same thing. With a
new board, he said, "Palm." I did it. Same result. A lot of people were
watching us now. He said, "Very interesting. I've never heard of this
before." I said, "Well, what IS it?" He said, "You are using Ki and PK
to transfer the energy of the air in front of your hand to the board,
and the air pressure from your speed. The board doesn't stand a chance,
and tries to to get away from you as fast as it can." I poked him,
while he and the others laughed.
I put a board in place, and said, "That shouldn't happen in this
strike. I might have to do some healing after it, but I have to know."
I extended my middle finger, and braced it with the index finger, and
hit the board with my fingertip in a kind of spear hand strike. The
board broke normally. My finger tip was only a little sore. I said, "No
Ki or PK in that." He said, "Wow! You're not supposed to be able to do
that at your level." I said, "Hmm, what exactly IS my level?" He said,
"Er, oh." Grins and chuckles. I said, "Now that I know what I did, and
proved I can control it, there shouldn't be any problems with it in
these instructional situations." And it was so.
Hawk was our best martial artist. He took over most of my lessons.
After a lot of that, he said, "Set your shield to show effective
strikes in red, and not blocks, and to protect you at skin level. I'll
do the same. We fight for real, full speed." Mom was set to record it.
We began. It was a complete blur to most people. At the set time, we
stopped. He was covered in red spots, concentrated in the most
vulnerable areas, number indicated by brightness. I had no red marks.
We all said, "Wow!" Severely grinning Hawk announced, "I think Sol is
now competent in the striking arts." There was some cheering.
Then he and Ed worked with me on the soft martial arts, such as
Jujutsu and Aikido, and then Ninjutsu and weapons. Soft doesn't mean
ineffective, by a long shot! Then we did most of the other martial
arts, so I would be familiar with them. Then I cheated a little. Dad
had made a special interactive martial arts movie library for the
Shaolin Temple in China. I copied all of that into my memory, and
integrated it into my other martial arts knowledge. I demonstrated some
of that, and Hawk demanded to know where I learned it, and when did I
ever have the opportunity. I grinned and told him. He said, "Push!" I
gave him the memories, and did the integration much slower and more
controlled than I had for me. He said, "Wow!" Then he said, "Good that
you didn't do that before you had the skill to actually do those
things." I said, "I might have thought of that, if I had thought of
taking that info then. Did it just before I showed you." Ed said,
"Please?" I looked at Hawk, who nodded. I did, and Ed was in absolute
heaven. We all had to grin at him. I said, "You two are the keepers of
this. I know you won't give it to anybody who would be harmed by it."
They bowed to me, which I returned.
Mom said, "GC citizenship." I said, "I like ships." She said,
"Whatever floats your boat." We grinned at each other. She said, "You
and Galya. What competition would you like?" I said, "I just looked. I
want to try something none of us did before on Posintan. Breaking." She
said, "Which bone?" I laughed. Hawk did more than that. Galya and her
mother ported in. She said, "Darts." I said, "One way to get the point
across." Groans. We copied their equipment, and practiced. When we were
good enough to not embarrass ourselves, we took one of our space ships
to Posintan, the planet where they are all sports and competition
fanatics. At orbital control, Mom radioed the ships registry. A furry
otter face came on the screen, and said, "Welcome Honored Sir!" That's
how they treat important people on the Galactic Council worlds. Mom
said, "I have two of our people with me who would like to compete for
the first time. Solomon and Galya. I certify they are worthy." He said,
"I have no doubt!" Mom grinned, and said, "I will have no doubt AFTER
they compete." He laughed. He said, "You are cleared to land in the VIP
section as usual. There will be no fees. I see your instruments
respond. We will take control in five. May you all do well." Mom said,
"Thank you." We landed at the spaceport, and took the monorail to the
VIP terminal. They treated us with a lot of respect. They were
practically in love with Dad, is why. They gave him and Mom special
status. That was before he saved the whole GC from being invaded.
Competing on that world automatically confers citizenship, which is
also recognized by the GC. We checked into a hotel. Mom called our
usual agent. He's mostly retired, but continues to represent our
people. He likes us a lot. He said he would meet us at the usual
medtech's office, which we then went to, and introduced ourselves.
I climbed onto the exam table. The old woman said, "I've seen these
readings before." Rose said, "Son of Stephen." She said, "That explains
it. Welcome Solomon!" I said, "Thanks." She said, "What are you going
to compete in?" I said, "Something none of us have tried here before.
Breaking." She looked me over critically, and said, "Which of your
bones will it be?" We laughed loudly. I said, "That's what my mother
said!" She laughed. Then it was Galya's turn, and when asked, she said,
"Darts." The medtech nodded, and said, "You appear strong enough. I
hope you both do well." We thanked her and left, meeting Passinchance,
our agent, outside the office. We did greetings and hugs. That's a lot
easier to write, than to do. They are two meter tall people who look
something like upright otters, who have three legs, arms, and eyes.
Three sexes, too. And they have a smell that takes some getting used
to. Their planet has a slightly denser atmosphere than Earth's, which
is a little richer in oxygen, and they like it a little colder, too.
