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

At first blush, it seemed less a machine than a series of bowlegged grappling hooks reaching outward from a central pylon in contorted directions. At the end of each hook, a laser-focusing array extended like a hand with three surgically joined fingers.

Frances called the observers to attention. Six of her team flanked her. Most of the staff of seventy filled the audience ranks, although only Nilsson and Michael represented the Guard. Capt. Delano Forsythe and Col. Joseph Doltrice watched via holowindow from the landing bay of Praxis alongside three Presidium representatives.

“I do not understate,” Frances began, “the moment you are about to witness. Of thirty-five billion humans in the Collectorate, you are among the few who will see everything change. We will have a weapon to destroy these terrorists. Of course.” She pointed to the Anchor. “But long after those pretenders have been forgotten, every dream will become achievable. All we will have to do is walk through a door.”

That simple? Michael had more than enough time to think about the possibilities, cramped inside this mountain. Surely, the others did as well. Instantly jumping between any two points in the universe? That, Michael reasoned, sounded like the sort of flexibility best left for God. In the hands of Chancellors? Holy shit.

Those nightmarish possibilities would have to wait. If this monstrosity could drop him on Hiebimini to rescue Sam and send James straight to hell, he’d gladly accept a moratorium on his terror. One step at a time, asshole.

Frances turned over description of the machine to her top scientist, Oliver Huron. He opened a holocube and swooped fingers through code which ignited the Anchor. The grappling hooks repositioned themselves as if the limbs of a creature just awakening. Their focusing arrays pulsated red.

“Filtering the Void’s energy to create a doorway by folding black matter substrata,” he began, “in such a confined space requires a delicate arrangement of tools.” He pointed to the hooks. “We call them the foci arms. Each has a unique task, but they must work in unison. One will dispense Void energy with our local quantum signature. Another will produce the destination signature. They are predetermined using the Galactic Plane Navigation Model. A third foci opens the aperture, much like you’d expect when entering a wormhole. The remaining arms establish a black matter field which links both ends of the doorway. After the Anchor systems become cohesive, the Void effect is triggered. We fold space.”

Michael, like all those not on the development team, was seeing an Anchor for the first time. Hearing Oliver describe the machine drew a broad mix of gasps and bloated eyes, not far removed from the reaction of the halfwits on infomercials. He waited for the applause.

“What’s going to happen next,” Oliver continued, “might seem unnerving at first. But trust me, we have run thousands of simulations. The effects will be contained safely within the Anchor field.”

Frances then spoke to the observers on Praxis and sent a coded transmission to her husband on Euphrates. Within seconds, she received confirmation that all sites were ready to receive. She stepped aside, along with most of the scientific team, and gave Oliver permission to launch the Anchor.

He waved inside his holocube and pulled at codes with a determined fist. The Anchor responded, its foci arms rearranging into a new geometry similar to a steep parabola. A sequence of lasers infused the open space inside, perhaps ten feet across. In the first seconds, Michael recognized the familiar green haze he experienced looking at the Void up close from the viewing platform. Yet the foggy field disrupted as competing quantum signatures created a deep, three-dimensional effect. A holowindow above the field mapped the new, developing doorway using the Galactic Plane.

Then the impossible. A tunnel, black as midnight and pulsating with a heartbeat, dominated the field. It seemed to absorb green Void energy from the array holding the station’s local quantum signature. Most observers held their position, but a few gasped and took a step backward. Michael wanted to be amazed, but he’d seen this sort of thing too often in big-budget sci-fi movies. And the last three years inured him against overreacting to these OMG moments.

Overhead, the mirror confirmed a lock between the station and the Anchor onboard Praxis.

“In consideration of Commandant Cabrise’s concerns,” Frances said, “we have compromised our approach today. We will test Anchor-to-Anchor doorways first before we engage with a full quadrangular pattern. With that being said, it’s time. Major, the honor is yours.”

All eyes turned to Aiden Nilsson, who slapped Michael on the back and pivoted to his newest team member.

“If I don’t return,” he said, “tell Col. Broadman to maintain a cool head and a clear heart. Yes?”

“But why you?” Michael asked.

“I think the whole point is to invade Hiebimini. Yes? I doubt we’ll be sending these white-suited fools in for the kill.”

Nilsson winked while pointing to the scientific team then stepped forward. He was fully armed, draped in every weapon of a Guardsman – a detail that escaped Michael earlier. Frances handed the Major a small brown cube too large to wrap her fingers around.

“Anything you’d care to say, Major?” She asked.

“Not in particular. I’ll be back before you debate my stupidity.”

Nilsson didn’t hesitate. He treated the Anchor field no different than any other doorway, never losing stride as he disappeared into the black mystery. As soon as he did, Frances and Oliver pointed to the holowindow at the first light table, closest to Michael. The view onboard the Praxis landing bay turned to celebration not two seconds later as Nilsson emerged from the opposite end of Anchor Beta’s field.

Michael allowed himself a split second of joy and hope.

“Fucking hell,” he whispered.

Nilsson circled around the Beta field and entered the next doorway. Another holowindow confirmed passage across 1.4 light-years.