The Long Earth

somewhat wasted on you, I must say. Offer her sex! Whatever you do, get her on this damn ship!’

Joshua whispered, ‘Lobsang? You really don’t know anything about human relationships.’

He sounded offended. ‘I have read every treatise on human sexuality ever written. And I had a body once. How do you think that baby Tibetans are made? Look, it doesn’t matter. We must bring this young lady aboard. Think about it! What is a nice girl like her doing in the High Meggers?’

Lobsang had a point. Whoever she was — how had she got here, more than a million steps out? Was she a natural stepper, someone who didn’t get the nausea, like Joshua? Fine. But there were only so many times you could step in a day. He could manage a thousand steps a day unaided. Surely everybody needed to sleep and eat? You could step-hunt an unwary deer once you had the hang of it, but field dressing and cookery couldn’t be hurried, and that slowed you down… It would take years to step out this far.

She was watching him suspiciously. ‘What are you thinking? Who were you talking to?’

‘Umm, the captain of my ship.’ Not exactly a lie, and since the Sisters had always been rather down on lying, Joshua was relieved.

‘Really? You mean that ridiculous floating gasbag, I suppose. And how big is the crew of that monster? Incidentally, Robur the Conqueror, I hope you have no designs on this world. I rather like these little guys.’

Joshua looked down. The miniature dinosaurs had formed a circle around the pair of them and were carefully balancing upright, like meerkats, with curiosity just outweighing caution.

‘The captain would like you to come aboard,’ Joshua managed.

She smiled. ‘Aboard that thing? Not a chance in hell, mister, no offence meant… However,’ she said more hesitantly, ‘do you have any soap? I make my own lye soap, of course, but I wouldn’t say no to something a little more easy on the skin.’

‘I’m sure—’

‘Maybe with rose scent.’

‘Is that all?’

‘And some chocolate.’

‘Of course.’

‘In exchange I offer … information. OK?’

The voice in Joshua’s ear prompted, ‘Ask her what information she can give us that we cannot find out for ourselves.’

When asked, Sally snorted. ‘I don’t know. What can you find out for yourselves? By the look of all those aerials and dishes up there you could probably hack God’s email.’

Joshua said, ‘Look, I’m going back up, and will grab some soap and chocolate, and will come right back down, OK? Just don’t go away.’

To his embarrassment Sally burst out laughing. ‘My-oh-my, a real gentleman. I bet you were a Boy Scout.’

As he rose up to the Mark Twain Lobsang whispered in his ear, ‘If there is a more efficient way of stepping, it is vital that we find out what it is!’

‘I know, Lobsang, I know! I’m working on it.’ But right now a stepping mystery was the last thing on Joshua’s mind.

They ate lunch on the beach: fresh-caught oysters on an open fire.

The encounter fazed Joshua more than somewhat. He wasn’t used to the company of women, not women without wimples anyhow. Back in the Home all the girls were more or less like his sisters, and the nuns were all possessed of laser eyesight and over-the-horizon hearing: when it came to the opposite sex you were under constant surveillance. And if you spent a lot of time out on the new Earths, seldom seeing another person at all, anyone that you did meet was a nuisance, taking up your space.

And, right now, there was the added distraction of a circle of miniature dinosaurs, craning their necks this way and that so as not to miss the action. It was like being watched by a bunch of curious kids. He felt as if he should be offering them a few bucks to take themselves to the movies.

But he needed to talk to this enigmatic Sally. It was a tension within him, a huge unfulfilled need. And, looking at her, he thought she felt the same.

‘Don’t worry about the dinos,’ she said. ‘They’re no threat, though they are pretty smart. And they’re very bright when it comes to keeping clear of the larger dinos and the crocs. I make a point of coming back to see how they’re doing every so often.’

‘How? How did you get here, Sally?’

Sally poked the embers of her fire, and the little creatures jumped back, startled. ‘Well, that’s none of your business. That was the code of the Old West, and it’s sure as shit the same here. These oysters roast up wonderfully, don’t they?’

They did. Joshua had just eaten his fourth. ‘I taste something like bacon, and I’ve seen plenty of pig-like animals, they look like a universal. But this tastes as if it’s got Worcester sauce in it. Am I right?’

‘More or less. I travel prepared.’ Sally looked at him, with the juice of oysters Kilpatrick leaking from her lips. ‘A deal, right? I will be frank with you, and you will be frank with me. Well, within limits. Let me tell you what I already think I know about you. First, that bloody great thing floating up there contains only one person, I’m guessing. Because when you found me, any crew would have been swarming all over me and my little world. And, plus you, that means a crew of two people. Big ship for two people, no? Second, it looks mighty expensive, and since the universities don’t have that kind of money and governments don’t have the imagination, that means some corporation or other. I guess it was Douglas Black?’ She smiled. ‘Don’t blame yourself, you didn’t give anything away. Black is smart, and this is just his style.’

There was silence from Joshua’s earpiece.

She read Joshua’s slight hesitation. ‘No word from headquarters? Oh come on! Sooner or later anyone who has a talent that interests Douglas Black ends up working for him. My own father did. Although in fact the money isn’t really the lure. Because if you’re really good, your friend Douglas will give you a sack of toys to play with, like that airship up there. Isn’t that right?’

‘I’m not an employee of Black.’

‘Just contracting, is that the fig leaf?’ she said dismissively. ‘You know, in their headquarters in New Jersey every employee of the Corporation wears a little earpiece just like yours, so that Douglas himself can talk to them individually whenever he likes. Even his silence is threatening, they say. But one day my father said, “I am not going to wear this thing any more.” And right now, Joshua, you will do me the courtesy of taking yours off. I don’t mind talking to you. I heard about you, how you saved all those kids on Step Day, you’re obviously a decent human being. But take off that modern-day slave bracelet.’

Joshua did so, feeling guilty.

Sally gave a little nod of satisfaction. ‘Now we can talk.’

‘There’s nothing sinister about us,’ Joshua said tentatively — although he wasn’t entirely sure how true that was. ‘We are out here to explore. To look and learn, to map the Long Earth. Well, that’s the expedition’s intention.’ Or was, he thought, before it became focused on the issue of the humanoid migrations, the disturbance they perceived in the Long Earth.

‘Not your intention. You aren’t an explorer, Joshua Valiente, whatever else you are. Why are you here?’

He shrugged. ‘I’m a failsafe, if you want the truth. Hired muscle.’

She grinned at that. ‘Ha!’

He said, ‘You say your father worked for Black.’

‘Yes.’

‘What did he do?’

‘He invented the Stepper. Though that was on his own time.’

‘Your father was Willis Linsay?’ Joshua just stared, thinking of Step Day, and how his own life had been changed by what Linsay had done.

She smiled. ‘All right. You want the full story? I’m from a family of steppers. Natural steppers… Oh, close your mouth, Joshua. My grandfather could step, my mother could step and I can step. My father