Robert Asprin: Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe

James looked uncomfortable for a moment, then grudgingly drew his sword. Hosato felt a quick wave of sympathy for the boy. He had run out of excuses and was now forced into doing combat with a fencing coach in front of an attractive woman. To say the least, it was an unenviable position.

Reluctantly the boy raised his sword into an awkward initiation of an en garde position.

Instead of responding in kind, Hosato simply stood facing him squarely, arms folded across his chest. They watched each other intently for a few moments; then Hosato cocked an expectant eyebrow.

The youth, suddenly realizing Hosato wasn’t going to do anything more in preparation, began to edge cautiously forward. Hosato remained motionless. Finally the boy screwed up his courage and poked his sword forward in a quick jab.

Without moving his hands, Hosato stepped leisurely backward, and the attack fell short.

He continued sauntering backward, and raised the control box to his lips once more. “Suzi!” he said loudly. “Give us a buzzer in five minutes, starting now!”

Tucking the box back inside his tunic, he reversed his field and approached the boy once more.

“Okay, James,” he said in a barely audible murmur. “Try it again, and this time act as if you mean it. We’ve got an audience!”

The boy flushed and sprang forward, not waiting for Hosato to stop moving. The blade darted toward his tormentor’s chest, but encountered only thin air. The target disappeared as Hosato pulled his left shoulder back, twisting his torso parallel to the advancing blade. The point passed harmlessly by, scant inches from his chest.

“Much better!” he said, retreating easily up one of the aisles. “A few more like that and I’ll have to start treating you seriously.”

The boy pressed forward, on the attack again, only to find Hosato had changed his track. He was standing sideways now, his right hand extended leisurely, as if holding an invisible sword.

Puzzled, the boy jabbed at the hand and missed again as the hand drifted back to its original position. Annoyed now, the boy stepped forward and tried to thrust past the hand at Hosato’s body. The blade was batted disdainfully aside by the hand that now seemed to be blocking the path of attack.

Hosato drifted sideways, putting the pool table between himself and the stalking youth. The boy paralleled his motion, sword extended over the width of the table, watching Hosato’s movements as a lynx watches a rabbit. Again he jabbed with the sword, only to find he had again misjudged the distance.

Hosato moved neither foot nor hand in defense, laughing at the boy’s frustration as the pool table brought his attack up short.

Suddenly the control box inside Hosato’s tunic started to tingle against his body. He risked a glance over his shoulder. Sasha was standing with her back to them, closely examining the robot.

There was a flash of movement in the corner of his eye, and Hosato snapped his attention back to the fight. Too late. During his moment of distraction, the boy had slipped around the end of the pool table and was sprinting at his tormentor with his sword at full extension.

Hosato was caught flatfooted. The sword point was scant inches from his body and there was no way he could defend himself—legitimately.

Reflex action took over. Hosato dropped to the floor under the speeding sword point. As he did, his foot lashed out in a vicious kick. In that flashing moment, his conscious mind regained partial control but not in time. He checked the main force of the kick and moved the point of impact from the diaphragm to the stomach, but that was all he could do.

The kick landed, and the boy doubled over and collapsed on the floor. The sword slipped from his fingers and clattered noisily away as he gasped for breath.

Hosato rippled to his feet and was at the boy’s side in an eye blink. “Are you all right, James?” he asked, lifting the youth by his armpits to aid his breathing.

All the while, he was cursing reflexes—his reflexes and his inattentiveness. To give himself away this early in the game.

“What happened?” demanded Sasha, standing beside them.

“He… he kicked me!” the boy gasped.

“Nonsense!” Hosato snapped indignantly. “The boy got overenthusiastic and ran into the corner of the table there. Knocked the wind out of him.”

“You said you wouldn’t use karate!” the boy whined accusingly, ignoring Hosato’s protest.

“I told you I don’t know any karate!”

“This can be settled easily enough,” Sasha interrupted. “Let’s see the replay on your cameras, Hayama.”

Her voice was casual, but her eyes were studying Hosato with soft suspicion.

“An excellent suggestion,” Hosato said, fishing the control box out of his tunic. “Suzi. Camera five. Display replay. One minute back.”

The view screen winked obediently to life, and two figures swam into focus. Hosato waited, poised, as James circled wide around one end of the pool table the boy darted forward Hosato floated lightly behind the table again James tried to change his course, slammed into the corner of the table, doubled over, and rolled off onto the floor…

“Interrupt, Suzi!” Hosato ordered.

The screen went dark again.

“You see. The boy just—”

A raucous buzzer went off in the robot.

“What was that?” Sasha demanded.

“The signal that five minutes is up. I forgot to cancel the timing order.”

Sasha ignored his answer and turned to the boy again. “Well, James. Was that what happened?”

The boy was still sitting on the floor staring thoughtfully at the dark view screen.

“Huh. Oh. Yeah, Sasha. I forgot about the cameras. I was just trying to get out of taking fencing lessons.”

Now it was the boy’s turn to suffer the security chief’s piercing study.

“In that case, I think you owe Hayama here an apology.”

James lurched shakily to his feet and extended his hand.

“I’m sorry, Hayama. All things considered, I’ve changed my mind. I’d like to take those lessons, if you’ll have me as a student.”

The boy had given up too easily. There was a new depth in his gaze that hadn’t been there when they first met.

“Certainly I’ll have you, James,” Hosato said, accepting the handshake. “If anything, I should apologize to you for putting you through such a rough first lesson.”

The boy picked up his sword and resheathed it.

“If it’s all right,” he said, “I think I’ll go lie down for a while. I’m still a little queasy from that accident.”

“Go ahead.” Hosato smiled. “Same time tomorrow?”

“Right.”

“Wait outside a minute, James,” interjected Sasha. “I’ll walk along with you.”

The boy hesitated, then nodded and left.

“We’ll have to have dinner together, Hayama. Sometime soon?”

Sasha’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. Hosato ignored the warning bells going off in the back of his mind.

“Sure, Sasha,” he said, forcing a smile. “Any particular reason?”

“Nothing special. You’re the newest person on the staff, and I know the least about you. I thought it might give us a chance to get to know each other better.”

“I thought those application forms I filled out were pretty complete.”

Sasha smiled as if at some secret joke. “Forms seldom tell the whole story.”

“Well, how about tonight, then?”

“There’s no hurry. No one leaves the complex without my approval.”

She turned and followed James before Hosato could reply, which was fortunate, because he couldn’t think of one. He stared about the twosome for a few moments, then thoughtfully began to collect his remote cameras.

“Suspicious bitch!” said Suzi.