The Impossible Future: Complete set by Frank Kennedy (mini ebook reader .txt) 📕

of my life to protect Rayna and see her become all she was engineered to be. I will not desert her on her first day back.”

Rayna smiled for the first time since she entered the Scramjet.

“Very good, Misha. New life, same mission. As for the two of you,” he said to Michael and Sammie. “You were not supposed to be here, and you offer no obvious skillsets to this mission.”

Sammie stood, letting go of Michael’s hand.

“Then why aren’t we already in the tubes like those others?”

“Because I had a willing partner in this affair, and I listened to her.”

He shifted to Ophelia, who stepped forward.

“I deceived both of you on the island,” she said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t give you credit for the strength you’ve shown since you crossed the fold. Most important, you came with James, and the three of you care for each other. Your goal was to reunite with him. Now that you have, I think you may offer skills we need.”

For the first time in a while, both his friends turned to James before refocusing on Ophelia.

“What skills?” Michael asked. “I just started Tier 1 yesterday.”

“Your skill, Michael, is to see what Chancellors overlook.” She laughed. “We’re arrogant people. We’ve belittled you since you arrived. Understandably, you care little for us. Michael, we are set in our ways. We’ve been undermining and betraying each other for centuries. You bring a fresh approach. Perhaps you might point out something we miss at the corner of our vision. Yes?”

Michael shared a suspicious glance with Sammie.

“Nice speech, I reckon. I just got to wonder, Ophelia. You wouldn’t be keeping me close cause you figure this guy,” he pointed to Perrone, “is gonna have me killed if you ain’t protecting me?”

Perrone chuckled. “Mr. Cooper, my vengeance has nothing to do with you. I think you are a speck. If you live to be an old man, you will die in anonymity. You are here because James and Ophelia wish you to be, and because,” he turned to Sammie, “Ms. Pynn stands to inherit a vast fortune in her family name. Therefore, Ophelia considers her an important ally.”

Sammie placed hands on her hips. “So, it’s about money I don’t even have yet? Why do you want it?”

“We don’t,” Ophelia said. “It’s not about numbers.”

Sammie nodded. “Leverage. Daddy always told me…”

“Yes. What money buys more than anything.”

“Enough,” Perrone interjected. “Time to decide. Do you come with us or do we leave you behind in Redux?”

James saw the torment in their eyes. They wanted to go with their hearts, but they realized the practical choice. As they turned to each other and then to James, he felt a scratch in his mind. Rayna was there.

- It is trap, she said. This admiral is worse fool than my father.

- What do you mean?

- Your father owns palace in sky. Never would he be defeated like this. He is too powerful. He is laying trap.

- How? He’s been captured. He has nowhere to go.

- And where do we go when we are trapped inside?

She left his mind. A second later, James heard words cross his lips he didn’t expect. Words they needed to hear, even if it broke their hearts.

“No,” he told Michael and Sammie. “Your answer is no. You’re not coming.”

42

J AMES STEADED HIMSELF. “ADMIRAL, MAY I SPEAK to them privately?”

Perrone frowned. “In my office, I assume?”

“Yes, sir.”

Perrone tapped his amp, and the cloak rose over the aft portion of the ship. “Be quick about it. We have a narrow timetable.”

James whispered to his brother, “I might need you.” He passed Rayna, who did not touch his mind but stiffened her shoulders. As he led his friends to the cloak, Rayna demanded Perrone show her the clothing options before she entered the ReCon tube.

James took a quick lay of the land when behind the cloak, which provided a sound-dampening barrier. Three chairs – one behind the desk, high-backed, cushioned, comfortable; the others small, built for subservience. James chose his strategy and spoke to Ignatius.

“They have to see our paths are separating. But I’m confused. How honest should I be?”

Ignatius, rubbing the remains of a pink child’s toy amid the nuked city, appeared amused by the question.

“What is the more painful truth? The one unvarnished, or the one designed to fulfill a function?”

“Can’t they be the same?”

“Yes, but only one leaves additional revelations to play later.”

“This isn’t a game. They’re my only real friends.”

“Then your obligation to them supersedes any other aim.”

“An obligation to do what? To kick them out of my life?”

“If doing so ensures they don’t follow you down this path,” he pointed to the ashen city, “then you will say your goodbyes.” Ignatius studied the storm clouds passing overhead. “Unless, you want them to join you in this theater of madness and death.”

James blinked and asked his friends to take the seats across the desk from him. He perceived how this looked, so he leaned forward and placed his fists together on the desk, imitating the admiral.

“It’s the only way,” he began. “Look, I’m sorry. I am. We made promises to each other, but nothing’s gone how we expected. We can’t help each other like we used to.”

“Bullshit.” Michael said it as an afterthought. “What you’re saying is, you don’t need Sammie and me no more cause … look at you, dude. Seriously. You’re part Thor, part Hercules, part Schwarzenegger. After what you did on the island, you’re a badass. We get it. You don’t need a couple friends from the backwater tagging along. Feel my speed?”

“Michael, it’s so much more than …”

“Seriously, just don’t, J. Jamie … oh, sorry. James. James Bouchet.” He turned to Sammie. “Don’t wanna