Beta Planet: Rise

by Dayton Grey

  “Okay, here you go. Eat slow Kumuki, Mama V don’t vant to see another choking incident from you okay?”

  She placed a platter of the small, flat, golden-brown cakes in the middle of the table, and they all just stared at them, not knowing if this was a dream or a joke of some sort. The sweet, warm smell filled their senses and made them smile. Suddenly, Kumuki stabbed his spork into one of them and shoved an entire one directly into his mouth, moaning with pleasure and chewing with his eyes closed.

  “I think he has the right idea,” Sabien said with a laugh. They all attacked the plate of warm sweet treats as Mama V sat down and joined them. As they ate, they talked about their favorite foods from the past and wondered if they would ever see things like them again. After they finished and helped to clear the plates, Mama V sat them down again and began talking about Zenith.

  “Now tell me everything. Vat is your plan?

  As Allea began explaining everything to Mama V, she suddenly received a message on her LifeCuff and her expression transformed from excitement to despair.

  “What is it, Ally?” Geon asked, seeing the look of concern on her face.

  “It’s Aurora,” she said, putting her head in her hands in frustration. “She said that she found out there is a biometric scanner at the entry point of Zenith. Only a top level member or approved personnel can unlock the gate.”

  “Oh nooooo! What does that mean?”

  “Well, Kumuki,” Allea said softly. “It means that this mission might have reached its end. We would need a living part of one of those people. There’s just no way I know of to duplicate the DNA of an eye, or a fingerprint, or a hair.”

  Geon shook his head, feeling suddenly hopeless, but Mama V sat still, tapping her fingers together and thinking.

  “Okay. Do not vorry. Mama V think she can take care of dat one thing for you. You vorry about everything else, okay?”

  “Mama V, how are you going to get a body part from an authorized person?” Sabien exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

  “Don’t you vorry about dat. Mama V not some old bumbling lady! Mama V have lots of connections.”

  Mama V sounds crazy. Then again, we’ve no reason not to trust her.

  “You must go tonight. You must help each other, and plan for every vorst case scenario, understand? CARE is everywhere, and they will not let you just walk in. Now go, and remember children, to alvays be true to you and alvays think for yourselves!”

  The four rushed off to school and excitedly talked about the plan and wondered if Mama V could really procure the item that they needed. Allea also sent a message to Aurora, letting her know all the details and to be prepared for tonight as it might be the night they all go to Zenith.

  In school, Vaya gave Geon a long hug when she saw him, telling him that she was so worried after the tsunami hit and that she was glad he was okay. She has sent him a message after the storm subsided the day before, letting him know that she and the others were safe, and he had done the same as well, but neither of them felt relief until they saw each other in person. They talked for a while, sharing their experiences of the day before, but Geon could sense that Vaya knew something was up with him as she asked him a few times if everything was okay.

  “Everything’s good. I’m good, actually… grape, err… I mean great. Yea, really great! Why do you ask?”

  “Well, for starters, you just said you were grape,” she replied with a smirk. “That’s clue one. Clue two is that you, Sabien, Kuki, and Allea all seem… different.”

  Geon just shrugged and replied “We’re just glad to be alive after yesterday, you know?”

  She nodded but seemed apprehensive. Geon felt guilty about holding back the truth from her, but told himself that it would only be for another few days or so.

  During their lunch break, Allea pulled the three boys aside and talked quietly to them.

  “So, I’ve been thinking about what Mama V said, about preparing for anything. She’s right. We don’t really know what we’re getting ourselves into… up there. And it’s not like Enkia where Aurora lives there and knows everything about it. We’re all going into this blind, you know?”

  “So whadda we do?”

  “Well,” she continued, nodding at Kumuki. “I talked to Xolo about his TechSci Concours project… the SukuuSuits that he made. I told him that I just wanted to do some testing on them to see if I can incorporate some of his technology into another project of mine, and he said it was fine!”

