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

Rayna looked away. “What do you think, husband? Is she like girl you knew in Alabama?”

James broke away from the babies and studied Sam with a long, leering glare. She didn’t need to hear his response to see the obvious: There was no humanity inside this creature. Did either of them actually care about their children? Or were they prizes? Wasn’t today’s so-called “Assignment” nothing more than theatrics?

“Jamie Sheridan cared for her,” he said. “But he was a weak, self-loathing boy without a spine to act on his urges. He couldn’t award himself one moment of pleasure, not even when he was alone. When he finally learned the truth, he kissed her goodbye and thought he was being noble.” James turned to his wife. “Am I droning on?”

“You are, James. My husband becomes this way when he reminisces. Speaking of the past, do you wish to tell her now? Soon will be too late. No?”

They kissed again. Long and wet, for an audience of one.

“You should oversee preparations for the ceremony,” he said. “Cecily, Dharma, and Alistair are there now. Make sure they meet your specifications. Yes?”

“A fine suggestion. They have good taste but not like mine. And Bartok? Does he know what must be done?”

“He’ll do what’s necessary.”

Rayna leaned into her husband but turned her gaze to Sam.

“All must do what is necessary. No? Goodbye, Samantha Pynn. I will see you soon.”

After his wife left, James returned to the rear but added:

“I want to show you something. Come here, Samantha.”

She hesitated. If she ran, there was every chance she’d make it. But to where? Through the city to Valentin, assuming he returned. And then what?

Sam looked down at her yellow dress, which she acknowledged was very beautiful in a simple, sacrificial lamb sort of way. She approached James, who stood beside his daughters’ crib.

“My goal,” he said, “is ten more children in the next four years. My wife hates me for it. By then, we will have our first grandchildren. In ten years, I will have thirty grandchildren. And on and on. By the time I die, I will have thousands of living descendants. When the Jewels finish terraforming Aeterna, the hybrids will number in the hundreds of thousands. Everyone will know this was not possible without me.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

He leaned in and smiled at his daughters.

“Because I like talking about myself. But also, because I want you to know what will happen after you’re gone. I assume Rayna said this was your last day?”

Sam was tired of the balancing act. No more.

“Why did you have to be this way, James? Why so cruel?”

“This is what you think of me? Hmmph. Is it cruel to want a better life for my people? Is it cruel to free billions of humans from three thousand years of oppression? Is it cruel to create a new, just order in the universe? Is it cruel to teach valuable lessons to those who oppose a righteous crusade?”

She heard this sort of talk before from zealots who could justify any action.

“It is,” she said, “if all you do is punish and slaughter everyone in your path. Is this why you plan to kill me today? To punish me because what? I wasn’t honest about who you were growing up? Because I was supposedly going to treat you like a servant monster?”

He threw back a deep, guttural laugh and waved her off. James stepped away from the crib and motioned her forward.

“I know what you think,” he said. “Same as my brother and my wife. Why do I obsess over you? What difference do you make in the long run? None and everything. What I told you about being your ‘servant monster?’ Eh. I made it up because it was strong rhetoric. What you seem to misunderstand is this: I don’t hate you or harbor any resentment for your role in Alabama. On the contrary, I don’t care about you one way or the other.”

Sam burst. “Then why kidnap me? Why go to all this trouble?”

“To become a god, I must listen to the gods. And not long after I escaped Earth, the Jewels predicted you would play an important role in my future. As we neared Aeterna, they saw your final moments here. I’ve come to trust the algorithm of life. Granted, they were vague on your role, but no more.

“Things are about to happen that will cement our future on Aeterna. Your failed attempt to assassinate my wife will be the first trigger. Your purpose is clear at last.”

She wanted to tell him the truth, to brace him for a future far shorter than he imagined. Did his daughters deserve the same fate? Would the Jewels spare them? Sam wasn’t going to predict or drop a hint.

“I have no intention of killing anyone,” she said.

“You will.”

“How can you be so certain?”

“I’ve made sure of it. Sometimes, the future needs a push.”

Sam threw up her hands. “Then why not go outside now and finish it? You want to sacrifice me to the Jewels? Do it.”

“Oh, Samantha. You don’t understand them like I do. They waited a million years for me. They saw my unique possibilities before I knew there was a world outside Albion, Alabama, let alone another universe. I’m sure you recall Jamie Sheridan’s inexplicable fit of anger and violence the day after his so-called parents died? Yes?”

She nodded, and James continued. “That morning, my Jewel spoke to me for the first time. ‘You have the heart of a killer. You are a monster,’ it said. ‘You will lay waste to every enemy. Oceans will turn red. You will hold the compass to redefine the human race.’ It also said I would be revered as