Renegade World: Future Past (7 page)

“Mr. Lieber will demonstrate horseback riding stance and
correct punching. Please watch!” Aaron moved his left foot to the side, both
knees bending.  His left arm was straight, his fist aimed at an imagined
opponent's solar plexus. His right fist was next to his belt. “Notice Mr.
Lieber's body position: back straight, shoulders straight, and pelvis tucked
in. His fists are rolled up tight but still relaxed. His wrists are straight.”

“Mr. Lieber, please demonstrate a punch slowly.” Aaron
exaggerated shifting his hips, right hip forward and left hip back as he
started the punch. Both arms moved at the same time, both fists rotating 180
degrees as they changed places.

Mr. Hyon had Aaron demonstrate several punches at full
speed, and his uniform snapped with each punch. 

Mr. Hyon thanked him and then commanded the class to assume
horseback riding stance. As he and Aaron walked up and down the row, the
students all punched each time Mr. Hyon yelled. Aaron adjusted several students'
techniques between punches, straightening wrists, tucking thumbs underneath, and
demonstrating proper wrist rotation.

Mr. Hyon stopped in front of Naami as he called out
punches. She stared straight ahead, her focus completely on punching an imaginary
opponent. Several of the students began to straighten their legs as their leg
muscles complained, but Naami kept her knees bent at the same angle.

Finally, Mr. Hyon called out, “Ready stance.” The students
all moved to ready stance and then he called out, “Rest!”

He heard several of the students groan as they stretched
their legs. Naami stood smiling with her hands clasped behind her back. Mr.
Hyon turned toward Aaron, away from the class and gave him a lopsided grin.

He turned back and commanded every other student to get a
target. The students ran down and grabbed the bright red, nylon-covered-foam
targets that were five inches thick by about eighteen inches wide and thirty
inches tall. They ran back and lined up across from the student that had been
next to them.

Mr. Hyon directed the students through a punching drill on
the count. After nine punches, they switched feet and punched nine more times
from the other side. The punchers then took the target from the holders so that
the holders could have their turn. Naami was paired up with Adam, a purple belt
who was about two heads taller than her. Naami put her hands through the straps
of the target, set her stance, and lifted it up. She had to hold the target up
so that its top was above the top of her head. It didn't seem to bother her
that she couldn't see Adam's punches coming.

Next, Mr. Hyon had them do a kicking drill with the
targets. Aaron watched Adam kicking into Naami's target. Adam was a good kid
and knew what was appropriate when kicking against smaller holders. He
increased the force with each kick as Naami handled the impact. His last kick
slid Naami back a couple of inches, but her stance was solid, and it didn't
seem to faze her at all.

Mr. Hyon yelled for all the students to put the targets
away and line up in two lines by rank facing the mirrors.

The students lined up, and Mr. Hyon moved them through the
first two forms on his calls. Then he split the class, and Aaron ran the lower
belts through the next two forms while Mr. Hyon ran the brown belts through two
forms.

The lower belts finished before the brown belts, and they
stood at rest, watching the brown belts finish. Mr. Hyon announced, “We do not
have time to spar today. I promise we will spar next time.”

Naami looked disappointed.

“Everyone move off to the side. I am going to choose two
students for a form competition. Everyone else, observe closely. Steve, you will
represent the brown belts. Naami, you will represent the colored belts. You
many choose your own form.”

Naami raised her hand.

“Yes, Naami?”

“Any form, Mr. Hyon?”

“Any form up to your belt level.”

Naami looked disappointed.

“Mr. Lieber, please bring us two chairs.”

He brought out two chairs from the other room and set them
up in the middle of the floor. Mr. Hyon sat down on one, and he sat on the
other.

“Steve, you go first. Same protocol as a tournament.” Steve
had taken first place in forms in his last eight tournaments.

As the other students finished lining up against the wall, he
walked out to a marked spot on the floor. When the room quieted, he bowed,
walked briskly up to a spot a few feet in front of them, and then bowed again.
He snapped into a ready stance and barked out, “My name is Steve Smith. I
represent the Song Moo Kwon Studio. My form is Choong-Moo.”

Mr. Hyon nodded.

Steve bowed and backed up about twelve feet. He bowed again
and then snapped to ready stance. He yelled, “Form Choong-Moo!”

