The Beam: Season Three
Read The Beam: Season Three Online
Authors: Sean Platt,Johnny B. Truant
Learn the Story Behind the Beam
THE BEAM: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON
by Sean Platt &
Johnny B. Truant
Copyright © 2015 by Sean Platt & Johnny B. Truant. All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events, or locales is purely coincidental.
Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited. The authors greatly appreciate you taking the time to read our work. Please consider leaving a review wherever you bought the book, or telling your friends about it, to help us spread the word.
Thank you for supporting our work.
To our readers
Who encouraged us to listen to our muses
and write in whichever genres spoke to us.
Previously On The Beam ...
Previously, in
The Beam: Season 2…
ISAAC AND NATASHA RYAN
Natasha and Isaac are at war with each other. With Natasha scheming to shift to Enterprise, complete with a shameless media blitz and a comeback concert, Isaac pleads with her to reconsider her grand and humiliating defection. True to form, Natasha loves making her ineffectual husband squirm and spin out of control.
Desperate for help with his out-of-control wife, Isaac turns to his brother, Micah, asking him to convince Natasha to tone down her Shift, insisting her plans are a knock to both Enterprise and Directorate. Micah ridicules his brother and details the many ways he’s been controlling their joint world, including starting a previous riot at Natasha’s ill-fated Aphora concert. Realizing the truth in Micah’s words, Isaac loathes his station, blaming himself for being inferior to everyone else. Desperate to turn the press (and public opinion) against Natasha, Isaac reaches out to heavyweight Aidan Purcell. Like Micah before him, Aiden lectures Isaac, telling him that there
is no
Enterprise versus Directorate and belittling him for not being able to control either his wife or his own floundering career. Isaac insists that Natasha is only changing parties to feed her own ego and to further emasculate him in very public fashion. Purcell finally acquiesces, giving Isaac permission to sabotage his wife’s concert, with the caveat that should things go wrong, the blame belongs to Isaac alone.
As Natasha takes the stage, a group of terrorists barges in and knocks out a cluster of the audience with slumberguns. They announce themselves as the shadowy collective Null and begin to describe how individual parties don’t matter —that the disturbing truth is that it’s the rich like Natasha against the poor like them. The assault quickly escalates, and just when everything seems it’s at its worst, Natasha is saved by a scheming Isaac.
And for a moment, they’re happy; they’re a loving couple again. But the future will irrevocably change them forever.
NICOLAI COSTA
Nicolai is off-Beam, arguing with Kai about what they should do next after Doc Stahl’s disappearance, when Micah arrives at his apartment wanting to know why Nicolai has
gone dark
. But Micah has ulterior motives. He’s also come to let Nicolai know, without explicitly saying so, that he knows Nicolai and Kai are scheming against him.
After Micah leaves, Kai and Nicolai argue about the best course of action, finally deciding that Nicolai should talk to Rachel Ryan and try to mine some answers directly from her while Kai gets what she can from Isaac.
Nicolai visits Rachel and tells her his story, which she already knows. Rachel praises him for battle testing his late father’s hovertech and says that she’d never stand in the way of Nicolai’s ascension into the elite. Nicolai grants an interview to the author Sterling Gibson and tells him about his time crossing Europe and how he
should
have died, wondering out loud if it perhaps
wasn’t
skill that got him through. Nicolai feels that his ample good fortune, his survival, was all by design. Others
knew
he was coming. As Nicolai leaves, Sterling tells him that he knows someone who may be useful to Nicolai in his quest to embarrass the powers that be: intrepid underground reporter Sam Dial.
SAM DIAL
Sam is increasingly disturbed by what he’s learning about the elusive Beau Monde and how this elite faction manipulates society for its own ends. And he zeroes in on Nicolai, thinking this insider might hold the key to cracking open the secrets he’s long worked to expose.
With Shift swiftly approaching, Sam notices some definite patterns in the society at large, irrespective of Enterprise or Directorate. He wonders if it
really
matters who wins. He calls out to the Null masses, asking for help in disrupting Shift. He turns to fellow Null members Integer7 and n33t for help, pinging them endlessly with requests for information and help with his plans.
