“For months, I have been communicating in real time with a contact on Earth. A few hours ago, I ended that experiment.” He opened the egg into halves. “We have manufactured twenty of these. We will use them when we realign the Collectorate.”
For the first time since the meeting began, James faced Valentin.
“The bicomms will allow us to follow every mission, every second of the way, as if we were there. Brother, I will not put us at risk because I will be at our pilots’ side, and they will be at mine.” He smirked. “And yours. And the Officers of Salvation. We will bring down the Chancellory together. Live.”
A response such as “You’ve thought of everything” struck Valentin as petty. This plan was going forward, and there wasn’t a damn thing the Admiral of the fleet could do to slow it down.
“I must give you credit, brother,” he said. “You continue to impress at every turn. I always knew you had plans within plans, so I feel like a fool for being surprised. I have one question. You mentioned a contact on Earth. May we know who?”
“No. Let me hold onto this one for a little while. It’ll be public knowledge before long. By then, it won’t matter.”
“Fine, brother. I’ll give you the pass. But these bicomms … they could have been useful to us. Why hold back this long?”
“Their binary nature restricts their usefulness. The creators never intended them as a universal communication system. I intend to change that, but so far, I haven’t found the answer. After we’re settled on Hiebimini, I’ll start again. In time, I intend to speak with all my worshippers at once. I will preach to them as their god.”
And what, Valentin wondered, does a person say to that? He settled for the practical.
“Is there anything more we need to know, brother? We have a great deal to prepare.”
James rapped the table again. “We do. The rest will wait.”
As they adjourned, side conversations dominated the room as excitement built toward the goal that always seemed far too ambitious. Valentin gained his brother’s ear and asked that he remain behind. They needed a moment. James agreed.
“Benjamin, Peter,” he told his sons, “Go with your mother. And do eat. You need quadruple portions.” They complained at once. No amount of eating bulked them up fast enough to match their growth. “Do it anyway, sons. I need you as strong as possible. You don’t understand planetary gravity. It will take a toll on you. Eat!”
As the others departed, Valentin could have sworn the room temperature dropped. A distinctive chill coursed through his veins.
“So, that’s how you did it,” he told James. “You found someone to help you trigger the war on Earth as a distraction from us. Between brothers, James, tell me. How did you pull it off?”
The red glow in his eyes intensified.
“All I had to do was tell one Chancellor everything she had to gain. The rest was predictable. Chancellors, at their core, are filth. Empty, soulless parasites. Even before I crossed the fold, I knew what they were. Every one of them in Albion wanted me dead or as a slave. When I crossed over, they were no worse, just louder.”
“Brother, not every Chancellor is …”
“Until you were reborn, you were no better than the rest. But Perrone? Emil and Frances? Hah. Even Ophelia. I hated her from the first. She expected me to cross over as a mindless slave. There’s no special secret to bringing the Chancellory to their knees. I’m just the first who had the power to make it happen.”
“And I’ve been at your side, James. Loving you and supporting you. Killing for you and with you. All I asked was your respect, not to be castigated and diminished because of what happened to Sister Ursula. For following your orders.”
James brushed hair out of his face.
“There it is, Valentin. You want me to admit I was wrong. Here and on Tamarind. Yes?” He threw up his arms. “Then I will, but only to you. I misjudged your military wisdom and I should have had you kill the traitors out of public view. But I never ordered you to execute Harrison Malwood. He was mine. I had other plans for him. You went too far. So, yes, I do blame you for Ursula. I always will.” The glow in his eyes turned fiery.
“You had best hope my race flourishes. Kill another one of us, and your road to immortality will be short.” James blinked, and the glow diminished. He offered his right hand. “Come, Valentin. We have an empire to destroy. I want you at my side.”
Which was, at the end, where Valentin knew he was meant to be: Standing shoulder to shoulder with his messianic brother.
72
Lioness command bridge
Two standard days later
T HE MOMENT FELT LIKE A DREAM. If the plan worked, Valentin and all those of Salvation would wake exhilarated, prepared to begin a new chapter in their lives. If the plan failed, they would awaken with an uneasy foreboding governed by the question: What now? Valentin placed his faith in success because he had no other choice.
He sat at the forward captain’s dais, Brother James and Sister Rayna on his flanks. Yet each also stood inside the flight deck of a ship about to exit Slope into the Brahma system. They each held both sides of a bicomm in their palms, a genetic link tying them to the three Scrams dispatched to oversee the final maneuver. Though Valentin stood a few feet away from Ulrich Rahm, who piloted Scramjet Beta, he heard the voices of all those onboard the Lioness command bridge. Many of those officers were also assigned links to attack ships, the others of which were en route to different systems.
“It is awkward. Yes?” James said.
Valentin focused on the voice, making sure his words did not distract Ulrich’s command of his vessel fifty light-years away.
“Unsettling but also powerful, brother. I see already why they created the device. To be at the side of a loved one who might never return home would be a priceless treasure.”
“From all I’ve discovered,” James said, “those who did return found nothing waiting for them. The Jewels of Eternity spent a million years planning to redeem their creators. Our path is almost clear to join them at the end of a very long road.”
