The-Infinite-Sea-Pdf

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“You’re referring to the Wonderland program. But you’re forgetting that we are more than the sum of our experiences. Human beings can be marvelously unpredictable. Your rescue of Ben Parish during the fall of Camp Haven, for example, defied logic and ignored the first prerogative of all living things: to continue living. Or your decision yesterday to give yourself up when you realized capture was the little girl’s only chance to survive.” “Did she?” “You already know the answer to that question.” Impatiently, like a harsh teacher to a promising student. He gestures at the board: Play. I wrap a hand around my fist and squeeze as hard as I can. Imagining my fist is his neck. Four minutes to choke the life out of him. Just four minutes. “Teacup’s alive,” I tell him. “You know the threat to fry my brain won’t make me do what you want me to do. But you know I’ll do it for her.” “You belong to each other now, yes? Connected as if by a silver cord?” Smiling. “Anyway, besides the serious injuries from which she may not recover, you’ve given her the priceless gift of time. There is a saying in Latin. Vincit qui patitur. Do you know what it means?” I’m beyond cold. I’ve reached absolute zero. “You know I don’t.” “‘He conquers who endures.’ Remember poor Teacup’s rats. What can they teach us? I told you when you first came to me; it isn’t so much about crushing your capacity to fight as it is your will to fight.” The rats again. “A hopeless rat is a dead rat.” “Rats do not know hope. Or faith. Or love. You were right about those things, Private Ringer. They will not deliver humanity through the storm. You were wrong, however, about rage. Rage isn’t the answer, either.” “What’s the answer?” I don’t want to ask, don’t want to give him the satisfaction, but I can’t help it. “You’re close to it,” he says. “I think you might be surprised how close you are.” “Close to what?” My voice sounds as small as a rat’s. He shakes his head, impatient again. “Play.” “It’s pointless.” “A world in which chess does not matter is not a world in which I wish to live.” “Stop doing that. Stop mocking my father.” “Your father was a good man in thrall to a terrible disease. You shouldn’t judge him harshly. Nor yourself for abandoning him.” Please don’t go. Don’t leave me, Marika. Long, nimble fingers clawing at my shirt, the fingers of an artist. Face sculpted by the merciless knife of hunger, the infuriated artist with the helpless clay, and red eyes rimmed in black. I’ll come back. I promise. You’re going to die without it. I promise. I’ll come back. Vosch is smiling soullessly, a shark’s smile or a skull’s sneer, and if rage is not the answer, what is? I’m squeezing my fist hard enough to force my nails into my palm. Here’s how Evan described it, Sullivan said, wrapping her fist in her hand. This is Evan. This is the being inside. My hand is the rage, but what is my fist? What is the thing wrapped up in rage? “One move from mate,” Vosch says softly. “Why won’t you make it?” My lips barely move. “I don’t like to lose.” He pulls a silver device the size of a cell phone from his breast pocket. I’ve seen one before. I know what it does. The skin around the tiny patch of adhesive sealing the insertion point on my neck begins to itch. “We’re a little beyond that stage,” he says. Blood inside the fist that’s within the hand clenching the fist. “Push the button. I don’t give a shit.” He nods approvingly. “Now you’re very close to the answer. But it is not your implant linked to this
transmitter. Do you still want me to push it?” Teacup. I look down at the board. One move from mate. The match was over before it began. When the game is fixed, how do you avoid losing? A seven-year-old knew the answer to that question. I slide my hand beneath the board and hurl it toward his head. I guess that’s checkmate, bitch! He sees it coming and ducks easily out of the way. Pieces clatter on the table, roll lazily on the tabletop before falling off the edge. He shouldn’t have told me that the device is linked to Teacup: If he pushes the button, he loses his leverage over me. Vosch pushes the button.
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G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS Published by
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Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Ch
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For Sandy, guardian of the infinite
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THE WHEAT THERE WOULD BE no harvest
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BOOK ONE
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“Because bad thoughts do what?”
