Beta Earth: Between Worlds 2.0 Edition

by Napier, J. R.

  Zuri looks at Vin and says the one name they both never wanted to hear. “Tooth.”

  Vin’s eyes widen but before he can respond. Jest-Ker exits the Molbis hideout with a huge grin on his face as he approaches them.

  Chapter 11

  Mission Pt. 4

  Time: T-minus ten minutes till Operation Start.

  Location: Inside the Civil Administration Building E—City District 11.

  Matthew Vellian waits in conference room 412. The room is filled with bodyguards. Some wear suits, others wear street attire and all of them connected to Vellian’s security communication system. Vellian monitors his computer. It’s linked to the building’s security system.

  “What is the ETA on the contact?” Vellian asks. A man to the right of Vellian holding a mini PDA responds, “The contact is in the building and approaching our floor.” Vellian sighs with relief.

  “Good. Let’s get this over with.”

  “No hostiles detected in the building and the U.F. and sector police aren’t massed in our grid area.” The security guard reports. Vellian twirls a pen that he is holding in his hand.

  “I didn’t expect they would. You’ve gotta love the law. I mean, no matter the system, the more liberal it is, the more convoluted it becomes. Leaving the people with two options—oppression or corruption—it’s cliché, I know. But who am I to go against the grain?” Vellian leans back and grins.

  “You can’t blame me, of course. It’s my job to take advantage of all situations.”

  Just then the Syndicate representative enters the conference room. Meanwhile, three blocks to the south. Rick, San, and a crew of eight S.P.Q.R. members, all dressed in sector police uniform. Drive a caravan of three sector police assault vans toward the Civil Admin Building. Rick is in the lead van with San as his driver.

  Rick activates his com band, contacts Clave and speaks.“They have signed. We are at one minute thirty till our mark. Most of their force is likely moving to engage us in the front. What’s your status, Clave?”

  “I’m forty-five seconds away from my mark.” Clave replies. Rick is confused by the response. Clave should have been at his mark by now. “What? What the hell where you doing?” Rick asks.

  “I noticed something in the blueprints and made preparations.” Clave replies. Rick shakes his head disappointedly.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing kid.”

  “Continue as planned.” Clave immediately replies.

  San looks over to Rick. “Did the kid screw us royally yet?”

  “No. Stick to plan alpha.” Rick replies.

  “Heh. Roger.” San says.

  The sector police assault vans pull to the front of the building, sirens blazing. All three vans form a semicircle in front of the entrance. Civilians run out of the way. Vellian’s guards exit the building and immediately open fire on the vans.

  Rick and the rest of the units use their vans as cover as they convene. “Okay, remember, we are the bait. They think we are sector police, so they won’t expect our inside man. Zero civilian casualties. No spray and pray cover fire on this one. Move out.”

  Rick claps his hands and the members instantly take their positions. Rick then contacts Clave via his com band. “You ready?” he asks. Clave is at the back entrance of the building. He is crouched near some floor lights, concealed by their shadows.

  He looks at his wrist panel. It contains a localized map of the building floor plan, additional sentry information and a yellow dot representing Vellian. “As I expected, Vellian is not exiting out of a side entrance.” Clave says.

  “What? Where is he going? The roof is covered with our air assault units. He must know that.” Rick replies. Clave checks his equipment. He makes sure that he has everything he needs.

  “I’ll just have to stop him before he can do whatever it is he is going to do.” Clave replies. Clave monitors his wrist panel. It shows two dim red lights slowly growing brighter. He looks up and notices two of Vellian’s guards open the door.

  “We have a plan B.” Rick says. Before Rick can finish, Clave takes off at a sprint for the door.

  “Don’t need it. Just keep your men away from the building.” Clave says as he reaches behind his back and pulls out his sword. The door opens and like a blur. Clave runs between the two guards. They look at each other and collapse to the ground. They have just been slashed across the torso.

  Clave sprints down the long hallway. He quickly dispatches unsuspecting guard members with great speed, all while not stopping. He follows the hallways while checking the data on his wrist panel. He avoids the green dots but quickly disposes of any red dots in his way.

