GREEN VALLEY

a timely and chilling pageturner that explores the dark side of surveillance tech with style and skill.

A full-time VR sanctuary, Green Valley isolates itself from the tech-hating city of Stanton. But when Green Valley children are found dead inside Stanton’s borders, Lucie Sterling must venture inside… I sat at the counter In the wIndow so that david would see me. an incredibly toned man in a tight shirt came over to ask me if I needed anything. “Just waiting for someone.” “sure.” he smiled, with perfect teeth. “Just shout when you’re ready. we have muffins fresh out of the oven.” as he spoke, I sensed a whiff, right up my nose – emitting from inside my nose – of the rich, warm scent of chocolate and raspberry muffins, something I was sure I hadn’t smelled before he’d spoken. I was hungry and thirsty, a cosy feeling, because I knew I could be satisfied here. I found myself scratching the wood of the countertop, to prove to myself that I could make a mark in it. scoring a rough L in the surface, I picked up some wood grit under my nails – my avatar’s nails – which by now were becoming quite dirty. I didn’t know if this meant the counter was real or just exceptional software design, but I repressed the question, or it was repressed for me.

then david was there, pushing through the door and indicating that I should follow him to a booth at the back of the café. “not that it matters, really. It can see us everywhere,” he said as we slid into the booth. up close, off the call, he sounded like david, and the years tumbled away. For a second I fully expected to see odille follow him through the door. But odille was dead. Before I could even try to understand what he was saying, I was compelled to reach over and grab his arm. when he didn’t float away from me like his phone avatar had, I took his shoulders in both my hands and pulled him to me. he was solid and warm and real – the man who had once loved my sister. “It’s good to see you, david,” I said. “You too,” he said. “But it hurts. I loved odille so much. You know that, right?”

“of course I do. I’m sorry for what I said on the phone.”

he let me hold him for a while longer, but then extricated himself, touching his jawline, which was airbrush-smooth.

“what did you mean, It can see us everywhere? what is it?” “the watcher,” he said. “what is that? what does it watch for? has it got anything to do with the—” I cut myself off just in time. I hadn’t told david about the dead boys from Green Valley, and though I’d warned him of a danger to the children, he hadn’t asked what kind. he still thought I was being just another hysterical anti-tech outsider.

“It watches for any unusual activity that might threaten the integrity of Green Valley. It’s here to protect us.”

this sounded like a Pr line, so I pressed him. “Protect you from what, david?” “do you want a muffin?” I don’t want a fucking muffin, David. “I came here to see Kira. It’s time you took me to her.” But then, unaccountably, I did want a muffin, and a large cup of coffee. that would feel very good. david had already beckoned the waiter over.

“he’s not real, is he?” I said, when he’d left with my order.

david shrugged. “It’s hard to tell. someone may have made him. he may have made himself.”

the bathroom was like something I’d seen in a magazine. the same varnished brick with beaten copper basins in a unisex washroom. as I pulled down my trousers to pee, the cubicle door hinged open. I jolted up and pulled at my trousers, but I realised there was nobody there – the catch wasn’t holding the deadbolt. I caught a glimpse of myself in the washroom mirror, a blonde woman’s hands pushing down the belted waistband of her jeans, while for a second I held the soft material of the Zeroth sweatpants. then, with a subliminal shift, I was feeling denim and stiff fauxleather and metal studs between my fingers. I bolted the door again, and this time it caught.

when I was washing my hands, warm water and subtly fragranced soap foaming from automatic, touchless dispensers, I stared into the face of Plain Jane in the bank of mirrors, her face moving seamlessly at my prompts: smiling, frowning, licking her reddened lips and baring her teeth, a silent scream. over her shoulder, for a moment, something else was looking back. someone shifting behind her. For a burning second, I saw a tall, dark form that shimmered with moving images. I couldn’t bring it into focus – the place where a mouth and the bottom of its nose should have been was smudged like coal-black pastel, and a jaundiced glow seeped out from its eyes. all this in a second, because I spun around to find nobody was behind me, and when I turned back to the mirror, only a scared-looking Jane peered back at me. as I watched, her face settled to contented neutrality as my own heart slowed and my mind calmed. I hadn’t forgotten the faceless creature, but I was unable to generate a strong emotion about it.

the fingerprint of fear reminded me that I had come here for a purpose. something I had to keep reminding david of, too.

My order had arrived while I was away. I picked up the muffin and bit into it, and in my mouth for a split second wasn’t the fresh crumb of baked dough but a fungal sludge. Instinctively, I made to spit my mouthful out,

but before I did, the I stepped in and made the flavour bready, delicious, chocolate-and-raspberryish. I frowned, swallowed, took another appreciative bite and swilled it back with some of the strong and fragrant brew. It was really good.

“where is Kira?” I asked david. he gave me a questioning look. “Kira, david.” I leaned in and whispered urgently, “You asked me here so that I could see her. Is there something you need to tell me?”

“You wanted to see her,” he said. “here goes.” an image flipped across my field of vision and I couldn’t stifle a gasp. the girl, smiling and tanned, hair raked nonchalantly away from her brow, had odille’s face: her cat-like cheekbones curving in and then plumping out again at the jaw. a genetic copy of the sister I’d lost.

“she’s beautiful. she must be nine now.”

he looked at his hands. Zeroth’s fast-track success story, hottest director in the industry back in the day – counting on his fingers. “nine. Yes… nine. that’s right.”

a caption under the picture of the smiling girl asked if I wanted to save it. I blinked yes, even though I knew there wasn’t any point – I couldn’t keep the image once I’d left Green Valley. “has she been… happy?” “of course. Very.” “I didn’t even know you’d married again. who is she?”

“eloise. we’ve… we knew each other before Green Valley closed.”

“while you were still with odille?”

“no. well, yes… we were friends. colleagues.” there was no emotion on david’s face.

“oh.” It was all the I would allow me to say. the shock and rage were being ground up and expelled in the pit of my stomach. It allowed me to focus on the reason I was here, though. “where did you last see Kira?”

“at home, I’m pretty sure. But the record is corrupted.” david’s attention was drifting. he glanced over his shoulder.

“Jesus, david! do you need an electronic record to remember everything?”

“You don’t know what it’s like. I’ve been here a long time. Life is different. It’s hard to explain.” “and where is she now?” “at home.” “I want to see her.” “I don’t think it’s a good idea to take you to the house.”

“why not? that’s why I came here. the only reason.”

“eloise is there. she won’t be… happy that I invited you.” he frowned at me again. “If you’re sure I did.” “why? has she got something to hide? I’ve told you that we have information that Kira could be in serious danger. wouldn’t eloise want to keep her safe?” My voice had risen, spitting out a gout of anger that the I couldn’t process quickly enough, but I didn’t care. the computer people could stare. nothing was truly private here, in any case. that’s how the technology worked, that’s how Zeroth worked, that’s how Green Valley worked. It’s exactly why the world turned away from it – so we could have a private goddamn conversation. david raised his hands, his avatar visibly agitated by the conflict. “relax. I’ll take you to the house.” I tried to cling on to the anger, which was already being made to dissipate through the waste channels of my limbic system. natural anger and fear were rare commodities in Green Valley. they could be valuable, motivating weapons.

To find out what happens next, pick up a copy of Green Valley, out now from Titan Books. TITANBOOKS.COM