Daisy paused, weighing up what to disclose.
“All my research is gone,” she said eventually. “I still can’t do anything without a fresh fixer corpse. Uncontaminated.”
Alex nodded. He fumbled in his pocket for the new packet of smokes. It took him a long time to open the wrapper.
“Why are you doing this?” Daisy asked him. Not unkindly.
His hands were too shaky to light his cigarette. Daisy did it for him. He held the tip to the flame and took a deep, luscious pull.
It tasted like death.
It made him feel alive.
“Do you remember that story? The one about the Devil’s bridge?”
Daisy gave him a slight smile. The corners of her mouth turned up, tugged by invisible strings.
There was still time. Not much of it, but they still had time.
They passed the cigarette between them.
“Have someone check the riverbanks,” he said, after a while.
She nodded. She did not say thank you. She did not say good-bye.
When she was gone, Alex put out his cigarette.
It took him a long time to haul himself up to the parapet, and it hurt, his hands full of splinters.
Alex dropped into the dark water of the Isis without taking a breath.
Over the spires of Magdalen, the sun was coming up.
Acknowledgments
As I write, a public inquiry into the misuse of powers by undercover police officers in the United Kingdom is ongoing. It is known that several officers used the identities of deceased children to infiltrate protest groups, and that some deliberately engineered relationships with activists to facilitate their work. While the characters in this story are entirely fictional, thanks are due first and foremost to the brave women who exposed these abusive practices and came forward to tell their stories.
I’d like to thank my Clarion West classmates of 2015 for their support and feedback on the first draft of this story, and to Cory Doctorow for his solid advice. Thank you to my brilliant writing teacher Anne Bernays, to wondrous editors Patrick Nielsen Hayden and Lee Harris for their support, and to my agent, Russell Galen, for his faith in me. To Chris Carrico, who cares about the politics of biotech, for the challenge that inspired this story, and to Dr. Sophia Roosth, for changing the way I think about science and social justice. To my first readers, Jade Hoffman, Meredith Yayanos, Cath Howdle, Sasha Garwood, Roz Kaveney, and Emma Felber. To AB, AJ, JI, and the rest of the reprobates, whose idea it was to break into Magdalen Ball back in the day, and to long-suffering housemates Tim Jackson and Emma Ben Lewis, who let us back into the flat afterwards. Thanks to Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer for their hospitality while I was finishing this book. To Katrina Duncan, for all her help with everything. And most of all, thanks to Margaret Killjoy, who kept this story honest.
About the Author
LAURIE PENNY is a contributing editor and columnist for the New Statesman and a frequent writer on social justice, pop culture, gender issues, and digital politics for the Guardian, the New Inquiry, Salon, the Nation, Vice, the New York Times, and many other publications. Her blog, Penny Red, was short-listed for the Orwell Prize in 2010. In 2012, Britain’s Tatler magazine described her as one of the top “one hundred people who matter.” She is the author of four books of nonfiction, including Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies, and Revolution (Bloomsbury 2014).
You can sign up for email updates here.
Thank you for buying this Tor.com ebook.
To receive special offers, bonus content, and info on new releases and other great reads, sign up for our newsletters.
For email updates on the author, click here.
TOR•COM
Science fiction. Fantasy. The universe. And related subjects.
*
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Begin Reading
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright Page
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novella are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
EVERYTHING BELONGS TO THE FUTURE
Copyright © 2016 by Laurie Penny
Cover photograph by Oleksiy Maksymenko/Getty Images
Cover design by FORT
Edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
A Tor.com Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
ISBN 978-0-7653-8827-8 (ebook)
ISBN 978-0-7653-8828-5 (trade paperback)
First Edition: October 2016
Our eBooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, ext. 5442, or by e-mail at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.