Free Sanctuary (Jezebel's Ladder Book 3) by Scott Rhine Page A

would
crucify him. The entire world would know what he’d done. Worse, his mother might
hear.
    Eventually, he climbed into his own
nutrient vat, knowing there were some things that even science couldn’t scrub
out of a person.

Chapter 6 – The Seven Seals
     
    At four hours past the event, the head of Mori Electronics
sat at his desk managing the firestorm. Even thousands of miles away, his wife
put plans in motion before his usual flunkies even knew that contingencies were
necessary. His family had foolishly objected to his choice of a foreign
woman—until she had saved his life for the second time, used her Simplification
skills to raise profits, and borne him a model child. Now Amanda had arranged
for his representative to be the first human inside the control room of an
alien spacecraft. If Amanda could satisfy a Japanese mother-in-law, she could
do anything. He decided that the success of any marriage depended on the
willingness of each member to support the needs and interests of the other as his
or her own. Over the decades, they had become extensions of one another. Not
having her at his side in this time of crisis felt unbalanced, but the screen he
kept dedicated to her on his desk helped shore up his confidence. An alien page
had given her the ability to winnow reams of data and come out with important
facts. Her latest diagram was a masterpiece more beautiful than a Tibetan
mandala.
    In the past few hours, the world
stage had shifted to feature a conflict between the new superpowers—China and disenfranchised Muslim states versus the megacorporations, represented by Fortune
Enterprises. His UN Space Agency allies were hiding behind thin moral fig
leaves. According to recent debate, Brazil didn’t have a right to retaliate
because the atomic blast had occurred just past the start of international
waters. Nobody believed it, but the Chinese only needed a few hours’ delay to
declare a fait accompli .
    As one of only three surviving
board members, Mori was part of a triumvirate that could decide the fate of the
world—if the others could wipe their own noses for a few minutes. Mori had to
be consulted about every decision in this crisis, and he’d already put in a
twelve-hour day. He was currently connected to the New York office of Fortune
Enterprises.
    Thanks to his wife, he knew that
the ‘Mira’ he spoke with was an impostor. The real heiress was on the alien
ship. However, he backed the fake’s claim because she had the true Mira’s
proxy. Repudiating her would only cause chaos and weaken the company. Concealing
his knowledge until the right opportunity presented itself could gain him
nearly anything. Indeed, she didn’t know he was aware of the deception.
    “Opposition forces tried to storm
the corporate vault here,” the fake Mira said in English.
    “How have you responded?” Mori
asked.
    “When the first Ascension team members on the artifact entered the control room, twenty-six alien pages
went blank all over the planet. Only the Ethics page remains, etched with the charter
we wrote. I told the UN that we purposely wiped them in retaliation for the
bombing of Alcantara.”
    The side effect of the Ethics page—the
inability of the reader to lie or murder—was a strong reason the leaders in
many countries refused to join the coalition.
    Mori nodded. “That will make them
cautious.”
    “I’m hoping to prevent mass murders
of Fortune employees and other Actives. Without pages, unless an Active who had
the talent already bestows it, no one will acquire the alien abilities ever
again.”
    “You make Fortune resources too
valuable for the world to destroy.” This gave them a modicum of safety and a
whopping dollop of power. “Of course, eradicating all alien taint appeals to
the religious extremists. However, their leaders won’t tell them what to
believe for a few more days.”
    The girl was good in the media and
boardroom, but she was all defense. She could only stall while the other