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

and slowed. He saw it in the cylinder: The oncoming enemy, the flanking enemy, the snare falling into place.

At one point, the navigator bowed his head. Doltrice leaned over and placed a hand upon the man’s shoulder. Michael didn’t hear the words. The others raised their blast rifles as if called to attention.

And then …

Was he seeing this right? The enemy flew past and around the Scramjet, as if didn’t matter anymore.

The mercs’ eyes were his eyes. What’s happening? How are we still alive? Is this a Guard trick?

Capt. Doltrice pivoted to the crew and tapped his amp then threw open a cube. The transmission was foggy, but the words certain.

“… stand down. I repeat, this is Supreme Admiral Angela Poussard, assuming command of all Guard forces. I am sending my confirmation link to every commanding officer. You are hereby ordered to cease Earth operations at this time. UG vessels currently engaged in combat will return to their transports. The UGT fleet will assemble in orbit until …”

Michael didn’t hear the rest of it. He didn’t need to.

The moment was as impossible to conceive as the last two utterly insane years of his life. He was shot, he was exhausted, and he hurt all over. He knew this moment well, and it carried him into the land of the unconscious.

69

Marsche compound

Six hours later

 

C ELIA MARSCHE REFUSED ENTRY to the three ships hovering over the Ericsson Fjord outside her estate. Two DayWatch uplifts flanked a Scram holding members of her own Presidium. Traitors to the Chancellory, all of you. She also locked out members of her Solomon staff. The Cherniks were demanding to speak with Ester. She thought it wise not to tell them about the two bodies she tossed down the mountainside shortly after sunrise. She no longer cared whether the entire family conspired with Ester to betray her.

The only card Celia had left to play resided light-years from Earth, on the other end of a binary communicator. Brother James never taught her how to trigger a link to him, and Celia realized she was a fool for having never demanded a lesson. Nonetheless, she spent two hours working the egg, trying every imaginable technique. She needed him now, before she became the world’s Enemy No. 1.

She stopped watching the public streams and shut down her live amp after the newly installed Supreme Admiral Angela Poussard informed her of the arrest of Bastian Grandover and a vid of Celia negotiating with James Bouchet. Poussard told Celia to prepare to turn herself over on charges of sedition and treason against the human race. Poussard’s words were too broad for Celia to handle. The human race. Not just the Chancellory. Celia sent threats to her staunchest allies on their admin stacks, demanding they take action inside the Admiralty and come to her defense.

No one responded.

You’ll return to my corner soon enough, she thought. I’ll have our prizes. I promise.

She holed up in her bedroom suite, testing perfumes at her vanity. Many of the fragrances surprised her, for she hadn’t worn most of them in years – not since men like Finnegan Moss entered her orbit without games of seduction.

How did you do it? The question perplexed Celia since her world came undone that morning. How did Finnegan deliver the Artemis data and the vid of her talking to James? She took such care to make sure nothing escaped her estate’s temperate zone without her express permission. The answer would make no difference now.

She gasped when the egg glowed. James’s beacon.

Finally.

She laid it out on the floor. Seconds later, the beast stood in her bedroom. He did not seem happy to see her.

“What do you want, Celia? I have other pressing issues.”

“I’ve been compromised, Brother James. Our plans have been compromised. A new admiral has stopped the Guard’s invasion.”

He offered a stoical shrug. “Earth is your problem, not mine. You know what matters to me. Is Samantha Pynn alive?”

“Yes. In fact, I believe she had something to do with removing the admiral I controlled.”

James betrayed a smile. “Of course she did, Celia. She’s very smart, my Samantha. But I don’t care about the war on Earth anymore. The diversion did its job. Realignment will happen soon.”

“Realignment?” Celia tensed. “Of what?”

“Everything you know is about to go away.”

“I don’t understand what you mean, James, but I need you to fulfill your promise. Now. I did your bidding. Where are my prizes?”

He looked away. She knew it. He was going to betray her. Why did she ever think this deal could end differently? He …

“Yes,” he said, “I remember. The recipe for immortality. A replacement for brontinium extract. The schematics for the binary communicator. Other secrets from a long-gone race. Fine, Celia. You are right. I owe you. Here is everything I promised.”

He dipped a finger into his end of the bicomm. Glowing blue orbs wriggled out of his finger and into the gelatinous interior.

“I suggest you open a holocube and prepare to swallow the data. It will be enormous.”

Celia did as told. Within seconds, sheets of algorithms appeared, incredible mathematical computations beyond her scope. And yet, she saw just enough of the language to recognize the science that brought about immortality and the human genetic dynamics that were altered over centuries by brontinium extract.

Already, Celia knew how she’d proceed, and how this data would immunize her from arrest or scandal. When the world realized what she sacrificed to save their future, the Marsche descendancy would guarantee its place in legend.

“One more thing,” James told her as the data continued to pour. “The first time I visited your home, I referenced Johannes Ericsson, your greatest hero. The founder of the Chancellory.”

“You implied that you knew him. But that’s not possible. When I asked what you