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

great once, Valentin thought. Masters of humanity. Nine hundred light-years. Tall, broad, and strong. Unlimited wealth. Warriors in crimson body armor. Peacekeepers. Jailers. Gods in the flesh.

“Three, two, one …”

The holowindow zeroed in on the Jeremiah Harrod’s stern region and its enormous system engines.

At first, it was a flicker. Then a flash brighter than a hundred suns. Space distorted and folded in on itself.

The singularity inside the tiny refractor opened a microscopic wormhole and drew in its prey, its gravity well impossible to escape. Unlike Slope, this aperture was not big enough to encompass the Carrier, but it would consume the beast anyway.

The Harrod wavered, danced, shrank, and extended. A push-pull as if it were trying to run from the evitable. But the explosions tore at its superstructure. The thousands of tiny lights visible from stern to bow disappeared in a rapid sequence.

The ship was dark for the blink of an eye before it disappeared into the oblivion of the singularity.

A final flash led to a twinkling new star in orbit.

Valentin had no words. Ulrich took a few seconds to gather himself. They shared a recognition of the horror they inflicted, of the forty-four thousand lives obliterated before they even realized the end was coming.

Ulrich exhaled and reviewed the quantum algorithms.

“Nullifying the singularity. Spooling the remote catalyzer for singularities installed to the Ark Carriers Savannah James, White Heron, and Regate Fortunus. Scramjets remain on intercept course. Eighty-two seconds out. Opening a direct channel to incoming ships.”

Ulrich had enough time to finish the job and reenter Slope before intercept per their script, but no one thought it worth the risk to time this so closely.

“Attention, incoming vessels,” Ulrich said. “You are no doubt aware of what has just happened to the Jeremiah Harrod. If you do not stand down at once, Brother James will destroy the entire fleet. Signal your compliance and retreat. You have ten seconds.”

They took all ten to comply before setting a new course. Valentin knew those crews must have been devastated. How many friends did they lose? How much family? What happened next would be an added layer of humiliation.

Valentin felt a giant hand wrap around his forearm. He looked down and saw nothing. Then he blinked twice and willed himself to return to the command bridge. James smiled.

“Remember this, brother,” James said. “No matter how many centuries you live, never forget this moment. We have done something that will be talked about for the next million years. And who were we two years ago? A broken soldier and an angry boy.”

Valentin wanted to enjoy the triumph, to feel like a god stomping his foot upon the pretenders. What he did not want to do was disturb his brother’s grand moment, so Valentin kept his words short.

“I will, brother,” he said. “Trust me, I will never forget this day.”

Or the one and a half million people erased by Salvation.

Within the next forty seconds, the entire Brahman Noose – eleven Ark Carriers – imploded then disappeared from the universe forever.

Valentin returned to the forward cabin of Scramjet Beta.

“Well done, Ulrich. Are you OK?”

“I will be, Admiral. We have thirty-seven carriers to go in seventeen systems, assuming the other team is on schedule. Time to catalyze drivers and spin the magnetic field.” Ulrich returned his attention to the navigation cylinder. “Coordinating with attack team. Resetting Slope aperture for G’hladi system.”

Time moved at an excruciating pace.

Only when the attack teams entered Slope destined for the Salvation fleet four hours later, did anxiety turn to relief and ultimately to celebration. No one in the fleet knew the truth of these missions outside of the command crew, the hybrids, and the navigators. Even as the Scrams and Spearhead returned, James insisted there be no ceremonies on the landing bay. He wanted the fleet locked down and all Chancellors and rogues situated in their private quarters before he shared the news.

“Like I promised,” James told Valentin as they prepared to debrief the pilots, “I will not put any of our kind at risk. What we’ve done will test their loyalty to Jewels and immortals. If any of them so much as suggests insurrection, I want them shot on sight.”

Valentin agreed with the order. “Still, they will want to know our next step and what we plan to do with them. Are you going to keep your promise?”

James winced, as if saying Valentin should have known the answer before he asked the question.

“Their own people will consider them traitors, and there’s certainly no place for them on Hiebimini. Brother, I’ve slaughtered almost two million people. I will not be bothered by a single lie.”

The conversation went no further because Valentin understood. The Chancellors and rogues would live until their usefulness ended, and that day was coming soon.

The celebration, as promised, was muted for now. The navigators were exhausted anyway. Valentin saw their empty stares and hoped time would push them past the horrors they triggered. They were loyal. They believed in the cause.

They’ll recover. Once they stand on firm ground and look up at the Hiebim sun …

It’s what they all needed, he thought. Time to leave this self-induced exile and build a new life.

On the bridge, Major Kane compiled the visuals recorded by the attack teams and awaited Brother James’s final message to Earth.

“Surely, Admiral, they’ll surrender,” Kane said. “Between the Guard battalions deployed to Earth and what we destroyed today, they’re only forty percent capable out here. What if they don’t back down? Will the civilians override the Guard?”

“I don’t know that it matters, Major. Stay out here? Retreat to Earth? Either way, they’ll think twice before coming after us. We have another two hundred sixty refractors stored in engineering. If James intends to use those the way I think he will, they won’t be