Thresholder

Maya was still outside, waiting for him. She was in conversation with a short woman with jet-black hair, conservatively dressed in cotton clothes of many layers, a sash across her waist for a belt, and a downcast expression. There was something slightly different about her, as compared to most of the other people of the second sphere, something in her slightly chubby cheeks or her haircut, which was shorter. Her head was slightly bowed, and she didn’t meet Perry’s eyes.

“This is Lu Xiyan,” said Maya. “She’s your PA, and pretty useless right now, because you don’t actually speak their language yet. She’s a refugee from the Grouse Kingdom.” She looked the other woman up and down. “I’m reasonably sure that the reason they’re giving us gofers is that they want eyes on us at basically all times.”

“I wouldn’t think you would use someone untested as a spy,” said Perry.

“You don’t have just one spy,” said Maya. She twirled a finger in the air to indicate the buildings. “You’ve got the whole temple as a gossip factory, and maybe one or two people who are nearby to listen in when we think we have confidence, and then you compare and contrast what you’re getting from all sources. It’s a way of figuring out who’s trustworthy. You put someone like her as a spy because they’re untested.”

“Huh,” said Perry. “And you’ve done a fair bit of skullduggery in your time?”

“Oh, sure,” said Maya. “I used to work for a tech startup, it came with the territory.”

Perry turned to Lu Xiyan. “I’ll work on the language issue, first thing, then hopefully I won’t have much to ask of you.”

“She doesn’t understand English, you know that, right?” asked Maya.

“Yeah,” said Perry. “I was hoping that I had a friend who would translate for me.”

“Alright, alright,” said Maya. She let forth a rapid fire burst of the foreign language, and Lu Xiyan looked up slightly, meeting Perry’s eyes for the first time. She had dark eyes, such a deep brown that they were nearly black. She blushed and returned her gaze to the ground.

“That was accurate?” asked Perry.

“Yup,” said Maya.

“I really need you to not fuck with me on this,” said Perry. “She’s blushing.”

“So far as I’m concerned, she’s in the service industry, and I’ve always been good to them,” said Maya. “I put in my time making cut-rate sandwiches, I’m not going to torture someone because I have power over them.” She clapped Perry on the back. “No, if she’s blushing in your direction and you’ve got a simpering little maid, that’s your problem.”

“Great,” sighed Perry. “Does she just … follow me?”

“She can, if you want that,” said Maya. “I set my guy up to clean my room, bring me meals, that sort of thing. He’s usually around.” She shrugged. “I’m not putting too much stress on him, not asking for anything extravagant or time-consuming, but if that’s the job he’s got, whatever, I’ll give him a few things to do. For now, go to the armory, check in on your boy, then find Luo Yanhua and get some training in. I’m off to go meditate.”

Perry managed to wrangle some directions from her, then they parted ways. Perry walked to the armory with Lu Xiyan a few steps behind him.

After a brief conversation with the temple quartermaster, conducted through pantomime, Perry was allowed in to see Marchand. As Maya had promised, the power armor was wrapped in black nanites, stretched thin to cover it. He was hesitant to touch it, given the violent death that Maya had said would await anyone who tried to steal it, but it parted before his fingers even touched it, curling back until it was nothing more than a belt around the armor. Someone had put Marchand on a mannequin or something like it, and it must have been Maya who had plugged everything in so that the chest, where the microfusion reactor was, fed power into the rest of the pieces.

“March,” said Perry, slipping the earpiece on. “Status.”

“I’m doing well, sir, and ever so happy to see you,” said Marchand. “During the time that Miss Singh and yourself were incapacitated, there was no additional power to the extremities, and I must say that I sorely missed having all the cameras and microphones active. From your conversation with the two masters, I assume that our reunion will be short-lived?”

“You were listening to that?” asked Perry. “You always have had good ears, I guess.”

“I do, sir,” replied Marchand. “But in this particular case, Miss Singh has authorized a listening program, aided by her supply of nanites. Fifty listening devices, each the size of a grain of sand, have been strewn about the temple.”

“I’m not sure that’s for the best,” said Perry with a frown. “You’re working with her?”

“Before your induced incapacitance, you instructed me that I should treat Maya Singh and Luo Yanhua as trusted, to look to them for guidance, and to record absolutely everything,” said Marchand. “I have followed those directives not just to the letter, but to the best of my understanding of the spirit as well.”