They are a good and honorable people, and some of them are students and
teachers in our Guardian school on another planet.
We told him our sports. He looked at me, and said, "Steel bones?" I
grinned and said, "At least not magnetic." He took our medcirts and
went off to get us licenses and citizenship. We waited in a park, which
they have a LOT of. Some people noticed us, and stopped to greet us.
The whole planet knows who Mom is. She competed there, too, the first
time, with Dad. We had something of a crowd with us, by the time the
agent came back. He had to push through them to get to us. We left the
park, to go to the first venue. They followed, but couldn't do that in
the private transport Passinchance had arranged. He had seen that
happen before, on other visits by our people.
At the darts venue, Galya registered. It would be an open single
elimination tournament, gender restricted. It was scored strangely, by
order and placement. The first round was just starting in the woman's
event. Galya would have problems. She is MUCH shorter than they are,
and they are stronger than a regular human. Their arms are relatively
short, but still a little longer than an adult human's. Her first
opponent looked at her oddly, but was very polite in her greeting, to
which Galya responded the same. They know about us, and not like the
first time our people competed, they respect us a lot, even though we
look to them to be small and helpless. We always do very well, but not
always perfectly, and sometimes we lose. We compete fairly, with no
special powers, and they know and REALLY respect us for that. Galya won
the first game easily, even though it took all of her strength to make
the darts stick in the target, which they could see. The second game
was easy, too. Before the third game, her opponent didn't like one of
her darts. She asked for a replacement. The Games Master examined the
dart, and declared it satisfactory. It went back to her. It was the
third dart she threw, and it visibly wobbled in the air, and hit off
the active area of the target. On Galya's next throw, she obviously
deliberately threw her dart off the active area of the target. There
was a murmur of comment. The game continued. Galya won, but it was very
close. They all bowed to her, and she bowed back. She won the forth
game easily. The fifth game was a close win. The sixth and last game,
was very close to the end, and she lost by a millimeter, which the GM
had to verify. There was a celebration after the tournament, but it was
for the second place winner, Galya. They value good sportsmanship VERY
highly.
I had already been registered in the breaking competition. We had
some time before it would start, so we went back to the hotel.
Passinchance would meet us at the venue. With our citizenship's, we
each received a credit and ID disk. Galya's was full of money after the
competition. People are paid to compete, and can earn a lot if they
win. She won five games. She didn't place any bets, but a whole lot of
other people did. Millions. The competitions are televised live. They
have a LOT of TV channels! Competitors get a percentage of the bets. We
are VERY popular competitors. She has a LOT of money now. Too bad we
can't do anything with it but give to charities. But that's not really
a bad thing. We like doing that.
The breaking venue is like it is on Earth. A martial arts thing. It's
not one on one, but you do your thing, and they do theirs, and who
scores the best, wins. Competitors are allowed an assistant, who can
move things out of the way, and such. I asked Galya to be mine. There
were seven competitors registered. They were all big and hard men. I
wasn't. We could see that nobody thought I had a chance, even though
they knew we were some of the best athletes in the galaxy. The three
before me, did a very good job. The rules said we had to use our bodies
to do the breaking, but didn't specify the technique. Our limbs could
be wrapped for support and skin protection, but not to cause an
advantage. I used no wrappings. There was an overall time limit, after
which points would be deducted. Some individual braking stations were
timed. We earned extra points for style and difficulty. Two of the
competitors were grand masters of the sport, and would come after me.
Passinchance had offered to reschedule me for another time to avoid
them, but I refused.
The stage was reset, and it was my turn. I'll write what we broke in
comparative Earth terms, for ease of understanding. The first set was a
circle of the usual boards in frames, but 5cm thick, set lower for me
to reach. It was timed. They all used straight punches. I did that,
very fast, but the last board I broke with a fingertip strike. Then I
bowed to the judges. There was a lot of applause. I hadn't used
external Ki or psionics, naturally. Then there was a pile of bricks. I
could break them any way I wanted to, also timed. Some I broke two at a
time, holding them upright in hand, and breaking them with the edge of
the other hand. Then I tossed two into the air, and broke them them at
the same time with both hands. There was some blood. I ignored it. The
last brick, I tossed into the air, and did a twist kick, and the thing
practically exploded all over the place. While that was being cleaned
up, I broke a thick wooden post with a shin round kick. Then there was
a pile of clay roof tiles. I broke them from above with a punch in the
classic way. The point maker in that one was you got to choose how many
tiles in the pile, and you were judged on the percentage of broken
tiles, and not just how many. I piled it high, and had to jump, but
broke them all, and got cut some more.
