(no subject)
Jamie ought never to have let it happen. He knew. He's the only one of them who really knew what They could do. It's not the fault of the others that they didn't quite believe how powerful They could be. It's Jamie's fault, for not convincing them how terrible an idea an assault on Them actually is.
It's over almost as soon as it begins. Helen makes her incision into Their place with her magic arm, everyone leaps eagerly inside, there's a horrible noise and everything starts shifting around and everyone starts disappearing. Then Jamie cracks his head on a set of chains and he's alone outside, in the little courtyard outside Their place, next to an Artistic statue of a prisoner without clothes. Or goosebumps.
He glares at the statue numbly as he clambers to his feet. They do like Their symbolism. Jamie's not at all fond of it himself.
Jamie knows there's not a chance of finding Helen or Joris or Adam or any of them. The others aren't dead - they can't be dead, They couldn't have killed them with all of the protections from Konstam's world; it could be worse - so they must all be discards. But the Bounds are endlessly huge. No, he'll not see them again. He'll get used to the thought eventually. He's gotten used to never seeing hundreds upon thousands of people again.
What now? Back to normal, he supposes. Onward ho. But not quite yet. He wanders over to the glass and looks in on Them. They stare back. He's still got the demon knife in his hand, he realizes vaguely, so he lifts it and slashes it into the stone, making a mark, a Homeward Bounder sign that doesn't really exist because there's never even any reason to use it - YOU CAN TELL THEM YOU'RE A HOMEWARD BOUNDER. It's a stupid thing to do. He'd thought it might relieve his feelings, making a joke like that - the jokes have always helped before - but it doesn't.
The sign only needs two more strokes to turn it into Shen, he realizes. It won't do any good, but he makes them anyway, and throws away the knife as it breaks. They're still staring at him. Jamie doesn't care. His arm is hurting him. He wanders away, through the streets, noting things vaguely. The sign that says THE OLD FORT outside Their place. The empty shopping center. Winding, convoluted streets. Familiar streets.
A school building. A building that looks astoundingly like the one he'd spent years trying to skive out of as much as possible - school took up too much of his life, he'd thought. At the time.
But that was a hundred worlds ago.
He keeps walking, past the street where Joris had stabbed him, towards Adam's house, where Adam and Vanessa's parents really do deserve a sort of explanation. Not that Jamie, right now, is best qualified to give it. He doesn't have answers for them. He has questions.
Adam's father tries to fuss about Jamie's arm, but Jamie can't be bothered with that. There's just a few things he needs to know. "Your grandmother. The lady doctor. You've an album in there with pictures of her. What was her name?"
"Elsie Hamilton Macready," says Adam's father, staring. And that's one.
"Do you know about the rest of Elsie's family? Her brothers. She had two brothers."
"Robert went to Australia," says Adam's father. "The elder one, James, disappeared when he was a boy. They dragged the canal for him."
And that's two.
So he knows now. Maybe he'd known ever since he saw that picture of Elsie, and just not let himself realize it. Maybe he'd known since he got there. It doesn't matter really.
He can't quite bring himself to ask the next thing. He asks about the game he played with Adam instead. He really does want to know. Only after Adam's father has explained about cricket, staring again, does he manage to say, "It's no good accusing me of fraud. That really is all I know of cricket. I only got firsthand knowledge two days ago - one last thing. Do you mind taking that newspaper from under Fred's arm and reading me out the date on it?"
And he does.
And then Jamie has to go, very far away and quickly, because he can't stand there and talk to his great-nephew. His little sister's grandson. Whose son has just gotten sent out on the Bounds, probably never to come Home, no, not probably, never to get Home, because you don't get Home, not really. You get to some parody of Home where everything's shiny and clean and people play cricket instead of football and everybody, everybody you know is dead a hundred years ago, after dragging the canal for you, but you were never found. You were off somewhere else, cursing at cows and Hoping. Hoping!
Their greatest joke. Masters of hilarity. Jamie's always thought he was a good man for a joke, but he knows when he's beaten in terms of comedy.
And it's then, of course it's then, of course the Bounds call. Onward ho! Places to go! Thanks for your visit Home, now back you go, wandering forever, don't let the gate hit you on your way out!
It hurts to resist the call and to turn in the other direction, back towards Their headquarters. It hurts, but Jamie doesn't care. He doesn't care about much right now. He just wants to show Them that he doesn't care about Them, either. There has to be a Bounds right by Their place. If he's getting sent off, he'll go from there.
So he does. He goes back to the statue of the man in chains, and the Bounds twitch, and he finds himself next to a real man in chains.
Chains that shatter when Jamie puts a hand on them.
