by Jeff Somers
Street level. Cracked pavements dark with drying rain, humidity high, the heat already uncomfortable. An endless stream of traffic that ran like a ribbon throughout the city, always moving with a stop-start, never seeming to arrive. There was el room here, and he could stride out to the pedestrian crossing. The lights changed as he approached, and the cars parted as if for Moses. The crowd of bowed-head, hunch-shouldered people shuffled drably across the tarmac to the other side and, in the middle, a shock of white-blond hair.
Wong’s was on the corner. Wong himself was kicking some plastic furniture out onto the pavement to add an air of unwarranted sophistication to his shop. The windows were streaming condensation inside, and stale, steamy air blew out the door.
“Hey, Petrovitch. She your girlfriend? You keep her waiting like that, she leave you.”
“She’s a courier, you perdoon stary. Where is she?”
Wong looked at the opaque glass front and pointed through it. “There,” the shopkeeper said. “Right there. Eyes of love never blind.”
“I’ll have a coffee, thanks.” Petrovitch pushed a chair out of his path.
“I should charge you double. You use my shop as office!”
Petrovitch put his hands on Wong’s shoulders and leaned down. “If I didn’t come here, your life would be less interesting. And you wouldn’t want that.”
Wong wagged his finger but stood aside, and Petrovitch went in.
The woman was easy to spot. Woman: girl almost, all adolescent gawkiness and nerves, playing with her ponytail, twisting and untwisting it in red spirals around her index finger.
She saw him moving toward her, and stopped fiddling, sat up, tried to look professional. All she managed was younger.
“Petrovitch?”
“Yeah,” he said, dropping into the seat opposite her. “Do you have ID?”
“Do you?”
They opened their bags simultaneously. She brought out a thumb scanner; he produced a cash card. They went through the ritual of confirming their identities, checking the price of the item, debiting the money from the card. Then she laid a padded package on the table and waited for the security tag to unlock.
Somewhere during this, a cup of coffee appeared at Petrovitch’s side. He took a sharp, scalding sip.
“So what is it?” the courier asked, nodding at the package.
“It’s kind of your job to deliver it, my job to pay for it.” He dragged the packet toward him. “I don’t have to tell you what’s in it.”
“You’re an arrogant little fuck, aren’t you?” Her cheeks flushed.
Petrovitch took another sip of coffee, then centered his cup on his saucer. “It has been mentioned once or twice before.” He looked up again, and pushed his glasses up to see her better. “I have trust issues, so I don’t tend to do the people-stuff very well.”
“It wouldn’t hurt you to try.” The security tag popped open, and she pushed her chair back with a scrape.
“Yeah, but it’s not like I’m going to ever see you again, is it?” said Petrovitch.
“If you’d played your cards right, you might well have done. Sure, you’re good-looking, but right now I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.” She picked up her courier bag with studied determination and strode to the door.
Petrovitch watched her go: she bent over, lean and lithe in her one-piece skating gear, to extrude the wheels from her shoes. The other people in the shop fell silent as the door slammed shut, just to increase his discomfort.
Wong leaned over the counter. “You bad man, Petrovitch. One day you need friend, and where you be? Up shit creek with no paddle.”
“I’ve always got you, Wong.” He put his hand to his face and scrubbed at his chin. He could try and catch up to her, apologize for being… what? Himself? He was half out of his seat, then let himself fall back with a bang. He stopped being the center of attention, and he drank more coffee.
The package in its mesh pocket called to him. He reached over and tore it open. As the disabled security tag clattered to the tabletop, Wong took the courier’s place opposite him.
“I don’t need relationship advice, yeah?”
Wong rubbed at a sticky patch with a damp cloth. “This not about girl, that girl, any girl. You not like people, fine. But you smart, Petrovitch. You smartest guy I know. Maybe you smart enough to fake liking, yes? Else.”
“Else what?” Petrovitch’s gaze slipped from Wong to the device in his hand, a slim, brushed-steel case, heavy with promise.
“Else one day, pow.” Wong mimed a gun against his temple, and his finger jerked with imaginary recoil. “Fortune cookie says you do great things. If you live.”
“Yeah, that’s me. Destined for greatness.” Petrovitch snorted and caressed the surface of the case, leaving misty fingerprints behind. “How long have you lived here, Wong?”
