Back of Your Hand

Krash Bang Jo And the Pineal Zen Solution is one of my favourite
short stories. The anthology of short stories I first read it in,
unfortunately is 500 miles away from me, that I could check all the
details and make sure they are correct. So I apologise for all
errors.

The story is about Bangladesh, and this very nice guy, called Jo.
Bangladesh is a telepath, indentured to work for a sleazoid private
detective, enslaved by her talent. She meets, or rather, first
encounters Jo, who is a space ship pilot, while he is on shore leave.
He's quietly having a beer down the pub.

Being a telepath, she immediately clocks his uncloaked, unguarded and
extremely nice mind. But then, so do two other people, who are out to
kidnap Jo, render down his mind, and extract the essence of his
niceness. Of course, to replicate and to sell. Bangladesh saves Jo from
these people a few times.

The story is about their love, and her escape from slavery. While
science fiction has invented many ways of freeing mankind from the
bonds of distance, space and time, Eric Brown uses the concept of the
nada continuum, that space ships hurl themselves into. There is a
portal to the nada continuum in the museum of space flight in
Bangladesh's local town.

The sign of her slavery is her boss tattooed on the back of her hand.
It is also how he communicates with her. The pigmentation of the tattoo
animating as he talks to her. To free herself, as she saves Jo, she
plunges her hand into the little bit of the nada continuum in the
museum, severing it from her, and destroying the hold her boss has on
her.

Its a wonderful and beautifully written love story, but all the more
powerful for that other, equally powerful and eternal theme: that
people will bring to bear all their intelligence, courage and ingenuity
to free themselves from their oppressors.