The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks Read Free Book Online

terminal. 'House,' he said. 'Raise that drone.' He continued to stare into the sky. 'Which drone, Jernau?' the house said. 'Chamlis?' He stared at the terminal. 'No! That little scumbag from Contact; Loash Armasco-Iap Wu-Handrahen Xato Koum, that's who! The one that was just here!' 'Just here?' the house said, in its Puzzled voice. Gurgeh sagged. He sat down. 'You didn't see or hear anything just now?' 'Nothing but silence for the last eleven minutes, Gurgeh, since you told me to hold all calls. There have been two of those since, but-' 'Never mind,' Gurgeh sighed. 'Get me Hub.' 'Hub here; Makil Stra-bey Mind subsection. Jernau Gurgeh; what can we do for you?' Gurgeh was still looking at the sky overhead, partly because that was where the Contact drone had gone (the thin vapour-trail was starting to expand and drift), and partly because people tended to look in the direction of the Hub when they were talking to it. He noticed the extra star just before it started to move. The light-point was near the trailing end of the little drone's farside-lit contrail. He frowned. Almost immediately, it moved; only moderately fast at first, then too quickly for the eye to anticipate. It disappeared. He was silent for a moment, then said, 'Hub, has a Contact ship just left here?' 'Doing so even as we speak, Gurgeh. The (Demilitarised) Rapid Offensive Unit-' '-Zealot ,' Gurgeh said. 'Ho-ho! It was you , was it? We thought it was going to take months to work that one out. You've just seen a Private visit, game-player Gurgeh; Contact business; not for us to know. Wow , were we inquisitive though. Very glamorous, Jernau, if we may say so. That ship crash-stopped from at least forty kilolights and swerved twenty years… just for a five-minute chat with you, it would seem. That is serious energy usage… especially as it's accelerating away just as fast. Look at that kid go… oh, sorry; you can't. Well, take it from us; we're impressed. Care to tell a humble Hub Mind subsection what it was all about?' 'Any chance of contacting the ship?' Gurgeh said, ignoring the question. 'Dragging away like that? Business end pointed straight back at a mere civilian machine like ourselves…?' The Hub Mind sounded amused. 'Yeah… we suppose so.' 'I want a drone on it called Loash Armasco-Iap Wu-Handrahen Xato Koum.' 'Holy shit, Gurgeh, what are you tangling with here? Handrahen? Xato? That's equiv-tech espionage-level SC nomenclature. Heavy messing…. Shit…. We'll try…. Just a moment.' Gurgeh waited in silence for a few seconds. 'Nothing,' the voice from the terminal said. 'Gurgeh, this is Hub Entire speaking here; not a subsection; all of me. That ship's acknowledging but it's claiming there is no drone of that name or anything like it aboard.' Gurgeh slumped back in the seat. His neck was stiff. He looked down from the stars, down at the table. 'You don't say,' he said. 'Shall I try again?' 'Think it'll do any good?' 'No.' 'Then don't.' 'Gurgeh. This disturbs me. What is going on?' 'I wish,' Gurgeh said, 'I knew.' He looked up at the stars again. The little drone's ghostly vapour-trail had almost disappeared. 'Get me Chamlis Amalk-ney, will you?' 'On line … Jernau?' 'What, Hub?' 'Be careful.' 'Oh. Thanks. Thanks a lot.'
'You must have annoyed it,' Chamlis said through the terminal. 'Very likely,' Gurgeh said. 'But what do you think?' 'They were sizing you up for something.' 'You think so?' 'Yes. But you just refused the deal.' 'Did I?' 'Yes, and think yourself lucky you did, too.' 'What do you mean? This was your idea.' 'Look, you're out of it. It's over. But obviously my request went further and quicker than I thought it would. We triggered something. But you've put them off. They aren't interested any more.' 'Hmm. I suppose you're right.' 'Gurgeh; I'm sorry.' 'Never mind,' Gurgeh told the old machine. He looked up at the stars. 'Hub?' 'Hey; we're interested. If it had been purely personal we wouldn't have listened to a word, we swear, and besides,