The Rubidium Beach Series - Episodes 1 Through 4: Cyberpunk/Dystopian Science Fiction

by G. D. Blanton

“Well, I've rebuilt the program and the security at the same time. Now the two are completely intertwined and that makes the whole scenario all but uncrackable.” Ani was obviously proud of his work. “Of course I've added all the usual layers of encryption and some over the top of the whole thing. This means that even Vireo won't suspect anything while he is hacking through the first layers and will get one hell of a surprise once he gets down to the program proper.'

  “So, no time limits?” asked Teal with her customary pragmatism.

  “As long as we are here In the Cassini Division we are relatively safe. Of course nothing can ever be guaranteed one hundred percent but this arrangement is about as close as it gets.”

  “What about if we are not here?” Scoter asked.

  “About that.” Ani continued. “I've kept travel as conventional as I can up to this point. To get from A to B we've walked, boated or even flown but I'm sure that you know it doesn't have to be that way.” As Ani was talking a new button appeared on Junco's internal home-screen. It simply said 'The Cassini Division.' Ani went on to tell them that this button would immediately bring the whole group back to this bar regardless of where they were on this or any other Level. He warned that Vireo could possibly disable it if they were away from the Cassini Division.

  Tanager was looking the least comfortable of all of them. Junco was tempted to access her via the Net to ask her story but decided against it. He suspected that the others had decided likewise. After a bit of consideration Junco decided to address the other thing on his mind. “Where the hell did all those people come from, and how did they all fit in the Jupiter Moon?”

  Ani answered. “As to where they came from that was easy – here in Rubidium Beach. In fact I'm pretty sure that we saw the entire population pile out through that door.”

  Tanager spoke for the first time and the delivery was surprisingly controlled. “He grew the room. The people came and as soon as the room was full it got bigger to accommodate more. By the time the show started the bar was the size of a concert hall. When the crowd left the room shrank back again.”

  It was Teal who asked Tanager what they all wanted to ask. “Are you ready to tell us what happened?”

  “Yes.”

  “We can go mind to mind if it would make it easier,” offered Teal. Junco was pleasantly surprised that none of the group were prejudging the situation and that they all seemed more than willing to let Tanager tell her story in her own time and in her own way.”

  “I'd prefer verbal to start with if that is OK.” It was.

  Ani ordered up a round of drinks. All of them chose alcohol or drug based beverages without hesitation. If things got crappy and required full faculties an instant detox subroutine was always an option.

  Tanager spoke without any prompting. “When I first met you after the slaughter of the hostages on Level Minus One I had already been blackmailed by Vireo. This happened about two weeks before we all met up at that house of his” No one seemed surprised to hear this. “It was very simple. I either went along with him or he killed my entire family. At first I refused. The next day I dropped down from Level Zero to do the usual morning routine and my partner was dead. Dead and nailed to the wall with a note stapled to his chest. The note said, 'Take me seriously bitch.'

  “What happened then?” asked Scoter softly.

  “I did, I took him very seriously I mean. We met and I caved, offered to do anything no matter what to save my three kids.”

  Junco was feeling a little guilty as he found himself wanting some kind of proof that Tanager really was on the level. They had been duped by Vireo too many times now and he had become increasingly skeptical. However he did join the others by offering his condolences and at least appearing sympathetic.

  “So you had some idea of what to expect in that room that day,” Scoter asked gently.

  “Some. Obviously I had seen what he was capable of after all he had killed my partner without warning or regret. The man, program or whatever, is a monster. But I did not expect things to be so brutal though.”

  “You knew he was going to kill people?” Scoter was obviously playing the part of the gentle interrogator and Junco and the rest seemed happy to let him have at it. Junco was beginning to suspect that the others had their doubts. This greatly eased his own conscience.

  Then, with no warning, Tanager's head slid forward, hit the floor with a thud and rolled onto its side. A second later her body collapsed next to the head. The cleanness of the cut and lack of blood meant only one thing. Ani was responsible. There were a few seconds of stunned disbelief then both their internal Net and verbal comms exploded.

  Junco's anger was laser focused on Ani. “You bastard. I knew we couldn't trust you. So tell us, are you Vireo or do you just work for him? Is his ugly mug about to appear on a wall and give us more bullshit ultimatums with promises that he has no intention of keeping?” He then lunged towards Ani but was grabbed by Teal before he could do any damage.

  “I'm with Junco on this.” she said. “You had better start talking and talking fast.” But before anyone could do any talking Tanager's headless body started to move. The the head rolled face up and smiled horribly. The body then positioned itself and reconnected to the head. The thing in front of them no longer looked anything like Tanager.

  “OK Ani, what next? Oh, and really sorry about jumping the gun,” Junco said hurriedly.

  “Yah, me too.” seconded Teal. All eyes were fixed on the apparition taking shape in front of them. They were definitely no longer looking at Tanager – or even an approximation of her. The thing was human in shape but that was about all. It had a hole where the mouth should have been just as it had two openings where eyes usually go. Its limbs were roughly in the right place but it was definitely not human, even by the broad standards of the Levels.

  “Kill it,” said Teal unemotionally.

