“What happens if you die?” Stephanie asked.
“Well then, all of you will get full marks for completing your assignment,” Cade answered, gracefully.
“But why are you willing to risk death over this? It doesn’t make sense.”
“You seem awfully certain that I’m going to die, Ms. Williams,” Cade protested with a bit of humor.
“Sir, you can’t beat someone with a rating of two or more above you. It’s just not possible.”
Duels were usually held in training rooms, but Cade had insisted that this duel take place at the Friday forum. A protective energy shield was erected to protect the audience from accident harm. Passive and serene, Professor Gavin hovered in a small chair above the stage awaiting the arrival of the combatants.
Doctor Mayes and Cade entered the stage from opposite ends. “Please, Professor Cade, there is no need to die this day. I’ve been rated PSI-14 after the treatment. No one has ever defeated a psionic rated 2 levels higher than themselves. You don’t need to die to make a point.”
Cade smiled, flashing more teeth than usual. He clearly had been spending too much time with the Professor. “Thank you for your concern, Doctor Mayes. However, I feel fairly confident in the outcome.”
Professor Gavin rang a large brass bell. “Duelists should bow.”
Doctor Mayes and Cade bowed to the audience, to Professor Gavin, and then to each other. Satisfied, Professor Gavin rang the bell once more. “Begin!”
Doctor Mayes attacked immediately. His mental probe was fast and potent like a sledgehammer. Cade had expected such a tactic and had prepared his mental shields. Mayes pressed his advantage sending wave after wave of mental blasts. The attacks were potent and skillful, but they lacked experience. Dripping with sweat, Mayes’s face began to turn crimson. “How can this be?”
“Please note that Doctor Mayes is trying with all of his newfound abilities to pierce my mental shield,” Cade revealed calmly. He wasn’t talking to Mayes, but to the audience.
“I’ll smash your shield eventually. You can’t hold out forever!”
“I don’t need to hold out forever, Doctor Mayes, I merely need to outlast you.”
The psychic blasts grew in frequency and potency. Doctor Mayes was panting, trying to keep enough oxygen to his brain. Sensing that his opponent was weakening, Cade switched his tactics to the offensive.
Mayes had concentrated so much upon shattering Cade’s defenses; he failed to construct a solid mental shield. Cade’s attack was swift, like the trust of a switchblade in an alleyway. Doctor Mayes froze, surprised by the mental punch on the nose. It was a dirty tactic, but Cade didn’t have much choice. Taking advantage of the weakness, Cade pummeled through the shield and attacked his nervous centers. Mayes wildly flung his arms over his face. “No! No! This is not possible.”
Cade did not reply. He was too busy lobotomizing his opponent. Doctor Mayes dropped to the floor like a slab of meat. Satisfied, Cade bowed to Doctor Gavin and then to the audience.
“The proposal has been defeated,” Professor Gavin announced.
“I’ve read through your papers and some of you had curious insights into my motives. Ms. Williams, how did you come to your conclusion?”
Stephanie had been hoping that she would not be called upon. She had been hiding her face with her hair. “I saw the duel, sir. Some of us managed to sneak into the balcony.”
“Yes, I sensed you.” Cade had been pleased to see his students take such an interest. “But that doesn’t answer my question.”
“He was more powerful than you. And skilled. But he didn’t have the discipline. You beat him using the first principle of power. Power without discipline is useless. Discipline comes from not taking the easy road and working for your abilities. He hadn’t developed the stamina to break you. You waited until he was tired to strike.”
Cade nodded, proud. There was hope for this student. “Very good, Ms. Williams. This week we’re going to discuss applications of discipline and how to maintain it during times of temptation. I’ll know if you haven’t read the reading material.”
“Very good, my boy,” Professor Gavin thought-called. “I’ve been monitoring your class. All of them will make excellent sentinels, including your trouble maker.”
“Thank you, Professor. May I ask you a question?”
Cade sensed curiosity and pride from the orangutan. “Of course, my boy,” Professor Gavin
“You knew this would happen, didn’t you?”
Chuckling softly, Professor let a bit of pride slip through with his last thought. “Let’s just say that I enjoyed watching the first principle of power in action. It was very enlightening.”
TOM THE UNIVERSE, by Larry Hodges
I permeate this universe, which I’ve named Tom, and guard against its destruction. If someone had done that for the universe I came from, then Mary, my sweet Mary, would still be alive, and I wouldn’t have killed her and everyone else when I accidentally destroyed that universe.
And now I’m on the verge of destroying much more.
My name is also Tom. I was an undergrad in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore that January in 2040 when I made the discovery that doomed us all. My field of study was cognitive science, the study of human consciousness. What makes us aware of ourselves? Is it just the biomechanical workings of the brain, or something else?
Sherlock Holmes said, “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” I spent countless hours in the lab eliminating the impossible, and there didn’t seem to be anything left, improbable or not. The interconnectivity required for human consciousness to exist was just too many levels beyond what was possible. By all rights, we should all be unconscious blobs of matter mechanically going about our business as directed by electronic impulses from the brain, with no more consciousness than a calculator. I suffered brain cramps in the lab trying to figure out what improbables were left.
When I could think of nothing else to try, it was time to relax and let my subconscious figure it out. So I got out the Frisbee and called my lab partners.
Mary, Joey, and I—Tommy, as they called me—called ourselves the “ees.” I’d only met Mary when we’d started college, and adored how she laughed when I explained my love for her in neurological terms, with dopamine and neurotransmitters. We did everything together, or so I thought; classes and labs, movies, and late-night bull sessions with pizza and ice cream, usually followed by pints of morning coffee. Our future together was assured; as soon as we graduated, we would get married. I’d even convinced her we should wear purity rings—I had special ones made up with a brain emblem.
Joey and I grew up together on the same street, playing stickball and videogames. He and I were going to be buddies for life.
Professor Wilson, our adviser, reluctantly let the three of us be lab partners even though he said it’s best not to put friends together. Amazingly, we got a lot done when we weren’t reading the neurology cartoons taped to the walls or playing with Catzilla, the lab’s iguana-bodied, cat-brained hybrid mascot. And then came that morning when we went outside the lab on Charles Street to toss the Frisbee around among the oak trees by the front steps. The fresh air was an escape from the antiseptic stench of the lab.
“You throw like a girl!” Joey said when my toss to him banged against the ground, way off line. He stood half a head taller than me, with that eternal mischievous grin I’d known for twenty years. He was the only person in the world who could get away with a ponytailed bouffant, which I would yank every chance.