Legacy of a Mad Scientist

“This is a mixed martial arts course, you will be
taught many things, and you will be tested. But first, I'd like to
know, do any of you have experience in the martial arts?”

About half the students raised their hands. Ashley
didn't raise hers. Despite two previous summers of similar courses,
she did not count herself as experienced.

"Now, how many of you have been hit, hard, in the
face?" Sihing Shou asked.

Several hands went up, but some were timid,
uncertain.

"I mean really hard, bloody nose, fat lip, black eye.
How many?”

Only a few hands remained aloft.

Shou pointed to one boy and asked, "Who hit you?”

"My brother hits me all the time," he said, pointing
at his brother, standing a few spaces away.

Shou and several others laughed. Ashley noticed that
the boy, however, was not laughing. She suspected he was very
interested in how to put a stop his brother’s dominance.

"And you?" Shou gestured to another boy.

"My father," came the answer.

Shou pointed again.

"A kid in my class.”

"Has anyone here ever been hit while in the ring?"
Shou asked.

All the hands went down.

"When you are in a fight, if you are ever in a fight,
you must fight for your life. It will be at that moment when you
are weak, tired, probably very hurt, that is when you must act to
save your life. We will help you get to that place and teach you
how to think while you're there.”

Instructor Shou walked along the front of the room.
"Someone may come, an outlaw, the government, a king, they may take
all of your possessions. They may steal your clothes, eat your food
and burn down your house, but you can survive all of that.

“You may have nothing, but you will never be
defenseless. Knowledge is the greatest power and it is something no
one can see. It cannot be stolen or broken. No one can take it from
you.

“When you leave here, you will be in possession of
new knowledge. You will know things you did not know when you
arrived. You will have earned it, paid for it in sweat and blood
and it will be worth much more than money."

Copyright © 2012 John Carrick

ISBN 978-0-9836916-3-1

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Published by Alpha Channel Books, at Smashwords.

The characters and events in this book are
fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is
coincidental and not intended by the author.

Alpha Channel Books

www.AlphaChannelBooks.com

www.TrialsofAsh.com

2012

Trials of Ash

Volume One

Legacy of a Mad Scientist

Artist: Jay Arcilla.

Designer: Liezel Co

Editors: William Greenleaf, Karl Morgan, James
Borrelli

First Expanded Edition

Acknowledgements and Special Thanks

My family, my parents, Bill and Therese, my brothers
and sisters, Sam, Bill, Megan, Therese, Tom, David, Patrick,
Daniel, Edward, Brian, Elizabeth, Mary Kate and Bridget. Uncle Bob
and Aunt Lucy, Uncle Dan and Aunt Paula, Aunt Mary Helen and Uncle
Larry McCarthy, my cousins, Tim and David, Brandon, Matthew and
Amber. Kathleen, Colleen and Brian, and my extended family across
the country, I’ve learned so much from all of you.

I am also deeply indebted to the friends of a
lifetime, Patrick, Chris, Frances, Elizabeth, Margaret, Maureen and
Alison Tully, George-John, Oscar and Joan Pinz, Charlotte and Dale
Finch and their family, Tim Hennip, David Webb, Dan and Dave
Wilkinson, Rob McAndrews, Mike Ruemelin, Bob Julian, Jeremy
Biggerstaff, Daniel and Michelle Sullivan, Mike and Lynn Stengal,
Kim Comstock, Matt and Garth Clewis, Matt Budney, Alec O’Connor,
Mark Foppe, Adam Lazaar, Wayne Steinmetz, Frank Mueller, Kathy
Shleet, Michael Salgado, Steve Zagraphos, Shannon Coffee, Don
Shivers, Patrick Graham, Michael Zager, Katherine Rippy, Max Wicks,
Jennifer Golovin, Gary and LeAnn Fidorowitz, Scott, Al, Beau, Wally
and the entire G&L Electric crew, the Westfall Family, Angela
Battistelli, Lisa Haley, Senator O’Brien, Sean Aldrin, Rinzi Ruiz,
Jay Racelis, Jayson Arcilla, Tony Ross, Samantha Tyernik, Carmello
Di Bella, The Sweedish Rockers: Daniel Olofsson, Johnan Elfving and
Ulrick Zander, Krisakorn Tanitmet, Tim Rush, Ken Yankee, Jennifer
Russakoff, Brandi Griffith, Meghan Scott, Julie Choi, Rob Hampton,
Doyle Dean, Dan Didsbury, Tony Diaz, Jason Robertson, Deborah
Schlaff, Paul and Alison Smith, Mikko Alanne, Karl Morgan, everyone
at Fan Story, Zach Tyson, Mike Gallagher, Matt Taylor, Brian
Dawson, Frank Glacey, Lee Levi, Eli Ramirez, Robert, Keri, Ronald
MacGregor, Shirley Daniel, Nathon Plumlee, Barry Gast, Jeff
Carrillo, Jim Borrelli, Professor and Doctor Carl Totton, Brett
Rushworth, LB, Simon, Roman, Johnny Blue, Gideon, Thorne Humphrey,
Justin Waggle, Charlotte, Hashim Thomas, Rob Newman and Liezel
Co.

Thank you all so much.

Special thanks

Denise Poirier, Peter Chung and Mark Mars. Also
Shirow Masamune.

