Portal

“Now that that is taken care of, what were you thinking of doing for work, Jackson?”

“Well….” I began, then detailed the job posting I had seen earlier in the morning. William listened thoughtfully.

“I see. Jennifer? Any thoughts?”

Jennifer paced for a few moments, tapping her staff on the floor. Slowly, she came to a stop in front of me. “Do you know anything about the job?”

“No, ma’am. As I said the other day, I learn and memorize things exceptionally quickly. Thankfully, I’m also able to make connections between ideas and concepts, so I’m fairly confident I could do it without much trouble.” I nodded as I finished, hoping I was right.

“Okay, then. You’ll be in charge of our cybersecurity. It pays 45k to start, and as you become more skilled -and we will test you- we will pay you more. Deal?”

I took an involuntary step backward. “Do what? You want me, an absolute novice to handle cybersecurity for the entire Cloud?”

She laughed softly as she walked off to the far corner. “Oh, no. Not the Cloud. Just the gym.”

“For now, Jackson. You will eventually take over the cybersecurity for the entirety of The Grey Cloud. No timetable or anything. Just the knowledge that that will be one of your roles.”

I thought for a moment. It was easy money, would keep me out of the spotlight, except for when I went after groceries, and I got to learn a skill. I shrugged. “Okay. Sounds good. I’ll get some learning materials and whatnot, and I’ll start as soon as I can, deal?”

“Deal. For now, if I’m not mistaken, you have a date with our very own Jennifer. There is much to learn, young man. Make us proud.”

William clapped me on the shoulder as I walked to the corner of the broad floor with Jennifer. She tossed me a stone staff as I approached. I caught it, mildly surprised by its weight.

“This must weigh at least ten pounds, Jennifer. What gives?”

She smirked. “Like I said, you’re going to be training with something much heavier for a while. It’ll teach you better precision. Move at about one quarter speed, Jackson.” She placed her hands on her hips, shifting her weight to her left side.

“One quarter… Huh? How am I supposed to gauge my speed like that?” I thumped the pole onto the ground.

“Just move slowly.” She sighed, rolling her eyes. “I’ll let you know if you need to speed anything up. Remember: You’re learning precision, not speed or power. The same kata I showed you on the first day. Go.”

I sighed, hefting the staff. Slowly, I began walking -literally walking- through the kata, my face scrunched up with indignation. Fifteen minutes later, however, found me sweating and panting as if I’d just run five miles without a break. My arms felt like jelly, and my legs felt like hot ramen. I made a final, shaky thrust and stepped back to the ready position, sweat streaming down my face.

Jennifer approached me, her hands clasped behind her back. “Good job, Jackson. Your form was good, if a little shaky near the end. You have decent muscle memory, which is exactly what you need for this art. How often have you practiced since Wednesday?”

I leaned heavily on the staff, gulping air like a fish out of water. “Only here, Jennifer. I don’t have the space at home.”

“Only here? Hm. If you can, make the room at home. I daresay you’ll improve by leaps and bounds if you do. I want you to run through this form until you can barely move. Go.”

I stared at her, my eyes wide. “Until I can barely move? But I can barely move now!”

“Then you don’t have too long to go, do you?”

I whimpered and stood up straight, determined to make it through one more iteration of the kata. Slowly, I took my first shaky steps, making a wide diagonal sweep from my right shoulder to my left foot.

Fifteen minutes later, I came back to the ready position and fell immediately to my knees, my hands sliding down the smooth stone. My limbs felt like lead. “No more,” I panted hoarsely. “I can’t go again.” Sweat, or tears, I couldn’t tell which, dripped from the tip of my nose, making a small puddle on the floor beneath me.

“Get up.”

I looked up at her in pained surprise. Sliding my sweat-slicked hands up the staff, I gripped it as hard as I could and pulled. Groaning with effort and no small amount of pain, I wondered if it might not be better to simply open a door to my room beneath me and fall into my bed. Slowly, inch by agonizing inch, I stood on wobbly legs, leaning heavily on the stone staff. “Okay. I’m standing.” I wiped the stinging sweat out of my eyes. “Now what?”

