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

ground seemed less like crystal and more like a clay field painted white. And then there was an odor. Not from the environment, but the putrid scent of a man.

Shadows moved between the trees, sliding east then west as if trying to hide.

“Is that you, Ignatius? Show yourself.”

The perpetrator of the shadows grew in definition but also moved farther afield. There it was again: The gray cloak. A hood.

Gone. A tease.

Perhaps Ignatius needed time to recover his wits. After all, James killed him once then transformed into a god able to see across time and space. The hesitation made sense.

He will return in gray, the algorithm said. You will hunt him down.

Good. First part acknowledged. Now, to the hunt. Which way to proceed? Through the forest, one tree at a time? Did each tree hold a special mystery, as if to be its own tiny universe? Should he proceed with caution or utmost aggression?

The climax neared; James felt it in the air.

Speed. He needed speed.

James took the stance of a sprinter and prepared to chase down this timid fiend in the gray cloak.

Yet as he did so, the clay field splintered into thousands of hairline cracks as far as he could see. James waited for the tremor, but it didn’t come this time. In its place, a glistening sheen emerged through the cracks – tiny beads of water the size of dew on morning grass.

He will be the final answer, the algorithm said. All paths will intersect with him.

At once, millions of jagged, malformed paths morphed into miniscule rivers. Beads coalesced, and gushes of blue water climbed out of the darkness beneath the clay and raced toward each other.

That’s when James recognized the odor, which no longer struck him as putrid. Rather, it was sweet and blended with floral fragrances. Yet nothing bloomed in the white forest.

James understood why.

He opened his eyes and turned to his wife, who was sleeping next to him, exhausted from their riotous lovemaking.

James reconnected with the hybrid mind and told them what he learned then grabbed his bicomm and interrupted whatever his brother was doing. James didn’t care about his appearance.

“Two days,” he announced.

“For what, James? We agreed not to attack …”

“We inaugurate the city in two days.”

“We’ll have to expedite our timetable. What changed?”

“I always knew the final paths would intersect on Hiebimini, but I never knew when. Now I do. Two days, Valentin. You have two days.”

He swiped shut the bicomm and locked on his wife, whose eyes were wide open, her pistils red and relaxed. He slipped an arm beneath the sheets.

“More?” He asked with a sly smile.

“From a god? Always more, my love.”

17

2 days later

Landing bay, Lioness

 

B ROTHER JAMES ORDERED HIS FAMILY onto Spearhead and turned to the flagship’s senior officer. Maj. Rafael Kane took a knee and bowed his head.

“When I leave,” James said, “there will be no Jewel hybrid onboard Lioness for the first time since we liberated this ship at Port Baghdad. I trust you will manage the fleet without me. Stand.”

James knew Kane’s ultimate allegiance lay with Valentin; those two formed a close working bond. Instinct told James to be cautious but not yet paranoid. A simple act of bribery would ensure fealty in the short term.

“Major, I appreciate you and the other immortals who chose to man the fleet during Inauguration. Your sacrifice will be rewarded.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“The Chancellors are locked down in their cabins?”

“Yes, Brother James. Absolute quarantine until the full ship’s complement has returned from the surface.”

“Perfect. As you are now the senior officer of Lioness and our entire orbital fleet, I hereby promote you to Admiral. You will still report to my brother, who I have today promoted to Supreme Admiral. But these ships are yours, for as long as they remain in space.”

Besides Lioness, only Sunrise and Gemini orbited Hiebimini, and the latter two ran on automated systems until boarded for diplomatic and trade missions to colonial allies. The other capital ships – Greenland, Haven, and Benevolence – were docked in the city, their resources leveraged for development of essential infrastructure needs.

Kane’s eyes twinkled. “This is a great honor, Brother James.”

“It is, Kane. When we leave, order the remaining crew to open a holowindow and watch the Inauguration. You will witness history.”

All of Salvation, minus Kane and six immortal soldiers, were gathering on the planet. James cancelled all colonial missions as well as security patrols and planetary mapping sorties today. He needed their full attention. It was time they understood everything.

Moreover, the planet called to him. The water continued to rise in the white forest, its trees buckling and the cracks in the surface expanding. Each time he grabbed at the gray cloak, determined to pull back the hood, its wearer disappeared like a shadow without sunlight.

“You can’t run from me. I know where you are, Ignatius.”

He joined his family onboard Spearhead and gave the departure order to his most experienced pilot, Ulrich Rahm. If not for Ulrich’s ability to unleash his Berserker last year on Tamarind, fate might have sent Salvation in a different direction, without James to guide it.

James swelled with pride as he studied his sons. Their ornate uniforms, designed especially for today, reflected the themes of their father’s traditional silver and olive full-length robe but bedecked with ruffled flourishes of maroon and lavender around the neck and over the wrists. Encrusted gems shimmered above their chest and stomach. They didn’t appreciate being shaved bald, even after their father explained the other children would appear the same way. They did, however, take joy in being able to carry a ceremonial blast rifle.

Convincing Rayna to put aside her traditional Cossack accoutrements proved impossible, so James asked her to use the