A Symphony of Echoes Read Online Free PDF Page A

couldn’t afford to think about that now. I turned back into the pod.
    And then, oh God, the worst moment of all.
    Even as I looked, the head, a good eighteen inches from the torso and with one of my hairpins still sticking out of its eye, rolled back on itself. Back towards the body. The remaining eye opened, found me, and faintly, the lips smiled.
    I’ve had some bad moments in my life and there were more to come, but this was one of the worst because I realised then that this was just part of the game. These were just the opening moves. I looked around at the blood-soaked pod, Kalinda, unconscious and possibly dying at my feet and then back again to this un-killable thing. This was it. This was hell. There was no escape. We were damned for all eternity. And this was just the first fifteen minutes.
    The gun! Somewhere in this abattoir was Kal’s gun. We had no hope of survival, but I could make our ending a great deal easier. I would shoot Kal and then myself. Then they could bury the pod, or drop it into the sea, and that would be the end of it.
    I scrabbled one-handed, clumsy because I wouldn’t take my eyes off whatever it was for more than a second, and I wasn’t going to let go of the axe, either. I found the gun kicked under my seat. Only one shot fired.
    I stood over Kal, emptied my head of all thoughts, and commended our souls to the god of historians.
    Something crackled and I imagined that a voice said, ‘Max, stand down. Put down the gun.’
    I tightened my grip and blinked away the tears. Don’t weaken now.
    The door opened. Four masked and suited guards were there, two standing, two kneeling, weapons raised and swinging back and forth, covering every inch of the pod.
    Major Guthrie said, ‘Max, it’s me, Ian. Put down the gun,’ and stepping carefully through the blood, crossed to the toilet and pulled open the door. Another guard immediately took his place. Together, they formed an impenetrable barrier across the door. Nothing could get out.
    He shouted, ‘Clear!’ and shouldering his weapon, bent over Kal, looking for a pulse. ‘OK, let’s get her out.’
    Two men entered, picked up Kal, and carried her out.
    I said, ‘Make sure you don’t stand in its blood,’ but they told me afterwards it just came out as a series of meaningless sounds.
    He came to stand in front of me. ‘Max, it’s Ian. Let go of the gun and the axe.’
    I kept trying to look around him. I must not take my eyes off the head. I tried to tell him.
    Finally, he said, ‘What?’ and I tried to signal with my eyes.
    He turned round and said, ‘He’s very, very dead, Max. He’s never going to do anyone any harm ever again,’ and, then, thank God, just as he looked, the head moved again. Another small movement. Back towards the body.
    He stood frozen for a minute and then said in a very different voice, ‘Where’s that axe?’ He swung once, twice, three times, powerful blows with the full force of his body behind them. We both stared at the crushed, ruined head. Even then, I wasn’t convinced. Neither was he.
    ‘I’ll see to all this, Max. Let’s get you out. Leave all this to me.’
    I tried to say something about contamination, but he said, ‘Will you trust me to do this right?’
    I nodded.
    He carried me out of that stinking pod, through the plastic containment tunnel, into a small plastic treatment room and wonderful, glorious, fresh air.
    I couldn’t see Kal at all for the people bending over her. She was hooked up to all sorts of drips and stuff. They were calm but urgent. The bloody pillow lay on the floor with soiled dressings all around. They were cutting her clothes off her.
    Masked and suited figures appeared around me, cutting off my view. My turn.
    Someone said, ‘Close your eyes,’ and I felt cool liquid running across my face.
    Someone else said, ‘Keep irrigating. Don’t stop.’
    I recognised Nurse Hunter. Dr Foster must be with Kal.
    Hunter bent over me. ‘Hello, Max, what have you been up