Psion Beta (12 page)

The only subunit that would open to his touch was the first. Apparently, the subunits had to be completed sequentially. Holding his breath, he pressed the icon for the first unit: Introduction.

“
Welcome to Psion Beta Simulations,” a voice said.

7.
Rankings

Sammy spun around
, startled at the sudden noise. Then he laughed. Byron stood in the middle of the room. Sammy reached out and touched Byron’s arm. “That’s cool.” The arm felt like real flesh, except it wasn’t. It was a hologram.

“
In the introduction unit you will learn how to execute a basic energy burst, or ‘blast,’ as we call it. In order to move onto the next section, you must repeatedly perform blasts from the palms of your hands. We have found it helpful to explain the mechanics of a blast to help you accomplish it for the first time.”

The skin and bone around the hologram’s head disappeared, allowing Sammy to see highlighted parts of his brain.

“
Blasts are voluntary actions controlled in the motor region of the cerebral cortex. A signal is sent from the cerebrum, down the spinal cord, to the hands or feet or both. This triggers the specialized energy conductors in the skin to release the energy into the environment. In time, you will learn to control more aspects of the blast. In this unit, we are only teaching you to voluntarily release the energy. Say ‘yes’ if you are ready to continue.”

Sammy said “yes” at once.

“
Extend your arms, palms facing out like this.” The hologram of Byron demonstrated the instructions. “Now imagine that you are releasing a blast out of your palm. Focus on the target.”

A target materialized. Sammy stared at the rings of red circles and tried to imagine a blast of energy going from his hand to the bulls-eye. Nothing happened. He held his breath and tensed up as if he could push it out of his hands. His face turned red, but that was it. His arms shook from holding them up for so long, but still nothing out of the ordinary. When on the brink of passing out, he gasped for more air and tried again.

After five minutes or so, Byron appeared. “Do not be alarmed if nothing happens. This is common on first attempts. Often a motion or command can be used to trigger the brain. Say the word ‘blast’ out loud, and thrust your hands forward, palms facing the target. Continue this until you feel the blast.”

Talking out loud to no one was awkward.

But if it works, it works, right?

“
Blast!” he said, thrusting his arms out and palms forward as he was told. Absolutely nothing. His armpits and neck grew hot.

“
Blast!” he said again, this time with more force.

Again nothing happened. He repeated it a dozen times until yelling ‘blast!’ seemed like the dumbest idea he’d ever heard. He sat down against the wall. After having such an easy time with the instructions that morning, why was this so hard?

Mind over matter
.
I can do it. I’m going to shoot a blast of energy from my hands to the target. When I thrust my arms, the blast is going to come out
.

He climbed back to his feet and stared down the target. “BLAST!” he yelled with a tremendous thrust of his arms. Sweat fell down his brow as he dropped his arms to the side. All the doubts and fears he’d worried over since Commander Byron had told him about his abilities hit him again.
I’m no use to them if I can’t do this. They’ll send me back to the Grinder. I’m never going
—

“
BLAST!” he screamed.

Warm energy left his hands. The target splintered and disappeared in dramatic fashion.

“
I DID IT!” he said, throwing his arms up.

“
Very good,” Byron said. “Now try to do it again.”

The target reappeared. Sammy stopped celebrating and focused himself.

“
Blast!”

Nothing.

“
BLAST!”

The warm feeling returned, rushing out of his palms and fingertips.

“
Yes!” he yelled, jumping this time.

Byron’s hologram requested that he repeat the task a third time. Sammy did it on his first try.

“
Very good. Here are two targets; aim one hand at each and blast them simultaneously.”

The two targets almost immediately disappeared. Sammy was almost beside himself with giddiness.

“
It seems you now have control over both hands. A series of targets will appear randomly. If they appear on the left side of your body, blast them with the left hand. If on the right side, use the right hand.”

For sixty seconds the targets appeared, and Sammy blasted them into oblivion. The computer put him through several other exercises designed to teach him to aim the blasts with increasing accuracy. An hour later, he’d finished them.

“
Excellent work. You were nearly perfect. Now it is time to learn to use the soles of your feet. This is called a blast-jump. Remember your feet will give off real, physical energy. When you jump, you exert a force on the ground through your shoes, and are able to leave the ground because the ground exerts a force back on you, lifting you off the ground until the force of gravity pulls you back to earth. When your energy blast hits the ground, the returning force will follow the same principles, and push you off the ground. Sometimes beginners try to physically jump when performing a blast-jump, but this is unnecessary and, at the beginning of your training, counter-productive. The combined force of a jump and jump-blast takes practice and can throw you off balance. For now, try to blast through your feet without jumping. Above you is a high bar, see if you can blast yourself high enough to grab it.”

A bar appeared, suspended on nothing but air five meters above the floor. Sammy bent his knees as if he were about to jump, but then remembered Byron’s instructions. Against what came naturally, he stood with his legs fairly straight, and prepared to blast through his feet. The nervousness that had disappeared during the hand-blasting exercises returned.

“
Blast!” he shouted, focusing on the energy leaving through his feet. Nothing. Thinking of the steps of the blast again, he prepared himself for a second try.

“
BLAST!”

He shot from the ground four, five, six meters high. Not expecting to jump so high, he panicked and flailed his arms as he tried to balance. He grabbed at the bar, but missed and plummeted back down to the ground.

He cried out as he fell. His muscles tensed, and he braced for the inevitable impact. But the ground he hit was very soft, almost like a sponge. After the impact, the floor hardened again. He got up panting and laughing at himself.

“
A good attempt,” Byron commented. “The sensation takes some getting used to. Try again to blast through your feet, this time grabbing hold of the bar.”

