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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:

Ysbel said that her own investigations had been less successful, told Goodwill and Juniper about the native collective which had been supplying the camp of the articulate bears, and described her encounter with the arbiter and her crew at the railhead near the border with bear country and her conversation with Zaquil and Mother.

‘It’s possible that the locals at the railhead were co-operating with the people who set up the camp, and knew more about it than they would admit to me. You might have better luck at persuading them to tell the truth.’

‘I’m sure you tried your best,’ Juniper said. ‘A pity it amounted to so little.’

Ysbel ignored the jibe. ‘I did learn one thing from the arbiter. One of my people passed through the railhead some years ago, and told a story about our Mother. He said that she was not what she claimed to be, but had been created or awakened by sky dwellers. Some amongst my people have similar stories. They call themselves Originists. It may be that a group of Originists helped to set up the camp, and allowed their agent to be captured by you. We might not be heading towards a meeting but a trap got up to silence us.’

Juniper dismissed that as the kind of mistrust and groundless paranoia that polluted the relationship between humans and natives. ‘Your people see a knife in every smile and think us naive for expecting the best of people rather than the worst.’

‘It isn’t paranoid to hope for the best but plan for the worst,’ Ysbel said. ‘It’s common sense.’

‘We have accepted an invitation in good faith,’ Juniper said. ‘It is our best chance to understand this underhand collaboration between our peoples, and to find a way to make things good.’

‘I hope you’re right,’ Ysbel said. ‘I really do. But some of the people involved in this may not be entirely trustworthy. And whoever chose the Dreaming as a hiding place must have had a very good reason to want to stay hidden.’

‘Until now,’ Juniper said blithely.

25.

Presently, the pilot took a break from overwatch of the hopper’s point-and-go automated flight system, told his passengers that they were less than an hour out from their destination and conjured an external view.