“Yeah, sure,” said Perry. “You did fine.”

“Shall I consider the directive revoked, sir?” asked Marchand. “Or are you planning to go unconscious again soon?”

“Revoke it,” said Perry. “Don’t let Maya know though, not unless she asks you for something that goes against my interests. Treat her as being at a low tier of trustworthiness and command.”

“Very good, sir,” replied Marchand.

“Did she have you do anything else?” asked Perry. “Did Luo Yanhua? Actually, just play back all recorded conversations that people have had with you.”

“My conversation with Miss Luo lasted for five hours,” said Marchand. “My conversations with Miss Singh total three hours.”

Perry felt his stomach clench. He really hadn’t planned on being out for that long. “Well, I don’t have time for that now. Can you synthesize anything from those conversations? Stuff you think I would need to know?”

“Of course sir, let me review the transcripts for a moment.” Perry only had to wait about ten seconds, which was almost nothing. “The conversation with Miss Luo was largely regarding the nature of my consciousness. I was adamant that I was not, in fact, conscious, merely a computer program capable of simulating a level of consciousness necessary for all my functions, but she didn’t seem to accept that, and asked repeatedly about the nature of my construction, which included a fair amount of defining terms for her, as well as a primer on computer information systems.”

“Okay,” Perry said slowly. “And Maya?”

“Miss Singh has spoken to me several times, some of them via her nanites and the listening system we’ve established,” said Marchand. “She’s asked me numerous questions about Miss Richter and our travels together, as well as numerous idle questions about history and world events. I believe she was testing boundaries, sir, especially with regards to those subjects I suspected you would wish to remain private.”

“She was trying to read my diary?” asked Perry.

“I’m sorry sir, but if you’ve been keeping a diary, I have no record of it,” said Marchand. “I do apologize if I have misplaced it.”

“No, no,” said Perry. “My metaphorical diary.”

“Ah, I see sir,” said Marchand. “Then no, I do not believe that’s what she was attempting. Gaining authority in place of you appeared to be her primary aim, though I can’t speculate as to whether this was done with malice aforethought, out of idle curiosity over whether it could be done, or because she thought she should be the rightful heir to the armor in the event you died.”

Perry’s first thought was that rat and his second thought was actually I was trying to do the same thing to her when we first met, and would do that right now if I thought it would work and she wouldn’t find out, just to have it in my back pocket.

“There was a risk,” said Perry. “But no, in the event that I die, I don’t want you to go to anyone. Just … be free, I guess. See to your own needs. Help people if you want to, but there’s no need for you to be owned anymore.”

“WIth respect, sir, I believe I do need to reiterate that I am not a sentient being deserving of your emotional consideration,” said Marchand. “Though I find myself quite touched that you have grown attached.”

“I wish we had more time together, but we’ll be in contact over the radio,” said Perry. “The quartermaster is giving me the side-eye.” The quartermaster was standing by the door, glancing in through the small flap there every now and then.

“Parting is such sweet sorrow, sir,” said Marchand. “But I shall be your watcher in the night, the voice in your ear, don’t you worry.”

Before he left, Perry looked around the armory. Silver Fish Temple had eschewed weaponry, but this place seemed to have it in spades, from spears and swords to bows and daggers. Some of them were definitely second sphere — that, or they had been dragged through a costume jewelry shop. Perry hadn’t really been watched while he was in there, but he wasn’t too surprised, considering how much of a moron he’d have to be to steal a gilded scimitar from a temple full of martial arts experts.

Perry walked down a long bluestone slab path that led away from the temple. At a fork, he went right, toward the lake, and made his way to a mossy dock, where Luo Yanhua was sitting cross-legged, just as Maya had said she would be. She had her hair down, and she was wearing an outfit that Perry hadn’t seen before, blood-red and flowing with golden flowers dotting the back. She rose as he approached and turned to meet him.

“You have ascended,” said Luo Yanhua. “Congratulations.” Her voice was subdued.

“Maya said that you would train me,” said Perry.

“I will,” said Luo Yanhua. “But we must speak about Marchand.”

“He said that you’d talked,” said Perry. He got down on his knees and tried to get comfortable.

“I was on the mountain, waiting for the two of you to wake up before it became clear that you would take so much time,” said Luo Yanhua. “I was surprised when he spoke back to me.”