Aaron watched Steve perform each of the moves.
His techniques were precise, and the flying side kick was well executed. Steve
finished, bowed, and moved off to the side.

Naami walked out to the same spot where Steve had started.
She bowed, walked briskly up in front of them, and then bowed again. She
snapped into a ready stance and screamed out, “My name is Naamah Schmidt. I
represent the Song Moo Kwon Studio. My form is Yul-Gok.”

He watched Naami step back.
Small kids have a tough time
making Yul-Gok look good. It has a mix of slow moves to display power and other
techniques like double punches that call for speed.

She bowed, snapped to ready stance, and then yelled, “Form
Yul-Gok!” The first move was a slow block done in horseback riding stance. It
had to show power, and it did. A double punch followed the block. These had to
be fast and focused. Naami snapped out the double punch.

He heard Mr. Hyon talking quietly to himself as she
performed move after move. Her techniques were as precise as Steve's, but she
looked more explosive. “Lot of fast-twitch muscles,” he heard Mr. Hyon say to
himself.

Naami finished and bowed. She and Steve walked out in front
them and both snapped to ready stance. Mr. Hyon motioned Aaron closer and
cupped his hand to Aaron's ear. He whispered, “Both were good. She was better,
but I don't want her to get a big head. I point to Naamah. You point to Steve.”
He moved back with a brief, wicked grin.

Thanks a lot
, thought Aaron.

“Ready! Choose!” Aaron pointed at Steve, and Mr. Hyon
pointed at Naami.

Steve looked relieved. To his surprise, Naami didn't look
unhappy at all.

After class, Steve came up to him. “Thanks. I'm happy with
a tie.”

Aaron wasn't sure how to respond. He hesitated and then
smirked at Steve.  “Just don't go against her when she gets to do the same form
as you.”

Steve laughed. “Don't I know it.”

Aaron changed and walked out of the locker room. As he
walked up front, he didn't see Naami.

Mr. Hyon saw him looking around and walked over. “Naami
said that she'd see you later.  You know I had my doubts when my uncle raved
about how good she was. He had to convince me to let her keep her rank. But he
was right. In fact, I'm going to let her test for purple at next month's test.”

Aaron said, “I've seen how fast she learns things, so I
thought she would be good, but not that good.”

M
ost of the guests had already arrived. Relatives and
friends of the family, though Naami liked them all, they really weren’t her
friends.
When are Aaron and Erica going to come?
Their parents were
already here. She sought out Mrs. Lieber. Tugging her hand, she asked, “Did
Aaron say when he was coming?”

She looked down and smiled. “I thought he might have
already come. Don’t worry. He went over to get Erica and Thor. He’ll be here
real soon.”

“Thanks.” She skipped over to the front door and looked
out. She didn’t see Aaron or Erica, but she did see an unmarked cargo van
sitting one house down from the Carlsons’ house.
Abraham, can you influence
your big brother to keep the security cameras and directional mics focused on
that van?

You want me to do it without your parents knowing it was
you?

Yes. Mom has been so paranoid since the fire. I want to
view and delete if it’s nothing. Feed me the video for now.
Abraham
displayed the video in the upper right quarter of her field of vision at fifty
percent transparency.
Feed me the audio amplified fifty percent
.

Fifty percent, but I will dampen any spikes.

She didn’t hear any voices, but there were at least two
people in the van. One was slurping a drink, probably hot. The other was belching.
Evidently Big Brother shared her concern because she saw the video shift to
infrared.
Abraham, full-screen opaque.
She saw two people in the van.

Based on their size and shape, they are male.

 Continuing to watch them, she giggled as she heard a fart.
The slurper waved his hand as he coughed. “You’re killing me.”

She giggled.
Gassy Man and Mr. Sluper.

A car approached the van and stopped. As the video switched
out of infrared, she saw the police car. Two officers got out, one male and one
female, and approached the van, guns drawn. The female officer pounded on a
door, yelled, “Police! Come out!” and moved to the passenger side opposite the male
officer.

She heard things being moved and drawers opening and
closing before Gassy Man calmly said, “We’re coming out. I’m going to open the
door now.” The driver side rear door slowly opened, and Gassy Man said, “Whoa.
We’re harmless. No need for guns.” Gassy man did appear harmless; short, plump,
and bald, he was wearing coveralls.

