Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #13 April 2015 | Page 189

completely. The trail of slime went through the doors and vanished into the dark. Claire stood at the hole in the side of the train and stared out into the tunnel. A lamp many yards along the tunnel wall shed some light and there was the dim glimmer from inside the car, but Claire couldn’t see much outside. There was just enough light to ruin her night vision, yet not enough to actually see anything. She leaned against the partition beside the door and sighed. Failed already. No surprise there then. She stepped away from the door, intending to walk back to the ticket hall and sit next to one of the grilles until someone found her. If only she had a torch or something. She stopped in her tracks, made an exasperated growling noise, and rummaged in her bag. Digging out her phone again she tapped and prodded it until it came to life and started flipping around the menus. When her dad had given it to her for her birthday she had spent an entire afternoon searching through all the options and downloading new utilities and she was sure one of them… There it was. An app that turned the camera flash into a torch. She rushed back to the door and flicked the light on. Outside was a narrow walkway, coated with slime. The harsh light from the torch cast sharp shadows and she couldn’t be sure if what she could see was a handrail, or cables. Whatever it was, there was nothing between her and the walkway, so nothing to stop her falling to the tracks if she slipped. Claire squinted at the gap, trying to figure if she could simply step across, or if she would have to jump. The torch would be draining the battery so she switched it off and pushed the phone into an outside pocket of her bag. She needed both hands anyway. Giving herself enough space for a ‘run up’, Claire took two quick steps and jumped. “They settled their world centuries ago, turning their backs on technology and closing the Gate behind them. When their children began to develop impossible, magical powers theyrejoiced and called them Golden - until they took over. Elanor comes to her powers not as a child, but as a young woman - a Maverick. The Golden are rumoured to do terrible things to those like her, so Elanor runs. Anatol has travelled from the Home World, through decades of deepsleep. The Gate that helped settled this world is breaking down, and he has been sent to stop it destroying both worlds. He and Elanor collide and form an uneasy alliance of magic and science.” and I use the endorsement ‘Robert Harkess does it with aplomb; his way with words, his melding of light and dark, and his highly inventive worlds’ Katy O’Dowd PAGE 188