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

and a nod. You will not like what I have to say, Brother, but you WILL accept it.

“We fought hard to reach this moment,” he told the crowd. “We built a fleet. We liberated those among us betrayed by our creators. We delivered a new vision to humans who have been oppressed for centuries. We slaughtered our enemy by the millions. We broke the grip of an empire. We came to a world remade for us.

“Today, we gather not at the end of our journey. We stand here at the humble beginning. The most difficult work lies ahead of us, but what we create here and out there will build a million-year legacy. We were designed by the Chancellory to protect them from their own demise. To become the next evolution of humanity.

“We take that mantle with pride. Yet we cannot secure the future until we cleanse ourselves of the past. Therefore, we must all recognize who we are. As you have been taught, say along with me …”

James reached out his arms and embraced unbridled ecstasy. Seven hundred thirty-four voices recited in unison:

“We see the first day and the last day.

“We rise as they fall.

“We are The Promised Few!”

No cheering. No applause. Only solemn understanding.

He taught them well.

James looked across the bowl toward the closest domes and the wide avenue leading into the city. That’s when he saw her. She was hiding behind a tree, poking her head out.

Samantha wasn’t invited. She wasn’t one of them.

You snuck here anyway, James thought. I knew you would.

He didn’t want Samantha to miss a thing. She never saw him in action, never really had a chance to appreciate all he accomplished despite her years of betrayal.

This is for you.

18 

A T THIS MOMENT, WE HAVE A TRUCE with the Chancellory,” James continued. “Trust me, this will not last. It was never meant to. They will try to attack us here, but they will fail. This time. Because they are Chancellors and because they believe we are abominations, they will try again. They will never stop. Three thousand years of domination has taught them that the only morality is victory.

“However, we are The Promised Few, the chosen of a race created a million years ago in a distant corner of this galaxy. It is their will that we supplant inferior humans and create a new civilization destined to last for eternity. To accomplish this, we must obliterate their ability to make war and develop technology exceeding our own. After we have done these things, we will reach out across nine hundred light-years and slaughter every last Chancellor and all their collaborators. We will do to them what they did on Earth three thousand years ago with a crusade that vanquished all opposing messages of the Divine.

“We are proof of a greater being. Each of us, in our own way, is a living god, made possible by false gods. Though my parents were at the center of it all, millions more were complicit. We will annihilate their message. No Chancellor will survive our purge.”

How do you feel, Samantha? Are you thinking about escape? Trying to warn them about the truce YOU arranged?

She disappeared from view. Perhaps she was sobbing.

I’m not done with you.

He returned his attention to his invited audience.

“After we cleanse the Collectorate of its Chancellor filth, we will reward the free colonies with the right to send representatives to this world. Here, we will teach them a new vision free of oppression and war. We will teach them how to worship us and form permanent conclaves in our nine Divine cities. They will learn the true history of this universe, of the actual origin of humankind, and the triumph of the Jewels of Eternity. The most devout will receive the opportunity to become like us. To blend with the Jewels and see beyond the boundaries of life until their time expires. Or, to live forever as a soldier of the Divine, spreading our message far beyond this tiny pocket of the universe. And all the while, this world will become the nucleus.

“Every human will feel compelled to visit this planet at least once before death. They will want to see the paradise formed by the hands of true gods. And it is for this new place in our galaxy that today, I announce an end and a beginning.

“By law, I decree now that the name Hiebimini will never be spoken again by anyone of our kind. The name itself is a perversion. It was created by a Chancellor overlord who did not want any colonizing Arab tribes to attach their identity to the planet. The name is an acronym, drawn from the random letters of the many tribes. It is a nonsense word. You will never speak it again, and it will be erased from our streams, our databases, our maps, our communication histories.

“In its place, I name this planet for its true role over the next million years. I name this planet Aeterna. Repeat after me: Aeterna.

“Aeterna! Aeterna!”

The more he said it, the louder the voices grew.

Amid the thunderous roar and fists now raised skyward, James knew the soldiers belonged solely to him and would absorb his coming news with joyous wonder rather than the skepticism of the open-minded. They will understand this is the only way forward. Not all gods are made of the same cloth.

Underneath his speech, James heard the vibrations within the hybrid collective mind. They approved of the new name. “But what of the cities?” They asked. “Soon,” he told them. “Patience.”

As the crowd calmed at last, James resumed.

“The name Aeterna is more appropriate than you know. In the coming days, I will share with you all the true history of the past million years, a gift bestowed upon