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

Incredible, Valentin thought. She knew exactly the moment to spring the news. He couldn’t read his brother. Did James know she’d go public this way? Had they orchestrated the whole thing? Benjamin and Peter’s dropped jaws proved the boys had no idea.

“Congratulations, Rayna,” he said. “This is great news, especially given yesterday’s tragedy.”

“Yes, it is,” James said. “And there will be many more children. I’ll never put my family at risk, brother. I have taken precautions.”

He reached inside a pouch on his bodysuit and removed a silver egg the size of his palm. Valentin saw this once before, in a holocube of data James transferred after plunging the depths of his mind for Jewel secrets. James continued.

“In the decades before they perished, the race who created the Jewels were searching the galaxy for answers to what was killing them. They created this.” He held it up. “Binary communicators they called Moji’mar’jen. For the sake of ease, we’ll call them bicomms. They use a genetic link to allow two people to speak instantaneously to each other across the universe. Their messages navigate substrata at a level we haven’t yet explored.

“Many months ago, I turned over my designs to Bartok.” He looked at Bartok Hyam with a gesture of pride and condolence. Bartok lost three children when Sister Ursula fell. “He worked with a Chancellor engineer. Just like with our refractors, the engineer never knew the true purpose of the device. But they succeeded.

“For months, I have been communicating in real time with a contact on Earth. A few hours ago, I ended that experiment.” He opened the egg into halves. “We have manufactured twenty of these. We will use them when we realign the Collectorate.”

For the first time since the meeting began, James faced Valentin.

“The bicomms will allow us to follow every mission, every second of the way, as if we were there. Brother, I will not put us at risk because I will be at our pilots’ side, and they will be at mine.” He smirked. “And yours. And the Officers of Salvation. We will bring down the Chancellory together. Live.”

A response such as “You’ve thought of everything” struck Valentin as petty. This plan was going forward, and there wasn’t a damn thing the Admiral of the fleet could do to slow it down.

“I must give you credit, brother,” he said. “You continue to impress at every turn. I always knew you had plans within plans, so I feel like a fool for being surprised. I have one question. You mentioned a contact on Earth. May we know who?”

“No. Let me hold onto this one for a little while. It’ll be public knowledge before long. By then, it won’t matter.”

“Fine, brother. I’ll give you the pass. But these bicomms … they could have been useful to us. Why hold back this long?”

“Their binary nature restricts their usefulness. The creators never intended them as a universal communication system. I intend to change that, but so far, I haven’t found the answer. After we’re settled on Hiebimini, I’ll start again. In time, I intend to speak with all my worshippers at once. I will preach to them as their god.”

And what, Valentin wondered, does a person say to that? He settled for the practical.

“Is there anything more we need to know, brother? We have a great deal to prepare.”

James rapped the table again. “We do. The rest will wait.”

As they adjourned, side conversations dominated the room as excitement built toward the goal that always seemed far too ambitious. Valentin gained his brother’s ear and asked that he remain behind. They needed a moment. James agreed.

“Benjamin, Peter,” he told his sons, “Go with your mother. And do eat. You need quadruple portions.” They complained at once. No amount of eating bulked them up fast enough to match their growth. “Do it anyway, sons. I need you as strong as possible. You don’t understand planetary gravity. It will take a toll on you. Eat!”

As the others departed, Valentin could have sworn the room temperature dropped. A distinctive chill coursed through his veins.

“So, that’s how you did it,” he told James. “You found someone to help you trigger the war on Earth as a distraction from us. Between brothers, James, tell me. How did you pull it off?”

The red glow in his eyes intensified.

“All I had to do was tell one Chancellor everything she had to gain. The rest was predictable. Chancellors, at their core, are filth. Empty, soulless parasites. Even before I crossed the fold, I knew what they were. Every one of them in Albion wanted me dead or as a slave. When I crossed over, they were no worse, just louder.”

“Brother, not every Chancellor is …”

“Until you were reborn, you were no better than the rest. But Perrone? Emil and Frances? Hah. Even Ophelia. I hated her from the first. She expected me to cross over as a mindless slave. There’s no special secret to bringing the Chancellory to their knees. I’m just the first who had the power to make it happen.”

“And I’ve been at your side, James. Loving you and supporting you. Killing for you and with you. All I asked was your respect, not to be castigated and diminished because of what happened to Sister Ursula. For following your orders.”

James brushed hair out of his face.

“There it is, Valentin. You want me to admit I was wrong. Here and on Tamarind. Yes?” He threw up his arms. “Then I will, but only to you. I misjudged your military wisdom and I should have had you kill the traitors out of public view. But I never ordered you to execute Harrison Malwood. He was mine. I had other plans for him. You went too far. So, yes, I do blame you for Ursula. I always will.” The glow in his eyes