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

ago. Pretty much everybody on Newton starts around ten. It’s tradition. The poltash fields on G’hladi are the best around. Plus, I’m going to be an adult in three standard months.”

Michael never cottoned to the Collectorate standard of age 14 for adulthood, in part wishing his first Earth held the same expectation while also horrified by the notion of middle-schoolers being granted any meaningful responsibility.

“Fine, dude. You’ve had a tough road. Sure. Go on and puff away. When you’ve settled down and wanna grovel at my feet again and ask stupid questions, I’ll be here.”

Michael grabbed the flask inside his jacket and topped his drink. Brayllen ventured down to the gazebo – Sam’s favorite place for contemplation – and sat. He drew steady puffs.

The momentary burst brought back memories Michael thought long gone, such as the day after Jamie’s parents were murdered. How Jamie lost his marbles and stormed the jail with a baseball bat in hand, planning to kill the suspect under arrest. The sudden, explosive shout fests between Jamie and Ben in the succeeding months. The tears Jamie stifled when he overhead the town gossips and caught the suspicious eyes of his peers in high school.

Now, having the benefit of hindsight, Michael was no longer surprised by his former friend’s choice to savage all in his path.

“You were a goddamn angry fucker, weren’t you?” He whispered. “But you try that excuse on me, I’ll shoot you where you stand.”

He finished his second glass. “Cheers, asshole. Hope you’re having a blast out there. It ain’t gonna last much longer.”

As he watched Brayllen, Michael wondered why the boy’s fate seemed to matter more than most. A quarter million other humans grieved for their losses; Michael knew almost none of them. This boy entered his life a few days ago, almost an adult, soon capable of charting his own path. Michael’s plate was already cracking under the pressure of surviving the Collectorate. Wouldn’t one more addition be too much? Sorry, dude, he imagined saying. The Pynn hotel is closed for business. Catch us on the flipside.

When a sudden distraction broke his musing, Michael tingled. His amp signaled an incoming transmission. Sam? He tapped his amp.

Rikard beamed from the navigation deck of his uplift.

“Hello, friend,” he began with a wink. “How’s your day?”

Not what Michael was expecting. “I dunno. Just sitting around doing jack shit. And you, Rikard?”

“I made a fantastic deal for a new commercial client. He’ll be conducting business in the prefecture, so I figured you might be interested. This deal is too good to pass up.”

Michael’s stomach crashed. Goddamn it. Rikard used their agreed-upon signal for when comm systems were compromised. He held his smile, per the plan.

“Sure, dude. Come right on in. I’ll contact the front gate and have them lower the screen wall. Can’t wait to hear about the deal.”

He raced through the holocube and linked to security. He passed along Rikard’s uplift transponder codes.

He checked his flask. Empty.

Was this another job? Who would they expect him to kill this time? On the same day Sam was fighting for them at the GPM?

Brayllen was making his way back to the veranda when Rikard’s uplift came into view and found a gentle landing over the east lawn, hovering a foot off the surface.

“Here’s your pipe.” Brayllen was solemn. “I’m sorry, Michael. Sometimes, it just comes over me. I can’t stop it. You’re a good friend. I didn’t have many on Newton. Least not at the end.”

“No harm, dude. You’re cool.”

Brayllen pointed to the pilot stepping off the uplift.

“Who’s this?”

“A friend. Brayllen, it’s getting on. Why don’t you go check on Rosalyn? I’ll introduce you to my friend later. Good man?”

They shared a high-five. Brayllen waved to Rikard as he left.

Rikard maintained a steady grin until he took a seat next to Michael and lowered his voice.

“Do me a favor. Before we discuss business, I’d hate to think a rival might steal the contract. Nullify your amp.”

Michael triple-tapped his amp and double-blinked. The steady stir inside his front lobe vanished. He didn’t like where this was headed, and Rikard’s vanquished smile didn’t help.

“Look,” Rikard said. “It’s a precaution until we know more. I can’t be sure they’ve cracked our admins, but there’s a possibility.”

“They who? I thought admin-invasion was a crime.”

“Depends on who’s invading whom. Listen, Michael. We’re in trouble. There was always a risk for blowback, but we thought the gamble was worth it.”

“What blowback? Tell me, Rikard. What’s up?”

“They’re mounting an offensive. The hardliners. We have an informant serving the most powerful Chancellor in Europe. Maybe the whole damn world. They’ve been working on this for months. Laying the groundwork, targeting the enemy. It’s going to happen all at once.”

He feared for Sam. “What? They’re going to take out Chancellors that support us?”

Michael could tell Rikard didn’t want to say it.

“Not the Chancellors. Michael, they’re coming for the support system. Me. You. Every Solomon linked to the movement. They’ve hired assassins and delivered orders. They plan to kill us all.”

Michael closed his eyes. “When?”

“We might not make it to sunrise.”

22

Level 25 conference room

Great Plains Metroplex

 

C ELIA MARSCHE ATE STEP ADMIRAL Angela Poussard alive. Sam, horrified by the developments, thought Celia made it seem all too easy. When Poussard objected to Celia’s unannounced intrusion to the security conference, the most powerful woman in Europe bared her teeth.

“Another word from you,” Celia said, “and you will slink away from the GPM holding the Grand Admiral’s withering hand.”

“How dare you, Marsche?” Poussard leaned in. “You have no authority over me or the Admiralty.”

“Don’t I?”

Marsche turned her daggers toward the far end of the table, where Rear Admiral Bastian Grandover – heir-apparent to absolute command of the UG – said