Chapter 8 - I Don’t Know

  Year 3001, Sunday. 22 days until classes start. Training room 5 of Dormitory 12D.

  I glanced down at my watch to check the time. 10:15. I squinted at the top of the door and read it aloud, “Room 5.”

  Hmm, was I in the right place? Suddenly the metal door swung open and a tall woman wearing a full suit of power armor and a gas mask with bright blue hair stared down at me, “Kaiser?”

  I blinked. Um. What. I blinked again, “Uh… that’s my name?”

  “Come in. Close the door behind you.”

  I shuffled into the room and looked around at the training room. It was about three times as large as my dorm room and had pieces of training equipment mounted on the walls. With a wave of her hand in front of her face the gas mask seemed to turn invisible.

  She frowned as she looked me up and down, “Do you know who I am?”

  “My advisor?”

  “Do you know who demoted me to this post?”

  “My mother?”

  “Do you know who got in trouble for someone not calling their mother?”

  “You?”

  She sighed and sat down in a chair in the middle of the training room, “Yup. Me. So what are you going to do about it?”

  I looked up, “I don’t know uh…”

  “Athena.”

  I blinked, “Athena.”

  Athena frowned and stood up, “Let’s see what we’re working with.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She started gently squeezing various muscles and sighing after each squeeze, “You’re a mess.”

  I glanced up at her, “So?”

  Athena glared down at me, “Yeah. So? Why did you not call your mother last night?”

  I hesitated and muttered, “I don’t know.”

  “What? Say it louder! I can’t hear you!”

  I closed my eyes and screamed, “I don’t know!”

  I felt a weak slap to my forehead and opened my eyes to see Athena grinning, “We need more of that out of you.”

  “More of what?”

  Athena thought for a moment, “More of that energy. That confidence. That power.”

  I was confused, “What?”

  Athena grabbed my arm, “Flex it.”

  I squeezed my arm as hard as I could tensing every muscle in my body until I felt a light slap across my forehead, “Stop.”

  I realized I was squeezing so hard my eyes had closed, “Huh?”

  “Do you know why you’re weak?”

  I shrugged, “I don’t put in the work.”

  Athena nodded, “Almost. Why?”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “I don’t know?”

  She shook her head and muttered, “This isn’t getting anywhere.”

  “Huh?”

  “Do you not know anything?”

  I hesitated, “What do you mean?”

  “Every question I’ve asked you’ve told me that you don’t know. Do you know anything?”

  I stared at her and she shook her head, “This must be why your mother sent me.”

  Athena sat down in the chair and crossed her legs, “Let’s first get the most important matter out of the way.”

  With a wave of her hand one of the panels on the floor folded up to create a seat, “Sit down.”

  As I sat down she pulled out a small tablet and started writing down some notes. A few seconds later she looked up, “Why didn’t you call your mother? And don’t say you don’t know.”

  What do I say? I was scared of mother? Wouldn’t that be pathetic? I couldn’t say that. Never. I sputtered, “I forgot.”

  “Forgot?”

  I stared at Athena’s boots, “Yes.”

  She leaned back in her chair, “Are you sure?”

  Her boots were black with a thin blu Snap Snap. “Hey, what are you thinking about? I’m right here.”

  I stuttered, “Um…”

  Athena frowned, “Want me to make this easy for you? Lay it all out for you? Must I make it trivial?”

  I glanced up at her face, “What do you want?”

  “Confidence! I can’t help with any problem unless you can acknowledge there is a problem!”

  I felt like I just got hit in the chest. All the air seemed to drain from my body as I felt the all too familiar sensation of that damn high-pitched ringing in my ear. Snap “Wake up.”

  With a flinch I came back to my senses, “I… I’m scared.”

  “Say it with conviction! Force! Tell me the problem!”

  I balled my hands into fists, “I’m scared of mother!”

  Athena smiled, “Weak. Weak but there is something.”

  I blinked, was that it? I fished my guide out of my pocket, “I uh… brought this.”

  Athena looked up, “May I see?”

  “Sure.”

  She glanced up, “Activate it?”

  “Ah. Yeah.”

