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

Of course, it was. Assholes.

“And you needed all this extra time why?”

“While we built the jumpgate, we needed to produce enough Void energy compactors to power the pattern sleeves.”

Six months ago, that sentence would have made no sense to Michael. Now, he was able to take it to a logical conclusion.

“Energy compactors? Those are installed in the jumpgate. Right? They act like the arms of the prototype down below. They open the aperture and fold space. You took a cube through the portal during the Anchor test. You said some nonsense about it recording black matter readings. But you were delivering a part of the gate to Emil Bouchet.”

Nilsson shook his head like he should have known better.

“Spoken like someone with a higher pay grade.”

“Whatever. The bottom line, Major?”

“Cooper, I’ll leave in two hours. Col. Broadman will assume my post. We’ll have enough security, be it the Mongols or the terrorists.”

“And me?”

Nilsson did something unexpected. He broke eye contact.

“If I had allowed you to mutiny, this would have been easier.”

“Fuck. You can’t be serious.”

“I’d tell you I’m surprised, but that would be a lie. I knew Poussard couldn’t make it stick for long. After your Samantha went from prisoner to ambassador, I knew it was only a matter of time before the order came down. You and Samantha are a footnote, so it won’t be hard to erase you from history. And that, 3-L-T, is where we stand right now.”

Michael didn’t bother reaching for a weapon. He might be fast enough to slice a laser between Nilsson’s eyes, but Rachel waited outside. Perhaps Percy, too. Maybe they all knew what was coming.

“I don’t believe you’ll do this to me, Major. I fought for you and I never disobeyed an order. I wear this uniform even though I have about thirteen thousand goddamn reasons to hate Chancellors.”

Nilsson jumped off the bed and paced.

“I saw an officer kill a subordinate once. It was my first year. I was an A-spec. The woman was convicted of treason. The commanding officer who brings the charge is required to fulfill the execution. A nasty business. The woman, I’ll never forget her. Reminds me of my wife.”

Michael didn’t care. “I reckon Supreme Admiral Poussard ain’t coming all the way out here to finish me off.”

“No. She’s safely tucked inside the GPM. Cooper, I’ve never lost a soldier under my command. Not for any reason. It’s the part of my record I’m most proud. So today, I’m going to do something that will almost certainly bring me shame for the rest of my career.”

His heart beat faster. There’s got to be another way.

“Major, I’m begging you. Please, sir. All I want is to find Sam. Once I’m with her, I’ll never wear the uniform again. The Admiralty will never know. We’ll disappear. Please, Major. I’m so close.”

Water shined in Nilsson’s eyes as he turned away. When he again faced Michael, he opened the palm of his right hand. The metallic sliver reflected bronze. Michael thought it looked familiar.

“You don’t realize how close,” Nilsson said. “This pattern sleeve contains destination coordinates to a certain blockaded colony.”

What?

“The aperture,” Nilsson continued, “should open within twenty meters of the surface. Gravmod boots might cushion the fall.”

Michael jumped up. He wanted to reach out. This wasn’t possible.

“Just so we understand, Cooper. If I leave this device in your room, I am committing treason. I will have to live with that shame the rest of my life, however short it might be. But I’ll still have a perfect survival rate under my command. I’ll consider that a fair trade. Yes?”

“Sir, I don’t know what to say. I ...”

“Best to say nothing.” He laid the pattern sleeve on Michael’s bed and moved toward the door. “I’ll be the last to leave. Two hours. Oliver Huron will stay behind. He’ll be expecting you. Assuming you survive planetfall, you won’t have much time, and I have no idea how close you’ll land to their settlement. You might miss by thousands of kilometers. Either way, you’ll be on your own.”

“Thank you, Major. I’ll never forget this.”

“For my sake, you should probably try.” He laid his hand over the printlock. “I enjoyed knowing you, Michael. You’ll be in my thoughts.”

When Nilsson left, Michael fell to his knees and sobbed.

Maya’s words gave him strength in the most miraculous moment of his life: “There is no force that will come between you, even though many will try.”

Michael grabbed the pattern sleeve. “No force.”

35

Scramjet Gamma

Fifty kilometers from Lioness

J AMES EMBRACED WAR AS BEAUTY. To step into the breach of lethal combat, to annihilate an unprepared and outmatched enemy with uninhibited malice, to see their blood stain the naked battlefield, to reduce whole cities to embers. This made sense to James, for it was an inherent part of his genetic redesign. The Berserker hibernated within James yet often cried out in his sleep. “Allow me to blossom as I did at your rebirth in Alabama. Allow me to vaporize all in my path, as I did in SkyTower.”

He last engaged in battle more than a year ago, leaving the most devastating assaults to other hybrids and to immortals in need of practice. Today, he’d lead the attack, witness the progress of his small but talented army, and incinerate anyone on Euphrates who worked with his parents to destroy Salvation.

He buckled himself in behind the Scramjet’s navigation cylinder, occupied by an immortal who recently proved his mettle as a pilot: Col. Miguel Lennox. He appreciated Lennox’s demeanor in handling the fraudulent negotiations with the Chancellory and requested his services today. Twenty immortal soldiers ranging from age ten to sixteen stood ready in the cabin’s still-seats. Lennox was their CO on this mission, approved by Valentin. The aerial