“How long has it been since I’ve seen you, Benjamin?  A couple months?  Far too long, I say,” Herman said, giving Ben another hearty slap on the back while adjusting his glasses with the other hand.  “You must come over for dinner sometime, really.  Amanda wants to make her casserole for you again.”

            “That sounds great, Dr. Randolph.”

            “For the last time, Benjamin, you can call me Herman if you want,” the man insisted.

            “All… all right.  H-Herman,” the teen repeated, clearly uncomfortable with not ascribing the full measure of respect he felt for this friend of the family’s and greatly accomplished professional.

            “We’ll work on it,” he laughed, then placed his arm around Ben’s shoulder again and began leading him closer to the auditorium doors so as not to hold up the crowds of Betas still making their way inside.  “Looking forward to today?”

            “You bet.  I can’t wait to hear what you have to say.”

            “I’ll give you a hint: it’s the same thing I’ve been telling you since you were as tall as my knee.  I doubt you could really understand me then, but I tried anyway, and so did your parents, of course.  This new world we live in… my God, you can be anything you want.  Do you know that?  Anything!”

            “I know, Dr. Rand- um, I mean Herman.  It’s really something.”

            “It is indeed, son.  And I foresee great things in your future.  Still keeping those grades up?”

            “Yes, sir.  I was in the top twenty-five on the dean’s list,” Ben admitted with a bit of sheepish pride.

            “Excellent, excellent.  I knew it’d be a cinch for you.  Just keep on doing like you have been, and you’ll be putting your professors at university to shame in no time,” the elder Beta chuckled. “Listen, I’ve got to be going.  I guess they want to fit me with a microphone or something backstage, but I’ll see you afterward, all right?”

            “Sounds good… Herman,” Ben said with a grateful wave as the man parted ways and disappeared down a different Beta walkway.

            Sighing, he folded his hands back together behind his back and continued inching closer to the doors of the auditorium, slowing as he veered toward the wall to purposefully allow more students to pass him.  Somehow, the closer he got, the harder it seemed to imagine going in until he found himself just leaning against the wall and watching the continuous line of Betas all pass through the doors.

            It wasn’t that he didn’t want to hear Dr. Randolph, or the other speakers assembled for today.  It wasn’t that he didn’t hold them all in immense esteem, and swell with a sense of unparalleled inspiration at what they had all accomplished for themselves and for Betas everywhere, and what they all insisted the students could accomplish as well.  But that same feeling in his gut had returned just as soon as the doctor was gone, the one that forced him to wonder if he was even worthy of going in there and trying to soak up the knowledge, like it possibly meant anything.

            Like it would’ve possibly meant anything to his parents, because of what he was now.

            A sniveling coward.

            “Ben!” Mrs. Hall called out.  She had posted herself by the door and only just noticed him having diverted from the flock.  “Coming?”

            “In a minute,” he mouthed, and she seemed to recognize his need for temporary solitude, because she only nodded before turning her attention back to the others.  Crossing his arms, Ben began walking backward against the flow of traffic until he reached an opening to a separate hallway, where he could get a few moments’ peace.

            A bathroom sign above a door offered a welcome respite from all this, and Ben quickly made his way inside to sulk in private as a few stragglers finished using the facility and scurried to get back in line.

            Twenty minutes later, the final round of schools had crowded into the auditorium.  Though it represented little more than an average-sized theatre for the Alphas, to the Betas, the domed assembly hall was more than a sight to behold, because it couldn’t hope to be drunk in with a single glance.  Two dozen balconies of increasing height ascended along the walls to help accommodate the fact that one hundred thousand students were crammed into the room along with a cadre of teachers, administrators, and chaperones.

            A comparatively lesser audience of one hundred Alphas sat in the back of the room shoulder-to-shoulder, still plenty close enough to make out whoever had taken the curtained stage.  Along the various exits, seven Alpha guards were posted to help keep track of the staggering number in attendance, with backup loitering outside.  The entire room was filled with the dull roar of a thousand crisscrossing tiny voices excitedly discussing school gossip, and the hushed demands by teachers for them to quiet down and take their seats as a figure in a suit emerged on the stage.

            “Good morning, everyone!” the Beta called out cheerily, clapping her hands together as her aided voice boomed from the speakers all around the room, filling the auditorium despite how impossibly dwarfed she was by the place.

            “We here at the Norman & Joan Tyler Convention Center and Memorial Gardens are proud to host this first event of Unity Week in a new tradition of celebrating Beta achievement across the past two decades and into the future.  I hope you’ve all found your seats, and that you’re prepared to listen, because our distinguished group of speakers are all here specifically for you.  Yes, you!” the woman began delightedly.  “The speakers we’ve gathered here are living proof that anything you want can be yours, but before we invite the first of them to take the stage, I’d like to review a few of our safety features.  At this time, please locate the nearest two exits to your seat…”

            “Look, I’m telling you… this… this isn’t necessary,” panted a sweat-soaked Max Lawson as he leaned over the control panel in the primary security command center of the building, rubbing delicately at a bruise on his forehead he’d just received.  “I did what you asked.  My subordinates are down in ancillary control, and… and my partner, you just… just…”

            “You neglected to get him out of the room like I asked, so I did what was, indeed, necessary,” his tormentor responded, her silver eyes intimidating him into looking away again.  She casually glanced down at the man who was now lying unconscious in a small red puddle.  “Believe me, I don’t enjoy this.  Spilling Alpha blood doesn’t make me much better than our enemies.”

            “He… he was just following protocol.  There’s supposed to be at least two Alphas in this room at all times, he…” Max uttered with a pained swallow.

