Leland looked at Marilyn. “That would be very…good.” He remembered something. “What were you going to tell me, that time I told you about my shidoin certificate? When you said, ‘I’ll tell you later.’”
Marilyn looked at Zanna, then back again. “In Aikido, there’s only one person who teaches yet is unranked. I was just wondering if Denesse was…”
Zanna blinked. “Interesting thought, sister. Very interesting. Maybe that’s what he had in mind.”
Leland looked from one sister to the other, then one of Michaela’s memories came to him. “Oh, no. No way.”
Marilyn shrugged. “It’s just that the Doshu is considered beyond rank. After all, you contain the woman who brought Aikido to this planet. She lived thirty years on Agatsu in the flesh and, from what I now understand, made frequent reappearances via the Helm, to keep Aikido on track.”
“Which will never happen again, no thanks to the Founders!” Leland shook his head violently. “It was never O-Sensei’s intention that Aikido be a fixed and static thing. He wanted it to evolve, to grow. And I’m not at the point Michaela was. She was a fifth dan when she arrived on Agatsu but she trained for thirty more years. I don’t have that experience.”
Zanna looked at him. “No, not yet—it’s like a lot of things in life. We’ll see.”
He looked at Marilyn for support, but she just shrugged.
“We will see.”
Epilogue
KACHIHA YABI: VICTORY AT THE SPEED OF SUNLIGHT
VULCAN PROBE MESSAGE #2563: EPSILON ERIDANI II
CO2: .278% O2: 22% N2: 77.5%
CHLOROPHYLL REFLECTIVE SPECTRA: 30% SURFACE AREA, 3% IN ORGANIZED FIELDS. ATMOSPHERIC HYDROCARBONS IN TRACE AMOUNTS. SOME PATTERNED ELECTROMAGNETIC ACTIVITY. CONCENTRATED THERMAL ZONES UNRELATED TO GEOLOGIC PHENOMENON.
EST HUMAN POPULATION: 500K ± 25K
REPEAT
PROGNOSIS: POPULATION VIABLE
MESSAGE ENDS
About the Author
Steven Gould lives in New Mexico with his wife, author Laura J. Mixon, and their two daughters. His short fiction has been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards and his novels have been chosen by the American Library Association as “Best Books For Young Adults.” Jumper was one of the hundred most banned books in America between 1990 and 1999 which only goes to show that people should read past page nine. Steven says the secret to teleportation is [THIS PASSAGE CLASSIFIED--REF: NSA-3443-ALPHA-HOTEL-ZEBRA].
Steven says the real secret to teleportation is reading. Be transported, imagine!
For more information about Steven, see his website (http://eatourbrains.com/steve).
Table of Contents
Copyright
Books by Steven Gould
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
Quote
Prologue: KATSU JIN KEN...THE SWORD THAT SAVES LIFE
Chapter 2: RENSHU...REN (REPEAT) SHU (LEARN) OR LEARN BY REPEATING
Chapter 3: KUZUSHIN...DISRUPTION OF BALANCE
Chapter 4: KIHON...FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
Chapter 5: UKEMI...LITERALLY RECEIVING [WITH/THROUGH] THE BODY
Chapter 6: KOSHIN...MOVING BACKWARD
Chapter 7: KI MUSUBI...KNOTTING UP, CONNECTING, KI
Chapter 8: TAMESHIGIRI...TEST CUTTING
Chapter 9: ZENSHIN...MOVING FORWARD
Chapter 10: HITORI WAZA... INVISIBLE PARTNER PRACTICE
Chapter 11: SETSUZOKU...CONNECTION
Chapter 12: TANINSUGAKE...TRAINING AGAINST MULTIPLE ATTACKERS
Chapter 13: NANKEN...BAD SWORD
Chapter 14: SEI...MOTIONLESS, INACTIVE
Chapter 15: IRIMI...TO ENTER
Chapter 17: SHIKAKU...POSITION RELATIVE TO ONE'S PARTNER WHERE IT IS DIFFICULT FOR THEM TO CONTINUE AN ATTACK
Chapter 18: SUTEMI...TO THROW AWAY THE BODY
Chapter 19: MA AI... PROPER DISTANCE
Chapter 20: AI UCHI...MUTUAL KILL
Chapter 21: KAESHI WAZA...REVERSALS
Chapter 22: KENSHO...ENLIGHTENMENT
Chapter 23: RANDORI...FREE-STYLE (ALL-OUT) TRAINING
Chapter 24: NINJYO...COMPASSION
Epilogue
About the Author