“A conversation for another day, Michael. You need to stop talking. They will hear you. And stop moving toward the stage.”
Michael’s chest tightened. Since the moment he saw Sam, he shaved at least twenty feet between them.
He studied the crowd. A few hybrids shot quizzical glances his way.
Rayna began the ceremony.
“Today, we assign my daughters to lead lives of glory and conquest. They belong to first generation of inheritors to a great legacy of The Promised Few. They are chosen of the Jewels of Eternity. They will be Tsarinas to sit above their Tsars. Is most beautiful path. No?”
She nodded to her sons, who walked up the stage and handed the infants to the hybrid women bearing knives. The boys returned to the crowd and settled next to their father.
“As part of new tradition, each baby of The Promised Few will offer a sacrifice to make right all the sins they will commit until their deaths. Their blood will purify their essence and sanctify their morality and honor. Dharma,” she told the closest woman, “please lay Irina in the basin.” The hybrid complied. “Nya, please lay Martina in the basin.” The other woman did as ordered.
“This water is warm. It signifies youthful fire and vigor. It is in such beautiful cauldron that great warriors and leaders are fashioned. Now will their blood be drawn to signify their morality and honor.”
The first hybrid placed her blade over the baby’s chest and created an incision. The second hybrid followed immediately. The water turned red. They laid the blood-stained knives on the table.
“You see how my babies do not cry? Already they know of their greatness. For this courage, I deem them Assigned.”
Michael’s fear rose a notch as the hybrids in attendance applauded wildly. The babies continued to bleed untended.
“Valentin, this is some fucked up shit right here. Why aren’t they crying? Why is Sam up there?”
“They’re hybrids, Michael. They’re not human. As for Sam? I don’t understand what’s …”
Valentin turned away. He cut their live stream. Michael saw him in the crowd. He was talking under his breath. His eyes darted around, to his soldiers and then to James.
On stage, the women who cut open the babies lifted them from the water, applied compresses over the wounds, and wrapped them in cloths. They carried the infants from the stage, passed through the audience, and left the amphitheater. The bloody basin settled.
“In future,” Rayna said, “this would mark end of ceremony. But today, I have special surprise.”
Oh, goddamn.
Michael positioned his hands within centimeters of his rifles.
“Today, we are graced by presence of two guests who hold special place in our hearts.” Rayna stepped back and motioned to Sam, who became center of attention. “Samantha Pynn is proud to be our Ambassador to Earth. She has endured many trials and today, she is here as official observer. She wears yellow dress. In my clan, yellow signified cowardice. But today, I declare it signifies courage. For Samantha Pynn is most courageous to stand before you today.”
Rayna led them in applause, but Michael wasn’t having it. This lunatic was setting her up. He saw the mockery in Rayna’s eyes, where the red pistils grew into an orange fire.
No way. This Cossack bitch is going down.
“We are here,” Rayna continued, “to witness a great moment. I must make confession, for even my husband does not know of great secret I carry. Brother James believes he is only hybrid to speak in private with the blessed Jewels. He is wrong. They have also shown me the future. They have shown me today. This moment.”
She turned to Sam and cupped a hand over Sam’s cheek.
“I made promise to you, Samantha Pynn. I will now keep promise.”
Michael touched the handle of his weapons. Instinct told him to grab and unholster. But Rayna did something Michael never saw coming.
She stared at him.
Then she smiled.
“You have come so far,” she said. “Is most stunning act of love I have ever known. I wanted her to be beautiful for you. What do you think, Michael Cooper?”
What?
How?
Sam took hopeful steps forward. The crowd fell dead silent. Michael caught James in the corner of his eye. The monster pushed past his gangly sons.
“Let her see your face,” Rayna said. “Is moment your hearts have most desired. No?”
Michael double-blinked and tried Valentin again.
“I’m sorry. I have to. Be ready.”
He retracted the helmet with a thought.
Michael wasn’t the same man she knew. He was much bigger, his dreadlocks long gone, and his path steeped in the blood of hundreds. He feared she might not recognize him this way, but Sam’s tears were immediate. For the first time in five months, Michael saw her smile.
She saved him again and again. On the shores of Lake Vernon, Alabama; in battles after crossing the fold; on the Isle of Seneca; inside the GPM at the close of the Solomon uprising. She saved Michael by loving him when most Chancellors considered him a lesser human.
“My turn,” he said. “I love you, Sam.”
He was no one’s fool. The delicious grin on Rayna’s face said everything. She had one ending in mind.
“It appears you have been betrayed, husband.”
Three things happened in rapid succession.
Michael raised his helmet and unholstered both blast rifles. He initiated targeting controls and squared his aim at Rayna and James. Sam reached for a bloody knife. James turned his ire on Valentin.
“I knew you would do this to me!” James shouted, balling his fists. His eyes blazed. “I should have killed you months ago.”
Valentin leveled his rifle at his older brother. He triple-blinked. The six small soldiers who accompanied the processional matched their Admiral’s aim. The other soldiers looked around uncertain.
“Bartok!” James shouted. “Do it. Now.”
