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

defiance,” Sam said. “Eventually, somebody with real power snaps that rubber band back in your face. Every Chancellor – even our best allies – will pounce the first time we stumble. The hardliners will never agree to Solomon equity, and some lunatics think they’ll control the hybrids and the immortals.”

“True. There will be pockets of resistance. But don’t overthink it, Sam. When SkyTower fell, Chancellors acknowledged a future they’d been trying to ignore for decades. Most of them are still jackasses, but they wear it alongside humility. I feel what we’re about to discover will terrify even the hardliners.”

Sam set her glass aside and paced the private cabin. She tapped her amp to trigger Hadrian’s external nodes. The bulkhead pixelated and transformed into a live panorama of open space. She recognized the orange-red jewel in the lower quadrant: Mars. They were two hours from the Vasily Intersystem Transfer Station, which was situated a million kilometers inside the Martian orbit on a direct line between Earth and the Fulcrum.

“You think it will be that bad?” She asked Patricia.

“If the reports are accurate, probably worse. These people survived for reasons we don’t understand, and they’ve provided scant details to the Guard inquisitors.”

“Which is why requesting me to come out here makes no sense.”

“They believe you can help, Sam. Offer insight.”

“What? Into James? It’s been two standard years since he sent me that message. I still don’t know what to take away from it. Frankly, Pat, nothing I have to say about him applies anymore.”

Pat stiffened her shoulders and tossed away the holosheets.

“I suggest you bury that nugget in a dark hole. There’s no more sure-fire way to lose your leverage than to admit you’re of no use.”

“Sometimes, I think that’s all they see in Michael and me – our connection to James.”

“At one time, perhaps. Don’t underestimate the impact you made at the inquest. Your public speech was chilling and inspirational. Your words forced Chancellors to reevaluate their worldview.”

“But the war went on anyway, Pat. The Solomons are still fighting for full citizenship, Chancellors are still hiring assassins, and James is still out there killing by the thousands.”

Pat studied the starfield. “Humans. We’re monsters at heart. But we store away tiny bottles of redemption to bring out for special occasions – even the worst of us. That’s what they’re counting on, Sam. Redemption. They want to see if James has any bottles left on the shelf. Understand?”

“I do. If he can be redeemed, that means he has a weakness. And they need to learn his weakness to kill him. It’s exactly how Daddy would have analyzed it.”

Each replenished her wine.

“So, here’s what you do,” Pat said. “After we hear from the survivors, you take an hour to process the intelligence. Then you give the military what they’re seeking: A bottle of redemption. Call it whatever you want. Make it up if you have to. But give them a weakness they can strategize against. They’ll take it. Trust me. Nothing else they’ve tried has worked.”

The Unification Guard’s incompetence in tracking down and capturing James Bouchet and his terrorists was the source of endless debate among the Chancellory. Sam heard many theories. Some suggested the terrorists evaded capture using revolutionary technology. Others suspected sympathizers within the Guard were shielding the enemy. A few said the terrorists were wiped out long ago, but the Guard created the illusion of a threat to bolster recruitment and financing for new ships.

Yet Sam’s heart told her the truth was worse than any theory. She remembered the last time she saw James, standing between his immortal brother Valentin and hybrid partner Rayna at Hinton Station, staring out at SkyTower. Even then, she sensed nothing good coming of their union. Monsters allowed to roam free.

The logic behind their ongoing success confounded her. Even if James’s intellect had reached unprecedented levels thanks to the Jewel, his group’s numbers were small. Why had a military with unlimited resources in every system been unable to track them after attacks? Why had no one detected a pattern in their movements? How could these killers walk away from slaughter after slaughter without one casualty of their own?

And now this. A private liner emerged from the Fulcrum five standard days ago, the last of its Carbedyne fuel stores dried up and its hull buckling, most cabins decompressed. The liner floated in space, sending an automated distress signal. Its four surviving passengers were found in stasis tubes and awakened. The Guard took over the investigation. Two days later, they contacted Sam.

She decided. When they arrived at Vasily Station, she intended to confront their UG liaison and pose her questions directly. If they expected her to interview these survivors and offer insight, they would give her something in exchange.

Sam didn’t allow the history or grandeur of Vasily to distract her when she disembarked two hours later. The drone of cargo conveyances and crowded promenades between docking ports impressed her, but only because everyone seemed oblivious to the looming threat beyond the solar system. Most short-term visitors were destined for ships traveling to the Fulcrum, the network of manufactured wormholes linking forty solar systems. Was anyone concerned what they might run into after entering the local Nexus point? Out of sight, out of mind?

Pat, however, appreciated the wonders of Vasily, having berthed here dozens of times. “This facility has been operational for nine hundred years,” she told Sam. “To look at the historical archives, you’d swear nothing has changed. A perfect, pragmatic design. Those were the old days when Chancellors built for permanence.”

They boarded a commercial rifter to complete the kilometer-long journey to UG headquarters on the far side of Vasily. Their liaison, Major Cyril Lancaster, was waiting, a stoic monolith standing outside a cascade barrier. He was a giant of a peacekeeper, adorned with trappings which rendered him as imposing as any of