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

our mission. This is our home world. This is our city. And when pilgrims arrive someday, we here will greet them:

“Welcome to JaRa, on the planet Aeterna.”

He raised both fists high. “Thank you all!”

As the celebration began, James turned to his wife and spoke above the cheers.

“Didn’t rehearse once,” he said. “What do you think?”

“Yes, is better this way. I do not always mind surprises.”

“And what about those secrets?”

“You hid them very well. I like the name.”

“Thought you might.”

He sidled up the stairs to greet his fellow hybrids, all of whom expressed unabashed joy at his revelations and his choices for the Divine State. For the first time since he broke them out of the Chancellors’ conditioning web, the others felt on par with James, respected enough to share in the glory of a ruling caste.

Even as he celebrated with them, James remained fully aware the Divine State would not satisfy everyone. Soon he would have to face his brother. This was not going to be pleasant.

Indeed, as the festival began and celebrants crowded the closest avenues of JaRa to partake in food and beverages prepared fresh in the city, James broke from the adulation and worship of others to come face-to-face with Valentin. Minutes into their argument, James said:

“Oh, please, Brother. Am I going to have to kill you again?”

19

T HEY CARRIED THEIR ARGUMENT inside a habitat dome before creating a scandalous public display. Valentin cracked his knuckles and took long, deep breaths before unloading. Nothing he said surprised James.

“You’re going to repeat history, Brother. Don’t you see this? A ruling caste and a worker caste. It will be just like Earth – Chancellors and Solomons. We do all the work and your people claim all the glory.”

“And why shouldn’t we, Valentin? Our lives are finite. Each day holds urgency. It should be celebrated, not labored in the service of others. But your kind will live long after most indigos have forgotten about the ten founders. In a few centuries, you will roll your collective eyes whenever new hybrids take control.”

“Tell me, Brother. Why might we do that?”

“Because you will know who holds the true power. You will be the constant. It’s too soon for you to see it now, but I do. I’ve seen the future’s most likely path. The Divine State is our best chance to maintain stability and balance.”

Valentin burrowed his arms against his chest and scowled as he looked askance in reflection.

“You sound like a Chancellor,” he said. “I’m sure one of them said the same thing hundreds of years ago, right before signing the Solomon Treaty. I’m sure he probably suggested the Chancellory was conceding to a hard bargain. But it was in fact a boon. More leisure time, more wealth. More time to tighten their grip on the colonies. Be honest, James. This was always your plan.”

“Oh, please, Brother. Am I going to have to kill you again?”

“Right there.” Valentin turned away. “The arrogance. Oh, I knew there was always a part of you that thought you deserved to be on the mountaintop alone. But after all we’ve been through together …”

“I am your older brother. You defer to me.”

“I was here before you. I served and sacrificed before you arrived and burned it all down.”

“Our lives began the day we met each other. Anything prior is irrelevant. We have had this conversation too many times.”

“And will have it again until …”

James tuned him out and focused instead on the cheers and laughter outside the dome.

“Do you hear them, Brother? Your people have embraced my plan. You are the only one who protests.”

“Because they don’t understand what you meant. They don’t know you like I do.”

“You’re probably right, but it also doesn’t matter. I made the proclamation. It will not be unmade. The Jewels created this world for my kind. They live within us. Not you. We will command. You will serve. Together, we will create a permanent paradise. Yes?”

Valentin tugged at his blast rifle.

“And if I kill you where you stand, will our paradise be lost?”

James anticipated this moment. He chuckled when it arrived.

“Hard to say. You’d have to ask your seven hundred bloodthirsty enemies outside.”

Valentin fell back into a chair and slumped his shoulders.

“Why, James? Why? I’ve always been at your side.”

“Oh, please. Enough with the phony indignation. You knew this was coming.” Their eyes locked.

For an instant, Valentin showed the same stupefied wonder as he did in the lower level of the Great Plains Metroplex shortly after the brothers met. He lay there on the floor, a knife through his throat, blood pooling, facing an improbable death. James, morphing for the first time into the beast he would become, stood over his dying brother. “You are the abomination,” James said.

James was done wasting time on this matter. He faced a more urgent mission outside the city. The white forest called.

“You knew what I was when I killed you the first time,” he told Valentin. “You knew what I was when you rescued me and Rayna from SkyTower. You knew what I was when you agreed to destroy those Ark Carriers. What did you think was going to happen here? Especially after you allowed Sister Ursula to be murdered.” James winked. Though he never played chess on first Earth, this seemed like checkmate. “As I said months ago, I will always hold you responsible for her.”

James pointed to the door. “I am going to walk outside wearing a smile. You should do the same. And when the party ends, reassign your people to their duties in the fleet and elsewhere. You have five days to produce solid intel on the Chancellory’s new weapon. We are going to attack colonial targets. I prefer accuracy. If you can’t provide it, I’m