The plane trees were still standing in their places along the pavement (in with the bad air, out with the good). Ming was still alive, probably out of a job, but still alive. The sun was shining and the clouds still drifted where they wanted to go.Best of all, the Doctor was leaving.She heard the children even before she turned the comer into Harbinger Road. They were playing on the fenced-in stretch of grass that fronted the maisonette. Number Two Husband Achmed had found an antique sign in the cellar one day and hung it on the railings: 'NO DOGS', it read, 'NO BALLGAMES'. Achmed was fond of cultural relics.The children were playing some group game that involved a lot of running around and shooting and not being dead. Some of them were hers, some Fu's or Achmed's. There was even one skinny little white boy that OXFAM had placed with Ming's family. Aunty Shmoo sat in a deckchair in the sun, dozing and pretended to keep watch.Number One Husband Fu was waiting for her by the front door with a tall glass of cloudy homemade lemonade.'Had a hard day at the office, dear?' he asked as she drank.Stone Mountain - LunaThe software that ran security at the Stone Mountain archive was so sophisticated as to be almost sentient.
