1.07

Poems

Argonaut was sitting in the captains seat of the cockpit.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Shotokan, I did. I have come to realize that we haven't done any training with you."

"I beg your pardon?"

"You're part of this crew, Shotokan. At least you are until we reach port, then you can leave, if you wish. My question is, are you ready to train now?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Excellent! Follow me, then."

Argonaut led me to Felix's "lair," as he called it, where we found the guy typing a mile a minute. He didn't recognize us come in, which was odd; the boy had ears like a goddamned bat. Argonaut let out a quick cough to get his attention, in which he bolted upright at attention.

"Relax, Felix, we're only here for training. Could you load up the-" he froze, looking at the monitor. "I thought I told you to give up this silly idea."

"I'm certain it could work sir. I just need to work through some of the bugs." He held out his hands pleadingly.

"Felix, you know as well as I that such an idea is suicidal."

"But-" he interjected.

"No. It's ludicrous. End of discussion. We need to focus on training."

Felix's face lit up at the mention of training. He turned to me and said in a serious tone:

"Diagnostics or combat?"

"What?"

"Which first: diagnostics or combat?"

I thought for a while, then, "I already know combat, so I guess diagnostics."

"Excellent choice, lad." He led me to one of the chairs and strapped me down. "Anything you want to know first?"

"Yeah. You're traveling on a train heading east from San Diego…"

"Alright, asshole, I get it. Lemme see here…" he started rummaging through a box, and finally pulled out something that looked like a cybernetic playing card. "Let's see if you like a taste of this."

A wave of information hit me with the force of a falling piano: 01000001 01000010 01000011 01000100… The Alphabet! I was learning the alphabet in binary!

I was at a loss for words. Before, I didn't know a damned thing about computers, now I could speak in ones and zeros.

"What the fuck?" I finally managed to say.

"Do we like?"

"Dude, you taught me fucking binary. I never even memorized my multiplication tables, and now I can write a letter with ones and zeroes n' shit."

"Pretty cool, huh? Strap tight, little fella, 'cause we aint done."

"So, teaching me base-two is your diagnostics?"

"More or less; 'diagnostics' is just a fancier way of saying 'everything that's not combat.' Usually, newbies get all hyped up after combat and spend the diagnostics bored as can be. C'mon, we got more to do." With no warning what-so-ever, Felix taught me how to fly the ship.

After three hours of learning anything that Felix had to throw at me, he announced that it was time for combat training.

"Which d'ya wanna learn first: Pa Qua, Capoeira, or Kendo?"

I already knew Pa Qua and Kendo, so, "Capoeira."

"Excellent choice, my friend." He stood up, and cleared his throat. "Capoeira first began in Brazil, where-"

"Just load the damn card."

"Right, then." He sat down, stifling his chuckle, and loaded the martial art into my head.

Sure enough, I knew everything about it: everything from ginga to folha seca, yet something is missing. I had the technique, but…

"Stop," I said, "Something's not right." I stood up after unhooking.

"What's up? The computer said that it loaded just fine."

What was wrong? I knew everything about the style. I should be fine, but something was gnawing at me, an emptiness. At last, I knew it: I had the technique, but I lacked the poetry – the meaning of the form. I had learned the moves, but beauty of it left me. I was left with half of the Art.

Argonaut entered the room. "How's the training coming?"

"Not to good, boss. Shotokan here says that something's wrong with the last load-up, but the computer says he's fine."

"What's wrong?" He turned to me. I took a deep breath and told him what I had concluded.

"So, you're saying you received half of Capoeira ?" He cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Yes. I don't have the internal part of the Art. I don't want to learn the forms this way. It's not…" I struggled for the right word, "It's not… It's not…"

"Not what?"

"It's not…" I bit my lip, "Correct."

"Correct?" Argonaut looked at me in bewilderment.

"I have learned four martial arts before I red-pilled, and none of them are worth a damn thing unless you understand the poetry of the movements. Without it you're just swinging your arms around."

Argonaut leaned toward me, "Shotokan, with this method I have learned every documented martial art, and I can assure you that this method teaches you to fight as well as any other dojo."

Anger rose up in me. He didn't know anything about the internal aspect of fighting. To him, fighting was just hitting somebody until he or she stopped moving. I looked at him square in the eye and said, "Prove it, then."

"Prove it?"

"Yes, prove it; you and two of your best fighters up against me in the Construct. If you win, I learn your way. If I lose, I learn my way."

The captain thought about it. "If I win, not only will you learn my way, but you'll be given janitorial duty until I see fit. Deal?" He held out his hand.

My eyes narrowed, and I grasped his hand with mine. "Deal."