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

after he “evolved” on second Earth, the resentful behavior toward a brother seemed familiar. Jamie Sheridan viewed almost everyone in Albion – especially Ben – with a cynical eye toward the end.

After the Scramjet exited the wormhole and made final approach to Lioness, Sam leaned back and braced for the unknown. If the choice came down to death or the black hole, she intended to go quietly into the emptiness of space. Miguel’s stream amp was active, communicating with the command bridge, but Sam couldn’t hear and didn’t try. When they landed, she fully expected to step onto the landing bay and be told to stay behind. A few more Chancellors would be lined up next to her, and then the cascade barrier would fall. Maybe there were worse fates. At least she’d have a few seconds of absolute peace to behold the universe.

Miguel said nothing as he claimed his laser pistol from the quartermaster and led Sam and Rosa to the lift. Once inside, he hesitated to deliver a voice command to the AI.

“He wants you returned to your quarters while I meet with him and the admiral,” Miguel said. “Rosa, program the Recon tube for a tone-x bodysuit for Samantha.” The immortal sighed as he pivoted to Sam. “Same model the Chancellor engineers wear. The same model they’ve all died in.”

He delivered a command to the lift, which soared upward. Sam thought he muttered an apology before leaving them behind.

She refused to cry. Even now, Sam was not going to break.

She knew whose name would pass her lips on her final breath.

The mistake was in thinking James’s second attempt to share his light meant something deeper, might even signal hope of Jamie still being there, his better angels fighting against the demons possessing him. She had been ready to serve him – not the god, but the boy inside. If it gave her the slightest chance to see home again, to wrap her arms around the man she loved, anything in James’s service made sense.

No. How stupid am I?

The love of her life would have said she was counting on a movie resolution. He was the expert, after all. How many times did he warn her James was too far gone to be saved? This wasn’t going to be like Star Wars, he said. Brother James was not Darth Vader – he would not be redeemed, even in death. “Assholes die assholes,” he said. “They get talked about real nice at the funeral, but they’re still assholes.”

She almost laughed when Rosa produced the bodysuit Sam would wear into space.

“Why are you smiling?” Rosa asked.

“Memories.”

“Good ones?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think about my life before Admiral Valentin liberated me. I was treated like an animal, and everything those people told me was a lie.” Rosa caught herself. “I’m sorry, Sam. I just want you to know … I won’t forget you. What you did today was courageous.”

Sam undressed herself and looked over the simple two-piece bodysuit. “I need to know something, Rosa. Nobody’s given me a straight answer. How long was I in the black hole?”

Rosa glared, as if asked to reveal deadly state secrets.

“Sam, I … I didn’t come into this until they released you and started the rehearsals.”

“How long?”

“I heard Miguel talking to Maj. Kane. Eighty-nine standard days.”

Not as long as she suspected. Yet putting a time stamp on it made Sam feel stronger. She kept her sanity through three months; and today, she held her own against Chancellors of great stature. A small measure of solace.

She kissed the girl. “Thank you, Rosa.”

Sam slipped into the bottom of the blue-trimmed gray bodysuit and reached for the top when the door to her tiny quarters slid open. Her heart fell when she saw Miguel.

“Finish dressing,” he said with fleeing attention before turning to Rosa. “How many rotations have you spent on Hiebimini?”

“Three.”

“You like it there?”

“It’s beautiful. The city is … why, Col. Lennox?”

“Because you’re going back for a fourth. And I’m going for the first time. Permanent reassignment.”

“What? Miguel … Colonel, this is wonderful news. Was it the job we did today?”

“I assume. I debriefed Brother James and Admiral Valentin. They agreed to change defense rotations near the Nexus and the outer system and expedite the production lines for the planetary defense arsenal. Then the admiral passed along our deployment orders. Brother James never objected.”

Miguel didn’t smile. Sam thought he was too gobsmacked to take it all in. She slipped on her top.

“I’m glad it’s working out for you,” Sam said. “I hope life down there is everything you’ve been promised.”

That’s when Miguel faced her with a quizzical look.

“I didn’t forget you, Samantha, but I never had a chance to bring up your case. It happened like a thunderbolt. I don’t understand it.”

“Tell me.”

“Samantha, you’re coming with us. Brother James is sending you to the planet.”

“Wait, what?”

He shrugged. “I can’t explain it. All he said was, ‘Take her to the city. That’s where she needs to be.’”

She didn’t have time to rejoice or collapse in tears.

“Needs to be? Why?”

“Never asked. Not a good idea to use that word near Brother James. He is the first day and the last day, after all. And this,” he said with a slow, building glee, “is a new day. Do not ask why.”

13

T HE JOURNEY TO HIEBIMINI’S SURFACE WAS as short as it was surreal. Before Miguel programmed the destination’s coordinates and opened the wormhole aperture, he threw up a huge holowindow for the passengers to receive the best forward view. Sam and Rosa were accompanied by two other immortals – a pair of boys no older than ten – who also received permanent reassignment, their first to the planet. The boys studied Sam with suspicious gazes, their