Free The Recollection by Gareth L. Powell Page A

another yawn.
    “But we didn’t come straight here,” he said around his fist. “The first arch we used took us to a beach, on a planet with two moons.”
    “Then you have to factor in the extra journey time. When did you leave Earth?”
    Ed told her the date, and she nodded. “Which arch did you use?”
    “We found it on a farm, near Oxford.”
    Kristin frowned. “I don’t know that one. I came through the excavated Chancery Lane arch.”
    Ed sat up, suddenly alert. “That’s the arch my brother used! He was one of the first through. We’re trying to find him.”
    Kristin put her hands on her hips.
    “If he came through the same arch as me, he’ll have come straight here, same as I did.”
    Ed looked around, feeling his pulse quicken. Verne had actually been here, standing on this spot, breathing this air?
    He said, “He fell into the arch about seven months before we left.”
    Kristin did a quick mental calculation. “In that case, he’ll have passed through about ten years ago.”
    Ed felt his heart thump like a stone in his chest.
    Ten years ?
    “But how can that be?” he said. “We were only seven months behind him.”
    Kristin let out a tired sigh. She used the toe of her combat boot to sketch a triangle in the dirt. She tapped one of its points.
    “This is the Earth, right? And this here is where we are now, a hundred light years away. And this third point up here, that’s the planet you detoured to. Now, I came through the same arch as your brother and I came straight here, along the base of the triangle, while you two went up this side to this other planet, and then down again to here, adding an extra nine and a half years to your journey.” She wiped her hands together as if brushing off sand.
    “Ten years?” Alice said, looking crestfallen.
    Kristin gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.
    “Ain’t relativity a bitch?”
    Ed looked down at the triangle sketched in the sand. Then he turned away and stalked around to the Land Rover’s tailgate.
    Ten years ?
    His mind reeled. He didn’t know how to begin to take in the news. Instead, he kicked a pebble with the toe of one of his work boots, and watched it bounce and skitter across the dirt track. At his sides, his hands clenched and unclenched.
    “But we were only on that beach for a few minutes,” he said.

CHAPTER TEN
    MEDINA
     
    Kat lay in her bunk, looking at the curved metal ceiling of her cabin. Toby Drake lay with his cheek in the hollow of her shoulder, his skin dark against hers, glossy with drying sweat. His breath was warm on her chest.
    The ship scratched at the edge of her awareness.
    > Have you quite finished?
    “What do you want?”
    > We’re docking in fifteen minutes. Perhaps you should get some clothes on?
    “Oh, leave me alone.”
    Drake stirred and blinked up at her.
    “Pardon?”
    Her palm soothed the damp, prickly hairs at the nape of his neck.
    “I’m talking to the ship.” She extracted her arm and sat upright, letting the sheet fall from her chest.
    “I have to get back to the bridge,” she said, trying to sound professional. She didn’t know what she wanted. She put one arm across her chest and the other hand to her throat. She felt suddenly, stupidly vulnerable. She hadn’t let her guard down like this since Victor. She hadn’t let anyone get this close.
    Drake scratched his ears and yawned. “What time is it?”
    Kat checked the display in her right eye. “We’ve got about a quarter of an hour.”
    Nearly home .
    She had butterflies in her stomach and felt like a child again. Blushing furiously, she reached for her clothes. Drake sat up in bed, watching her. “I can’t believe we’re there already.” He shook his head. “Seven light years in six hours, it’s amazing.”
    Kat wriggled awkwardly into her flight suit.
    “It wasn’t really six hours,” she said.
    He looked up at her. “It wasn’t?”
    Kat fastened her suit and brushed it down with her hand. The skin-tight material