Alpha Tales 2044: Beta-Earth Chronicles

By Wesley Britton

Alpha Tales 2044, opens on Beta-Earth when two genetically-enhanced mutants are forced to recover a stolen secret, the cure to the ancient Plague-With-No-Name that defined a planet for millennia.
Then we jump across the multi-verse to our earth, Alpha-Earth, where police Captain Mary Carpenter infiltrates a gang of White Supremacists who want to purify Texas after decades of climate change and weaponized plagues.

Still on Alpha, we leap ahead in time to 40 years in the future where Mary Carpenter joins up with four aliens, two from Beta-Earth, two from Serapin-Earth. All four share the same father, The Blind Alien from Alpha-Earth. They've traveled across the multi-verse to tell us about their worlds.

But Alphans, scarred by the devastations to our world, are unhappy about learning about very different cultures from anything we've ever known and especially hearing about multiple deities. So the alien band are forced to go on the run and take sanctuary in a First Nation domed city in British Columbia.

But their sanctuary doesn't last long. Forced to travel further into the Canadian wilderness, the family encounters a pair of Sasquatch who change everything for them. They learn about the many definitions of what it means to be human.

Alpha Tales 2044, is a collection of stories that are part sci-fi, part murder mysteries, part horror, and part social commentary. But completely full of the unexpected, surprises, and tales, unlike anything you've experienced before.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alien Vision
• Release date: Dec 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386359586

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Alpha Tales 2044: A Beta-Earth Chronicles Collection

By

Dr. Wesley Britton

This collection copyright © 2018 Wesley Britton

First digital edition All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental. The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author.

2018 copyright Wesley Britton

License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

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Dedication

Prelude

Cast of Characters

Part 1: Prequels

The Last Night of the Collective

The Fates of Evil Men

Part II: Alpha Earth Sketches

Alpha 2044

Tsilhqot'in Canyon

Washington D.C.

Part III: Pacific Northwest Journeys

Murder in the Canyon

Sasquatch

Part IV: Leaving the Wilderness

Pittsburgh, PA

The Cruelest Day in April

Epilogue

Dedication

This collection is dedicated to the memory of my wife, Betty Meyer Britton, who went to her eternal rest on April 26, 2018.

I miss you baby. I always will.

Prelude

This short story collection brings together tales from three different creative wells.

First, I had planned to write a novella to be a sequel to Return to Alpha, the sixth volume of the Beta-Earth Chronicles. As time progressed, I decided to pull out various chapters as short stories instead, namely Murder in the Canyon and Sasquatch. Then I wrote related short stories intended to be stand-alone yarns, namely Last Night of the Collective, The Fates of Evil Men, and The Cruelest Day in April.

Opting to dump the novella and assemble this collection instead, I decided to pull out a number of passages from the novella and offer them as short sketches here in hopes they will add Important background, context, and continuity to this book.

So not exactly a novella, but hopefully Alpha Tales 2044  will interest you as a possible future when half-breed aliens arrive on an earth recovering from ecological and man-made catastrophes. I hope it’s as much a surprise for you the reader as much as it was a surprise for me the writer.

Dr. Wesley A. Britton

November, 2018

Cast of Characters

Malcolm Renbourn II: The Betan son of his Alphan-born namesake and his mother, Sasperia Thorwaif Renbourn, a member of the ruling Mentala of the country of Alma. His birth had come about under special circumstances. His mother was from a bloodline manipulated by the scientists of the Collective that had given her mutant enhancements both physical and mental in the hopes of defeating the genetic Plague-With-No-Name. Sasperia Thorwaif was able to throw huge boulders long distances and leap into trees. Mentally, she could remember everything she had ever heard.

When the Alman War erupted, Sasperia, now pregnant with her twins, Malcolm II and Gunnar, was imprisoned, which is where her sons were born. The father’s plague-free Alpha genes, combined with Sasperia’s enhanced metabolism, could jump over the diseased genes in Betans, resulting in a genetic ladder that could be given to all Beta mothers whose children would be free of the curse that had defined their world for as long as history had memory.

Some twenty years later, Malcolm II is the first of his family to volunteer to travel across the multi-verse to the birth planet of his father. Malcolm II is ruggedly handsome with very defined muscles and a mane of long, wheat-colored hair.

Major Mary Carpenter Renbourn: A former infiltrator in the Western Alliance on Alpha-Earth, Mary was transferred to the battleship Clinton of the Southern Union where she was tasked with interrogating the aliens from Beta and Serapin. When they are taken to the elaborate secret prison called The Citadel, Mary became their principal watcher.

