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

lab. Nilsson left orders to maintain the rotation after Praxis broke orbit. When word gets out we’ve have been left behind until after the invasion, some of these paranoid fools might try to use the Anchor to jump out.”

“People like me. How many departed for Praxis?”

“Twenty-seven. Frances Bouchet, Alayna Rainer, and Nilsson were the last to leave.”

“That means forty-three still here. They’ll figure this shit out real fast. I need to go before things turn bad.”

Percy said he needed to report to sentry rotation in the forward entrance, the only corridor in the facility wide enough for people and equipment to move with ease. He came to retrieve tools from his weapons rack. They stared in silence before offering the Guard side-nod as a final salute. Michael left without another word.

He saw Maya Fontaine on approach before he reached Cabrise’s executive office. She was dressed for a long excursion, with light, multi-layered clothing that included a backpack of essentials she scripted through the Recon tube. He couldn’t tell whether she used his Guard access to program the tube to wrap her in training fabric. It wasn’t as powerful a shield as the full tactical body armor, but it was the best he could grant her with his rank. If they fell a great distance out the back end of the quantum field, the fabric might blunt the impact.

“Ready for this?” He asked.

“I like trying new things.”

“And Aldo? What did he decide?”

“He’s been in the lab since Praxis left orbit. I don’t know if he’s there to see us off or join us.”

Michael understood. Aldo received a dressing down when he first communicated his objections to Capt. Forsythe. Aldo received confirmation of what he suspected: The Admiralty intended to punish him for surrendering his fleet command during the Carrier evacuation. Forsythe forwarded a personal message direct from Supreme Admiral Poussard. She despised Aldo putting personal goals ahead of the Chancellory’s survival. She did, however, offer him a deal, which he replayed for Michael and Maya.

“Cm. Cabrise,” she said. “I order you to hold fast as base leader. If you run Ericsson Station with diligence until we have eliminated the enemy and sent a rescue vessel to Tamarind, I will allow you to retire immediately with full bars and fifty years’ service. I will expunge your record of all negative administrative actions, entitling you to the full compensation and prestige of a fleet admiral.”

Aldo admitted his surprise at the offer but remained non-committal despite passing along his assurances to Capt. Forsythe. Michael didn’t particularly care about Aldo. If anything, the old man might become dead weight on Hiebimini. Instead, Michael focused on Poussard, whose tone was sharp and cold – not like the woman who ended the Solomon uprising, supported a new treaty, and who worked with Michael and his allies to construct an off-book mission to Tamarind.

She’s organizing the pieces, he thought. She’s trying to survive. She needs every part of this to be clean. Has she already given the order to kill Sam during the invasion? Is she waiting on word that I’ve been killed?

“We need to leave, whether the old guy’s with us or not. Agreed?”

Maya showed a wrinkle of fondness toward Aldo, but Michael did not doubt her true loyalty.

“Each of us has to choose,” she said. “I intend to be there when you find Samantha.”

Good enough.

They drew a few suspicious eyes en route to the lift, which surprised neither. The dress was overkill for base staff, to say the least. Nonetheless, they arrived without incident on Level 1.

“I’ll try to do this the diplomatic way,” Michael said as they approached the lab.

Outside the entrance, 1st Lt. Kal Carver stood at ease, blast rifle to his side. Kal was the second-oldest member of the spec-ops team but just a few days older than Michael. He was a hard man to know, quiet and fastidious. In four months, Michael learned only three things about the soldier: He loved to study pre-history; he drank more than anyone on the team; and his husband was killed at Port Baghdad when it was taken out by a Berserker. Though Kal never brought up James Bouchet in Michael’s presence, the shadow always hovered nearby.

Carver blocked the entrance. “What’s your business, Cooper?”

“I’m here to see Cm. Cabrise.”

“The Commandant is not here.” He gave both the eye, studying Michael’s overblown weaponry and Maya’s safari wear. “You two planning to go somewhere?”

“We have business inside, Carver. I’m not at liberty to say more.”

“On whose orders?”

“Maj. Nilsson.”

Carver raised his blast gun chest high.

“Nilsson turned over team command to Col. Broadman. The Anchor is off-limits, unless you can prove you have special dispensation.”

“The Colonel knows why I’m here. Amp her.”

“I will. In the meantime, you two back off.”

Michael complied, but he didn’t understand Carver’s animus. Maya’s usual stoicism vanished when she whispered.

“I spoke to Aldo ten minutes ago. He is inside the lab.”

For an instant, Michael wondered whether he was staring at a double-cross. Could it have been a setup to snare Michael in the actual act of mutiny? Was it possible the entire team was in on it? Percy fooled him in the Commons. Perhaps Rachel’s violent send-off was a slice of theater. Did Nilsson hand him an empty pattern sleeve?

He didn’t like the emotional stir in Carver’s eyes. If this was a trap, Michael had one way out, assuming Oliver Huron did indeed stay behind. Who else might know how to operate the Anchor? Michael rested a hand over his Ingmar.

Don’t force me to make a choice, Carver. I’m not turning around.

Carver closed his amp and smiled. Carver never smiled.

To his left, Michael saw Maya glance behind them, her eyes widening. He felt a familiar presence though he did not hear footsteps.

Fuck me.

“The Major went too