  “What makes you think that I can?” said Ani, who nevertheless, swiped his shooting finger diagonally across the thing's middle. Its top half started to slowly slide off of its bottom half but after about three inches of downward motion progress stopped. The top half then defied gravity and slid back up the diagonal, and once aligned, joined itself back to the bottom half.

  This was all too much for Junco, who ejected the little that remained in his stomach. The puke vanished when it was about an inch from his mouth and acid was replaced by the taste of peppermint. He did wonder why the original violence affected him less than watching the repairs happen. Scoter just watched. It was as if he had come to terms with the idea of witnessing history first hand as opposed to gleaning it from old holograms and imperfect records.

  Over the space of a second the thing had morphed from something indescribable into something faintly ludicrous. It was now the spandex biker dude. Pacing around the room, the dude leered at them, revealing several yellowed teeth with more gaps than enamel. It stank, it cursed and it was circling the group with what seemed like a dreadful sense of purpose. It still carried the whip and the knife.

  Junco sent a thought over the Net. “I think that Tanager, the biker and Vireo are all one and the same.”

  “Was coming to the same conclusion.” Ani agreed.

  Teal thought for a moment then said. “Wait a minute, that means that he can split himself into more than one person at a time?” she went on to add, “that means that the last time we saw him was actually in the Jupiter Moon, and he was torturing himself.”

  Junco laughed, despite the current situation. “Well done, Ani, you've created a full-on digital psycho basket case – maybe we should stop fighting this guy and just find him a really good therapist.” Ani was not smiling.

  Biker dude then lunged at Teal with his knife. Teal neatly sidestepped him and punched the back of his neck hard. The dude went sprawling across the bar floor. The monstrosity turned it's pockmarked face toward her, leered and made her an offer that she found extremely easy to refuse. She covered the distance between the two of them in one leap and bo
ught her boot down heavy and hard on his head. The biker's face was now one red mess. The features were disappearing, the clothing was changing and the thing was reverting to it's amorphous non-person state.

  Ani lunged forward grabbed the not-quite human mass at one end and Teal did the same at the other end. They dragged it towards the newly-appeared but highly familiar door with the Exit sign. Only the sign didn't say Exit this time – but rather Exist. Either way the opening functioned perfectly well as an exit and the ill-formed body was soon ejected. The moment that the whole thing was bundled out of the room the door disappeared.

  Ani had a look of intense concentration and he had signed off the Net. Junco figured that he was repairing the security breach that could have destroyed the Cassini Division for the second time. It struck him that you could have the best security anywhere on the Levels but it wouldn't make much difference if you walked the threat in through the door with you. Ani came back online, approximately ten seconds after he had signed off.

  “Good to have you back,” said Teal

  “More running repairs?” ventured Scoter

  Ani looked a whole lot more relaxed now. “That is about the strength of it. Think we are just about as secure as we were before.”

  Teal laughed, something she did rarely. “And that is meant to be reassuring?”

  “Not really, just a statement of fact.” But Ani got the joke. “Let's just say that the room is secure as long as we don't invite the threat in.”

  “Let's just keep this room private for the time being – just the four of us.” No one opposed Junco's idea but Ani looked uncomfortable.

  18. MORE MECHANIK

  Ani hinted that things were about to change drastically but would not go into details and that the next few hours on this Level would be very uncertain. This came as a surprise to no one. With that in mind he suggested that everyone drop down to Level Minus One for a few hours to get a bite to eat, shower and to take care of any other necessities. They agreed to meet in The Cassini Division in ninety minutes Level Minus One Time.

  Ani had cleaned up the bar and there was no evidence of the mayhem that had ensued earlier. Junco saw that the recently-added window had disappeared – this troubled him for a reason that he could not put his finger on.

  As soon as they had all arrived and Ani had set up the drinks he opened up the Net and started transmitting. “I have a confession to make. I didn't want to say anything earlier as things were pretty fraught and, well, this seems better done in calmer circumstances.” The others were noncommittal and they left the line free for Ani to continue. “Someone or rather something else is with us.”

  They were confused as there was obviously no one else in the room and no extra presence was detectable on their Net.

  Ani continued. “It is the Mechanik, or rather a part of it. It has no physical representation, which is why you don't see it in the room. I am in communication with it and I'll open up the whole Net to it very soon.”

  “After what just happened you bring another entity in here?” This time it was Scoter that spoke for the group.

  Ani was obviously expecting this blow-back and gave what seemed to be a well prepared response. “A couple of things. Number one, I am a part of the Collective and can vouch for them one hundred percent.” Junco was skeptical. “Number Two and perhaps most important, we are not going to defeat Vireo on our own. He has beaten us at every turn, he is always half a dozen steps ahead of us. Besides that, he has no moral compass other than protecting the purity of the code or some such convenient BS. We humans matter less than insects to him. In what passes for his mind we are an infection, something to be tolerated at best and something to be obliterated at worst.” Then for emphasis, “We are dead without the help of the Mechanik.”

