‘Garp was running fully in his augmentation because viable brain tissue was being destroyed by his praist addiction. He is now a hundred per cent uploaded to this Golem,’ said Geronamid.
Salind could feel his stomach turning over and over. His fortune was made. What a story!
He had enough already to get his contract picked up by one of the Earth networks. Hell, he could even get investment for his own network. He watched as Geronamid swung its head back towards the reif.
‘The reif will go for incineration as per the Council’s request,’ the AI said.
‘About time,’ said Garp the Golem.
‘Thank you for agreeing to see me. Obviously I was wrong about this Garp character and his relationship to you. I’m not afraid of admitting to error. You’ll have heard that my story has been withdrawn from the net?’ Salind kept smiling as he studied the apartment. Soper was obviously a woman of baroque tastes. The place was full of preruncible furnishings and frankly strange decorations. He brought his attention finally back to the woman herself.
Deleen Soper bore the appearance of a sixteen-year-old girl — a sure sign she’d been using some of the less sophisticated rejuvenation treatments. She sported short-cropped blonde hair over elfin features and wore jeans and a check shirt. Her whole persona seemed that of a pretty farmgirl from some half-forgotten age. Salind knew her to be a hundred and forty-three years old, and responsible for the deaths of hundreds directly, and tens of thousands indirectly through the drug praist. He kept on smiling.
‘Leave us, Turk,’ she said, and gave an airy wave of her hand.
The butler character who had accompanied Salind from the front door all the way up the spiralling stairs of the building gave a wooden nod and departed. Salind guessed that the man’s duties probably included more than butlering — he looked as if he could crush rocks in his armpits.
‘Please, take a seat Mr Salind,’ she said.
‘My pleasure.’
Salind sat and watched her walk to an antique drinks cabinet and fill two small cups from a silver teapot.
‘Tea?’
He nodded. Now was as good a time as any to try the stuff. She placed the drinks on an occasional table and sat in the armchair opposite.
‘Please, conduct your interview,’ she said.
Salind picked up the warm cup and sipped the drink. It tasted bitter and salty, then left an aftertaste of avocados. Like most of the preferred drinks of humankind it was an acquired taste.
‘What was your relationship with Inspector Garp?’ he asked as he placed his cup back down on the table. ‘I’d like to hear your side of things.’
‘It is a shame you did not think of that before you released your first story.’
Her expression, for a moment, had gone flat and characterless.
‘Again, I apologize. .’
Soper switched on a smile and began to talk. ‘We had, for a brief time, a liaison. I finished it because it became evident he expected more from the relationship than I was prepared to give.’
‘Like what exactly?’
Soper waved her hand at her surroundings. ‘I am a wealthy woman. My family has made a fortune from our bangroves. Garp wanted some of that and I was not prepared to give. I do not like fortune hunters. When he realized my position he then started to make accusations.’
‘He accused you of dealing in praist and being connected to the Tronad.’
Soper leant forward. ‘Ridiculous of course. Why should I deal in praist? I have no need of the money.’
‘His contention was that your family has always dealt in praist, that you made a fortune from it which you are now investing in legitimate businesses.’
‘I thought you were here to listen to my side?’
That flat and dead look again.
‘I’m sorry. Do go on.’
‘My family have owned bangroves for centuries and our fortune grew from them.’ She gestured to the drink before Salind, who took up the cup and drank again. This time the mouthful he took seemed more satisfying.
Soper continued, ‘Praist is a drug dealt in by a small minority of the criminal element of Banjer. We have always been leaders here and the holders of moral. .’
As she went on Salind accessed Argus.
More than tens of thousands, then.
As the interview drew to a close Salind felt it less and less difficult to keep smiling. He found himself starting to see that maybe Garp had not told him all of the truth. Deleen Soper did not seem quite so monstrous face-to-