And then the man on his rock - the Bound man, who is now free - sits up and explains to Jamie exactly what it means to be bound to Hope, and just how powerful someone can be who has nothing to Hope for anymore at all . . .
It's over almost as soon as it begins. Helen makes her incision into Their place with her magic arm, everyone leaps eagerly inside, there's a horrible noise and everything starts shifting around and everyone starts disappearing. Then Jamie cracks his head on a set of chains and he's alone outside, in the little courtyard outside Their place, next to an Artistic statue of a prisoner without clothes. Or goosebumps.
He glares at the statue numbly as he clambers to his feet. They do like Their symbolism. Jamie's not at all fond of it himself.
Jamie knows there's not a chance of finding Helen or Joris or Adam or any of them. The others aren't dead - they can't be dead, They couldn't have killed them with all of the protections from Konstam's world; it could be worse - so they must all be discards. But the Bounds are endlessly huge. No, he'll not see them again. He'll get used to the thought eventually. He's gotten used to never seeing hundreds upon thousands of people again.
What now? Back to normal, he supposes. Onward ho. But not quite yet. He wanders over to the glass and looks in on Them. They stare back. He's still got the demon knife in his hand, he realizes vaguely, so he lifts it and slashes it into the stone, making a mark, a Homeward Bounder sign that doesn't really exist because there's never even any reason to use it - YOU CAN TELL THEM YOU'RE A HOMEWARD BOUNDER. It's a stupid thing to do. He'd thought it might relieve his feelings, making a joke like that - the jokes have always helped before - but it doesn't.
The sign only needs two more strokes to turn it into Shen, he realizes. It won't do any good, but he makes them anyway, and throws away the knife as it breaks. They're still staring at him. Jamie doesn't care. His arm is hurting him. He wanders away, through the streets, noting things vaguely. The sign that says THE OLD FORT outside Their place. The empty shopping center. Winding, convoluted streets. Familiar streets.
A school building. A building that looks astoundingly like the one he'd spent years trying to skive out of as much as possible - school took up too much of his life, he'd thought. At the time.
But that was a hundred worlds ago.
He keeps walking, past the street where Joris had stabbed him, towards Adam's house, where Adam and Vanessa's parents really do deserve a sort of explanation. Not that Jamie, right now, is best qualified to give it. He doesn't have answers for them. He has questions.
Adam's father tries to fuss about Jamie's arm, but Jamie can't be bothered with that. There's just a few things he needs to know. "Your grandmother. The lady doctor. You've an album in there with pictures of her. What was her name?"
"Elsie Hamilton Macready," says Adam's father, staring. And that's one.
"Do you know about the rest of Elsie's family? Her brothers. She had two brothers."
"Robert went to Australia," says Adam's father. "The elder one, James, disappeared when he was a boy. They dragged the canal for him."
And that's two.
So he knows now. Maybe he'd known ever since he saw that picture of Elsie, and just not let himself realize it. Maybe he'd known since he got there. It doesn't matter really.
He can't quite bring himself to ask the next thing. He asks about the game he played with Adam instead. He really does want to know. Only after Adam's father has explained about cricket, staring again, does he manage to say, "It's no good accusing me of fraud. That really is all I know of cricket. I only got firsthand knowledge two days ago - one last thing. Do you mind taking that newspaper from under Fred's arm and reading me out the date on it?"
And he does.
And then Jamie has to go, very far away and quickly, because he can't stand there and talk to his great-nephew. His little sister's grandson. Whose son has just gotten sent out on the Bounds, probably never to come Home, no, not probably, never to get Home, because you don't get Home, not really. You get to some parody of Home where everything's shiny and clean and people play cricket instead of football and everybody, everybody you know is dead a hundred years ago, after dragging the canal for you, but you were never found. You were off somewhere else, cursing at cows and Hoping. Hoping!
Their greatest joke. Masters of hilarity. Jamie's always thought he was a good man for a joke, but he knows when he's beaten in terms of comedy.
And it's then, of course it's then, of course the Bounds call. Onward ho! Places to go! Thanks for your visit Home, now back you go, wandering forever, don't let the gate hit you on your way out!
It hurts to resist the call and to turn in the other direction, back towards Their headquarters. It hurts, but Jamie doesn't care. He doesn't care about much right now. He just wants to show Them that he doesn't care about Them, either. There has to be a Bounds right by Their place. If he's getting sent off, he'll go from there.
So he does. He goes back to the statue of the man in chains, and the Bounds twitch, and he finds himself next to a real man in chains.
Chains that shatter when Jamie puts a hand on them.
And then the man on his rock - the Bound man, who is now free - sits up and explains to Jamie exactly what it means to be bound to Hope, and just how powerful someone can be who has nothing to Hope for anymore at all . . .