Macbeth Retold

I am thinking about starting to publish my Science fiction version of "Macbeth" here as a semi-regular series. I originally wrote this for my English Literature class during Junior year, but as I prepare it for online publication, I am performing lots and lots of edits and alterations. It is essentially the story of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" retold in a science-fiction space-station setting and with many variations and fun twists. It also includes several direct quotes from the original play. Here is just the first section of this almost 20-page story. If response is good, I will continue posting the remnants of this in little chunks at a time. Perhaps it will draw more traffic.

Macbeth

I.

Jason Macbeth, head of the computer and machinery maintenance crew on the space station Olympus groggily rolled out of bed. It had been a long night of investigating the station's seemingly random server crashes, and he’d only barely had an opportunity for a short nap. The night before, the Lednars had performed a large scale attack on Olympus's network with delayed-action viruses that started causing the computers to cannibalize their data at random intervals. Macbeth's incredible skills at finding roots of problems, however, saved the station from loss of healthy oxygen levels and loss of electricity, which could, in turn, skew the station's orbit and send the colony slingshot-style into deep space. Macbeth was head of maintenance for a reason: he knew his stuff. No malicious program could avoid his omniscient eye, no matter how well-written and hidden. As a testament to his skill, instead of merely eliminating the cannibal virus from Olympus's network, Macbeth—having found traces of from whence it had come—sent it back, hoping that the Lednars, unprepared for return fire, would suffer by it. He was sure the Lednars were still in the process of writing a vaccine (as it was proper to always have a vaccine for your own virus), expecting more time to develop it. Macbeth rose from the ground below his multi-mattress bed, sore from the fall and lack of sleep, and headed for the shower. After checking the time, he realized there was to be no shower that day. Macbeth thumbed the lock-pad, and the door opened.
“Good morning,” Steeva Banquo, Macbeth's best friend, greeted him.

“I know it's morning, but I don't think I would be inclined to call it good,” Macbeth retorted, still groggy.

“And I am inclined to believe the entire station would have to disagree with you! Look,” Banquo pointed to his hand-held screen. “Your face is going to be everywhere, once this is released to the public! You saved the station last night. And, you probably didn't know it, but you also found a traitor.”
“A what?” Macbeth asked. He would have continued the inquiry, had the three Velda not interrupted. The Velda are a peace-loving race, and kind. But, they are absurdly zealous in their religious convictions, and commoners believe them to be capable of prophesying forthcoming events for others, but never themselves. Velda are simple creatures, but a bizarre sight. The small species sport groups of eyes arranged neatly on their heads, and a trail of some viscous fluid which follows their path. The slug-like fluid contrasts with their small, soft, furry bodies of various shades of brown.

“Hail!” “Hail!” “Hail!” they each called in turn. “Hail the man who finds the snake sends him where he belongs,” the first continued.

“All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, bane of Cawdor!”

“All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!”

“What absurd prophecies do you have for me, little guys?” Banquo interrupted sarcastically.

“Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.”

“Not so happy, yet much happier.”

“Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none: So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!”

“Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!” The first Velda finished the group’s proclamations.

Chuckling at the silliness and intriguing language of the Velda, the two programmers meandered past the three Velda, and Banquo reminded Macbeth of their conversation with, “Keep reading the article.”

He read.

Macbeth had apparently discovered Thayne Cawdor—codenamed “Anaconda”—who had been leaking information to the Lednars. It was he to whom Macbeth had relayed the cannibalistic virus, expecting a Lednar victim. In sending the virus back to from whence it had come, Macbeth sent it to Anaconda, who soon filed a complaint to Maintenance about a malfunctioning computer. When they discovered what was wrong, the crew realized Cawdor's computer had contracted the same virus, though modified to act immediately, as the station's servers had contracted. Cawdor was the source of all Olympus's computers' grief. Policies on the Olympus are very strict, and treason is punishable by death. The Anaconda begged for forgiveness, and received none. There soon was no longer an Anaconda, and Macbeth became a hero.

How could the Velda have known that I had found “the snake?”

Macbeth asked his friend Banquo if the news he had on his screen was public knowledge. No, it was an article sent to Banquo before the formal unveiling to show Macbeth. Well, the Velda had predicted this accomplishment; could they have been right about his imminent kingship? Wait… King? They must mean president. Of course, the Velda have always been associated with the bizarre and prophetic, but could the rumors be true? Macbeth couldn't kill the president... could he?

Murderous thoughts rushed through his mind, but he dismissed them, knowing that he should just wait; if there is any truth to their prophecies, then the fates will play things out in their own due time.

But the thoughts would not leave him.

Shortly after arriving at the center of operations, Macbeth wrote an actual, tangible, letter (to prevent those he didn't want to read it from doing so) to his wife Juliee and had it taken to her in her sector of the maintenance department by his most trusted employee. In this letter—who writes letters anymore?—Juliee found perplexing writings of her confused husband. He explained how he was still exhausted from last night’s victory, and then explained the Veldan predictions and how they had miraculously known about the discovery of Anaconda (which was not yet public knowledge). Finally, he mentioned that the Velda had also told him he would be “king.” The possibility was inconceivable. Juliee thought to herself about the prophecies and knew Jason was too full of the milk of human kindness to perform the necessary tasks to fulfill the prophecies. She decided he must do everything in his power—nay, she will do all in her power to bring him to the top of the hierarchy. She was well aware that her husband was not man enough to perform the horrid deed, and that she was the only Macbeth with the will to kill.