The Chronicles of Qi Read online

  Agnieszka and her two sisters stand behind her parents, who take their seats as the lawyer finishes browsing through some papers and looks up with an unamused expression.

  “So, you want the good or the bad news?” he asks in Silesian.

  Agni’s parents maintain an expression of solemn curiosity as her mother straightens in her seat and asks confused, “Is there something wrong?”

  “Not at all,” the lawyer answers, “but the following might come as a surprise.”

  “Please, what is it?” Agni’s father asks impatiently.

  The lawyer looks straight over his glasses at the children and turns to Agni’s mom.

  “Well, your beloved mother has left you the farmhouse,” he says blandly.

  “That’s it?” Agni’s mother asks with some irritation and leans back in her seat.

  “And your daughter Agnieszka the apartment in Krakow with everything in it, plus one thousand świnka (gold ruble) and this,” he opens the red velvet pouch in front of him and takes out an ancient necklace, holding the emerald-green gemstone of Agni’s grandmother in the air.

  The two sisters are visibly furious, unable to hide their jealousy. Agni on the other hand can’t help it but smile brightly and show relief.

  “Agnieszka, I’ll now need your signature,” the lawyer says.

  Envious looks follow Agni to the lawyer’s table where she sets her signature ‘A. Pilchowa’ under the testament of her grandmother.

  Weeks later, Agni breezes through her new apartment as she frantically searches for her keys. Her closet is filled with fresh clothes which her grandma willed her. She parted ways with her family immediately after she signed her name to the will and decided to stay by herself in Krakow.

  “Yes”, she jumps up in excitement as she finds the key right under the dresser and stands up, looking at her reflection in the mirror and thinks to herself how far she had come and how all this would not be possible without her grandmother. She misses her dearly and thinks about her always.

  Agni eventually steps out to the market square. She has made it a habit to go there every day as part of her tribute to her grandmother and loves taking long walks through the Krakow of 1904, passing by electric horse-drawn wagons, small shops with large canopies overlapping on the street and creating shades for passersby.

  Agni sees an elderly lady, and she looks just like her grandma, selling lilacs around the corner. She exchanges silent pleasantries with the lady and buys a bouquet of lilacs before proceeding toward a collection of dancers performing the traditional Krakowiak folk dance at the old town marketplace, comprised mostly of smaller pairs of a man and woman each.

  The women wear white shirts with broad sleeves and collars decorated with lace, colorful vests with sequins and rich embroidery, strings of coral beads, flowery skirts in bold patterns, partly covered with white lace aprons (plus multiple petticoats underneath), and wreaths of flowers with multi-colored ribbons in their braided hair (girls) or colorful, flowery kerchiefs (mature women). The high-laced red boots have heels with metal tips, to emphasize each stamp, click, or jump.

  The men wear long, dark, embroidered coats over white shirts, striped red and white pants that are tucked into the high red boots, and embroidered vests. Their characteristic accessories include a special belt with decorative strings of small, jingling metal plates, as well as a square hat, topped with peacock feathers. The costumes are lavishly ornamented, one could almost say that the effect of multicolored skirts, vests and embroidery is somewhat similar to the extravagant colorfulness of the peacock.

  Agni rushes through the crowd to the front row and watches the traditional Silesian dance performance in cheered wonder.

  One of the dancers, a young and very handsome man, catches Agni’s eyes in the crowd and flirts with her.

  He elegantly closes the gap between them and bows with a flourish, asking in grand gesture to join the Krakowiak. Agni, flattered and red, accepts the invitation with an extension of a slender hand to the man, following him into the circle.

  “So that you recognize a true Pole, I will dance and sing a dance of Krakow,” an old opera performer joins singing the performance.

  After the ensemble finishes their daily performance and Agni and her handsome dancer are finally able to exchange their addresses, she steps into an electric-drawn carriage and leaves the busy scene of the market square; once again, meditating on how her grandmother made all this possible.

  As Agni arrives in front of the city’s cemetery, she makes the long trip through the fields to her grandmother’s grave to lay there and contemplate of all the times her grandma saved her from bullies and how even in death, she saved her from the biggest bullies of all, her own family.

