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

the one whose kill would guarantee instant promotion and fame – was entering the facility away from the shooting. Would they be smart enough to peel off and go after the man who broke up an empire?

No. The DR29 kept them focused on the immediate invaders.

New fireballs filled the evening sky far to the north as Scramjet Gamma created a wave of destruction to block any retreat.

James turned his attention to a cluster of retreating humans in a heavily fortified sector due east, two hundred meters. He counted thirty bodies, but only three with the physicality of peacekeepers. He studied them with intensity, trying to find the correct profile. They appeared bound to a single room, perhaps behind a barrier immune to the weapons fire. It was too small for so many.

Suddenly, the body total changed. The gradient counted twenty-nine. Seconds later, twenty-eight. These people were vanishing.

What have you done, Father?

James contacted Lennox. “You have new coordinates. Attack now. Precision strike.”

Lennox confirmed. James saw the Scramjet race above the northern firestorm, its running lights poised toward its new destination.

The body count fell again. Twenty-seven, twenty-six, twenty-five.

James ran. Perhaps it was his dramatic advance, but one of the defending packs of peacekeepers broke off from their retreat and advanced toward James’s position.

He ran the calculations through the gradient; James wasn’t going to be fast enough. The soldiers would intercept him thirty meters shy of his target. But the Scramjet would beat them all.

Be precise, Lennox. Don’t take out the entire damn building. Leave my father alive.

The yellow ovoid streak rocketed across the facility and ripped into a fortified structure at its northeast corner, blowing a massive hole through the facade. James watched as part of the ceiling fell and the people inside scrambled toward one corner.

James observed while he ran. They scurried like rodents, but the body total no longer diminished. Lennox contacted him, saying he was prepared to swing around and annihilate the soldiers approaching on James’s flank.

“No. I’m too close in. I’ll deal with them. Take out the remaining trams and prepare to evacuate our people.”

Five seconds later, a squadron of six peacekeepers opened fire. Their flash pegs bounced off his armor. At first, James enjoyed the appearance of invincibility. These creatures had no idea the technological advances they were facing. If only they knew that the Jewels’ Creators were military gods who never lost to a mortal enemy other than themselves.

He aimed his blast rifles, fired, and advanced. Their profiles made clear: These were active-duty Guard soldiers. The Admiralty never would have deployed them here unless the work was vital.

James bowed upon one knee and spread flash pegs. Two soldiers screamed as their body armor collapsed under the onslaught. Another gurgled and fell as his collar brace exploded. James didn’t have time to waste on the rest.

He dropped a rifle, removed a glove, and swept it across the ground, pushing streaks of lava toward them.

They tried to run for cover, but the molten pathways followed them and consumed their bodies in vibrant plumes.

James turned his attention to the building where he anticipated finding his father. Screams echoed through the chaos. Shots were fired inside the room. Two bodies fell. His gradient counted nineteen heartbeats. Did some of them die in the attack? Or did they disappear before it? Never mind. As long as …

There. I knew it.

He was ten meters out when James matched the profile. Emil Bouchet wasn’t going to escape this time. No sign of Mother. Yet.

The gradient showed inevitable victory in the other battles. Three immortals fell, their heartbeats no longer part of the convex readings. No worries. Recovery would take minutes, unlike the dozen peacekeepers who lay dead among James’s advancing force. His designs were correct: The new black-and-bronze armor held up longer against similar weaponry. This was proving to be a crucial field test.

And now, Father, for you.

38

Ericsson Research Station

Tamarind

 

F LASH PEGS TORE INTO THE CEILING before Michael, Kal Carver, or Rachel Broadman pressed their trigger button. Each stood braced for close-quarter combat, their Guard helmets locked and weapons aimed. Maya held a laser pistol in one hand and her knife in the other. The soldier behind them all yelled loud enough for the entire base to hear.

“Enough! We’re here to protect people, not kill each other!”

Lt. Percy Muldoon stepped out from behind Rachel and took an angular position to shoot down whomever he liked.

“Fucking hell, Broadman. Nilsson gives you command, and you do this? Carver, what are you thinking? Cooper risked his life for us how many times?”

“Back away, Muldoon,” Rachel said. “Go to your duty station.”

“Yeah, I was about to when I got a bad feeling.” Percy directed his eyes at Kal. “Some of the shit you’ve said when you’re drunk! You’ve been looking for an excuse to take out Cooper from day one.”

“And you’re not going to stop me, Muldoon.”

“You sure?” Percy looked at everyone. “You kill Cooper, you’re gonna have to kill me, too.”

Maya chimed in. “You’ll need to leave my body on the deck as well.”

“Think about that,” Percy said. “Two soldiers and a civilian. Cooper here has permission from the Supreme Admiral, and Maya works beside the base commandant. And the real clincher is, you won’t be able to cover it up. You see, I already violated protocol once today by transmitting a private conversation. Need to hear more?”

Rachel lowered her rifle and retracted her helmet.

“Carver, stand down.”

“No, Colonel. This bastard …”

“Will get his due, just like the Major. Stand down.”

Carver followed the order, but he never took his eyes off Michael, who retracted his helmet.

Michael glanced at Maya, who remained poised to pounce. She was fast, but not fast enough to avoid a barrage of flash