“Metrozone born and bred,” said Wong. “I remember when Clapham Common was green, like park.”
“Then why the chyort can’t you speak better English?”
Wong leaned forward over the table and beckoned Petrovitch to do the same. Their noses were almost touching.
“Because, old chap,” whispered Wong faultlessly, “we hide behind our masks, all of us, every day. All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. I play my part of eccentric Chinese shopkeeper; everyone knows what to expect from me, and they don’t ask for any more. What about you, Petrovitch? What part are you playing?” He leaned back, and Petrovitch shut his goldfish-gaping mouth.
A man and a woman came in and, on seeing every table full, started toback out again.
Wong sprang to his feet. “Hey, wait. Table here.” He kicked Petrovitch’s chair leg hard enough to cause them both to wince. “Coffee? Coffee hot and strong today.” He bustled behind the counter, leaving Petrovitch to wearily slide his device back into its delivery pouch and then into his shoulder bag.
His watch told him it was time to go. He stood, finished the last of his drink in three hot gulps, and made for the door.
“Hey,” called Wong. “You no pay.”
Petrovitch pulled out his cash card and held it up.
“You pay next time, Petrovitch.” He shrugged and almost smiled. The lines around his eyes crinkled.
“Yeah, whatever.” He put the card back in his bag. It had only a few euros on it now, anyway. “Thanks, Wong.”
Back out onto the street and the roar of noise. The leaden sky squeezed out a drizzle and speckled the lenses in Petrovitch’s glasses so that he started to see the world like a fly would.
He’d take the tube. It’d be hot, dirty, smelly, crowded: at least it would be dry. He turned his collar up and started down the road toward Clapham South.
The shock of the new had barely reached the Underground. The tiled walls were twentieth-century curdled cream and bottle green, the tunnels they lined unchanged since they’d been hollowed out two centuries earlier. The fans that ineffectually stirred the air on the platforms were ancient with age.
There was the security screen, though: the long arched passage of shiny white plastic, manned by armed paycops and monitored by gray-covered watchers.
Petrovitch’s travelcard talked to the turnstile as he waited in line to pass. It flashed a green light, clicked, and he pushed through. Then came the screen that saw everything, saw through everything, measured it and resolved it into three dimensions, running the images it gained against a database of offensive weapons and banned technology.
After the enforced single file, it was abruptly back to being shoulder to shoulder. Down the escalator, groaning and creaking, getting hotter and more airless as it descended. Closer to the center of the Earth.
He popped like a cork onto the northbound platform, and glanced up to the display barely visible over the heads of the other passengers. A full quarter of the elements were faulty, making the scrolling writing appear either coded or mystical. But he’d had practice. There was a train in three minutes.
&nbs
p; Whether or not there was room for anyone to get on was a different matter, but that possibility was one of the few advantages in living out along the far reaches of the line. He knew of people he worked with who walked away from the center of the city in order to travel back.
It became impossible even to move. He waited more or less patiently, and kept a tight hold of his bag.
To his left, a tall man, airbottle strapped to his Savile Row suit and soft mask misting with each breath. To his right, a Japanese woman, patriotically displaying Hello Kitty and the Rising Sun, hollow-eyed with loss.
The train, rattling and howling, preceded by a blast of foulness almost tangible, hurtled out from the tunnel mouth. If there hadn’t been barriers along the edge of the platform, the track would have been choked with mangled corpses. As it was, there was a collective strain, an audible tightening of muscle and sinew.
The carriages squealed to a stop, accompanied by the inevitable multilanguage announcements: the train was heading for the central zones and out again to the distant, unassailable riches of High Barnet, and please—mind the gap.
The doors hissed open, and no one got out. Those on the platform eyed the empty seats and the hang straps greedily. Then the electromagnetic locks on the gates loosened their grip. They banged back under the pressure of so many bodies, and people ran on, claiming their prizes as they could.
And when the carriages were full, the last few squeezed on, pulled aboard by sympathetic arms until they were crammed in like pressed meat.
The chimes sounded, the speakers rustled with static before running through a litany of “doors closing” phrases: English, French, Russian, Urdu, Japanese, Kikuyu, Mandarin, Spanish. The engine spun, the wheels turned, the train jerked and swayed.