  “That’s great, Ally!”

  “Really great. Well done!”

  “Thanks, guys. I don’t know if we’ll need them, but you never know. So we’ll take them home after school, and if all goes well with Mama V, we will head back to Oden Bay, take the boat, get Aurora, and head to Zone One. And then, well…”

  “Who knows,” Geon said, looking at Sabien with a smile.

  The rest of the day was a blur for them, each of them thinking about the events that would unfold that night. When they arrived at home, Mama V was waiting for them, a smile on her face and a small tube in her hands.

  “So,” she said, “How vas your day? Are we on schedule? Everything good?”

  “Well,” Geon said. “Allea was able to get us these prototype emergency suits from another student, so that was really positive.”

  “But,” Allea added, looking at the tube in Mama V’s hands, “We still have the major issue of the biometric scanner. Is that what I think it is?”

  “What do you think it is?”

  “Dis, my dear Kumuki, is something very hard to come by. It’s a hair from an authorized personnel that will allow you access to Zenith. You will still need to run your security programs, to bypass the other security things, but this will at least get you there!”

  “How’d you get this, Mama V?” Sabien shouted, grabbing the small tube.

  “And whose is it?” Allea added, grabbing it out of Sabien’s hands.

  “And what is IT?” Kumuki yelled, grabbing the tube from Allea.

  “It’s a hair, Kumuki,” Sabien said. “We already went over that.”

  Kumuki shrugged his shoulders and passed it to Geon. Inside the clear tube was a single strand of silvery hair.

  Incredible. To think that a single human hair will give us access to the most secure area in this world that we know of, and to think that somehow Mama V was able to get it. How did she do it? Who does this belong to?”

  “Well, then I think we have everything we need,” Allea said.

  “Okay, so everything good?”

  “Yes, Mama V,” Sabien said with a crooked smile and a heavy accent. “Everything is goot!”

  Mama V looked at him and smiled and suddenly grabbed him in a tight embrace, lifting him clear off the ground.

  “Arrrrghhhhhhhhh!” He screamed as she shook him and kissed his face.

  “Mama V love you, you little rascal!”

  She then grabbed Allea, then Kumuki, and then finally Geon, squeezing with all her might and kissing him many times. He could feel her enormous strong arms around him, and though it hurt a bit and he began losing the blood flow to the rest of his body, it felt warm and comfortable as well.

  “Mama V just vant you to know dat you have made each and every day of my life vonderful and beautiful. I love each one of you so much more than you can even know. You are my heart… my soul… my children. Okay?”

  “Okay, Mama V,” Geon said. “You know we love you, too. And don’t worry about a thing. We’ll see you when we get back.”

  “I know you will, my dear. I know.”

  She left them to rest and they sat and continued to plan out the mission.

  “I’ve already contacted Aurora and let her know to be ready for us,” Allea said. “Maybe this time we can all stay focused on the plan and less on her?”

  “I think that can be arranged,” Sabien said, nudging Kumuki and Geon on each side with his elbows.

  “As for the entry point, it’s going to be new for all
of us, so just plan to be quiet and quick. The primary goal here is information. We need to get up there, see what is going on, and try to get as much information about the secret plans of CARE. We’ve been kept in the dark too long and it’s time that we… all of us on this planet… know the truth. Got it?”

  “Got it, sis. Get in and get out,” Geon said with a nod. “Now how do these SukuuSuits work?”

  They spent awhile going through the suits and learning how to use them. While they were doing it, Allea leaned over and whispered to Geon, just out of earshot of Kumuki.

  “I’m hoping we don’t have to use the zeppwing function, but if we do, it’s better to keep Kumuki in the dark about it until it’s actually time. The prospect of it might scare him too much.”

  “All right,” Geon replied, suddenly nervous himself.

  Scare him too much? What does this zeppwing even do?

  After going over the plan again and packing some supplies into their suits, they headed to their pods to get a couple hours of rest. It was going to be a long night for all of them.

