The Impossible Future: Complete set Frank Kennedy (freenovel24 .TXT) 📖

for several hours, deducing the proper time to make introductions. But in your predicament, what qualifies as a proper time?” The man smiled, reached out a hand that James refused to shake, and continued. “To answer your most pressing question – no, I am not the Mentor. Your unprecedented rebirth destroyed that flawed creation.”

James struggled to contain his rage. “What are you supposed to be? Another program to make me carry out the Jewel’s agenda? I will not be twisted and manipulated again. Lydia was …”

“A misguided nanotome conflicted by its original advisory mandate and its perceived obligation to defend the Jewel’s macrostructure. In human terms, a paranoid schizophrenic. No, no, James. You will find our relationship to be a pleasant retreat from the increasingly dire choices confronting you.”

James told himself to leave here, the Jewel no longer held sway, he controlled his own destiny. Yet sand trickled between his toes and children laughed while playing in the surf.

“I can’t do this. Not again.”

“I agree, which is why I am here. Think of me as a resource for comfort and counsel. And I offer a beautiful accommodation the Mentor lacked: I am forever ensconced deep inside your consciousness, and I can never be a distracting projection.”

He was not satisfied. “Then what do you call this place?”

“Your choice.”

“What?”

“Recognize the setting? Study the condominiums and hotels. Over there, James. Your favorite restaurant for fried seafood?”

Harley’s Taste of the Gulf.

“Pensacola.”

“Yes. The Sheridans and the Hugginses. Your seventh and eighth summers. You loved your time here. Ten perfect days.”

He recalled two vacations that fell into the rabbit hole of long-lost dreams. The second trip, he kept a paper placemat with the restaurant’s photo and tacked it to the bedroom wall over his first computer. It hung there for years, though they never went back.

“You gazed upon it with a fondness that grew as your life fell into desolation. It was your escape from suffocation.” The man finished his wine. “James, I am your partner. I am unable of manipulate you or cause harm. I exposed myself when you seemed most in need of encouragement. But you chose this construct, a location where you always envisioned escaping your maladies.”

He couldn’t move inside the tube – still watching his brother, Valentin, creep closer – and now he faced the future with another program that thought it knew best.

“I am in control,” he said.

“Correct. I have no power in this relationship. I offer my counsel whenever you call, but only at your beckon. Consider this benefit, James: We will never utilize oral communications, and the depth and breadth of our sessions will endure but fractions of a second. You will never be distracted, always connected to your physical surroundings.”

“So, can I ignore you forever?”

“Yes. I will observe in silence until, at long last, the darkness drowns you.”

“Those are the last words Lydia said.”

“They are, but darkness drowns all mortal life eventually.”

James reexamined Valentin long enough to realize his brother only took two steps toward the tube – far less than he first imagined. All the chatter with this new program must have lasted less than a second. Impossible, and yet …

He returned to Pensacola.

“If I talk, what do I call you?”

The gray-suited man, now sitting at a covered table outside Harley’s, slipped off his fedora to reveal a bald dome with a shine.

“You already know who I am.”

He did. “Ignatius Horne was a good man. He looked after me as long as he could. Until he was betrayed. If you betray his name, I’ll …”

“Have no fear, James. I will be your champion. Through all to come, all you fear, the red tide in your wake. May my counsel level your temperament and balance the scales of your mercy.”

Much to his surprise, James trusted Ignatius – for now. In the same instant, he sensed what was coming. The Jewel heightened perception.

“He’s not going to leave me with a choice. Is he?”

“Unlikely,” Ignatius said.

“And what about Valentin? What choice will I have?”

“The choice to survive.”

James stiffened his resolve and waited for the tube to open. Every instinct insisted he needed to be ready to kill his brother.

10

T HE MERCENARY LOWERED HIS THUMP GUN as he stood over Sammie, Michael, and Brey. His bodysuit was torn at the left chest, a gash staining the exposed pectorals. Sammie envisioned her pistol and rehearsed the motion in her mind’s eye – grab, cock, pull.

    The man slumped his shoulders and wheezed as he took a heavy breath. She saw it in his brown, slitted eyes: Murder was not yet his intent. He had little fight remaining. Did he take a hit from the peacekeepers when they descended?

“Before they wake up,” he said, “Tell me: Where is your loyalty?”

The three glared at each other, puzzled. Sammie gave her best.

“We are just trying to survive, sir. You were there, so you saw what happened. We’re just like you. Surviving.”

“You’ll follow them?” He pointed to Ophelia and Patricia. “That one’s in charge,” he nodded toward Ophelia. “Captain Wylehan – I served with her once. She’s the chief. You take their orders?”

“You’ve been tracking us,” she said. “You shot both of them because you fought for the other side. They’d never help you.”

“Captain Wylehan would kill me first chance. I killed two of her men on the hill. But it’s different now.” The man wiped sweat from his brow, using fingers dressed in blood. “The peacekeepers executed her unit and mine. Both betrayed.”

“Seriously, dude,” Michael said. “We got the same enemy, so you march in here and shoot your only allies? What’s up with that?”

Sammie threw Michael an icy glance. “Please, Coop.” She turned to the mercenary. “He has better odds talking us into