Glitch in the God Complex (AmpCore #1)

17 - Learning of Worlds

For all the hell that came with it, Piper had to admit that the amplifier felt good.

The weight of it in her hand gave her a strange sense of security, like a child being reunited with their long-lost teddy bear. She could feel the currents of power winding through her body, following the contours of her bones – of the implants that were tangled around them.

She took up her position in the room in the lower levels their little band had co-opted for her training. They'd started with the Newtonian Principe, Holly's speciality and one she would need to have thoroughly mastered if she wanted to show the academy instructors that she was worth keeping around.

Hours of extra theory had led up to this moment now, in this dark little hideout beneath the chaos of Hadrian, hundreds of meters above her head.

Arrow and Holly set up a plinth at one end of the room, and on it placed a heavy metal canister – an empty one in case she flung something around a little too violently. Toran sat off to one side, perched on a table and watching proceedings with obvious amusement, while Odiye strode over to her side of the room.

He looked almost as nervous as she was.

"Are you ready?" he asked simply.

Piper let out a weak laugh. "Don't have much choice, do I?"

"Just remember what we talked about," Holly called from the far end of the room, stepping back from the canister. "Feel the forces in the room. Feel the weight of the object, and combine the two. It should feel instinctive."

"I remember."

Easier said than done.

"You can do this, Piper," Arrow interjected, moving around to stand opposite Toran.

She nodded, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet and gripping the amplifier tight. The copper coils felt warm on her palm is she let herself connect to it. The world seemed to shimmer; power rolled through her body and she grabbed it, gathering it together into a reservoir for her and her alone.

Then she raised the amplifier. Piper felt it twitch and tried to concentrate on the gravity in the room. It was all about feeling that force and pushing back against it. Push hard enough and you could knock down a building.

Right now she'd settle for knocking the canister off the plinth.

She nodded to herself, letting her senses flow out through the amplifier until felt like she was touching the metal container, feeling every contour, plate and bolt. Then she took a deep breath and pushed.

The canister flew one way.

She flew the other.

Piper let out a yelp of surprise as a backlash of force hurled her several feet through the air until she crashed to the ground in an ungainly heap. She blinked in surprise and coughed, the wind knocked out of her by the impact.

"There it is!" Toran laughed uproariously.

Piper sat up, glowering at him. She rubbed the back of her neck with one hand and cast a bad-tempered glance at the amplifier wand.

"Not bad," Arrow said, though she could see them fighting down a laugh.

She scowled. "What happened?"

"You must remember to prepare for the reaction. Equal and opposite," Odiye chuckled, extending a hand to help her up. "But do not worry. You are not the first to do that, and you won't be the last."

Feeling her cheeks flush, Piper clasped his hand and let him pull her to her feet. She shot Toran a dirty look and dusted herself off. Flexing her neck from side to side to loosen up, she took up her stance again, trying to pull the instructions out of the whirlpool of information that had been emptied into her over the last week.