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

You are as much fun as promised.” She turned to her husband. “Mind if I take this part, my dearest?” He deferred.

“I find it quite fortuitous you are with us today,” she continued. “You see, Mr. Cooper, you have previous experience with something very similar to the Void.”

“Wait, wh …?” Then it dawned on him. “Holy shit. You saying this thing is an Interdimensional Fold?”

Mumbles and gasps rose as Frances regained the room.

“Similar, yet different function. A brief history, Mr. Cooper. Long before you and your friends stumbled your way here, Chancellor scientists discovered interdimensional tears linking the multiverse. Eighteen altogether, including two on Earth. But those IDFs acted as fixed gateways between universes. Hence, the ability to traverse from one Earth to another, albeit not an Earth parallel in time and technological development. IDFs appear to be natural tears in time and space, likely a lingering malfunction of universal creation itself.

“I was part of a team that investigated the tears on Earth, and I coordinated with friends who were researching at Ericsson Station on Tamarind. We discovered remarkable similarities in quantum signatures of the IDFs and the Void. But there was one overriding difference. Would you like to guess, Mr. Cooper? Or anyone else?”

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Michael sighed.

“Just say it already, goddammit.”

She smiled. “What was that word? Goddammit? What an interesting rhythm. Your vernacular is endlessly fascinating. But to my point. The IDFs forever link two positions in different universes. The Void links with nothing … but also everything. Every point in the known Collectorate. And likely beyond. It is a gateway everywhere.”

Michael didn’t care about the science, and for the moment, not even how much he despised the Bouchets. He heard the words his heart needed most.

Gateway. Everywhere.

“We stand on the brink of a miracle,” Emil interjected. “We have developed a method for harnessing the quantum signatures of the Void and reverse engineering them into devices we call Anchors. If we are successful, the Anchors will allow instantaneous travel through black matter substrata to any location of our choosing. We will render the terrorists’ mobile wormholes obsolete. We could obliterate Salvation before they know we’ve arrived.”

A moment of awe and terrifying silence followed. Michael broke through his own emotional excitement to realize what this truly meant. These Anchors would change everything, far beyond Hiebimini. This was insane. Light-years in the blink of an eye? This was much more than Poussard’s proclamation of “another way in.”

“Perhaps now would be a good time for questions,” Emil said.

“Yeah, so, I got one.” Michael took a deep breath. “Are you two just a couple of all-purpose mad scientists or what? I’m serious.” He looked around at the dozens of others present. “First, they turn their own kids into cudfrucking monsters. One’s a walking nuke and the other’s got an army of immortals, if you can believe that shit. They sneak the first lot through these IDFs to lay low until the heat’s off. Then right before these two folks get what they deserve, they somehow escape a nuke. Now here they are, apparently with the good graces of all the Chancellor bigwigs, telling us how we’re gonna play hocus pocus with the universe. Seriously? This? This is why we’re heading to Tamarind? Seriously, Captain?”

The room gave Michael a mixed reception, but a majority also couldn’t believe what the Bouchets were proposing.

“Michael,” Capt. Forsythe said. “Everyone. Please have a seat. Listen carefully. I was as stunned as you when the Supreme Admiral informed me of this development. And I have as much reason to mistrust the Bouchets as any. I lost family in SkyTower. But I have listened to our quantum engineers and studied the science. I believe it is sound. In theory. Whether these Anchors will perform as promised remains an open question. But we are the best hope for recovering what was lost in this so-called realignment. I ask that we put aside our shared skepticism of the Bouchets and focus on the possible.”

The audience returned to their seats. Emil nodded to the captain and resumed.

“We will require no more than one hundred standard days to complete our tests. We were making significant breakthroughs when our sons forced the Ark Carriers from colonial space. When we evacuated, we left behind a skeleton crew to maintain security. They have done an admirable job, but we are returning under perilous, even hostile conditions. Our ability to finish this project and usher in a new future will require everyone’s contribution and fortitude. Including yours, Mr. Cooper.”

Later, Emil offered Michael additional advice. “If you wish to kill my first-born son as much as I, you will play your part. After all, where else are you going to go?”

Which was, Michael admitted, a fair question.

In the subsequent weeks, as he pushed through tortuous Guard training, Michael also focused on his Tier III education, especially on quantum math and science. The Guard synthetics not only augmented his physical strength but elevated his cognitive abilities. By the time he reached Ericsson Research Station, Michael entered territory unknown to scientists on first Earth. He learned enough to toss out two laws of physics and alter the third law of thermodynamics.

Yet even as his mind expanded and he interpreted the secrets of the universe, Michael never shook the suspicion he was being led down the garden path by Chancellors once again.

“The timing is too damn convenient,” he told Maya Fontaine over one of their last meals together on Praxis.

“How so?”

“These people failed to develop FTL for a thousand years. They studied the Void for centuries. And now, right as they lose all their colonies, this little toy falls in their laps. I don’t buy it. Maybe these Anchors will work, maybe not, but the Bouchets got more up their sleeves. I can feel it.”

She sipped white wine. “Of course,