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Back Revenger Save as PDF
Chapters (33)
  1. Title Page
  2. Contents
  3. ONE
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. TWO
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. THREE
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. FOUR
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. Also by Alastair Reynolds from Gollancz:
  33. Copyright

All I can say is that the Ghostie gun’s action wasn’t concentrated at that one point in time when Trusko pulled the trigger. It was splintered, cut up into shards and reassembled around that moment, like a deck of cards getting shuffled, so that – in some way that I can’t get at with words – the doors were already sealed before he fired, and Illyria was still looking back at us even after the gun had done its work, and sometimes her visor was up, sometimes it was down, sometimes it was jammed halfway between the two.

I’ve told myself that it couldn’t have been like that, and that it must be my recollection of the sequence of things that got addled, but – much as that helps me to sleep – I ain’t sure it’s exactly true.

No. The Ghostie gun did something shivery to time as well as space and matter, and we were there when it happened, and if that makes a knotty confusion between what’s sane and what isn’t, you can take your complaints to the Ghosties.

25

25

Trusko’s room kept us alive. Even as the rest of the Queenie lost her lungstuff, save for the small part that was contained by bulkhead doors and a few lungstuff-tight spaces – we survived. The cove might not have been the greatest or most courageous captain, but he had taken excellent care of his own amenities. My intution had been right, the first time he called me into his quarters. That sense of solidity wasn’t merely my imagination. The walls and doors enclosing the quarters really were built to a higher standard than the rest of the ship, because Trusko wouldn’t have had it any other way. You could call him a coward for that, and many will. But when he took that Ghostie gun and aimed it at Illyria he knew exactly what he was doing. Maybe one brave, selfless act can’t outweigh a life spent acting otherwise, but I ain’t one to judge. I think Trusko got the crew he wanted, in those last minutes, and I think he did right by them.

Anyway, you’ll hear criticism of Trusko and the sunjammer Queen Crimson, and plenty of it. But you won’t hear it from me and you won’t hear it from Prozor.