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Don’t thank me. It’s probational. I have a gun hidden somewhere, where you won’t find it. And if you start driving me up the wall, I’ll risk opening up just to get you out of here. Just, you know, lighten up on my dad. I know that was just for the interview, trying to get some good quotes out of me.

Okay, so you really do hate my dad. But you’re living in his house now. And he may be a monster to you, but I have my own image of him that I keep separate from all that historical stuff. I want to save it from all the crap.

Well, if everyone on Earth dies out, then the people on Free Land will be the only ones writing history. And he’s their founder, right? Even if they left all their families to die. And maybe one day they’ll come back and re-colonize Earth.

Okay, last chance. I key in this sequence, you’re stuck here with me until I decide to open up again. There won’t be any way of knowing what it’s like out there, just guesswork. You sure? Okay. Say goodbye to the world.

About the Author

CHARLIE JANE ANDER’S 2016 novel All the Birds in the Sky was a national bestseller. Earlier, her debut novel Choir Boy (2005) won a Lambda Literary Award. Her journalism and other writing has appeared in, among other venues, Salon, Mother Jones, and The Wall Street Journal. She was for many years the managing editor of the website io9. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

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Copyright

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

SIX MONTHS, THREE DAYS, FIVE OTHERS

Copyright © 2017 Charlie Jane Anders

“The Fermi Paradox Is Our Business Model” copyright © 2010 Charlie Jane Anders

“As Good As New” copyright © 2014 by Charlie Jane Anders

“The Cartography of Sudden Death” copyright © 2013 by Charlie Jane Anders

“Six Months, Three Days” copyright © 2011 Charlie Jane Anders

“Clover” copyright © 2016 by Charlie Jane Anders

“Intestate” copyright © 2012 by Charlie Jane Anders

“The Master Conjurer” copyright © 2013 by Charlie Jane Anders

“Love Might Be Too Strong a Word” copyright © 2008 by Charlie Jane Anders

“Because Change Was the Ocean and We Lived by Her Mercy” Copyright © 2016 Charlie Jane Anders

“Break! Break! Break!” copyright © 2014 by Charlie Jane Anders

“The Unfathomable Sisterhood of Ick” copyright © 2014 by Charlie Jane Anders

“Rock Manning Can’t Hear You” copyright © 2014 by Charlie Jane Anders

“The Last Movie Ever Made” copyright © 2015 by Charlie Jane Anders

“The Day It All Ended” copyright © 2014 by Charlie Jane Anders

“Rat Catcher’s Yellows” copyright © 2015 by Charlie Jane Anders

“The Super Ultra Duchess of Fedora Forest” Copyright © 2016 Charlie Jane Anders

“Margot and Rosalind” Copyright © 2017 Charlie Jane Anders

“Ghost Champagne” Copyright © 2015 Charlie Jane Anders

“Victimless Crimes” Copyright © 2013 Charlie Jane Anders

“Stochastic Fancy: Play the Game and Find True Love” Copyright © 2016 Charlie Jane Anders

“Rager in Space” Copyright © 2016 Charlie Jane Anders

“A Temporary Embarrassment in Spacetime” Copyright © 2017 Charlie Jane Anders

“Palm Strike’s Last Case” copyright © 2014 by Charlie Jane Anders

“I’ve Got The Music In Me” copyright © 2015 by Charlie Jane Anders

“The Time Travel Club” copyright © 2013 by Charlie Jane Anders

“Fairy Werewolf vs. Vampire Zombie” copyright © 2011 by Charlie Jane Anders

“Power Couple (Or “Love Never Sleeps”)” copyright © 2006 by Charlie Jane Anders

“Suicide Drive” copyright © 2008 by Charlie Jane Anders

All rights reserved.

Edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden

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Published by Tom Doherty Associates

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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-0-7653-9489-7 (mini hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-2501-9176-2 (ebook)

eISBN 9781250191762

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First Edition: October 2017