The Legend of Things Past (Beyond Pluto SciFi Futuristic Aventures Book 1) by Phillip William Sheppard

hours.” The
soldiers dispersed. A few of them looked disappointed.
    “Follow me, Knight.” The General turned away without waiting
for a response. Donovan followed him to a silver door tucked away in a corner
of the room. The General swiped his palm across the access pad. A black card
appeared and disappeared—the right of admittance to any and everything at any
time. He was the second most powerful man in the nation—right after the
president. The other military branches were practically extinct. The leaders of
them were really only in honorary positions.
    The General gestured for Donovan to enter first. Once the
door was secured, he sat behind a large desk with a glass surface. The computer
installed inside it projected an image of the General’s family on vacation
somewhere tropical, all smiling like they were having the time of their lives. Then
it switched to a picture of the General shaking hands with the President. The
images continued to shift as the leather seat creaked under the General’s
weight. Donovan sat across from him and waited. It was never a good thing to
pester General McGregor with a lot of questions. Best to let him do all the
talking first.
    “As you could see out there, we’re in a bit of a panic.”
    Donovan thought that “a bit” was an understatement but kept
the thought to himself. The General looked Donovan directly in the eyes. He had
a stern stare—not unkind but clearly unwilling to tolerate any defiance.
    “I have a mission for you.”
    Well, that was obvious.
    “It involves exposing you to top secret information. And I
mean information you cannot share with anyone—not your wife, not anyone.”
    “I understand, sir.”
    The General held up a hand.
    “This mission, if you accept it, will possibly cost you your
life.”
    Donovan couldn’t resist. “I always risk my life, sir.”
    “That’s not what I meant. The nature of this assignment involves—things—that
may change your life as you know it. What you choose to do may change the world
as we know it.”
    Donovan shifted in his seat. “Sir, can you just tell me
what’s going on?”
    The General sighed. This, more than anything he had seen so
far, increased Donovan’s trepidation. A tingle of fear began to leech into the
pit of his belly.
    “Donovan.”
    Donovan frowned. The General never used his first
name, even at informal events.
    “This mission demands that you sacrifice everything.”
    Donovan stared at him. There was something wrong here.
    “Sir…”
    “Are you willing to accept that?”
    “…Yes.”
    The General nodded. “Good.” He cleared his throat. “If you
accept, I will give you the access card you need so I can release classified
information.”
    In answer, Donovan held up his wrist. The General
transferred an access card to Donovan’s watch. It was black.
    “Sir, what’s going on? Why do I need a black card?”
    The General stood up and began to pace. Once again,
Donovan’s mind was blown. The General was such a steady, calm man. Donovan had
always admired him for it—he was always in perfect control of his emotions.
    The General’s nervous energy transferred over. Donovan began
to tap his foot rapidly on the floor.
    “Understand, even with a black card, I can’t tell you
everything. You can’t know the full details of the mission until you reach your
destination.”
    Before Donovan could ask where he would be going, the
General rushed on.
    “But here’s what you can know: there has been a massive
biological attack on the world. It started here in the U.S. and has since
spread to every country on the planet. Millions of people have been infected
with a deadly virus—it attaches to the genes, becomes indistinguishable from
them, and appears benign for several years, then it suddenly starts to attack
the host. We’re not sure what triggers it, but people are slowly dying
everywhere. Most of them don’t even know it yet. It’s slow-acting.”
    A suspicion began to form in