The Brother

Chapter Thirteen

Jace turned around and saw a man who was well over six feet tall. He looked middle eastern and had a light stubble. He seemed to be around thirty five. He wore a dark green shirt with a trouser of identical color. There were gold linings on his uniform.

“I didn’t notice you enter. You must be Sameer.” Jace said. “I’m Jace”

“I know who you are. The Chief gave me a brief introduction about you. Just so you know, I’m the person in charge of training. So if you have any queries regarding your weapons, don’t hesitate.” said Sameer. “From what I’ve seen, I think you have the potential to be a better archer than your brother. You have an excellent aim. I’m impressed that you were able to shoot with such precision despite being out of practice.”

This man talks a lot.

“Thanks. I need some help getting used to this bow. My brother said that this thing has a lot of features.”

“Yes. Yes it does. I was more of an overseer when Wesley designed it. You see those gold writings, you press one of those words depending upon the necessity.” said Sameer. “Oh. I almost forgot. The Chief said that you don’t know how to read.”

That just made me sound like an illiterate - thought Jace as he nodded his head.

“Do you need someone from the linguistics department or am I sufficient for this job?” said Sameer.

“I think you are more than sufficient to help me learn a few words” he said and thought of the controls of his PC games. “Also, I don’t have to understand what it says. If I can match the features with the writings, its more than enough.”

“The thing is, you’re supposed to say it.” said Sameer.

“Much better. Now let’s practice” said Jace.

“Well, try adjusting the length of the range.” said Sameer. “You’re too good for this length”

“How am I supposed to do that?” said Jace.

“Just say the words.”

“Alright.” said Jace and turned to the shooting range. “Hey shooting range, increase the length by ten yards.”

“Why can’t you call me by a decent name? Show some respect.” said a feminine voice and Jace watched the circular target move farther from him by some distance.

“How far away can I send this thing?” said Jace pointing to the target board.

“This shooting range is designed to create an illusion. So when you ask it to increase the range, you’re just asking it to trick you into believing that the target board has moved farther from you.” said Sameer.

“So you’re telling me that it’s just an illusion.” said Jace. “Which means, that irrespective of the distance I say, I won’t be challenged much simply because it is exactly where it was five minutes ago?”

“Not really. When I say that the shooting range is designed to create an illusion. I wasn’t talking about tricking your vision. What I meant was, the shooting range will create the necessary conditions to make you believe you are firing the distance you planned for. So whenever you increase the distance, the shooting range will increase its gravitation pull and reduce the size of the target board based on your needs.”

“That sounds… advanced.”

“I know. The Chief is the only archer in the island and he wanted the best tools to help him train. You can also adjust the speed of wind along with its direction. Just a touch of realism.” said Sameer.

“Cool” said Jace and took aim at the diminished circle on the target board. He let the arrow fly in a beautiful parabolic trajectory as it hit the bull’s eye.”Randomize the wind speed”

Jace immediately felt the wind blow across his face. I was moving from left to right and was a little strong. He made a quick calculation in his head and shot the arrow. It ended up at the yellow ring surrounding the red circle.

“Gotta practice more.” said Jace and turned to Sameer who had a smile on his face. “What’s the range of this thing?”

“The bow or the shooting range?”

I was thinking of the bow. But now you’ve got me curious about that as well - Jace thought and said, “Both”

“The range of the bow is a little over three kilometers. The shooting range can be extended upto four kilometers in length with wind speeds of eighty kilometers per hour.”

“Yeah, right.” said Jace with a smile. “No, seriously. What’s the range?”

“I just said it.” said Sameer with a serious look on his face.

You weren’t kidding? - Jace felt like saying but chose not to. “So, this thing has such an incredible range?”

“Yup. It’s one of a kind. I remember the Chief saying that if he took this back with him, he’d end up breaking the world record.”

“Yeah, no doubt. If I’m not wrong, the world record during our time was somewhere around twelve hundred meters.”

“That’s… so low.” said Sameer.

Respect your ancestors, punk!

“Can you give me a brief introduction to the features?” said Jace.

“Sure. Do you have a paper? You might find it better to write it down so that you can practice later.”

“Good idea.” said Jace and then raised his voice. “Alright. Give me a notebook and a pen.”

Nothing happened. Jace turned to look at Sameer who looked puzzled and then finally said, “Do you want me to get them?”

“No, I was expecting this Artificial Intelligence to get it for me.”

“No, it’s limited to devices and it won’t work as your butler. You’ve got to take a notebook and a pen from the desk over there.” said Sameer and pointed to the desk.

“Stupid AI” muttered Jace.

“I heard that” said a female voice coming from the shooting range and Jace felt like he heard a giggle.