The end. Was it possible?
Ulrich nodded from inside the navigation cylinder.
“Preparing to close the aperture in fifteen seconds,” he said.
Valentin repeated Ulrich’s announcement simultaneous to James and Rayna, proving the timed Slope jump was working.
History. Three thousand years decimated in hours.
Ulrich counted down. “Two, one …
A blast of light and familiar thunder shook Beta.
“Coordinates are verified,” Ulrich said. “Twelve thousand kilometers from Brahma’s orbital temperate zone. Engaging system engines. Establishing course dynamics. Locking onto Ark Carrier Jeremiah Harrod.”
“Let me see her, Ulrich,” Valentin said.
Ulrich threw open a holowindow. There she was, a three-mile-long beast, the flagship of the Brahman Noose. Against the backdrop of the planet, Jeremiah Harrod was inconspicuous. But Valentin knew better.
Inside lay a city. A military complex. A nation. A world.
For centuries, goliaths like this orbited the colonies, housing families who rarely if ever visited Earth and took little stock of the planet below. They lived with nothing but space beneath their feet. The self-sustaining marvel gave them everything they’d need: Leisure, education, employment, wealth, idle comforts. Even nature and a manufactured sun.
Valentin spent months of his Guard tour aboard a Carrier of similar design above Zwahili Kingdom. For a time, he envied the local population. Only when called to combat on the planet surface, did Valentin recognize what was missing in orbit.
Smells. The artificial environment effectively blunted the human olfactory system. Life was diminished. To know the difference between the sweet perfume of a rose and the fetid stench of a corpse on a battlefield was a necessary contrast. To breathe in natural air, though it might contain impurities and bacteria, was proof of life. Valentin wondered how many of the forty-
four thousand people on the Jeremiah Harrod ever experienced the difference.
Ulrich made the next scripted move.
“Opening a public stream channel to the planetary master links. The Harrod is now aware of my presence and is redeploying its orbital patrol to a defensive position, as expected. Wait. Two Scramjets are breaking away and are now on an intercept course.”
“Time to intercept?”
“Three minutes, twenty seconds at best speed.”
“More than enough time for us. Prepare to deliver the package to our friends on Brahma. Begin with Peshawan.”
“Working. Adding the chromatic infusion program. This is going to scare the wits out of them. Most of Peshawan is asleep about now.”
“Good. James wants them to be motivated.”
Valentin wondered whether Rikhi Syed would appreciate the moment. Just knowing he and the people he used to call neighbors would be fighting on the same side had to count for something.
“Message is away,” Ulrich said. “Harrod Scramjets have reached maximum system speed. Intercept in two minutes thirty.”
“Timing remains perfect. Spool the remote catalyzer.”
“Spooling, Admiral. Thirty seconds to catalyze the singularity.”
Valentin had to admit: James was a master at creating chaos. But more than that, a beautiful symphony of chaos. Indigos across Brahma were now seeing a holographic message of James in full god-like attire, his palms open in a gesture of generosity and hope.
From city squares to the smallest hovels in distant badlands, he spoke to them of new prosperity and the end of Chancellor rule. He told them of reaching out his hand and eradicating the monstrous Ark Carriers who guarded their world like a noose around their necks. He told them to turn as one against the Chancellor Sanctums and to storm the facilities and homes of all those who collaborated with the Chancellors to bury true Brahmans in a cycle of slavery.
Valentin was there when James recorded the message, one which he tweaked for each of the colonies they were about to attack.
Everything was timed to the second for maximum effect.
Including the end of the Brahman fleet.
“Singularity is catalyzing,” Ulrich said. “Aperture will open in ten seconds. Nine, eight, seven …”
We were great once, Valentin thought. Masters of humanity. Nine hundred light-years. Tall, broad, and strong. Unlimited wealth. Warriors in crimson body armor. Peacekeepers. Jailers. Gods in the flesh.
“Three, two, one …”
The holowindow zeroed in on the Jeremiah Harrod’s stern region and its enormous system engines.
At first, it was a flicker. Then a flash brighter than a hundred suns. Space distorted and folded in on itself.
The singularity inside the tiny refractor opened a microscopic wormhole and drew in its prey, its gravity well impossible to escape. Unlike Slope, this aperture was not big enough to encompass the Carrier, but it would consume the beast anyway.
The Harrod wavered, danced, shrank, and extended. A push-pull as if it were trying to run from the evitable. But the explosions tore at its superstructure. The thousands of tiny lights visible from stern to bow disappeared in a rapid sequence.
The ship was dark for the blink of an eye before it disappeared into the oblivion of the singularity.
A final flash led to a twinkling new star in orbit.
Valentin had no words. Ulrich took a few seconds to gather himself. They shared a recognition of the horror they inflicted, of the forty-four thousand lives obliterated before they even realized the end was coming.
Ulrich exhaled and reviewed the quantum algorithms.
“Nullifying the singularity. Spooling the remote catalyzer for singularities installed to the Ark Carriers Savannah James, White Heron, and Regate Fortunus. Scramjets remain on intercept course. Eighty-two seconds out. Opening a direct channel to incoming ships.”
