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Back Beyond the Burn Line Save as PDF
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.
  14. 10.
  15. 11.
  16. 12.
  17. 13.
  18. 14.
  19. 15.
  20. 16.
  21. 17.
  22. 18.
  23. 19.
  24. 20.
  25. 21.
  26. 22.
  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.
  46. 9.
  47. 10.
  48. 11.
  49. 12.
  50. 13.
  51. 14.
  52. 15.
  53. 16.
  54. 17.
  55. 18.
  56. 19.
  57. 20.
  58. 21.
  59. 22.
  60. 23.
  61. 24.
  62. 25.
  63. 26.
  64. 27.
  65. 28.
  66. By Paul McAuley:

‘I know what it is, but I have not yet seen it,’ Swift said. ‘It didn’t seem important at the time. And even now, being only a seller of secondhand books and other trifles, I do not have official access to the closed stacks. I must make use of the connections I have cultivated, and that involves certain expenses.’

‘I believe that he means bribes,’ Zaquil said. His avatar was still perched on the bowl rim, its elbow on its knee and its fist under its chin.

‘I prefer to think of them as gifts,’ Swift said.

‘Whatever you care to call them, I can pay,’ Ysbel said. ‘But I’d like to have some idea of what I’m paying for.’

Swift looked at Goodwill. ‘Shall I show her?’

‘In the spirit of mutual aid,’ Goodwill said.

Ysbel knelt beside the old bookseller as he turned the pages of the book. Stiff yellow vellum, dense with black ideographs arranged in vertical columns. Swift explained that it was an old form of administrative shorthand, pointed to one of the entries and said that it was a brief description of a carving found in the ruins of one of the new cities, a depiction of two strange figures standing under a burning star or comet.

‘The carving was believed to be a fake, which might explain why it was consigned to the closed stacks.’

‘Given that description, and enough time, I can find it using your bots,’ Zaquil said.

‘How much time?’ Ysbel said.

‘That would depend on the size of the stacks.’

‘I need to see it for myself,’ Ysbel said. ‘And take a sample, for dating. Bots aren’t equipped for that.’

‘I can do things with bots you wouldn’t believe,’ Zaquil said, his smile a starry glint in the miniature avatar’s face.

Ysbel looked at Goodwill. ‘How much will this unofficial gift cost me?’

9.

Goodwill and Swift shared the straw nest behind the paper screen; Ysbel spent an uneasy night on a makeshift bed of lumpy cushions. While the old bookseller snored like a ripsaw steadily working through an unlimited supply of wood, her sleepless mind churned with fruitless speculation about everything she needed to do and everything that could go wrong, beginning with the call to Joyous Hightower she’d promised to make first thing in the morning, and the implications of the mysterious project in the north-west and Goodwill’s story about ghost lights, and how they might be linked to the mysterious figure in the map.