Hecatomb (The Black Book 1) by Matt Kinnaird

Author:Matt Kinnaird [Kinnaird, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-01-12T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter four

Cleon was given a cabin with a bunk, some storage space and a g-ball. This was a safety seat inside a sphere which adjusted to face in the opposite direction to any thrust the engines were generating, thus minimising the damaging effects of high g-forces on the body. (Course changes were few, but when they did occur they were physically punishing for everyone on the ship.) He was allowed to move freely along the residential corridor, but restricted from visiting the other two. This meant he could eat in the canteen, wash in the communal bathrooms and visit the gym, which contained several sets of free weights and a series of treadmills, bikes and steppers. Cleon found it most pleasing, however, to simply jog along the corridor, passing his own cabin door every kilometre without ever changing direction. This meant he saw a lot of people, and a lot of people saw him. But he spent all his time on his own. Without a Portal, he felt restless all of the time for the first day, but was surprised to discover how quickly he was able to do without it. There was a touch-screen in his cabin with access to some variation of the Ether and endless entertainment channels, and he spent a lot of time lying on his bed and watching. But at other times, he found the peace refreshing. Already used to switching his Portal off for long periods when he wanted to explore his powers, he found its total absence gave him even greater contact with The Black; solitude, reflection, appreciation of stillness and the spaces between things rather than the things themselves: these, he was starting to realise, were what he needed to explore his connection with Dark Energy. And he practised. Within a few days, he could lift all his furniture off the floor, along with himself.

On the sixth day, he sat down in the canteen with a plate of food, alone as usual at the table nearest the exit, and was lifting his fork to his mouth when someone sat down opposite. Cleon looked up to see a square-jawed youth about his age, with narrow shoulders and a dimple in his chin, smiling at him.

‘Who are you?’ he said.

‘They said you were polite.’ The boy extended a hand. ‘I’m Sinon.’

‘Did you fight at Laureion 4?’ Cleon said.

‘Um, yes. I did.’

‘Did you kill anyone?’

‘I … I might have done.’

‘Rot in Hades,’ Cleon said.

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