I attempt to make small talk with DiVars.
"Do you have any family, then?"
I'll also ask him why he's so interested in the mountain over there, and I'll joke with the question, smiling, "It's not like you can sense active volcanos, can you?"
"Do I look like I have family? Hiding them in the jeep, maybe? Sorry, what you see is all there is. Oh, I had family once--a few millennia back--but that hardly counts. Sometimes I realize they've all been dead for eons. Sometimes I realize they haven't been born yet. Sometimes I am struck by the fact that they are probably living in the world somewhere, but would not have any clue who I am.
"No, I have no family. You don't, either."
"Sense? Well, I can see it. It smokes. It's smoking less. It's going to stop smoking, and then it's going to blow up. We get to see it, close and personal. I figure that's why I'm here: to face the volcano. Now, why you're here, I've no clue."
--M. J. Young
I just try to smile at DiVars. While the volcano statement threw me for a second, I still can't help but smile some.
It's just all there is to do in a time like this-completely isolated from everyone I've ever known.
"Well, maybe I'm here to melt your cold heart with my ignorance of my personal situation. You said that we go to different universes every time that we die in worlds. Does that mean that there's a chance that we might go back to our homeworlds?"
He looks at you long and hard. Then he looks back to the volcano as he answers.
"I have never heard of it happening. But then, there are some serious problems from all sides.
"If anyone ever did get home, and stayed there, probably none of the rest of us would ever know it. I mean, I see Adams every few hundred years, and the Architect, and they sometimes have news of others, but I haven't seen O'Malley for long enough that he might have settled somewhere. I can't say he didn't get home. But I've been to hundreds of worlds over thousands of years, and spoken to others who have done the same, and never had any evidence that anyone ever got home again.
"And of course, if you did, how would you know? I was in a world once which was just like the world I left, down to the fact that I was reported killed in an explosion on an army base in Germany. I seriously thought this was home. But it wasn't. One verser told me about how he thought he was in his own world once, until someone showed him the Azure Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Finding that tiny difference can be startling when it hits you--but that tiny difference might be that you're still alive in that world, and there's no easy way that you can replace yourself, particularly since you won't know what else was different in your life in that world.
"And then there are the side effects from scriff. I said you're not going to stay dead. You're not going to age, either. Take it from me, it's really tricky to pull off the 'well preserved' gig for more than twenty years. If you don't age, people start to wonder. And it's not like you're not going to age for twenty years: you're not going to age for a thousand years, and the world is going to change around you, and like some immortal Highlander you'll be trying to fake new identities from generation to generation.
"You don't go home again, and even if you do, you don't. Sorry. That's the way of it."
--M. J. Young
"It feels like 'verser' is the definition of ambiguity."
"I'll get to see great wonders and even probably what I'd never even dream of existing. I'll gain skill and abilities-meet people who will be more and more interesting. And I'll have to do all of this alone."
Still, I try to smile some, "But hey, at least you're around to explain all of this to me. I guess, for the time being, you're my only human friend." I pat Harry on the head.
"Please, tell me about Adams and the Architect."
He leans back. Day is fading into night by now, but he does not seem at all tired.
"Adams," he begins. "Pete Adams. I knew him back on Earth, and he was the second person--actually, he was tied with Dan, but together they were the second humans known ever to have entered the verse. It was October 14, 1985; the date is inscribed above their bunks in the wall in the foxhole I left behind on NagaWorld, two weeks after my own death.
"Pete was at that time maybe the smartest guy I ever knew, and a wiz at anything electronic. I remember he had a VCR with no buttons--he knew which wires to cross to make it do what he wanted. He became the brains of our operation--by the beginning of November of that year there were five of us, although it took longer for all that to happen in NagaWorld than it did on Earth. Pete was the one who figured out that we could eat the grass. He also figured out how to use the psionic weapons of that world, and when we had the opportunity to steal a Dar Koni spaceship, he was the one who figured out how to fly the thing. I don't know whether he made up the name scriff or whether he knew it from working with it back in the army days, but it was his work that gave us the basic understanding of what scriff is and what it does.
