Tarik: Entry Level Warfare (18 page)

When Tarik sat for end of day meal he was by himself when Rye had come in. She did not look at or acknowledge him which was fine by him. He did notice that she seemed off, not drunk but certainly not sober. He pushed it from his mind, ship discipline was not his job and so long as she didn’t bother him he didn’t really care.

He put away his tray and went to meet with Dav. He found himself hoping that Dav would not cut back his training time. As it stood he’d already had his training time cut down so much that he wasn’t sure what
he would do
 with his days.

When he got to the training room he saw Dav waiting for him a big smile on his face.

“Come on in Tarik.” Dav said happily.

Tarik met Dav in the
center
 of the round room. With Dav so happy he was waiting for an attack.

“I’ve read the reports and talked with Goddess. Your new systems are operating at maximum from what I can tell.”

“They sure have helped.”

“Well let's put them to the test. I’m going to have your perform some of the old exercises then if I’m satisfied we are going to bring in some new things. Sound good?”

“Sounds great, I am already pleased with the results but want to know where the upper limits are.”

“That is exactly what I am wondering myself. I’d really like to see what five million points has bought me.”

Tarik’s mouth dropped open. He knew these improvements were expensive but five millions points? That was enough to buy exclusive rights to an entire world in some cases. Dav could have retired and lived on his own planet.

“Oh, don’t be surprised at the number. It was an investment; I expect a great return on it.” Dav said as he produced a steel ball. “Catch.”

Tarik snagged the
ball out
 of the air; as he did so a post rose from the floor.

“Toss up in your left hand, jab with your left hand, then catch in your right.”

Tarik did as he was instructed, it was so simple he felt like he was waiting for hours by the time the ball came back down to his hand.

Dav gave him more instructions, more posts, and then more combinations. Tarik felt like he had total control of his body. It got to the point where he looked more like a circus act than a student. He would toss the ball, throw multiple combinations, sometimes incorporate a flip and then catch the ball with ease. His upper limit seemed to be eighteen strikes before the ball had to be caught. But he felt like he could add in another five if he let the ball get almost to the floor before he caught it.

“I’m happy so far.” Dav said as the posts started to drop back into the floor. “Turn off your EPS system.”

Tarik did as instructed and stood ready for Dav to send him on his way.

“I just wanted to see if you can defend yourself now. Stand still and only block, do not counter strike.”

Dav threw a punch and Tarik felt the hand coming to his face before he saw it. He threw up his right hand and knocked it away.

Dav struck again and he was able to deflect it. Then a combination of punches, followed by a combination of punches and kicks. It seemed like Dav was really throwing everything he had at him now maybe even getting mad. Tarik held himself back, controlling his urge to fight back. Tarik had to keep telling himself that he was winning and not even having to strike. After a few minutes Dav wasn’t winded but frustration showed on his face. Leg sweeps and kicks to the face came at him which he did not even block but stepped out of the way.

“Fuck.” Dav said as he stopped the assault and forced himself to calm down. “Well I guess when you pay for the best you get the best.”

“You're not going to cancel our training
time are you
?” Tarik asked.

Dav looked at him showing that he had considered it. “No, not yet. You are faster than me but you still need to learn a great deal of technique. How are you
dealing with everything
?”

“I’m good; the systems aren’t hard to navigate.”

“That’s not what I mean Tarik; emotionally how are you dealing with the changes?”

“I’m okay I guess. I’m a little put off that nobody wants to train me, like I skipped too many steps.”

The table rose out of the floor with two chairs. Dav pointed to the chair he wanted Tarik to sit in.

“So you feel like you're being pushed too fast?” Dav asked.

“It’s not that, I feel like I’m at the level I’m at but I wanted to keep training with Lamb and Goddess.”

“Do you think they still have things to teach you?”

“Of course they do. They have years of experience that I lack.”

“Do you think they need to teach you all of that? How much of it do you need to know?”

“Not all of it but enough to prepare me.”

“Tarik some things can’t be taught. You need to experience them for yourself.”

“But what if I mess up?”

Dav let out a laugh. “I’m sure you will at some point. If things went the way they were supposed to we wouldn’t be in business.”

“So everyone is fine with me screwing up and costing lives?”

“People would be okay with you screwing up because that is how you learn. Lamb was good with cutting back your training time because you took your first mission and found your flaws. If you didn’t change anything you didn’t learn.”

“It just seems like people want me to do this all on my own now. Like the alterations I received made me a different person. Or in the case of the doctor they made me a monster.”

“So you think they don’t like you now?”

“No, more like they think I’m as good as I am going to be. Well, except for the doctor but he’s never liked me.”

“Tarik, your good is enough to get you by but nobody thinks this is the
best you will ever
 be. In fact, I’m banking on your improvement.”

Tarik thought about it. He still wanted to work with Lamb and Goddess but maybe them holding his hand would do more harm than good.

“I can see where they are coming from; I guess I just expected more to it.”

“Tarik you're not graduating from school, you're becoming a trusted co-worker. Sure, you may have skipped some steps but it wasn’t from lack of hard work. You would have gotten here in a few weeks on your own. You just got a bit of a boost.”

“Yeah, a five million point boost.”

“You let me worry about the points. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Dav got up and headed back to his duties.

Tarik resumed his bathroom cleaning jobs the next day. He was happy that he still had something to do. He also felt great; if he were even a little bit musically inclined he would whistle a tune.