  I tapped the top and the cube spun up. Athena made an amused grin, “Your father designed this?”

  “Yup.”

  Athena inspected it and nodded, “Let’s first get your brain working.”

  I glanced at the guide as Athena stood up, “What do you mean?”

  “Do you know what ether is?”

  I nodded, “It’s the manifestation of sentience.”

  Athena made a sour face, “Say it in a simpler way.”

  Simpler? That’s what the textbooks said ether was. What could be simpler than that? I shook my head, “What do you mean?”

  She frowned, “What is it?”

  “It’s a physical thing that has the will inside of it.”

  Athena nodded, “Alright. We’re taking some steps. Can you prove it is a physical thing?”

  “No? I can’t use ether.”

  She glared at me, “Why not?”

  “I just… can’t?”

  Athena tilted her head, “Why not?”

  I paused. Why not? Why couldn’t I use ether? I looked down at my hands, “Why would I be able to?”

  Seconds later Athena placed a metal frisbee into my hands, “Try it.”

  I closed my eyes and tried doing what Larry had told us back in the Square. Once I thought I felt the weight of the frisbee lessen I let go of it and the metal frisbee clattered to the ground. I looked down at the frisbee. It didn’t work. I glanced up at Athena.

  She had a smug look on her face, “Why didn’t it work?”

  I shrugged, “I don’t know.”

  “Think. Think about it Kaiser.”

  I don’t know. I racked my head for a few seconds. I shook my head, “Maybe I let go too early?”

  “Are you asking me a question?”

  I looked up, “Did I let go of the frisbee too early?”

  Athena shook her head, “You’re close though.”

  “I got the amount of ether wrong.”

  She shrugged and handed me a new frisbee, “Have another go at it.”

  I closed my eyes and again felt the sensation of blood rushing into my fingers and into the frisbee. I felt the weight disappear from the frisbee and continued pouring more of that feeling into it. A few more seconds passed and the frisbee felt a little warm. A little hot. Pain.

  My eyes shot open I looked down to see bright light shooting out of the frisbee. With a yelp I dropped the frisbee which promptly crashed to the floor and a light thud.

  I looked up, “What… was that?”

  Athena smirked, “What do you think? Try to figure it out.”

  I glanced down at the arcs of light coming out of the frisbee, “I think it would be safe to assume I put too much ether into it.”

  Athena nodded and handed me another frisbee, “I’ll keep giving you blank frisbees until you figure it out.”

  I closed my eyes and started to feel the blood rush to my fingers. This time I focused on injecting the ether through just my pointer finger. The instant I felt the weight lessen I let go of the frisbee. To my surprise the frisbee seemed to slowly float like a piece of paper.

  I looked up in triumph, “I did it!”

  She looked at the frisbee on the floor, “Tell me what you changed and the result.”

  I glanced down at the frisbee, “I tried letting the stuff rush through only my right pointer finger and put the will float into it.”

  Athena nodded, “Float? Why not hover?”

  I didn’t consider that. Before I could ask for another frisbee she had already placed a new frisbee into my hands.

  I again closed my eyes. I imagined the word hover going through my finger and into the frisbee and opened my eyes. One glance in front of me and I knew I had done it. I looked up, “I did it!”

  “So, what did you do now?”

  “I tried channeling the word hover through my finger.”

  Athena spun a frisbee around one of her fingers, “Let’s take this back to the first question.”

  “The first question?”

  “Do you know what ether is?”

  I looked down at the frisbee. Ah. There was a difference between theory and execution. There was something I didn’t know. I shook my head, “No. I have no idea.”

  Yo. So I forgot to type up a note yesterday too. I've been a bit busy moving into college. Anyway, the shouts have started! YIPPEEE! So the shout today is for a pretty interesting.

  So um. Now is that time where I beg for you to help my numbers go up.

  So you know how there is this comment button? Leaving a comment keeps me motivated. There is a decent likelihood that I'll respond given the size of the story (We're tiny as hell right now!). Dropping a follow or a favorite also goes a long way to keeping me motivated and boosting my story through the algorithm. But to be honest I like to see the number go up as I improve my writing skill. I also have a and a . Check them out if you have the means or are interested.