“Again.”

“What?”

“Do. It. Again. Jackson.”

My breathing picked up pace as I contemplated working through the kata again. “I can’t, Jennifer. I’m lucky to be standing right now. Don’t you get it?”

“Do it again.”

“I can’t.”

“You can and you will. Pick it up and go through it one more time.”

I tried lifting the ten-ton staff, feeling my grip weaken. “I don’t have the strength, Jennifer. Let me rest.”

She leaned toward me, pointing a finger in my face as she yelled at me. “Pick it up, Jackson! Walk through the kata again! And again, and again, and again, until you have it right!”

“I already have it right, goddamit! I can’t pick this fucking thing up again!”

“Didn’t you want to join The Grey Cloud? Didn’t you want to make a difference? Or are your convictions so fucking weak that you can’t even pick up a little staff and do a fucking exercise?”

“I’m. Not. WEAK!” I hefted the staff high, letting my hands slide down towards and end, slamming it down onto the ground with all my might. A high-pitched ringing sounded throughout the gym, resonating in my head. I heaved a shuddering breath.

Jennifer knelt beside me, gently laying a hand on my shoulder. “You can pick it up again, Jackson,” she said softly, as she gently turned my face up to meet her eyes. “And you are not weak. You’re simply untrained. My job is to get you stronger than before, faster than ever, and skilled enough to know when and where to dip out of a fight. Your power is new, Jackson. Nobody knows enough about it to teach you how to use it effectively in a fight. Instead, we’re going to teach you how to fight with a weapon, and how to be fast. Your body is untrained. I’m going to fix that. I need you to trust me, but I also need to trust you to tell me when you’ve actually reached a limit. Have you reached that limit, Jackson?”

I sighed, letting the staff go. My fingers hurt from gripping it so tightly. “Jennifer, my strength is spent. I’m sorry for reacting like that. I’m worn out, and I don’t know how much more my body can take. I’m frustrated that I could only last thirty minutes. I should be able to walk through these forms for hours. I….I can’t believe that I’m this weak.”

Jennifer stood, helping me up in the process. “I want you to see something, Jackson. This way.” She led me to the corner, where a pair of chairs awaited us. She sat me down, then pulled a stone from her pocket. “This is my staff.” She held the hand up, and a stone staff grew from the pebble. Gently, she placed it in my lap, and my eyes went wide.

It had to weigh as much as a small anvil.

“What the fuck, Jennifer?”

She nodded, hefting the staff in her hand with apparent ease. “This is where I’d like for you to be, eventually. Stepping through the forms with this in your hand the way I do? You’d be unstoppable. Especially with a normal staff. Well, at least one that has been reinforced. You’d shatter anything else.” Slowly, she stepped through the form I had just attempted, slowly picking up speed until she was moving at what seemed a normal combat speed. Through it all, I saw only an intense concentration on her face. When she finished, she hurriedly walked to me, placing my fingers on her neck.

Her pulse was steady, strong, and most importantly, not elevated.

“What the fuck are you, Jennifer?”

“I wield Stone, Jackson.” She spread her arms and stood still for a moment. The staff shattered soundlessly, coating her in a fine layer of stone dust. “Strike me. As hard as you can.”

“Hit you? Why?”

“So that you may understand.”

Groaning, I stood, my muscles protesting the movement. Heaving a sigh, I opened a door beneath my staff, with a second in front of me. Reaching in, I pulled the staff into a ready stance, then dissolved the doors. “You sure, Jen?”

She nodded. “As hard as you are able, Jackson.”

“Okay, then. Remember, you asked.” I looked around the gym, seeing for the first time just how large it was. I grinned, then began to open a series of doors, starting with one directly below me.

