The Fractal Prince (33 page)

‘Do your worst,’ Mieli says. ‘I don’t work for you anymore.’ She steels herself for the pain. A part of her looks forward to it. She deserves it, for Sydän, for
Perhonen
. Perhaps even for the thief.

Something glints in her field of vision. A blue oval, smaller than her hand. Even in the vacuum, it smells faintly of flowers.

The zoku jewel
. Perhonen
shot me out with the zoku jewel
.

It whispers to her, and the pellegrini’s voice becomes like distant rain.

Take me home
, she thinks at it.
Take me where I really belong
.

The jewel glows brighter. Everything is still for a long time. And an eternity later, there is a ship, a zoku ship. Strange beings surround her. Glittering wheels, with faces in the middle, rings of jewels like miniature solar systems. They look like angels or figures from tarot cards. They remind Mieli of someone.

‘Mother,’ Mieli says and drifts to sleep, perfectly happy, in the moment just before it’s time to go home.

Acknowledgements

This was a tough one, for many reasons. So thanks first and foremost to Simon Spanton for his sharp editorial eye and enduring faith.

Willing or unwilling victims of thought thievery include Andy Clark, Douglas Hofstadter, Maurice Leblanc, Jan Potocki and the thousand nameless storytellers of
The Arabian Nights
.

As for people with names, ones I owe a sincere thank you to include:

My agent John Jarrold for being a solid rock and a foundation of advice, as always.

Sam and Lesley, for friendship and support during interesting times.

Esa Hilli, Lauri Lovén, Phil Raines and Stuart Wallace for discussions, careful readings of early drafts, candid feedback, comments and bug-hunting.

Writers’ Bloc – including Alan Campbell, Jack Deighton, Morag Edward, Bram Gieben, Mark Harding, Gavin Inglis, Helen Jackson, Jane McKie, Stefan Pearson, Charlie Stross, Andrew Wilson and Kirsti Wishart. Special thanks to Andrew Ferguson for introducing me to the Axolotl.

Antti Autio for his flowing Finnish and keen eye for details and plot holes.

Sabrina Maniscalco for friendship and quantum physics discussions.

Jakko Ojakangas for musical inspiration.

Darren Brierton for first exposing me to philosophy of mind, and Sami for being a tough sparring partner on related topics (as well as a good friend).

Anni, Antti, Eino, Panu, Sanna, Lauri, Jaakko and Tuija for hospitality and friendship.

My parents Mirja and Mauno, for making sure there is a timeless place called home.

Zuzana, for the best true story I could wish for.

Also by Hannu Rajaniemi from Gollancz:

The Quantum Thief

Copyright

A Gollancz eBook

Copyright © Hannu Rajaniemi 2012
All rights reserved.

The right of Hannu Rajaniemi to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in Great Britain in 2012 by
Gollancz
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane
London, WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company

This eBook first published in 2012 by Gollancz.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 575 08895 5

All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

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