The Authorities
- Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien, Victor Hugo, Miguel de
Cervantes, Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, Richard K.
Morgan, James Ellroy, Ken Kesey, Arthur Miller, Elmore Leonard,
Joseph Conrad, Phillip Roth, Thomas Wolfe, Joseph Heller, Stan Lee,
Robert E. Howard, Cormac McCarthy, Ernest Hemmingway, William
Faulkner, Vladimr Nabakov, Albert Camus, Oscar Wilde, William
Gibson, Ray Bradbury, Futaro Yamada, Hiroaki Samura, Thomas Cleary,
Fydor Doystevesky, Homer, Gaius Julius Caesar, Publius Ovidius
Naso, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Plato, Socrates, Sophocles, William
Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, John Dee, Dante Alighieri, James Joyce,
John Milton, Eliphas Levi, George Bernard Shaw, Thomas Paine,
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ayn Rand, Jun Fan Lee, John Lennon,
Paul McCartney, Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV, Quentin
Tarantino, Kurt Sutter, John Wells, Aaron Sorkin, Oliver Stone, Guy
Ritchie, Ben Edlund, Sylvester Stallone, Joss Whedon, Robert Towne,
William Goldman, Christopher McQuarrie, Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis,
Neil Gaiman, Neil Stephenson, Orson Scott Card, Terry Brooks,
George Orwell, Ralph Ellison, Isaac Asimov, D. H. and T. E.
Lawrence, R. A. Heinlein, H. G Wells, J. D. Salinger, T. H. White,
Mary Shelley, Brahm Stoker, Akira Kurosawa, Shimozawa Kan, Grant
Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Clive Barker, Alan Moore, Harper Lee,
George R.R. Martin, Donna Tartt, Nichola Tesla, Lian Hearn, Nelson
Mandela, Gautama Siddhartha, Mahatmas Gandhi, Lao Tzu, Sun Tzu,
Jesus Christ and Hunter S. Thompson.

Also:
Joseph Campbell, Syd Field, Christopher Vogler, Robert McKee,
Blake Snyder, Anton Chekhov, Stan Lee, John Buscema, Scott McCloud,
Scott McDaniel, J. Scott Campbell, Neal Adams, Reuben Apodaca,
Dennis Grigoleit and Frank Miller.

Dedication,

This book is dedicated to you, the reader.

I sincerely hope you enjoy The Legacy of a Mad
Scientist.

Best,

JC

February 23, 2288 ad.

Dr. Fox set the black metal device on the desk; he'd
felt its need. The machine was hungry and would have to be fed. He
looked around the facility and let the dull emptiness fill his
ears.

The bay was abandoned at this hour. Decoratively
spare to the point of empty, clusters of terminals stood separated
by sheets of particleboard. Couches leaned against the cold metal
walls.

Fox knew getting caught with a second unauthorized
invention would be his last mistake; nothing would save him from
another charge of treason. He looked out the window,
procrastinating.

Even in this he was frustrated, seeing only his
reflection staring back from outside the glass. The conference
center hovered at ten thousand feet, over international waters,
where certain legislative restrictions could not reasonably be
enforced. Here, the right to privacy was sacred. After all, that
was the whole point of a secret weapons conference, out in the
middle of nowhere.

Dr. Andrew Fox was tall and lean, his physique that
of an obsessive scientist, who ate when he had to and rather
resented the activity. The device was not as forgiving about its
needs and flashed another reminder across his mind.

He scanned the area, again listening intently, taking
every precaution before so blatantly exposing himself. Thank God
the facility was used for dubious projects. During the past week,
he’d searched but found no surveillance equipment. If there were no
cameras, he was safe.

Fox triggered the feed tray and watched it extend
from the rectangle, its matte finish absorbing light. He opened the
center drawer of his assigned desk and fished out some change and a
letter opener. He set the coins and blunt knife next to the feed
tray and closed his eyes.

In his mind’s eye, Fox called forth the utility menu.
He could operate the device with his eyes open, but it was easier
to focus on the visual cues without the added distraction of sight.
He enabled the ingestion program and checked the thing's vitals.
Everything looked normal; the cache was low, available reserves in
the mid range.

Fox opened his eyes. He knew the device could smell
the metal and was aware it was about to be fed. He picked up a
couple of coins and set them on the center of the plate. It was
best to let it start slow. A moment later they began to sink, as if
the face of the plate had turned to gel.

Fox closed his eyes and checked the activity display.
The burn gauge spiked and other ingestion protocols buzzed with the
activity of consumption as the coins were broken down and processed
at the molecular level.

He felt dirty, as if he were somehow intruding and
turned the display off. He piled the remaining coins on the plate
and set the letter opener across the top. The previous coins were
still being metabolized, and it would take some time to consume
them all.

Fox watched the consumption of the coins. He could
still see their faces, the wet metal had only half swallowed them.
If it was going to be used, it had to be fed. That much was
clear.

Still Fox wondered,
What would happen if he left
it somewhere, out in the middle of nowhere? Somewhere he could be
rid of it once and for all. Somewhere like a weapons lab, way out
over the ocean.

The doctor couldn't do that, wouldn't do that. He'd
put so much effort into the thing's creation, its birth. Fox shook
his head.
Birth. A birth isn't invented. Why did that word
assert itself?
He took a breath and calmed himself.

Thoughts of revolting against the device were
reassuring. IF it could influence him, surely it wouldn't allow him
to entertain thoughts of open rebellion. It meant Fox was still in
control. Yet he wondered,
why does the thought of abandoning it
feel like murder
?

Fox loved it. He had created it. While he yearned to
someday have a family of his own, at present all he had was the
device.