Renegade World: Future Past (9 page)

Aaron put his arm out in front of her. “Hey! Let's not fall
off the balcony!”

The class finished, and as they started down the stairs, Mr.
Patterson waved to Aaron.  Naami ran off right past Mr. Patterson towards the
girl who they had been watching on the trampoline.

Mr. Patterson had to look up at Aaron because he was only
about five feet six. “Aaron Lieber, right?”

“Yes, Mr. Patterson.”

Mr. Patterson shook his hand. “You were a good gymnast, but
it appears that you made the right choice when you took up basketball.”

Naami skipped up beside them. “I had to tell that girl Kim
that she did the best trick.”

“And who is this young ball of fire,” laughed Mr.
Patterson.

“This is Naami Schmidt.”

Naami stuck out her hand, and Mr. Patterson shook it. “I
already know how to do a front and back somersault on the trampoline,” she
boasted. “I wanted Aaron to teach me more tricks, but he told me I needed a
real teacher!”

“Wise boy. He probably passed on some bad habits already.”

“I don't think so,” Naami defended him.

“Can you do anything on the floor or other equipment?”

“Some of the things that the girls did in your class, I’ve
done before, but I think I can do the others too.”

Mr. Patterson looked at Aaron suspiciously, but Aaron put
both hands up. “Don't look at me. Other than the basic trampoline tricks you
used to teach and one move on the bar, I haven't taught her anything.”

Mr. Patterson looked down at Naami. “Show me something on
the bar.”

She walked to the bar, jumped up, and grabbed it. She did a
pull-up, and then slowly lowered herself so that her arms were bent at 90
degrees. She slowly lifted her legs until she was bent 90 degrees at the waist.
She dropped back down and kipped up to the bar. She did a front hip circle, a
cast back hip circle, and a mill circle. She dropped her head towards the
ground, let her feet come down and then let go of the bar.

Aaron shook his head. “I didn’t teach you those. Where did
you learn them?”

She giggled. “From watching the class, silly.”

“She is a very visual learner, Mr. Patterson.”

“I'm not sure who she was watching. She looked better than most
of my students.” He turned and looked at the floor exercise area.

Naami winked at Aaron before Mr. Patterson turned back to
her and said, “Let's go over to the floor exercise area for a couple of
minutes.”

They walked over, and he asked her if she could show him a
bridge. She did a slow backbend and placed her hands down a couple of inches
behind her heels. “I have been doing bridges in Yoga class for a long time.”
She kicked one foot up and then the other into a handstand. She held it and
then dropped one foot, then the other, and stood up.

“Can you do a round-off back handspring?”

She nodded as he walked further out on the mat. “From where
you are, take three steps into the round-off.”

She took three explosive steps into the round-off back
handspring. He moved to spot her, but she didn't need it. “Nice height, but
your form needs a little work.”

“Is that her mother?” He pointed towards the door.

Aaron turned to look. “No. That's her nanny.”

“Naami, go tell Camila that we're just about done.”

As Naami ran off to tell Camila, he looked at Aaron. “She's
one powerful little girl. Is she as fearless as she looks?”

“More.”

“Can she stay on task?”

“Yes.”

“Can she—”

 “When can I start your class?” Naami yelled as she skidded
to a halt in front of them.

“You can get the schedule from our site. Your parents can
fill out the permission form and set up the payment there as well. As soon as they
do that, you can start.”

Naami bounced up and down. “Good, good, good.”

As Mr. Patterson walked them to the door, Naami ran
outside.  “Most students need a lot of work on the basics. As I'm sure you
recall, I make my students work on basics over and over until they're perfect
or as close as to perfect as the student's ability will let them get, and she
has a lot of ability, so I will demand perfection from her.”

 “Do me a favor. Find a way to set her expectations that it
is not about how many fancy tricks she can learn but how many techniques she
must perfect.”

“I can do that.” Aaron nodded his goodbye, and as he walked
out, he saw Naami leaning against the car, staring across the lot to the next
building. As she turned toward him, Aaron raised his eyebrows.