            “Stop crying or I’ll have to get more creative with your instruction,” she snapped back, and tapped a finger against her cell phone clipped to her waist.  “Don’t forget what’s on the line here.”

            “Okay, okay, I’m sorry… I’m getting on it,” he sniffled, having difficulty keeping with her demand, and set about logging into the system.  “Please.  Just… if I could just talk to them, to let me know that you haven’t…”

            “I told you, you’ll talk to your precious rugrats when you’ve done your job to my satisfaction.  Now if you please, hand the keys to the kingdom over to my associate,” the woman sneered, shooting a look to the young woman who was seated a few feet away in a swivel chair, her fair hair matted thickly and hanging around her eyes as she tapped away on her laptop that was connected to the main console by several tangled cords.  “Alice, do you have anything yet?”

            “Almost.  Another few minutes, and I should be able to just run the rest of it through here,” the young woman answered to her boss, her hands skittering rapidly over the keys.  “Hey.  Uh, Halle?  On my end, it looks like he’s… um…”

            “Don’t play games with me, you worthless sack of shit,” Halle snarled, turning back around fast enough that her black ponytail swung against her cheek.  She delivered a blow to Max’s lower jaw with a gloved fist that nearly sent him out of his seat, but he managed to stay in place with a quick grab onto the console’s edge.  “This isn’t hard.  Let her in, and then your job is done.  Simple as that.”

            “Just… just listen.  Even if I give her full control of the building security like you’re saying,” Max grunted pitifully, returning to his keyboard begrudgingly.  “Aegis will be doing everything they can to break back in.  I mean, with a solid defense, you could probably keep them out for a matter of hours, at most, but…”

            “You obviously haven’t been acquainted with the toolbox of our good friend Miss Alice,” Halle said with a cruel smirk.  “Just give us what we’re asking for, and we’ll make this place more secure than it’s ever been before.”

            “Okay.  Okay, okay.  I’m… I’m working,” Max mumbled bitterly.

            “Good boy,” Halle said, then tapped a finger to her earpiece.  “Roger?  Where do we stand?”

            “Just about set to spring the package,” the voice crackled through the receiver.  “Gail and I finished with the cargo, and I’m almost done down here in the tunnels.”

            “Any trouble?”

            “A little.  Gail had to put a guy down.”

            “Uh-huh, I’m sure she did “have to.”  Look, are you in place?” Halle said with obvious annoyance, but moved past it quickly.

            “Affirmative.  Whenever you’re ready, I’ll send it out.”

            “Give it a couple more minutes to fill up, and then do it,” Halle declared triumphantly before ending the call, then placed her hands on her hips as she observed Max’s continued work under mortal duress.  “We’re on a bit of a timetable here, Lawson.  Let’s get moving.  Alice, are we in yet?”

            “Another five minutes, maybe less, and it’ll mine,” the girl quietly answered from her chair.

            “Excellent,” Halle declared triumphantly.  “It’s going to be a good day.  I can tell.”

            “You didn’t have to tell my sister what I did,” Gail hissed under her breath to her bearded compatriot as they pushed a cart down an empty hallway out from the partially constructed wing of the building in their construction disguises.

            “She asked me a question, I had to,” Roger said.  “Not like she cares.  She still lets you have your fun.”

            “Whatever.  So are they all down there yet, or what?”

            “Just a few more, and then I’ll pull the trigger,” Roger answered, examining a small display on his tablet.  “Looks like we’ve already got thirty guards down there.”

            “They’re like rats toward a piece of dead meat.  What did you even do?”

            “Nothing much.  Alice already had a hold on their comms, so I just had to send out a call for any security on patrol to head back down to HQ in the basement for a final briefing.  We have a couple packages in the vents on either side of the room.  Once we’ve got enough in there, we’ll just open them up, let them get a good whiff of what’s inside, and they should all be napping a minute later.”

            “I still say we could’ve taken them on our own,” Gail commented.  “No need for Sonja’s fancy toys to come in already.”

            “Believe me, it’ll be a lot less of a headache to even the odds before they even know we’re here,” he said, and nodded at his display.  Out of his pocket, he drew a capped trigger device and popped the top, revealing a red square underneath.  “Thirty-four.  That’ll be enough.  Anymore, and the rest will catch wind of it sooner than we can get to the auditorium.  Here goes.”

            “Can I hit the button?” Gail offered nonchalantly.

            “I thought you didn’t like Sonja’s toys.”

            “I don’t.  Getting to do anything yourself is always best.  But I’m getting bored already,” Gail shrugged.  “Now give me.”

            “If you say so,” Roger shrugged, handing over the trigger.  “Just go ahead and-”

            “Boom,” Gail whispered joyfully as she squeezed the button, flooding the security armory and its thirty-four occupants far below in a chemical cocktail haze thick enough to conk out an elephant.

            “You know it’s gas and not an incendiary, right?” Roger grumbled, then messaged a quick confirmation of the act to Halle.  “We’re not gonna have long before someone goes looking, and I’d bet at least someone down there managed to fire off a distress call before they went down, even with the signal jammer I set up.”

            “The brat should have gotten us the building already, and that idiot Halle decided to pick up should be finished with his rounds.  When do we get to start cracking a couple skulls?  I’m getting real sick of the waiting,” Gail complained as she and Roger shoved the final cart of cargo from the truck into its position in a deserted room.

            “You’re not the only one,” Alma Warren said with a sickly grin, a grave look of remorseless hunger in her eyes as she emerged from the darkness.