"Of course, he had to do that. For me, I was already satisfied that I had died and was still alive because Odin was preparing me for Ragnorak. That was the explanation that made sense to me. Pete couldn't accept that explanation; he's an atheist. He still won't accept that there's any magic in the world--psionics, yes, and technology beyond our understanding, but he won't accept the possibility of a supernatural world of any sort. He had to find an explanation for what happened that did not mean we had died and some supernatural being had brought us back to life. He had to believe, ultimately, that it was all an accident, that the army had, well, messed up and really messed us over, so that because of this perfectly natural scientifically explainable stuff we were now immortal. So to some degree we owe our understanding of all this to a guy with a huge blindspot.
"The Architect, now--that was weird. He claimed he knew me, that he had met me on Earth sometime after I had died, in 1990 or something. He knew a lot about me, too. But then, he didn't die until, what was it, 93? We found him in NagaWorld when we were all gathered there again, as sometimes happens.
"The thing is, the Architect was the first person I met who might have been smarter than Adams. We built a foxhole, and then when we found an army mobile communications and tracking unit--a big truck with generators and radar and communications equipment--we risked our lives to steal batteries to power it up. He was there all of a week and he was distilling alcohol to power the generators, and using the dregs from the vats as building material to build a stockade around the camp, and before a couple months had passed he was making pottery, cloth, rope, paper, and building houses and water towers and who knows what else. He was the one who gave us the courage to explore the Glass City. The thing is patrolled all day by giant robot spiders, but the night is twenty hours long and the city is twenty five miles in diameter with straight roads running perpendicular through it. No matter where you were in it, he said, if you picked a random direction and walked straight you would be out in less than nine hours if you were as stupid and unlucky as you could possible be. It was so obvious we all felt stupid, and it gave us the chance to really explore the strange city that dominated that world. He was well on his way to creating diesel fuel when he got sidetracked into trying to make his own psionic weapons and got caught in an explosion. But I see him from time to time, and he's made more discoveries in more worlds than anyone I know. He has this attitude that if he doesn't learn something in a world he visits, he's wasted an opportunity.
"The really weird thing is that he and Adams actually get along. I say it's weird, because in addition to being so smart, the Architect is also the most consistently Christian person I ever met. I don't mean that he's necessarily all that good a person--he is good, and very actively tries to help others--but it's his thinking that is so pervasively Christian. He is constantly saying that we are in the worlds we visit for a reason, and that God brought us there to do something. I've argued that I don't believe in his God, and he's answered that it doesn't matter, because wherever I go I look for a fight that needs a champion for the right, and join it, and that could be exactly what God needs me to do. Adams argues that he doesn't believe in any God, but the Architect argues that wherever Adams goes he helps people.
"That's true, too. Pete has this attitude about the lives of the indigs--that is, the indigenous people of the worlds we visit. We are immortal, he says; our lives in any world don't matter, because if we die we're off to another life in another world. The indigs, on the other hand, are fragile, and the tiny lives they have are precious and need to be protected. He's real keen on protecting the indigs at any cost. So the Architect's right, if God wanted someone to do good things in other worlds, Pete is a good choice even though he doesn't believe in God.
"Oh, we call him The Architect because he built that city. Calls it Umak Tek, which is Dar Koni for Human Place, and it's become his calling card. If you ever see the words I built Umak-Tek--of course, the name of the place would be in Dar Koni--" he scratches two symbols in the dirt, something between heiroglyphs and kanji "--that's him.
"I'm not sure what else I can tell you about them. They're constantly studying, constantly debating, constantly learning, and constantly doing, wherever they go. If I thought either of them was actually right about the purpose of all this, I might be embarrassed; but I've made up my mind about why I'm here, and it's worked for me so far."
--M. J. Young
"Your friends sound really amazing."
I start to feel the tug of sleep getting to my eyes. While I'm anxious about talking to DiVars more, I know that I should probably be well-rested for the show whenever it happens. How often will I get to see a volcano and all?
At that, I ask DiVars another question for the night, not yet willing to give into sleep. "Michael, how do you stay awake constantly like you do? Is it some sort of cybernetic stuff?"
If he's unwilling to answer, I'll ask him one last question before I go to sleep. "What is the Architect's real name?"
He looks at you and blinks, as if the question had never occurred to him.
