Project Eximius
by Moonraker One

CHAPTER TWO – Masterworks

Young Akira Toya next found himself in a part of the complex he'd never seen before; the center for secondary training. Only forty superhuman candidates had ever passed through the doors marked with a restricted sign. Of those, only eighteen had ever gone forth into active duty out in the field of fighting. The young Go student found his amazement stimulated. He saw all variety of students of numerous nationalities utilizing their powers in various ways. Some were just walking down the hall, while others sat in closed observation rooms. One subject looked up from a four inch sphere of blue energy he twirled midair with his index finger to see Akira. Another floated a few inches above the ground as he headed towards his room. The first girl he saw sat in a chamber, reading off cards held by a scientist behind her back. It astounded him how ordinary these people looked.

"Okay, Akira," the guide stated, "For your observation and testing, you'll be in gymnasium number five." He waved with his hand towards a door thirty feet down the hall. "These will simply be a test of your abilities. There won't be anything complicated, like threshold analysis today." Calmly, he waited outside the door for the young student to enter before shutting the door. Akira shot him a glance as he walked into the gym.

"Toya-san!" One of the proctors waved at him and signaled for him to take off his suit. Piece by piece, he removed his jacket, tie, shirt and pants, revealing his red and blue undersuit with the S shield and his name on the front. "Today, we're going to test your abilities, to see a basic overview of what you're capable of. I've got a baseball launcher here, and I want you to either catch or deflect the ball. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Akira calmly responded. He nodded, readying his hands.

"Alright, then." The proctor activated the machine with a lever, and it started roughly, with a loud bang and then some rigid engine idling noise. The first ball shot out of the cannon, with a familiar "thoomp" of air escaping. Akira saw it fly towards him at incredible speeds, possibly over a hundred and fifty miles per hour. However, as he focused on it, and it approached him closer, it began to slow down. At first, its rate of deceleration wasn't terribly noticeable; as it was about twelve inches from him, however, it seemed almost to freeze in midair. Curious, he brought his hand up and caught it, and noticed that it barely had any pressure behind it at all. It startled and amazed him, even after having stopped the bullet just yesterday.

Several scientists observing the room from behind safety glass wrote down the results. The proctor in the gym moved the machine about twenty feet closer, significantly closing the gap. "Okay, Toya-san, let's see if you can stop it at this distance." The familiar air rushing sound exited the tube as another baseball fired out. It sailed through the air at the same incredible speed as the previous one, and managed to get the same distance from him as before when it slowed to a crawl yet again. Without fail he reached out and caught it again. As yet more results were written by scientists, the machine moved to a scant eight feet from where Akira stood. "This will be the final test of this type today, let's see how you fare against this short of a distance." For the third and final time that day, a baseball shot out of the cannon and rocketed towards the boy. At the mere distance of eight feet, it almost struck him in the chest before he shot his arm out and caught it. A grumble and a winding sound echoed through the gym as the machine powered down once the lever got pushed into its previous position. "That was exceptional, Toya-san, you may get dressed now and head back to your second sector quarters."

"Thank you, doctor," Akira said, bowing. He slid the dress pants over the blue leggings of his undersuit, and over the red underwear-like section of the pelvis, affixing the belt so his khakis stayed on. His white shirt he stuck his arms into and buttoned it up over the blue torso area of his undersuit, slowly covering his red S shield with its yellow background. Then he tied his tie and put on his suit jacket. The undersuit was fairly uniform for all test subjects; the features were the same with only their names different emblazoned on the front, with the last name over the S of the shield and the first name below it. However, they got to choose whatever suit they wanted. The dress suits being different, the scientists believed, would promote individuality while the undersuits being uniform represented teamwork.

While he stepped out of the gymnasium and into the common hallway of sector two, he saw more of the young people chosen for secondary training. He knew the reason they got moved to sector two was so that they could be prepared for field use as superhumans. Some of them looked quite familiar; as he had seen them in primary testing. There were a few, though, that he'd never seen before. Some of them weren't even of Asian descent. There was at least one with western European features and bright colored hair. He made his way to his chambers, scanning around for various faces, then he sat down and got out his goban. Within a few moments he had gotten out both colored stones and prepared to go over a game between two professionals a long time ago when he heard a knock on the door. He looked up. It was a young boy with brown hair that seemed to stick out towards the sides, though not extremely. "Hello," Akira politely inquired, "who are you?"