James bisected his S-1 environment, establishing views of every quadrant within his periphery plus fifty percent. Another hybrid reached into his suit and grabbed a palm-sized device.
Michael knew it well. A remote drone navigator. He used them for the scoopers cleaning up Mongol bodies on Tamarind.
“No,” Valentin yelled. “We are at war. Stop this now.”
“I love you, Michael,” Sam said through her sobs. Her first words in so long.
No. Sam. Don’t.
He saw both threats at once. Sam gripped the knife. A drone appeared along the northern edge of the bowl. It was engaged. It was a predator. It directed its laser beacon toward the stage.
He raised his right hand, retargeted, and fired. The drone shattered, its deadly tracer thrown off course.
Michael focused on the drone for two seconds, but it was one second too long.
Sam swung about-face and screamed as she fell upon Rayna. The Cossack grunted and looked toward the sky. Rayna grabbed Sam in a headlock and pointed to the knife Sam embedded in the center of her abdomen.
“Is too bad,” Rayna yelled. “You made good try.”
Valentin raged.
“Rayna, no! Michael, no! James, no! Stop this. We are at war. They are coming now. We …”
“The only war is in your mind, brother,” James said. “You armed the immortals to take JaRa for yourself.” Turning to the hybrids, he said, “Valentin intends to kill us all.”
“James, if we don’t fight, all of us will die. The Jewels brought us here for a reason.”
“To grow our empire, Valentin. I know the Jewels better than anyone. They have shown me …”
Valentin calmed. “They’re here.” He threw open a holowindow. “This is live, James. From the command center. We are at war.”
Michael wasn’t close enough to see the details; his eyes, his aim, his heart focused on Sam. She mouthed those three little words repeatedly. For an instant, Rayna drew her gaze toward the bowl, where the Bouchet brothers faced other. None of the hybrids dre
w weapons. Did they come unarmed? Were they so arrogant?
Strike now. Take them out.
Michael heard distant explosions but not from the holowindow. Rather, they were echoes carried on the wind. The ground shook.
“The towers are falling,” Valentin said. “They were supposed to protect us when all else failed.”
James hesitated. “This is not possible.”
Valentin opened a holocube and made an announcement.
“Attention, all troops. The Unification Guard invasion has begun. Take defensive positions. When the enemy approaches, fire at will.”
The undecided among the immortal soldiers scattered at the order, leaving the amphitheater as if there was no standoff. The original six, however, formed a phalanx between the hybrids and their Admiral. James grabbed his gangly sons and positioned them between their father and many blast rifles.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
“Give it up, asshole,” Michael shouted. “You’re a dead man.”
Michael regretted the words as soon as they crossed his lips. He lost focus on what mattered most. He gave in to the rage.
Valentin warned him. Trayem Hadeed warned him.
Rayna was too fast. She held Sam by the hair and pushed her forward as if displaying a commodity.
A Ukrainian shashka blade carved a path across Sam’s neck. Michael’s horror gave the Cossack time to drop Sam’s body and leap away, skirting his round of flash pegs.
If Michael screamed, he didn’t hear it. Instead, he called on the beast who assassinated Chancellors in cold blood, who endured endless beatings to become a soldier, who slaughtered Mongols like they were animals, who killed six children to leverage a new ally.
Rayna. James.
Every hybrid and their kids.
His war began.
69
H YBRIDS FELL WHEN MICHAEL’S AIM PROVED TRUE. The rest moved with lightning speed. The amphitheater became a killing ground, but it was not the massacre Michael craved. In the chaos, some escaped with or without their children. James took a barrage of flash pegs from point-blank and stumbled yet threw the smaller soldiers aside as if they were toys.
Michael switched his targeting system to focus upon the composite energy of the Jewels. He spotted Rayna. She was on the move toward the closest domes. He wanted to pursue, but Valentin needed him.
The younger brother begged James to surrender.
“There’s nothing left for you,” Valentin shouted. He wasn’t firing his weapon. Michael didn’t understand. “All the Berserkers will die.”
“Traitors first,” James said.
The giant creature who once roamed a backwater Alabama town as Michael’s ‘No. 1’ released a breath of fire. Valentin leaped as if anticipating the moment. Yet the concentrated yellow cloud pursued him. The Admiral closed his helmet before the fire overtook him.
Michael squared both rifles on James and unloaded.
The flash pegs hit their mark, shredding his chest and abdomen.
No blood. The creature stood defiant.
However, the fire cloud dissipated. Smoke rose from Valentin’s body armor.
James zeroed in on Michael and clenched his fists. He unleashed a savage thunder. For a second, Michael’s rage was garnished with terror. He fired repeated volleys of paired flash pegs to cut through the most difficult armor. Yet James wore an armor of a different kind inside. The Jewels glowed blue beneath the monster’s skin.
Michael opened his amp. “Go,” he told Valentin. “Take your soldiers and go. Win the fight. I got this asshole.”
He wasn’t sure Valentin received. The Admiral was slow to move. The six soldiers stumbled to their feet and ran.
“What you gonna do?” Michael shouted as James’s eyes were consumed in a volcanic glow. “Nuke me?”
“I am a god. You have no idea of my power.”