  Geon was in a half-dream, half-awake state when the sound of Allea’s voice woke him.

  “It’s time, G.”

  He jumped out of his pod and they quietly changed into their suits. The material was smooth, silky, and lightweight, and came down to his wrists and ankles. There were pockets all over the suit, each of them holding a different survival item and serving a different purpose, and Geon could feel the bulk of the zeppwings along his spine in the back. On the upper chest area were buttons on each side, which Allea advised all of them to never touch unless instructed to do so.

  As they finished getting ready and walked out of the room, Geon caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. It was the same mirror that he looked at himself in the day he awoke from his coma. That day he barely recognized himself, and even though it was only a few weeks later, he felt like he had already changed so much since then. He realized then that no matter the outcome of the mission, that everything would change tonight, one way or the other.

  They stepped out into the cold dark night, the sky overcast with the thick fog of the permamist.

  “Geon you have the boat key, right?”

  “Got it, Sabe. Let’s go.”

  Just as they had done before, they lifted the heavy cover off the street and climbed their way down into the aqueducts. The air was thick and moist from the storm the day before and the water level was higher than usual, flowing rapidly through the center of the tunnel.

  “Still can’t get used to that smell,” Geon said, coughing and gagging as they made their way toward the coastline.

  After an hour of walking through the thick flowing water, they stopped and took a break, passing around some AlgaBytes. The heavy water flowing against them was slowing their pace more than they had anticipated.

  “We need to pick up the speed, guys,” Geon said. “Ally, how do the waves look in the Open?”

  “Just checked and they’re choppy, but I think we’ll manage.”

  The foursome increased their speed and kept moving toward the coast. Geon was unwavered by the water, too full of excitement, anxiousness, and nervous energy to feel tired. He continued at a steadfast pace, leading the way for all of them. After another thirty minutes of making turns around the labyrinth of subsurface tubes, they finally walked out of the exit point and into Oden Bay.

  “Just like we remembered it,” Sabien said as they hurried down to the boat, started it up, and headed out to the Red Zone.

  “Watch out for synth eels!” Kumuki warned.

  The water was definitely more tumultuous than their last trip. Geon struggled to keep the boat on a straight path, and numerous times had to overcompensate with a sharp turn to keep it from rocking precariously to one side. Allea, Sabien, and Kumuki all struggled to stay in their seats, their bodies being thrown around as the cold water sprayed their faces and skin.

  “At least these suits are heated,” Geon said, feeling warm but wet. They eventually reached the marker for Aurora’s home and Allea sent her a message letting her know that they had arrived.

  The hatch opened with a thump and she carefully climbed out as Geon pulled the boat closer.

  “Please do not make noise, as my parents are asleep,” she whispered, climbing carefully into the boat and sitting between Kumuki and Sabien, both of whom seemed suddenly confused about how to sit and where to put their hands.

  “Nice seeing you, Aurora,” Sabien whispered. “It’s been too long.”

  “Quite long,” Kumuki agreed. “Longer than it should… be.”

  “Mmhmm,” Geon added. “Quite.”

  Allea shook her head and rolled her eyes as they pulled slowly away from Enkia, the hazy underwater lights fading into the distance.

  “Nice to see you all as well,” Aurora said with a smile. “Spectacular suits! Is it just for the occasion or do they have some special function?”

  “They’re Sukuusuits!” Kumuki blurted out.

  “Yes, they’re prototypes that a classmate made for the TechSci Concours,” Allea explained. They’re basic survival suits and have a lot of functions that could help us. I would have brought you one, too, but he only had these four.”

  “Allea, that is quite all right, and thank you for thinking of me. Anyway, black isn’t really my best color!”

  They all laughed as they continued their path toward Zone One. Aurora explained that she had been searching for days for more answers about Zenith, but was unable to come up with anything. One night she finally decided that the only way was through her father, so she infiltrated into his LifeCuff and found the information there.