  Agni suddenly wonders how her sisters were doing because she heard they had been married off to sons of chicken rearers.

  Agni is happy this isn’t the life she had chosen and knows; she deserves better than that, she deserves more.

  ∞∞∞

  * BACK TO THE YEAR 2341*

  The stands of the grand amphitheater of the AN-CDC are rumbling with applause as the famed Chinese leader of the Special Forces Base (SFB), General Ma (Ma), enters the podium and begins to address the cluster of people near the stage.

  General Ma is easily six feet tall, having what one would call a stern face. His uniform is as straight as his back, with no sign of rumpling, not even a trace.

  The general observes the small gathering from end to end and tries to smile, a smile which starts and ends at the lips. It is pretty obvious that the general is a man of few words and even fewer smiles, but his face is the definition of ‘roguishly handsome’. Even in his 50s, Ma could still pull any woman he wants without doing too much.

  He walks from one end of the platform to another, studying the faces of the one hundred young men who have decided to give their lives for this planet and defend the dome cities from the Rebels.

  The one hundred combat and science professionals, expertly trained in Martial Arts and/or higher sciences, listen to the general speak of the honor involved in laying down your life for your nation and protecting it from its enemies.

  The new recruits are amazed as Ma shares his most interesting stories from the battlefield. He knows exactly how to motivate recruits; he has done it so much that it has become a second nature to him.

  One thing soldiers admire about the general is his truthfulness, because he never lies. His stories remain the same over the years, no inflation of numbers or situation. General Ma is the definition of honesty.

  After the recruits end their applause, whispers and side comments filter into the air. Everyone is both fascinated and afraid of Ma. The whispers get louder. One of the recruits, Lu Qiang, who was recruited from a farming village out in the boonies has a very loud voice and just does not shut up. He can never help himself, “I heard he castrated himself in order to get that tall.”

  Another soldier bursts out laughing and the general locks his eyes with him, disliking this impolite recruit already, wondering who might have been responsible for accepting his application.

  He ignores them and continues.

  “Welcome everyone,” General Ma goes on. “I’m glad to see that so many of you have come to join the SFB.”

  In the audience, wearing his Taoist robe, Wang stands out in the rows of uniformed faces.

  “You’re not from here,” the French accent catches Wang as he looks to the young man beside him.

  It is Philipe Bruno (Philipe), a 28-year-old sniper, charming with a healthy amount of humor and the self-confidence of a rock-star. His name is an abbreviation of the original French name ‘Philippe’ and usually describes a handsome, very charming guy, adored by the many women, who will always only pick one girl to show what a gentleman he is.

  “I’m Philipe Bruno,” he says. “French. Ex-European. Firearm Specialist.”

  “Wang Long Sheng,” Wang says in response. “Chinese. Monk.”

  Amusement streaks
across Philipe’s face, “Obviously. But do you have an English name? My chinois (Chinese) is a little rusty.”

  “Dragon,” Wang replies with a polite smile.

  Philipe does an elegant hand-move with a little bow on his seat and shakes Wang’s hand, “Enchanté, Dragon.”

  His response causes the fiery, exceptionally intelligent and smart, British-Chinese redhead, Jodie Conroy (Jodie) to turn around. Despite the conservative impression she usually gives off due to her high IQ, the colored hair stands as a symbol of freedom for Jodie and is a nice attachment to the beautiful phoenix tattooed on her fair skin, reaching from her belly button down to her lady-parts.

  “Shhh!” Jodie hisses.

  Philipe throws her a charming French smile and she frowns, before directing her attention back to the front. Philipe looks at Wang, clearly entertained.

  “She’s totally into me,” he grins confidently.

  On stage, General Ma continues with his speech, “You will now be assigned to a group under one of our team-leaders. Please open your welcome bags, activate your HWBs and line up.”

  The leaders take their position at the end of the seating rows closest to the stage, ready to welcome their team members.