He did. The image of their final moments on first Earth held Michael close. With a touch, Jamie Sheridan turned a forest into ash.
“How about them?” Michael pointed to four bodies in festive clothing. Two adults, two children. “Were they gods, too?”
“They were my people. You’re next, Michael.”
“You might be right.”
A strange sense of relief flooded Michael as he gazed toward the city center. Three Guard attack ships emerged from folded space. They showered JaRa with energy slews.
“Can a god stop that?”
Michael considered running, but where? The closest dome was too far. The bombardment was too wide, the ships too fast.
The best strategy was none at all.
It won’t end like this. I came too far. We’ll be together.
“And another thing,” he shouted. “You are the ugliest motherfucker I’ve ever seen.”
The molten-hot energy weapons crashed into the amphitheater. He holstered his rifles as the ground burst open. All that stood between a wall of flame and Michael was his armor. He was flying.
*
Valentin was ashamed. He should have been more aggressive. He should have ended this farce of a ceremony before it began.
Now Samantha was dead, and James shielded himself behind Valentin’s nephews because he knew the truth: Valentin didn’t have the stomach for killing those boys.
It worked for a few necessary seconds. Valentin had the shot – clean between his older brother’s ghastly eyes. Yet the chaos broke his concentration as Michael opened fire on the hybrids.
James released the boys, who ducked and ran toward the broad avenue into the city. Two of Valentin’s soldiers did what he could not. They opened their weapons on the leader of Salvation. Peg after peg, but James was undaunted. He appeared to be absorbing the explosives rather than being blown apart by them.
This can’t be. You’re mortal.
Which is what James always insisted.
He made a fool of me.
“There’s nothing left for you,” Valentin shouted. “All the Berserkers will die.”
He didn’t believe those words anymore. The towers were down.
“Traitors first,” James said, his lips puckered.
Valentin knew this move. How many times did he watch James execute his enemies with a kiss? Valentin leaped as the fireball chased after him.
The flames ate away at the outer layer of his armor. The fire cloud became like a cage. Valentin tried to fight it, but James’s breath wrapped him tighter.
What if Valentin had rejected Michael and Sam? Hoped instead for reconciliation with his brother? Would the outcome have been so terrible? Had he trained his soldiers well enough to hold off the Guard? Even if they defeated the Guard, could they withstand James’s wrath? He didn’t deserve to be their Admiral.
They were children he molded into soldiers, yet he failed them.
The fire dissipated as a new volley of flash pegs slammed into James. Valentin’s stream awoke.
Suddenly, hope.
“Go,” Michael told him. “Take your soldiers and go. Win the fight. I got this asshole.”
Valentin tried to break through the fog. The instant he did, a new source of fire rained from the sky. He pushed off on his feet and ran, but there was no escape.
*
“Give it up, asshole,” Michael shouted. “You’re a dead man.”
Of course. James knew it all along. The outcome was too predictable. His brother and the man he once called ‘best friend.’ They were the traitors. His first instincts were always his best.
“As for the one who will kill you, I see two potential prospects, but only one who seems made for the purpose.”
Which is it? The brother who envied me from the day we met? The fool who never graduated above sidekick?
No matter. He’d kill them both.
If the other immortals did not fall in line, he would incinerate them, too. If necessary, obliterate the city and start again. He had other cities to choose from, and a god did not need an army.
He pushed away Benjamin and Peter and t
old them to run home.
In the moment of decision, Valentin hesitated, as James always knew he would. The great Admiral, afraid of his big brother.
“There’s nothing left for you,” Valentin shouted. “All the Berserkers will die.”
Valentin didn’t understand the many faces of the Jewels. Yes, some would die today, but the hybrids most loved by the Jewels would survive long after. Just now, in the literal blink of an eye, they promised James a grand future.
The white forest materialized before him, reborn. The Jewels who watched him transcend the limits of humanity and bring down an empire glistened. They showered him in praise and showed him the new empire he would soon build.
We, you, are the dark, they said. We, you will drown them all.
They spoke of treachery among their own kind but also of a chance to survive this deception.
We destroyed them long ago. We, you will destroy them now. Look within, James. The dark is your guardian.
James blinked again and puckered his lips.
“Traitors first,” he told his brother.
His fiery breath took unprecedented form. It had life. It had thought. It followed its prey. The fire consumed Valentin. He would be gone in seconds. He would be …
Flash pegs tore into James. The dark grabbed them and held tight, absorbing their explosive energy. But there were too many. James had no choice but to let go.
The fireball dissipated before it penetrated his brother’s armor.
No matter.
“You’re not the one,” James whispered before pivoting to Michael.
It was always going to be you.
He balled his fists together while Michael mocked him.
“I am a god. You have no idea of my power.”
James did not dismiss the impressive figure on the stage. This was not the same tearful, jilted friend he left behind on Earth. Michael was bigger, far more intelligent, and he too had become a killer.
Good, Michael. You grew up. But you’re still a man. That won’t save you today.
“Can a god stop that?” Michael said, looking skyward.
What?
James didn’t see, but he heard. Explosions and fire from behind.
The Impossible Future: Complete set Page 147