  With that, Ani flipped the virtual switch and a new presence joined Junco, Teal, Scoter, and Ani. Though this entity spoke with a clear voice it was obviously comprised of more than one consciousness. Junco immediately felt calm and sensed that the others were feeling the same. “Mind if I ask a question?” Scoter was addressing the portion of the collective that had joined them.

  “Please ask away,” The collective prompted.

  “I thought that you did not get involved with human affairs?”

  “We haven't up until now but then we have never encountered anything or anyone like Vireo before. We could argue that Vireo is not a human, that he is code even though he has now produced a human version of himself. We consider this a loophole but we will take what we can get.”

  “What made you change your mind?” again it was Scoter who was asking the questions.

  “As you know, we mainly exist to keep the layer structure intact. Vireo was always a menace, but originally he was a menace only to humans not to the layer structure itself. As he became more powerful the lines blurred and his activities were impacting the layers more and more.”

  The Mechanik group continued, “Since your meeting with him where he killed the four hostages and set you on this path he has stepped up his activity. In the last few hours he has destroyed one medium sized Level and three smaller ones. He has also sabotaged a Level Minus One asteroid mining operation and has hacked his way into oil production and distribution here on Minus One Earth.”

  “That is my department!” Junco exclaimed. “No one contacted me – why?”

  “Vireo cut your comms. He left no way for your department to contact you. Believe me they have been trying to get a hold of you but all they've gotten back is static. The current theory is that you have had some kind of a breakdown and are currently recuperating offline somewhere.”

  “I should contact them at least. Let them know that I'm okay,” suggested Junco.

  “No point,” said Ani. “If we don't destroy Vireo there probably won't be an oil production and distribution service to worry about. Besides, if he is around at the end of this, he will kill us all. I may be able to protect us for a while but he will get us whether it takes a day, a month, or a decade. He is relentless.”

  19. THE RIG

  The walls of the Cassini Division then just dissolved. They were on one of the rigs off the shore of Rubidium Beach. The massive sun was high in the sky and the moons were not currently visible. The sea, forty feet or so beneath them, was slowly sloshing against the immense pillars that supported the structure.

  Ani conjured up another round of drinks and dissolved the walls and ceiling, giving them a full three-sixty unrestricted view. There were rigs the same or similar to this one every hundred yards or so for as far as the eye could see. Teal asked Ani what purpose they served and Ani smiled and simply said that was a story for another time.

  “What now?” asked Teal over the Net. “Do we just wait for Vireo to show up?”

  “Not exactly.” said Ani. “We need you or Junco to broadcast that you have destroyed us, that the Mechanik is finished. We will make sure that the message gets through to Vireo.”

  “That is ridiculous.” Junco said. “He will know that the Mechanik is still operational.”

  “The Mechanik has gone dark, so to speak, for the last few hours. All repairs and all communications with all Levels have ceased. We have also taken steps to make it look as if we are no longer anywhere on the Net. We have also planted false stories on the news sites saying that we are under attack and that the assailants are unknown and deadly. The deceit should hold up for just long enough.”

  A large birdlike creature flew over their heads. This struck them all as odd as none, including Ani, had ever seen a bird or anything similar on Rubidium Beach. The bird looked down, squawked loudly, and continued on its journey.

  Junco and Teal both broadcast the message that The Mechanik had been defeated. Ani ordered another round of drinks and they waited.

  They did not have to wait for long. Three of the now-familiar box on stilt contraptions approached the rig from different directions. The manner of approach was exactly the same as it was with the boat, an incredibly fast appro
ach then a full stop with no deceleration phase. The stilt part of all three contraptions then telescoped upwards, putting the box part on a level with the top deck of the rig. The front sections then opened from the top and extended onto the deck. One figure emerged from each box and stepped onto the improvised walkways. The figures were all familiar. The occupants of the Cassini Division, currently located on the uppermost platform of an offshore rig, watched Vireo, Tanager, and Spandex walk towards them.

  The moment the three new arrivals stepped onto the platform the whole rig shook. One massive shock was followed by several smaller ones. An earsplitting awful ringing started up, as if a giant bell had been struck. The ringing died down very slowly. A tall perfectly circular wave headed for the rig from all directions. The group felt its impact but it was nowhere near as jarring as the earlier shaking. Once the wave hit and the metallic sea leveled off again, it became obvious to everyone that something big had just occurred.

  There was now a ring around the rig that contained none of the metal liquid that made up the body of water. The ring's inner circle was about sixty feet from the rig and it's outer one was around a hundred and forty feet away. This meant that there was now a moat in reverse, eighty feet across, surrounding them. The bottom of the newly created channel was the same mirrored tiles that they had seen on the edge of the water. The side of the visible outer edge was perfectly smooth and Junco suspected that this fact provided a pretty big clue as to what had just occurred. He looked up and saw that the sun was no longer a perfect disc but was now an long horizontal oblong smear. This more or less confirmed his suspicions.

  Junco, Teal, Scoter and Ani knew to keep their external expressions completely passive – to give away nothing. Internally on the Net though, things were very different. Teal and Junco assumed that the events that they had just witnessed were being driven by Vireo. Scoter was taking a more wait and see approach and the Mechanik, including Ani, were trying to calm the situation.