Pause

Scott Tierney

Description

In this short story set with the world of sci-fi novel Tomorrow is Another year, Michael awakes to find future London beset in the fever of a vast festival. Little does he know that the reasons behind the festival, and the mysterious 'Pause' which is due to follow thereafter, are less than joyful...

Sujets

• Fantasy (canción de Mariah Carey)
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 17 août 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789822519
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Pause
An Introductory Prequel to Tomorrow is Another Year
Scott Tierney




The Pause
First published in 2020 by
Acorn Books
www.acornbooks.co.uk
Acorn Books is an imprint of
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
Copyright © 2020 Scott Tierney
The right of Scott Tierney to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.



The Pause
The year was 2278, and Michael rose from his dust-strewn mattress to find the usually gloomy skyline of central London besieged by a clamorous rapture. Having spent the previous day in 2277, and the day before that in 2276, Michael could not have known the reasoning behind today’s seemingly impromptu citywide celebration. Then again, when tomorrow was another year, and one awoke each morning to a world having moved forward by twelve months and a day, one became accustomed to unanticipated developments...
Michael took to the streets later that morning, venturing for clues as to the reason behind the unexpected carnival atmosphere which had gripped the entire city. Upon entering the epicentre of the celebrations, Hyde Park – or what had recently gone by the name White Park; although, even at the time, Michael had refused to refer to it by this title – he soon discovered that everything and everyone inside the park was besmirched with ticker tape and glitter and so much that sparkled, as though the sky itself had suddenly exploded like some giant p iñata following the barest swing of festivity. Everywhere he looked there was music and dancing aplenty, games and spectacle, parties and parades and money being blown, every nearby restaurant and bar having opened its doors and stretching out lines of tables and chairs onto the streets like tongues unfurled from so many gaping mouths. And the smell of food...it was overwhelming. As he moved between the corridors of steaming and sizzling platters, Michael was inundated by the aroma of every conceivable variety of grilled and fried and sugar-dusted indulgence – and all being consumed at a staggering pace. It was not uncommon to see people with a burger in one hand and an ice-cream in the other, all the while queueing for something fizzy to wash it all down before heading hastily towards the next available course as though it might just be their last. Such a sight of impulsive overeating was enough to make Michael queasy. And hungry...But above all else, curious.
Michael hadn’t seen London in such a frenzied state since the day it had been reclaimed under the banner of White City , a day when the streets had quite literally come alive with bunting and balloons and all manner of technical illusion. Of course, White City was an illusion , little more than a figment of an agreeable population’s imagination; but at the time every citizen would have sworn blind, pun intended, that it was the promised land of milk and honey, a safe haven from years of turmoil and Conflict, a new world sterilised of the grime which had tainted the previous century – including the remnants of the all-consuming Virus.