The Fenris Device (16 page)

Between the two of them, they worked their way into the depths of the suit and pulled me out of it. They had to hold me up for a while so that proper circulation could be restored to my system. Then I went away and was unreasonably extravagant with the ship's water supply by having a hot bath. There is, I admit, a ludicrous quality about taking time out for a bath in the middle of a rescue operation, but I really did not feel competent to lift the ship until I had soothed my more tender parts. I had every confidence in the ship's anchors, and I thought that staying put for an extra half hour was less hazardous than lifting while I was in less-than-fit condition.

When I was good and ready, I put on clean clothes, had a cup of coffee, and went back to the control room. Johnny was already nursing the drive into a state of readiness. Nick took up a position beside me, ready with the needle, and I told him which shot to use, how much and when.

“OK, Titus,” I said without preamble, knowing that he would still be waiting at the call-circuit. “You can sign the check now. I'm bringing your bird back.”

Then I took off.

I honestly thought that was the end. I thought that it finished Titus Charlot, finished the
Hooded
Swan
, finished delArco and Lapthorn's sister and Herault's grandson. I thought that I had placed a full stop at the end of a chapter in my life.

If anything, of course, it would have been a beginning rather than an end. It would have been the beginning of a new career as a space-tramp, and a dead-ender. I wasn't afraid of such a career. I knew it was the way of all flesh. That was what I expected. But I was thinking “out” rather than “in.” I was thinking of all the nasty things I was getting well out of rather than all the nasty things I was heading for. I wasn't blind—I'd made a real choice—and I thought I'd made the right decision.

I was simply wrong. I just couldn't put an end to it. I'd overestimated myself. I don't mean, of course, that I went back to Charlot and told him to burn his check because I couldn't bear to part. I quit all right. I quit, I cleared my debt, and I went away—shipped out from Iniomi to Pallant and from Pallant just as soon and as far as I could go. I wrote an end to the story.

But the threads of the plot always go on beyond the end of the story. There is never any real ending. I couldn't put an end to the plot. The threads were still going on, and they were still attached to me. There was no way out of the plot at all. It was going to catch up with me again. Someday.

Brian Stableford
was born in Yorkshire in 1948. He taught at the University of Reading for several years, but is now a full-time writer. He has written many science-fiction and fantasy novels, including
The Empire of Fear
,
The Werewolves of London
,
Year Zero
,
The Curse of the Coral Bride
,
The Stones of Camelot
, and
Prelude to Eternity
. Collections of his short stories include a long series of
Tales of the Biotech Revolution
, and such idiosyncratic items as
Sheena and Other Gothic Tales
and
The Innsmouth Heritage and Other Sequels
. He has written numerous nonfiction books, including
Scientific Romance in Britain, 1890-1950
;
Glorious Perversity: The Decline and Fall of Literary Decadence
;
Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia
; and
The Devil's Party: A Brief History of Satanic Abuse
. He has contributed hundreds of biographical and critical articles to reference books, and has also translated numerous novels from the French language, including books by Paul Féval, Albert Robida, Maurice Renard, and J. H. Rosny the Elder.

Alien A
bduction: The Wiltshire Revelations

The
Best of Both Worlds and Other Ambiguous Tales

Beyond the Colors of Darkness and Other Exotica

Changelings and Other Metaphoric Tales

Complications and Other Stories

The Cosmic Perspective and Other Black Comedies

The Cthulhu Encryption: A Romance of Piracy

The Cure for Love and Other Tales of the Biotech Revolution

The Dragon Man: A Novel of the Future

The Eleventh Hour

The Fenris Device
(Hooded Swan #5)

Firefly: A Novel of the Far Future

Les Fleurs du Mal: A Tale of the Biotech Revolution

The Gardens of Tantalus and Other Delusions

The Great Chain of Being and Other Tales of the Biotech Revolution

Halycon Drift
(
Hooded Swan
#1)

The Haunted Bookshop and Other Apparitions

In the Flesh and Other Tales of the Biotech Revolution

The Innsmouth Heritage and Other Sequels

Kiss the Goat

Luscinia: A Romance of Nightingales and Roses

The Mad Trist: A Romance of Bibliomania

The Moment of Truth: A Novel of the Future

An Oasis of Horror: Decadent Tales and Contes Cruels

The Paradise Game
(Hooded Swan #4)

The Plurality of Worlds: A Sixteenth-Century Space Opera

Prelude to Eternity: A Romance of the First Time Machine

Promised Land
(Hooded Swan #3)

The Quintessence of August: A Romance of Possession

The Return of the Djinn and Other Black Melodramas

Rhapsody in Black
(
Hooded Swan
#2)

Salome and Other Decadent Fantasies

The Tree of Life and Other Tales of the Biotech Revolution

The Undead: A Tale of the Biotech Revolution

Valdemar's Daughter: A Romance of Mesmerism

The World Beyond: A Sequel to S. Fowler Wright's The World Below

Xeno's Paradox: A Tale of the Biotech Revolution

Zombies Don't C
ry: A Tale of the Biotech Revo
lution