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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 it would. And I’m sorry that I can’t. But I haven’t made good on my debt to Seven yet. If his brothers and sisters are out there, we need to find them and get them to a place where they can stay until this all shakes out.’

‘I haven’t taught her all the songs I’ve learned, either,’ Seven said. ‘Or learned all the songs I need to know.’

‘How will we find you again?’ Ysbel said.

‘When you think it’s safe to reach out to Trina, remind her about the place we fell in love with when we were studying the maps,’ Raia said. ‘Tell her that if she doesn’t hear from me by the end of the research season, she’d better come looking for me there.’

18.

‘We find it hard to talk about bears,’ Goodwill told Ysbel. ‘It exposes old wrongdoings and deep divisions, and raises hard ethical problems. So I can understand why those who cured the articulate bears wanted to keep their work secret. But they were wrong, nevertheless.’

‘The secrecy may have been imposed by my people,’ Ysbel said. ‘A condition for their help.’

‘If it was, my people agreed to it,’ Goodwill said. Although he had been wary and mistrustful of Seven, the bear’s story had fired up his righteous indignation. ‘And if Seven’s story is true, my people were also responsible for the deaths of some of his brothers and sisters. Maybe all of them, if the rest were killed when the camp was closed.’

‘And my people must have known about everything that happened there,’ Ysbel said. ‘So let’s agree that the blame should be shared equally.’

They were hiking through the boggy forest. Afternoon sunlight slanted between the pine trees, throwing long shadows, striking ripples of gold and silver on the surfaces of stagnant pools. They no longer had the protection of Raia and her tranquilliser rifle, had only Ysbel’s bot to keep watch, but she didn’t want to call on Zaquil for help. Not yet. Not until she and Goodwill had talked about what they had learned and decided what they should do.

‘A cure for bears, and what to do with them when they’re cured,’ Goodwill said. ‘It’s going to cause more trouble than the map.’

‘Not necessarily. Not if the figure on the map and Seven’s sky devils were human.’

‘Do you think they were?’

‘If they were human, they can’t have been my kin. They must have been the children of another mother, one who returned home before we did. But if there were others here before us, they’ve left no trace that we could find. And we looked everywhere, when we arrived, for people like us.’