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

“That not only has Hiebimini not died, it’s become something totally different.”

“Totally …? Brother, what are you talking about?”

Valentin saw the twinkle in James’s eye, like the canary waiting for the perfect moment to sing at last. The realization began to dawn on the Admiral. James stood tall and asked Major Kane to highlight Hiebimini. The image was twenty-seven years old, the last official surveillance. The planet was foreboding in shades of brown and yellow. Splotches of green were not flora but rather dead brontinium mines which littered the surface.

“Admiral,” James said, “as a compromise, I’ll suspend one mission not destined for Tamarind, so long as it is replaced by a surveillance expedition to Hiebimini. Major Kane, will you arrange the details?”

“Yes, Brother James. Will we need security apparatus?”

“No. The blockade has gone. The system is empty.”

Valentin interjected. “How can you know this?”

“Harrison has many contacts.” Malwood nodded to James’s compliment. “The rest of it, the Jewels of Eternity told me. That world,” he pointed, “does not exist anymore. But a paradise has been terraformed in its place. Unspoiled. Perfect. And waiting for us.”

Of course. Why didn’t I see it sooner? James always insisted they would never need to leave the Collectorate to find their home world. That everything in his design would earn them a planet of their own. He always rebuffed Valentin’s follow-up questions, saying the final answers must wait until the right time. Trust me, James insisted.

As the reality dawned on everyone, tears of joy and shouts of stunned disbelief filled the room. Valentin and Kane looked at each other but found no words. They’d been thrown off their game from the outset. Valentin realized this was James’s purpose all along.

A hand grabbed his shoulder. Valentin pivoted and looked up into his brother’s fearsome, glowing eyes.

“Everything we do now was set in motion a million years ago,” James said. “Everything that happened on Hiebimini was a prologue to our story. After I killed Ignatius Horne and brought down SkyTower, I saw through time and space. That planet sang to me. The Jewels sang to me, brother. Don’t you see? This was ordained by gods for gods. This is where we will rise and where we will watch the Chancellory die.”

James kissed Valentin. “The dark will drown them all.”

49

O PHELIA MADE NO PROMISES TO RIKHI Syed and told him to go about his usual routine. “They can’t suspect,” she said. “Be a good boy. Obey every order. Now go.” She sent him to his studies with no idea how she’d pull this off but with a strong determination she’d never leave Lioness without Rikhi at her side.

I can’t save the others, she thought. Maybe you.

She arrived for dinner at the Commons as Magnus suggested: Ten minutes before the end of his shift. Few tables were occupied, none by immortals. She never saw hybrids here. They didn’t eat from the kiosks; they prepared meals elsewhere, using only the freshest produce grown onboard Greenland, the fleet’s converted agri-ship. It was Sister Rayna’s idea. Ophelia was there when she made the pronouncement a year ago:

“Gods must not eat among common people. Is bad look.”

Ophelia wasn’t hungry, and the kiosk options were limited. She chose the least bland combination and returned to her table, staring at the same meal consumed hundreds of times. When she looked up, ten minutes after her arrival, she saw few changes in diners. One visitor, however, she knew since the early days of the fleet, though she had not seen him for months. He stayed close to the Triumvirate; rumors said he traveled off-fleet as often as any hybrid or immortal.

Harrison Malwood seemed to be enjoying his meal, scarfing it down with rapid chews. She thought of saying hello, if only as a courtesy to a time when she believed there was still hope. Yet Ophelia rejected the notion.

Harrison wasn’t a pleasant man – curt, obsequious, and patronizing at various turns. During their first encounters, her skin crawled whenever she looked at his empty left eye socket. One day, he showed up with the white patch, saying he didn’t want to make her feel out of sorts. Over time, she saw him less often. Sometimes wondered whether he was still alive.

She shook off the chills in time for her company to arrive. Magnus nodded with casual indifference as he passed. A few others from his crew also arrived, and the spirit of the Commons rose with fresh voices. Magnus grabbed his meal.

“Would you care for some company, Dr. Tomelin?” He asked loud enough for those within a few feet to hear.

“Why yes, Mr. Levinson. I could stand some pleasantries.”

She allowed him to take the first bites of his meal before she turned her squirms into words, mumbled under her breath.

“The one I told you I wanted to bring? He’s a boy. Ten. Magnus, he’s an immortal.”

Magnus swirled greens onto the end of a fork.

“Why bring him? For leverage?”

“No. If we make it away, we take him someplace safe. The Chancellory will not get their hands on him. I won’t allow it.”

“James and Valentin have possessed those children.”

“Not this one. His conditioning never took hold. Please, Magnus. I need this favor.”

Magnus chewed slowly. “You won’t come without him. Will you?”

“No.”

Magnus coughed as he restrained laughter.

“Here we are in reverse. History never fails to amuse.” He caught her eyes. She knew where he was headed. “Seventeen years ago, you asked me to leave Catalan when your dream job came through. I said I would, if I could bring Elizabeth.”

“Magnus, don’t. I spent years trying to forgive you for that insult.”

“My son might be alive if I’d left. Or maybe he’d never have been born. I don’t know which of you I would have chosen, Ophelia.