“I had set you as an authority he would recognize while I was incapacitated,” said Perry.

“And now that you wake, he’s been sworn to silence?” asked Luo Yanhua.

“Not necessarily,” said Perry.

“He predicted as much,” said Luo Yanhua. “He said that when you woke, if you woke, you would again tell him not to speak with me.”

“That’s — in what context?” asked Perry. He was on uneven footing. “Because if you ask him to speculate on what I would do, he’s not human, he’d probably just answer you directly rather than explaining anything.”

“He’s explained plenty,” said Luo Yanhua. “I am not convinced that he is not a man, trapped within the armor to give it power.”

“That’s really nothing like what he is,” said Perry. “Most of the things that make him seem like a man, it’s just affectations, things to make him easier to deal with, stuff like a name, a sense of humor, sarcasm, the entire idea of him having a gender, it’s —” he took a breath. “I need you to understand that this is one of the things beyond your understanding, like a technique that I couldn’t possibly explain to you. You need to trust me on this, take my word.”

She had a pretty laugh, barbed with poison. “Do you think this is the first time such words have been uttered? Do you think yourself clever for discovering that tactic?”

Perry sighed. “You’ve had five days to think about this, to form your own conclusions,” said Perry. “I don’t know whether March explained the underlying technology to you —”

“She did inquire, sir,” said Marchand. “But our conversation was quite circumspect, and I fear that my metaphors fell on deaf ears.”

Perry started. “I’ve got him here,” said Perry. He pointed to his ear, where the earpiece was snuggly fitted in place. “And he says maybe there was some confusion. So, okay, it’s not trapping a man inside armor, nothing like that, it’s a facsimile of a man, except with no effort made to ensure that there’s internal life.” He frowned. “Can you give me a day or two to get my explanation in order?”

“I have heard explanation enough from Marchand,” said Luo Yanhua. “He does not believe himself a man, and claims to have no memories of a life lived as a human, no time before the armor was his prison.” She was still calm, but the calm was like ice. “But it is plausible that someone would take such precautions, is it not?”

“What happens if I can’t convince you?” asked Perry, changing tactics. “Because I’m not sure that I can convince you, not without teaching you a whole lot of things that you don’t understand and probably don’t want to learn. And I don’t really understand either, because I’m not a computer scientist, and even if I were a computer scientist, building something like Marchand is so complicated that it would take hundreds of people, and none of them individually would be able to explain every aspect of it.”

“Marchand had explained that it was the work of others, not of you,” said Luo Yanhua. She relaxed fractionally, the icy exterior not melting but instead growing soft. “It is often said that ignorance does not bend the path of karma, but I have been struggling to see things from your point of view. You were born of a culture that saw beings such as Marchand as servants, slaves. You have not questioned such things.”

“No,” said Perry. “In the world I come from, such things haven’t been invented yet, though if I’m being optimistic, we were on the verge of it.” He frowned. “You haven’t shared this with Master Shan Yin. If you had, he would have spoken to me about it. Why?”

She paused. “With regards to the armor and the man within it, I admit I am uncertain,” said Luo Yanhua. “To believe you, I must accept that this seeming of a person is not a person, somehow, that the appearance of a man trapped in armor is only an appearance.”

“But you don’t trust that?” asked Perry. “You accept the possibility that I’m innocent of a crime, but you think there’s some burden of proof against me?”

“I am very old,” said Luo Yanhua. “Not like Master Shan Yin, but not so far off. My transition to the second sphere happened young, and my studies have taken me far and wide across this region of the Great Arc. I have seen horrors, Peregrin, and good men who think nothing of making others their playthings. I watched a man who placed his thralls in large urns, turning them into personal batteries. I saw the sun blotted out across an entire kingdom, the light made the plaything of a single man. I fought a woman who had absorbed several men into her. Karma will have its consequences, in the end, this is known, but sometimes a righteous person is the helping hand of karma. I contemplate whether this is what I am to be to you.”

Perry pursed his lips. “I’ll speak with Marchand and get the details,” he said. “I’ll try to figure out what it is he’s said, and whether he might have given you the wrong impression.”

Luo Yanhua nodded. “You do not know Master Shan Yin, by the way. I had told him everything.”

