Out on Blue Six (42 page)

Should you have any questions or queries with regard to your transfer, please do not hesitate to contact me,
Hester Birkenshaw
at the following tellix code …

SAATCHI & AUGUSTINO: CUSTOM LIFESTYLE CONSULTANTS. NOW, YOUR DAYS
EVEN MORE
THE WAY YOU WANT THEM. YES, FOLLOWING NEW MINIPAIN DEREGULATIONS OF FAMULUS ROMPAKS AND PERIPHERALS, YOU NOW HAVE EVEN
MORE
CHOICE OF HOW YOU WANT TO DESIGN YOUR LIFE WITH SAATCHI & AUGUSTINO. COMPATIBILITY RATINGS BLOWN WIDE OPEN. BE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO BE! GO ON, BE A DAREDEVIL, TRY IT AND SEE!

“And it’s seventeen-fifteen and this is Phantomas your famulus, ready to accompany you on that happy path homeward to your well-earned rest with a selection of your favorite music, news, gossip, information, and a preview of tomorrow’s appointments and schedules, all from your personal diary program! But before the weather, a thought for the day: Aren’t you getting a little bit
bored
of that old number nine ninety-eight tramcar; how about walking? For just ten minutes extra, you could avoid the crush-hour and detour through Celestial Blossom of Divine Harmony Park, where I understand there are some lovely rhododendrons coming into bloom….

“And now the weather: Looking a little brighter, I do declare, temperature out there in the Big City a pleasant twenty-two, humidity down to seventy percent, probability of rain within the next hour six percent, winds gentle, maxing at twelve kilometers per hour, yes, a perfect evening for a walk. Good evening, good evening, good evening!”

To my wife, Patricia, for all those little extra ideas that made all the difference when my imagination was flagging.

To Tim Haffield, for the concept of “tags” and “famuluses.”

To my editor, Shawna McCarthy, for having the patience of Job in the face of monolithic tardiness.

Ian McDonald was born in 1960 in Manchester, England, to an Irish mother and a Scottish father. He moved with his family to Northern Ireland in 1965. He used to live in a house built in the back garden of C. S. Lewis’s childhood home but has since moved to central Belfast, where he now lives, exploring interests like cats, contemplative religion, bonsai, bicycles, and comic-book collecting. He debuted in 1982 with the short story “The Island of the Dead” in the short-lived British magazine
Extro
. His first novel,
Desolation Road
, was published in 1988. Other works include
King of Morning
,
Queen of Day
(winner of the Philip K. Dick Award),
River of Gods
,
The Dervish House
(both of which won British Science Fiction Association Awards), the graphic novel
Kling Klang Klatch,
and many more. His most recent publications are
Planesrunner
and
Be My Enemy
, books one and two of the Everness series for younger readers (though older readers will find them a ball of fun, as well). Ian worked in television development for sixteen years, but is glad to be back to writing fulltime.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1989 by Ian McDonald

Cover design by Neil Heacox

978-1-4804-6165-9

This edition published in 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com