M01   1 <#FLOB:M01\><p_>Hooves clattered, muffled on the driveway.<p/>
M01   2 <p_>Men on horses loomed through the now-driving snow, huddled in 
M01   3 cloaks and hats; the sharp lines of musket barrels jutting up from 
M01   4 their silhouettes.<p/>
M01   5 <p_>The White Crow narrowed her eyes. Grey bulks emerged against 
M01   6 the pale clouds. A horse and rider; another; two more. One. Two. 
M01   7 And three more horses, each with two riders tandem on the back.<p/>
M01   8 <p_><quote|>"Yeah." Cynicism in her tone, that Hazelrigg clearly 
M01   9 heard, and a prepared knowledge. <quote_>"So where's the rest of 
M01  10 them ..."<quote/><p/>
M01  11 <p_>She brushed her wrist across her eyes, clearing wet flakes. 
M01  12 Automatically, despite the absence of belt and blade, she tucked 
M01  13 her sword-hand up into the opposite armpit, flexing fingers for 
M01  14 warmth and readiness.<p/>
M01  15 <p_><quote|>"Madam!"<p/>
M01  16 <p_>The leading rider attempted to rein in a big dapple mare. The 
M01  17 beast dropped her head between her shoulders as soon as the grip on 
M01  18 the rein slackened.<p/>
M01  19 <p_>Horse-breath huffed, clouding the raw air. The White Crow 
M01  20 stepped forward and touched a hand to the horse's 
M01  21 foam<?_>-<?/>rimmed nostrils.<p/>
M01  22 <p_><quote_>"Are you their captain? You're killing this 
M01  23 animal!"<quote/><p/>
M01  24 <p_>A boot passed within inches of her face as the man swung down 
M01  25 from the horse. Snow chalked his felt coat and tricorne hat.<p/>
M01  26 <p_><quote_>"Madam, I apologize. We gambled with the weather and 
M01  27 lost. The beasts suffer as we do."<quote/><p/>
M01  28 <p_>He took off his hat. Oddly brilliant eyes gazed down from a 
M01  29 lined face. Snow settled into the glossy brown curls of his 
M01  30 full<?_>-<?/>bottomed periwig. A man perhaps forty: riding some 
M01  31 eighteen stone, and well over six feet tall.<p/>
M01  32 <p_><quote_>"I have the honour to command this free company of 
M01  33 gentlemen-mercenaries."<quote/> Hat in one hand, the mare's reins 
M01  34 in the other, he contrived to sweep a passable low bow.<p/>
M01  35 <p_>Her gaze went over his bent back. The other riders sat slumped 
M01  36 in the driving cold particles of ice. One gelding whickered.<p/>
M01  37 <p_><quote_>"Are you the lady of the house, madam?"<quote/><p/>
M01  38 <p_>Under the coat, faded lace showed at his throat. A scabbarded 
M01  39 sword clinked. Snow crusted on scuffed boots. His strong, 
M01  40 large<?_>-<?/>featured face contrasted sharply with the curled wig 
M01  41 and lace.<p/>
M01  42 <p_><tf_>The White Crow stood bareheaded, ignoring the snow soaking 
M01  43 through her hair and cold on her scalp. <quote/>"I'll show you the 
M01  44 road to the next estate."<quote/><p/>
M01  45 <p_><quote_>"Madam, earlier this morning I had the honour to give 
M01  46 your residence - distantly visible as it was before this confounded 
M01  47 snow - as a rendezvous for the remainder of my company. They will 
M01  48 arrive here soon."<quote/><p/>
M01  49 <p_><quote_>"How many is the remainder?"<quote/><p/>
M01  50 <p_>The big man turned his head, calculating horses and riders 
M01  51 present. <quote_>"Enough, madam."<quote/><p/>
M01  52 <p_><quote_>"We'll send them on after you."<quote/><p/>
M01  53 <p_>One deep-cuffed hand moved to rest on his hip. He squinted up 
M01  54 at the house eaves through the snow. <quote_>"I'll wager not. You 
M01  55 can hardly muster more than ten men, I think; and not so many 
M01  56 experts with arms. Madam, it pains me to be impolite. I swear it 
M01  57 does. You have food and shelter, my company stand in need, and I 
M01  58 have business here."<quote/><p/>
M01  59 <p_>She met his brightly dangerous eyes, hearing equally compounded 
M01  60 bluster and humour.<p/>
M01  61 <p_>The White Crow lifted her head, looking round at the circle of 
M01  62 riders: hard and weary faces visible under the brims of plumed 
M01  63 hats. She shook the cloak back from her shoulder. Cold cut through 
M01  64 her body.<p/>
M01  65 <p_><quote_>"It isn't as if I haven't stood in your shoes, captain. 
M01  66 But no."<quote/><p/>
M01  67 <p_>Without shivering, without faltering, she raised her warmed 
M01  68 hand and sketched a complex sign on the air.<p/>
M01  69 <p_>A rose-and-gold luminescence tinged her fingers, brilliant 
M01  70 against the falling snow. Where her hand passed, air coalesced and 
M01  71 tingled: shone the colour of the absent sun. Ground thrummed 
M01  72 underfoot.<p/>
M01  73 <p_>Snow like a handful of thrown gravel stung her jaw. The 
M01  74 temperature plummetted. Air contracted: blasting icily across the 
M01  75 riders, ripping at hats and cloaks, numbing hands. A musket 
M01  76 clattered to the cobbles. Men swore.<p/>
M01  77 <p_>A watery light emanated from no clear point, unless it was the 
M01  78 hands of the White Crow. The little dappled shadows of the snow 
M01  79 flocked to her feet. Blue shadows on white snow.<p/>
M01  80 <p_>The whiteness rose and flowed about her ankles, warm as fur. 
M01  81 She cast the colour of bone and ivory, dipping her hands to skim 
M01  82 and touch the wind-devils of snowflakes. Wind-devils that whirled 
M01  83 out, hardened, began to become solid ...<p/>
M01  84 <p_>The shapes of great snow leopards prowled across the yard. Blue 
M01  85 patterns their pelts, shimmers over muscle and ligament, shadows 
M01  86 their great jaws, and sits in their eyes of flowers. The colour of 
M01  87 bone is cold in their mouths.<p/>
M01  88 <p_>One brown gelding screamed. Its head jerked up and pulled the 
M01  89 reins from a dismounted mercenary's hand, and its forefeet rose, 
M01  90 hung pawing; and the bugling scream ripped out as it backed, 
M01  91 jostled, and half-reared again. The other horses began to back and 
M01  92 fret.<p/>
M01  93 <p_>The White Crow paused with one hand halfway to her dagger. She 
M01  94 drew no confirming blood.<p/>
M01  95 <p_><quote|>"Madam!"<p/>
M01  96 <p_>Still holding the mercenary captain's gaze, his face blue-white 
M01  97 in the sudden freeze, she all but completed the air-drawn 
M01  98 hieroglyph, then dropped her hand to the dapple mare's neck.<p/>
M01  99 <p_>Potential predators faded into greyness. The exhausted horse 
M01 100 whickered and raised her head.<p/>
M01 101 <p_>Snow ran into water around the White Crow's boots. 
M01 102 Yard<?_>-<?/>cobbles gleamed. Sudden warmth breathed into their 
M01 103 faces.<p/>
M01 104 <p_><quote|>"<tf|>Magia!" The captain swore.<p/>
M01 105 <p_>A horse clattered back. One sword among the group snicked back 
M01 106 into its scabbard. She heard startled whispers.<p/>
M01 107 <p_><quote_>"My name is White Crow. Master-Physician Valentine 
M01 108 White Crow, of the Invisible College. Now. If we don't have 
M01 109 muskets, I suspect you don't have <tf|>magia. Probably we could 
M01 110 discuss this in a civilized manner."<quote/><p/>
M01 111 <p_>The man's gaze went past her. The White Crow took two steps 
M01 112 back before she glanced over her shoulder.<p/>
M01 113 <p_><quote_>"Excuse me."<quote/> Three skidding steps took her 
M01 114 across the wet stone. She grabbed the Lord-Architect's fat arm as 
M01 115 he walked into the yard. <quote_>"Casaubon! What in damnation do 
M01 116 you think you're - "<quote/><p/>
M01 117 <p_><quote|>"<tf|>CALMADY!"<p/>
M01 118 <p_>The White Crow fingered her cold ear, a pained expression on 
M01 119 her face. <quote|>"'Calmady'?"<p/>
M01 120 <p_>The Lord-Architect, beaming, lumbered between horses and riders 
M01 121 to enfold the mercenary captain in an ursine embrace. <quote_>"Rot 
M01 122 it! Pollexfen Calmady!"<quote/><p/>
M01 123 <p_>Captain Pollexfen Calmady studied the hole in the heel of his 
M01 124 stocking. He eased down in the wing-armed kitchen chair, one boot 
M01 125 still on, sinking his chin into the yards of lace swathing his 
M01 126 throat. <quote_>"That's luck. Death and damnation, but it 
M01 127 is!"<quote/><p/>
M01 128 <p_>The heat to the oven fireplace beat against him.<p/>
M01 129 <p_><quote_>"Post sentries, Captain?"<quote/><p/>
M01 130 <p_><quote_>"Post lookouts for Bevil, death take him."<quote/> 
M01 131 Calmady shut his eyes. The gentlemen-mercenary's footsteps 
M01 132 departed.<p/>
M01 133 <p_><quote_>"Messire Captain."<quote/><p/>
M01 134 <p_>Without moving anything else, he opened his eyes. Half a dozen 
M01 135 mercenaries, in various stated of disarray, lounged in the great 
M01 136 fireplace. A pale snowlight shone on the kitchen's whitewashed 
M01 137 vaults. He smelled salt bacon, herbs, and sawdust.<p/>
M01 138 <p_>A red-headed woman of perhaps thirty sat with one hip up on the 
M01 139 scrubbed table. She watched him with tawny-red eyes.<p/>
M01 140 <p_><quote_>"Messire Captain, I want some answers."<quote/><p/>
M01 141 <p_><quote_>"Apply to your husband for them, madam. I confess 
M01 142 myself so exhausted, I couldn't plead my case, were I before the 
M01 143 Lord Chief Justice herself."<quote/><p/>
M01 144 <p_><quote|>"Try."<p/>
M01 145 <p_>Slowly, he finished unbuttoning his frieze coat, letting it 
M01 146 fall open. Melting snow crusted his scarlet silk breeches and the 
M01 147 embroidered hem of his scarlet waistcoat. He sighed.<p/>
M01 148 <p_><quote_>"Calmady of Calmady,"<quote/> he rumbled. <quote_>"That 
M01 149 is my lord Gadsbury; <tf|>that is Lord Rule; over there you'll find 
M01 150 Lady Arbella Lacey, Sir John Hay, Margrave Linebaugh, the Countess 
M01 151 of ... but they have manners enough to introduce 
M01 152 themselves."<quote/><p/>
M01 153 <p_>He saw the woman's mouth tighten.<p/>
M01 154 <p_>Lord Rule, black periwig somewhat wetly draggled, swept the 
M01 155 plumed hat from his head and made an exquisite bow. 
