System Break

The North – Unknown Qi World – Earth Year 2031

I struggled to breathe. After taking the plunge into a dark pool, I was dumped into this foreign world in this – lump – of a body. A body that was not my own. I felt like a moth who'd just been turned into a slug.

I tried to breathe but my lungs were blocked by a stubborn globule of goo and I began to choke. Down on all fours I hurled and spat large amounts of goo onto the ground in front of me. Fighting like a newborn I finally managed to take my first breath. Thankfully, the air wasn't toxic, and I could feel my lungs, my borrowed lungs, filling with air.

I rubbed my new eyes. Everything was new. I had just done something which should have been impossible. Impossible in my mind just a week ago. My real body was lying in a pod back in a research lab with a thousand cables attached - according to the technicians - to my nervous system. And my mind and whatever passed for my soul was here. In what the head technician called a Qi World.

My eyes felt slightly better after a scrubbing from my hands. I looked around, I could see undulating hills covered with long grass and for a fleeting moment, I thought I saw a faint blue glow.

Looking up, I could see a Sun and it was rather orange. Other than that, it looked fairly normal, however the three different coloured moons were not. I wasn't in Kansas anymore.

I coughed loudly as I breathed again.

"Second rate," a voice behind me rasped and it scared the absolute fuck out of me.

I jumped and spun, which was a mistake, my wobbly legs gave way, and I fell to the ground landing on the only rock on the grassy plains.

"Hey?" I said in reply looking at the stranger. He was naked as the day and covered in goo like me. Except he seemed fully formed. My excuse was I was a paraplegic; therefore, the fact I could stand was a vast improvement. And it dawned on me suddenly, what the Chinese military promised was true. In here at least - I could walk.

He looked me up and down and sneered as I was coming to grips with my new reality. "Why are you here?" He snarled. "I'll be doing you a favour to send you back now."

"I like it here."

The fact I could walk was a huge bonus in my mind. Despite the nakedness, the goo, the vomiting, and my overall weakness I was extremely happy with the results so far.

He adopted a side on stance with a slight crouch. A long thin rock appeared in his hand and I had no idea where he had been hiding it.

"It's better I end you now," he said before sidestepping towards me and lunging with the sharp rock.

I threw my arm into its path in the nick of time. The rock gouged me as he attempted to push past my arm and puncture my throat.

I was still on the ground where I had fallen moments earlier. My enemy was stronger and in better command of his body than I was. My first thought was about how brief my time in this new world was going to be. The long thin rock pressed against my throat as he pushed my arm back, but not out of the way entirely.

I was not long for this world. My other hand was holding me up, and I contemplated letting go, but then I would be prone and at his mercy. He pushed harder and my rear hand slid across the ground as he pushed me back.

My eyes widened in recognition as my hand touched it. The rock.

"Yes. You will die now," he sneered - misinterpreting my expression.

I gripped the rock and with one fluid motion, slammed it into the side of his head as hard as I could. He was stunned and rocked back on his heels.

I did not hesitate. He was about to kill me so I would return the favour. I hit him again, and again. Blood poured from his head - he fell to the ground and lay unmoving.

I checked his pulse, and it was weak. I took his long thin rock and pushed it into his throat. It took the last of my strength because my righteous anger was satisfied.

"Not today bud," I said to the corpse.

I was spent. Exhaustion overtook me as I fell back into the grass wondering what I had gotten myself into, my mind swirled and I was back in 2019.

Earth 2019

It all started when I was sixteen.

"Ben!" coach called me over signalling with his hand.

"Yes, coach?" I queried.

"Ben. I'm sorry. But your grades are too low for any college to take you."

"But coach. You said I had the talent and if I played for you, I would have my pick. I need that scholarship. I'll get kicked out at seventeen!" I replied.

My high school coach's expression was one of sadness. "Ben. You never listen. I said you have the talent, but you need to tick all the boxes. That includes no criminal record and a GPA above 3.0. I just got the report from all your teachers and while you have six months to go, your GPA is a dismal 1.5. Even if you got straight A's, it probably wouldn't be enough. And the likelihood of that is almost zero. Kid, you're talented, but you need to work on your whole game. Not just the one on the court."

"What about football?"

The basketball coach shook his head. "It's the same schools with the same criteria."

My face and shoulders dropped. "Won't they cut me some slack if I play both football and basketball?"

His head continued to sadly shake. "I'm sorry I didn't keep on top of this, for your sake."

I felt like crying, but my pride prevented such a disgraceful display.

My life was over.

If I couldn't get into college. I couldn't go pro. And going pro was what was going to make me rich. I was in a shit high school with no prospects. It may have been the best sports school the group home could send me to, but it was still barely out of the gutter.

My mother died while I was a baby and I never knew my father. He wasn't even listed on my birth certificate. I had no other relatives that I knew of and I had been in a group home for my entire life.

My coach spoke softly, "Ben. You're not the most athletic kid, but your ability to read the game and your opponents is, quite frankly, you amaze me most of the time. Look. There is one option that may work for you. If you joined the army and applied for their basketball team. They could put you through college and into the pros. It's the only thing I can think of. I think it's worth a look - at least."