The next station had four large concrete blocks, each 15cm thick. So
tall I would have to jump again. I decided to do the power elbow
forearm from above, break. They didn't. My arm did, which was obvious
to the crowd. Both radius and ulna, where they had hung over the edge
of the top block. I yelled to Galya, "Wrap it!" She did, tightly, after
setting it. I said, "Put another block on." She had to have help for
that. Then I built up my Ki, and jumped up in the air, and screamed
loudly, and brought my heal down on top of the blocks, after a
horizontal spin. They broke, and I wasn't injured further, but did not
have fun with the landing in the debris. Then there were really thick
boards to break. I did that as fancy as I could, not using the broken
arm, of course. The last one I broke was the best. I held my fist 2cm
from the board, and in an explosive movement of my body, without
bringing my arm back, I broke the board, and it went flying out of the
holder. Maybe my loud scream might have helped scare it a little. Then
there was a line of tall posts, timed. I kicked them to pieces, once,
two of them at the same time with a scissors kick, but on the second to
the last one, I broke my lower leg in breaking it. Galya wrapped it in
a hurry, through her tears. For the last one, I pivoted on the ground
on my good hand, and swung my good leg at it with my loudest scream,
and it exploded all over. Not my leg, fortunately. I got up and hopped
to the center of the stage, and bowed to the judges and the audience,
who sat in stunned silence. I said to Galya, loud enough for them to
hear, "Do you think my screaming scared them into paralysis?" She said,
"I don't know, but it almost did that to me!" I said, "Well, maybe
they'll say something, so I can go sit down." Then they all stood and
applauded loudly.
They wanted to take me to get treated. I said, "No. I will remain
with the other competitors until the judgement. I'll be treated at our
ship." One said, "But the pain! Medication, perhaps?" I said, "No. I
don't use drugs. It's only pain. I will NOT let it rule me! Although, I
can tell you I'm not at all in favor of it." She almost strangled.
Galya laughed and cried at the same time. Mom had better restraint, but
we could feel her intense emotions. Then the other competitors took
their turns. I thought the judging would be close, but we didn't know
how they would really judge things. Some of it was bound to be
subjective. I sure wouldn't want to have to do the judging. I think
some of them felt the same. There was a lot of arguing. I had missed an
attempt on the slabs, but then I had added another one to the pile,
which should count for something. Eventually, they used that to credit
me with the break without a fault. That put me over the top. I won. I
stood on my own to accept the award. There was a lot of cheering.
The press asked me to say something. I said, "Er, greetings." That
wasn't exactly what they were looking for. One said, "You didn't leave
to seek medical treatment when you broke your arm, and when you broke
your leg. Why?" I said, "My competition wasn't over. I could continue,
so I did." He said, "I don't understand. Weren't you suffering
enormously with the pain?" I said, "Yes I was suffering. Still am. More
now, actually. Definitely not something I would recommend for fun. I do
NOT stop, when I can continue. When I commit to something, it's all the
way." He said, "Winning is so important to you that you would suffer
so?" I said, "I didn't expect to win. I've only studied breaking for a
few weeks. I do expect to do my absolute best, always, in everything I
do in my life. So I did. If this is something you are not able to
understand, while I'm sorry for you, I can't help you." He backed off.
The other reporters gave him a lot of room. One said, "Will you come
back to compete again?" I said, "I'd like to. Swords. Can't resist
that! Great people here. But after I heal. It would be nice if somebody
could help with transportation. I'm in a little awkward er, condition."
That woke some people up, and they started to do that. My fellow
competitors crowded around me, and gave me a lot of congratulations,
and other nice thoughts. They bowed deeply to me when we left, me in a
powered chair. Passinchance was crying. I said to him, "What's wrong?
Did somebody step on your toe?" He stared at me in confusion. Mom said,
"Solomon! The people here are not used to your severely off center
humor!" I said, "Oh. I should try harder." She chuckled. Passinchance
said, "But we have to get you to a medtech right away!" I said, "Friend
Passinchance, perspective! I'm not doing to die." He said, "You are a
strange people!" I said, sarcastically, "Oh thanks!" Mom said to him,
"Strange, yes, but not moral weaklings and crybabies. I'm very
irritated, but very proud of my son. He did well, irrelevant of the
outcome of the competition, as we expected. I would hug him, but the
slightest touch will be severely painful to him. I have no wish to add
to his suffering. He's trying to hide it, but there is also a broken
bone in his hand, which will be the most difficult of his injuries to
heal." I said, "Mom, please don't make Galya suffer more for me than I
do." She said, "Right. I'm sorry." They hugged. Passinchance said, "I
apologize. I was wrong. Not strange, but courageous. A true son of
Stephen." Mom said, "That he is."
We left him at the terminal, and boarded our ship. While we were
waiting for our departure window, I used the 4th for energy, while
Galya was connected to me to observe, to heal my breaks and wounds.
First, I held them together in the correct position with 4th hands, and
then directed the 4th energy, which I converted into healing energy, at
the bones and surrounding abused tissues, willing with PK for them to
heal. They did in three minutes, all at the same time, in concurrent
processes. Then I healed the cuts, too. Then I jumped around to work
out the stiffness, and announced, "All healed. Strange trip. When I
entered the breaking competition, I didn't expect to add myself to it."
Galya said, "I don't know how you did it, continuing like that." I
said, "You will, if you are ever in the same kind of situation. You
will do the same. I have absolutely NO doubt of that." Mom said,
hugging us both with love, "I agree."
END Page
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Grant
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