She glanced back at the building.
I’ve seen that van
over there parked on our street.

After Aaron heard her thought, he glanced at the generic
looking van just long enough for Leonardo to capture a good image. It didn’t
look suspicious to him.
Are you sure it’s the same van? There are lots of
vans that look just like that.

The license plate ends with a six, just like the one
that was on our street.

OK. Let’s see if it follows us.
Given she had just
read the entire Nancy Drew series, he wondered if her imagination was a little
too active, but he didn’t express this thought to her.

They pulled out of the lot, but the van didn’t move.

T
he rest of the summer passed quickly. Although Aaron and
Erica practiced archery twice a week, Naami, busy with gymnastics, never asked
to come with them again. She had watched most of Aaron and Thor’s basketball
practices.

Aaron and Thor had continued working out together three
times a week at Thor's house with Naami watching most of their workouts. They
also continued their speed work at the track once a week. After tagging along
to watch them the first two times, Naami started running with them.

The first time, she ran four sprints, every third time they
ran. The second time and after, she ran six sprints, every other time they ran.
Aaron’s times were now all under fifty-five seconds for the twelve reps, and
Thor’s were all under a minute. Naami’s 400-meter time had dropped from two
minutes to one minute and fifteen seconds, still not fast enough for her to run
every rep with the guys, who ran each rep at one and a half minute intervals.

Without telling the two guys, Naami was now running sprints
on her own twice a week. While the guys ran their reps every minute and a half,
she ran hers every two minutes, but she ran twelve of them when she ran by herself.

Aaron and Thor went to every one of Mr. Schmidt’s sparring
sessions. Erica missed three of them when she was out of town for saber
competitions. Naami, now a purple belt, sometimes watched them, sometimes
practiced forms on her own, and sometimes sparred against the training bot.

The robot was big, heavy, and well padded, and its sensors
recorded the force of students’ kicks and punches. Its two legs were
permanently set in a right foot back fighting stance, but it could roll forward
and back and rotate to each side. Although it couldn't kick, the bot could
punch, and it did have good defense, able to move its life-like head from side
to side and front to back, and use its arms to block. It could also shorten and
lengthen its legs, quickly lowering or raising its height from just over six
feet to four feet. When Naami fought against it, it limited its height to four
and a half feet.

T
onight, the night before school started, Rebeka Lee led
the sparring because Mr. Schmidt was on a business trip with Mr. Carlson. Rebeka
Lee, Thor, Aaron, and Erica sparred six times. As they finished, Naami was
still sparring the training bot. She blocked a jab, slid to her left, and
connected with a solid jump back kick.

“You’re looking good, Naami.” Aaron noted that the robot
was set at level six of the ten levels. Only at level ten, did the robot’s
punches do anything other than touch a student. Even at level ten, the striking
force of the bot’s punches was minimal.

As Aaron toweled off his face, Naami blocked a punch that
looked like it would have hit her jaw. As she danced to her left, Naami yelled,
“Little help here. Someone just hacked the bot. Yikes! He’s going crazy.” She
danced right, slipped a body shot, and ducked a jab. Aaron threw down the
towel, but before he made another move, Rebeka Lee’s flying side kick knocked
over the bot.

Naami broadcast
, Someone is downloading video from the
studio security camera
.

Aaron ran outside, looked both ways, and then raced around
the other three sides of the small building.  As he, turned the corner back to
the front, he almost ran into Thor.
You see anyone?

Thor shook his head.
You?

No, but the range of the camera’s transmitter is limited. I thought I mi—

Get back in here guys. It’s probably just pranksters, but I’ve got someone coming
to check it out.

Thor raised his eyebrows. Aaron motioned for him to go in as Rebeka Lee had
requested. As they entered, Naami broadcast,
That old bot surprised me at
first, but then it was fun.

Rebeka Lee rolled her eyes.
Naami, how did you know that the bot was hacked?

We had just hacked the bot when Abraham told me someone else was modifying the bot’s code. I wasn’t going to do anything malicious, just up the level to seven.

