2-14:On the road to nowhere
‘I’m different,’ said Daisy. ‘I tried to explain it to Rook on one of the planets, but she didn’t understand. Because I didn’t understand.’
‘Neither do I,’ said Prime, shocked.
‘May I,’ asked Panix.
Daisy nodded.
‘Novus. Hominis,’ said Panix. ‘It’s really quite interesting.’
‘Novus? From the colony we found?’ said Prime. ‘Bullshit.’
‘Almost indestinguishable from humans,’ said Panix, in an uncharacteristically cheerful voice. ‘Genetically engineered humans in fact. Took us a while to work-out the similarities in the genome, but we finally did it.’
‘What it means,’ said Rook, ‘and this is why the information means something — is that she’s able to jump from reality to reality without the ships.’
‘Which gives us an edge,’ said Panix. ‘And now we know why the Cubists have hunted her.’
‘What?’ said Daisy, the colour running from her face.
‘The cubists are also from your world Daisy. While you were genetically engineered, they were spiritually engineered. And they believe that they cannot exist unless they are the only humans.’
‘They killed us?’
Daisy stared at Panix her heart thumping in her ears.
‘What?’
‘They killed your people,’ said Miss Rook. ‘And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.’
TO BE CONTINUED
1000 Pound Alley (the new St. Jeromes)
Melbourne, October 2009
Tracks
Utopia – Alison Goldfrapp
All I need – Moon Safari – Air
Faith No More
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
There are a few ways to describe one's self when effectively trying to mask the fact that you're a complete hermit and spend your entire existence behind a computer screen sipping hot tea and eating cakes. The first would be to suggest that you're somewhat introverted and avoid coffee. Another might be to suggest you're a fan of Apple Macs but are cutting-down from the 6 you used to have to an even two (Macbook and Mac Mini in turn). Finally you might choose to say that despite the massive pay-drop, this writing thing is quite a lark isn't it? Not to mention enjoying the creative life a lot more than mindless tedium in corporate jobs, working the 40 hour week to the drumming of endless meetings and political intrigue that would have made Machiavelli blush and hand his pen over to the corporate slugs that run companies these days. Enough said really.