Ulrich had enough time to finish the job and reenter Slope before intercept per their script, but no one thought it worth the risk to time this so closely.
“Attention, incoming vessels,” Ulrich said. “You are no doubt aware of what has just happened to the Jeremiah Harrod. If you do not stand down at once, Brother James will destroy the entire fleet. Signal your compliance and retreat. You have ten seconds.”
They took all ten to comply before setting a new course. Valentin knew those crews must have been devastated. How many friends did they lose? How much family? What happened next would be an added layer of humiliation.
Valentin felt a giant hand wrap around his forearm. He looked down and saw nothing. Then he blinked twice and willed himself to return to the command bridge. James smiled.
“Remember this, brother,” James said. “No matter how many centuries you live, never forget this moment. We have done something that will be talked about for the next million years. And who were we two years ago? A broken soldier and an angry boy.”
Valentin wanted to enjoy the triumph, to feel like a god stomping his foot upon the pretenders. What he did not want to do was disturb his brother’s grand moment, so Valentin kept his words short.
“I will, brother,” he said. “Trust me, I will never forget this day.”
Or the one and a half million people erased by Salvation.
Within the next forty seconds, the entire Brahman Noose – eleven Ark Carriers – imploded then disappeared from the universe forever.
Valentin returned to the forward cabin of Scramjet Beta.
“Well done, Ulrich. Are you OK?”
“I will be, Admiral. We have thirty-seven carriers to go in seventeen systems, assuming the other team is on schedule. Time to catalyze drivers and spin the magnetic field.” Ulrich returned his attention to the navigation cylinder. “Coordinating with attack team. Resetting Slope aperture for G’hladi system.”
Time moved at an excruciating pace.
Only when the attack teams entered Slope destined for the Salvation fleet four hours later, did anxiety turn to relief and ultimately to celebration. No one in the fleet knew the truth of these missions outside of the command crew, the hybrids, and the navigators. Even as the Scrams and Spearhead returned, James insisted there be no ceremonies on the landing bay. He wanted the fleet locked down and all Chancellors and rogues situated in their private quarters before he shared the news.
“Like I promised,” James told Valentin as they prepared to debrief the pilots, “I will not put any of our kind at risk. What we’ve done will test their loyalty to Jewels and immortals. If any of them so much as suggests insurrection, I want them shot on sight.”
Valentin agreed with the order. “Still, they will want to know our next step and what we plan to do with them. Are you going to keep your promise?”
James winced, as if saying Valentin should have known the answer before he asked the question.
“Their own people will consider them traitors, and there’s certainly no place for them on Hiebimini. Brother, I’ve slaughtered almost two million people. I will not be bothered by a single lie.”
The conversation went no further because Valentin understood. The Chancellors and rogues would live until their usefulness ended, and that day was coming soon.
The celebration, as promised, was muted for now. The navigators were exhausted anyway. Valentin saw their empty stares and hoped time would push them past the horrors they triggered. They were loyal. They believed in the cause.
They’ll recover. Once they stand on firm ground and look up at the Hiebim sun …
It’s what they all needed, he thought. Time to leave this self-induced exile and build a new life.
On the bridge, Major Kane compiled the visuals recorded by the attack teams and awaited Brother James’s final message to Earth.
“Surely, Admiral, they’ll surrender,” Kane said. “Between the Guard battalions deployed to Earth and what we destroyed today, they’re only forty percent capable out here. What if they don’t back down? Will the civilians override the Guard?”
>
“I don’t know that it matters, Major. Stay out here? Retreat to Earth? Either way, they’ll think twice before coming after us. We have another two hundred sixty refractors stored in engineering. If James intends to use those the way I think he will, they won’t be able to touch us. Not for a very long time.”
They addressed that topic later in the day, when James requested Valentin join him and Rayna in stellar dome.
Seeing them arm in arm, studying the nebula in reverent silence, shocked Valentin. Quiet reflection never fit their mold.
“I’ve been told you transmitted the speech,” Valentin began, keeping his distance. “How much time did you give them?”
“Seven standard days,” James said. “After that, any Carrier still in colonial orbit becomes a target.”
“It’s a dangerous bluff, brother. If the Admiralty believes we’ve played our hand, and they can reassert control, they’ll damn well try.”
“It won’t matter. So long as my other business is finished, we can leave Black Forest. We’ll make a simultaneous jump to the Hiebimini system and build a blockade those bastards will never try to cross.”
Valentin nodded. “The refractors?”
James and Rayna kissed. “Yes. The only question is how many will die trying,” James said. “Arrogant assholes.”
“Brother, you mentioned ‘other business.’ What do you mean?”
Rayna tapped her husband’s lips and spoke for him.
“My husband will need pilot for one more mission. How soon will they be rested?”
“Mission to where, James?”
His eyes flared. “I think you know where. One more piece, brother, and then we leave for our new home.”
He didn’t want to argue, but he also couldn’t stop himself.
“James, we have everything. Leave your old life behind. Please.”
“Sorry, brother. Like I’ve always told you, I need all the pieces in place. Our path requires it.”
The Impossible Future: Complete set Page 102