"It's not really that simple. I probably have a dozen different ways to get rid of fatigue--a prayer, a spell, a meditation technique, a physical training technique, a drug, an electronic brain stimulator. That's something I got from the Architect: if you want to do something reliably, you want several ways of doing it, so that if one fails you've got another. I'm relying on my physical training, which lets me get sufficient rest and clear the chemicals from my body while staying alert. I learned it from a kensai in Kara Tur."
"What do you mean by his real name? Are you looking for something to use as a magical talisman? I was not born Michael di Vars; di Vars means of the verse, and it's a name that has stuck to me. The person I was died, and it helps me come to grips with the fact that I will never be him again to use a different name for myself. It also prevents there from being any confusion when I find myself in worlds in which he--that person that I was--exists.
"We call him the Architect because he built Umak Tek. He uses different names in different worlds, as suits him, but is always The Architect. I wouldn't think to call him anything else unless he asked. That's as much his name as anything else you could call him, and has the virtue that it is unique to him."
--M. J. Young
The conversation suddenly wakes me up some, and I decide that perhaps this will be my only chance to pry.
"I think I can understand that. There isn't any chance that you'd be able to teach me any of those techniques to reduce fatigue, would you? I can always just take notes and try it in another world instead of here, if that'd suit you better."
I have notebooks in my backpack.
"Do I look like the Architect? He's a teacher; he'll teach you anything. You want to learn something from me? Pick up a sword, and I'll attack you, and you can learn to defend yourself."
He settles back.
"Besides, none of these are simple things. Drug delivery systems and electronic stimulators require equipment and supplies, which we can't get here, and wherever you can get them you can find people who will teach you how to use them. The alert resting techniques I'm using here--well, martial arts masters sometimes fail to learn them for years, and for someone who lacks that foundation you've a better chance of crippling yourself than actually mastering the technique. A mind-based approach? In this world you would have a very difficult time learning just to read someone's mind (and unless our friend here wants to volunteer for the dangerous job of guinea pig, mine is the only mind available for you to practice on), and controling your need for rest is much more difficult. About the best approach would be magic--and what do you know about magic? I can't teach you to pray to a god you don't believe in, and I can't really teach you to pray to a god I don't believe in, and arcane skills for staying awake--well, any magic requires that you believe, and that you know what it is you believe, because if you don't believe it doesn't work."
He takes a drink of water from a cup he has beside him.
"Or, do you want to start by telling me what you believe?"
--M. J. Young
"I believe in the possibility of all things."
"In the worlds, I'm sure that many gods exist. Not all of them are the Christian God; however, they act more often in those worlds, so they're more believed in. I'm not sure if I believe even the Christian God is in every universe. Related to magic...I suppose that I do believe it's possible, and when someone shows it to me, I'll be ready to believe in it whole-heartedly."
I look over to the volcano, and back at Michael. "I am going to feel the same way as the Architect. I'm yet to learn what I want to here, but I have determined something that I can learn, other than everything you've told me (which I am very thankful for, by the way). You can teach me to get rid of my fear of death. I'd much rather you run me through than to have all my things swallowed by a volcano before I die."
"So, that said, do you have a sword that I can borrow? Or shall I defend myself with my bare hands?"
"Gods aren't in the universes; they're outside the universes in the supernatural realm. Places we've heard about or read about in books--Gladsheim, Elysium, Hades, Pandemonium, Limbo, the Abyss, the Seven Heavens, the Nine Hells--these are all supernatural realms along the edge of the deep supernatural. The Architect says that you can't enter the deep supernatural and return, but several versers have been on the border supernatural at one time or another. Adams says that they were just in different worlds, where creatures with the power to travel interdimensionally at will pose as gods, but he's never been to one. Anyway, the point is, all the gods have the same ability to act in any universe. Some have a sort of ascendancy in some--like you might be in a world where Zeus and his cronies are in charge, but that doesn't mean that Odin and Thor can't answer prayers there, it just means that Zeus makes the ground rules. Gods have to abide by their own ground rules; what Zeus allows himself and his cronies to do, the other gods can do, too. How it got this way--well, if you meet the Architect, you can ask him his theory; I don't have one."
