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Chapters (50)
  1. Cover
  2. MARAUDER
  3. HISTORICAL ARCHIVES SUBSECTION C/5 category ALPHA
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. EPILOGUE
  46. TIME LINE
  47. SHOAL TRILOGY
  48. EVENTS FOLLOWING EMPIRE OF LIGHT AND PRECEDING MARAUDER
  49. Acknowledgements
  50. Also by Gary Gibson

Dumb and Dumber here are going to keep an eye on you, he said. And, while youre at it, take your buddy to the head as well, before he shits himself or something. I am right in thinking hed do that, if we just left him there long enough?

You tell me, she said. Im not the one whos kept him locked up in a fucking dungeon.

You keep talking as smart as you do; see where it gets you, said Luiz, finishing with the restraints. Turn over on your side so I can get your cuffs.

Megan did as she was told and felt her wrists suddenly coming free. She tried to rub at them, but hissed between her teeth from the pain. It felt as if the skin had been scraped raw.

Now go get yourself to the head, said Luiz. And dont take too long in case I have to come looking.

She got up out of the couch, feeling her muscles stretching painfully, and then waited while Luiz also released Bash. Once he was out of his couch, she took hold of Bash and led him, not without difficulty, out through the cockpit hatch.

Down the far end, Luiz shouted after her. Second cubby on the left.

Fuck you too, she thought, and wondered if it had been Luizs job to clean up Bash before her arrival on Avilon. If so, hed been doing a very poor job of it.

She pushed Bash up against a bulkhead next to the head and stared into his empty, unseeing eyes. Were you inside my head just a minute ago, Bash? Or did I really just dream all of that?

It hadnt felt like a dream. It had felt real.

But if it had been real, that meant there was at least some part of Bash that was still aware of everything happening around him.

The implications chilled her. If that really was the case, then Bash had remained locked in the prison of his own body, unable to communicate with the outside world . . . for more than a decade.

NINE

Gabrielle

Gabrielle had hardly slept during the night, and when she woke the next morning, on the Eve of Ascension, Cassanas was still avoiding her gaze. When Gabrielle asked to dress herself, the old womans only response was a mumbled nod.

An hour later, Gabrielle made her way up through the tiered decks, trailed by several of Karls guards, until she came to an observation deck on the very uppermost level of the great barge. More guards under Karls command waited in an anteroom as she leaned against a railing, looking out towards the distant horizon, a view coloured slightly by the containment field keeping a breathable atmosphere around the deck itself.