Wiping his sweaty hands on his jumpsuit, Sammy focused on the next blast-jump. Without vocalizing, he blasted up into the air, this time maintaining enough composure to grab the bar and cling to it.

“
Very good. Release your hold on the bar, and the electro-gel floor will cushion your fall.”

“
Now you tell me,” Sammy muttered as he released his grip and landed softly on his feet. He repeated the test three more times, and each time the bar was raised slightly higher. Then Byron congratulated him on successfully completing the third subunit and invited him to move to the next.

When Byron’s hologram disappeared, Sammy shouted at the top of his lungs. “It’s real. It’s all real. I can do it!” He sent off another blast from his hands.

He went back to the computer panel and saw he had used up only ninety minutes of his simulation time. He eagerly began the next unit.

Byron appeared in the middle of the room again and explained how to control the amount of energy sent out in a blast. Then he put Sammy back to work. Almost three hours and two subunits later, drained and covered with sweat, Sammy left the simulators at the same time as the other new recruits.

“
Sammy,” Brickert exclaimed, “Did you—?”

“
Yeah!” Sammy said, on the verge of freaking out again. “I did!”

“
Me too!”

“
It was so cool!” Natalia added.

“
Did you do it, Jeffie?” Kawai asked.

Jeffie grinned. “Yeah . . . it was so awesome.”

“
How far did you get, Sammy?” Brickert asked.

“
I got through—” He broke off as he saw Jeffie waiting to hear his response. “I just started the blast jumps.”

“
What was that like?” Brickert asked. “I only just finished doing hand blasts.”

“
It’s unbelievable,” Jeffie said as Sammy started to answer. “There’s this trapeze you have to grab in the air.” She glanced at Sammy with a smug look on her face, but he avoided her eyes by turning his attention elsewhere. His excitement vanished like a popped balloon.

On their way downstairs, he listened to the others discuss the sims in greater detail. No one had gotten as far as him, but their excitement was the same. They all sat at a table together during dinner. Every so often, a Beta passed by to ask how their first day had gone, but from what Sammy could see, everyone stayed in their own groups. Al stayed and chatted with them the longest.

When Brickert and Sammy got back to their room that night, they set up stuff all over the room for target practice: shoes, water bottles, just about anything not nailed down. For three hours, they shot blasts at them, laughing hysterically whenever one of them hit a bottle so hard it sprayed water onto the carpet. They talked about being Psions, the girls, and other hobbies. When Brickert asked about Sammy’s home and family, Sammy steered the conversation away, always carefully guarding his secrets.

The next few days went much like Monday. Exercise, instruction, sims, and hanging out with the other “nukes” during mealtime. Sammy found the busier he kept himself, the less he missed his old friends. Still, he often lost himself in his thoughts wondering where they were, what they were doing, if they were okay. Almost every night, several Betas played Star Racers, and each time they did, Sammy had to turn down about a dozen invitations to join them. Everyone wanted another shot at beating him—Kobe in particular. Sammy was content playing pool, shooting baskets, or challenging whoever would play him to a chess match. The few games he played, he won easily. Soon, no one wanted to play him. And by the end of his first week, Sammy thought life was going to be fairly routine.

Then he had Friday sims.

Monday through Thursday, he had moved rapidly through the Introduction subunits. He had easily mastered high and low energy projections enabling him to hover and create a strong projectile shield. Blast acrobatics proved to be a bit tougher, but once he got the hang of bouncing off the walls and floor in a rapid succession using his hands and feet, it wasn’t too bad.

He had just completed another section of the blast acrobatic unit when, as usual, Byron appeared, congratulating him on finishing the section. The green-colored Introduction subunits on the panel were gone. Instead was a new, longer list of units in blue.

The first one read: Elementary Combat. Sammy grinned and tossed his bottle aside. Combat sounded like something he’d like. With renewed enthusiasm, he touched the icon to start the new unit. Byron’s hologram appeared:

“
Welcome to the secondary units. Now that you have mastered the elementary skill of your psionic powers, you will learn to use them against simulated enemies. As you will see, these units gradually become more advanced, and will test your stamina and creativity. In most scenarios, there are many possible tactics or solutions for success. Some will be more effective than others; review the recordings of your performances to learn from your mistakes. If you need help with a particular unit, consult with other Betas or myself.

“
In many situations, competition can improve performance. From this point on, you will be compared on a standard with the other Betas who have also reached this level and beyond in their training. If you wish, you may see how you rank in the personal statistics menu in your com. The areas of comparison are timeliness, accuracy, efficiency, and overall performance. The latter is an average of the first three areas weighted to their importance. You will only know your own rank out of the total number of participants.”

Sammy activated his com and called up the stats option. In each of the four categories it listed him as the sixteenth of sixteen. He smiled to himself.
We’ll see how long that lasts
.

The commander introduced the new unit. Sammy had to dodge enemy attacks without making any physical contact or using attacking blasts. When Byron finished speaking, a man in black t-shirt and torn pants appeared. The image reminded Sammy of Gunner, who only ever wore black. Then the man ran at Sammy. Caught off guard at the sudden reality of his situation, Sammy panicked and stumbled backwards. The man was quickly upon him and viciously kicked Sammy in the head. It was a strange sensation. Sammy felt the kick, but judging by how hard the man had struck at him, it should have broken his nose and caused a lot of pain. Instead it merely registered as a touch. The man disappeared, and Byron reappeared to demonstrate a few techniques used to evade attacks.

This time Sammy felt more ready. When the man came at him, Sammy blast-jumped and landed safely meters away. The man turned to attack him again, aiming punches at Sammy’s head and chest. Sammy ducked and dodged them, finishing with another blast-jump away from danger.