Inside, Petrovitch, face pressed uncomfortably against a glass partition, ribs tight against someone’s back, took shallow sips of breath and wondered again why he’d chosen the Metrozone above other, less crowded and more distant cities. He wondered why it still had to be like this, seven thirty-five in the morning, two decades after Armageddon.
Contents
FRONT COVER IMAGE
WELCOME
DEDICATION
EXTRAS
MEET THE AUTHOR
A PREVIEW OF EQUATIONS OF LIFE
PROLOGUE: HE REALLY ENJOYS THIS PART
PART I
I: VERY HIGH ON THE LADDER
II: HARD AND NOISY WAS HIS ONLY WAY
III: YOU JUST HAD TO LET HIM DANCE
IV: SORRY ABOUT THE BLOOD
V: LIKE FATHER FUCKING TIME IN THE FLESH
VI: JUST PLAIN OLD MURDER
VII: I THOUGHT YOU WANTED ME TO
PART II
VIII: MY NEW HOBBY: IGNORING THE SMELL
IX: THEY SAY SHE IS A FLOATING HELL
X: IF THEY DIDN’T HAVE GUNS, I’D BE INSULTED
XI: ON GENERAL PRINCIPLES I’D LIKE TO SHOOT HIM
XII: MAKES ME WANT TO BE A BETTER PERSON
XIII: THAT IS… UNFORTUNATE
PART III
XIV: YOU GET AROUND
XV: YOU GOT MY PERMISSION TO SHOOT THE LOT
XVI: YOU’RE GONNA HAVE TO BE MORE SPECIFIC
XVII: I HEAR I MIGHT ACTUALLY OUTLIVE YOU
XVIII: WE JUST FIND PEOPLE TO PAY US FOR WHAT WE WERE GONNA DO ANYWAY
XIX: YER GONNA NEED MORE GUNNERS
XX: I KILL EVERYBODY
XXI: THINK OF ME AS AN EXECUTION
PART IV
XXII: HERE WE ARE, AND WE ARE SO SPECIAL
XXIII: EVERYONE WANTED TO HIRE ME ON
XXIV: IF YOU WERE PAYING ME, I’D TELL YOU THAT COSTS EXTRA
XXV: OOH, LOOK, AVERY’S TRYING TO THINK
XXVI: NOT AS MANY PROBLEMS AS BEING TURNED INSIDE OUT BY RADIATION
XXVII: A MOMENT OF CRAZY
XXVIII: SOMEONE WAS TELLING ME A STORY ABOUT BEING KNOCKED ONTO THE GROUND
XXIX: IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE A PLEASANT FORTY MINUTES
XXX: THERE’S A LOT OF WE IN THAT SENTENCE
XXXI: I WENT FOR SOMETHING MORE EXCITING
XXXII: THE ONLY THING MISSING IS THE SOUND OF HIM LAUGHING AT ME
PART V
XXXIII: SHEER DETERMINATION AND WILLINGNESS TO HURT
XXXIV: UNCOMFORTABLY CLOSE, AND THEN GONE. USUALLY DEAD.
XXXV: THEY’LL HAVE HIM DANCING AND JUGGLING
XXXVI: YOUR PROBLEM IS YOU THINK YOU’RE SPECIAL
XXXVII: RISING TRIUMPHANTLY FROM THE TRASH BIN OF HISTORY
XXXVIII: EATING MY BRAIN ONE TINY BITE AT A TIME, TUNNELING
XXXXIX: HAD MET ME BEFORE AND HAD A GRUDGE
XL: SIT ON THIS ROCK FOREVER NOW PLAYING WITH OUR BONES
EPILOGUE: I STARED AT THE HEAD. THE HEAD STARED BACK.
APPENDIX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
BY JEFF SOMERS
PRAISE FOR THE AVERY CATES NOVELS
COPYRIGHT
BY JEFF SOMERS
The Electric Church
The Digital Plague
The Eternal Prison
The Terminal State
The Final Evolution
Praise for the Avery Cates Novels
“If… you watched Crank and thought, ‘What this really needs is killer cyborgs with machine guns,’ then this engaging pulp cyber-thriller will be right up your neon-lit street.”