When you suggest that him killing you would be a good thing, he grins in a very disconcerting way. "You're afraid of that volcano, but not of me? I assure you, I am much more dangerous than that volcano.
"If you're worried about losing your things, don't. If I'm right, when this happens it will happen so fast that your things will all go with you. Anyway, there aren't very many things in the multiverse that are irreplaceable. You'd have a hard time finding more than a dozen copies of the Necronomicon--and indeed, I saw Aslan destroy one, so that's one less, durnedest thing, I'd tried ground zero at a nuclear blast and didn't singe the cover, and he tapped it with his front paw and it disintegrated to dust. I knew I was dealing with someone powerful at that moment. But I doubt you've got anything so unique as that. Maybe if you've got pictures of family or friends, or some object that is special not for what it is but because someone gave it to you, those would be things to protect. But you'll lose some things sometimes--you just won't lose them by dying. Contrary to the popular saying, you can take it with you.
"Have you ever used a sword? Have you ever used any weapon at all? You'll do best to work with what you know rather than start from scratch, but if you don't know anything, then I guess we start from scratch."
--M. J. Young
"Well, I'm not as afraid of people as I am natural disasters. At least, not for the time being. I'd rather you get the fear of death out of me than the volcano."
I smile down at my short fingernails, "Well, my claws aren't that good, but I suppose we can start from there. Other than a few fights I've been in and an archery course, I suppose that I don't really have any experience fighting with anything." I put my fists up to protect my face, after tossing his closed pocketknife back to him. "I'm willing to start from scratch, whenever you're ready."
Kurt--I'm going to need some numbers to proceed with this. Give me your thoughts on:
- Strength: average is 1@5, and a lot of people in this age are average.
- Resistance: most people from our age run at least 1@8 because of innoculations; some are higher. This can be because of special innoculations received in connection with travel overseas or work in medical or bioresearch facilities, or it can be natural, usually expressed in the form of allergies (the immune system fighting off things that are not actually dangerous). On the other hand, some people are particularly susceptible to every disease that "comes down the pike", and can be lower than 1@5.
- Will Power: Again, 1@5 is the norm.
I gather from your statements that you have no training or practiced skill in any unarmed combat technique, but that you have fought before, unskilled.
--M. J. Young
Strength...Yeah, let's say average 1@5 on that.
I just got some innoculations for school, so I'm up-to-date with the 1@8.
Will Power...hrm...I, being an egotistical human (it is a flaw...I know) think my will power is above average. My evidence...hrm... In 5th grade, we did stupid competitions involving putting our hands on hot or cold poles (that have been either freezing or cooking outside). Durinc recess, I always won with ease. Does Will Power include controlling your emotions? I'm not talking about faking certain emotions, but actually being able to enhance or change current emotions (getting angrier or shutting anger off altogeather...not that I get angry, mind you).
I have fought before, unskilled. I've been unharmed in every fight, either because I won quickly or I got my head on right quickly. Actually...there was this one time where I kept a wound, but that's because the start of the fight was him hitting me in the crotch (I found it uncalled for and retaliated).
Yes indeed, I would say that it is valid to argue that the ability to control emotions lies in the will, and that combined with your ease of winning the hot/cold contests suggests a 1@10 will power. (Although it could be that your pain threshold is higher, I'm going with the will power, because it's easier to adjudicate.)
However, that you have been in numerous fights and never gotten injured, particularly given that you have neither a significant strength nor a significant stamina, leads me to suggest that you are not an unskilled fighter. You apparently have developed an unarmed fighting style that you use in these situations, and gotten to a respectable amateur level of ability with it.
Would you like to discuss your fighting techniques so we can give you a leg up on this?
--M. J. Young
I haven't been in numerous fights. The most recent that I remember only add up to about 6 times. Oh, and I think my strength might be higher than I originally thought...I'll go into detail in a moment.
Most of the fights were me using sharp eyes and moving out of the way until I got an opening and hit as hard as I returned a punch as hard as I could. That's generally why they ended quickly. On some occasions, the environment was a factor. The guy that hit me in the nuts was next to lockers, so I (reflex) shoved the back of his head into said locker. Another time when environment came into play was when we were in a classroom setting when the teacher was gone. He attacked me, and I used a chair to my advantage, grabbing it with my ankle and tripping him with it.
