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

be both people: A gentle soul, capable of loving with a full heart; and a precision killer, able to shut down her appreciation for human life. A true Chancellor knows how to play both roles in appropriate doses, her father taught her. We also know which one will destroy us.

“I’ll be stronger, Daddy. I promise. I’ll keep more distance from Jamie, if that’s what you want.”

“No, no. Maintain your duties as observer, but also maintain objectivity. James Sheridan is doomed, and no amount of love will change that future. Understand, Pumpkin?”

“I do.”

“Good. Spring break is next week. We’ll spend all of it in Louisiana. Get you back on track. Yes?”

He kissed her forehead and told her to come down for dinner.

Sammie stayed behind, clutching the Glock. She stood before a mirror and demonstrated her best firing techniques. Though she struggled to see a soldier in her meager, childish frame, Sammie knew she would change rapidly across the fold. Guard synthetics, regular infusions of brontinium extract hoarded on the Pynn estate, and accelerated weight training would turn her into a fighting monster within months. Jamie would be long gone, replaced by another personality serving the Chancellory’s larger goals of preservation.

It all made sense.

If only she knew how to strip away her love for him.

She developed a technique for catching herself every time her emotions clouded her objectivity. A simple recitation:

Six, five, four, three, two, one. Reset.

Over time, Sammie had varying success with this method. However, her emotions betrayed her twenty-seven months later when she forgot to count down at her parents’ lake house. Jamie did the rest.

 

PART TWO SAMANTHA

The revelation about the true nature of humanity’s history under the Chancellors was perhaps the most profound. The resulting crisis of confidence proved to be the Chancellors’ final humiliation. The cyclical wars that followed were inevitable, of course, but no less predictable than the collapse of an institution three millennia in the making. What rose from Hiebimini in its place astounded all who witnessed those times. Even today, those who manage the new dominion remain amazed how it all changed in SY 5358.

-          Edward Faust

-          Annotation 1046-C

-          The Fall of the Collectorate, Volume 4

 

9

Lioness, flagship of the Salvation fleet

Orbiting Hiebimini

Standard Day 5, SY 5358

3.7 months after realignment

 

S AMANTHA PYNN, THE FIRST SALVATION ambassador to Earth, took a final look through the holomirror. She needed to make the best impression – for Brother James, for the Chancellory representatives, and for anyone who might later watch the CVid. She was thinking of no one in particular; she suppressed all other names. Especially the one.

Steady. Graceful. Poised.

She thought her tight pixie cut – the best she could manage given how slowly the hair grew back – looked officious, precisely the tone her new job required. She liked her prosthetic lenses; they sparkled ocean blue. Of most concern was her complexion. Did the makeup yield enough color in her cheeks? There must be no signs of malnutrition or the residual effects of the black hole.

Yes. This will do. They’ll believe me.

She tucked at her sari, a purple-and-gold design that, when complemented by a glistening emerald necklace, signaled prestige among the Chancellory.

“I’m ready,” she told the two armed immortals who entered her quarters moments ago, decked in the olive bodysuit of Salvation’s army. “Will you be my keepers?”

“We will,” said a close-shaved blond girl who Samantha thought to be no more than thirteen. “I am Rosa Marteen.”

The boy, perhaps a few years older and six inches taller, laid a gloved hand over his holstered laser pistol.

“Col. Miguel Lennox. We are more than your keepers. Violate the terms set by Brother James, and we may also be your executioners.”

“Don’t worry, Miguel. I am your ally. I have known Brother James longer than anyone in this fleet. Yes?”

For a second, Sam thought she tamed the immortal, but he responded with a glancing blow.

“That is why you cannot be trusted. Time to go.”

As they started toward the door, Sam felt an icy shiver.

“I’m curious. Will Sister Rayna be seeing us off?”

“No,” Rosa volunteered. “She is away on colonial business.”

“Of course. Shoring up our allies.”

Sam fixed a wide, ingratiating smile and allowed the immortals to lead her to the lift. Inside, her heart gushed. She felt a sudden, liberating rush of calm. She wanted no impediment to the poise she spent days struggling to construct.

Moments later, the lift opened, and she followed her keepers into a control center. Half a dozen immortals manned hologrids, and one of them threw open a massive window onto the landing bay.

Brother James, who towered over them all, stepped forward to a position inches from the window. His beard was thicker than she last remembered, his golden hair farther down his back. But the eyes – with those glowing red pistils in each corner – touched Sam with the same dread as that first time in stellar dome. How long ago was it since James shared his light?

Though Sam and her keepers stopped until commanded to move forward, they had a clear view of the moment. The holowindow focused on an outer edge of the landing bay, where ten people not in the uniforms of immortals or hybrids stood abreast outside a Scramjet.

“Your loyalty to this fleet,” James told them, “has been vital to our success. On behalf of my wife and my brother, I wish to thank you. As I promised from the beginning, I am setting you free. You may go anywhere you wish, but you will never set foot on Hiebimini.”

The people Sam now realized were Chancellors nodded in thanks and started toward the Scramjet. James threw away the holowindow and turned to the nearest immortal.

“Are our