M01 156 <quote_>"Servant, ma'am."<quote/><p/>
M01 157 <p_><quote_>"Likewise, madam, likewise."<quote/> Bess, Lady 
M01 158 Winslow, flashed paste rings, whirling a lace kerchief in a 
M01 159 flourish. She stretched one silk-breeched leg to the fire, hand 
M01 160 casually resting over the larger of its patches.<p/>
M01 161 <p_><quote_>"I don't like gentlemen-mercenaries."<quote/> The 
M01 162 woman's mouth remained tight. <quote_>"I don't like your particular 
M01 163 brand of noble brutality."<quote/><p/>
M01 164 <p_><quote_>"As Physician-magus, madam, you're at liberty to 
M01 165 dislike what you please."<quote/> Pollexfen Calmady watched snow 
M01 166 light glint off the last remaining gold rings on his large fingers. 
M01 167 <quote_>"Were you both scholar and soldier, as some of your College 
M01 168 are, we should find a less cold welcome."<quote/><p/>
M01 169 <p_><quote_>"I am - I have been a Scholar-Soldier. As for the 
M01 170 present, your welcome depends solely on your conduct in my 
M01 171 house."<quote/><p/>
M01 172 <p_>She slipped from the table to stand on the stone flags, hands 
M01 173 cupping elbows, looking at him with her head cocked to one side. He 
M01 174 let her hostility slide by him. He leaned forward, smothered in the 
M01 175 riding-coat, to pull off his other boot; failed, and snapped 
M01 176 fingers for Gadsbury. The stocky man knelt and dug his fingers into 
M01 177 leather, mud, and slush.<p/>
M01 178 <p_><quote_>"Any sign of him, Gadsbury?"<quote/><p/>
M01 179 <p_><quote_>"Not yet, Captain."<quote/> The boot jerked free.<p/>
M01 180 <p_><quote_>"Boy's a damn <tf|>fool."<quote/><p/>
M01 181 <p_>Gadsbury grunted agreement, rising. <quote_>"Anyone who doesn't 
M01 182 make it through this soon, isn't going to make it at 
M01 183 all."<quote/><p/>
M01 184 <p_>Cold blasted through the cracks of the kitchen door. A few 
M01 185 particles of snow dusted the floor. Calmady rested his foot down, 
M01 186 wincing as the stocking-hole let bare skin touch the flagstones. 
M01 187 Beyond the snow-pasted glass, a blizzard whirled. The wind's 
M01 188 buffets echoed through the kitchens.<p/>
M01 189 <p_><quote_>"Light the lanterns."<quote/> The red-haired woman 
M01 190 signalled to a clutch of country-dressed men and women whom Calmady 
M01 191 assumed to be the servants, and turned back to him. 
M01 192 <quote_>"Messire Captain, you - "<quote/><p/>
M01 193 <p_>Thunderous bangs rattled the kitchen door.<p/>
M01 194 <p_>Lord Rule, having applied his eye to the crack, wiped sleet 
M01 195 from his face and wig and unbarred the door. It clanged open. A 
M01 196 cluster of figures stumbled in, shedding cloaks, shouting. Calmady 
M01 197 sat straighter in the chair. As they saw him, they quietened.<p/>
M01 198 <p_><quote_>"Captain -"<quote/><p/>
M01 199 <p_><quote_>"Report first -"<quote/><p/>
M01 200 <p_><quote_>"- Captain!"<quote/><p/>
M01 201 <p_>A familiar gangling figure pushed his way forward to the 
M01 202 fireplace, swept off his triple-plumed hat and bowed to Calmady, 
M01 203 scattering snow over flagstones and Bess, Lady Winslow, 
M01 204 impartially. The woman-mercenary swore. The boy pushed his long, 
M01 205 yellow curls out of his face.<p/>
M01 206 <p_><quote_>"Father - <tf|>Captain, I mean - we did it!"<quote/><p/>
M01 207 <p_>Lieutenant Bevil beamed with a sixteen-year-old's enthusiasm. 
M01 208 The tip of his sharp nose shone red in his cold-mottled face, and a 
M01 209 drop of moisture hung from it. He fumbled, stripping off lacework 
M01 210 gloves from practically unprotected hands. <quote_>"No trouble! My 
M01 211 lord Thompson, be so kind as to show the captain."<quote/><p/>
M01 212 <p_>Calmady turned his head. The Physician-magus, caught in 
M01 213 mid-speech, shut her mouth and leaned up against the inglenook wall 
M01 214 in silence. Their cloaks shed, in blue and scarlet and orange silks 
M01 215 and brocades the gentlemen-mercenaries crowded close. The boy 
M01 216 pulled his torn lace cuffs into more splendid falls. The high folds 
M01 217 of his cravat, soaked, subsided onto his azure-silk shoulders.<p/>
M01 218 <p_><quote|>"Here!" he proclaimed.<p/>
M01 219 <p_>Enthusiastically, Thompson and Arbella Lacey spilled the 
M01 220 contents of four hessian sacks onto the kitchen floor. A dozen 
M01 221 shirts, two patched doublets, odd pairs of hose, and innumerable 
M01 222 sheets piled up. Calmady met the boy's pale blue eyes.<p/>
M01 223 <p_><quote_>"Bevil ..."<quote/><p/>
M01 224 <p_><quote_>"You <tf|>said we needed material to patch our uniforms 
M01 225 with. We ambushed Captain Sforza's troop. We stole their laundry! 
M01 226 It's perfect."<quote/> Doubt crossed his raw features. 
M01 227 <quote_>"Someone's going to have to wash it first ..."<quote/><p/>
M01 228 <p_>Very still, Calmady looked down at the heap of dirty 
M01 229 clothes.<p/>
M01 230 <p_><quote_>"I have a message."<quote/> Bevil frowned with effort. 
M01 231 <quote_>"From Captain Huizinga. He's holed up on the other side of 
M01 232 the moor. He says, would we mind returning the cow we stole from 
M01 233 them. Their troop doesn't have any milk. He says he'll exchange her 
M01 234 for two hens - but one of them isn't a good layer."<quote/><p/>
M01 235 <p_>Loud argument broke out: Gadsbury staggering to his feet to 
M01 236 proclaim the value of the bargain, Hay contradicting; others on 
M01 237 their knees, sorting through the clothes-pile. Pollexfen Calmady 
M01 238 sat motionless.<p/>
M01 239 <p_><quote|>"Captain."<p/>
M01 240 <p_>He turned his head and met the red-headed woman's gaze. 
M01 241 Prepared to challenge at the merest hint of a smile, and (for all 
M01 242 his exhaustion) to draw sword on a magus if this particular one 
M01 243 should chance to laugh.<p/>
M01 244 <p_>With equal parts gravity and courtesy, the woman said: 
M01 245 <quote_>"I came down to bring you a message, messire Captain.
M01 246 
M01 247 
M02   1 <#FLOB:M02\>I have a facility with metre, sir, which all envy - 
M02   2 peers and my betters, sir, as a matter of fact. And I also have a 
M02   3 certain gift for spontaneous versification, of sorts. <tf_>In 
M02   4 Trollon, elegant and slow, dwelled Amarine Goodool, famed for his 
M02   5 costume and his wit. To friends so valuable was he, they even saved 
M02   6 his<tf/> - "<quote/><p/>
M02   7 <p_><quote_>"And I am called the Rose and travel upon a quest for 
M02   8 vengeance. My journey has taken me through more than one 
M02   9 realm."<quote/><p/>
M02  10 <p_><quote|>"Aha!" said Amarine Goodool. <quote_>"You have followed 
M02  11 the megaflow! You have broken down the walls between the realms! 
M02  12 You have crossed the invisible barriers of the multiverse! And you, 
M02  13 sir? You, my pale friend? What skills have you?"<quote/><p/>
M02  14 <p_><quote_>"At home, in my own quiet town, I had some reputation 
M02  15 as a conjurer and philosopher,"<quote/> said Elric meekly.<p/>
M02  16 <p_><quote_>"Well, well, sir, but you would not be with this 
M02  17 company if you had not something to offer. Your philosophy, 
M02  18 perhaps, is of an unusual sort?"<quote/><p/>
M02  19 <p_><quote_>"Fairly conventional, sir, I would say."<quote/><p/>
M02  20 <p_><quote_>"Nonetheless, sir. Nonetheless. You have a horse. 
M02  21 Please enter. And be welcome to Trollon. I think it very likely you 
M02  22 will find yourselves amongst fellow spirits here. We are all a 
M02  23 little odd in Trollon!"<quote/> And he raised his head in a 
M02  24 friendly bray.<p/>
M02  25 <p_>Now he led them through the skirts of the village, into a musty 
M02  26 darkness lit by dim lamps so that first it was possible to perceive 
M02  27 only the vaguest of shapes. It was as if they had entered a vast 
M02  28 stable, with row upon row of stalls disappearing into the distance. 
M02  29 Elric smelled horses and human sweat and as they passed up a 
M02  30 central aisle he could look down the rows and see the glistening 
M02  31 backs of men, women and adolescents, leaning hard against poles 
M02  32 reaching to their chests and pushing the huge edifice forward, inch 
M02  33 by inch. Elsewhere horses were harnessed in ranks, also, trudging 
M02  34 on heavy hoofs as they hauled at the thick ropes attached to the 
M02  35 roof beams.<p/>
M02  36 <p_><quote_>"Leave your horses with the lad,"<quote/> said Amarine 
M02  37 Goodool, indicating a ragged youth who held out his hand for a 
M02  38 small coin and grinned with pleasure at the value of what he 
M02  39 received. <quote_>"You'll be given receipts and so on. You'll be at 
M02  40 ease for at least a couple of seasons to be sure. Or, if you are 
M02  41 otherwise successful, forever. Like myself. Of course,"<quote/> he 
M02  42 lowered his tone as he swung up a wooden stairway, <quote_>"there 
M02  43 are other responsibilities one must accept."<quote/><p/>
M02  44 <p_>The long staircase led them, spiral by spiral, to the surface 
M02  45 until they clambered out into a nondescript narrow sidestreet from 
M02  46 whose open windows people looked idly down without breaking their 
M02  47 conversation. It was a picture of such ordinariness that it 
M02  48 contrasted all the more with the scenes below.<p/>
M02  49 <p_><quote_>"Are those people down there slaves, sir?"<quote/> 
M02  50 Wheldrake had to know.<p/>
M02  51 <p_><quote_>"Slaves! By no means! They are free gypsy souls, like 
M02  52 myself. Free to wander the great highway that spans the world, to 
M02  53 breathe the air of liberty. They merely take their turn at the 
M02  54 marching boards, as most of us must for some time in their lives. 
