Fin

OK, so that’s finally it: the last part of the Plotmash story is up.  It took longer than anticipated.  Sorry.

That means it’s also time for this website to change its purpose.  That means goodbye Plotmash the project, hello Plotmash my general purpose blog.  I guess what I am saying is that the number of ‘Random Musings’ on here is going to increase.  Skyrocket in fact.  If that scares you – run!

Oh, the story from the Plotmash project will be edited, proofread, hacked around and published under the title ‘Mnemosyne’.  Keep an eye out for it.

Cheers,

Matt

Epilogue

The sun crept up above the horizon, a sun I didn’t think I would ever see again. Its light reached us and I basked in its glory.

Sarah sat next to me. She hadn’t said a word since we had touched down. It had been a messy landing, but I’d had worse, I knew that for certain. It had taken all my remaining energy to get out of the cockpit and slump onto the ground in the field. I hadn’t noticed when Sarah had joined me. She looked haggard and tired. I couldn’t know what she had gone through, these past months, a prisoner as I had been.

“You’re going to need to get that looked at you know.” She nodded at my wrist, the skin tattered and oozing. I nodded. I must look even more of a state than her.

“You don’t remember who you are, even now, do you?” she asked.

It was a difficult question, now more than ever. I wasn’t sure how to answer. I knew some of who I was, who I used to be. But who was I now? I just didn’t know. The silence dragged on.

“Tell me, what do you remember of me?” Sarah asked.

I was surprised at the question. I looked across at her, the early morning light catching he dark brown hair, her serious brown eyes, and her curved lips. Something stirred within me, but I wasn’t sure what.

“I remember you bringing me food. Other than that, I know nothing about you.” For some reason I laughed. It felt good, the sound warm and natural. “I don’t know why, but I feel like I would like to know more.”

Together with the laugh it sounded like a joke, but I wasn’t sure it was. It could have been a trick of the light, but I think I saw a small smile on Sarah’s lips as she turned away to face the dawn.

Chapter 13

Something was squeaking, over and over, a repetition that clawed its way into the blackness that surrounded me.  It gnawed at me, seeming to scrape at my ears and burrow into my brain.  My body rocked slightly from side to side, then jolted as it bumped into something.

“Careful you fool,” said Dante.

The surface under my shoulders was hard and cold.  I was flat on my back but moving.  With my eyes closed I could still make out the subtle changes in light level as I passed under lights set in the ceiling.  Suddenly the squeaking noise made sense.  I was flat on my back on a trolley.

“We need him in one piece.  Mostly at least.”

The trolley paused for a second, and I heard a series of electronic beeps followed by the release of an electromagnetic lock.  The trolley moved off again, the accompanying buzz of the door release getting quieter before it was cut off entirely.  The trolley stopped dead with a thud.

“Open your eyes Adrian.  No more games, it’s all over.”

Chapter 12

I strode down the corridor.  My head was clear, there was no pain, and I felt better than I had in a long time.  But it was temporary, almost an illusion.

“What you are proposing is madness!”  Laurent had followed me from the room and was hurrying down the corridor.

“Probably,” I smiled.

“Wait, you must wait.  You see, when you fell unconscious I didn’t know what to do.  I said that there was only really one place to turn for help.  It was the Mnemosyne lab that I meant.  I didn’t know then what you have told me, but I have already contacted them, told them that you are here.  They are sending people over.  They could be here already…”

Annah Mac

Not really the sort of music that I tend to go for, but really enjoying the debut album from Southland Kiwi Annah Mac (http://www.myspace.com/annahmac).  Catchy stuff with emotion.  The chorus on ‘Focus’ is particularly evocative.  A good pick-me-up song if everything is seeming blurred and tangled.  Put it on, feel the clarity.  Tingley stuff.

Oooohohoh… Focus!

Check it out, you’ll like it.

Interview and Laurie’s Reviews

Sharks and Pigeons has been featured on Laurie’s review website!  Checkout the interview and excerpt here. 

Don’t go there…

Sometimes the internet seems a bit like a free-for-all.  The anonymity – or at least the separation implied by not being face-to-face – so often gives people license to write things they never would dream of uttering out loud.  A different set of rules seems to prevail, or at least I thought.

Recently I saw a facebook post from an old school friend announcing the birth of their daughter.  Great news to be able to share, and of course there were already lots of comments from acquaintances offering their congratulations.  The most striking thing about the post, for me at least, was the name that had been chosen for the newborn.  So much so I wondered if the poster was making a joke.  The people that had commented on the update are the sort or people who are never normally shy to laugh along with a decent pun, or add in one of their own, but the comment thread was entirely clean.  Not an incredulous ‘you can’t be serious?!’ in sight.

You wouldn’t dream of commenting on someone’s choice of baby name in person, and in this instance it would seem that the same social rules apply to the internet.  So maybe it isn’t a free-fo-all after all.  And a good thing that is too!