“Yours died? So did mine.”
They were quiet for a while, just walking, strolling slowly through an artificial twilight, till Torrence said, “Listen—I didn’t come alone. There’s a friend of mine, guy named Roseland. Abe Roseland. He… he’s kind of suicidal. He was one of the best NR men. After it was over he was going to join the Israeli army—and there’s a good chance Israel’s going to have a war with this new fundamentalist loon that’s running Libya, if Badoit can’t make the peace. Abe’s just looking for a way to get killed. He’s just like Steinfeld, except he’s got a different kind of guilt. Or maybe not so different. I practically had to shanghai him, but I talked him into coming up here. He needs… sanctuary. A place to start over. So do I. Abe, though, won’t come out of his room. I thought maybe if you offered him a job here in Security, he’d—”
“Consider it done. I’ll send our new chief of Security over to talk to him. She’ll recruit him. In fact, he sounds like her type. She might recruit him for more than a job.”
“She who?”
“Her name’s Marion. Listen—you recovered from those wounds?”
“Mostly. I’m working on it. I’m supposed to do aerobics to build up my lungs.”
“I know just the thing. You ever been in freefall?”
“Freefall? Weightless?” He grimaced. “On the ship over here, briefly. Made me sick.”
“That’s because you weren’t adapting right. Got to get the blood moving, see. Get a feel for it.”
He looked at her. There was something mischievous… “Yeah?”
“Yeah. There’re parts of the Colony that are low-grav, so low they’re almost freefall. Some real nice rooms there. Private rooms.” She stopped and looked into his eyes.
He was still Hard-Eyes. He was Daniel Torrence behind the Oriental mask. Her lover was in there still.
“Okay,” he said. “Where’s the freefall room?”
She took his hand. “Come on,” she said. “I’ll show you.”
About the Author
John Shirley is the author of more than thirty novels. He is considered seminal to the cyberpunk movement in science fiction and has been called the “postmodern Poe” of horror. His numerous short stories have been compiled into eight collections including Black Butterflies: A Flock on the Darkside, winner of the Bram Stoker Award, the International Horror Guild Award, and named as one of the best one hundred books of the year by Publishers Weekly. He has written scripts for television and film, and is best known as co-writer of The Crow. As a musician, Shirley has fronted several bands over the years and written lyrics for Blue Öyster Cult and others.
The father of three sons, he lives in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife, Michelina.
To learn more about John Shirley and his work, please visit his website at john-shirley.com.
Also by John Shirley:
Transmaniacon
Dracula in Love
City Come A-Walkin’
Three-Ring Psychus
The Brigade
Cellars
A Splendid Chaos
Wetbones
Silicon Embrace
Demons
The View from Hell
…And the Angel with Television Eyes
Spider Moon
Crawlers
The Other End
Black Glass
Bleak History
Everything Is Broken
Heatseeker
New Noir
The Exploded Heart
Black Butterflies: A Flock on the Darkside
Really Really Really Really Weird Stories
Darkness Divided
Living Shadows: Stories: New and Pre-Owned
In Extremis: The Most Extreme Short Stories of John Shirley
Gurdjieff: An Introduction to His Life and Ideas
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by John Shirley.
Cover art by Paul Morley.
Cover design by Telegraphy Harness.
Ebook design by Neil Clarke.
ISBN: 978-1-60701-346-4 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-1-60701-330-3 (trade paperback)
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