  Clave stops, he notices four red dots ahead on his panel. Clave quickly presses a few buttons on his wrist panel. Outside the Civil Administration Building, two small bombs ignite near a power conduit box. The lights in the entire building shut off.

  The emergency lights kick in. They are dim but sufficiently reduce visibility. Clave grabs his other sword and duel wields as he enters the room with the four red dots. The guards immediately open fire on him.

  Clave’s Zero Force boots light up as he runs up the wall. He tosses one of his swords, deeply cutting one guard’s arms and impaling another guard. Clave leaps off the wall and slashes the next guard, killing him instantly. The final guard fires at Clave, who deflects the shots at close range.

  Clave is stunned for a second by the sheer force of the bullets’ impact. He struggles to run towards the guard. He ends up losing his balance and begins to fall. With a forced recovery, he manages to dive and roll to the left of the guard.

  He then tosses his sword at the guard’s gun, which disarms him and leaves him shocked in the process. Clave immediately swoops in and swiftly kills the guard with his bare hands. Fatigued, Clave catches his breath and recovers his stamina, while he gathers his swords. “The old lady was right. I do need to work on my coordination ... and my stamina. I exert too much.” Rick contacts Clave.

  “What’s your status? Looks like you’re in the thick of it.” Clave pulls a small piece of cloth out of one of the compartments of his battle suit and uses it to wipe his swords clean. Once cleaned, he tosses the cloth and runs down the nearby staircase.

  Clave, a bit winded, finally replies, “I am closing in on Vellian. He should be—” Clave stops at the bottom of the stairs. “This shouldn’t be here.”

  “What?” Rick asks. Clave looks at a gigantic reinforced steel wall. It looks newly constructed and severely out of place.

  “Steel wall … newly constructed. I mean, it looks like they just finished it.” Rick slams his fist into the side of the van and Clave can hear it though the transmission.

  “Dammit! Underground escape,” Rick says. Clave looks at his panel. Vellian’s yellow dot is still close. “Okay, Clave, get out of there. We will hit him with plan B … that is. If … well, damn he got us. Look, just get out. His men are converging on your location.” Clave stares at the yellow dot pulsing on his display.

  “Wait, he’s not running. There is still time.”

  “Still time for what?” Rick asks.

  “Pull your men back and get away now!” Clave says.

  “Clave—”

  “Let me do my job. All I need from you is to pull your force away and help me get out of the building with the least resistance possible.” Clave interrupts as he runs back up the stairs.

  Chapter 12

  Ending Pt. 1

  Location: Just outside the Molbis Clan hideout in Sprawl 15.

  Jest-Ker approaches Zuri and Vin with a huge grin. “What’s with the faces, huh?” Zuri steps up to Jest-Ker.

  “Is Tooth our new leader?” Jest-Ker starts laughing.

  “Damn, I wasn’t gonna tell you until we got back. Well … yeah. Shane got promoted to the main branch on Beta Earth. So he chose Tooth to lead us here.”

  “That’s it! We’re out!” Zuri shouts. Jest-Ker's laugher elevates. “Man, he is good … I knew he was good, but dam
n, not this good.”

  “What are you talking about?” Vin asks. Jest-Ker composes himself.

  “He knew you two wouldn’t take the news well. So he already made arrangements for your departure.” Vin and Zuri ready themselves for combat. Jest-Ker backs up. “Whoa, whoa! What I mean is, we are a family and you can’t leave us for another. So … we just dealt with the other family.” Zuri’s eyes widen.

  “What?” Zuri quickly realizes what Jest-Ker is talking about. He takes off running without any warning. Vin runs after Zuri but is grabbed by Jest-Ker.

  “Oh, and this was my other order … to delay you punks.” Vin tries to break himself free from Jest-Ker’s grasp but he isn’t easing up.

  “Let go!” Vin shouts. Jest-Ker releases Vin and pushes him away. Then he stands in front of Vin, smiling with his arms crossed. Vin infuriated, tries to punch Jest-Ker but his attack is easily evaded. Jest-Ker counters Vin’s force with a push that sends him flying to the ground.

