Doctor Who - Bernice Summerfield - 18 - The Mary-Sue Extrusion by Dave Stone

Author:Dave Stone [Stone, Dave]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Media Tie-In, High Tech, Summerfield; Bernice (Fictitious Character)
ISBN: 9780426205319
Google: 4-IOAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0426205316
Publisher: Virgin Publishing
Published: 1999-03-01T08:00:00+00:00

Thanaxos was a basically monarchical society, which has one

thinking of splendid pageantry and plumage, royal crests on

every available surface, state processions, monumental

statuary, household guards in endocephalically silly hats and

all the rest of it - and so it was, in the tourist quarters. The

mistake is to think that it is nothing else. It was also a post-

industrial, interstellar-capable, globally cohesive and

complex humanoid society. The streets and structures of

Rakath were as functional, advanced and diverse as in any

other capital city you can name. The only difference between

this and, say, Aeon Flux on Mars was in the minutiae of the

details - the uniforms and ranking-system of the cops, the

design of the street lamps, the language on the signs.

The street lamps were on by now, gas-powered with a faint,

pervasive tang you get because they‟re methane-powered

from some distant recycling plant. There were more official-

looking uniforms around than otherwise, maybe two to a

street on average, but they were obviously the uniforms of

civilian policing rather than military.

The lack of an obviously military presence on the streets, of

course, was not a particularly reassuring sign. It just set the

mind wondering as to where, in fact, all the soldiers might

actually be.

All the same, I thought I could detect that war-footing smell

about which Sela had spoken. I can‟t point out what caused

it specifically - and maybe it was just because Sela had put

the thought in my head - but it was a definite impression I

got, in the same way you know whether or not you‟re going to

like a bar the moment you walk through the door. There was

a kind of violence-tension in the air – not that of an

impending riot, but more sort of self-righteous and directed,

if you get what I mean. Just feeling it around you, you could

imagine all these people thinking, Hah! If that dastardly

Johnny Hun tries anything here he‟ll get the shock of his life,

and we‟re just the chaps to give it to him! - and suchlike. I

suppose the word I‟m groping for is jingoism - though

directed at whom or what I couldn‟t say.

The native Thanaxons looked at me a bit suspiciously - as

if, as a stranger, I might be a spy or something - but not with

the flat-out hatred upon which they‟d look at an Enemy. My

experience with detention had left me with the subconscious

impression that I‟d stick out like a boil here, but I was only

one of several off-worlders around, dressed better than most

in my spanky new suit, and I wasn‟t being treated any

differently.

My translation implants don‟t deal with the written word

very well, in the sense that they flady refuse to do it. I knew

where I was going, though, from having memorized the route

from a public map unit back at the hotel - and the small fact

that such places are prominent, well lit and open twenty six

hours a standard day and have huge illuminated signs in

languages that I can recognize.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.