—SFX
“Somers just might be the genre’s best-t secret.”
—Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
“An exhilarating example of powerful and entertaining storytelling.”
—The Guardian (UK)
“Fast-paced story with cool tech; well-written action scenes that drive the plot forward with perfect pacing.”
—sfsignal.com
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Jeff Somers
Excerpt from Equations of Life copyright © 2011 by Simon Morden
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com
www.orbitbooks.net
First eBook Edition: July 2011
Orbit is an imprint of Hachette Book Group. The Orbit name and logo are trademarks of Little, Brown Book Group Limited.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
ISBN: 978-0-316-17513-5
Table of Contents
DEDICATION
EXTRAS
MEET THE AUTHOR
A PREVIEW OF EQUATIONS OF LIFE
PROLOGUE: HE REALLY ENJOYS THIS PART
PART I
I: VERY HIGH ON THE LADDER
II: HARD AND NOISY WAS HIS ONLY WAY
III: YOU JUST HAD TO LET HIM DANCE
IV: SORRY ABOUT THE BLOOD
V: LIKE FATHER FUCKING TIME IN THE FLESH
VI: JUST PLAIN OLD MURDER
VII: I THOUGHT YOU WANTED ME TO
PART II
VIII: MY NEW HOBBY: IGNORING THE SMELL
IX: THEY SAY SHE IS A FLOATING HELL
X: IF THEY DIDN’T HAVE GUNS, I’D BE INSULTED
XI: ON GENERAL PRINCIPLES I’D LIKE TO SHOOT HIM
XII: MAKES ME WANT TO BE A BETTER PERSON
XIII: THAT IS… UNFORTUNATE
PART III
XIV: YOU GET AROUND
XV: YOU GOT MY PERMISSION TO SHOOT THE LOT
XVI: YOU’RE GONNA HAVE TO BE MORE SPECIFIC
XVII: I HEAR I MIGH
T ACTUALLY OUTLIVE YOU
XVIII: WE JUST FIND PEOPLE TO PAY US FOR WHAT WE WERE GONNA DO ANYWAY
XIX: YER GONNA NEED MORE GUNNERS
XX: I KILL EVERYBODY
XXI: THINK OF ME AS AN EXECUTION
PART IV
XXII: HERE WE ARE, AND WE ARE SO SPECIAL
XXIII: EVERYONE WANTED TO HIRE ME ON
XXIV: IF YOU WERE PAYING ME, I’D TELL YOU THAT COSTS EXTRA
XXV: OOH, LOOK, AVERY’S TRYING TO THINK
XXVI: NOT AS MANY PROBLEMS AS BEING TURNED INSIDE OUT BY RADIATION
XXVII: A MOMENT OF CRAZY
XXVIII: SOMEONE WAS TELLING ME A STORY ABOUT BEING KNOCKED ONTO THE GROUND
XXIX: IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE A PLEASANT FORTY MINUTES
XXX: THERE’S A LOT OF WE IN THAT SENTENCE
XXXI: I WENT FOR SOMETHING MORE EXCITING
XXXII: THE ONLY THING MISSING IS THE SOUND OF HIM LAUGHING AT ME
PART V
XXXIII: SHEER DETERMINATION AND WILLINGNESS TO HURT
XXXIV: UNCOMFORTABLY CLOSE, AND THEN GONE. USUALLY DEAD.
XXXV: THEY’LL HAVE HIM DANCING AND JUGGLING
XXXVI: YOUR PROBLEM IS YOU THINK YOU’RE SPECIAL
XXXVII: RISING TRIUMPHANTLY FROM THE TRASH BIN OF HISTORY
XXXVIII: EATING MY BRAIN ONE TINY BITE AT A TIME, TUNNELING
XXXXIX: HAD MET ME BEFORE AND HAD A GRUDGE
XL: SIT ON THIS ROCK FOREVER NOW PLAYING WITH OUR BONES
EPILOGUE: I STARED AT THE HEAD. THE HEAD STARED BACK.
APPENDIX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
BY JEFF SOMERS
PRAISE FOR THE AVERY CATES NOVELS
COPYRIGHT
Table of Contents
DEDICATION
