The Long Earth

5

LOBSANG SAID, ‘Jansson, that police officer, kept an eye on you. You know that, don’t you, Joshua?’

Joshua was jolted back to the present. ‘You know, you’re smart for a vending machine.’

‘You would be amazed. Selena, please take Joshua downstairs, will you?’

The woman looked startled. ‘But Lobsang, we haven’t put Joshua through the security screening yet.’

There was a clank from the drinks machine and a can of Dr Pepper thumped into the hopper. ‘What’s the worst that could happen? I would like our new friend to meet me properly. By the way, Joshua, the can is for you. On the house.’

Joshua stood. ‘No thanks, I lost my taste for soda years ago.’ And if I hadn’t, he thought to himself, I would have done just now, having seen you excrete it.

As they headed towards the stairs Selena said, ‘Good of you to shave, by the way. Seriously, chins are going out of style in these pioneering times. People are so faddy.’ She smiled. ‘I think we were expecting some kind of mountain man.’

‘I used to be like that, I guess.’

This bland deflection evidently annoyed her; she seemed to want more from him.

They reached a landing that consisted of nothing but unmarked metal doors. One of these slid open as she approached, and slid noiselessly shut seconds after he had followed her through and on to another stairway, heading down.

‘Joshua, I have to tell you,’ she said with a kind of brittle humour, ‘I would like to push you down these stairs! And you know why? Because you just walk in and suddenly you have a security rating of zero, a great big oh, which means technically you can be told everything that’s going on here. I on the other hand have a security clearance of five. You outrank me and I have been working for transEarth and its affiliates since the start! Who exactly are you, who can just walk in and be told every secret?’

‘Well, sorry about that. I am just Joshua, I guess. Anyway, what do you mean “since the start”? I was the start! That’s why I’m here, isn’t it?’

‘Yes. Of course. But I suppose every person’s first step is the start, for them …’