He walked in the second bathroom of the day. Smiling wide as he pushed his bucket with the mop sticking out of the top and a ring of spray bottles attached to the sides. He first went to work scrubbing the sinks then moved on to clean the toilets.

Tarik was about to start on the toilets when he noticed feet in the stall. “Are you going to be much longer?” He called out. “Any chance you can pinch it off?”

He didn't get a response so he knocked on the door. “Hello? Everything alright in there?”

He tried the handle but it was locked. “Come on, I need to clean up.” He said as he jiggled the handle.  “If you're rubbing one out head to your bunk.”

“Hey seriously open the door.” He pounded a fist on the door. “If you don't
open up
 I’m going to break it down.”

Still no response.

“Fine then. I'm breaking it and you're paying for the lock.” He yelled after he turned on his recorder. “Last chance before I break it down.”

Silence in the bathroom caused him to wait another long moment. “If you need help say so.” Still no sound came from within the stall.

He kicked the door just inside the handle and the lock snapped but the door remained in place. He kicked again and the door flew open.

On the toilet sat Rye. She was slumped over like she had recently passed out but wasn’t so uncomfortable that she needed to move.

“God damn it Rye. I know you don't like me but I got shit to do.” He said as he
kicked her
 foot. “Seriously get out so I can clean. I don't hang out in whatever shuttle you're trying to work on.”

Rye didn't move.

“Hey, are you feeling alright? You sick or something?” He stepped in closer to her.

She looked pale. That could have just been from dehydration though.

“I'm going to call medical. Can you even hear me?” He
kicked her
 foot again. “If you're drunk you better get up and go to your room. I won't say anything but you need to go now.”

Still no response; Tarik didn't want anyone to lose their job but she didn't look so good.

Tarik put in an emergency medical request. A few seconds later Tilla answered in full immersion mode.

“Hey Tarik, is everything okay? Are you having problems with your new implants?”

“Tilla, Rye is in the bathroom stall and she isn't responding. I don't know if she is sick or drunk or what. I think you and the doctor should get over here.”

“You're with Rye? I will alert the doctor and send him now. Tarik, you didn't do anything to her did you?”

“No, I just found her. I wanted to clean but she wouldn't answer so I broke open the door.”

“Don't touch her, just talk to her see if you can get her to respond. We will be there in a few minutes.”

Tarik wasn't sure what to do. He tried calling out to her a few more times but he was sure not to touch her, just as Tilla instructed.

When Tilla and the doctor arrived he thought about leaving but his curiosity forced him to stay.

The doctor walked past him and went right to work checking over her.

“Rye? Rye it's the doctor. Can you hear me?” The doctor asked as he reached around her neck.

The doctor pulled open her jumpsuit and a canister was between her breasts. The canister clanked on the ground and Tilla picked it up to inspect its contents.

“Lubricant, bond disrupter.” She read the label aloud.

The doctor continued to check her over but had a dissatisfied look on his face.

“She gone.” The doctor proclaimed. “A few hours it would seem.”

Tarik couldn't hold himself back he needed clarification. “You mean she is dead?”

The doctor locked a cold stare at him. “If you did this I will find out.”

“Did what? Really is she dead? What's going on?” Tarik asked.

“You foul monster! Everyone knew you hated her, if you murdered her I am going to find out. When I do, I am going to push the button to send you out the airlock myself!” The doctor screamed
in his face
.

“I never touched her! I swear check the security footage!” Tarik yelled back defending himself.

“Tilla! Get the body back to my lab immediately. We will be performing the autopsy within the hour.” The doctor yelled as he left the bathroom.

“Tilla, honestly you know I wouldn't do this. What can I do?”

“Tarik, send your personal footage to the ship computer right now. Get out of the bathroom and request an emergency meeting with Dav. Tell him everything you have done today; Leave nothing out. Go now, you need to get away from the body!”

Tarik hurried from the bathroom and did as she suggested.

Dav must have already seen the emergency request for medical so he answered Tarik faster than the messaging system should have allowed. He instructed Tarik to get to the training room without stopping anywhere and to talk to nobody else.

Tarik nearly ran the whole way there. He did nothing wrong but it seemed like the doctor was convinced that he killed Rye.

He walked into the training area and a lone chair sat in the middle of the room, a table hadn’t even been provided. He walked to the
center
 of the room and the door closed behind him. The red light around the edge indicated the door was locked and sealed. Tarik sat down and tried his best to keep his composure. He felt like he was going to be sick.

Tarik sent a request to the ship computer to see if any news had been sent but found his access had been suspended. He couldn’t even message Dav again to ask what the hell was going on. He tried to get anything from the computer network but quickly found he didn’t even have access to the ship’s clock to see how long it had been.

Tarik sat and stared at a blank wall for what seemed like hours. He activated his EPS unit to see if anyone was coming to talk to him but his vision only went to the end of the corridor before the normal ship electronics obscured anything further.

Eventually, he could see three people talking as the approached and stopped just outside the doorway. With a little more practice he felt like he could have figured out what they were saying but he had not had nearly enough time to develop that skill. He focused on the three people outside. He was sure one of them was Dav, one of them looked like the doctor but he was waving his hands and looked to be yelling at the last person. After observing them for a few more minutes he thought the third person was Lamb but he couldn’t be sure. Eventually the one he thought was the doctor walked away very quickly. Dav and who he thought was Lamb talked for several more minutes.