Naami, when did you learn to hack?
asked Aaron.

I’ve been learning to hack since I heard about Miguel, Geoffry, and Rebeka Lee’s hacking
contest.

Rebeka Lee rolled her eyes again.
God help us.
This thought was only to herself.

N
aami's mom stood immobile, watching Naami from the back
window of their house. Naami's dad walked up behind her and put a hand on her
shoulder.  “Been watching her long?”

“Only since the start of her workout.” She paused and
looked at her husband. “That was almost two hours ago. I'm tired just from
watching her.” She knit her brows. “Well, watching her and finishing the latest
upgrades to the AI code.” They stood together and silently watched her.

“And she had gymnastics this morning,” Anita mused.

“Does she ever just relax? I’m worried she’ll burn herself
out.”

“Physically, she's just fine. Her muscles recover
incredibly fast, faster than mine, or even yours. I predicted a small
improvement, but not this.” She shrugged. “The monthly blood work and other
tests have never shown any problems, though I do worry that she is growing too
fast, almost three inches in the past two months. It’s almost as if she is
willing herself to grow.”

“So that she fits in when she starts school?” Anita stayed
silent, so he added, “She does talk incessantly about wanting to grow.”

She sighed. “Yes, she does, and I’m sure she wants to fit
in when she starts school. I really wish she would allow us to homeschool her.”

He ignored her last comment, always staying neutral in that
argument between his wife and daughter. “Would any of her genetic enhancements contribute
to this growth spurt?”

She shrugged. “While I tweaked her genetics to improve the
accuracy of her chromosome replication, that is unlikely to change the rate of
cell division, no matter the intensity of her conscious or unconscious
thoughts. The other enhancements are even less likely.”

“I do understand her desire to fit in, even though I didn’t
and never cared that I didn’t.  Other than Rebeka Lee, I had no friends.” She
looked down at her feet. “At least, Naami had friends, even though they were two
or three years older than her. She was so angry when we told her we were moving
that I actually thought she might try to run away, and when we first moved
here, I was really worried she would have trouble making friends.”

Fred nodded. “Thank God for Aaron, Erica, and Thor.  Even
though they’re much older, they let her hang out with them, and she really
looks up to them, especially Aaron. I can see why she looks up to him. He’s
smart and athletic, and he talks to her like an equal.”

“I also told her that she doesn’t have to dumb down her
abilities as much when she’s with them since they are all enhanced like her.”

Anita glanced up at him. “Enhanced, but not like her.”

“You know what I mean.”

 She looked thoughtful, “Naami took it well when you told
her that she had to hold back even more in front of other people.”

“I was planning to have another little chat with her about
that with her tonight before she starts school tomorrow.” He was silent a
minute. “You know it’s interesting,” he finally said. “Certainly she has the
superior genetics and tech, but without her drive, she might not be much more
the two standard deviations from the norm.”

 “I know what you mean. The same is true of Aaron, Erica,
Thor, Miguel, Geoffry, and Rebeka Lee…and all of our parents and grandparents. 
How much is genetics and how much is environment? I don’t know.”

“I had a conversation with Dr. Lieber once regarding
curiosity and drive.” When Fred and Anita referred to Dr. Lieber, it didn't mean
Aaron's dad, even though he had a Ph.D. They would have referred to him as Ben.
Dr. Lieber always meant Aaron's grandfather, Dr. Larry Lieber.  “Dr. Lieber
said that when his grandfather was old, he would always go on and on about how
every generation of kids seemed to have less and less curiosity and that highly
curious kids tended to be higher achievers, not just intellectually but also in
sports. I’ve always felt that way too. I think curiosity is eighty percent
environment.”

Anita smiled. “I'm not sure that curiosity
has declined that much over time, but I do agree that curiosity and drive do
tend to go hand in hand.”

He smiled. “A strong endorsement coming from the highest achiever I know.”

Anita looked back outside. Naami waved at them and motioned
them to come out. “I think good family and good friends have more impact on a
child's curiosity and achievement than any other factors.”