‘And it was you that led them here to arrest me?’
‘Yes. When I saw you on the interplanetary news I figured that there was more to you than I realised.’
‘Good, good. Now he knows why he’s going to die.’ Dr McGowan interrupts. ‘Let’s get on with this, shall we, before we encounter any more problems?’
‘What happened to those men in the alley?’ asks Stanley, trying to keep them talking.
‘Your friends from the SSS won’t be bothering us again.’ Dr McGowan lifts up his syringe to show that the plunger has been pushed down.
‘What’s the SSS?’
‘The Secret Society of Steppers. I have no idea why they were trying to protect you. Now, PC Ryan, it’s time to finish this. I’ve used up my poison. What else do we have to kill him with?’
PC Ryan pulls a gun from his holster. ‘I found this in that police station. It’s a primitive weapon but it’s taken enough lives on this planet and it’ll serve our purpose. Plus it means that we won’t need to dispose of the body. It won’t look suspicious. It will look like any other ordinary Earth-bound murder.’
‘I will not let you kill Stanley.’ Spore leaps out of Stanley’s pocket but PC Ryan is too quick and bats him away with the side of the gun. Spore smashes into a half-empty pint glass and disappears behind the bar.
‘Hide, Spore,’ says Stanley.
‘We’ll get him in a minute,’ says Dr McGowan. ‘Now, let’s end this.’
‘Sorry, Stanley. As I say, it’s nothing personal,’ says Old Bill.
PC Ryan undoes the safety catch and points the gun at Stanley’s chest. After everything he has been through, it will be an ordinary bullet from an ordinary gun that kills him. Of all the places he has visited, he will die in the bar where he has spent his whole life.
‘Hold on. It will be cleaner if the spy shoots him,’ says Dr McGowan.
‘That’s not in my job description,’ says Old Bill.
‘People know you here, and the two we’ve knocked out will testify that it was you. If you kill the boy, the police will search for you, and since you’ll be coming back with us they’ll never find you. It’s much neater.’
‘Oh, all right.’ Old Bill takes the gun and points it at Stanley’s chest.
Stanley thinks about Doug returning to the pub, probably angry that he wasn’t at the police station. He imagines him opening the pub door to find his dead body. He thinks about DI Lockett, whom they also plan to kill. He imagines Lance Martin going on TV again to talk about what great friends they were. He thinks about how he will never get to go back to space, and that he will never see Jupp or Hal again. The thoughts swirl about in his mind and he feels sad and frustrated and scared, but it is anger which focuses his eyes. He sees a small black dot, the size of a pinprick, in the air in front of him. He looks up at Old Bill, who is squeezing the trigger of the gun.
He doesn’t know how or why, but he understands perfectly what the black dot is. He claps his hands at the same moment that the gun makes a bang. He steps forward as the bullet flies from the barrel, but the bullet doesn’t make impact. It hits a bottle of whisky and embeds itself in the far wall. The three men look at each other in utter confusion. Stanley has gone.
Stanley doesn’t see any of this. He is no longer standing in the pub. He is no longer on Earth. He is no longer anywhere. He has made his first step. The pastel colours of cutspace dance around him and he realises that this is why the Planner chose his DNA. This is how his replica got past the security. He remembers being told that steppers make the best criminals. He is not a criminal, but he is a stepper. He can go anywhere from this point. It is a good feeling.
.
The End
.
Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin, New York and Sydney
First published in Great Britain in July 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
36 Soho Square, London, W1D 3QY
Copyright © Gareth P. Jones 2010
The moral right of the author has been asserted
This electronic edition published in October 2010 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
All rights reserved.
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise
make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means
(including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying,
printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the
publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 4088 1641 7
www.bloomsbury.com
Visit www.bloomsbury.com to find out more about our authors and their books.
You will find extracts, authors’ interviews, author events and you can sign up for
newsletters to be the first to hear about our latest releases and special offers.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title page
Dedication
Contents
Part One
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Part Two
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Part Three
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Part Four
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Part Five
Imprint