M02  55 They perform a civic duty, sir."<quote/><p/>
M02  56 <p_><quote_>"And should they not wish to perform such 
M02  57 duty?"<quote/> asked Elric quietly.<p/>
M02  58 <p_><quote_>"Ah, well, sir, I can see that you are indeed a 
M02  59 philosopher. Such obstrusities are beyond me, I fear, sir. But 
M02  60 there are people in Trollon who would be only too pleased to debate 
M02  61 such abstractions."<quote/> He patted Elric amiably upon the 
M02  62 shoulder. <quote_>"Indeed, I can think of more than one friend of 
M02  63 mine who will gladly welcome you."<quote/><p/>
M02  64 <p_><quote_>"A prosperous place, this Trollon."<quote/> The Rose 
M02  65 looked through the gaps in the buildings to where similar villages 
M02  66 moved at a similar pace.<p/>
M02  67 <p_><quote_>"Well, we like to preserve certain standards, madam. I 
M02  68 will arrange for your receipts."<quote/><p/>
M02  69 <p_><quote_>"I do not think we plan to trade our horses 
M02  70 here,"<quote/> said Elric. <quote_>"We need to travel on as soon as 
M02  71 possible."<quote/><p/>
M02  72 <p_><quote_>"And travel you shall, sir. Travel, after all, is in 
M02  73 our blood. But we must put your horses to work. Or, sir,"<quote/> 
M02  74 he uttered a little snigger, <quote_>"we shall not be travelling 
M02  75 far at all, eh?"<quote/><p/>
M02  76 <p_>Again a glance from the Rose stilled Elric's retort. But he was 
M02  77 growing increasingly impatient as he thought of his dead father and 
M02  78 the threat which hung over them both.<p/>
M02  79 <p_><quote_>"We are only too happy to accept your 
M02  80 hospitality,"<quote/> said the Rose diplomatically. <quote_>"Are we 
M02  81 the only people to join Trollon in recent days?"<quote/><p/>
M02  82 <p_><quote_>"Did you have friends come ahead of you, 
M02  83 lady?"<quote/><p/>
M02  84 <p_><quote_>"Three sisters, perhaps?"<quote/> suggested 
M02  85 Wheldrake.<p/>
M02  86 <p_><quote_>"Three sisters?"<quote/> He shook his head. <quote_>"I 
M02  87 should have known if I had seen them, sir. But I will send enquiry 
M02  88 of our neighbouring villages. Meanwhile, if you are hungry, I shall 
M02  89 be only too happy to loan you a few credits. We have some wonderful 
M02  90 restaurants in Trollon."<quote/><p/>
M02  91 <p_>It was clear that there was little poverty in Trollon. The 
M02  92 paint was fresh and the glass sparkling, while the streets were 
M02  93 neat and clean as anything Elric had ever seen.<p/>
M02  94 <p_><quote_>"It seems all the squalor and hardship is kept out of 
M02  95 sight below,"<quote/> whispered Wheldrake. <quote_>"I shall be glad 
M02  96 to leave this place, Prince Elric."<quote/><p/>
M02  97 <p_><quote_>"We might find ourselves in difficulties when we decide 
M02  98 to end our stay."<quote/> The Rose was careful not to be overheard. 
M02  99 <quote_>"Do they plan to make slaves of us, like those poor 
M02 100 wretches down there?"<quote/><p/>
M02 101 <p_><quote_>"I would guess they have no immediate intention of 
M02 102 sending us to their marching boards,"<quote/> said Elric, 
M02 103 <quote_>"but I have no doubt they want us for our muscles and our 
M02 104 horses as much as for our company. I do not intend to remain long 
M02 105 in this place if I cannot quickly discover some clue to what I 
M02 106 seek. I have little time."<quote/> His old arrogance was returning. 
M02 107 His old impatience.<p/>
M02 108 <p_>He tried to quell them, as signs of the disease which had led 
M02 109 to his present dilemma. He hated his own blood, his sorcery, his 
M02 110 reliance upon his runesword, or other extraordinary means of 
M02 111 sustenance. And when Amarine Goodool brought them into the village 
M02 112 square (complete with shops and public buildings and houses of 
M02 113 evident age) to meet a committee of welcome, Elric was less than 
M02 114 warm, though he knew that lies, hypocrisy and deception were the 
M02 115 order of the moment. His attempt to smile did not bring any 
M02 116 answering gaiety.<p/>
M02 117 <p_><quote_>"Gweetings, gweetings,"<quote/> cried an apparition in 
M02 118 green, with a little pointed beard and a hat threatening to engulf 
M02 119 his entire head and half his body. <quote_>"On behalf of the 
M02 120 Twollon weins-men and -morts, may we vawda yoah eeks with joy. Or, 
M02 121 in the common speech, you must considah us all, now your bwothahs 
M02 122 and sistahs. My name is Filigwip Nant and I wun the theatwicals 
M02 123 ..."<quote/> Whereupon he proceeded to introduce a miscellaneous 
M02 124 group of people with odd-sounding names, peculiar accents and 
M02 125 unnatural complexions whose appearance seemed to fill Wheldrake 
M02 126 with horrified recognition. <quote_>"It could be the Putney Fine 
M02 127 Arts Society,"<quote/> he murmured, <quote_>"or worse, the Surbiton 
M02 128 Poetasters - I have been a reluctant guest of them both, and many 
M02 129 more. Ilkley, as I recall, was the worst ..."<quote/> and he lapsed 
M02 130 into his own gloomy contemplations as, with a smile no more 
M02 131 convincing than the albino's, he suffered the roll-call of 
M02 132 parochial fame, until he opened his little beak to a sky still 
M02 133 filled with cloud and spray and began a kind of protective 
M02 134 declamation which had him surrounded at once by green, black and 
M02 135 purple velvet, by rustling brocade and romantic lace, by the scent 
M02 136 of a hundred garden flowers and herbs, by the gypsy literati. And 
M02 137 borne away.<p/>
M02 138 <p_>The Rose and Elric also had their share of temporary acolytes. 
M02 139 This was clearly a village of some wealth, which yearned for 
M02 140 novelty.<p/>
M02 141 <p_><quote_>"We're very cosmopolitan, you know, in Trollon. Like 
M02 142 most of the 'diddicoyim' (ha, ha) villages, we are now almost 
M02 143 wholly made up from outsiders. I, myself, am an outsider. From 
M02 144 another Realm, you know. From Heeshigrowinaaz, actually. Are you 
M02 145 familiar - ?"<quote/> A middle-aged woman with an elaborate wit and 
M02 146 considerable paint linked her bangled arm in Elric's. <quote_>"I'm 
M02 147 Parapha Foz. My husband's Barraban Foz, of course. Isn't it 
M02 148 boring?"<quote/><p/>
M02 149 <p_><quote_>"I have the feeling,"<quote/> said the Rose in an 
M02 150 undertone as she went by with her own burden of enthusiasts, 
M02 151 <quote_>"that this is to be the greatest ordeal of them all 
M02 152 ..."<quote/><p/>
M02 153 <p_>But it seemed to Elric that she was also amused, especially by 
M02 154 his own expression.<p/>
M02 155 <p_>And he bowed, with graceful irony, to the inevitable.<p/>
M02 156 <p_>There followed a number of initiating rituals with which Elric 
M02 157 was unfamiliar, but which Wheldrake dreaded as being all too 
M02 158 familiar, and the Rose accepted, as if she, too, had once known 
M02 159 such experiences better.<p/>
M02 160 <p_>There were meals and speeches and performances, tours of the 
M02 161 oldest and quaintest parts of the village, small lectures on its 
M02 162 history and its architecture and how wonderfully it had been 
M02 163 restored until Elric, brooding always on his father's stolen soul, 
M02 164 wished that they would turn into something with which he could more 
M02 165 easily contend - like the hopping, slittering, drooling monsters of 
M02 166 Chaos or some unreasonable demi-god. He had rarely wished so 
M02 167 longingly to draw his sword and let it silence this melange of 
M02 168 prejudice, semi-ignorance, snobbery and received opinion, of loud, 
M02 169 superior voices so thoroughly reassured by all they met and read, 
M02 170 that they believed themselves confidently, unvulnerably, totally in 
M02 171 control of reality ...<p/>
M02 172 <p_>And all the while Elric thought of the poor souls below, 
M02 173 pressing their bodies against the marching boards and sending this 
M02 174 village, in concert with all the other free gypsy villages, in its 
M02 175 relentless progress, inch by inch, around the world.<p/>
M02 176 <p_>Unused to gaining the information he required by any means less 
M02 177 direct than torture, Elric left it to the Rose to glean whatever 
M02 178 she could and eventually, when they were alone together, Wheldrake 
M02 179 having been taken as a trophy to sport at some dinner, she relaxed 
M02 180 into a mood of satisfaction. They had been given adjoining rooms in 
M02 181 what they were assured was the best inn of its sort in any of the 
M02 182 second-rank villages. Tomorrow, they were told, they would be shown 
M02 183 what apartments were available to them.<p/>
M02 184 <p_><quote_>"We have survived this first day well, I 
M02 185 think,"<quote/> she said, sitting on a chest to remove her doeskin 
M02 186 boots. <quote_>"We have proven interesting enough to them so that 
M02 187 we still have our lives, relative liberty and, more important now, 
M02 188 I think, our swords ..."<quote/><p/>
M02 189 <p_><quote_>"You mistrust them thoroughly, then?"<quote/> The 
M02 190 albino looked curiously at the Rose as she shook out her pale 
M02 191 red-gold hair and peeled off her brown jerkin to reveal a blouse of 
M02 192 dark yellow. <quote_>"I have never encountered such folk 
M02 193 before."<quote/><p/>
M02 194 <p_><quote_>"Save that they are drawn from every part of the 
M02 195 multiverse, they are very much of a type I left behind me long ago 
M02 196 and like poor Wheldrake hoped never to encounter again. The sisters 
M02 197 reached the Gypsy Nation less than a week before we did. The woman 
M02 198 who told me this had it from a woman she knows in the next village. 
M02 199 The sisters, however, were accepted by a village of the forward 
M02 200 rank."<quote/><p/>
M02 201 <p_><quote_>"And we can find them there?"<quote/> Elric knew so 
M02 202 much relief he only then realized how desperate he had become.<p/>
M02 203 <p_><quote_>"Not so easily. We have no invitation to visit the 
M02 204 village. There are forms to be observed before we can receive such 
M02 205 an invitation. However, I also learned that Gaynor is here, though 
M02 206 he disappeared almost immediately and no one has any notion of his 
M02 207 whereabouts."<quote/><p/>
M02 208 <p_><quote_>"He has not left the Nation?"<quote/><p/>
M02 209 <p_><quote_>"I gather that is not easily done, even by the likes of 
M02 210 Gaynor."<quote/> There was suddenly an extra bitterness to her 
M02 211 voice.<p/>
M02 212 <p_><quote_>"It is forbidden?"<quote/><p/>
M02 213 <p_><quote|>"Nothing," she echoed sardonically, <quote_>"is 
M02 214 forbidden in the Gypsy Nation. Unless,"<quote/> she added, 
M02 215 <quote_>"it is change of any kind!"<quote/><p/>
M02 216 <p_><quote_>"Then why was the boy killed?"<quote/><p/>
M02 217 <p_><quote_>"They tell me they know nothing about it. They told me 
M02 218 they thought I was probably mistaken. They said they felt it was 
M02 219 morbid to study the garbage heaps and think one saw things lurking 
M02 220 in them.
M02 221 
M02 222 
M03   1 <#FLOB:M03\><quote_>"Her friends leave them there,"<quote/> Dorthy 
M03   2 said. <quote_>"There must be a vein out to sea somewhere. Inshore, 
M03   3 it's all metamorphosite."<quote/><p/>
M03   4 <p_><quote_>"I was hoping to see the shadow dancers,"<quote/> Robot 
M03   5 said. <quote_>"But the people at the station said they were further 
M03   6 west."<quote/><p/>
M03   7 <p_><quote_>"If you're fishing, you might see them."<quote/><p/>
M03   8 <p_><quote_>"To be honest, I joined the boat a day ago, and I fly 
M03   9 back the day after tomorrow. You heard about the 
M03  10 expedition?"<quote/><p/>
M03  11 <p_><quote_>"No, and I'm not going to look in your head to find out 
M03  12 what it is. Those days are more or less over, for me. My daughter 
M03  13 probably knows, though. She's something, Robot. A natural Talent, 
M03  14 the first. No training to bring it out, and no implant to regulate 
M03  15 it. She does that herself. I've turned down a double lifetime's 
M03  16 worth of credit from the Elysium Kamali-Silver Institute for 
M03  17 exclusive rights to her."<quote/><p/>
M03  18 <p_>Robot shifted his zithsa-hide boots - already cracked and 
M03  19 salt<?_>-<?/>stained - as the child surfaced right at the lip of 
M03  20 the slab and added another glittering pebble to her small cairn. 
