by Kevin Brooks
“Thanks a lot.”
“You’re welcome.”
“There,” she said, giving my face a final wipe, “that’s better.”
“Thanks.”
She nodded, putting the tissue away, and for a few seconds she was quiet. Then, without looking at me, and with her voice perfectly calm, she said, “You weren’t thinking of jumping off the roof, were you?”
“What?”
“Because if you were . . .” She looked at me, her eyes suddenly bright with anger. “Listen to me, Tom Harvey. I know you’ve been through a lot recently . . . I mean, we both have. And I know you’re probably feeling really confused right now about all this iBoy stuff, all the shit you’ve got in your head and all the shit you’ve had to deal with . . .” She paused then, moving her face to within an inch of mine, and her voice became slow and deliberate. “But if I ever catch you even thinking about killing yourself . . . well, believe me, I’ll make sure it’s the last thing you ever do.”
We stared at each other for a while then, and as Lucy’s eyes drilled into mine with an intensity that was almost physically painful, I honestly didn’t know if I had intended to jump or not. I didn’t know if I could have jumped or not.
I just didn’t know . . .
All I knew — and all that mattered — was that I hadn’t jumped, and that Lucy was here, sitting beside me.
I looked at her, smiling. “The last thing I ever do?”
She shook her head. “It’s not a joke, Tom . . . I’m serious.”
“I know . . . but you’re kind of implying that if you ever catch me thinking of killing myself, you’ll kill me, which sort of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?”
She couldn’t help grinning. “Yeah, all right, Mr. Super Brain . . . so I got my words mixed up a bit —”
“A bit?”
She looked at me, still smiling, but there was genuine concern behind her smile . . . and that really meant a lot to me. In fact, it meant everything.
“I’m sorry, Luce,” I said quietly, looking back at her.
“It’s all right, I’m always getting my words mixed up —”
“No . . . I mean about everything.” There were tears in my eyes again now. “I’m just so, so sorry . . .”
“Shhh . . .” she said gently, putting a fingertip to my lips. “You don’t have to be sorry . . . you don’t have to be anything. Just be with me, OK?” She took her finger away, leaned in close, and kissed me. “All right?” she whispered. “Just be with me.”
I nodded, still crying.
Lucy smiled. “Let’s get comfortable.”
As she slowly leaned back and lay down on the roof, looking straight up at the sky, I didn’t move for a moment. I just sat there, staring out at the dying horizon, wondering if perhaps there was something out there for me after all, a future beyond the horizon . . .
And then Lucy tapped my backside with her foot and said, “Hey, Super Brain, it’s getting lonely down here.”
And I leaned back and lay down beside her, and she took my hand in hers, and we just lay there together in a dream of silence, gazing up at the stars.
For their invaluable help
and technical advice,
I’d like to acknowledge Dave Brooks,
Helen Fernandes, Nitin Patel,
and Sanj Bassi.
iThank you.
The editor and publishers gratefully acknowledge permission to reproduce copyright material in this book. Every effort has been made to trace and contact copyright holders, but in a few cases this has proved impossible. The editor and publishers apologize for these unwilling cases of copyright transgression and would like to hear from any copyright holders not acknowledged.
Guardian online article by Rose George, copyright © Rose George, 2004, reprinted by permission of the author; excerpt by Arthur Koestler from The Ghost in the Machine (copyright © Arthur Koestler, 1975) is reproduced by permission of PFD (www.pfd.co.uk) on behalf of The Estate of Arthur Koestler; “Broken” Words & Music by Randy James Bradbury, Fletcher Dragge, Jim Lindberg & Byron McMackin, copyright © Songs Of Universal, Inc. on behalf of Westbeach Music (75%). All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Music Sales Limited; Supersizing the Mind, copyright © Andy Clark, reprinted by permission of OUP; “Electricity is Human Thinking,” copyright © H. Bernard Wechsler, reprinted by permission of the author; One Blood by John Heale, copyright © John Heale, reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster; algorithm definition quoted from article entitled “Algorithm,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm, made available for use under the terms of http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/; Taser definition quoted from article entitled “Taser,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taser, made available for use under the terms of http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/; the extract from “since feeling is first” is reprinted from Complete Poems 1904–1962, by E. E. Cummings, edited by George J. Firmage, by permission of W. W. Norton & Company. Copyright © 1991 by the trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust and George James Firmage; The Gang by Frederic Thrasher, copyright © Frederic Thrasher, 1927, reprinted by permission of Chicago University Press; The River of Eden copyright © 1996 by Richard Dawkins. Reprinted by permission of Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group; Terre des Hommes by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, copyright © Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1939, reprinted by permission of Penguin Books.
Text copyright © 2010 by Kevin Brooks.
Cover art and design by Christopher Stengel
All rights reserved. Published by Chicken House, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, CHICKEN HOUSE, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
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First published in the United Kingdom in 2010 by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin UK, 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL
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The acknowledgments constitute an extension of this copyright page.
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business, companies, events, or locations is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brooks, Kevin.
iBoy / Kevin Brooks. — 1st American ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Tom Harvey was an ordinary Londoner until an attack that caused fragments of an iPhone to be embedded in his brain, giving him incredible knowledge and power, but using that power against the gang that attacked him and a friend could have deadly consequences.
ISBN 978-0-545-31768-9
[1. Gangs—Fiction. 2. Violence—Fiction. 3. Internet—Fiction. 4. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 5. London (England)—Fiction. 6. England—Fiction. 7. Science fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.B7965Ibo 2011[Fic]—dc22
2010054240
eISBN 978-0-545-38815-3
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
First American edition, November 2011
The display type was set in Bureau Agency.
Book design by Christopher Stengel
Table of Contents
; Title Page
Dedication
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11001
11010
Acknowledgments
Also by Kevin Brooks
Copyright