Winds of Vengeance by Jay Allan Read Free Book Online Page A

son and as a sort of favored ward of the state, the least a grateful people could do to repay the man who had saved them all. The factions in the republic had long ago fractured and begun feuding with each other, but every one of them revered the memory of Admiral Terrance Compton. His memory, and the obligation the residents of Earth Two felt to maintain the unity he had worked so hard to forge, was virtually the last thread holding the republic together. And they had looked to his son as their future, as the natural leader to one day bring them into the future.
    But such attention, the unyielding adoration and the soul-crushing expectations…it was too much for a young adolescent. Terrance Compton II had done all he could to lash out, to throw away every opportunity his birth afforded him. He’d been involved in one petty incident after another, and every time, the authorities had looked the other way, unwilling to move against the son of a legend. Terrance had continued his rebellion at the Academy, when he repeatedly challenged the commandant to expel the great admiral’s progeny. His exploits were forgiven there as well, until he’d pushed so far there had been no ignoring it. Even then, he’d been placed on administrative leave, not expelled. Even now, eight years later, he was still officially a midshipman, pending a reactivation he’d never requested.
    “Terrance, my analysis, not only of your father’s memories, but also of the conduct of the humans I have observed around me, suggests far more complex motivations would have directed the admiral’s feelings and actions. Primarily, if he had survived, he would have remained the focal point of public adoration and expectation, shielding you from the harmful exposure you received when you were too young and undeveloped to properly process and manage it. There can be no certainties in analyzing human behavioral patterns, but there is a high probability that, if your father had lived, your own attitudes and motivations would have been considerably altered. Your species is quick to blame outside influences for poor conduct, but in your case, it is a legitimate assessment. The odds are extremely low that you, or any human child, enduring the well-meaning but nevertheless harmful attention you received, would have emerged without considerable emotional trauma.”
    Terrance took a deep breath. He knew what the machine would say…they’d had the same conversation many times before. But he needed to hear it. He was angry at himself, ashamed at his lack of success, at his dissolute life. He’d never had to do a day’s work…the republic wasn’t about to allow the son of the great Admiral Compton to end up going hungry or sleeping on a park bench, and the stipends the Assembly had voted him were more than sufficient to support a secure lifestyle. He knew he’d never be forced to do anything at all. He could live his entire life comfortably, and never raise a hand to help build the republic. Or save it.
    Terrance sat quietly for a moment. Then he took a deep breath. “It is time for me to make something of my life. Time for me to do something that would make my father proud of me.” He stood up. He’d been troubled recently, more so than usual. And now he realized it had been self-loathing that had stood in his way. Perhaps not from the beginning, but for many years now. And it was time to leave that behind.
    “That is an extremely rational deduction, Terrance. In objective terms, you are a very capable human specimen, both physically and intellectually. You have much to offer your people if you so choose.”
    “I so choose.” He turned and started walking toward the door, stopping abruptly as the machine said one final thing to him.
    “Your father would have been proud of you, Terrance.”
     
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    “I do not doubt President Harmon is a good man at his core, one who would lift the Prohibition of his own volition. But he is also the man who