The Stone Man - A Science Fiction Thriller (63 page)

Alternative Ending Synopsis

(Aha! Hello there. Bet you weren’t sure if this was back here after all, what with the plug for the other book on the previous page and all. I did say the
last
page, didn’t I, and this is the last one. So here it is. It’s basically the same ending, as I say, but with a definitive answer as to what happens to Paul. The last part was going to be told from his perspective, same as in the story, but after the fact. The conclusions he reaches at the very end would be the same, but from the point of view of a man looking back on it all, rather than a man inside it. I hope you’ll agree that this version just isn’t as punchy as the other one, and feel, as I do, that this is more of a petering out than a solid finish. Reading it back now, I’m not that keen. Either way, you might want an answer, so here it is.)

Paul begins his time inside the hall/cabin, and we learn that he spends the next ten years inside it. During that time, no more Stone Men appear. His life within it continues just as he describes it in the existing version, and whilst it takes its toll on him, he remains mostly sane, until one day the Stone Man suddenly stops following, mid-stride.

Wild with excitement—to the point of hysteria—he is restrained and sedated, and that is where the third person account ends. The story picks six months later, with Paul recounting the events that occurred after that from a beach in Australia.

He explains that it took the government scientists a fortnight to confirm it definitively—being extremely concerned about physical contact for obvious reasons—but they pronounce it dormant. Also, once shut down, the discover they can dismantle it like clay, and gain a new level of understanding of its physical properties now that they can examine it up close. Stone Man research takes a leap forward, and whilst the whole hall project is kept covered up, Paul is given a generous military pension and moves to Australia, where he promptly fakes his own death. He finds city life extremely daunting, despite his initial attempts to immerse himself thoroughly in it, and moves out to the coast, finding the quietest town he can. He spends his days fishing and living with various pets. He is a very different man now, unsure even of who he is or what his values are, and wonders if he’ll ever know. However, he takes great delight in buying and trying all the products and innovations seen in films he’s observed over the last ten years.

Eventually, he decides to get his thoughts out about the whole thing, and records his own account. The trigger for his doing so is made clear when he mentions the latest development; a new Stone Man has arrived in Coventry. He mentions the various media/military theories behind it (signal interference meant they couldn’t send another linchpin whilst the other one was still here and active/it took that long to finally build another one to replace the essential original, a theory that gives credence to the ‘genetically matched human parts make it easier to build new ones’ theory) and talks about the rival Aeschliman and Numajiri teams; both groups of scientists who have been developing their own deterrents against the Stone Man in the last few months. Both claim to have created an infallible weapon that can break down the cellular structure of the Stone Man, thanks to the work of the last few months’ post-Stone Man dormancy. Paul believes them, but decides he doesn’t really care either way. As he looks across the waves, and feels darkness in his soul, he remembers the view from the cabin window, and begins to think to himself. We then sign off in the same manner as the original ending.

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