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

forever to learn, so you should learn forever.’ Did I get it right?”

“You did.”

Sam never tasted better orange juice. The pulp danced on her tongue and tingled her senses.

“The problem is,” Sam said, “I don’t have forever. I might not even have tomorrow. Rosa, has anyone told you why I’m here?”

Rosa lowered her eyes, as if embarrassed.

“No, but you shouldn’t worry. You have this beautiful home. We designed it especially for you. I don’t think we’d be asked to go to such trouble if they expected you to leave us.”

“Wait, what?”

Rosa glanced around the habitat, her arms pointed to the various furniture and technological features.

“There are few items we can salvage from the fleet without having to retrofit them for ground use. Miguel says the engineering facility on Lioness will only run a few more weeks. It’s easier to create workshops here and make use of the planet’s natural resources with our holotools and phasic drivers.”

“Yes, I understand, but what about this place? All this work was done for me?”

She shrugged, as if Sam was being silly to ask.

“We have enough habitats in JaRa to house ten thousand people, but we only stock new domes each time we add to our population. We build for each other because we will always need each other.”

Sam drank the rest of the juice, realizing how thirsty she’d become overnight. She took a closer look at breakfast and grabbed a spoon.

“Rosa, I took your advice yesterday. I watched the Inauguration. I tried to stay hidden, but I think Brother James saw me. Don’t worry. I won’t tell him who gave me the idea. Rosa, the things he talked about … did any of it scare you?”

This was apparently the moment when Sam grew two extra heads based upon Rosa’s step-back reaction.

“Scared? Of what?”

“He said all of you would kill every last Chancellor. Rosa, there are a billion Chancellors. I’m one of them. Can you even imagine what it means to murder a billion people then have that on your conscience for eternity?”

Rosa shook her head furiously. “No, no, no. Brother James wasn’t talking literally. My friends discussed it afterward. He meant we kill the people who threaten us. The ones who have to die. You know, the Unification Guard. There are only a few million of them. I think we’ll probably go after the rest of the Ark Carriers, too.”

The words dropped from Rosa’s lips with such casual disdain, Sam wasn’t sure she could stomach pomegranate and cantaloupe.

“But you’ll still be murderers. Is that why you were brought here? To learn how to butcher millions of people?”

Rosa’s expression turned sour. “Eat your breakfast. Now. You have to work. Your bodysuit is wrinkled. I’ll run it through the tube while you finish.”

Sam felt an impulse to press harder but resisted for the moment. She wanted to push breakfast away, but to her dismay, the cantaloupe was the best ever, without doubt. She’d never tasted pomegranate but now couldn’t get enough. Her appetite demanded another round.

Minutes later, she slipped into a wrinkle-free bodysuit and brushed her hair, Rosa pacing the habitat in an impatient circle.

Sam started to apologize. “Rosa, I …”

“You don’t understand.” The girl snapped. “You’re a Chancellor. Do you know what they did to children like me? After they grew us in SkyTower? They sent most of us to the colonies. Places where we didn’t belong. Most of the time, we didn’t look anything like the indigos. Our phony parents made up stories about adoption or charity or Solomon relatives on Earth. Most of us were bullied and beaten. Some of us tried running away, but our so-called parents were given tracking fobs. The homing beacon was in our brains.

“I have ten friends who tried to kill themselves, but they couldn’t no matter how hard or often they tried. Sam, I don’t blame the indigos. We were different, and they didn’t understand different. I blame the people who created us. I blame everybody who helped them. And everybody who fights for them. Admiral Valentin and Brother James saved us. They showed us who we really are. We’re better than the Chancellors. If they don’t know it yet, they will. And maybe that means we kill as many of them as we want.”

Rosa’s eyes glistened with rising tears. Sam saw the girl in a new light; this was not the anger-proof, brainwashed minion who appeared to live in eternal bliss.

“I’m sorry, Rosa. I was too harsh. I …”

“Sam, I know you’re not like the other Chancellors. You weren’t born on Earth. You came from the other universe, with Brother James. Maybe that’s why you’re here. He knows you’re special.”

Sam rolled her eyes and stifled a laugh. “I don’t know his reason, but it’s a safe bet you’re wrong. How about we change the subject for now? We have food preparation duty?”

“We do.”

Sam was relieved at their détente and followed Rosa out into the city. During the first two days, Sam walked as much of JaRa as her body could take while she adjusted to full gravity, and always with an immortal escort per Valentin’s orders. The suspicious eyes and condescending glares lessened on the second day. Within the first minute of day four, Sam encountered the awkward sensation of being ignored entirely. After Inauguration, she was likely the last thing on anyone’s mind.

Though JaRa housed several hundred immortals and hybrids, today it felt like a home for thousands. The wide avenues were teeming with immortals walking alongside loaders or piloting rifters. At one point, three rifters raced past in a textbook line and at higher speed than Sam thought safe. Miguel Lennox drove the second. Each contained a large cylindrical device in the cargo hold.

Rosa leaned in to explain. “For the secondary defense perimeter. Or so I’ve been told.”

“Secondary? What do