The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year - Volume Eight (84 page)
Read The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year - Volume Eight Online
Authors: Jonathan Strahan [Editor]
Tags: #Fiction
"Come on now," said Bartley. "Tell us, is your business done?"
"My business is done here," he said. "But I've got one more thing to do, if you want to join me…"
"You'll stand us the line?" the old man asked with a wink.
Dale grinned, the keys to his rental car already in his hand. "Sure."
Ten minutes later they were out of the village, crystal moonlight making everything unreal as they drove into the Burren. The pale-faced sky-child of earlier was gone, as was the golden hue of dusk, the moon's disc having slipped to a colder, sterner blue which cast long, chaotic shadows all round them. Hills squeezed the twisting road and each shape was another sculpture in a garden of demented stone where everything became reverent and cruel. In a field by the road with the light streaming through it, the silhouette of a horse stood proud on the hilltop. Dale thought he glimpsed an empty saddle on its back but couldn't know for sure. They drove on.
He remembered, back in training, Rodriguez and himself; still young men, men who had fought together, who had chosen a most dangerous profession.
"You'll take me back to Houston?" Dale had said.
"If you take me back to County Clare."
Beer-bottle necks had clinked at the arrangement, but Dale never thought he'd have to see it through, never once reckoned that he'd end up here with his friend in a metal can.
"What'd'ya think," McGovern said. "Does this look good?"
Dale nodded, "Yeah." He pulled in from the road and stopped the engine. Everything was silent. Leaning over the steering wheel, he stared into the sky where the spirit of his friend flew free. The image of disintegration was burned into his mind. The whirling debris, the cloud of vapour when the remaining hydrogen and oxygen collapsed against each other.
Aquarius
, he thought; the water carrier.
The president had made a speech which came back to him from time to time. "The cause for which they died will go on," he'd said. "Our journey into space will continue." He quoted it to Bartley and McGovern.
"Always liked him," Bartley said. "A good lad, now. A good lad."
"Yes," said Dale, who had met him once, a tall, sad man whose ambition had surpassed his reach. "I guess he always seemed to be." He picked up the canister and opened the door of the car. "Let's go." He led them out onto the bare shoulder, through the stile and up into a steep, rocky field. There was no soil, or very little anyway, and it was odd, he thought, to recognise the kind of features he had been trained to see on lunar missions, erratics and stratigraphic markers. He picked up a stone from the rough surface and turned it over in his hand.
"What's that?" McGovern asked.
"The technical term is FLR. At least according to Rodriguez."
"FLR?"
"Funny Looking Rock." He smiled as he dropped it to the ground. Rodriguez always said that levity was appropriate in a dangerous trade and he was right, Dale realized, as he picked his way through loose stones, careful not to lose his footing on the crumpled ground. One had to be able to laugh at one's self, at the job, at the danger.
"Woah," he said, catching his toe in one of the great, deep cracks which slithered everywhere.
Bartley sniggered. "You alright there, Dale?"
"Yeah," the American said. "Thanks."
They were on the true Burren now, a vast, wrinkled plain of undulating stone weathered into near oblivion. A kaleidoscope of grey, it spread on and on, beyond history, beyond the night, out of sight beyond Dale's unrelenting dreams. Behind them, the few stray streetlights of the village sparkled in the distance, and, above, the wash of moonlight made it seem another world entirely.
It was, Dale decided, as good a place as any. "Here," he said.
Beside him Bartley nodded. "When they buried my brother it wasn't like this," he said, "it was a fine spring day."
Dale and McGovern both turned to look at him, startled by his openness.
"He was a hero," Bartley went on. "Of the kind they name streets after, you know? Brought down a lot of them lot here at the time."
"The Tans," McGovern said. "The British."
"Aye," said Bartley. "And they'd men from his column there to see him away, draping the tricolour across his box, a few of them with rifles that they let off. The noise of it all," he said. "Twas a fierce honour."
Dale cast him an unsure look. "You're not… armed now, are you Bartley?"
The old man laughed, a booming ho-ho as loud as any shot. "Not at all. Not at all, a'course. I'm just saying, you know, the moment should be marked."
"And what had you in mind?" McGovern asked.
Bartley grinned, and with great effort brought himself to his full height. He raised his right arm and bent his elbow, bringing his hand to his head in a salute. McGovern quickly did the same.
Dale nodded, and carefully he opened up the flask, tipping its cremated contents out onto the breeze. The cloud flattened out at once, dove towards the rocky pavement and then took flight, specks of ash like busy stars exploding all around him while the world turned overhead. Dale straightened up and saluted too, the remains of Rodriguez taking wing into the night.
When it was over he brought his hand down and, behind him, his two friends mumbled something as they let their own arms fall, Bartley rubbing at his shoulder.
"We should take a stroll now," McGovern said quietly.
"What?" Bartley said.
"You know, as we're here, we should give Dale the air of the place."
"Ah, will you not be —"
"No," Dale said. He laid his hand on Bartley's shoulder. "I'd like that." He was tired, that was true, it was late, and yet some new energy was coming to him. It compelled him to move, to walk, to see what he could find.
"Well then," McGovern said, "come on so," and he led them out across the hillside.
