Dream Paris by Ballantyne Tony

Author:Ballantyne, Tony [Ballantyne, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Urban, Science Fiction, Steampunk, Contemporary, Fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9781781083598
Publisher: Solaris
Published: 2015-08-19T23:00:00+00:00

WE RETURNED TO Jean-Michel’s office. He took us to the window.

“A beautiful city, non?”

It was. I saw the river Seine running through the middle of the city, splitting in two to pass either side of the Île de la Cité. The river was a lightning bolt of turquoise and sky blue; even from that height I could see the ripples reflecting from the surrounding buildings, making them shimmer and ripple in harlequin patterns of turquoise and white. I saw the black and white spots of liopleurodons patrolling the river, looking for a meal of mussellers.

Francis spoke quietly.

“Why are you showing us all this, M Ponge?”

“I want you to understand. Dream London was a place of England. The people there merely accepted another set of rulers. But Dream Paris is a place of France. A place of revolution! This is the place of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.”

“I just want to find my mother!”

“And this is the problem. You have a fortune scroll. You will find your mother. But what then? Will you simply take her home with you? What if she doesn’t want to go? Have you thought of that?”

“Why wouldn’t she want to go home?” But I had thought of that. She’d written me a letter telling me not to come here.

“I don’t know why she wouldn’t want to go. I don’t know what goes on in Dream Paris.”

Jean-Michel ran his hand through the bristles on his chin. He didn’t look as if he had slept much last night.

“I should just send you to the Bastille right now and have done with it!”

“But you don’t want to, do you, Jean-Michel?” I smiled at him, did my best to appear open and helpful. “Let me go and find my mother! That’s all I want! I’ll leave, straight afterwards, no matter what!”

“And what about your father?”

That brought me up short. Francis was quick to intervene.

“The scroll only mentions her mother. There’s no point getting in her way. She’s going to find her.”

Jean-Michel nodded.

“And what then? What about the Prussians? Count Thomas von Breisach is very interested in you. Why would he wish to find your mother?”

“I don’t know!”

“The Dream Prussians seek to develop the ultimate weapon. Our spies tell us of something called an Integer Bomb…”

“My mother knows nothing about weapons!”

“Perhaps not. But here in Dream Paris we are surrounded by enemies. There is the jewelled city, Dream Prague, that sends out a jewelled path to entice our citizens to itself.”

“I’ll watch out for the jewels…”

“Or Dream Moscow. The booms of its cranes reach out for hundreds miles, a hook is lowered and it captures someone, maybe a child. People rush forward, they take hold of the child, they try and pull it back to safety and then suddenly they find themselves hundreds of feet in the air, too high to let go. They can do nothing but hang on as they are carried away to another city…”

“I’m sorry about that!”

“And then there are the older cities, far, far away, the land stretching as long ago as time.

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