Integer7 eventually answers Sam, demanding a rapid conversation, where he insists that Sam disclose what he knows. Sam sheepishly reveals what he knows about Nicolai and the upcoming Shift, but Integer7 is dismissive, saying that this is not new information. Sam says that Shift must be stopped. Integer7 laughs this off, saying that Shift is unstoppable. Back in his apartment, Sam gets another message from n33t, stating that all may not be what is seems with Integer7. Sam tries to dismiss what he can't answer and reiterates that the masses must be mobilized by any means necessary. n33t says that she'll do whatever she can.
After the Primes Statements conclude at the White House, Sam is devastated by what he perceives as a total lack of support from his allies. Having made grand promises on the Null forums, he’s now afraid that the collective will bring him down, and threats pour in from the anonymous group, along with demands that Sam prove his worth.
Sam is more terrified than ever.
KAI DREYFUS
Kai hacks her way into Isaac’s place, looking for evidence of the Beau Monde that she longs to join. She finds herself surprisingly angry at all of their opulence and leaves, craving what they have.
After deciding that she’s worked too long for Micah, with her mentor failing to deliver on his many promises, Kai forces her way past Micah’s secretary to meet with him. She details everything that he’s promised but has yet to deliver, seething from his many lies and constant misdirections, lashing out and allowing her emotions to claim her.
Micah assures Kai that her advancement into the Beau Monde is nearing, but that he can’t yet give her what she’s owed. Kai surprises Micah by insisting that Nicolai should ascend to Beau Monde, too. Micah suggests that one final job might get Kai exactly what she wants:
killing Rachel Ryan.
KATE RIGBY
Doc, now in hiding as Kate, is on a moon run hoping to smuggle some Lunis back to Earth. But on her way off the satellite she’s pulled aside for inspection. Resigned to her fate, Kate follows the inspector where he tests her for dust before demanding that she strip. Despite her protests, the inspector doesn't waver. Instead, he threatens her with a heavy prison sentence and offers her an unsavory chance at escape. Kate won’t stand for it, so she elbows him in the nose, killing the man with little effort. Then, with a bit of nanobot assistance, she erases all records of her detention then flees the holding room and ditches her shuttle on the way to Earth.
Back home, Kate tells her boss, Jimmy, that she’s lost the entire shipment of Lunis. She vows to make things right, but Jimmy is furious. The Organa desperately needs the shipment.
They meet up with Jimmy’s boss and Doc’s old friend, Omar Jones. Despite her trepidation, Kate knows that a working relationship with Omar is the only thing that makes sense. Omar lulls her into a sense of security until he manages to trick Kate into a very Doc-like response. Her cover is blown.
MICAH RYAN
Micah visits Nicolai to see why his new man is offline. He trashes his brother, saying that Isaac was foolish not to allow Nicolai into his confidence. After explaining the chain of events that led the Ryans to Nicolai, Micah hypothesizes that his experience created a more robust AI.
After they debate history, ownership, theft, and what’s next for their work together in Enterprise, Micah visits his mother. Rachel thanks him for the visit and asks if he’s been in touch with his brother. It’s rare for them to discuss family, but Rachel seems concerned for Isaac. She threatens to void Isaac’s shares of the family business and implores Micah to rein in Natasha.
Micah insists that he has matters well in hand and can step in when needed. Rachel then drops a final bombshell by asking Micah to bid Kai well. He wonders how she even knows her.
Later, at the White House, Presidents Reese and Carter deliver their Prime Statements. Carter claims that the nation should be focusing on similarities between the parties rather than their differences. He says that unity is preferred. Necessary. Required. The time has come to join as one behind Project Mindbender. Micah is dumbfounded.
DOMINIC LONG
Dominic is sent racing back to the Organa village after his interrogation by Austin Smith, reeling from the knowledge that Leo once led a deadly domestic terrorist group.