The boy made a gesture with his two index fingers together. "I'm Yoshitaka Waya," he introduced. Looking at Akira sitting on his bed, with a goban on the table, he shook his head. "So, this is the star pupil, Akira Toya, that all the scientists seem to be going on about being the 'most powerful psion' they'd ever seen." He teased a strand of the boy's hair with his index finger. "Honestly, I'd expected you to look really masculine."

Akira laughed a bit. "Well, I guess appearances can be deceiving." He motioned to the board. "Do you want to play?" He tapped the board once with his finger. "After all, you might give girly little me a run for my money."

Waya chuckled. "I don't think so, with you being the son of Toya Meijin and all, but this'll be fun." He sat down in a chair across from Akira. "Tell me, when did you get to the institute?" He placed a stone.

Akira looked up at him for only a brief instant before placing a stone. "I was about six years old when my father got a call from these people. They said they'd give me the finest education in Japan for no money at all." He waited for Waya to make his move and then he responded in turn. "My father might have lots of money from winning titles at Go, but you dangle the offer of 'free' in front of a person, and they'll go for it."

Waya carefully planned his next move after Akira placed a stone. "So, what do you really feel about this place?" Akira made a play and so he placed a stone to reply. "I mean, who knows why they're teaching us to develop our powers."

Akira made a strategic attack. "Yeah, you've got a point. I've always wondered that myself, but after all, there is a law in place where they can't misuse our powers. By the way, what are your powers?" His foe made a move and he made one as well.

"Photokinesis," Waya replied. "I can manipulate light with my mind." Akira made another move, and Waya did as well. "You? What're yours?"

Akira shook his head as he carefully plotted his next move. "I really don't know if I've even unlocked them all," he admitted, trying to be humble. "So far I'm impervious to harm, have super strength, and can move really fast." He made a move that was quite effective.

Waya did his best to retaliate to his opponent's attack. "Sounds like you're quite the salad bowl of powers. And you may have even more? Wow. I'd definitely want you by my side in a dark alley." His foe's assault damaged his ability to further his goal of territory, but he placed a stone that turned out to be quite a good move.

"Thanks. You can be quite useful yourself. I can think of at least a dozen different good uses for being able to manipulate light." He laughed mildly as he thought of a joke. "Hey, in the future, people might call you 'Doctor Light'!" Waya laughed out loud at that one. Akira placed a stone in defense to his enemy's attack, and after careful deliberation, the boy responded.

"Doctor Light," Waya chuckled, "that's a good one. What would I be a 'doctor' of?" This only caused them both to laugh again. More moves were played between the two of them. Both were amazed at the skill of the other. Waya could not believe how powerful Akira's go was, while Akira couldn't believe how effectively and for how long his foe skirted his strongest attacks with only minimal loss to territory.

For approximately fifteen more minutes the game prolonged. Waya found he simply could not overcome the level of skill that his opponent possessed, and he lost by eight points. Even though he felt Akira was not going all out, he bowed at respect for the skill utilized. The two shook hands and the light-effecting boy parted the room. Before leaving, though, he waved his hand in the air again. "If you ever want to play a game, I'm only six rooms down to your left."

"Goodbye, Doctor Light," Akira joked. He sat down and listened to music as he set up the goban for another simulated game. This time, it was a different set of professionals from the ancient world as he carefully analyzed every move between them in the book on his table. Piece by piece, he replayed the old game and saw the importance of every individual move. It took him only a half hour to finish the whole game, and at the end, he put his music player down and replaced his goban into the box. He knew that in a matter of an hour, there would be yet more instruction. Each day consisted of several different classes. These classes taught them everything they needed to know, from advanced science and math to philosophy and history.

Immediately after he finished his required work for the upcoming science class, he went to the bathroom and relieved himself. Checking the bathroom clock, he realized he had just enough time to take a quick shower and change before class. Hastily, he stripped completely naked. His dress suit and the blue and red under-suit he placed into a metal basket and slid down the laundry chute near the toilet. Into the shower, he turned on the water and relaxed from the excitement of having been moved to secondary training. The idea of being entered into field service hadn't really hit him yet, so he thought about what it meant. It meant he'd be utilizing his powers in the name of those who had been less than fortunate, and ensuring the safety and peace of the people. Never before had he embarked on a journey of such. It wasn't the power that he had that concerned him; it was the uncertainty of his own resolve. He knew his flaws; he knew they were apparent. He just hoped he could be selfless enough. As he washed his body and hair, he broke down the individual points of concern in his head.