  “Is that all you got? Come on, you’re no match for me.” Vin stands up.

  “This is no joke!” he yells. Jest-Ker holds his stomach keeled in laughter.

  “Really? Because it’s funny as hell to me!” Vin tries to punch Jest-Ker and his attack is once again deflected. Jest-Ker counters with a swift punch to Vin’s ribs. The blow causes Vin to stumble and fall to the ground. Jest-Ker kneels over with laughter, tears form at his eyes. “Since-Since when did you think you could kick my ass—” Vin delivers a direct shot to Jest-Ker’s jaw, causing him to spin and stumble. “How? How are you move ... that fast?” Jest-Ker says as he collapses face-first in the dirt.

  Vin runs sprints back to his family. When he arrives home, the door is wide open. His heart races and he is light-headed as he walks toward the door. As approaches the entrance, reality seems to fluctuate around him. Vin stumbles to the doorway in a daze. He hangs onto the frame as he struggles to look inside.

  Vin lifts his head to see members of Faux Forsaken invaded his home. They only hold his attention for a moment as he notices Zuri on the ground bleeding. Behind him, Caroline and the children, on the floor in a pool of blood. A Faux Forsaken member steps towards Vin slowly. “So sorry, but this is the world you live in.”

  Vin starts to shake. His world is literally crumbling. The walls, the people, and the building begin to flicker in and out. The Faux Forsaken members look at Vin.

  He has a slight glow surrounding him, almost like a visible aura. “What? What the hell is going on?” A Faux Forsaken member asks. Another member holds up his gun and points it at Vin. “What da' fuck is wrong with him?”

  Vin tries desperately to hold his head up and look the Faux Forsaken member in the eye. He can barely get a fix on the guy as everything around him is frantically flickering in and out. The Faux Forsaken member slowly pulls the trigger of the gun.

  Vin kneels as he holds his head. All he can hear is a high-pitched ringing. Vin struggles and finally manages to hold his head up. “What is this?—” Everything goes white.

  Chapter 13

  Ending Pt. 2

  Location: Inside the Civil Administration Building E—City District 11.

  Clave races through the hallways while monitoring his wrist panel closely. Rick speaks to Clave, trying to guide him out of the building with the least resistance. “Go left up the stairs. Two guards on your—”

  “They’re dead. Which way?” Clave quickly replies. Rick is shocked that he killed the guards so fast but he continues.

  “Uh, yeah, head left again. Down the corridor until you reach a window on the third floor. You’re gonna need your boot action there, if you know what I mean. Let me set up some help. Those windows are reinforced glass and will need to be weakened.”

  Clave runs down the corridor and takes out two guards before he is in view of the window. An air assault unit pulls down in front of the window. Clave dives into a nearby room as the unit unleashes a barrage of fire on the window. The high caliber bullets crack and wear the reinforced glass.

  It has been heavily compromised but still remains intact. On his wrist panel, Clave notices guards running up the hallway. He also notices the yellow dot is starting to move. He closes that display and opens another. He types in a code and a red timer counts down from one minute. Clave contacts Rick.

  “Rick, you there? I need five more seconds of fire and then have him pull out.”

  “Got it.” Rick replies. The air assault unit fires on the window, breaking it further. Some bullets pass through and clear the hallway of guards. Clave grabs a chair and runs back out into the hallway. He checks his wrist panel countdown.

  It reads forty-seven seconds and shows lots of guards are converging on his position. Clave charges the window and throws the chair as hard as he can. The chair flies into the already heavily damaged window pane and gets stuck.

  “Damn!” Clave says. He removes the chair and glass shards fall to the ground. A guard shows up behind him. He tosses the chair, nailing the guard directly in the head and knocking him out cold. Clave then takes out his sword and slashes the window in an X pattern, causing more of it to give way.

  Clave charges the weakened window and smashes through it. Below him is a light post, he tries to stick to it using his boots. However, he cannot make enough service contact. This sends him into an acrobatic swing that ends in a, less-than-graceful, back landing onto the roof of a nearby vehicle.