  “After twenty days only twelve of you will make it to Section 8,” General Ma says with a rising eyebrow.

  “Therefore, be at your best and remember why you want to be here and not behind a desk. Every day in the morning, ask yourselves how to improve your performance and focus on the next drill. Be honest to yourself and to your teammates. And never forget to embrace your Qi.”

  In the audience, Wang’s interest is suddenly sparked, and he spots Zhao Yun in the front row turning around with a nod on General Ma’s note, just as Philipe hands Wang his bag. The two unwrap the stylish holographic wristbands that spin out digital images.

  “Mmmhhh. Très stylé,” (very stylish) Philipe says.

  “How do you...?” Wang asks slightly overwhelmed by the new high-tech update.

  Philipe shows him how to activate his HWB as the 3D-image of Sniper, a very athletic Special Forces Senior Officer with distinctive blue eyes, black hair, and a charming smile, pops up.

  Wang’s attention shoots back to Zhao who nods at Wang with an ensuring look in his eyes.

  Meanwhile, Philipe checks his HWB as well, receiving the same result.

  “Sniper that,” he says joking to Wang and grabs his bag. “On y va!” (let’s go)

  Wang follows Philipe’s example and the pair move toward their team leader’s row, just as Jodie crosses in front of them and Philipe immediately stalls.

  “After you, mademoiselle!” he says overly charming, trying his best to impress her.

  “Original,” Jodie retorts smirking and continues, taking her spot in the row.

  Wang and Philipe, smiling all over his face, follow after her. Together, they listen to General Ma on stage, who resumes with an introduction of their schedule.

  “The next four weeks will reveal the strength of your physical and mental abilities.”

  ∞∞∞

  While the next weeks go by in a flash, the general’s encouraging words, and the challenges he presented before everyone, follow Wang throughout his daily training.

  “Your day starts exactly at O-five-hundred,” his voice rings in Wang’s ear as he opens his eyes and looks out of a pane, realizing the about one hundred closed sleeping pods hovering above the ground, aligned in rows. Holographic monitors atop the pods display sleeping faces with information about heart rate, brain activity and other vitals. Wang is just about to feel his claustrophobia attack returning as the loud drone of an alarm finally sounds, and the pods open simultaneously. He is the first to step out of the pod and takes a deep breath, collecting his Qi.

  Next to his left and right, Philipe and Jodie get up as well. Jodie, in her typical fashion, doesn’t speak much as she stretches her entire body while Philipe on the other hand can’t wait to tell everyone literally everything that is coming to his mind, even though Wang seems to be the only one who listens.

  “Do you think they’re giving us a la boum (party) if we make it ‘til the end?” he asks and looks around, desperately waiting for an answer.

  “La what?” Wang wonders confused while lining up in the row and following the others out of the hall.

  “La Boum,” Philipe says and does a Cabbage Patch hiphop move, holding back the line behind them.

  “Hey, blockhead! Get your Patootie movin’! We don’t have all lightyears,” Lu Qiang roars from behind.

  “Zou! Zou!” (move) Wang says in Chinese, pushing Philipe forward.

  “You guys are way too nervous. Allez-y doucement…. mesdames et messieurs. Doucement,” (take it easy ladies and gentlemen) Philipe shouts back to the last row, catching up with the others.

  As the recruits reach the bathroom hall, a sea of into the ground lowered treadmill rows opens in front of them. Each treadmill features two double door systems, one with a self-automated, biological showering mechanism and another for dental care.

  Wang seems as nervous as on his first day at the monastery. He follows Philipe into one of the rows and looks over to Jodie who takes off her panties and her bra, and steps as naked as a jailbird on the treadmill.

  “I think you wanna see this,” Wang says as he taps Philipe on his shoulder, pointing to Jodie who noticeably enjoys presenting her goddess-like body to the howling male recruits.

  “Incroyable,” (amazeballs) Philipe responds downright hypnotized by her exotic beauty and misses a step. The next moment he faces the treadmill with his butt, trying to cover his Anaconda before Jodie and everyone else can notice, but too late. The picture of Philipe rolling like a naked French baguette on the production line is just too hilarious. Even Wang has to choke his laughter.