For an instant, I saw Jennifer’s look of surprise as I seemed to vanish from view. I fell through that door, being ejected from a second. I kept opening and closing sets of doors, appearing and disappearing from sight, seemingly at random, until I felt I was moving fast enough. I opened a final set of doors, ending up exactly where I started, swinging the staff upward with all the strength I still possessed, connecting neatly with her midsection.

With a “Whooff” sound, I saw Jennifer fly upward about ten feet. As I reached my zenith, I opened a door directly below me, dropping me neatly on the ground beside Jennifer’s prone form. I dropped the staff, which had surprisingly held together, and knelt. My arms screamed in protest from the impact, but I managed a shaky, if concerned, grin.

“Jennifer? Are you okay?”

She laughed and sat up. “Jackson? That was a good hit! It’s been a long time since anyone hit me that hard.” She got to her feet, the stone powder falling from her body, coalescing into a small, palm-sized stone once more. “I know now more than ever that the staff will be perfect for you. What do you call that attack?”

“Call it? Hell, I dunno.” I scratched my head. “I just made it up on the fly.”

She squealed happily. “And he thinks and strategizes off the cuff! William, what a treasure you’ve brought me. Here’s the deal, Jackson: You work hard at gaining your strength and speed, and I’ll work hard at devising an art that utilizes your power effectively. Deal?”

“Uh… yeah. Sure, I guess.” I stared at this woman, wondering just what the fuck had happened.

She leapt to her feet and ran to the corner, hefting her staff once more. Slowly, she began walking through a new kata, one I’d never seen before. I slowly made my way over to her, using the staff as a crutch. I heaved myself into the chair once more and promptly passed out.

************

“Jackson? Jackson? Wake up, Jackson.” Jennifer gently shook me awake. As I came to, I noticed a sheen of sweat on her face.

“Shit. I’m sorry. How long was I asleep?” I attempted to raise my hands to my face, but was pulled up short by a wave of intense pain. “Oh, god. That hurts.” I let my hand fall back into my lap.

“About two hours. I may have just worked out a form for you to start with, but it can wait until you can move again. Probably tomorrow or the next day. Let’s get you home.” She leaned over and pulled me to my feet. Slowly, we made our way up to the office, where I opened the door, startling Bethany.

“Jackson! You startled -are you alright?”

I smiled weakly. “What was it you said when I got here? Something about endless drills?”

She laughed nervously. “Yeah. I guess I did say something like that.”

I nodded. “Yeah. You were right. She beat the hell outta me. I gotta get home, Bethany. I’ll see you tomorrow, probably.” I opened a door on the wall just inside the office and Jennifer helped me through it into my room. “Thanks, Jennifer. Just help me to, yeah.”

Lab’s voice rang out from across the hall. “Jackson? Izzat you?”

“Yeah, Lab. It’s me.”

“Who you talking to?”

“A friend, Lab.”

“A friend? I’m yer damn friend, ass!” I heard him thumping across the hallway, and saw my door opening slowly. “Th’fuck happened to you? Who is… Jennifer?”

Jennifer smiled. “Hi Lab. Good to see you again. Help me get him to bed?”

“Oh. Yeah…uh.. I can do that.” Lab picked me up as easily as he would a child, neatly depositing me into my bed. Jennifer reached for the sheet, but was forestalled by Lab. “No need. He’s still clothed. That’ll just make him too hot to be comfortable.”

I smiled up at my friend. “You’re the best, Lab. Jennifer, you best get going. I’m tired, and I dunno how long I can hold that door.”

“Come on, Jennifer. I’ll allow it this one time because Jackson’s so worn out. Hi, Lab!”

Lab looked through the open door. “Hm? Oh hey, Bethany! You two taking care of my buddy for me?”

“Only the best for our Lab! Hurry up, Jennifer, I think the door is getting all wavy.”

Jennifer hurried through the door and looked back at me. “Get some rest, Jackson. Lab? I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Bye girls!” Lab waved cheerfully as he closed the door.