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

“Yes, Brother James. All soldiers have engaged their clampsoles.”

“Good. Set the Chancellors free.”

In a matter of seconds, the cascade barrier that shielded the landing bay from the vacuum of space dissipated. As the oxygen soared into space, the ten Chancellors panicked and tried to resist, standing at awkward angles as if fighting a tornado. Their bodies surrendered quickly and tumbled end-over-end until disappearing among the stars.

“Restore the barrier,” James ordered. “Survey for casualties.”

“We’re good, sir. The soldiers we lost will revive soon.”

James nodded. “Well done. Only sixty-five of their kind still in the fleet. They won’t be useful much longer. No more Chancellor garbage.”

His last words arrived the instant he locked on to Samantha.

“Speaking of … come forward.”

“Brother James,” Miguel said, “the envoy is ready.”

“Is she?”

James walked past the immortals and bared down on Sam, who had not seen him since her first day onboard. She didn’t know how many days passed since then. The black hole stripped all sense of time.

Just as then, Sam did not recognize the former Jamie Sheridan other than the blond hair, which was a deeper gold, as if revitalized. He blew on her face with a warm, sulfuric breeze.

Sam did not flinch. Steady. Graceful. Poised.

“She knows the script?” James asked as if she weren’t there. “All the talking points? The tone of the message?”

“Yes,” Miguel said. “Major Kane and his team have rehearsed her well. We have total confidence in …”

James waved him off. “And what about you, Samantha? Are you planning to serve me or betray me?”

“Service, Brother James,” she said, her eyes poised just beneath his, as her trainers advised. “I believe Salvation and the Chancellory can settle their differences.”

He sniffed deep and inhaled, his eyes shut for a moment. When he reopened them, the red lasers illuminated sunrise orange.

“No, Samantha. You don’t believe because you know we can’t. But you will convince them anyway.”

“Yes, James, I …”

He did not let her speak. Instead, James grabbed her as if she were the love of his life and bore his lips into her, his tongue extended. Waves of serenity infused her senses and opened her mind. For an instant, she saw a vision. Something brilliant on the horizon, a miracle rising from the ashes of … ?

James pulled away, the residual blue glow on his lips.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I love you, Brother James.”

“Yes, you do.” He leaned in close. “For now. If you ever step out of line, become anything other than my servant monster, I will incinerate you. And if Michael still lives, I’ll send him your ashes.”

He pushed her aside and left the control room with an order:

“Take her to the rendezvous.”

He seemed overly abrupt, even rude; but at the moment, Sam didn’t mind. He showed her the glory of his light for a second time, well worth the wait.

She walked on a cloud, following her keepers to the landing bay and into the Scramjet earlier presented as an escape for ten Chancellors. The immortals turned in their weapons to the quartermaster, as ordered. Rosa buckled her in, making sure not to interfere with the sari’s folds and creases, and secured herself in the next seat. Miguel raised a cascade barrier in the forward cabin and disappeared from view as he entered the navigation cylinder.

“Col. Lennox was one of the first immortals to learn how to navigate the Slope,” Rosa said. “But I think he’s nervous. He doesn’t much care for an audience. Is this your first time for Slope travel?”

Sam searched her memory, which was inconsistent from day to day.

“No, Rosa. But I don’t think I was conscious the first time.”

An image of her home in Boston tried to sneak in and distract Sam. She saw the Helmut twins. They took her by force. They … Yes, she asked about them a few days after exiting the black hole. It was Maj. Kane who told her they were spaced. They weren’t hybrids or immortals, though they did as Brother James asked. The punishment seemed unfair, and yet … Sam felt nothing for them.

“This is my fourth mission,” Rosa said. “You might feel some nausea when we jump, but it passes.”

A short time later, the Scramjet lurched, as if being tossed sideways, but the experience lasted two seconds, and Sam felt nothing unusual.

“We will reach the rendezvous coordinates in 16 minutes, 22 seconds,” Miguel announced. “Remain buckled until I say otherwise.”

The first few minutes passed without conversation. Sam mentally rehearsed the script and practiced the body language Maj. Kane taught her. None of it was unusual for an experienced Chancellor in negotiation, but Sam fought an often-foggy recollection of her time on Earth. A piece of her said not to go there. After all, he was there.

“I have to ask,” Rosa said, breaking the silence. “What was it like? Receiving the light of Brother James?”

She didn’t have the words. “It was … haven’t you, Rosa? I thought everyone in Salvation received his light.”

“Oh, yes, but it’s been more than a year since I was liberated. They say everyone sees his light differently. What did you see?”

The residual energy offered Sam a flashback.

“The future. I think. Something miraculous.”

“Oh, yes. Many miracles with Brother James. It’s such a great honor to be chosen for this mission. And for Brother James to see us off? He’s rarely onboard Lioness anymore.”

“Where is he usually?”

“Oh. Where is he not? Off delivering miracles to the colonies. Down on Hiebimini overseeing our new city. And then of course, there’s his family. Did you know Sister Rayna will be giving birth soon? There’s incredible excitement. The Jewels are having so many children these days. Of course, we immortals are all quite jealous because we’ll never be able to reproduce. But Brother