BooksBarbecue
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:

She had primed the machine before she’d walked away from the arbiter. It took off as soon as she was inside, beating straight up and hanging in the air in loiter mode, waiting for her next instruction. She was breathing hard and her heart was hammering and blood was running down her face. She blotted it with the cuff of her blouson and took stock. The wave of panicky fear was withdrawing. She was safe now, higher than the treetops, a little crowd of figures jigging in thwarted rage below. She took manual control and urged the flitter forward and down, towards the loading docks. Crabbing through the air, dropping the cargo cable from its spool in the flitter’s belly, the grab hook at its end swaying above the cages. She failed to hit the spot she’d been aiming for, lifted the flitter a little and tried again. This time the hook dropped neatly into the cage that held the bear and she unspooled more of the cable until it began to coil on the floor. The bear crouched unmoving in a corner. The crazy old thing didn’t understand that she was trying to rescue it, that all it had to do was hold onto the cable and she’d pull it out of its cage.

She rewound the cable until the grab hook was clear of the coil wire that topped the cage, set the flitter down and popped the hatch. A ragged crowd was running across the sidings towards her. She dragged the cable to the bear’s cage and jammed the hook through the wire mesh, palms sweating as she bore down on the hook’s recalcitrant catch until at last it gave and snapped shut.

Natives were clambering onto the loading dock and a small rain of stones was clattering around her as she swung into the flitter and took it back up. The cable snapped taut, the flitter skewed and a section of mesh ripped away, swinging from the hook. Ysbel watched as the bear trotted out of the wreckage, natives bunching together uncertainly as it raised its head and sniffed the air. Across the fan of overgrown sidings, the arbiter was standing in front of one of the sheds, raising a musket to her shoulder. Ysbel didn’t hear the shot but saw the puff of white smoke, saw the bear turn and lollop away past the string of abandoned locomotives. She waited until it had vanished into the trees, then took the flitter higher and headed south.

22.