“Now, then,” he said firmly. “From the top. A disengage attack the old one-two. What are we trying to do?”
“Hit the opponent,” James replied.
“Hit the opponent,” Hosato mimicked. “That’s what you’re trying to do with any fencing move.”
James gave a small sigh of exasperation. “The disengage attack is intended to negate your opponent’s defensive speed,” he recited. “As the defender has to move his weapon only four inches to parry an attack, and an attacker has to move his point four feet to score a hit, the defender is able to easily stop a straight lunge. Therefore, to successfully complete an attack, we first feint, drawing the opponent’s parry, then evade or deceive the parry and launch the actual attack.”
“Correct,” commented Hosato, picking up his own sword. “Now, watch.”
He came en garde smoothly, facing the boy, hesitated a moment, then extended the point without twitching any other part of his body.
James watched with rapt interest.
Hosato withdrew his arm to resume the en garde position once more. “You didn’t react,” he said accusingly.
“React to what?” the boy asked, surprised. “That’s what I’m trying to show you.” Hosato smiled. “Heeii!”
He was suddenly a blur of motion. His foot hit the floor with a slap as he crouched, sighting down his arm and sword at James’s chest. The boy’s reaction was instantaneous and reflexive. He bounced back a step, and his sword whipped up to defend against the attack.
Hosato relaxed and stood upright again. “That time you reacted.” He smiled. “Why?”
“I thought you were going to hit me,” the boy retorted, cautiously relaxing his guard.
“Look at the distance between us. Even if you hadn’t jumped back, I couldn’t have reached you with my longest lunge.”
James studied the floor between them.
“A feint isn’t a move, it’s a threat. The first time, when I just pointed the sword at you, I made a move. You didn’t feel threatened, so you didn’t react. The second time, you felt threatened and reacted. That was a feint. It isn’t done with the sword or even the sword arm. It’s done with the entire body, and most of all with the entire mind. Now, let’s try it again.”
James obediently took up his position in front of the robot again. Hosato’s practiced eye noted the tension still in the boy’s sword arm. Apparently his student was getting tired. They’d have to end this lesson soon.
The boy feinted and attacked, better than last time but still clumsy. Surprisingly, Suzi reacted, moving smoothly to parry the feint. The boy’s disengage slipped under the parry, and his point thumped home against the manikin.
“Good!” Hosato called. “Try it again.”
To himself, he wondered for the hundredth time about Suzi’s circuits. If the Hungarian had not assured him time and time again Suzi had no emotional capacity, he would have sworn she was going soft, overreacting to give James confidence.
He let James complete half a dozen repetitions before commenting again.
“Much better,” he called out at last. “Okay, let’s call it a day.”
The quick sag in the boy’s body betrayed his carefully concealed fatigue. Hosato pretended not to notice.
“Tell you what, James,” he said. “When you get home, find a full-length mirror and practice your lunge in front of it, lunging dead ahead at your own reflection. Then alternate the lunges with feints. When you can’t see the difference between your lunges and your feints, you’ll be ready to fool an opponent.”
The boy nodded weakly.
“Okay,” Hosato concluded, turning quickly away to store his gear in Suzi. “Same time tomorrow?”
“Urn… Hayama. Could… can we talk?”
Hosato shot a glance at the boy. He was still drooping with fatigue, but there was something intense about his eyes.
“Sure, James.” He smiled, wandering over to a folding chair. “What’s on your mind?”
The boy hesitated, then followed him. “I’ve been taking lessons for two weeks now…” he began, “… and you say I’ve been learning fast…”
“You have.” Hosato wondered what this conversation was leading to.
“You meant it, didn’t you. You weren’t just saying that?”
“Seriously, James, you’re one of the best students I…” He broke off his comments as a thought occurred to him. “You haven’t gotten into a duel, have you?”
Hosato was suddenly towering over the boy.
“What. No. Nothing like that.”
“Good.” Hosato sighed, sinking back into his chair. “What is it, then?”
“I… I was wondering. Do I show enough promise for you to take me with you… as sort of an apprentice?”
Hosato was surprised by the sudden wave of affection he felt for the boy.
“James,” he said, shaking his head slowly, “being a duelist is a lousy way to earn a living. That’s why I’m trying to give it up. You wouldn’t—”
“I’m not talking about being a duelist or a fencing master.”
The sharpness in James’s tone brought Hosato’s head up with a snap. Their eyes met.
“That isn’t what you’re doing here, Hayama.” The boy’s voice was as steady as his gaze. “You know it, and I know it, so let’s not kid each other. Okay?”
Hosato’s protest died in his throat before that gaze. Instead, he studied the boy coolly for several moments.
“All right, James,” he said at last. “What is it exactly that you think I’m doing?”
“I… I don’t know,” the boy admitted, his certainty faltering at last. “Theft maybe industrial espionage maybe you’re just hiding from the authorities. Whatever it is, you’re no fencing coach.”
“Really?” Hosato forced a mocking smile.
“Oh, you can coach fencing, all right, but that’s not all you can do. Maybe you can fool my father, or Sasha, or even the computers, but remember, I’m the one you kicked your first day here. I have that as proof that you and Suzi there are more than you pretend to be.”
“If you’re so sure of yourself, James, why haven’t you reported your suspicions to someone?”
James made a face. “First of all, they’d probably just laugh it off as some kid whining about losing a fight. But more important, because I’m hoping you’ll take me with you when you finally leave this rock-pile.”
Hosato shook his head. “I don’t understand you, James. You want to take off with someone you don’t know, someone you think is a criminal. What kind of future is that. What are you expecting?”
“What kind of future do I have here?” the boy countered. “Whatever or whoever you are, you’re living outside the structure outside the accepted rules. That’s what I want, but I can’t do it by myself. I don’t have the money or the knowledge to try it on my own, and when you’re playing for keeps, you can’t afford to learn by trial and error. I need a teacher or a protector and so far, you’re the best candidate I’ve found.”
“What’s so bad about life here?” Hosato pressed. “Your father—”
“My father!” The boy sneered. “My father can’t comprehend that anyone might not want to work for the corporations, the same corporations that have shelved him. They’ve decided he’s too volatile and outspoken to be promoted, but too talented to let go. So they’ve set him up as a big man in a little slot, given him a staff to order around and a product family so stable even an idiot couldn’t mess it up, and then they forget him.”
“Maybe your father doesn’t see it that way.”
“Sure he does. He’s a lot of things, but he isn’t stupid. He knows he’s been shelved, but instead of walking out and trying it on his own, he’s fighting it. Security robots. A revolutionary new product. Did you know he’s been ordered to drop the project. And he’s still spending fourteen hours a day working on it. For what. So he can get slapped down again when he finally makes his proposal?”