M03  21 Hair was pasted in knives to her forehead. Then she dived again, 
M03  22 bare rump flashing as she effortlessly shimmied down through the 
M03  23 clear water.<p/>
M03  24 <p_>Robot said, <quote_>"I didn't know what you were doing here. I 
M03  25 heard about the times you went back to Earth, those semi-covert 
M03  26 diplomatic missions. But that was all ... Partly why I came, 
M03  27 Dorthy. To catch up. Been a long time. Six years."<quote/><p/>
M03  28 <p_><quote_>"And partly something else. What are you up to, Robot? 
M03  29 You've changed."<quote/><p/>
M03  30 <p_><quote_>"I'm not as crazy as I was, you mean."<quote/> He 
M03  31 grinned. <quote_>"I wrote a substitute for Machine. Dumb as a box 
M03  32 of rocks, but he keeps me steady. You've changed, too. You're not 
M03  33 so ... well, driven."<quote/><p/>
M03  34 <p_><quote_>"I've grown up. She helps me. We live here, and learn 
M03  35 marine biology together, and help out as best we can with the 
M03  36 shadow dancer programme."<quote/><p/>
M03  37 <p_><quote_>"And stir up trouble on Earth."<quote/><p/>
M03  38 <p_><quote_>"That's not how it is at all."<quote/><p/>
M03  39 <p_>He grinned. <quote_>"Yeah, I know that. You haven't quite lost 
M03  40 all your edges, I see."<quote/><p/>
M03  41 <p_><quote_>"The revolution will come of itself, Robot. We don't 
M03  42 need to do anything to encourage it but tell the truth. The 
M03  43 Witnesses can't hold on for ever. Mustn't. Because every second 
M03  44 that passes the hypervelocity star is seventeen thousand klicks 
M03  45 nearer to wrecking the solar system. Twelve hundred years seems a 
M03  46 long time, but there are billions of people on Earth. It will be 
M03  47 the greatest and most difficult evacuation in history, but it must 
M03  48 be done."<quote/><p/>
M03  49 <p_>They talked about the Witnesses and the slowly growing 
M03  50 resistance to their rule, and Dorthy's missions to contact 
M03  51 clandestine governments that had survived fifty years of Witness 
M03  52 rule. She too was a witness: at last she was free to tell the story 
M03  53 of the Alea and the angels and the secret history of the Universe 
M03  54 to anyone who would listen. And they talked about the problems of 
M03  55 hatching and rearing to adulthood the shadow dancer cysts the 
M03  56 crab-things had carried, of trying to alter their biochemistry so 
M03  57 that, like the killer whales that were for now the shadow dancers' 
M03  58 surrogate bodies, they could live in the oceans of Iemanja. The 
M03  59 shadow dancers had problems adjusting to the strange streamlined 
M03  60 bodies of killer whales.<p/>
M03  61 <p_><quote_>"You could try manta rays,"<quote/> Robot suggested.<p/>
M03  62 <p_><quote_>"Not enough cranial capacity."<quote/><p/>
M03  63 <p_><quote_>"Not even with hardwiring? But I guess you've already 
M03  64 thought of stuff like that. It's good to see you've found a place, 
M03  65 a career."<quote/><p/>
M03  66 <p_><quote_>"My life has never been normal, Robot. I brought a lot 
M03  67 of trouble on myself fighting against that instead of accepting it. 
M03  68 Rejoicing in it, even. I was a nasty piece of work, when I was 
M03  69 younger, I'd cut you open as soon as look at you. This, now, is as 
M03  70 normal as it ever will be, I think. Teaching half-million-year-old 
M03  71 alien ghosts to use killer whale bodies, watching my daughter grow 
M03  72 into something wild and strange and wonderful."<quote/><p/>
M03  73 <p_><quote_>"She still doesn't have a name."<quote/><p/>
M03  74 <p_><quote_>"She's had a dozen this year alone. But she doesn't 
M03  75 have one at the moment."<quote/> Dorthy watched as the girl swam 
M03  76 through deep dappled shadow amongst boulders at the bottom of the 
M03  77 pool. Her tireless mermaid. <quote_>"She frightens me sometimes, 
M03  78 Robot. She knows that, and tries to comfort me. But still, she 
M03  79 frightens me. We were all changed, but she was changed most of all. 
M03  80 And not just because she could speak from birth. They've heavy 
M03  81 weaponry out at the marine station, not all of it to keep off hive 
M03  82 sharks. I do wonder what she will grow into, this daughter of 
M03  83 mine."<quote/><p/>
M03  84 <p_><quote_>"I've been thinking about that, too."<quote/> Robot 
M03  85 said, <quote_>"amongst other things."<quote/> He had an arch, 
M03  86 almost Mephistophelean air about him, not at all the wild 
M03  87 despairing young man Dorthy had known and loved all those nights 
M03  88 when they'd been fugitives on Earth. He crossed his elegant boots, 
M03  89 brushed at the puffed sleeves of his raw silk shirt, leaned back on 
M03  90 both elbows. <quote_>"You know that I was closer to the angels than 
M03  91 anyone else, except perhaps Talbeck Barlstilkin's bonded servant. 
M03  92 I've been thinking about that a lot. Especially since Little 
M03  93 Machine took up residence."<quote/><p/>
M03  94 <p_><quote_>"And you've come to certain conclusions. You want my 
M03  95 opinions about them."<quote/><p/>
M03  96 <p_><quote_>"I do keep forgetting about your Talent."<quote/><p/>
M03  97 <p_><quote_>"Oh, Robot, I don't need what's left of my Talent to 
M03  98 tell me you're up to something."<quote/><p/>
M03  99 <p_><quote_>"Did you ever wonder what the angels are? What they 
M03 100 really are?"<quote/><p/>
M03 101 <p_><quote_>"Changelings. Thinking creatures once like us, or like 
M03 102 the shadow dancers, or the Alea. Creatures of flesh and blood who'd 
M03 103 turned themselves into something else. Pure thought, Gunasekra once 
M03 104 said. He liked that idea. Living on like the dead people who were 
M03 105 read into computer dumps before the Interregnum. But with their 
M03 106 animas."<quote/> Dorthy smiled. <quote_>"You don't think that at 
M03 107 all."<quote/><p/>
M03 108 <p_>Robot said, <quote_>"Perhaps their masters are like that. But I 
M03 109 don't think the angels are. You know that they only ever spoke 
M03 110 through me or Machine, or through Talbeck's servant."<quote/><p/>
M03 111 <p_><quote_>"They spoke to me, when they took me wherever it was, 
M03 112 so that I could speak to that combat pilot."<quote/><p/>
M03 113 <p_><quote_>"Suzy Falcon."<quote/><p/>
M03 114 <p_><quote_>"Yes. And they spoke to Abel Gunasekra too, I suppose 
M03 115 ... I wonder if they still do?"<quote/><p/>
M03 116 <p_><quote_>"They could speak to you because you were all inside my 
M03 117 dream. When the angels first took us, Suzy and me, I was put to 
M03 118 dreaming the, well, metaphor I suppose. The interzone between the 
M03 119 strange virtual reality of the angels and our own perceptions. 
M03 120 Meanwhile, Suzy thought she was talking to me, but she was really 
M03 121 talking to Machine. And Machine was closer to the angels than me, 
M03 122 that's why he went a little crazy, I think. That and the neuter 
M03 123 female."<quote/><p/>
M03 124 <p_><quote_>"You mean, the angels were machines? Serving something 
M03 125 else?"<quote/><p/>
M03 126 <p_><quote_>"What's a machine, Dorthy? Something to do work. A 
M03 127 lever, an orchestra, a combat singleship, a subroutine in a 
M03 128 circuit. I think that's what the angels were. Subroutines at the 
M03 129 interface. We never saw their masters at all. They were too far 
M03 130 from us. To try and talk to them would have been like trying to 
M03 131 stand inside a star."<quote/><p/>
M03 132 <p_>Out in the middle of the pool, Dorthy's daughter surfaced with 
M03 133 a cry of triumph. Then she was swimming strongly to the side. 
M03 134 <quote_>"Another!"<quote/> she cried, and tossed her prize to her 
M03 135 mother before heaving herself onto the slab of rocks, gasping like 
M03 136 a beached seal.<p/>
M03 137 <p_>Dorthy turned the quartz-veined pebble over in her fingers; 
M03 138 handed it across to Robot.<p/>
M03 139 <p_><quote_>"Pretty,"<quote/> he said. <quote_>"You've found a 
M03 140 whole bunch, huh? The shadow dancers find things like this for 
M03 141 you?"<quote/><p/>
M03 142 <p_>The little girl shrugged and stretched out on her belly, 
M03 143 resting her sleek wet head on her mother's bare feet. She closed 
M03 144 her eyes and seemed to instantly relax into sleep.<p/>
M03 145 <p_><quote_>"The crab-things bring them,"<quote/> Dorthy said. 
M03 146 <quote_>"Rub your thumb over it. Go on."<quote/><p/>
M03 147 <p_>Robot did, then frowned and transferred it to his prosthetic 
M03 148 hand, turning it round and round brushing it with fine sensory 
M03 149 wires that extruded from the joints of the elongated fingers. 
M03 150 <quote_>"Engraving,"<quote/> he said. <quote_>"So small, so dense 
M03 151 ...Does it mean anything?"<quote/><p/>
M03 152 <p_>Dorthy wiggled her toes under the weight of her daughter's 
M03 153 head. <quote_>"You know, don't you? Only you won't say. Like a lot 
M03 154 of things."<quote/><p/>
M03 155 <p_><quote_>"Do you know who the angels' real masters 
M03 156 were?"<quote/> Robot asked. <quote_>"I bet you do. I think I do, 
M03 157 too. I knew them, once, like you."<quote/><p/>
M03 158 <p_>Dorthy said <quote_>"She won't tell you whether she knows or 
M03 159 not. And if she knows, she won't tell you <tf|>what she 
M03 160 knows."<quote/><p/>
M03 161 <p_><quote_>"I'll tell her what I know, then. Or what I think I 
M03 162 know."<quote/><p/>
M03 163 <p_><quote_>"So that's why you came here, really. To ask her. It's 
M03 164 been tried, Robot. Many times."<quote/><p/>
M03 165 <p_><quote_>"To see her, to see you. Those were fine times we had, 
M03 166 on Earth. Kingman Seven. I guess it hasn't changed."<quote/><p/>
M03 167 <p_><quote_>"I remember the cold, and the rain. And you getting 
M03 168 drunk a lot. And don't try and get around me, Robot."<quote/><p/>
M03 169 <p_>He smiled. He shrugged. He said, <quote_>"I came to tell you a 
M03 170 couple of things, too."<quote/><p/>
M03 171 <p_><quote_>"That the angels were only machines, only subroutines. 
M03 172 Servants to something else. You figured this out by 
M03 173 yourself?"<quote/><p/>
M03 174 <p_><quote_>"They told me some of it. I just took a while to 
M03 175 understand. A while, and with some help from Little Machine. It was 
M03 176 all inside my head, but we needed to write our own algorithms to be 
M03 177 able to read it. 'In the realm of light there is no time.' No 
M03 178 future, no past, not as we understand it. Just this eternal now, 
M03 179 eternal light. If there is a God, that's what She must be like, 
M03 180 outside our time, outside clocks, outside entropy. Eternal and 
M03 181 unchanging, like a standing wave at the horizon of a black hole. 
