Extinction Game by Gary Gibson Page B

said to me, about Nadia and Rozalia.
    ‘Of course it didn’t. The Authority folk are definitely on the conservative side when it comes to certain kinds of people. Like people of colour, atheists, women or lesbians. And
Rosie in particular, God help her, ticks all four boxes.’
    ‘They’re like something out of a different era,’ I said. ‘Talking to them is like stepping into the past.’
    ‘Or a different universe?’ He batted me on the arm. ‘C’mon. Beans and grits on the menu today.’
    ‘How do you know?’ I asked, as we made our way in the direction of the dilapidated runway and the town beyond.
    ’It’s Saturday,’ he replied. ‘It’s always beans and grits on a Saturday. Didn’t you notice yet?’

SIX
    We passed a tumbledown gas station, the harbour on our left, before making our way down a broad, palm-lined street that led past the Hotel Miranda. The Authority’s
civilian staff were housed here. Finally we reached the Hotel du Mauna Loa, which stood on a slight elevation in order to give long-gone tourists a better view of the ocean. Its front facade curved
in a sinuous line, partly hidden behind bushes long grown wild and unkempt, and its lawns lush with tall grass and weeds.
    A woman I hadn’t seen before came down the hotel steps, wearing cut-off jeans and a baseball shirt. She had shoulder-length brown hair, and petite features that made me think of what
Audrey Hepburn might have looked like – if she’d had to survive alone in the wilderness for ten years. I didn’t have to be told she was another Pathfinder; I could see it just
from the way she carried herself. Even so, there was a distracted look on her face, and she was almost upon us before she even realized we were there.
    She came to a sudden halt and made a silent
Oh
, the way people do when they nearly collide with someone unexpectedly. Her eyes grew wide and round when they settled on me, and all the
colour drained from her face.
    ‘Hello, Chloe,’ said Yuichi.
    I watched her try and form words when she wasn’t darting confused glances at me. ‘I . . . hello,’ she finally stuttered. ‘I hadn’t. . . I . . . excuse
me.’
    She fled past us with such haste she nearly broke into a run.
    ‘What the hell was that about?’ I asked.
    ‘Maybe you should go on in first, get yourself something to eat,’ said Yuichi, his eyes tracking the fleeing woman. ‘I just remembered I need to talk to Chloe about
something.’
    ‘She’s one of us, right? A Pathfinder?’
    ‘Got it in one.’ He raised his hand in a farewell gesture and hurried after Chloe, who was still retreating at speed. I stared after them both, wondering if I would ever understand
the people here.
    I made my way up the steps to the hotel entrance and found that the square of coloured card that had been stuck to the door since before my first arrival on the island had finally been replaced.
Before, it had advertised
The Day the Earth Caught Fire
. Now somebody had stuck up a new card, which read:
     
    !SHOWING ALL WEEK!
    DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, 1968.
    starring
    AKIRA KUBO , JUN TAZAKI
    Underneath was a crude sketch of a fire-breathing lizard surrounded by collapsing skyscrapers, while little stick figures fled in terror. I still hadn’t found out who
among the Pathfinders felt driven to share their deep and, to my mind, inexplicable love for disaster movies.
    I stepped past the deserted front desk and made for the glass door to the left, beyond which I could hear the sound of tinny animal roars and overdubbed screaming. Near the glass door, pinned to
the wall, were about two dozen photographs, all of the Statue of Liberty. It wasn’t until you looked more closely that you realized they were not, in fact, pictures of the
same
Statue of Liberty. Some were half-drowned in ice, while others rose out of baking deserts. One lay on its side, its head separated from its body, while another was wreathed in jungle vines. Another
Pathfinder’s idea of a joke.
    I