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| VECTO book cover by Rafael Fitzgerald |
Here's the CheatNotes summary version of chapter one of my
VECTO story:
Botland stands at the center of a dark hallway and cuts through a monochrome metallic door using a laser from his finger. He has a red powersuit with a black stripe down the sides and is the leader of two others. One is Crysilis, a fully clad cybernetic-armored entity who has a blockish helmet with a light-blue visor and transmitters that can retreat into the helmet. He has no visible weapon. The other is Streamline, a fully-armored ex-commander who has medals and insignias on his battle-worn, blood-stained, plated armor. He carries a disrupter gun and Omega Blaster Rifle. The three are trying to track down Morphaal and kill him for good.
It's revealed that they are cutting through the door of a room filled with New Earth Police. The officers grab weapons from the blue wall, make a barricade with five-foot-tall energy shields and wait for the intruders. When the three-inch-thick cut-out crashes and the leader enters but doesn't surrender, the police officers unleash Ira bullets at him. The smoke clears, but Botland stands there, covered with black bullets. He scoops a pile of bullets stuck to his suit and crushes them into powder, then dusts himself off.
Although the leader doesn't attack back, Streamline fires a stream of energy at the front line of police officers while the officers flip the nozzles of their rifles around for pulse power and shoots laserlike blasts at him. Streamline dodges the blasts and beats the officers with the blunt end of his rifle. Crysilis zips by them in a blue blur and takes them out. Botland walks toward the commander, named Sable, who can't believe that nearly 50 officers were taken out so easily. Sable wears a black and gold military uniform and has brown eyes.
The red-suited figure rushes to him and jacks him up by the throat against a wall, demanding to know the whereabouts of Morphaal. He accuses Sable, who is the father of Phantom, of betraying his son and "all life." Although Sable says he doesn't know where Morphaal is, when the figure raises his index finger to eye level, Sable tells him that there are rumors that Morphaal plans to go to a hidden planet called Zendora. The red-suited leader recalls that the planet is the one that Phantom was born and raised at but one that he and Sable couldn't find again.
Sable comments that only top officials and the Alpha Squad know about that planet, then assumes that they must be the new Alpha Squad. He tells Botland that the A.S. came from the SS5 organization, which he formed and which Phantom, Gyro, and Vecto were members of. The figure denies that he was a member of the SS5, and Sable sees the insignia on his chest which looked like a "V" with three wavy lines crossing it. He realizes that the red-suited figure is Vecto Botland but is confused because Vecto is supposed to be a robot.
Vecto accuses Sable of helping to bring back Morphaal, asks what Morphaal wants with that planet, and threatens him by saying his Force Field Shields can suck the carbon atoms from his body. The wall splits apart to reveal a mirrored room with soldiers in a group called the SS6 Formation. They have the latest in technology and weaponry, are trained in all forms of combat, are fused with DNA Matrix 1.2, and have their own specialization of attacks, techniques, and weapons. Sable offers to tell Vecto what he knows if Vecto can beat them. Vecto agrees and is sealed in the room with them. His body, which is a holographic image of a red suit over a shield in the shape of a human, flickers as coded information scrolls down his body. The shield becomes translucent and reveals a robotic orb surrounded by floating weapons. The soldiers are shocked as Vecto resumes the body image and attacks.
He blasts rapid pulse-beams and bullets through his palms, shoots missiles from his back, catapults cannons from his chest, slings blades from his arms, and uses triangle bombs. He forms a cylinder gun over his arm and blasts Zero Point Energy. A soldier changes the room to zero gravity. The soldiers use a variety of weapons such as guns, swords, a staff, pulse-saber, and cybernetic parts.
Vecto shoves Air-to-Ice down a soldier's throat, uses Flame Boosters in a warrior's face, and slices a extended energized electro-sword, grav-sword, and pulse-saber through his image of a fake body before using them against a foe. When a soldier wraps a wire around Vecto that grows, a knife made of tyrannium (which Vecto boasts can cut through anything) comes from his head and cut the wires. Other weapons Vecto uses includes tiny-but-powerful Toe Missiles from his feet, Vecto Bombs, acid bombs, hydro-bombs, electro-bombs, and napalm stingers. The gravity converts and they fight on the ceiling.
During the course of the fight, Vecto does many things with his shields: He pushes a soldier away, catches a sword with his head and snaps it in half, shoots a piece of the shield inside someone before expanding it, lets an arm enter the shield before solidifying and slicing the arm off, and sucks the carbon from the air and their lunges, suffocating the rest. His shields feed off carbon.
For the last soldier, he fires a three-foot-long nuclear warhead called the Alpha Delta Flint. The heavily reinforced room survives the blast and Vecto opens the door as anti-radiation gases blanket the room. Sable is shocked that his soldiers are dead and punches Vecto in the back, but Vecto twists his arm and breaks it. Crysilis chastises Vecto for killing them. The New Earth Police were only knocked unconsciousness, have mufflers on their mouths, and were tied up in a corner by Streamline. Crysilis says that ever since Gyro died, Vecto has lost his morality.
Sable tells Vecto to talk to his brother Azmeck to find Zendora. He says that Morphaal has the location of the planet and plans to conquer it and make it his headquarters. He reveals that Morphaal was on the planet when he, his son Phantom, and his brother Azmeck crashed on it. They left Zendora 20 years ago by boarding Morphaal's ship.
Vecto, Crysilis and Streamline then leave, and Sable vows that Vecto will get what he deserves.
(Oct. 23, 2014, update: You can buy my Vecto: Vengeance light novel on Amazon here: Vecto: Vengeance.)
Great news! My Vecto story will be published by Vic's Lab, LLC, a start-up company focusing on young adult science fiction and original English light novels. On top of that, I have one of the best editors for the job. He's worked at Del Rey, Tor, Tokyopop, and DC Comics and has been nominated for a Nebula award for one of his books. More information will be released closer to publication, which is expected in November.