M03 182 I've been hanging out with physicists lately. Been trying to think 
M03 183 their way."<quote/> Robot grinned crookedly and tapped the left 
M03 184 side of his head. <quote_>"Little Machine, he understands a whole 
M03 185 lot better than I do. We manage."<quote/><p/>
M03 186 <p_><quote_>"So that's why we came out when we did, fifty years in 
M03 187 the future."<quote/> <quote_>"That's something else I want to tell 
M03 188 you about."<quote/><p/>
M03 189 <p_>They talked on, while out beyond the rise where the house 
M03 190 stood, the huge soft orange sun sank towards the horizon. The child 
M03 191 seemed to sleep on; although Dorthy knew that she was not asleep, 
M03 192 or not as anyone would understand it.<p/>
M03 193 <p_>Robot tried to explain the history that had been dumped in his 
M03 194 head, past and future mixed up. There had only been one real 
M03 195 intelligence in the Universe, just as the weak anthropic principle 
M03 196 had proposed all along. Everything, hundreds of billions of 
M03 197 galaxies, each with their three or four hundred billions stars, had 
M03 198 been necessary, just enough room, for this one species to evolve 
M03 199 intelligence. Only it had happened early on, at a time when the 
M03 200 galaxies were still close together; or perhaps even earlier, in the 
M03 201 era before galaxies, the era of supermassive stars and black hole 
M03 202 formation, the era when most of the Universe's light had been 
M03 203 created. A time when the Universe was only a few hundred million 
M03 204 years old, a few hundred million light years in diameter. Had to 
M03 205 have been that early, because the masters of the angels had been 
M03 206 all through the Universe, Robot said, living in the centre of every 
M03 207 galaxy. He thought that perhaps they had lived somehow in the 
M03 208 accretion discs of black holes, or maybe at the event horizon 
M03 209 itself, nourished by the welter of Hawking radiation, virtual 
M03 210 particles that crossed into this Universe while their 
M03 211 antiparticles, that should have been born and died with them, 
M03 212 stayed trapped inside the singularity.<p/>
M03 213 <p_><quote_>"I think I was shown what they looked like, but I can't 
M03 214 remember it. Couldn't understand it, maybe, so it didn't stay with 
M03 215 me. But I don't think they were like us, or the Alea, or the shadow 
M03 216 dancers. That's what my physics friends say, too: the Universe that 
M03 217 young, there wasn't time for carbon-based life to have got much 
M03 218 past the bacterial stage, if that."<quote/>
M03 219 
M04   1 <#FLOB:M04\><h_><p_>IAN LEE<p/>
M04   2 <p_>Once Upon a Time in the Park<p/><h/>
M04   3 <p_>Once upon a time in the Park there used to be quite a lot of 
M04   4 equestrianism. And almost every day there was natation in the 
M04   5 serpentine lake. On the paths and even on the grass itself there 
M04   6 was perambulation of both a directed and an undirected kind. And 
M04   7 bicyclists of different ages and levels of fitness were allowed to 
M04   8 pedal to work along the road by the lake. On a handful of summer 
M04   9 days, after noon and ices at the lakeside pagoda caf, there was a 
M04  10 display of human heliotropism. More often, there was scope for 
M04  11 pluviometry. It was all very constitutional.<p/>
M04  12 <p_>Athleticism was tolerated in its place, alongside a little 
M04  13 ornithology or urban archaeology. Joggers who were guests at nearby 
M04  14 hotels puffed and panted away the excesses of the night before or 
M04  15 the night to come. There were team joggers, too, running for Rugby 
M04  16 practices or, in the case of the posse of squaddies from the Royal 
M04  17 barracks, sometimes even for punishment. The fattest and most unfit 
M04  18 amongst them would pant red-faced and sweaty at a great distance 
M04  19 behind the leaders. Tubby tubs of blubber rub-a-dubbing along. It 
M04  20 was all very British.<p/>
M04  21 <p_>On occasion I used to see Prince and Princess Malcolm out for a 
M04  22 morning ride, he looking more and more like George V with each 
M04  23 passing season, she remote like a snow-capped Alpine summit atop an 
M04  24 eighteen-hand chestnut mare. They were always accompanied by some 
M04  25 anonymous bodyguard and sometimes by a lesser royal; for instance, 
M04  26 Lady Antonia Doesntmatter, daughter of Princess Margot, or the Duke 
M04  27 of Hargood or Avon or one of those other ones who tries to do an 
M04  28 ordinary job in the City.<p/>
M04  29 <p_>Squadrons of cavalry, too, some mornings. And on less 
M04  30 auspicious days, I would see commoner mortals walking the face of 
M04  31 the Earth. Lord Harrington, for instance, or Norman St John Paul 
M04  32 Stevens or Sir Roy Geldhough out for a jog before a tough morning's 
M04  33 creativity. I know how he must have been feeling. There was a 
M04  34 wonderful absence of vehicles, save the odd Panda or a grocery 
M04  35 delivery to the caf or the restaurant.<p/>
M04  36 <p_>When I used to cycle through the Park myself, I found all this 
M04  37 uniquely reassuring. Everyone knew his place, you see. There was 
M04  38 the illusion of democracy and freedom as the compartments were 
M04  39 somehow orchestrated into a picturesque heterogeneity that carried 
M04  40 to threat of republicanism.<p/>
M04  41 <p_>For Ron, the chargehand gardener, however, the essence of the 
M04  42 Park had always been to serve the King through the medium of 
M04  43 horticulture. Although the public was allowed in, they were always 
M04  44 there on sufferance: they could pass through, they could even stay 
M04  45 awhile for a picnic or other recreation but visitors they would 
M04  46 remain. They were not encouraged to stay overnight. When 
M04  47 horticulture was extended to include the new techniques of 
M04  48 bioengineering, this was seen by Roy as a cause for rejoicing, as 
M04  49 the scope for service was thereby increased. The area of the Park 
M04  50 given over to 'projects' could be increased and the public's access 
M04  51 could be more tightly controlled. The notion grew within Ron that 
M04  52 the real purpose of the Park could be pursued with increased 
M04  53 efficiency and thoroughness and that extraneous activities of the 
M04  54 Park could be reduced, curtailed, limited and finally 
M04  55 eradicated.<p/>
M04  56 <p_>At that time, when I was still a free agent, most things in the 
M04  57 Park were still natural. The greatest exception was the deckchairs. 
M04  58 These, in their bioengineered form, so closely mimicked the look of 
M04  59 their natural prototypes that at twenty paces one could not tell 
M04  60 the difference. They grazed upon the sloping sward. But whereas one 
M04  61 might have taken such a description as metaphorical, even poetic, 
M04  62 it was now no more than a slightly quaint description of reality. 
M04  63 Indeed, they moved so very slowly, nibbled so minutely and 
M04  64 collected payment with such delicacy and tact as would surely 
M04  65 convert any but most hardened naturetarian to the benefits of 
M04  66 bio-improvement. The natural geese, on the other hand, still messed 
M04  67 up the road with excrement of tourist bread and cheese. Ron had not 
M04  68 yet perfected the Goose-guano beetle he was working on to clear up 
M04  69 after them.<p/>
M04  70 <p_>But Ron was not looking to introduce change precipitately. As a 
M04  71 gardener, he took his cue from the pace of the natural world. While 
M04  72 by no means a haystalk-chewer, he did nevertheless maintain a 
M04  73 strong sense of the need for change to be evolutionary and for the 
M04  74 strategic plan of the Park's development to include the timescales 
M04  75 not only of the marigold and daffodil, but also those of the oak. 
M04  76 And though he found to his satisfaction that he was extremely adept 
M04  77 in all the new bioengineering techniques, he was not tempted to 
M04  78 introduce too many new species too fast or to micromanage the 
M04  79 lifestyles of all the plants and creatures in his charge.<p/>
M04  80 <p_>Ron particularly loved his rose garden. The rose beds were set 
M04  81 in an area of lawn fenced off behind low railings at the eastern 
M04  82 end of the Park. They were meticulously tended and packed with such 
M04  83 an exquisitely balanced stock that from June to September they 
M04  84 presented a picture of loveliness that would bring gasps of wonder 
M04  85 and delight from all who looked upon them. In the early evening the 
M04  86 sweet perfume of La Reine Victoria and the Duke of Windsor (for 
M04  87 sentimental reasons Ron favoured the heavily fragrant old roses and 
M04  88 floribundas with distinguished names) would hang so sweetly in the 
M04  89 air that even the surliest jogger or transiting alcoholic would 
M04  90 slow his pace to drink in the beneficent aroma.<p/>
M04  91 <p_>Looking back, I can fix the turning point of both my life and 
M04  92 Ron's to the very second. The carriages from the Palace were making 
M04  93 their fortnightly exercise along the main road through the Park and 
M04  94 for once the Lord Chamberlain of the Household had decided to 
M04  95 accompany them in order to take the air. It was a fine morning 
M04  96 after heavy overnight rain and there was a slight breeze from the 
M04  97 east. On passing the rose garden the Lord Chamberlain became aware 
M04  98 of the heavenly aroma and called for his carriage to halt. The 
M04  99 black horses stood stock still, plumes of breath visible in the 
M04 100 cool morning air, the black shiny carriage with the Royal coat of 
M04 101 arms standing behind them like a hearse.<p/>
M04 102 <p_>As it happened, Ron was walking almost exactly opposite the 
M04 103 carriage as it stopped and the whole following scene took place as 
M04 104 neatly as though choreographed for a formula TV drama. The Lord 
M04 105 Chamberlain addressed Ron directly, seeking to know who was 
M04 106 responsible for the roses. Having discovered that the answer was 
M04 107 standing before him, he immediately ordered that six dozen of the 
M04 108 choicest and most scented blooms should be delivered to the Palace 
M04 109 that very morning.<p/>
M04 110 <p_>At that same moment I was cycling along, minding my own 
M04 111 business (more or less but had allowed my attention to become 
M04 112 distracted by the sight of the Lord Chamberlain, who was tall, 
M04 113 distinguished and wearing a black morning coat, in conversation 
M04 114 with Ron, who was round-shouldered, shifty and had his overalls 
M04 115 held up with a tie.<p/>
M04 116 <p_>Some days in the Park, when the tarmac is wet and the sun is 
M04 117 still low in the morning sky, the glare from the road is so intense 
M04 118 that one cannot see where one is going at all. On this particular 
M04 119 day, thus distracted and blinded from all the normal sensory 
M04 120 contact and control, and at the very moment the Lord Chamberlain 
M04 121 was ordering the six dozen roses for His Majesty, I crashed into a 
M04 122 Panificio Siciliano bakery lorry, which was intent on delivery to 
M04 123 the lakeside restaurant and coming along on the wrong side of the 
M04 124 road. I was killed outright.<p/>
M04 125 <p_>The postillion of the Royal landau, unfortunately, was 
M04 126 listening to a personal stereo and remained unaware of my plight, 
M04 127 which was beyond the scope of his peripheral vision. The Lord 
M04 128 Chamberlain's senses were fully occupied with the roses and Ron's 
M04 129 were fully occupied with the Lord Chamberlain. The bakery driver, 
M04 130 who had a part-time job in the Paddington mafia and didn't want to 
M04 131 get involved with the police, made an extraordinarily rapid 
M04 132 assessment of his situation and then scooped up my body and my 
M04 133 bicycle and threw it into the back of his lorry along with the big 
M04 134 brown paper sacks of French sticks. An hour later, unobserved, he 
M04 135 left my remains in some rhododendron bushes behind a statue 
M04 136 dedicated to the cavalry of the Empire, which is were Ron found me 
M04 137 late that afternoon.<p/>
M04 138 <p_>One thing you have to admire about Ron is his farsightedness. 