  “I hope you’re having a blast,” Philipe says more or less beaten and finally gets up after having made sure Jodie has disappeared through the double door system.

  Wang takes off his boxers and follows Philipe on the treadmill. As he passes through the gate, four sprayer arms wrap his body in a special absorb powder that is able to quickly eliminate all types of body fluid and chemical spillages. It can absorb up to 300 times its own weight in liquid and contains a bactericide to assist in inactivating harmful organisms.

  Powdered and neatly cleaned up like a newborn, the treadmill transports the still stunned Wang to the dental care gate where he’s asked via holographic instructions to bite on a piece of metal and open his mouth a little before another automated arm carefully slides a cheek retractor into it. The second arm now scans and quickly cleans his teeth, closing with a protective three micrometers thick gel coating containing calcium and phosphate. The gel stimulates the growth of new enamel and is repeatedly applied to the recruits in order to prevent the damage and failure of other organs caused by bad teeth.

  Wang reaches the end of the treadmill and picks up his short SFB track pants that don’t require any underwear. He slips inside them and exits the hall, catching up with Philipe who awaits him together with some other recruits in an underground shuttle.

  “Allez, vite, vite,” (quickly) Philipe winks Wang to the hover-shuttle. “Let’s show them what a real warrior is!”.

  “The first week you'll be tested in running, climbing, jumping, swinging, and more,” General Ma’s voice rings again in Wang’s mind when he steps out of the tunnel and finds himself in a never-ending forest of evergreens, starting with the drill.

  The soldiers, including Wang, Philipe and Jodie, are led by Sniper on a painful bare-foot sprint through the woods. Twigs snap underneath with every footfall, and they all bleed at their soles, pushing through with pained expressions.

  “Bordellll!” (fuck) Philipe shouts and takes his heels, trying to blend out the pain that flashes through his entire body.

  Wang naturally sprints beyond the group. He’s incredibly fast while Philipe and Jodie fail to keep up.

  “Dude, wait!” Philipe sounds from
far behind.

  Wang grins and does wait for the others to reach the finish line, he has been preparing for a challenge of this sort his whole life and he wasn’t going to let a few twigs and stones stop him from what he wants to achieve. A rapid bout of inhaling is all he needs to catch his breath.

  Sniper arrives at the finish line next; he looks at Wang with suspicion because the only recruit who had ever beaten their trainer during a drill was General Ma.

  When everyone finally reaches the finish line with their legs bleeding, bones aching, thorax almost collapsing, Sniper leads them to a foot bath at a close-by natural hot spring. A small dip of water, mixed with salt and other herbs to disinfect the wounds gotten from the run, awaits them.

  After their little break, Sniper takes them on their next drill, and he isn’t keen on patience. The mountain which he picked for the drill has a lot of steep edges. He warns the recruits about looking down while on the climb. With that being said, he is the first to start the climb without a rope.

  As he gets out of his jumpsuit to reveal a massively athletic body, looking like the Asian version of Hercules, Jodie feels her little Mamasita tingling. The only thought that flashes through her mind slaps her instantly, “Don’t cream your knickers!”. Sniper is without doubt doing something to her and she cannot decide whether she should like it or not.

  Meanwhile, Wang follows Sniper’s lead; he hooks himself firmly to the protruding rock and begins his journey up to the peak of the mountain.

  Other recruits start climbing the mountain, some enthusiastically and others more reluctantly. Wang on the other hand keeps gaining ground on Sniper, until he turns by his side and sees another recruit, Li Hai Jun.

  Hai Jun smiles at Wang, he is obviously enjoying the shocked look on his face. As they proceed up the mountain, Wang loses sight of Hai Jun, then all of a sudden, spots something falling from the sky and shifts from the point of impact. As soon as he recognizes that the falling body is Hai Jun and not a rock, his reflexes kick in and he stretches out a hand at his own risk, managing to catch the recruit. He swings his body to reduce the force and slams him against the rock of a nearby cave entrance.