Terminal World Read Online Free Page A

certain, there’s very little point in trying. There’s no one you can turn to?’
    After a moment Quillon said, ‘There is someone.’
    ‘A prehuman?’
    ‘A man who’s helped me from time to time.’
    ‘Can he be trusted?’
    ‘He knows what I am. He’s never betrayed me.’
    ‘And now?’
    ‘I’ve no reason to assume otherwise.’
    ‘If this man can help you, then go to him. But only if your trust in him is absolute. If you’re not sure of that, you have to get out on your own.’
    ‘How long am I supposed to be away?’
    ‘You’ll know when it’s safe to return. Soon there’s going to be a change in the power balance in the Celestial Levels.’
    ‘I can’t just drop everything and leave. I’ve got a life down here.’
    ‘Our intelligence says you have no one, Quillon. No wife. No family. Hardly any friends. Just your work. You cut open corpses and lately you’re starting to look like one. If you want to call that a life, fine by me.’
    Quillon stared down at the angel. ‘Did you really sacrifice yourself for this?’
    ‘To reach you, Quillon? Yes. I did. Knowing that I would die, and that my death would not be an easy one. But I also knew that if I could reach you, and persuade you to take your own survival seriously, something good might come of it. Something that would make my own death seem a very small price to pay.’
    ‘I don’t even know your name.’
    ‘Do you remember yours?’
    ‘No. They scrubbed that from me when they layered in the new memories.’
    ‘Then we’ll part as strangers. It’s better that way.’
    ‘I understand,’ Quillon said softly.
    ‘I’ll take that injection now, if you have no objections.’
    Quillon’s hand closed around the syringe of Morphax-55. ‘If I could do more for you, I would.’
    ‘You don’t have to feel bad about this. It was my choice to come here, not yours. Just don’t waste this chance.’
    ‘I won’t.’ Quillon made sure the syringe was still free of air. He touched his other hand to the angel’s bare sternum, applying gentle pressure. ‘Hold still. This won’t hurt.’
    He pushed the syringe in and squeezed the plunger.
    The angel sighed. His breathing became slower and more relaxed.
    ‘How long?’
    ‘Couple of minutes. Maybe less.’
    ‘Good. Because there’s something I forgot to tell you.’

CHAPTER TWO
    The whirr of gears, the clunk and chatter of an electromechanical telephone exchange, relays tapping in and out, the purr of a dialling tone, Fray picking up after ten or eleven rings.
    ‘Who the fuck?’
    ‘Quillon.’
    ‘My favourite monster.’ Fray paused. Bar sounds in the background: rowdy laughter, the chinking of glass, a television or wireless turned up loud, the time-bell of a boxing match. ‘Kind of early, aren’t we? I don’t have the sewing kit with me right now.’
    ‘I’m in trouble. We need to talk in person.’
    ‘Where are you calling from?’
    ‘A delicatessen, on my way home.’ Quillon cupped one hand around his mouth, conscious of the shopkeeper eyeing him from the front of the store. The man had wanted Quillon to use the public booth down the road, rather than the private one tucked away at the back of the store. ‘They’re on to me,’ he said.
    ‘You think, or you know?’
    ‘Something happened today. That’s all I can tell you right now.’
    ‘All right,’ Fray said after long seconds. ‘One thing I know: you’re not the kind to jump at shadows unless there’s good reason. Forget about going home. You think you can make it up here without being followed?’
    ‘I’ll do my best.’
    ‘Stay vigilant, stay alert, but try to act perfectly normal and relaxed at the same time.’
    ‘That’s a good trick, Fray.’
    ‘You could do this once. Start getting back into the groove.’
    Fray hung up. Quillon stood with the telephone still pressed against his ear, struck by the feeling that he had set something in motion that could not be stopped. Fray was an avalanche waiting to