M04 139 He had already , within hours, realised that a special relationship 
M04 140 with the Lord Chamberlain of the Household and a contract to supply 
M04 141 roses could well be the opportunity of a lifetime. Somehow Ron knew 
M04 142 that, like the inexorable burgeoning of a wigwam of sweet peas, 
M04 143 this opportunity would grow and grow but would need food and 
M04 144 attention if it was to survive. He knew that his empire was going 
M04 145 to expand and that he would need more resources of all practical 
M04 146 kinds. When he came across my body, still fresh, and the discarded 
M04 147 bicycle, still oiled, he knew that an evening's work in the 
M04 148 laboratory could produce something very useful at almost no 
M04 149 cost.<p/>
M04 150 <p_>I was never heard of again. Work thought I was ill, home 
M04 151 thought I was just staying late at the office or had gone somewhere 
M04 152 for a drink or someone's leaving or birthday party. By the time I 
M04 153 was reported missing - late the next morning - there was no 
M04 154 evidence of where I had gone at all.<p/>
M04 155 <p_>For many weeks life in the Park showed no discernible change. 
M04 156 As I went round with Ron about his business, helping him carry 
M04 157 manure for the roses, I became more familiar with the range of life 
M04 158 within the Park. Ron would talk to me about it; he knew that he had 
M04 159 restored some sentience to my creaking frame, though to this day I 
M04 160 cannot be sure whether he knew how much. He spoke as though he were 
M04 161 speaking to himself and it was thus that I became aware of his 
M04 162 deepest fears and longings. I also, of course, without volition and 
M04 163 therefore without guilt, became his accomplice.<p/>
M04 164 <p_>The mornings remained quiet, even stately, and very British, 
M04 165 the riders, the swimmers, walkers, tramps, soldiers and occasional 
M04 166 celebrities acknowledging each other's presence with the barest 
M04 167 nods of recognition, each wrapped in his or her own private 
M04 168 communion with nature. Later in the day, the swarms of tourists 
M04 169 would invade, running, littering, sprawling, and trampling without 
M04 170 though beyond immediate gratification of base desires. The stench 
M04 171 of decayed meat began to float from the franchised hot-dog and 
M04 172 burger cabins. Ron would become more and more irritable as the day 
M04 173 went on, as his scum formed on the surface of his beloved Park, as 
M04 174 the deckchairs were abused, as people who were really no better 
M04 175 than common peasants would use the rides for sand fights or even 
M04 176 open defecation.<p/>
M04 177 <p_>By the early evening on a warm summer day the scene by the 
M04 178 serpentine lake would metamorphose again from the morning's 
M04 179 Britishness into a Byzanmtine phantasmagoria. Half close you eyes 
M04 180 and you could imagine yourself on the corniche at Abu Dhabi. 
M04 181 Swarthy faces and flashing eyes and wrists patrolled the lakeside 
M04 182 drag. There were sheikhs and princes (at least Ron said they were) 
M04 183 and lofty Bedu, leavened with darker faces and crinkly hair from 
M04 184 Zanzibar or the smaller, wirier shopkeeper class from Gujerat via 
M04 185 Dubai. Ron had learned the distinctions of caste like a true 
M04 186 phylum/species-trained horticulturist. Away to the west and 
M04 187 north-east the jewellery and perfume counters of Selfridges and 
M04 188 Harrods lay in ruins. Back here men in white shoes and bracelets, 
M04 189 neck chains and open-necked shirts would parade with the 
M04 190 nonchalance of the very rich. Behind them, wrapped dolls waddled in 
M04 191 black, faces beaked. Other dolls adopted a different style, 
M04 192 brightly coloured in silks and taffeta that fluoresced in the early 
M04 193 evening sun.
M04 194 
M05   1 <#Flob:M05\><p_><h_>SONNIE'S EDGE<p/>
M05   2 <p_>P.F.Hamilton<p/><h/>
M05   3 <p_>I LEANT on <tf|>Cloudborne's starboard rail as we left the Fens 
M05   4 Archipelago behind and sailed into the calm, mud-thickened water of 
M05   5 Peterborough's harbour basin. My reflection wavered languidly on 
M05   6 the coffee coloured surface, shot through with the sun's polarised 
M05   7 dazzle flecks: a twenty-two year old girl with a blonde bob 
M05   8 hairstyle, wearing a sleeveless black t-shirt and olive-green 
M05   9 bermuda shorts, feet crammed into fraying white pumps. The face 
M05  10 wasn't bad, Jacob had rebuilt it to give me the prominent cheek 
M05  11 bones I'd always wanted as a teenager. Maybe it wasn't as 
M05  12 expressive as it should've been, but the gentle swell made it hard 
M05  13 to tell.<p/>
M05  14 <p_>Salt air crashed with the dry gamey breath of the city, a 
M05  15 coarse jaded brew, baked by the steel noon sun overhead. The smell 
M05  16 slipped down easy, like a tonic. It spoke of hustling, of fear and 
M05  17 pain. City and People are almost a state of mind to me, I feed off 
M05  18 them, knowing what they want, supplying it.<p/>
M05  19 <p_>Post-Warming life is dull, repetitive; it is time holding its 
M05  20 breath. One day, our gene-tailored plants will replenish the ozone, 
M05  21 and the frosts are going to return to crisp the land; when they do 
M05  22 life will quicken. But meantime, we idle by. It's an era in which 
M05  23 excitement can command high prices. Excitement, that's how me and 
M05  24 the rest of Sonnie's Predators suckle money. And we've brought a 
M05  25 slice to Peterborough. Tonight, there's going to be a fight.<p/>
M05  26 <p_>Biestie-Baiting: the all-time blood-sport; spectacularly gory, 
M05  27 ultra-emotive, addictive, and always lethal. It's new and it's 
M05  28 happening. And Sonnie's Pedators are one nova-hot team. Seventeen 
M05  29 straight wins. We've got Baiter groupies strung out from the Orkney 
M05  30 isles down to Cornwall.<p/>
M05  31 <p_>I was lucky, plugging in at level one, when all the rage was 
M05  32 modifying rottweilers and dobermans with fang implants and razor 
M05  33 claws.<p/>
M05  34 <p_>Karran and Jacob were the team's nucleus, loaded with grade 
M05  35 fourteen bioware Technique. They'd skipped out of their 
M05  36 agricultural combine, blued with its restrictive, quasi-religious 
M05  37 hierarchy. Bating was the only financially viable alternative for 
M05  38 their talent, other than opting straight into another combine.<p/>
M05  39 <p_>Ivrina had just started helping them with gene splices when I 
M05  40 arrived, a drifter with little ambition, but enough sense to 
M05  41 realise this was <tf|>different, something I could immerse myself 
M05  42 in, maybe even make a go of.<p/>
M05  43 <p_>Wes joined seven months later, loaded with hardware Technique, 
M05  44 an essential addition to a sport whose sophistication was 
M05  45 increasing on a near-daily basis. He maintained the clone vats, 
M05  46 lightware cores, and Khanivore's life support pod, plus a thousand 
M05  47 miscellaneous units. And all of us took basic grade seamanship Buds 
M05  48 to crew <tf|>Cloudborne.<p/>
M05  49 <p_>We were doing all right, Jac's Banshees, as we were known back 
M05  50 then, battling hard for cult status. A good win ratio, notching 
M05  51 sixty per cent, scored us a long cool fix of brash optimism. Jac's 
M05  52 Banshees were going to make it. The purse money was enough to keep 
M05  53 us independent, the old poor but proud kick; the majority of Baiter 
M05  54 teams are syndicate backed, even the Rose parties field a few on 
M05  55 the sly.<p/>
M05  56 <p_>Then I had my mishap, and we acquired our killer edge.<p/>
M05  57 <p_>I heard <tf|>Cloudborne's membrane sail rustle softly behind 
M05  58 me. Jacob was using his affinity link with the ship's bioware 
M05  59 processors, ordering the photosynthetic sheet to furl itself; 
M05  60 reducing our speed as the water traffic built up around us.<p/>
M05  61 <p_>The port's fleet of fishing smacks were outbound, cruising down 
M05  62 the deep water channel to the Wash. Two dozen square-rig 
M05  63 merchantmen were anchored in a loose circle round the ruins of 
M05  64 Peterborough's cathedral. Only the walls remained, sagging 
M05  65 dangerously, chocolate-mud tide marks leeching to the lower stones. 
M05  66 Smaller trading junks, of the kind that plough the runs between the 
M05  67 Archipelago and the mainland, swarmed across the basin like flies 
M05  68 around an Afghan meat stall.<p/>
M05  69 <p_>The bustle was fun to watch, the boats chirpy; I'm a landgirl, 
M05  70 born and bred, I have the same sort of dumb mesmerism for the sea 
M05  71 as any five year old. And deep water doesn't scare me, not any 
M05  72 more.<p/>
M05  73 <p_>The berth with Dicko, Peterborough's Baiting arena promoter, 
M05  74 had booked for us was in an older part of the harbour, quieter; the 
M05  75 quay was wooden, standing on thick clustered pile stilts. Wes and I 
M05  76 hopped the gap as <tf|>Cloudborne drew alongside, and busied 
M05  77 ourselves securing her cables to big iron rings. Karran dropped the 
M05  78 plank and stepped ashore, setting  a wide panama hat over her ruff 
M05  79 of titian hair. Ivrina followed, wearing just a halter top and 
M05  80 sawn-off jeans, UV-proofing had turned her skin a rich cinnamon. 
M05  81 Wes snaked an arm protectively round her waist as she stood 
M05  82 sniffing the air.<p/>
M05  83 <p_><quote_>"So how's the vibes, Sonnie?"<quote/> Karran asked.<p/>
M05  84 <p_>They all paused, even Jacob on deck. If a Baiting team's 
M05  85 fighter hasn't got the right bounce, then you just pack up and go 
M05  86 straight home. For all their ingenuity and technical back-up, the 
M05  87 rest of the team play no part in the bout. It's all down to me.<p/>
M05  88 <quote_>"Riding high,"<quote/> I told them. <quote_>"Wrap it up in 
M05  89 five minutes."<quote/> There'd only been one time when we'd docked 
M05  90 that I'd doubted; up in Newcastle, a bout against King Panther. 
M05  91 It'd wound up a bitch of a scrap, Khanivore was cut up pretty bad. 
M05  92 Even then, I'd won. The stuff Baiter legends are made of.<p/>
M05  93 <p_>Ivrina paunched a fist into her palm. <quote_>"Atta 
M05  94 girl."<quote/> She looked peppery, spoiling for trouble. Anyone 
M05  95 would think she was going to boost Khanivore. She certainly had the 
M05  96 right fire; but whether she'd have the nerve to go for my special 
M05  97 brand of killer edge I don't know.<p/>
M05  98 <p_>It turned out that Dicko was a smooth organiser. A pleasant 
M05  99 surprise; some bouts we've wondered if we'd actually get there on 
M05 100 the day. But we were still plugging <tf|>Cloudborne's nutrient 
M05 101 couplings into the quay's leaky arteries when his waggon rolled up. 
