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

high, banks of small tubes – only three feet tall – glowed a sickly yellow. Each was filled with fluid. Fetuses floated inside, connected to umbilicals.

The pattern was easy to spot: The largest fetuses – those nearing maturity – occupied the forward tubes. They became smaller, more fragile, toward the back end of the tiers. At the rear, the tubes appeared empty. Upon closer inspection, something grew in each. An embryo, newly formed.

Valentin tapped off his helmet. James and Rayna followed suit.

“What is this evil?” Rayna said.

“Extended-life Chancellors.” Ophelia turned to Valentin. “Ones who will live for centuries. Maybe longer. At least, that’s the theory.”

“Theory?” Valentin asked. “Not for certain?”

“For one hundred percent? No. There will be failures. There already have been. But so far, most have passed the early tests.”

She drew all their eyes.

“What do you mean?” James asked.

“Please understand this,” she said. “I left here six years ago. I was never in charge of this project.”

“What do you mean?” James asked again.

“I only saw it done once. After they come to term, each infant is removed from incubation and monitored for seven days. They are then placed into individual chambers. A vacuum is created in each. The infant is suffocated. When brain function ceases, oxygen is restored. The successes resurrect within minutes.”

“And the failures?” Valentin’s trigger hand twitched.

“Incinerated.”

James saw the sheen of developing tears in his brother’s eyes.

Valentin bowed his head. “My parents did this to me?”

“I can’t say, Valentin,” she said. “I did not come onboard until years after your birth. You were the prototype. I asked Frances once, but she admitted nothing. Even denied knowing about the project.”

He nodded. “That sounds like Mother.”

“All people who did this thing deserve to die,” Rayna said. “You are one,” she told Ophelia. “You deserve to die.”

Ophelia moved toward the central operating bank.

“Rayna, please. We don’t have time for moralizing. This is difficult to handle, but we need to access the repository now.”

“You’re right,” James said. “But Rayna is also right. When we have everything we came for, I’ll leave the decision to my brother. He should decide what to do with you.”

She ignored his threat and began entering codes into a central processing field. They gathered around her, unable to keep their eyes off the tubed immortals.

As the data search began, vast files flickered before them, displaying genetic profiles, identities, and Collectorate gemstamps. The latter caught Valentin’s attention.

“Does this mean they are being distributed?”

“Yes,” Ophelia said. “Emil wanted them hidden within the general population everywhere instead of confined to central locations, where they might be placed at risk.”

“How do you know this thing?” Rayna intervened.

“My primary job was reassignment. I placed most of them with descendencies in need of heirs. Sometimes, we sent them to mixed-breed families on colonies. The ones where former peacekeepers went rogue and married indigos. Emil wanted them to experience a wide variety of environments to test their adaptability.”

“How many?” Valentin asked.

“By the time I left here, we had assigned three hundred children. A few on Earth, a few on the system stations, most on Ark Carriers, the rest on colonies.” She faced Valentin. “None were older than six. But the program was in its early stages. If I’m right, there are ten times as many spread across the Collectorate.”

“If someone wanted to find them all, could he?”

Just as the files coalesced into a finished data package, she said:

“Yes, Valentin. Everything is here. But aren’t they better off not knowing? They are all children, younger than you.”

He pushed her aside. “Perrone called me a boy right before my brother killed him. Do you think I’m a child?”

“I think you are as angry as James and Rayna, and well justified. But you cannot change what they did to you or those others.”

“Are you sure?” Valentin began transferring the data package to his stream stack. “I have an idea, thanks to Father.”

“And we need to leave,” she said. “It’s time to head to the platform. Our pilot will be waiting for the signal.”

Valentin nodded. “You made the adjustment we discussed?”

“Yes, but I don’t know how we …”

Valentin turned to James. “Isolate the platform surveillance.”

James reset his helmet and grabbed live images on his DR29 then tossed out the cubes. Ophelia gasped when she saw the developments. The Scramjets on Levels 6 and 9 were leaving.

“Why would they …?”

“They’re trying to leave us with no way out,” Valentin said. “They’ll initiate portal locks when the ships have cleared. Since we can’t access the T-Core, we are essentially trapped. We must fight our way out. I thought the Major might resort to this.”

James added, “Which is why they didn’t come after us. They don’t care if we have the repository because we’ll never leave here alive.”

“I understand his plan,” Valentin told them. “They are clustering near the lifts. On his orders, they’ll ascend simultaneously. They’ll stop at Level 7. The lift program will be reset making descent impossible. Then they move up again. Repeat the process. If we stay ahead of them, they’ll close off the options beneath us until we’re trapped on Level 16. Then they’ll coalesce and hunt us down en masse. I’m sure they raided the armory and reuniformed as many soldiers into combat suits as they could before launching the Scramjets.”

“But this facility is more than a mile in diameter,” she said.

“Might take a while,” James said, “but they won’t care. That’s why we need to move. Has the repository off-loaded?”

“It has,” Valentin said. “I’ll share it to both your DR29s. Ophelia, it’s already on its way to your stream stack. Now, your turn. Send me the data for the hybrids.”

“No, Valentin. Once I give you that information, I have no leverage. You will take me with