China Miéville - Un Lun Dun

Elizabeth Rawley stared.

Stepping out of the elevator came a big man in an antiquated London Transport uniform. He wore a conductor’s ticket machine and carried a copper rod. Beside him was a man wearing printed paper, with needles and pins for hair.

There was a boy with them, a pale boy in flickering clothes. And leaping out from behind them…Was that a dustbin ? With arms and legs? And stern eyes glinting from under its lid?

Rawley took it all in.

Murgatroyd drew his gun and aimed it at the girl. There was a shot, and the ping of a ricochet. The girl held her umbrella before her.

The agents raised their pistols. The conductor leapt out with a flurry of fists and feet, and the sound of crackling and bursts of sparks. Bodyguards tumbled to the floor unconscious. The dustbin somersaulted and, with a frenetic succession of windmill kicks, laid out a line of men and women.

The girl spun her umbrella so fast it looked as if it were the umbrella pulling her. She smacked weapons effortlessly out of several agents’ hands.

Elizabeth Rawley stared in shock. In less than three seconds, most of her staff were incapacitated.

“I’ll kill you!” Murgatroyd spat, and fired again.

The girl spun, and blocked with the umbrella, then swung like a truncheon. It caught Murgatroyd under his chin, and sent him soaring. He sailed backwards, over Rawley’s desk, crashed into the wall behind her, and slid to the floor, groaning.

The dustbin handsprung over Rawley’s desk and stood with one foot on Murgatroyd. The conductor stood poised, ready to strike. The boy and the pin-headed man ran to the door, checked it, and wedged it closed.

The girl stepped closer and stared into the minister’s eyes. She jumped up and landed on the desk. She twirled the umbrella, stretched like a fencer with it pointed directly at Rawley’s throat.

“Minister,” said the girl. “We need to talk.”

Bin / Dustbin:Trash can / garbage can.

Bog off:Go away.

Bollard:A little post to divert traffic on a road; a traffic cone.

Class-mark:The numbers on the side of a library book.

Climbing frame:A jungle gym.

Comprehensive:A school for children aged 11 to 16 or 18.

Do a bunk:Run away.

Estate:Several big apartment blocks— a housing project.

Git:Unpleasant person.

Knackered:Exhausted.

Lairy:Cheeky and aggressive.

Manky:Disgusting.

Minging:Dirty/smelly/unpleasant.

Mobile:Short for “mobile phone”— a cell phone.

Nutter:Somebody acting crazy.

Quite:When Americans say something is “quite good/bad/etc.,” you mean it is “very” good/bad/etc. When Brits say it, we sometimes mean it in just the same way— but then sometimes we mean something is only “fairly,” or “moderately,” or “kind-of-but-not-extremely” good/bad/etc. It can be confusing.

Rubbish:Trash / garbage.

Rum:Strange.

Sarky:Sarcastic.

Scrum:A confused situation involving lots of people.

Shtum:Silent.

Soft (“Don’t be soft”):Foolish.

Take the Michael:Mock, make fun of.

Tarmac:What they make airport runways out of, but we use it to describe normal roads, too.

Tower block:Big apartment block.

Yonks:A long time.

CHINA MIÉVILLE is a two-time winner of both the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the British Fantasy Award, as well as the Locus Award and several other honors. He is the author of King Rat, Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council, and the anthology Looking for Jake. He lives and works in London.

King Rat

Perdido Street Station

The Scar

Iron Council

Looking for Jake: Stories

Bin / Dustbin:Trash can / garbage can.

Bog off:Go away.

Bollard:A little post to divert traffic on a road; a traffic cone.

Class-mark:The numbers on the side of a library book.

Climbing frame:A jungle gym.

Comprehensive:A school for children aged 11 to 16 or 18.

Do a bunk:Run away.

Estate:Several big apartment blocks— a housing project.

Git:Unpleasant person.

Knackered:Exhausted.

Lairy:Cheeky and aggressive.

Manky:Disgusting.

Minging:Dirty/smelly/unpleasant.

Mobile:Short for “mobile phone”— a cell phone.

Nutter:Somebody acting crazy.

Quite:When Americans say something is “quite good/bad/etc.,” you mean it is “very” good/bad/etc. When Brits say it, we sometimes mean it in just the same way— but then sometimes we mean something is only “fairly,” or “moderately,” or “kind-of-but-not-extremely” good/bad/etc. It can be confusing.

Rubbish:Trash / garbage.

Rum:Strange.

Sarky:Sarcastic.

Scrum:A confused situation involving lots of people.

Shtum:Silent.

Soft (“Don’t be soft”):Foolish.

Take the Michael:Mock, make fun of.

Tarmac:What they make airport runways out of, but we use it to describe normal roads, too.

Tower block:Big apartment block.

Yonks:A long time.