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

me alone by the Jewels. The information in all its minutiae will take years to study. Even I have yet to consume every detail. But the greater picture is clear.

“Aeterna was the first Collectorate world discovered by the Jewels, long before humans walked on two feet. They were searching the galaxy for a planet to replicate the home of their Creators, who were themselves long dead. This world was habitable but not ideal. Over the next two hundred thousand years, they discovered every world now occupied by humans. At the time, only fifteen could sustain organic life.

“But the Jewels possessed all the technological wonders of their Creators, including the ability to terraform. They seeded twenty-four worlds with a biological and climatological matrix capable of raising life where there was none. The terraforming lasted tens of thousands of years. The last were completed as the Jewels became aware of primitive Earth. They instituted a new calculus focused on the human race as the successors to their Creators.

“They developed the great Algorithm of Causality. They used their intricate knowledge of their Creators’ past to predict humanity’s future. They saw all the paths, and the most important: The rise of a subclass of humans who would subjugate all others and lead humanity to the stars. They saw how this subclass, who we know as Chancellors, would come to this world and in their arrogance, steal this planet’s greatest resource for their own benefit. And how, when that resource known as brontinium would dry up, so too would the Chancellors’ future. And how, in their hour of desperation, they would create the next evolution of humanity. They sought salvation, but they designed their damnation.

“They have always watched us from afar, interceding only on occasion. The Jewel who I have come to know as The Father blended with a man named Johannes Ericsson, the founder of the Chancellory. Though it remained in the blood of Ericsson’s direct descendants, it did not control their thoughts. It observed, as it did its brethren who were busy creating the wormhole network known later as the Fulcrum.

“They gave humanity the opportunity to achieve at its greatest. But the Chancellors failed, as the Jewels knew they would. In Standard Year 5320, five of them reunited here, with The Father, and triggered the Fall of the Chancellory. They seeded this world with the final catalyst to a recipe first planted six hundred thousand years ago.

“Look around. See the beauty of a world grown for us. A permanent paradise waiting for us to take possession.

“We are the first day. We are the last day. And we are everything in between. We are the Jewels’ Creators remade, but better. Unlike them, our races will never die. Unlike them, our kind will be eternal.

“So it is! Aeterna! Aeterna! Aeterna!”

Again, brilliant roars echoed through the bowl, and stunned reactions bounced through the collective mind. Though the hybrids did not realize how much James kept from them, the revelations reinforced their sense of place and purpose. The children, with the exception of Benjamin and Peter, asked far too many questions. The concepts overwhelmed their synapses, which in most cases were still struggling through Tier I education.

He could not wait to see the devastated outrage when this data became public across the Collectorate. The historical and scientific records were so indisputable, James wondered whether this knowledge might bring down the Chancellory faster than any military action.

“And now,” he said, calming the crowd, “to the reason we are here today. To Inaugurate this city and the other eight rising from the depths of Aeterna.

“These nine cities and their surrounding defense sectors will form a compact known as the Divine State. Our people – and all those who arrive here on pilgrimage – will live only in these cities. The remainder of Aeterna will be off-limits except for scientific exploration. We will never steal from this planet. We will never scar this planet. We live off the natural bounty it provides, but no more.

“Each of these cities will be named for the original ten hybrids who survived forced assimilation with the Jewels of Eternity and brought about this new future. They will be named by the Jewel hybrids who will rule over them. Ulrich, Bartok, Joakim, Cecily, Alistair, Nya, and Dharma. The last city we will populate, on the southernmost continent, will be named Ursula. The first of my children deemed worthy will rule that city in Sister Ursula’s memory.

“And as for this city, my friends …” He paused, looked back at his wife and sons. “This city belongs to me and my wife. It is the first city, and Rayna and I are Mother and Father to you all. Therefore, the name is ours to choose. Repeat after me.

“JaRa! JaRa! JaRa!”

The louder the echoes, the more James knew they loved the choice. More important, they accepted the choice. They are children, after all.

His eyes shifted to Valentin, who raised his fist and mouthed the name, but James knew better. His brother shouted nothing. Valentin was wiser than the rest.

Might as well get it over with, James thought.

“Each city of the Divine State will be ruled in perpetuity by Jewel hybrids, their descendants, and others of their species. The eternal maintenance of the Divine State will belong to the eternal race, immortals. You will oversee the efficiency, sustainability, and sanitation of our cities. You will enforce our laws, spread our message, and slaughter those who oppose us. As your population grows through colonial liberation and through pilgrims who volunteer to leave a mortal existence behind, you will have the opportunity to move freely through the Divine State rather than where City Fathers and Mothers send you.

“We must all understand our role. For even in this eternal paradise, we must function as a cooperative society. Two species, both evolved from homo sapiens, working to a unified goal.

“This is