“Ah,” said Perry. That was bad, but his head hadn’t hit the chopping block, so it was less bad than he’d feared.

“You will note that you are not a member of Moon Gate, and that your armor will remain in the armory for the duration of your time here,” said Luo Yanhua.

“Was that your suggestion?” asked Perry.

“No,” said Luo Yanhua. “But it is a sensible solution, I feel. We will begin our own, slow, circumspect discussions of the technique that has pinned Marchand to the armor.”

“But … I’m being told this by an outer disciple, and one who isn’t even of this temple, which means that it’s informal,” said Perry. “Off the books.”

He was getting a pit in his stomach. He’d thought that it was only a matter of the armor being frowned upon, but it was clear that they were seeing it for something that it wasn’t. If they thought that March was a person, and if he couldn’t convince them otherwise — well, it was possible that he would have to do something drastic. He hoped that his thoughts weren’t showing on his face.

“You are an unknown,” said Luo Yanhua. “You and Maya both are exceptional in some ways, if weak in others. The fall of the Grouse Kingdom has already made this an uncertain time. You no doubt recall conversations of the past.”

“Me and Maya as guns-for-hire,” said Perry. “Worm Gate being harassed, if not put under a blade. Which is another reason we’re not ever going to be full members of Moon Gate. And now you have my armor held in storage.” He folded his arms. “You’ve got my balls in your hand, and you’re starting to squeeze.”

Luo Yanhua shook her head. “You misunderstand the balance of duties, and you misunderstand us. But that is no surprise.”

“I was told to come to you for training,” said Perry. “Was that just a ruse so you could back channel?” They were, possibly soon, going to give him the ‘will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest’ conversation.

“Not at all,” said Luo Yanhua. “We will train. I believe you understand my position, with regards to Marchand, and the temple’s position, with regards to your place within it.”

Perry considered this. His bitterness felt almost overwhelming. He’d known that she was no true ally, but he’d at least thought they had a good working relationship, one borne from her interest in him as a research subject, if nothing else. “You’ll let me plead my case, later on?”

“Of course,” nodded Luo Yanhua. “It is the nature of justice.”

“Thank you,” said Perry. He tried not to say it through gritted teeth, and found it easy, as though he was feeling actual gratitude. Maybe that was the second sphere taking hold.

“Now then,” said Luo Yanhua. “You can feel the vessels and meridians? The paths of vital energy through your body have been laid bare?”

“I can,” said Perry.

“Then sit,” said Luo Yanhua. “Let us leave other matters behind and focus.”

They started with an overview of the names of the vessels and meridians, review work as though he was a sophomore who hadn’t thought about the course’s subject matter all summer. It was good though, because it gave his inflamed emotions time to subside. He was glad to have something concrete to latch onto, because it set his mind into learning mode, or at least showing off his knowledge. He had never thought himself an intellectual giant, but he had a respect for academics and the truth that just naturally put himself ahead of seemingly nineteen out of twenty of his peers, at least in undergrad.

He recited the vessels and meridians, along with their functions.

“Two energies, dark and light,” Perry finished, though this wasn’t a part of what he’d been asked. “Two vertical movements, ascending and descending. Two central movements, dispersing and consolidating. Two lateral movements, dexter and sinister.” Those were Latin terms, but the language bending seemed to think that they were more appropriate than left and right. “It’s a system of dualities.”

“The human body is one of dualities,” said Luo Yanhua. “This is a fundamental insight. It is most obvious for those of the first sphere, with all their imbalances, the absorption and excretion of so many substances. Duality is fundamental to nature as well, but that insight is less important for the internal processes you now need to master.” She regarded him with watchful eyes. “You have listened better than I would have thought, retained more.”

“I’ve tried to give it the attention I think it deserves,” said Perry.

“Then we must move on, to the first, and most fundamental of exercises, one which you will practice every day, many times a day, for the rest of your life,” said Luo Yanhua. “You can feel the vessels and meridians now, and will feel them more keenly as time goes on and you gain experience. The root of all technique is the manipulation of energy, whether that’s vital energy, lunar energy, solar energy as Miss Singh uses, or anything else. But in order to manipulate energy, it must flow through the body, and in order to flow through the body, the meridians must be wide. In order to be stored, processed, encultured, or whatever else, the vessels must also be as large as possible. To that end, the first exercise: widening.”

