Free Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson Page A

I have been tried for Acts of Terrorism. I have since faked my data details and, yes, I am officially, as of now, on the run.'
    Pink McMurphy was staring at me with eyes the size of moons. 'Did you murder someone?'
    'I was campaigning against Genetic Reversal.'
    'But why?'
    'Because it makes people fucked up and miserable.'
    'Y'know, I'd be fucked up and miserable anyway — and if I'm going to be fucked up and miserable, I'd rather be young, fucked up and miserable. Who wants to be depressed and have skin that looks like fried onions?'
    'Pink, I just visited you on a professional basis and you wanted to refix from age twenty-four to age twelve.'
    'I have pressing personal circumstances.'
    'You have a husband who is a paedophile.'
    'He's just sentimental., When we go shopping, he always likes to visit the toy store. Men, y'know, they don't grow up — it makes sense that they like girls.'
    'It doesn't make sense to me. We have a society where routine cosmetic surgery and genetic Fixing are considered normal—'
    Pink interrupted me, patting my knee with a clear, unspotted, unaged and manicured hand. 'It is normal . . . What was so normal about getting old? It's great that we have Fixing and laser. I'm fifty-eight in old years, but I look and I feel fantastic.' Pink demonstrated her great feel-good fantasticness by bouncing her silicon tits a little higher out of her dress. 'Nobody has to look horrible any more — it's been a winner for confidence.'
    'If you're so confident, why do you want to be twelve years old?'
    'I told you a hundred times — I love my husband and I want his attention. I'll never get it aged twenty-four. I even had my vagina reduced. I'm tight as a screwtop bottle.' Fortunately there was no demonstration this time. I relaxed.
    Spike said to me, 'What were these acts of terrorism?'
    'Do you remember the bombing at MORE- Futures ?'
    'I remember that!' said Pink. 'That was world news! Wow!'
    'No one was injured. I had already activated the fire alarm and evacuated the building. It was the plant we wanted to destroy — as a way of getting attention.'
    'A bomb is a big way of getting attention,' said Pink. 'I only ever set fire to the shed.'
    'No one wanted to talk about the issues. I'm not anti-science I'm a scientist — but you cannot have a democracy that is in default of its responsibilities. MORE is taking over the Central Power. MORE owns most of it, funds most of it, and has shares in the rest. There was never any debate about the ethics of Genetic Reversal — it just started to happen because MORE figured out how to do it.'
    'It's a free country,' said Pink.
    'No, it's not,' I said. 'It's a corporate country.'
    'MORE is paying for this trip,' said Spike. 'It's a Central Power Mission, but that's for the press to report. In private, MORE pays, in return for concessions on Planet Blue.'
    'Can't see why you want to blow a place up for making a woman look good on a date,' said Pink.
    'I didn't set off the bomb, in case you're worrying. I was instrumental but not active. And I was acquitted.'
    'Why?'
    'Insufficient evidence against me.'
    'But you just said you did it!' .
    'I wasn't going to tell the prosecutor that, was I? I had the Access Codes to the building. I sheltered the bombers. I don't regret it.'
    'I don't think a convicted — well maybe not convicted, but guilty, y'know, bomber should be lecturing me about my personal life. If I'd known you were a bomber, I'd never have let you in the house. I got nice ornaments and things.'
    Pink got up and left. It was probably the first time in her life that she had sighted the moral high ground. Predictably, she occupied it.
    Spike leaned forward, took my hands, and said, 'Billie, Handsome has orders to leave you behind on Planet Blue with the others.'
    'What others?'
    'There's a breeding colony. Class A political prisoners. They can't do any damage — they're back living before the stone age but they can breed.'
    'No one can breed any more,' I said.