  Clave quickly rolls off and runs as he looks at his wrist panel. The timer hits zero and a very large explosion erupts. Clave rolls out of the way as the vehicle he landed on is hurled toward him. Exhausted, he rests on the ground a moment, surprised that he is still alive.

  Rick stands at the rally point and watches the explosion. San is in awe from the display. The Civil Administration Building E collapses fast and relatively neat. San watches the inferno. There are little to no signs of the building left.

  “What the hell, man!” San says. Rick looks at his laptop display. The yellow dot indicating Matthew Vellian now has a red X indicating a successful termination.

  “He must have blown the building’s generator. That explosion would wipe out the lower levels. He anticipated this.” Rick says. San turns away from the burning building.

  “But … the people.” San replies softly. Rick looks at this laptop display. Tons of green and red dots are appearing with red Xs on them. Clave walks up the hill outside of town. San turns his head and notices him approaching.

  “You son of a—” San angrily charges Clave but Rick steps in and stops him.

  “He did the job! If we had lost Vellian now … it would have been over. We wouldn’t have been able to touch him short of inciting a coup d’état.”

  Clave approaches the two with a blank look on his face. San stares at the burning building.

  “You are a monster, man. You can’t get away with this.”

  “He is not under our law. He is under Akari’s. We asked for help and that is what we got.”

  “But there were innocents. It’s not right man.” San looks down for a moment and then exhales loudly. He shakes his head as he looks at Clave.

  “You are what’s wrong with the world today.” San storms off, he is so disgusted with Clave he can't stand to look at his face. Clave looks over to Rick.

  “Am I done here?” he asks.

  “Yes, thank you for your help, Clave.” Rick calmly replies. He sparks up a cigarette as Clave walks off. “That kid walked away from this with only a few bruises and cuts. How is that possible?” Rick takes a puff and blows it out. “Looks like scary times are approaching.”

  Chapter 14

  Reality Lost

  Time: Unknown.

  Location: Unknown.

  Vin opens his eyes. All he can see is whiteness and a thin outline of digital architecture. “What in the—” Vin looks down and wonders what he is standing on. He takes a few steps on the white borderless ground and surveys the area. While he is distracted, a man walks up behind him.


  “Welcome.” The man says. Vin turns around and backs away.

  “W-Who are you?”

  “I am … surprised to see anyone else here so soon.” The man walks to the side of Vin, carefully observing him. “Forgive me. I am Dr. Mizrahi—or what is left of him. And you, Vin. You are in a new world. Or, I should say, a transitional world. I like to think of this as an area.” The man adjusts his glasses and then looks into Vin’s eyes. “Between worlds.” Vin wonders how this person knows his name. But his curiosity over this mysterious place grips his mind.

  “Is this a virtual place?” Vin asks. Dr. Mizrahi shakes his head.

  “No. Far from it. It’s as real as the world you know. The physical can exist here, from birth to death. Just in a different form.”

  “A different form? Wait, is my old world gone?”

  “No, it remains. Just as water has different forms—solid, liquid, gas—yet it still remains the same substance. If you think of your world as solid, then this is the high-speed information equivalent of that world … or the liquid form.” Mizrahi explains.

  “So this is a digital realm. Then it is virtual.” Vin says. Dr. Mizrahi lets out a sigh and pinches his nose just under his glasses.

  “I didn’t think it would be hard for a genius like you to grasp.” Vin looks down and thinks hard.

  “So, if what you say is true, then I’m traveling close to the speed of light right now.”

  “Very fast, correct.” replies Mizrahi. A look of shock enters Vin’s face.

  “Damn! Then I have to leave right now! Everything I know is aging by the second. I need to get back to them!” Dr. Mizrahi smiles. “Very perceptive, you do understand. Don’t worry, though. This time, your body isn’t here. You only partly unlocked your limiter and so only your mind is present. As for your family, it would do you little good to go back at this moment. Think about it … it’s much more important for you to find out about this place.” Vin ponders the situation and then looks at Mizrahi.