Free Heart of the Nebula by Joe Vasicek

again, this
time a little faster?”
    They went over the move again. This time,
she collapsed to her knees as he pressed against her elbow, and the
only way to keep from hurting her was to follow her down to the
floor. In less than a second, he had her in an arm lock with her
face planted against the mat.
    “ Okay, okay!” she said,
laughing. He carefully released her and helped her to her
feet.
    “ All right,” he said. “Your
turn.”
    Her clothes were too tight to give him much
to grip, so he placed his hand on her chest, well above her full,
round breasts. Keeping her at arm’s length, he waited for her to
try out the move.
    “ Let’s see,” she said,
hesitating as she thought it out. “First, I want to strike you,
like this.”
    She swung up at him with the heel of her
palm, moving much faster than he had.
    The strike stopped within less than an inch
of his face, making him flinch. He staggered back just as she
grabbed his hand, and the next thing he knew, his face was pressed
up against the wall with his arm in a solid arm lock.
    “ Like this?” she
asked.
    “ Ow!” he said. “That’s
good—really good.”
    She released him and stepped back, curling a
strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m a fast learner.”
    “ I’ll say. You got it in
almost the first move.”
    “ Can I try it
again?”
    They went over the move again, thankfully a
little slower. This time, James made it a little harder for her, so
that she needed coaching. It took her a few tries to get the arm
lock, but she managed to break his grip every time.
    “ You’re a good teacher,”
she said, after they’d practiced it almost a dozen
times.
    “ Well,” he said, blushing
again. “Most people lock up or get really tense when you try to
teach them a technique, or treat it like some sort of contest to
see who’s stronger. That’s bad, though, because the more you tense
up, the more likely you are to injure yourself.”
    “ Do I seem
tense?”
    “ Not at all. If anything,
you’re one of the most fluid people I’ve ever seen.”
    She stepped up close to him, making his
heart skip a beat. “Fluid,” she said as if tasting the word. “Is
that a compliment?”
    “ Of c-course,” he
stammered, suddenly aware of their close proximity to each other.
She put a hand on his chest and smiled.
    “ I’m glad my father chose
you for this mission.”
    Before he could respond, she stepped back
and turned around, running her fingers through her hair. It was
just as well, since words entirely failed him in that moment. His
heart pounded like a runaway chain reaction in a power reactor, and
his legs all but turned to jelly.
    “ What if someone comes
behind me?” she asked, glancing at him over her shoulder. From the
look in her eye, it was clear that she wanted him to grab
her.
    He hesitated, unsure what to do. Something
told him that he was heading on a dangerous trajectory.
    To hell with it, he told himself.
    He grabbed her by the waist in a solid bear
hug, trapping her arms. “If someone’s going to come at you from
behind,” he said, “they’re probably going to do it like this.”
    “ Oomph! So what do I
do?”
    “ First, drop your center of
mass as low as you can. That’ll keep them from dragging you off,
like—”
    She dropped suddenly, nearly making him fall
to the floor. He caught himself just in time and struggled to haul
her back.
    “ Good! Now turn your side
into me and try to push me away with your elbows—that’ll free your
hands.”
    She did as he said, ramming an elbow against
his grip until it broke. Then, grabbing him by the arm, she pulled
him forward and slipped beneath him, sending him headfirst into the
mat. He caught himself and rolled just in time, but before he could
get up, she pushed him onto his back and straddled him, pinning
down his shoulders.
    “ Like that?” she asked,
grinning.
    Realization struck him like a blow between
the eyes. “You—you’ve trained in this before.”
    “ A little,”