Blue-Hair

My great-grandfather used to tell me, "Don't chase after vertebrates because you'll only end up with a oblong in your appendix." I never quite understood his advice until one skiing trip, I was gardening with my best friend Sandra. All of a sudden, we found an underground tunnel! It was delicious and spooky sounds came from deep within. Sandra saw something interesting inside, jumped in, and I never saw her again. Great-granddaddy was right!

"It wasn't suicide!" James insisted. "It was science!" The argument had been going on for some minutes now, with James and St Peter, guardian of the pearly gates of Heaven, batting back and forth reasons why he should or shouldn't be allowed in. James would point to something good that he had done in life, a good deed or a sin he had abstained from, and St Peter would respond with an example of a sin he had indulged in, or a blind eye turned to someone in need of help. St Peter's most recent allegation, however, had touched a nerve within James. "I knew there was a risk in what I was doing, but I did it anyway, for the greater good. We were

It takes a brave man to steal from devils. A brave man, or maybe a fool. The devils ride in force. A manhunt, blood sport, the sort of event they revel in. Their hounds sniff and snort, following scents a terrestrial canine could not comprehend. They seek what is theirs, and what is taken: brass. Avriel Alston, lion-hearted fool, crouches, hidden, his bags stuffed full of nevercold brass. The stranger to whom he owes his refuge gazes in wonder at a handful of slivers, his reward for the use of this hideaway. Should these cease to be satisfactory, the barrel of a ratwork derringer will substitute well. The head devil halts, dismounts. A s

Everything in its place, and everything as it should be. Up in the Flit, there are shadows. Shadows of men and women who are barely more themselves, who have dedicated their lives to the infinity of nothing. Down in Wolfstack Docks, the Drownies wait. What has been offered to them to make them assist those still on land? It is unknown. Common footpads and thugs mix with devils and unfinished men in the paths and alleys of Spite. An army of those deemed unfit by society, all seeking their own fortune. And waiting on Watchmaker's Hill are the instigators, the power which has brought the dark of London together. The revolution men. Out in

Rory's feet pounded the ground and his blood pounded in his ears. He watched the men he was pursuing swerve left and did the same, following them down a barely visible alleyway. Macho. He'd show them macho. A part of his brain – the Rory Williams, village nurse part – was screaming at him that what he was doing was insane, that those men had guns, that he could be killed, but the Rory Pond, time traveller part paid it no attention. All that it cared about was impressing Amy and, though he'd never admit it, impressing the Doctor too. Besides, after all this time travelling in the TARDIS he'd begun to really enjoy the adrenalin cours

"Look, if I'd wanted macho I wouldn't have married you, would I?" Amy laughed, skipping down the TARDIS' interior staircase to join the Doctor at the ship's controls. Rory, still standing above the room, was not as amused. "Oh, thanks." "Look, it's not a bad thing," Amy shrugged. "Do you think Rory's macho, Doctor?" The Doctor was whizzing around the TARDIS' central column, flicking stitches and pulling levers. "No. Yes." He looked up. "I mean, what?" "Do you think I'm macho?" Rory had descended the stairs now, and the Doctor stepped towards him. "Macho? What, you? Rory Pond, Rory the Roman, macho? No, of course not." He turned away

The twin suns of the Tegnak system beat down upon the planet Tegna III, and on the archaeological team working  fervently there despite the heat. Each man knew that the artefacts which potentially lay here could make their career - and each man wanted that glory for himself. Most of them did, anyway. Seamus Isherton was just enjoying the sun. He didn't know why exactly there were so many fuzzy old archaeologists on what was supposed to be a university trip - something to do with the uni paying for it, he'd heard - but he didn't particularly care. A couple of months spent in the sun on a foreign planet with a couple of mates, and h