After having cleaned himself, Akira put on a pair of briefs and slid a new under-suit over it. Then, he picked out one of his dress suits to wear. It didn't take but a few minutes to get fully prepared. Once dressed, he grabbed the science text and his papers. The hallway led down several passageways until he made it to the classroom. Entering, he took his seat.

"Welcome to physics, students," the teacher introduced. From their seats, the students bowed. "Today, we will be learning about the nature of psionic interaction. This is vitally important, because it is the basics of how your powers result from your mind and end in some effect in the physical world." He brought up a diagram of the electromagnetic spectrum. "The familiar types of energy which were known until the discovery of psychics are all here. The actual energy that causes these interactions comes from the various centers of your brain that are activated psionically."

"You see, students, each type of ability uses the same mechanism: the parts of your brain emit energy waves that travel through the higher dimensions—the ones we can't see—and stimulate target particles to do the things that result in your abilities." A student raised his hand. "Yes, Kodacho?"

"What are the higher dimensions, sensei?"

"I will reiterate what was said in a previous lesson." He brought up a list of the dimensions. "We are familiar with three dimensions of space: height, width, and depth, and one dimension of time; but these are not all. On the subatomic scale, smaller than the atom, there are more dimensions that are invisible to the human eye." He pointed out the individual aspects of quantum theory involving the higher dimensions. "You see, some particles, like electrons, are so small they can actually be both particles and waves at the same time." He pointed to a random member of the classroom. "Let's say Mitsuro here, who can levitate things with his mind, activates his power. The electrons moving between the pathways in his brain stimulate the electromagnetic waves that travel through these higher dimensions and affect gravitons, which in turn cause the target of his abilities to levitate. Understand?" He got several nods.

"Any time a psionic power is activated, the cause is the electric pathways in your brain stimulating vibrations of electromagnetic energy in the higher dimensions, and it affects some target some distance away. Whether it be solid, liquid, gas, or otherwise, this is what causes your powers to work." He wrote on the dry-erase board a series of pages in the textbook to read. "In order to get a better grasp on this, here are some pages I want you to read before the hour is up."

Akira read the pages with much enthusiasm. He looked at the diagrams of energy radiating forth from the mind and being directed by thought, and affecting the world around it, and marveled at the thought. It seemed to him like everything had a connection to everything else. The pictures seemed to communicate the gist of it better than the actual text, but he read both just to make sure that he had the full idea and not some partial clue. Actually reading about his powers made him feel more important than he particularly cared for, but he was able to suppress the feeling rather well.

Once he finished the text, there wasn't but a few minutes remaining, so he sat and thought about the nature of what he had just learned right before he left the classroom. It still remained with him as he headed towards the cafeteria. He shook it off as he entered the food area. The large indoor cafeteria had at least twenty tables. The line began near a metal divider by the far right wall. At least a dozen students were in a gathered line by the entrance way. He stood in line, not knowing what was going on.

"Okay, students, here is the drill," one of the officials said, holding up a red stick. "We're going to do a little test. Whoever reaches this stick first, gets to go through the line first." He heard several groans. "Don't worry, there's enough food for everyone. We just want to see abilities in use." He placed it on a table near the far back of the room. "When I lower my hand," he raised his arm above his head, "you can begin. Any of your powers you may use, just please try to do no damage to the structure." With the students eager in anticipation, he dropped his arm.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl around Akira. He utilized his super speed to burst ahead of the crowd. Some energy users hurled bolts of various types at him, some telekinetics tried to slow him down, while others tried to bound above him with force from their mind. He confidently left them in his dust and sped with incredible speed towards the stick. The red painted stick an inch away, he began to wrap his fingers around it.

And a blur zoomed past him, and it was gone.

Immediately, everyone came to a halt. A smiling figure waved the stick above his head.

From the back one of the students burst out in anger. "Shindo!" The muscular telepath in the back screeched. "You're an arrogant little prick, you know that, Hikaru?"

Hikaru Shindo laughed at him. "You're just mad because even the fastest of you get left in the dust," he bragged. "I'm there and back, like a flash."