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Back Moonseed Save as PDF
Chapters (65)
  1. Annotation
  2. Moonseedby Stephen Baxter
  3. DRAMATIS PERSONAE
  4. PART IBIG WHACK
  5. PART IIARD TOR
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. PART IIIEARTH
  24. 1
  25. 2
  26. 3
  27. 4
  28. 5
  29. 6
  30. 7
  31. 8
  32. 9
  33. 10
  34. 11
  35. 12
  36. 13
  37. 14
  38. 15
  39. 16
  40. 17
  41. 18
  42. 19
  43. 20
  44. 21
  45. 22
  46. 23
  47. 24
  48. 25
  49. 26
  50. PART IVMOON
  51. 1
  52. 2
  53. 3
  54. 4
  55. 5
  56. 6
  57. PART VBOTTLENECK
  58. 1
  59. 2
  60. 3
  61. 4
  62. 5
  63. 6
  64. PART VINADEZHDA
  65. AFTERWORD

She felt herself get more angry. “This is all bullshit.”

But Henry was still talking. “In a way Bran’s thinking has gone far beyond mine; he isn’t questioning the data he sees, or trying to construct hypotheses about it. He is already trying to deal with the consequences. He was brought up to expect a lack of disturbance. A stable world to live in. A long life. Hell, we all were. Now, that’s gone. Bran is offering a way out. At least an explanation. Very skilfully presented. And Mike, and the others, are accepting that. I can’t blame them for that.”

“But it’s all guff.”

“I agree. But I don’t have a smarter alternative to offer anybody right now. Do you?” He studied her. “So why are you so angry today?”

“Because of Mike. Because of you, you smug bastard.”

“No,” he said.

No, she thought. Because I don’t want this to be happening. I want it to be yesterday, when I still had control of my life.

His hand covered hers. “I know,” he said.

“What?”

“About Mike.” He glanced at her. “That’s it, isn’t it? The quarantine breach. How it got out.”

“Yes. And it’s killing him.”

“He couldn’t have known. It wasn’t his fault. If we can get him to—”

A soft warble came from his jacket pocket; he pulled out his mobile phone. He opened it up and listened. “Yeah… Shit.”

“What?”

“Something at the lab. An explosion. I have to go.” He paused a moment, unwilling to leave her. “There’s nothing you can do about Mike now. Come with me. Then we’ll go to your family, and get the hell out of here.”

She hesitated for a second, looking back at the crowds at the base of Arthur’s Seat, her brother among them.

And, visible at the heart of the concentric circles of people milling and laughing and arguing, there was the Moonseed pool, spread like parachute fabric over the Seat. It glimmered softly, the familiar contours of the Seat slowly dissolving into its silky, seductive smoothness; and the silent light-bursts at its perimeter came steadily now, as the Moonseed ate its way through the ancient basalt.

She grabbed Henry’s hand, and they started to run.

15

When Ted Dundas got back from the train wreck, he found the house empty, save for Jack.

Jack stared at the blood and dirt on Ted’s face. Ted let him get used to it. It wouldn’t be the last blood he’d see.