We’re very pleased to have the opportunity to offer you an exclusive extract from a book that has caused quite a reaction at SFFWorld – Crashing Heaven, the debut novel by Al Robertson.
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Excerpt 3 – Hugo Fist takes the controls
Fist wants Jack’s body. Here he gets to take it for a test drive, after Jack passed out during a virtual torture session.
An hour or so later, Jack was pushed out of the Panther Czar night club. The queue was much longer. He stumbled through the line and into the road, then fell over. Someone swore at him. Another threw an empty drink can. It bounced off his back. He pulled himself to his feet. His movements were stiff and awkward. ‘Fucking drunk,’ shouted a woman.
Jack blinked. His head jerked to left then right until he found her. He swung his whole body round to face her. ‘I’ll break you, you bitch.’ His voice was higher than usual. It had a rasping, semi-formed quality to it. The girl giggled. ‘Don’t you laugh at me. I’ll show you,’ he snarled, lurching towards her. His legs were stiff, barely bending at the knees. One arm swung up to point. ‘I’ll take you offweave and fuck all your data.’
A man stepped protectively in front of her.
‘You just try it, mate.’
‘I will,’ screeched Jack. ‘I’m untouchable!’ He stumbled towards the man, fists raised. Then there were three InSec agents between them, one placating the girl and her partner, the other two holding Jack.
‘What do you think you’re doing? They insulted me! Me!’
One of the policemen slipped a pair of handcuffs around Jack’s wrists, securing them behind him. Then the other started to walk him toward a police flyer, parked on the other side of the street. Jack’s face reset itself, moving from anger to shocked surprise. It was as if it only had a few very specific expressions to choose from.
‘What is this? Where are you taking me? I know my rights! Don’t you know who you’re fucking with?’
When they reached the flyer, there was a brief scuffle. Jack broke away from the policemen. His expression changed sharply to show manic happiness. He started off down the pavement, running in an awkward stiff-legged way. His pursuers were much quicker. One of them tackled him and he crashed awkwardly to the floor. A gash on his cheek oozed blood. It dripped on to his clothes, but he didn’t notice.
This time, he didn’t put up a struggle when they reached the car. The door clunked shut behind him. The two policemen climbed into the flyer’s front seats. The lift-off was rapid. There was someone sitting next to him. His head turned quickly, then jolted suddenly to a halt. His eyes snapped closed and back open. His face was blank.
‘Hello, Hugo,’ said Lieutenant Corazon. ‘I can’t think how many laws you’re breaking by taking Jack for a walk like this.’
‘I’m not Hugo. I’m Jack.’
‘Don’t take the piss, Hugo. You’ll only make it worse for yourself.’
‘I had to do it.’
Jack’s voice – or rather, Fist’s – had something of a wheedle to it.
‘You’re riding him. It’s illegal under Station law, and outside the terms of both your installation licence and usage agreements.’
‘They were torturing him. He passed out!’
‘Was there reason to believe that his life was in danger?’
There was a silence. All went dark as the flyer passed into the Wart.
‘I said, did you believe his life was at risk?’
‘No.’
‘You broke into the Panther Czar night club, and entered Akhmatov’s private office space. His security systems contacted us and informed us that a breach was in progress. We had an alert from your cageware, too.’
‘I told him not to break in there!’
‘That doesn’t make any difference.’
‘We were investigating a crime. Akhmatov’s a crook.’
‘He is. But in this case it’s you two that were breaking the law.’
‘Akhmatov’s software nearly killed us.’
‘Knowing what he’s capable of, I think you both got off rather lightly.’
‘What brings you meddling, anyway? I could have got him home.’
There was suddenly a wide grin stretched across Jack’s face. Fist had switched expressions, in the hope of placating Corazon. The insincerity of it shook her.
‘Lestak’s tagged you both. The incident report came in, she was alerted and she asked me to deal with it.’
‘Can’t you just drop us back at the hotel?’
‘We have to be assured that the proper relationship between you and Jack has been restored before we can release you. You’ll be spending the night in the cells, under observation.’
Jack’s smile spread a little wider. ‘So we just sit back and relax? And wait for the doctors to check us out tomorrow?’
‘More or less, yes. And you need to shut down.’
‘Do I? I’m rather enjoying this.’ Fist had Jack stretch his arms out in front of him. He twisted his hands, then curled and uncurled his fingers. It was like watching a machine run through initialisation tests. ‘I love having a body. I like being a real boy.’
‘What you’re doing now is illegal. Shut off, or we’ll be forced to take punitive action against you when we touch down.’
‘You know, I thought you’d be much more fun,’ grumbled Fist in an accusing tone. Then he was gone. It was as if invisible strings had been severed. Jack’s arms fell into his lap. His head slumped back, eyeballs rolling up into their sockets. He slipped sideways and fell against the flyer window. The jolt set the cut on his cheek bleeding again. As Lieutenant Corazon reached over to close his eyes, red smeared itself across her uniform. She shrugged, then nudged her weave settings so that the mark became invisible.
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Crashing Heaven is available now and is published by Gollancz. Our review of the novel is HERE.
