Book of the Guardian 3: The Last Mission Read Online Free PDF Page B

anyway. The same cannot be said of a non-enhanced candidate. There is also the simple fact that you have been alive for so long. You actually remember the past, you didn't learn it from a computer. You were there, you understood the circumstances and the situation of the time. That is a quality that is simply not possible for an unenhanced person to have. Lord Aster is actually the only living being that helped to rebuild our history and our knowledge of Earth and pre-fall times.
    "The current members of the Temporal Guard remember the times before and immediately after the fall. They remember them, and they understand them. Many historians of today would love to be able to sit down with any of you in a setting just like this one and discuss history. There is a group of historians that have called certain sections of recorded history into question because our actions at the time don't make sense to them. The fact is, they live and understand a completely different society then what we had back then, and they refuse to believe that it ever was any different than it is now.
    "The people believe in the Guards. You remember our past, and we believe it will be you that will keep us from reliving it. You have the experience to see, long before most of the rest of us, when we are making a mistake. A prime example of that is happening right now. Four hundred years ago, there was a strong movement to reduce our military and the funding and materials we were putting into it. It had become the belief that, if we destroyed our arms, the Tammerain would leave us alone.
    "You all knew that was a mistake, and that the Tammerain would be back, in force. You knew that the treaty with the Tammerain would last only as long as it took them to rebuild their military into something they believed would finally destroy us. Now they're back, and we are again threatened with extinction." She poured fresh coffee for all of us from a carafe she got from a cabinet. "Not one person believes that they would stop with simply killing all of our enhanced soldiers, which would leave us completely at their mercy. However, the disarmament faction has again reared its head. Although small, they are gaining followers." She smiled. "But the point I was trying to make is that you all knew they would be back, and you knew that destroying our weapons would have been a huge mistake. Those disarmament folks may get some followers, but they won't get very far."
    "In the Guard we trust, huh?" John said. "They're still deifying us."
    "Not intentionally, General, but that is the basic motivation for wanting one of you to hold the crown. You serve the people; politicians serve only themselves and those that could pay to get them elected," Hanna finished.
    John chuckled. "The more things change, the more they stay the same!"

Chapter 26
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    C hloe's comm beeped at her, and she answered it.
    "My Lady, the ATC has assigned us a transit time of fourteen hundred hours. Is there anything you need from the ship before we go in for upgrades?" Lieutenant Carmichael asked.
    Chloe looked at John who shook his head. "I brought all my stuff with me."
    Chloe nodded and replied to the pilot. "We're good, Lieutenant. Are you sure you'll be okay taking her home by yourself? Two days alone in a ship that big might be unnerving."
    Carmichael chuckled in reply, "It won't be two days, My Lady. The transit point has been installed. All I have to do is fly her out and land in her birth. I'll catch a shuttle back to Prime and be home before bedtime."
    "Dammit! Now I want to go with you!" Chloe said. "Be safe, Lieutenant."
    "Will do, Ma'am" the Lieutenant replied before Chloe closed the channel.
    "It's really pretty neat. We have people that commute to work now," Mark replied. "That was supposed to be a surprise for you, Chloe."
    "I wonder if the ATC folks would give me a tour," Chloe asked rhetorically.
    "Sire, you have court in an hour, and a meeting with the defense