Dan Abnett - Border Princes

‘In the event of injury or damage, there are supposed to be dormant protocols that wake up inside the Principal — that’s what they call it — protocols that cut in and help the Principal to understand what he is so he can prepare for extraction. These include all kinds of physiological upgrades, combat skills, super powers.’

James looked down at his hands. They were shaking.

‘All that kind of got screwed up this time,’ said Jack. ‘They didn’t cut in properly. That’s why this all seems like a heap of crap to you.’

‘No kidding,’ said James.

‘So, that’s how it is,’ said Jack.

‘And what?’ asked James. ‘I just leave? Or do they take me?’

‘I think it’s best if you go willingly,’ said Jack. ‘They don’t want to hurt you.’

‘And you’d let them?’ asked James, bitterly. ‘I thought we were friends?’

‘We are,’ said Jack. ‘Sometimes, this is what friends do for each other.’

‘No,’ said James, shaking his head. ‘I can’t accept this.’

‘I know it’s hard.’

‘I don’t believe any of this.’

‘Of course. That’s how it works, but what you believe in is the false part, the part that isn’t real.’

‘This is real,’ James insisted. ‘This is… my world. This is what I know and all I want-’

‘The world’s not quite what we think it is,’ said Jack.

‘No,’ James repeated.

‘James-’

‘No!’ he snarled. He was on his feet again. Gwen flinched. Jack rose quietly.

‘James…’

‘You may be able to just sell me out,’ James said, ‘but I don’t have to go along with it. Even if I’m the only bloody person who can see what’s really true here-’

‘James, please,’ said Gwen.

James gazed at her. ‘I adore you, Gwen. We were going to… How can you betray me too?’

‘I’m not,’ she said. Tears welled in her eyes. ‘It’s not like that. Nothing’s the way we thought it was.’

James blinked his mismatched eyes. The door of the Boardroom swung on its hinges.

‘Shit!’ Jack cried. ‘He’s running! Tosh! Close the perimeter!’

They ran out of the Boardroom and down the stairs towards the work stations. Toshiko was at her keyboard.

‘Did you see him?’ Jack yelled.

‘Not a thing!’ Owen yelled back.

‘We’re too late!’ Toshiko declared. ‘Hub breach. He’s already out. He’s on the Quay. I’ve got him on monitor.’

Jack headed for the exit, Gwen right behind him.

‘Try and keep him fixed,’ Jack yelled over his shoulder.

It was getting dark outside. Rain was setting in from the west. The lights in the bars and restaurants were glowing along the Quay.

Jack and Gwen ran through the rain along the boarded walk.

‘Tosh?’ Jack called.

‘I’ve lost him… hang on…’

‘Tosh!’

‘OK! I’ve got him again. He’s doubled back. He’s heading around towards Harry Ramsden’s.’

Gwen had already switched that way. Jack followed her. The boards were wet and skiddy under their soles.

James got as far as the Graving Docks, running out into the sleeting wind. The sky was a black cliff, an empty gulf of night rushing down.

The shades were there, whispers of smoke on the dockside, flanking him.

‘James!’ Jack yelled as he ran up.

‘Don’t touch him! Don’t hurt him!’ Gwen shouted. She could see the grey shapes quite clearly.

One rushed at James.

‘You bastards! No!’ Gwen howled.

James saw it coming.

Frantic, he turned in towards it. There was a crack, and the shade hurtled away, flopping and writhing convulsively on the dock walk. Thorny limbs thrashed.

Mr Dine saw Mr Lowe go down. He knew the First Senior would be on his feet again in a moment. Mr Lowe would be angry and keen to accomplish his duty without hesitation. His pride had been dented. He would be ruthless, perhaps even teach the Principal a lesson in respect.

Mr Dine would not allow that. He stepped forwards. His investment blew off him like steam. He walked up to the Principal.

Jack and Gwen were ten yards away, sprinting to reach James.

James looked at the lean, blond man in the black suit standing before him in the evening rain. The man had the tiny trace of a sympathetic smile on his face.

‘Time to go,’ he said.

‘This is where I live,’ said James. ‘This is the world I know. Please.’

‘It is time to go,’ said Mr Dine.

He held up his hand. Just a slight gesture.

There was a crack of bone, sharp above the sound of the wind and rain.

James folded up and fell.

Gwen screamed. Jack held onto her.

She sank to her knees, sobbing wildly.

Jack approached Mr Dine. He looked down at James’s crumpled body. Mr Lowe melted into view behind Mr Dine.

‘Are you taking him now?’ Jack asked.

‘We have taken him,’ said Mr Dine. He glanced at the body. ‘The Principal has no further use for this,’ he said.

‘What will I-’ Jack began to say, but when he looked up, Mr Dine and Mr Lowe had disappeared.

Jack knelt down, and gathered James’s body up in his arms.

Jack Harkness sat at his desk. His fingers played with the black tile on the glass desktop in front of him.

‘The Lord of the Border had friends here once,’ Jack said, ‘friends he trusted. He gave them a way to look after his son, something that would warn them if the son was at risk.’

Jack tapped the tile. It was no longer flashing, no longer lit up. It was just a dead black square.

‘What are we going to do?’ asked Gwen softly. She rubbed her nose with a screwed-up tissue.

‘Do?’

‘How are we going to cope?’ she asked.

Jack shrugged. ‘The way we usually cope. There’s a chance that everything will gradually fade out. All the artifice, all the make-believe.’

‘All the lies,’ she said.

‘It’ll all go, I think,’ said Jack. ‘It’ll all melt away and we won’t remember a thing.’

‘How long will that take?’ she asked, ‘A day? A week? A year? My God, Jack, how many times might this have happened to us before?’

‘I have no idea.’

She sniffed, and blinked tears. ‘I don’t know what scares me more — the fact that it might take a year, or the fact that we might forget him completely.’

Jack didn’t answer. He got up. ‘Come on, let’s go and find Tosh and Owen. We need to be in one place for a while and just talk.’

‘OK,’ she said. ‘I’ll be there in a moment. I’ve got to phone Rhys first.’

‘Sure. I understand.’

He rested a hand on her shoulder. ‘It will be OK, Gwen. Trust me. It will be OK.’

She shook her head. ‘No, Jack. It’s the End of the World,’ she said.