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

The taller boy, his jaw rigid and his stare unwavering, introduced himself in the landing bay as Rikhi Syed. The other – red hair in a crew cut – refused to identify himself. He hugged his knapsack close and kept one hand near his laser pistol.

“Don’t take offense,” Rosa told her. “Olan doesn’t talk, but he’s a very good fighter.”

Sam already felt out of sorts – her simple bodysuit stood out from the olive combat uniforms of the four immortals. She didn’t have to imagine how alien she’d seem down on the surface. She tried, as the Scramjet left Lioness, to strike up a conversation. She quickly wished she hadn’t bothered.

“Are you excited to see the planet?” She asked Rikhi.

“I’m just tired of dying,” he said. “Every time they vent Chancellors, I’m on duty. Do you know how much it hurts to run out of oxygen?”

She remembered the scene from the control room, as James learned the immortals on the landing bay turned on their “clampsoles.” She didn’t fully appreciate the meaning until now.

“No, I don’t, but that won’t happen where you’re going.”

“I died four times.” He scowled. “I don’t want to see that ship again.” Sam nodded, throwing in a comforting smile, but Rikhi tilted his head as if unconvinced of her sincerity. “You think I’m weak, don’t you? I’m not. I’m a killer, and I’ll kill you if Admiral Valentin orders me.”

“Rikhi, I was not implying …”

“I was the one who executed her. They gave me a blast rifle, and I killed Ophelia Tomelin because she was a traitor. They thought I was weak, but I showed them. I put eight flash pegs in her.”

Sam backed off, but not until after a shared glance with Rosa, whose simple nod confirmed Rikhi’s story. James must have been letting go of everyone who was nearby when Sister Ursula was killed.

Miguel interrupted the tense moment by indicating the trip would only take 10.7 seconds, but entry and exit might be rough.

They were.

Yet none of that mattered when the ship materialized above a lush green planet that looked nothing like Sam imagined – and far from anything the official reports said Hiebimini resembled. She knew only the stories of deserts, open prairies, and clay-packed lands with barely enough arable soil and fresh water to sustain life. And, of course, those monstrous, now dead brontinium mines that speckled the surface. Was this even the right planet?

The holowindow cast a brilliant panorama of a valley dotted by billowing trees shaped like umbrellas, standing tall above thick clusters of verdant undergrowth, with a river cutting through the center of it all. She saw the river’s source: A distant waterfall crashing down a scarp, the highland thickly forested as well. Yet the geometry of what rose out of the valley, glimmering in the sunlight, stilled her heart.

“Home,” Rosa said. “Better even than Brother James promised.”

Miguel landed the Scramjet and shut down the engine before looking out from the navigation cylinder to admire the view.

“I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever experience it,” he said, also wearing anti-solar lenses.

He threw away the holowindow and took charge.

“Important reminder before we step off. The Lioness artificial grav system is eighty-seven percent of Hiebimini’s standard G. Three of us have been in space for a long time. The effect will be immediate. So,” he told the boys, “Pace yourselves. We might be immortal, but we’re not immune to pain. Do not remove your lenses until after sunset. You’ll need three days to adapt. Understood?”

The boys nodded, as did Sam, who was surprised by Miguel’s next words.

“You’re going to have the hardest transition,” he told her. “You lost considerable muscle mass during your confinement; don’t be deceived by how well you fared in space. Also, you’ve only recently adapted to artificial light. The sun’s luminosity is four percent greater than Sol. I received orders to make sure you report to your quarters upon arrival. There will be a medpod waiting. The

Admiral insists we take care of you.”

This right-angle shift from three months inside the black hole to kid-glove treatment confounded Sam. Yet she didn’t care; their purpose would reveal itself in time. She was breathing, and she was about to experience sunlight on her face.

Hope.

The holowindow did not begin to reveal the stunning detail like she witnessed when she stepped outside onto the flat, grassy mound that doubled as a landing port. For the first time, she saw a stationary cloud of mist at the waterfall’s base and a rainbow projecting outward. She saw trees full of fruit arrayed into winding orchards. She recognized the umbrella-shaped trees: Acacias. Flocks of birds with long wingspans traveled between them. They cried out like babies waiting to be fed but with a rhythm that built into a melodic symphony.

Amid it all, in domes and loaf-shaped configurations, in clusters of hemispheric mounds, a city rose in balance amid this natural beauty, the tallest structure barely surpassing the acacias. Not quite like adobe, but also not metallic, the structures shared a common, waxen luster. Only as she labored down the steps from the landing port did Sam make the connection. They were the color and texture of the land.

Even as she breathed heavily – the planet’s gravity tugged more greedily than she expected – Sam posed the obvious question.

“You couldn’t have built all this in a few months. How?”

Rosa grabbed her hand as Sam wobbled a bit and looked at Miguel, who nodded his approval to explain.

“We didn’t, Samantha,” she said. “It was made for us.”

“How? By who?”

“You know who. The Jewels of Eternity and Brother James.”

Part of the answer made sense. “I’ve seen what James can do with a touch. But that’s with living things. What about these buildings? This city is big enough for