At first, Mary’s religious beliefs precluded her accepting the cosmic missions described by the Renbourns. Beautiful, intelligent, and trained in many military and law enforcement skills, Mary quickly caught the eye of Malcolm Renbourn II.

At the end of Return to Alpha, Malcolm and Mary are wed under the protection of Shaman Manyfingers St. Claire in a remote First Nation village.

Mary is 6’4" tall with long, auburn hair she is frequently brushing off her face. Very beautiful with high cheekbones, penetrating eyes, and wonderfully long legs, Mary draws many men in her direction but also frightens those who shy away from obviously independent women.

Olrei Renbourn Kawahara: While born on Serapin-Earth, Olrei’s mother, Elsbeth Cawl Renbourn, had been one of the five Betan wives who had accompanied their husband on the second cross-versal jump from Beta to Serapin-Earth.

Olrei was Elsbeth’s first child born on Cerapin, and her origins were more than special. For while Olrei was still in her mother’s womb, Elsbeth sat at the bedside of her dying birth sister who was being transfigured into a spiritual entity in her final moments. Before her passing, Lorei touched Elsbeth and sent into her offspring Lorei’s powerful gift of prophecy.

Still, Olrei Renbourn was much like her warm, gentle, nurturing mother. While Elsbeth had always thought of herself as a simple, plain-faced farm girl, no one would call Olrei plain. She has a girlish, feminine, welcoming face and very curvaceous figure.

Akito Kawahara: A boyish, quiet and reserved Japanese-American who had been confined to the Citadel after his parents were convicted of spying for the Japanese. An electronics expert, Akito was wed to Olrei Renbourn in the same ceremony as Malcolm II and Mary.

Kalmeg Renbourn: Kalmeg was almost an exact duplicate of her mother, Kalma Salk Renbourn, a richly chocolate brown-skinned woman from the country of Balnakin on Beta-Earth, one of the wives of Malcolm Renbourn. Kalmeg was equally dark, and shared her mother’s entrancing and distinctive golden-yellow eyes.

A woman of many abilities, it had always been difficult for Kalmeg to find a distinguishing role for herself in a tribe so large, so spread in its international reach, with such a powerful history on three continents. By going to Alpha-Earth on the merivurn, she could show the same bravery as both her birth-parents. She could represent the dark-skinned bloodline of not only Tribe Renbourn, but Beta-Earth as a whole.

Kalmeg has a well-sculpted figure and has her culture’s personal intensity.

Malcolm Scott Renbourn III: Born on Cerapin-Earth, the sixteen-year-old Scott Renbourn is the first son of Malcolm Renbourn and Pidghe El, one half of the identical sisters who became the last of Malcolm Renbourn’s wives. As his mother didn’t have the typical Cerapin characteristics of large lobes or protruding chins, Scott also only bears subtle signs of his Cerapin bloodline. He has a comparatively flat forehead and a more Alphan-like chin than most of his species, but his skin is unusually gray-tinged with the Cerapin markings of colors all across his body. His face is filled with the confidence of youth, his lower lip pushed out as if he is challenging and daring the world to take him on.

Part 1: Prequels

The Last Night of the Collective

––––––––

The following story was adapted from a chapter in A Throne for an Alien: The Beta-Earth Chronicles, Book 4. It is told from the point-of-view of Sasperia Thorwaif Renbourn, a member of the Mentela, the upper house of Alma’s version of our British parliament. The events below took place in the city of Monte Carlo on the island country of Hitalec on Beta-Earth.

—-

I vividly remember the afternoon when Jrin Rol, the second-in-command of our security unit, and I stepped onto the ground floor of the Hotel Domino in the new city called Monte Carlo. The hotel was an entertainment center named after yet another Alpha game Malcolm Renbourn had brought to our planet. It should have been named Hotel Backgammon for all the pointed spikes of alternating colors on the floors and walls.

On this day, I was listening to Jrin's wistful hopes for an extended leave from service so she could deepen her studies in linguistic morphologies, geographic spatial patterns, and other analytical investigative techniques that would make her far more than a skilled expert in stealth and counter-espionage operations. I was becoming more and more impressed with what I heard as we walked into the dining hall.

Then, my blood chilled. In one moment, I felt as if I'd drank a bath shell-sized cocktail of adrenaline and dread. Sitting alone at a table in the corner was First Helprim Kiem Holenris from ital, the supreme head of the Munchen Collective. The last I'd seen of this seeming old crone had been in my offices in Bercumel. On that day, Holendris had let me know my life was on the line if I continued my then-pointless, personal war with my bond-family. For, like her, my genetically-enhanced mutations had come at a cost. The little pills the Collective now provided me slowed the metabolic rushing of time that aged such as us much faster than our years. If I wanted to live a healthy and beautiful life and for a good long time, I needed the pills only the Collective could provide me.