They were at last, Dale thought, the crew he had imagined, ambling across this odd terrain with the strange, loping gait required to leap from one great limestone block to another. Step-by-step the three of them picked their way across the broken surface, away from the road, away from the lights of the village and everything that Dale had come to know. This was a separate place, severe and beautiful and altogether alien. There, in the stone, were red and orange tints which he could not explain. In the sky, the universe's mechanism whirled while the three men drifted on, and, as the grey rock fell off toward the close horizon, they could have been walking on the moon.
COPYRIGHT
"Some Desperado" by Joe Abercrombie. © Copyright 2013 by Joe Abercrombie. Originally published in
Dangerous Women
. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"The Master Conjurer" by Charlie Jane Anders. © Copyright 2013 by Charlie Jane Anders. Originally published in
Lightspeed
, October 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"Kormak the Lucky" by Eleanor Arnason. © Copyright 2013 by Eleanor Arnason. Originally published in
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
, October/November 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"Social Services" by Madeline Ashby. © Copyright 2013 by Madeline Ashby. Originally published in
An Aura of Familiarity: Visions from the Coming Age of Networked Matter.
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"The Herons of Mer de l'Ouest" by M. Bennardo © 2013 Copyright by M. Bennardo. Originally published in
Lightspeed,
February 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling" by Ted Chiang. © Copyright 2013 by Ted Chiang. Originally published in
Subterranean
, Fall 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"Zero for Conduct" by Greg Egan. © Copyright 2013 by Greg Egan. Originally published in
Twelve Tomorrows
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"The Sleeper and the Spindle" by Neil Gaiman. © Copyright 2013 by Neil Gaiman. Originally published in
Rags and Bones.
Reprinted by kind permission of the author and the author's agent.
"Cave and Julia" by M. John Harrison. © Copyright 2013 by M. John Harrison. Originally published in
Cave and Julia
(Kindle Single). Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"The Ink Readers of Doi Saket" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. © 2013 Copyright by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. Originally published in
Tor.com
, 24 April 2013. Translated from the Dutch by Lia Belt. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"The Promise of Space" by James Patrick Kelly. © Copyright 2013 by James Patrick Kelly. Originally published in
Clarkesworld
, September 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"The Road of Needles" by Caitlín R. Kiernan. © Copyright 2013 by Caitlín R. Kiernan. Originally published in
Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales.
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"Effigy Nights" by Yoon Ha Lee. © Copyright 2013 by Yoon Ha Lee. Originally published in
Clarkesworld
, January 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"Entangled" by Ian R. Macleod. © Copyright 2013 by Ian R. Macleod. Originally published in
Asimov's Science Fiction,
December 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"The Queen of Night's Aria" by Ian McDonald. © Copyright 2013 by Ian McDonald. Originally published in
Old Mars
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"Water" by Ramez Naam. © Copyright 2013 by Ramez Naam. Originally published in
An Aura of Familiarity: Visions from the Coming Age of Networked Matter
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"The Irish Astronaut" by Val Nolan. © Copyright 2013 by Val Nolan. Originally published in
Electric Velocipede
26. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"In Metal, In Bone" by An Owomoyela. © Copyright 2013 by An Owomoyela. Originally published in
Eclipse Online,
March 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"The Sun and I" by K J Parker. © Copyright 2013 by K J Parker. Originally published in
Subterranean,
Summer 2013
.
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"Mystic Falls" by Robert Reed. © Copyright 2013 by Robert Reed. Originally published in
Clarkesworld
, November 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls" by Richard Parks. © Copyright 2013 by Richard Parks. Originally published in
Beneath Ceaseless Skies,
November 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"Rosary and Goldenstar" by Geoff Ryman. © Copyright 2013 by Geoff Ryman. Originally published in
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
, October/November 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"Selkie Stories Are For Losers" by Sofia Samatar. © Copyright 2013 by Sofia Samatar. Originally published
Strange Horizons
, 7 January 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"Rag and Bone" by Priya Sharma. © Copyright 2013 by Priya Sharma. Originally published in
Tor.com,
10 April 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"Fade to Gold" by Benjanun Sriduangkaew. © Copyright 2013 by Benjanun Sriduangkaew. Originally published in
End of the Road
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"Sing" by Karin Tidbeck. © Copyright 2013 by Karin Tidbeck. Originally published in
Tor.com
, 17 April 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"The Book Seller" by Lavie Tidhar. © Copyright 2013 by Lavie Tidhar. Originally published
Interzone 244
, Jan-Feb 2013. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
"The Pilgrim and the Angel" by E. Lily Yu. © Copyright 2013 by E. Lily Yu. Originally published in
McSweeney's 45.
Reprinted by kind permission of the author.
Also Edited by Jonathan Strahan
Best Short Novels
(2004 through 2007)
Fantasy: The Very Best of 2005
Science Fiction: The Very Best of 2005
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volumes 1–8
Eclipse: New Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volumes 1–4
The Starry Rift: Tales of New Tomorrows
Life on Mars: Tales from the New Frontier
Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron
Godlike Machines
Engineering Infinity
Edge of Infinity
Fearsome Journeys
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(forthcoming)
With Lou Anders
Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery
With Charles N. Brown
The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Fantasy and Science Fiction
With Jeremy G. Byrne
The Year’s Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volumes 1–2
Eidolon 1
With Jack Dann
Legends of Australian Fantasy
With Gardner Dozois
The New Space Opera
The New Space Opera 2
With Karen Haber
Science Fiction: Best of 2003
Science Fiction: Best of 2004
Fantasy: Best of 2004
With Marianne S. Jablon
Wings of Fire
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