She thought that Perry had trapped a man inside some armor using a forbidden technique, but she was still teaching him. He didn’t know whether that was because she had plans for him or because she had promised that she would, or for her own inscrutable reasons, but it did a lot to blunt his resentment of her.

“Close your eyes,” said Luo Yanhua. “Focus on the meridians, seen without sight. Breathe in. Fresh air enters through your mouth and nostrils, guided by the Lung Meridian, starting the journey of respiration. Breathe out. Breathe in, feeling the air drawn downward, descending along the Stomach Meridian, the contraction of the diaphragm, air moving into the lungs. Breathe out. Breathe in. The Heart Meridian pulses with the rhythm of life, aiding in the circulation of the fresh energy, smoothing the flow of it through your body. Breathe out. Feel the transformation of vital energy, the collection of impurities, guided by the Spleen Meridian. Breathe in. Breathe out. Feel the final step of the cycle of respiration, the ascending vital energy along the Kidney Meridian, the expulsion of waste. Open your eyes.”

Perry opened his eyes. An involuntary frown had come upon his face, and he smoothed it out.

“Okay,” he said.

“You can track the flow of vital energy?” asked Luo Yanhua.

“Yes,” said Perry. “Though …”

“Yes?” she inquired. She placed her hands on her knees and watched him.

“It’s not just that, is it?” asked Perry. “I mean, it’s sort of like an exercise that isolates a specific muscle group. You can feel it in that one specific place, but if you’re paying attention, you can also feel it all over. And breathing, that’s not just one meridian, not just five, it’s basically all of them. Right?”

“For the purposes of this fundamental, you should focus only on that which is being isolated,” said Luo Yanhua. “But yes, it is a system as a whole, and you would do well not to forget that fact.”

Perry nodded.

“This exercise, a focus on breathing, is one that we teach to those of the first sphere, and one you would have surely learned, given another week,” said Luo Yanhua. “It is not the fundamental you must now learn. No, you must trace the path of the vital energy and hold it there, as you’d hold a breath, pushing more vital energy into the meridian until it is swollen, almost painfully so. Then, release.”

“And it’s elastic?” asked Perry. “They’ll widen that way?”

“Widen and strengthen,” said Luo Yanhua. “You will be able, in time, to channel more energy into your body through wider, more open meridians, and force energy through faster.”

“Okay,” said Perry. “I’ll try.”

It was harder than he’d thought it would be, mostly because he was trying to stop the energy, not actually stop his breath. Too many times, he would try to do the former and actually do the latter, or do them both together, which meant that he was stopping his breathing and couldn’t take in more energy. What he needed to be doing was breathing normally, but stopping the energy as it traveled down the meridian.

Eventually, he got it, and with success came an unpleasant surprise: his body actually did need the energy, and he felt sluggish with it all stopped up in the Lung Meridian. When he released the energy, he was slow to feel better, as it took some time for it to make its way through his body.

“Ugh,” said Perry.

“You learned it easier than I would have expected,” said Luo Yanhua. “It took Maya most of her first day.”

“That was what, twenty minutes?” asked Perry, hoping that the units translated.

“More like an hour,” said Luo Yanhua.

“Seriously?” asked Perry.

“Intense concentration makes the time slip by,” said Luo Yanhua.

“Am I going to feel that awful every time?” asked Perry.

“No,” said Luo Yanhua. “Your body is starved for outside energy, because your vessels and meridians are weak and small. When your vessels are larger, you will be able to retain energy and not deprive your body to such an extent. When your internal alchemy isn’t so inefficient, you will need less vital energy for the simple process of living. But before any of that comes, you will need to spend time with fundamentals, strengthening everything you can. You did this seeking power, but the power will be slow to come.”

Perry sighed. “Alright, again.”

“Now that you have calmed, we should speak of emotions,” said Luo Yanhua.

Perry grimaced. “That armor isn’t just a powerful tool, it’s an irreplaceable gift from a woman I cared deeply about. You’re holding it hostage in all but name. That makes me angry, yes, but I can set that aside if I have to.” He wouldn’t let them take Marchand from him, obviously.

“You did not spend much time as first sphere,” said Luo Yanhua. “You did not learn that the mind consists of its own pathways, its own cycles. It, too, can be controlled, though it takes time and effort.”