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2 UNDIMMED, THE STARLIGHT sears thr
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3 BY SUNRISE, I reach the southern
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The pellet in its bed of blood. The
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It isn’t fear that will defeat th
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I scan the woods but don’t hear o
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7 I FEEL HIM THEN, the one standing
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“Here’s how the bishop moves, T
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9 I SEE THE CHOPPERS closing in thr
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11 FROM THE TIME I could barely wal
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A lead ball of silence the size of
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I looked at her for a minute. “Le
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to do was sit back and let the stup
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I shook my head. He didn’t unders
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ack, hitting the edge of the mattre
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Up to now, I always thought that th
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helpful was the fact that the Walke
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14 I STEPPED INTO the lobby, our br
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16 HE WOKE TO PAIN. Blinding pain i
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she floated in the water stained pi
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18 GRACE’S STATION WAS an old, on
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19 HE WAITED UNTIL her footfalls fa
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20 NIGHT HAD FALLEN by the time Gra
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21 WHEN IT WAS DONE, he crawled to
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23 AT DUSK, the lights of the Ferri
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24 THE CAR’S UNDERCARRIAGE agains
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25 LATER THAT EVENING on the day th
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“It would be like one of them fal
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naïve, kind, cruel, soft as down,
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29 FOR OVER FIVE YEARS he’d relie
Page 77 and 78: 30 THE BOY STOPPED talking the summ
Page 79: ate all his baby brother’s mac an
Page 82 and 83: deer-in-headlights look, like You g
Page 84 and 85: His lips moved and a word leaked ou
Page 86 and 87: 34 I STAYED WITH HIM till dawn. Sit
Page 88 and 89: “Oh. Good.” He seemed relieved.
Page 90 and 91: That’s when the girl appeared, st
Page 92 and 93: He rubbed his chin. I rubbed my nec
Page 94 and 95: the lip for an eternity. Before ete
Page 96 and 97: “That doesn’t answer my questio
Page 98 and 99: I wasn’t holding up well. He was
Page 100 and 101: lowered her carefully onto Evan, le
Page 102 and 103: 41 “IT’S A TEST,” Evan said.
Page 104 and 105: 42 OH, BROTHER. Guys. I tossed Bear
Page 106 and 107: “No, and you want to know why? Be
Page 108 and 109: 44 THEN DUMBO, with perfect timing,
Page 110 and 111: “Evan, I’m not even sure I unde
Page 112 and 113: “Don’t be an idiot!” he shout
Page 114 and 115: 47 THE SPOTLIGHT HIT NEXT: Brillian
Page 116 and 117: 48 I PAUSED FOR a half second at th
Page 119 and 120: 49 HE DIDN’T LIKE being around th
Page 121 and 122: from melted snow, rising up, floppi
Page 124 and 125: 50 I’M SITTING ALONE in a windowl
Page 128 and 129: 51 MY REACTION IS months in the mak
Page 130 and 131: This is the bind. This is the trap.
Page 132 and 133: Now I’m standing on the shores of
Page 134 and 135: teacher. “That’s what I’ve co
Page 136 and 137: Nodding seriously. “I’ll get ri
Page 138 and 139: “I needed to prove something to m
Page 140 and 141: 57 CLAIRE TIES a rubber strap aroun
Page 142 and 143: 58 THERE IS NO DAY or night anymore
Page 144 and 145: He turns, surprised. My face is hot
Page 146 and 147: “You said you didn’t play,” I
Page 148 and 149: “He’s safe!” Razor bellows. N
Page 150 and 151: the truth was that most days my fat
Page 152 and 153: He’s quiet for the next couple of
Page 154 and 155: 64 I HADN’T SEEN Vosch in days. T
Page 156 and 157: when the door opens and Claire come
Page 158 and 159: “Seriously? You don’t know?”
Page 160 and 161: 67 CLAIRE STAGGERS AWAY, blood pour
Page 162 and 163: 68 JUMBO SHOULD HAVE a knife on him
Page 164 and 165: doesn’t like dogs wouldn’t be G
Page 166 and 167: 70 IN THE BATHROOM, the gush become
Page 168 and 169: 71 THE WINDOW BESIDE the bed jiggle
Page 170 and 171: “Bob, we really have to go,” I
Page 172 and 173: “Don’t be racist. And I’m thr
Page 174 and 175: 73 I HEAD BACK to the cockpit, wher
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75 I AM FALLING at terminal velocit
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the location.” “I’ve seen not
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77 AS WE APPROACH, the complex seem
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78 ROTTEN MILK. The stench of the p
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79 THERE’S LITTLE DIFFERENCE betw
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80 HE LIFTS ME from the floor. He c
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81 FOR A WEEK, he is my sole compan
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Outside, the bitter harvest burns.
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83 ON THE EIGHTH DAY, the chopper r
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84 COVERED IN ASH and dust, five gr
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