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Back Stringers Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. FRONT COVER
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CHAPTER ONE
  5. CHAPTER TWO
  6. CHAPTER THREE
  7. CHAPTER FOUR
  8. CHAPTER FIVE
  9. CHAPTER SIX
  10. CHAPTER SEVEN
  11. CHAPTER EIGHT
  12. CHAPTER NINE
  13. CHAPTER TEN
  14. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  15. CHAPTER TWELVE
  16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  43. CHAPTER FORTY
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  55. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
  63. CHAPTER SIXTY
  64. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I shook my head, still disbelieving. We were trillions of miles from where we had been only a minute before, and now suddenly within striking distance of Aszerat. “What about the Timelance?” I asked, already noting the first chills of drug withdrawal. “They know where we’re going. Can we get to Aszerat before them?”

“We’re already there, practically speaking,” said Aptat, “and approximately four gilleys ahead of the Scythin as we speak. We made the trip instantly. A conventional craft, even assuming light speed travel, would be almost four Earth-years behind.”

“You’re going to tell me the Timelance is not conventional?”

“You know that as well as anyone by now, I think,” said Aptat, flicking one of my tubes. “No, it is not. It travels through the bulk, at faster than light speed, relative to us, but still not instantaneously.”

“The bulk?”

“Yes, the space between dimensions.”

“Okay,” I said, my mouth feeling noticeably drier and my head beginning to pound. “How soon will they get here?”

“About three cygies – ur, cycles-galactic. About twelve Earth-days. Plenty of time for you to locate the Chime and dispose of it.”

I gagged on a gout of bile, stopping all but a tiny squirt of it from exiting my mouth.

“Though,” said Aptat, considering my condition, “I’m afraid some of that time will have to be spent getting you and your mate back into fighting shape.”

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Patton and I were full-on space junkies. Aptat had plenty of stuff on board in the way of pharma, but nothing that could help us manage our return to sobriety in a gradual or incremental way. Our last dose of tube food had been some pure, uncut stuff, producing both transcendent sensatory ecstasy and residual hallucinatory effects, along with bewildering healing powers – mainly for Patton.

Patton remained as strong as he’d ever been, despite his own bout of withdrawal. Aptat was shocked to learn that the Scythin had dredged him. Apparently, dredging a non-Stringer was akin to running an engine at top revs with no oil. His mind should have burned right out. But after checking Patton’s coherence with the axon diadem, Aptat was left to conclude that years of drug abuse had actually primed his brain for the onslaught, making it more flexible and elastic – allowing the trauma of dredging to be absorbed where a more sober mind would have shattered.

Aptat’s medical bay – if you could call it that – had only a single bed, and into that, Patton and I were tucked, newly beardless.