Crimes and Glory est une nouvelle gratuite de Paul McAuley à lire en ligne en anglais.

Voici les premières lignes :
“Where are they?”’

‘They? Who’s this “they“, Niles?’ I say, wondering if he’s finally flipped. ‘There’s nobody out here but us chickens. And we’re where we’ve always been. Right behind you and catching up fast.’

‘It’s a famous question, Emma. Even though I know your training wasn’t all it could have been, I’m surprised and more than a little shocked that you don’t recognise it.’

At the beginning of this long chase, Niles Sarkka maintained an imperial silence, week after week, month after month. He didn’t answer my calls, and after a while I gave up trying to call him. Then, after turnover, after we switched off our motor and flipped end for end and switched it back on and began to decelerate, applying the brakes as we slid down the steepening slope of the warm yellow star’s gravity well, he called me. He wanted to know why we’d left it so late; I told him that a smart fellow like him should be able to work it out for himself.