  “I didn’t know about the biometric scanner until I went deeper into the data later. I am very sorry to have surprised you of that at the last minute. But tell me, how were you able to get past that?”

  “Actually, it’s a mystery to us as well,” Geon said, explaining how Mama V left for the day and came back with the hair. “We honestly don’t know who the hair belongs to, or how she got it, and she wasn’t giving us any information either…”

  “As long as it works!” Sabien declared.

  Aurora nodded and mentioned how it was interesting that there was discontent about CARE, not just from them, but from others as well, once you “peeled their layers back and really got to know them.”

  “It’s true,” Allea added. “Learning that Mama V knew about all of this, all this time, and how she felt about CARE… it was shocking for us. Imagine how many more people there are out there who feel the same.”

  Geon wondered what the answer to that question was. If they didn’t have that fear of CARE… that fear of Narakai… how many people would express dissatisfaction and anger toward CARE? Fear can be quite the suppressor.

  They continued for some time in silence, each of them reflecting on what they were about to do. Geon could see that all of them were putting on brave faces, including him, but under the surface were saturated in terror. He knew that if they were caught they would pay the steepest price, but he tried to push those thoughts out of his head, telling himself that “without courage and sacrifice, we will never move forward.”

  “Up ahead,” Aurora said, pointing toward the coastline. “Take it very slow and keep quiet. This area is patrolled by CARE.”

  Geon turned the engine down to a low speed and approached the coastline carefully. Clusters of tall buildings dotted the skyline. They looked up, wondering what this miniature city in the sky looked like, but couldn’t see anything. All they could see were the defunct remnants of destroyed and abandoned buildings, and a thick layer of permamist which prevented them from seeing the rooflines. As they pulled up against the rocky edge of land, the metal bottom of the boat scraped against the rough ground, making a loud grinding noise and sending a shiver down Geon’s spine. Sabien jumped out and tied the boat to a nearby post and helped each of them carefully step out.

  “By my calculations, it’s very close. See that cluster
of five or six buildings? The tallest ones? That’s the entry point.”

  “I think we can get there without entering the aqueducts,” Allea said. “Stay close to the edges of the buildings and stay quiet. We can go single file. Everyone got it?”

  They continued onward, creeping slowly into the dark, quiet city. The buildings around them were massive, looming over them like dark leaning colossal creatures. Geon looked at them, their surfaces worn and crumbling and rubble all around them, and imagined that they were alive, looking back at them, their faces dotted with the dark openings from where there once were windows.

  As Aurora guided them through the city streets, she kept her LifeCuff on private mode so that the lights were only visible to her. There was no one to be seen anywhere and no sign of life. Finally, they reached the center building in the cluster and Aurora motioned for everyone to stop.

  One by one, she whispered to each of them to make a dash for one of the openings in the window, and one by one they quickly ran across and climbed through the window into the first floor. It was pitch black inside, with nothing but the remains of a relic from the past. The concrete walls were crumbling around them and all of the windows and doors were open to the streets. On the other side of the room was half a stairway, the bottom part of it completely missing. In the center of the room was the old elevator for the building, its doors blocked by wood and other debris.

  “There’s no one here,” Geon said. “I was expecting… someone. This can’t be right.”

  “You might be right, Geon,” Aurora said, “but these are the exact coordinates for the entry point.”

  “It’s here,” Sabien said. “I can feel it. This is exactly what they want. Instead of guards everywhere, they picked a place where no one would ever even want to go.”

  “Well,” Geon said. “Then we need to figure out how to get up there. Everyone spread out and look around, carefully and quietly. Ally, our signals are blocked, right?”

  “Of course, G. I’ll check on this side. Look for a small device that could be a scanner.”

  They split up and began searching the perimeter of the room first. It was so dark that Geon found himself using his hands to help him see, running them gently over the edge of the course, brittle walls.