Another occasion, which involves strength... One time, a friend of mine and I were sparring with sticks. He grabbed a small, sword-length one. I tried doing that, and was doing okay with it, but it was too light, so I grabbed about a 9-foot long, 6-inch thick branch. I kept up with him the whole time.
Does that help at all?
Yes. I'm bumping your strength up to 1@7 and your intuition to 1@9--the latter because you obviously show an awareness of place when it counts.
"Fisticuffs," he says, apparently putting a name to what you're doing. "Not the most effective of weaponless combat techniques, but we can work with it.
"Your stance isn't too bad, really. The important thing about feet in that kind of fighting is that the can put you where you want to be--up close and personal when you deliver your blows, and out of reach or off line when your opponent retaliates. That's why you see professional boxers dancing when they fight--they want to keep moving, so you don't know where they are.
"Look at your wrists. The way you're holding them, they're going to absorb the shock of your blows. You don't want that--it puts stress on your wrists,and anyway, you want the shock to be absorbed by the guy you hit. Hold your wrist so that there's a straight line along your arm from your knuckles to your elbow--so that the bones of your hand extend straight from the bones of your arm. That way when you hit someone, the full force of the blow drives through your knuckles.
"Now, the next question is, where are you planning to hit?"
--M. J. Young
I begin to move towards, away, and side to side of DiVars, with my hands up and in the straight way that he suggested.
Then, I'll say, "Well, normally against a guy like you, who I assume is a lot stronger than I am, I'd go for the groin; however, for practice's sake...the head!" At the last word, I take a swing, as he instructed, at his face.
(We are sparring at the moment, right?)
He makes no effort to block or dodge, and you land a solid punch to the side of his head.
He does not flinch.
He nods.
"Pretty good. As for going for the groin, there are two schools of thought there. One is that it's a very sensitive spot, and if you're using vital area techniques it's certainly one of the best. The other is that it's terribly hard to hit if you don't get surprise--Scotsmen keep their money in a pouch right there, because they figure they'll know if someone is reaching for their groin. Which is the other problem: anyone who is expecting to fight is going to have some sort of protection against such a shot.
"Now, how do you suppose you would defend yourself from a punch?"
--M. J. Young
"It depends on the opponent-both his speed and his strength.
If they're slower and stronger, I'd either duck to the side to retaliate, or I'd attempt to punch their fist before it makes it to me. Generally, if I punch the fist close enough to the opponent, they haven't built up enough force to hurt me; however, my punch will still be at full power.
If they're faster and weaker, then I'd attempt to grapple their fist during the punch.
If they're faster and stronger, I'd pray. That's probably the only time I'd put my arms up to take damage for me."
"Good choices, generally. But you'll do better if instead of punching their fist, you use your forearm against their arm, knocking their blows out and away from you. First, it's a heck of a lot easier to hit the arm than the fist; second, it takes a lot less force to redirect the punch from behind it than from in front of it."
This teaching continues for quite a while, and you learn some basics of how to fight so as to do more damage and take less. Then he says that really what you need is practice now--not all at once, but practice over time, reinforcing techniques and building habits by repetition. Let it sink in, and in a day or two see how much of it you remember, and correct your habits--for example, keeping your wrists straight, you need to practice that so that it comes automatically instead of being something you have to remember.
Then he goes back to the fire, and resumes watching the volcano.
--M. J. Young
I'll take notes of habbits to ingrain in myself and the other knowledge I need to be more effective. I'll put all of that in one of the notebooks and stick with Michael for the time being, while trying to keep my forearms straight, like they need to be for punches.
The next morning, Michael is standing up, still staring toward the mountain.
--M. J. Young
I'll try to meditate for once, now that I have the spare time. During that, I'll stick with Michael and try to look internally to see if I can find anything that I didn't already know.
I'm focusing on if I feel any energies flowing through me or if I get visions of any kind. If not, I'll use this meditative time to relax and let my mind roam freely.
I'll continue doing this until something cool happens (or hot, considering it's a volcano and all).
