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

“Seems extreme, but I’ll say I’m reassessing Tower growth. What will you tell your wife?”

“Be there. Do not take a ship. And Valentin, nullify your amp.”

James cut off his brother without hearing the reply and made his way to the birthing center, a comfortably appointed suite used a handful of times since colonization began. Situated between the habitat domes designated for the hybrids, the birthing center was positioned five hundred meters from the nearest immortal habitat, and half a city from the industrial sector where most were working at a feverish pace. This provided James with another opportunity to leave the city with few witnesses – his fellow hybrids would never question his motives, though a few might gossip inside the collective mind. He hopped onboard a rifter for the 105-kilometer journey. Once outside the city, he set maximum thrust.

Valentin was waiting for him at Tower 6, one of eight forming a concentric circle around JaRa and located due west of the city. Valentin stood beside his own rifter, admiring the tower.

James steeled himself for the task at hand and stepped off with careful footing. The ground vibrated, and the tower hummed, as it had ever since the eight broke through the surface a few days after Salvation arrived.

At its base, Tower 6 held identical dimensions on all four sides, each 48.3 meters at last measurement. The dark metallic surface, which did not allow any scanners to penetrate, produced theories but no answers as to its origin. This was not brontinium – inert or otherwise. The Jewels only told James: “If all else fails, they will act as a primary defense.” The tower burst through the clouds.

“They’ve almost stopped growing,” Valentin said. “It’s as if they know the secondary perimeter is nearly finished.”

“I’m sure they do,” James said.

He was ready. This must be done.

31

T ELL ME, BROTHER,” VALENTIN SAID. “What is so urgent? Who has lied to us? The Jewels?”

James didn’t want to look at him. After all they’d been through, to know what secret hid inside Valentin’s heart, enraged James enough to kill right now. But how could he do it without knowing why? James craned his neck and scaled the tower until it almost faded from view.

“Lies kill us all in the end,” he said. “We claim to hate them, and yet we traffic in them as easily as we breathe. Yes? We lie for leverage. We lie for defense. We lie for wealth and domination. We lie for love.”

“Yes, James, people have always had trouble with the truth. Tell me, why are we here?”

He ignored Valentin. “I find it strange. When the most morally rotten among us are deceived by lies, they take great offense – as if somehow they themselves stood on higher ground. I’d blame the Chancellors, but I learned this lesson long before I crossed the fold. The only real truth is the exposed lie.”

“James, I did not travel out here to receive a morality lesson.”

“No, you didn’t.” He pointed skyward. “Our parents tried to teach us one in SkyTower. They almost succeeded. We won because we exposed their lie. We brought down SkyTower to send an unforgettable message. Before long, they’ll try to return the favor. It’s why we need clarity before calamity produces the certainty of our destruction.”

Valentin sighed. “I thought new mothers sometimes acted strange after birth, but the new father is not in his right mind today.”

“Leave my family out of this.”

He turned his eyes to Valentin and looked for any hint of concern. Did his brother sense where this was headed? Did he know the lie was about to be exposed?

“James, you said we might have to change our plans.” Valentin stepped forward. “We have only used the private code twice before. What is so cudfrucking important?”

“Valentin, do you love me like you did when we escaped Earth?”

He hesitated. Perhaps no more than half a second, but James heard it in the tone. Valentin was lying when he said:

“Yes. Of course. Why even ask?”

“I haven’t always been kind to you.”

“You’re our leader. You’re my older brother. Kindness is not always a requirement.”

“But I have guaranteed you will always be second to me. Your people will always be second to mine. You will follow our lead. And if you betray us, the consequences will be painful.”

Valentin threw out his arms, as if expecting to wrap him in a hug.

“Is this about what I said after Inauguration? Yes, James, I was hurt. I still am. And I suppose I always will be. But you rightfully stepped ahead of me the moment you killed me in combat.”

He said the right things – exactly what James anticipated.

“Will you feel this way after we have rescued all the immortals and grown the hybrid population so large, we expand to the other cities? Will you feel this way when your people live in cities named after legends not of their species? Will you feel this way when millions of disciples arrive from the colonial worlds to worship me and my kind?”

“Brother, you speak of events that won’t take place for decades. We are only four months into colonization. We don’t know how the Chancellory is planning to come after us. These are our most urgent concerns. If we fail now, your larger vision will never come to pass.”

“We won’t fail. If anything happens to me, I’m sure you will protect our people. Yes?”

James approached Valentin’s open arms but kept his own at his side. Still, the eyes did not betray the lie. Little brother had three years to position himself, three years to learn how best to deceive a god.

“There’s no emergency,” Valentin said, dropping his arms.

“Is that your analysis?”

“Why are we really here, James?”

James felt the warmth in his blood