The male officer said, “Both of you step out with your
hands where we can see them.”

Gassy Man and Mr. Slurper stepped out with their hands in
the air. Mr. Slurper was a head taller than Gassy Man and was wearing the same
coveralls. Although he tried to look pleasant and unthreatening, he failed.
Lean, with pale skin, high cheekbones, bushy eyebrows, and a crew cut, he had a
scowl etched into his face that his smile couldn’t hide. Naami shivered.
Abraham,
keep a copy of the video starting from the time they opened the door.

“You.” The male officer pointed at Gassy Man. “Close the
door.” He closed the door. “Now both of you put your hands against the van…
and step back.” He holstered his gun and frisked Gassy Man while the female
officer pointed her handgun at Mr. Slurper. When he finished, he stepped away
from the men with his hand near his holster. The female office moved in front
of him with her gun still pointed at Mr. Slurper. When her partner moved up to
frisk Mr. Slurper, she pointed her gun at Gassy Man.

The officer moved back and drew his gun. “You.” He pointed
at Gassy Man. “Walk over to the hood of the patrol car and hold your ID up
facing the windshield.”

“Yes, sir.” As he began walking, both officers stepped back
closer to the sides of the van. The female officer kept her gun on Gassy Man
while the male officer kept his on Mr. Slurper. Gassy Man reached into his
coveralls, and the female officer’s trigger finger crept towards the trigger,
stopping even with the front of the trigger guard. Mr. Slurper watched her,
trying but still failing to look friendly.

Gassy Man slowly took out a wallet, removed an ID, and held
it up. After a few seconds, the male officer said, put your ID on the hood and
then come back here. After Gassy man came back, the officer said, “Your turn.
Same thing.”

After Mr. Slurper put his ID on the hood, the female
officer motioned him back. Without taking her eyes off of him, she picked up
the IDs and rubbed them. “They feel real.”

The other officer nodded. “Mr. Samuel Jackson Jones and Mr.
Anton Boris Karlov.” He shook his head. “Mr. Karlov. What were you doing here?”

“Is nice street on our way to our next job. We just stop
here to eat.” He pointed at four houses. “Many beautiful mansions. We enjoy
looking.”

He pointed at our house, Aaron’s house, and Erica’s
house. Who owns the fourth house?

Aaron’s grandfather.

Really? I didn’t know he owned a house here too.

Property tax records show that he bought it a month ago.

After further conversation, the female officer holstered
her gun and gave the men their IDs. As Mr. Slurper opened the driver side door, he
turned back and looked at the female officer. “I really am a nice guy.”

The van and patrol car drove off.
He’s playing games,
Abraham.

Maybe. Disconnect security feed?

Wait.

The front door of the Carlson house opened, and Erica
stepped out. “Come on guys. We’re late.”

As Thor followed her out, he replied, “We’re only a few
minutes late. It was worth it to see Aaron beat you four out of five on the
simulator. Nice shooting Aaron.”

“I was awesome wasn’t I?”

 “You should be. You both spend about twenty hours a week
on the simulator, but you’ll never best me in the sword fighting simulations.”

“If Aaron and I can’t take you down, we’ll just wait a few
years for Naami.”

“We’ll see about that. I did hear that the wunderkind was
more wunderkind-like than ever. Steve Smith said he was happy to get a draw
against her.” She shook her head, “I was already thinking about retiring from
tournament competition next year to focus on the saber.”

Discontinue the security feed.
She opened the door.
“Hi, Aaron. Hi, Erica. Hi, Thor.”  She took Aaron and Erica’s hands. “You’ve
met my dad. Here’s my mom.” Naami introduced them to her mother.

Aaron guessed Mrs. Schmidt was about five feet eight. She
was very athletic looking with a mop of curly brown hair like her daughter.
Though she smiled, she had a nervous laugh and never quite made eye contact
even though her glasses were darkened.

As Aaron made polite conversation with her mom, Naami
scanned the room. She saw Mr. and Mrs. Carlson talking with Miguel and Geoffry.
They’re the two smartest guys I know after my mom and dad…and maybe Rebeka
Lee. Where is Rebeka Lee? There she is with Gran.
She waved at them across
the room until they saw her. Rebeka Lee waved back, and after Naami motioned
for them to come, they both made their way towards her