I don't see "meditate" on your skill sheet, so I need to ask you what it is (as you define it), how you do it, what benefit you expect from it, whether you have done it before, and if so how good you are at it.
--M. J. Young
I picked this up when I was dabbling into discussions with a wicca friend.
The thing is just focusing on breathing. One breathes in and out, and focuses on the oxygen entering and leaving their lungs. Then, you try to relax all of your muscles, and just not focus on anything. I've only done this once, and stopped because I was bored. This time, however, I'll try to keep it up for a while.
That answers all the questions except what benefit you expect to gain from it. Why are you doing this?
--M. J. Young
I'm attempting to look inside for something dormant, perhaps.
A more specific sought benefit would be to feel energies flowing through, around, or within me. It's an attempt to get 'in touch' with myself in that way.
You meditate for about five minutes and find within yourself a power that might be tapped to reach beyond your own mind in some way. You do not as yet know what you might do with it.
A skill, listed behind the screens, has been added to your sheet.
--M. J. Young
This feeling that I get makes me somewhat ecstatic with possibilities.
At that, I find new strength to continue. I'll meditate like this for as long as I can hold this focus for. If I get tired or hungry, I'll stop and satiate those needs. Then, unless I'm in danger, I'll continue my meditation.
You maintain the concentration for another minute or so but then it drifts from you.
Michael is still standing staring at the mountain.
--M. J. Young
I'll pick my meditation up again from where I left off. I'll focus all of my attention on my breathing, like before, and continue.
I won't worry about my focus drifting or anything like that; however, if I do catch it drifting, I simply realign it to my breathing again. I'll keep this up for as long as I possibly can. Even if I drift out of focus, I'll go back into it as if nothing happened.
The ground shakes for about ten seconds. It rather disrupts your ability to concentrate, and you fail to recover the meditative state.
Michael has not moved.
--M. J. Young
Due to the ground shaking, I decide to stand up slowly to make sure that I don't fall. Then, I'll look to Michael.
"Well, looks like we're nearing the end of our short friendship. Perhaps in another verse, Michael DiVars." I'll offer him my hand to shake, then ask him, "So, if you believe you're sent here to face the volcano, am I to assume that you've already got a plan against it? Would you mind sharing that with me."
Without looking at you right away, he shakes your hand, and then his returns to the hilt of his sword.
When you ask the question, he turns from his vigilant gaze to look at you, and ponders for a moment.
"I have no expections of defeating the volcano," he says. "I expect this to be a test of my courage, that I will stand my ground against a foe of unimagined power in the midst of all the pain it can inflict. I plan, once more, to die fighting."
His eyes hold yours for another moment, and then return to the summit of the volcano.
--M. J. Young
"Now that I think of it-we could've been beating this volcano the entire time. We should've dug a trench accross the whole island and perhaps made a river. It'd block off the volcano, perhaps."
Then I shrug, and say, "But I suppose that's just hindsight speculation. I suppose that it's an ultimate test of will to stand your ground to an unbeatable force like this... However, I think it'd be better to even charge into it. C'mon, Michael, let's go at it head-on! Let's meet it at its peak, where its power is explosive!"
I'll start my hike toward the volcano; however, this time I'll be jogging towards it. I'll do this whether or not Michael joins me.
You rush forward, and begin the ascent.
Periodically the ground shakes, but you keep pressing upward.
It takes most of an hour to reach the summit. As you do, another shake destablizes the debris around the crater, and you find yourself caught in a landslide. You suddenly see an explosive burst of rock flying upward from the top of the mountain, but it vanishes as you are buried in the loose rock sliding with you. A deafening crack follows close behind the visual explosion, and the angle of your slide gets steeper, steeper--you are falling nearly straight down, as if the ground beneath you has opened.
Then it closes, and you feel a brief crushing pain and black out.
I need a flexibility for you. It's not urgent, but I should add it to my sheet. Can you touch your toes? Put your foot in your mouth (literally)? Put your foot behind your head? Both of them? At once? And walk on your knees?
Probably not, but give me some idea of how flexible you are.
Kurt's game continues in Kurtesy Kall: Kurt's Game Continues.
Court, if you return, pick up from where you left.
--M. J. Young