Free The Descent into the Maelstrom (The Phantom of the Earth Book 4) by Raeden Zen Page B

our being.” He leaned against the balustrade. “What will the people speak if I die? Will they remember the Magnificent Masimovian or the Masimovian turned soft? The Masimovian who, in his early eternal life, was weakened by a group of terrorists who knew not what they opposed or what they believed?”
    He stroked his goatee. “I have no doubt you will lay waste to the terrorists.” He leaned closer toward her. “You will find their enclaves and destroy them, and Captain Barão will serve out the rest of his life in the Lower Level, no longer a threat to our commonwealth.”
    He kissed her neck. “What strikes me odd is this. Barão is nothing if not noble … noble to the end. I couldn’t risk exposing his involvement with the BP, so great was his reputation with the people and the teams.” Atticus paused. “He chooses the evening of our greatest celebration to assault his eternal partner’s lover?”
    Atticus puffed on his cigar and blew out smoke rings. He tried to pretend he didn’t seek entry to Isabelle’s consciousness, but she could sense him sneaking around in the ZPF. She thought only of Brody’s hearing after the Bicentennial, the z-disk she prepared, the courier she assigned, her pleasure at his exile, though she would have preferred an execution.
    “These events have left their mark in the people’s psyche, most indelibly, I’m afraid,” he said.
    She turned to him. “It’s interesting how often nobility and insanity cross paths, isn’t it?”
    “Is that all you have to add?”
    “What more could there be?”
    Atticus narrowed his eyes. “No matter, I suppose. Captain Broden Barão shattered his reputation, and Chief Justice Carmen assured us no one will ever pick up the pieces. It’s not how I would have preferred we deal with him, but it is done, and thoroughly.”
    “The Lower Level is just punishment for his treachery against you,” Isabelle agreed.
    Atticus extended his arm, and Isabelle eased under it. They embraced near the balustrade. She clutched her glass as if it were the last one she would ever hold. For a heartbeat she enjoyed the chancellor’s warmth, reminded of why she had once loved him. She sipped the liqueur and set the glass on a marble pedestal, then placed a finger under Atticus’s chin and pulled him to her. She kissed him, sensually, and snuggled her cheek to his.
    “Of course,” she said with a smile, “should his heirs perform in the exams, we can still claim them for our own.”

ZPF Impulse Wave: Oriana Barão
    Harpoon VR

    Candidate Café

    “In there?” Pasha lifted his left eyebrow. His lower lip quivered. “You want to hang out in there? ”
    The flashing lights and thumping music in the virtual corridor intimidated Oriana as much as Pasha, though she would never admit it. She turned and glanced back at the exit, an electric-appearing door that hung between four neon blue fractal trees. She stared for what seemed an eternity, then turned to Pasha. “We have to go. We should meet candidates, make friends—”
    “You mean you want to hang out with Nathan Storm,” Pasha said. He fidgeted the way he did when he didn’t know the answer to one of the Harpoon queries, and a strange sense of triumph took Oriana by surprise.
    “C’mon,” she said. She strutted down the corridor.
    “O?”
    She kept walking.
    “O, wait for me!”
    They crossed under an archway labeled CANDIDATE CAFÉ and stepped into a massive spherical hall filled with hundreds of thousands, even millions of candidates. They were everywhere: carrying glasses, climbing staircases, sipping drinks, conversing, and activating Granville spheres and panels. Oriana tuned out the music. She thought about asking Pasha if he still wanted to turn back.
    She felt more comfortable when she spied Gaia. The House Rastedes candidate didn’t walk so much as sway. Her long, thick curly hair looped down her back and up over her right shoulder, tied at the bottom with a satin sash. Her cheeks looked