M05 102 It was a covered flatbed, pulled by two beautiful black 
M05 103 stallions.<p/>
M05 104 <p_>There were eight roadies from the arena to load Khanivore's 
M05 105 life support pod, muscle-augments, looking like Mr Universe dolls 
M05 106 someone had over-inflated. Jacob bossed them, his round beefy face 
M05 107 sweating as the opaque glassy cylinder was hoisted out of the 
M05 108 forward hold, along with his ancillary modules. He does the 
M05 109 surgical work, stitching our beastie together from the components 
M05 110 Ivrina and Karran grow in the vats. I don't know why he frets so; 
M05 111 more than any of us, he knows how tough Khaniovore's hide is.<p/>
M05 112 <p_>Jacob rode on the wagon with the driver, the rest of us 
M05 113 followed in a couple of rickshaws. It took us nearly an hour to 
M05 114 drive the two miles to the arena. Peterborough was wickedly 
M05 115 overcrowded, pedestrians and cyclists wedged tight; dense-packed 
M05 116 buildings, new and ancient, a random collage of styles, their 
M05 117 facades smothered in a patina of jet-black solar panels and emerald 
M05 118 precipitator leaves. When the polar melt flooded the Fens, the city 
M05 119 was swamped by refugees. Now those families are into their third 
M05 120 generation; they haven't got anywhere to go, not with the sea 
M05 121 lapping their heels. Only cults, communes, and co-ops have the cash 
M05 122 for coral seeds to grow islands out in the Archipelago-government 
M05 123 doesn't. Peterborough is a microcosm of modern England, constructed 
M05 124 and force grown; a propagator of extremes, of wealth and poverty, 
M05 125 spice and despair. I liked it.<p/>
M05 126 <p_>The arena had started life as a vast tubing warehouse before 
M05 127 Dicko set up shop. He kept the corrugated panel shell, stripping 
M05 128 out the auto-stack machinery, then grew a polyp pit in the 
M05 129 centre-circular, fifteen yards in diameter, with a four-yard-high 
M05 130 wall, its floor was roughened for traction. It was completely 
M05 131 surrounded by amphitheatre seating, simple concentric circles of 
M05 132 wooden plank benches straddling a spiderwork of rusty scaffolding. 
M05 133 The top row was twenty yards above the cracked, dusty concrete 
M05 134 floor, nearly scraping the condensation-slicked roof panelling. 
M05 135 Looking at the rickety lash-up made me glad I wasn't a 
M05 136 spectator.<p/>
M05 137 <p_>Our green room was the warehouse supervisor's office. The 
M05 138 roadies grunted Khanivore's life support pod into place on a set of 
M05 139 heavy wood trestles. They creaked, but held.<p/>
M05 140 <p_>Ivrina and I started taping black polythene over the grime 
M05 141 crusted windows, Wes mated the ancillary modules with the arena's 
M05 142 power supply, five two-metre square solar panels pinned to the 
M05 143 roof.<p/>
M05 144 <p_>Jacob came in smiling broadly. <quote_>"The odds are nine to 
M05 145 two in favour. I put five grand on us. Reckon you can handle that, 
M05 146 Sonnie?"<quote/><p/>
M05 147 <p_><quote_>"The Urban Gorgons have just acquired one dead 
M05 148 beastie,"<quote/> I said.<p/>
M05 149 <p_><quote_>"My girl," <quote/> Wes said proudly, slapping my 
M05 150 shoulder. The words cut deep. Wes and I had been an inseparable 
M05 151 pair for ten months, right up until my mishap. Now he and Ivrina 
M05 152 were rocking the ship each night. I didn't hold it against him, not 
M05 153 consciously anyway. But seeing them walking along, arms entwined, 
M05 154 necking, laughing, that left me cold.<p/>
M05 155 <p_>Two hours before the bout Dicko showed up. He was a dignified 
M05 156 old man, tall and thin, with bushy silvery hair, a slightly stiff 
M05 157 walk. His garb was strictly last century: light grey suit with slim 
M05 158 lapels, a white shirt with small maroon bow tie. There was a girl 
M05 159 in tow, mid-teens and nicely proportioned, sweet-faced, too; a 
M05 160 fluff cloud of curly chestnut hair framing a composed demure 
M05 161 expression. She wore a simple square-necked lemon-yellow dress with 
M05 162 a long skirt. I felt sorry for her. But it's and ancient story, I 
M05 163 get to see it countless times at each bout. At least it told me all 
M05 164 I wanted to know about Dicko and his cultivated genteel mannerisms. 
M05 165 <tf|>Mr. Front.<p/>
M05 166 <p_>One of the roadies closed the door behind him, cutting off the 
M05 167 sounds of conversation from the main hall, a buzzing PA. Dicko gave 
M05 168 me and the other girls a shallow bow, and handed an envelope to 
M05 169 Jacob.<p/> 
M05 170 <p_><quote_>"Your appearance fee." <quote/><p/>
M05 171 <p_>The envelope disappeared into Jacob's sleeveless leather 
M05 172 jacket.<p/>
M05 173 <p_>Delicate silver eyebrow lifted. <quote_>"You are not going to 
M05 174 count it?"<quote/><p/>
M05 175 <p_><quote_>"Your reputation is good,"<quote/> Jacob told him. 
M05 176 <quote_>"You're a prop, top notch. That's the word."<quote/><p/>
M05 177 <p_><quote_>"How very kind. And you, too, are well 
M05 178 recommended."<quote/><p/>
M05 179 I listened to him and the rest of the team swapping nonsense. I 
M05 180 didn't like it, he was intruding. Some teams like to party 
M05 181 pre-bout, some trash and re-trash tactics. Me, I like a bit of 
M05 182 peace and quiet to zen myself up; friends who'll talk if I want, 
M05 183 who know when to keep quiet. I jittered about, wait-tension making 
M05 184 my skin crawl. Every time I glanced at the girl her eyes 
M05 185 dropped.<p/>
M05 186 <p_><quote_>"I wonder if I might take a peek at Khanivore?"<quote/> 
M05 187 Dicko asked.<p/>
M05 188 The others swivelled <tf_>en masse<tf/> to consult me.<p/>
M05 189 <p_><quote_>"Sure thing,"<quote/> I said. After the old boy had 
M05 190 seen it maybe he'd scoot. You can't really shunt someone out of 
M05 191 their own turf.<p/>
M05 192 <p_>We clustered round the life support pod, except for the girl. 
M05 193 Wes turned down the opacity. Dicko's face hardened into grim 
M05 194 appreciation, a corpse grin. It chilled me down.<p/>
M05 195 <p_>Khanivore is three yards high; roughly hominoid, in that it has 
M05 196 two trunk-like legs and a barrel torso, albeit encased in a black 
M05 197 segmented exoskeleton. After that things get a little out of 
M05 198 kilter. The top of the torso sprouts five armoured tentacles, two 
M05 199 of them ending in pincers. They were curled up to fit into the pod, 
M05 200 nesting boa constrictors. There was a thick, ten-inch, prehensile 
M05 201 neck supporting a nightmare head. Sculpted from bone that'd been 
M05 202 polished to a black chrome gleam, half of it a shark-snout jaw with 
M05 203 a double row of teeth; deep creases and circular recesses hid and 
M05 204 protected sensor organs.<p/>
M05 205 <p_>Dicko reached out and touched the life support pod 
M05 206 reverentially. <quote_>"Excellent,"<quote/> he whispered, then: 
M05 207 <quote_>"I want you to take a dive."<quote/><p/>
M05 208 <p_>There was a moment of dark silence.<p/>
M05 209 <p_><quote_>"Do what?" <quote/> Karran squeaked.<p/>
M05 210 <p_>Dicko beamed his dead smile straight at her. <quote_>"A dive. 
M05 211 You'll be well paid, double the winning purse, ten thousand 
M05 212 guineas. That should go a long way to easing the strain on an 
M05 213 amateur team like you. We can even discuss some future 
M05 214 dates."<quote/><p/>
M05 215 
M06   1 <#FLOB:M06/><h_><p_>STAR OF EPSILON<p/>
M06   2 <p_>by Eric Brown<h/><p/>
M06   3 <p_>Paris was in again, a hundred years on: '68 found me on the 
M06   4 left bank, playing to crowds in <tf_>'The Blue Shift'<tf/> 
M06   5 slouchbar. I blitzed 'em with cosmic visions. I sub-circuited 
M06   6 direct, employed slo-mo, ra-ta-tat shots, even visual cut-ups, in 
M06   7 homage. Goddard and Burroughs were back in, too,. Had to do with 
M06   8 nostalgia, the harking back to supposedly better times. Hell... 
M06   9 Didn't I know that? Wasn't I cashing in on the fact that we all 
M06  10 live a lie? Wasn't I giving the crowds what they wanted 'cos they'd 
M06  11 never get it otherwise?<p/> 
M06  12 <p_>I met her after a night performance.<p/> 
M06  13 <p_>"<tf_>The Blue Shift<tf/>" was the scene that month.<p/> 
M06  14 <p_>It wasn't just the drugs they pumped but the live acts, I liked 
M06  15 to think. I alternated nights with a cute fifteen year-old 
M06  16 sado-masochist on sensitized feedback. It wasn't my kick, but 
M06  17 off-nights I'd sneak downstairs and jack-in. And jack-out again, 
M06  18 fast. Three minutes was all I could take of this kid - my 
M06  19 opposition. The management had it sussed. They played us 
M06  20 counterpoint: one night this weird little girl giving out 
M06  21 intimations of death and id-gris-lies like no kid should, and the 
M06  22 next old Abe Santana with his visions of Nirvana-thru-flux, the 
M06  23 glories of the space-lanes.<p/> 
M06  24 <p_>The girl intrigued me. The neon-glitz out front billed her as 
M06  25 Jo, and that was enough to pull the freaks. Her act was simple. On 
M06  26 stage a sudden spotlight found a small cross-legged figure in a 
M06  27 <tf|>Pierrot suit, white-powdered face a paragon of melancholy 
M06  28 complete with stylised tear. She'd come on easy at first, slipping 
M06  29 fear sub-lim at the slouched crowd. Her head was shaven, but a 
M06  30 tangle of leads snaking from her cortical-implant gave her the 
M06  31 aspect of a par-shorn medusa. The leads went down inside her suit 
M06  32 and into the stage, coming out by the cushions. Freaks jacked-in 
M06  33 and got fear first, subtle unease. Then the kid shifted her 
M06  34 position, sitting now with outstretched legs together, arms 
M06  35 stanchioned behind her, palms down. The nursery pose contradicted 
M06  36 the horror coming down the leads, the hindbrain terror of 
M06  37 mortality. She tapped into us and found our fear of death and gave 
M06  38 it back, redoubled - turning us to stone.<p/> 
M06  39 <p_>First time I jacked-in I wondered how she did this, what magic 
M06  40 she worked to show us that which we tried to deny, even to 
M06  41 ourselves. So the next night I stayed with it a while longer, and I 
M06  42 found out. Little Jo was dying. She was fifteen and she'd never see 
M06  43 sixteen and the gut-kick I experienced when I realised this was 
M06  44 zero compared with her angst. That's when I jacked-out, sickened, 
M06  45 left and got loaded and tried to forget.<p/> 
M06  46 <p_>Over the next few weeks I was lured back again and again. I 
M06  47 knew what I wanted: not the orgasm of terror the rest of the crowd 
M06  48 got high on, but the futile reassurance that Jo was not really 
M06  49 dying, that her performance was just a death-analogue recorded from 
M06  50 some terminal patient, encoded in Jo's computer and used cynically 
M06  51 to thrill.<p/> 
M06  52 <p_>But the more I experienced her act, the more I knew I was 
M06  53 dreaming. Jo was dying, okay. She gave out death and when the 
M06  54 audience were convinced that they were dying she reversed the feed 
M06  55 and drank it back, and you could almost hear the gasp of her soul 
M06  56 as its need was quenched. The kid's in love with death, I told 
M06  57 myself, as if hoping this might ease my heartache: perhaps, if she 
M06  58 was, then I could pity her a little less...<p/> 
M06  59 <p_>Then one time I stayed in for ten minutes, and I found out the 
M06  60 truth. The only reason she reversed the feed was to take from the 
M06  61 crowd the knowledge that they too would some day die, to reassure 
M06  62 herself that she was not alone in the dying process we all call 
M06  63 living.<p/> 
M06  64 <p_>That ten minutes was the last I took. I avoided the club on my 
M06  65 night off. I couldn't go near the place and those freaks in there - 
M06  66 I thought many a time over a drink in some darkened, nondescript 
M06  67 bar - they stayed jacked-in for hours! And that brought me back to 
M06  68 what I was running from, the fear of death and the terrible 
M06  69 realisation that Jo was plugged into that <tf|>weltschmerz for the 
M06  70 rest of her life...<p/> 
M06  71 <p_>And my act?<p/> 
M06  72 <p_>How many of the crowd who freaked out on Jo's came to mine? 
