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Beyond the Burn Line

Paul McAuley
Chapters (66)
  1. Copyright
  2. Contents
  3. Epigraph
  4. Part One
  5. 1.
  6. 2.
  7. 3.
  8. 4.
  9. 5.
  10. 6.
  11. 7.
  12. 8.
  13. 9.
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  17. 13.
  18. 14.
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  21. 17.
  22. 18.
  23. 19.
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  27. 23.
  28. 24.
  29. 25.
  30. 26.
  31. 27.
  32. 28.
  33. 29.
  34. 30.
  35. 31.
  36. 32.
  37. Part Two
  38. 1.
  39. 2.
  40. 3.
  41. 4.
  42. 5.
  43. 6.
  44. 7.
  45. 8.
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  64. 27.
  65. 28.
  66. By Paul McAuley:
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Copyright

First published in Great Britain in 2022 by Gollancz

an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd

Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment

London EC4Y 0DZ

An Hachette UK Company

Copyright © Paul McAuley 2022

The moral right of Paul McAuley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN (eBook) 978 1 399 60373 7

Contents

Title Page

Epigraph

Part One: Archaeologies of Memory

Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32

Part Two: The Other Mother

Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28

By Paul McAuley

Epigraph

‘Who shall compute what effects have been produced, and are still, and into deep Time, producing?’

Thomas Carlyle

Part One

Archaeologies of Memory

1.

Three days after Master Able’s body was committed to the Mother, a notary appointed by the Office of Last Things met with the old scholar’s secretary. Settlement of the estate was in hand; it was time to discuss disbursements and distributions.

‘My master’s kin gave me a letter setting out terms at the committal,’ the secretary, Pilgrim Saltmire, said. ‘Including a demand that I quit the house without delay, since my services are no longer required.’

‘They should not have approached you directly,’ the notary said, with a grimace of professional displeasure. ‘So I told Master Able’s brother after he admitted to it. As for the quit notice, I may be able to allow you a few days’ grace. An inventory must be made and approved, and I can see that it will be no small task.’

They were talking in Master Able’s study. A small oval room like a chamber of a stilled heart, lined with specimen cases and book racks, and lit by a single pole lantern draped with a red silk scarf. The notary, a stout, middle-aged person with a precise, patient manner, was perched on the edge of the couch where Master Able had taken his customary afternoon nap. Pilgrim stood before him like a supplicant, leaning on his cane and dressed in the long white shirt, carefully ripped in several places, that signified bereavement and mourning.