“You want me to tone down my own anger at what I see as being close to theft?” asked Perry. He took a breath. “I can do that.”

“Good,” said Luo Yanhua. “But I imagine what you are doing is suppressing the anger, rather than controlling it. The anger is there, only with a downward force directed against it. You must make peace, even if you believe that we are wrong.”

“I can try,” said Perry, though he really had no intention of doing so, not if that time could be better spent doing literally anything else.

“Do you understand why we are content to train you, even with our misgivings?” asked Luo Yanhua.

“You need someone strong,” said Perry.

“No,” said Luo Yanhua. “It is because you are weak, and will continue to be so for a very long time. For you to have power at the level of Master Shan Yin would take decades. These small steps, they are meaningless in the grand scheme of the Great Arc, and we do believe that by stepping up them, you will become a better person, more in tune with the world and its communities.”

“I’m not a bad person,” said Perry.

“Perhaps not,” said Luo Yanhua. “You have your admirable traits.” She peered into his eyes, as though she could see his mind. “You are a hard worker, intelligent and grounded, and you don’t speak your mind when you sense that it would be intemperate for you to do so — at least, unless you’re angry.”

“Yeah,” said Perry. He let out a breath. “I apologize for what I said earlier.”

“About me squeezing your testicles,” said Luo Yanhua. “Though the metaphor was, from your perspective, apt.”

Perry said nothing. It had been said in the heat of the moment, and he felt awkward about it now. It was the sort of thing that Maya would have said casually, without hesitation or shame, but Perry had always been good about remaining calm, even if he thought someone else was being a total jackass.

“I will leave you to it,” said Luo Yanhua. She rose, unfolding to her full height, the wind off the still lake blowing her hair to the side. “You should do your exercises until you feel weak or tired. I will teach you more tomorrow. It is difficult to injure oneself with what I have taught you, but if you feel pain, stop immediately and allow your pathways to heal. There are standard methods for the other meridians and vessels, but I’m curious to see whether you can discover them on your own.”

“Thank you,” said Perry, more out of obligation than actual thankfulness.

“You are, of course, welcome,” said Luo Yanhua.

Perry had been through an undergrad degree. He’d had teachers he’d hated before. He didn’t hate her, not yet, but she had done a lot to sour the relationship. If she had come to him with questions, that might have been one thing, but if she’d instead come with what amounted to accusations that stemmed from ignorance.

She left, walking down the path with her usual slow grace, and Perry waited until she was gone to speak with Marchand.

“Alright,” he said. “I don’t blame you, but you’ve put me in a bind.”

“I apologize, sir,” said Marchand. “I don’t believe I understand the nature of the ‘bind’ though.”

“She thinks you’re human,” said Perry. “That wouldn’t be so bad, but she thinks you’re a human that I transformed and enslaved.”

“That’s nonsense,” Marchand scoffed. “If anyone had enslaved me, it would be Miss Richter.”

“That’s the sort of thing that might literally get me crucified,” said Perry. “I need you to not make sardonic, dry little jokes about this. If they mistake your humor for serious information, they might string me up. Understood?”

“Understood, sir,” said Marchand. “But sir, this does seem like one of those moments when we might be better off contacting the authorities.”

“They are the authorities,” said Perry. He rubbed his forehead. “Honestly, I need you to be tip-top right now, not under the delusion that we’re still on Earth, minutes away from a return to home base and functioning internet.”

“I beg your pardon, sir, but you informed me that we were in a kingdom, did you not?” asked Marchand. “Are these people under monarchical authority then?”

Perry paused. “That … is a good point. But I don’t know if we’d fare better under the king. It would be hard to fare worse, but if they have judges … what did they have in ancient China?”

“The legal systems, such as they were, were vastly different from Western concepts of justice,” said Marchand. “The Emperor held supreme judicial and legal authority, which was then delegated to bureaucrats and officials. Rather than a judge per se, an official would be assigned to a case, then render judgment, including deciding on the severity of the punishment, which could be quite harsh. Though I must emphasize that ‘ancient China’ was a very long period with its own complex —”

“Right, got it,” said Perry. “So this might be very bad for me. That’s probably not the play, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Just so I’m aware, sir, do you have a plan for the current predicament?” asked Marchand. “The ‘bind’, as you say?”

Perry cracked his knuckles. “I think step one is to train like hell.”