M06  73 Their diametric content would suggest none, but I hoped some people 
M06  74 needed antidote.<p/> 
M06  75 <p_>I'd start simple. I'd give them the experience of an Engineman 
M06  76 emerging from the flux; the elusive ghost of rapture that haunted 
M06  77 his mind; the drone of auxiliary burners; the knowledge that we 
M06  78 were lighting into the Nilakantha Stardrift on a mission of rescue. 
M06  79 Then I'd hold this sensory input under and come in with the 
M06  80 voice-over:<p/> 
M06  81 <p_><quote_>"Fifty years ago I mind-pushed Bigships for the 
M06  82 Canterbury Line..."<quote/><p/>
M06  83 <p_>I'd take them at hyper-c through the Nada-continuum, coming out 
M06  84 places they'd only dreamed about or seen in travel brochures. Black 
M06  85 holes were a favourite, and I took them on a tour of a giant 
M06  86 nicknamed Calcutta, courting disaster on the hazardous 
M06  87 event-horizon, the Bigship a surfer on the math of 
M06  88 Einstein-Fernandez physics. Then I'd sling the 'ship at a 
M06  89 blistering tangent off across uncharted space, on the trail of new 
M06  90 and more wondrous adventure... The main theme was always wonder - 
M06  91 the hint of Nirvana that every Engineman experiences in the 
M06  92 flux.<p/> 
M06  93 <p_>My customers left satisfied, uplifted.<p/> 
M06  94 <p_>Then one night after her performance Jo was stretchered off 
M06  95 comatose, and I didn't know whether to feel relief that at last she 
M06  96 had died, or sadness at the passing of someone I had hardly known. 
M06  97 Later her manager told me that Jo was fine, she'd recover. Would I 
M06  98 fill in for her this week? And I said yes, relieved that I might 
M06  99 have the opportunity to get to know her, after all, and hating 
M06 100 myself because of that.<p/> 
M06 101 <p_>We're quark-harvesting a long, long way from Earth. I step from 
M06 102 the flux-tank, as we are coasting now. I look through the 
M06 103 viewscreen, behold the sweeping sickle sponsors reaping fiery 
M06 104 quarks. The 'aft scene is even more spectacular, a panoramic 
M06 105 miracle. The converted energy is fired from the Bigship in blinding 
M06 106 c-velocity bolts, streaking away on a multi-billion light year bend 
M06 107 that describes the inner curve of the universe. And I'm moved 
M06 108 almost to tears, along with my audience, though for different 
M06 109 reasons.<p/> 
M06 110 <p_>For a long time after the performance I sat yogi-fashion. The 
M06 111 crowd cheered and applauded, then moved back to the bar or out into 
M06 112 the night. And I was ashamed, like a preacher who has convinced his 
M06 113 congregation but does not himself believe.<p/> 
M06 114 <p_>Technicians dismantled the rig, unplugged me and wound in the 
M06 115 leads. A few tourists tried to get to me, to say how much they'd 
M06 116 enjoyed the performance. They were stopped by the heavies, who knew 
M06 117 how low I left after my act.<p/> 
M06 118 <p_>The club never closed, but trade hit a low around four in the 
M06 119 morning. I was still there then, in the darkness of the stage, 
M06 120 thinking back and regretting the events of all those years ago, the 
M06 121 pretence of the present. A few junkies slouched at the bar, getting 
M06 122 their fix jugularwise.<p/> 
M06 123 <p_>As I sat, a kid crawled from a cushioned bunker between the bar 
M06 124 and the stage. She headed my way on all fours, galumphing over 
M06 125 cushions and the wraparound membranes in the floor. I assumed she 
M06 126 was a fan who wanted to rap about how it was to flux on the 
M06 127 Bigships...<p/> 
M06 128 <p_>She climbed aboard the stage and sat before me cross-legged, 
M06 129 like a mirror-image of myself. She had long black hair, too 
M06 130 luxuriant for a kid her age, too sensual.<p/> 
M06 131 <quote_>"I loved our performance,"<quote/> she said in a husky 
M06 132 voice which, like her hair, belonged to a thirty year-old.<p/> 
M06 133 <p_>She had a triangular, coffee-brown face and large green eyes. 
M06 134 She should have been a nice-looking kid, but there was some 
M06 135 disunity in the planes of her cheeks which made her almost 
M06 136 ugly.<p/> 
M06 137 <p_><quote|>"Hey," I said, weary. <quote_>"Go home. Get some 
M06 138 sleep."<quote/><p/>
M06 139 <p_>A flash of emerald anger. <quote_>"I said I liked your 
M06 140 show."<quote/><p/>
M06 141 <p_><quote_>"And I said-"<quote/><p/>
M06 142 <p_><quote_>"Abe," <quote/> she smiled, serious. <quote_>"I know 
M06 143 you want to flux again....<quote/><p/>
M06 144 <p_>I looked at her, guarded. She had it wrong, but only just.<p/> 
M06 145 So I said, <quote_>"How...?" <quote/><p/>
M06 146 <p_>She grinned at me. <quote_>"I experienced your show good, Abe. 
M06 147 Your need was in there. Those fools might not have read it, but I 
M06 148 did."<quote/><p/>
M06 149 <p_>Then I saw the teflon protuberance at the base of her skull. I 
M06 150 lifted a tress of hair, fingered sockets worn smooth through 
M06 151 use.<p/> 
M06 152 <p_><quote_>"Who are you?"<quote/> I whispered<p/>
M06 153 <p_><quote_>"I'm just another German-Turk from Dusseldorf,"<quote/> 
M06 154 she shrugged, <quote_>"with a taste for sick 
M06 155 theatrics."<quote/><p/> 
M06 156 <p_>I smiled and shook my head.<p/> 
M06 157 <p_><quote_>"You still don't recognise? How about if I wore a 
M06 158 <tf|>Pierrot suit and a big tear,"<quote/> she said, 
M06 159 <quote|>"here".<p/>
M06 160 <p_>"Jo?"<p/> 
M06 161 <p_><quote_>"Jodie Schimelmann."<quote/><p/> 
M06 162 <p_>I felt a tremor inside. This was the kid who'd rocked me with 
M06 163 haunting visions of death. She was fifteen years-old and she'd 
M06 164 stared oblivion in the face and she was still here.<p/> 
M06 165 <p_>I'd be ninety in a month and I felt a burning sense of shame at 
M06 166 the injustice.
M06 167 <p_><quote_>"I need your help"<quote/>, she said.<p/> 
M06 168 <p_>I shook my head. <quote_>"How can I possibly help 
M06 169 you?"<quote/><p/> 
M06 170 <p_>So she told me she was dying.<p/> 
M06 171 <p_>Until six months ago Jodie worked in the spaceyards at Orly. 
M06 172 She was a flux-monkey, an engineer whose job it was to crawl inside 
M06 173 the exhaust ventricles of Bigships and carry out repairs on the 
M06 174 auxiliary burners. It was hard work, but she didn't complain; she 
M06 175 lived well and saved enough creds to send home to her mother in 
M06 176 Germany.<p/> 
M06 177 <p_>Then one check-up she was found to have contracted some 
M06 178 complicated virus that had lodged as spores in the flux-vent of a 
M06 179 Bigship she had worked on. She was given a year to live, paid off 
M06 180 and discharged. Jodie was rotting inside with some alien analogue 
M06 181 of carcinoma that had attacked her marrow, lymph glands and 
M06 182 trachea... It was a miracle she was still alive and active, but she 
M06 183 loaded herself with analgesics every day and went on fighting.<p/> 
M06 184 <p_>The disease explained her voice, of course, and the fact that 
M06 185 she wore a wig. Ironic that that which was killing her also gave 
M06 186 her the appearance of someone much older, while in her head she had 
M06 187 matured as well.<p/> 
M06 188 <p_>I said, <quote_>"Isn't there a cure?"<quote/><p/> 
M06 189 <p_><quote_>"Yeah, sure there is. But a cure costs creds, Abe. And 
M06 190 not even my pay off was enough."<quote/><p/> 
M06 191 <p_>I recalled her words. <quote_>"How can I help you?"<quote/><p/> 
M06 192 <p_><p_><quote_>"I need creds. I want the cure. I also want to be 
M06 193 beautiful."<quote/><p/> 
M06 194 I laughed.<p/> 
M06 195 <p_>Then she realised how funny that was and she laughed too.<p/> 
M06 196 <p_><quote_>"See that beautiful woman at the bar?"<quote/> she 
M06 197 asked. <quote_>"The one zonked on jugular-juice and out of 
M06 198 it."<quote/><p/> 
M06 199 <p_>"So?"<p/> 
M06 200 <p_>"So she's dead ugly - honest."<quote/><p/> 
M06 201 <p_><quote_>"I thought you just said she was 
M06 202 beautiful?"<quote/><p/> 
M06 203 <p_>Jo smiled. <quote_>"You ever seen her here before?"<quote/><p/> 
M06 204 <p_><quote_>"She doesn't come in here when I'm on. I'd recognise 
M06 205 her."<quote/><p/> 
M06 206 <p_><quote_>"Yeah? Ever noticed an old woman, maybe a hundred and 
M06 207 fifty? All bags and wrinkles? It's the same woman. She has the 
M06 208 latest sub-dermal capillary electro-cosmetics. What you see there 
M06 209 is a clever light show, a laser display to deceive the eye into 
M06 210 beholding beauty. I want one."<quote/><p/> 
M06 211 <p_><quote_>"But you aren't ugly, Jo."<quote/><p/> 
M06 212 <p_><quote_>"I'm not beautiful."<quote/><p/> 
M06 213 <p_><quote_>"So you want me to get you the creds to buy this 
M06 214 device?"<quote/> I said. I thought I saw her logic. She was almost 
M06 215 terrified by her physical deterioration as she was by her thought 
M06 216 of her death, and she wanted to die looking good.<p/> 
M06 217 <p_>She nodded. <quote_>"That <tf|>and a cure. I want to live, and 
M06 218 I want looks. Think I'm greedy?"<quote/><p/> 
M06 219 <p_>I shrugged. <quote_>"Why live a lie?"<quote/> I asked her, 
M06 220 hypocritical.<p/> 
M06 221 <p_><quote_>"I want both, and you can help me get 
M06 222 them."<quote/><p/> 
M06 223 <p_>So I asked, <quote|>"How?"<p/>
M06 224 