Holendris looked like a woman who'd seen four generations of descendants from her womb. But she was merely the age of my own mother. Like me, her appearance concealed a body of extraordinary gifts. Unlike me, she had started her pill regimen much later in her life than I had, hence her aged face and deceptively marked skin. On this day, while her lips were twisted in an almost skullish smile, her eyes sent a clear message to me across the wide hall of tables and happy noises.

Child, they wordlessly told me, bring your sun-drenched bronze skin and bright, blonde hair over here to me. You must come to me now. A matter of dire importance awaits you. Awaits us.

I looked to Jrin, who understood my own silent signal. We slowly made our way to the Helprim's round, polished white table where Kiem studied our movements with practiced eyes. She nodded as we came close and indicated two chairs.

Sit, little kitty, she cooed. Sit, Jrin Rol of the Mask-Painters.

Wordlessly, we took our places as serving hands quickly brought us trays of beverages. Kiem waited until the hands departed and took a sip of her own red pravine, then said softly, Thank you for your quick compliance, as what I am here to discuss requires some delicacy.

From a satchel, she pulled two files, which she pushed across the table at us, urging, Read in quick time, and know my people have already made sure our meeting place here is free of unwanted surveillance. Should anyone choose to disrupt this meeting, my agents will quietly ensure eager autograph hunters will be distracted.

Behind me, I heard sounds like just such a situation was underway. I heard my name mentioned before quiet voices gently made it clear I wished some privacy.

I quickly scanned the skol before me, three sheets of words wisely coded with a mix of Alphan English, Alman, and a dialect from the Ice Countries I knew well. My eyes widened. I was reading a report on a break-in by a Lorilian team that had burgled the Satraq offices of the Collective.

Pointless foolishness, Jrin Rol observed, finishing her own third page. I'm guessing this night raid was simply to show you the Lorilians living here are capable of passing through your security. Games of his royal majesty Gant Thanq and his main Shadow-Kin guardian, Kuf Oy, unless I miss my guess.

Kiem Holenris nodded. From their point of view, such nonsense is but practice for their operatives. A means to let their presence be known. What they knew not and is reported not on those skols is that they stumbled onto something of dire consequence.

Both Jrin and I laid our pages down. Kiem collected them and returned them to her satchel. She pulled out a small metal box decorated with various gemstones. She smiled and pushed it to me.

Let us pretend, she said softly, that I am offering you a small gift. In fact, that little box is a scrambler that will break up any communications even my own people might engage in hearing. She paused and quickly looked around her. Other than myself, all the Collective knows is the fact the burglary took place. But not of one special item.

She seemed satisfied with what she saw around us. She began speaking as if merely telling guests of the joys of milaco blends. Until this moment, I alone knew what one pad contained that was stolen from our offices. One little green pad of data, Sasperia Renbourn, held the secret all Beta has sought. A secret so sensitive I brought it here for the eyes of one woman. Your bond-sister, Jona Renbourn. Between her and our own Munchen studies, we have finally unlocked the secret of the plague.

Oh, my jaw dropped. I can describe not the surprising rush of emotions that energized my cells. The millennia-old curse of the Plague-With-No-Name that killed three out of every four male babies their first year for as long as history had memory. Now, the curse might be battled, maybe cured? The curse that had made the Collective so powerful to begin with?

Even in this shock, I studied the face across from me. Was this trick, wile, contrivance? Something in her eyes, expression, was much too deep, too free of guile, too full of intent focus for me to believe anything other than I had just heard history had somersaulted on its head. Yes, her eyes were filled with awe. As, no doubt, were mine. How — ? was all I could stutter.

Holendris looked down at the little box before me and began speaking as if to the ensconced jewels on its lid. Sasperia Renbourn, she breathed almost reverently, when you birthed your twins while in captivity, our operatives did more than smuggle you pills we both rely on. Every piece of the infant wrappings you disposed of, every bit of your sons’ waste matter we could forage, was sent in sealed containers back to Munchen.

Kiem sat back, suddenly reluctant to speak more. She blinked twice. But this was no signal for watching agents. It was nervousness bordering on alarm.

Sasperia, we learned all from your children's cells. The genetic makeup of your husband merged with your special bloodline reveal very clearly the biological component that inhibits the pollution infecting male namna on our planet.

Again, words failed me. Explain, I simple said.

Holendris leaned forward, a smile creasing her long, thin mouth. Now, she spoke words comfortable for a Helprim of her learning. "The secret