Consider Phlebas

As though he hadn't had enough shocks for one evening, the sight of the woman sitting at the mess-room table had all but silenced him and stopped his mind from working. What was he going to do? He couldn't think. The shock was still resounding through his mind; the image seemed stuck behind his eyes.

The woman in the mess room was Perosteck Balveda.

8. The Ends of Invention

Maybe she's a clone, Horza thought. Maybe it's coincidence. He sat on the floor of Kraiklyn's cabin — his cabin now — staring at the locker doors in the far wall; aware that he needed to do something, but not sure what it ought to be. His brain wasn't able to take all the knocks and shocks it had had. He needed to sit and think for a moment.

He tried telling himself he was mistaken, that it wasn't really her, that he was tired and confused and getting paranoid, seeing things. But he knew it was Balveda, though sufficiently altered so that probably only a close friend or a Changer could possibly recognise her, but definitely her, alive and well and probably armed to the teeth…

He got up, mechanically, still staring straight ahead. He took off the wet clothes and went out of the cabin, down to the wash area, where he left the clothes to dry and cleaned himself up. Back in the cabin he found a robe and put it on. He started inspecting the small, packed space and finally came across a small voice recorder. He flicked it back and listened.

'… ahhh… including, ahh, Yalson,' Kraiklyn's voice said from the small speaker in the machine, 'who I guess was, umm… in her relationship, with ahh… Horza Gobuchul. She's… been pretty abrupt, and I don't think I've had the support from her… which she… which I ought to get… I'll have a word with her if it goes on, but, ahhh… for now, during the repairs and such… there doesn't seem much point… I'm not putting off… ah… I just think we'll see how she shapes up after the Orbital's blown and we're on our way.

'Ahh… now this new woman… Gravant… she's all right. I get the impression she might… ah, need… need a bit of ordering around… seems to need discipline… I don't think she'll have, ah, too much conflict with anybody. Yalson, especially, I was worried about, but I don't think… ah, I think it'll be fine. But you can never tell with women, ah… of course, so… but I like her… I think she's got class and maybe… I don't know… maybe she could make a good number two if she shapes up.

'I really need more people… Umm… things haven't gone all that well recently, but I think I've been… they've let me down. Jandraligeli, obviously… and I don't know; I'll see if maybe I can do something about him because… he's really sort of just been… ahh… he's betrayed me; that's the way… that's what it is I think; anybody would agree. So maybe I'll have a word with Ghalssel, at the game, assuming he arrives… I don't think the guy's really up to standard and I'll tell Ghalssel as much because we're both… in the same, ah… business, and I'm… I know that he'll have heard… well, he'll listen to what I have to say, because he knows about the responsibilities of leadership and… just, ah… the way I do.

'Anyway… I'll do some more recruiting after the game, and after the GSV takes off there'll be some time… we have enough time still to run in this bay and I'll put the word out. There's bound to be… a lot of people ready to sign on… Ah, oh yeah; mustn't forget about the shuttle tomorrow. I'm sure I can get the price down. Ah, I could just win at the game, of course-' The small voice from the speaker laughed: a tinny echo.'… and just be incredibly rich and-' The laughter came again, distorted.'… and not give a fuck about any of this crap any more… shit, just… ha… give the CAT away… well, sell it… and retire… But we'll see…'

The voice faded. Horza switched off the machine in the silence. He put it down where he had found it, and rubbed the ring on the small finger of his right hand. Then he took off the robe and put his — his — suit on. It started talking to him; he told it to turn its voice off.

He looked at himself in the reverser field on the locker doors, drew himself up, made sure the plasma pistol strapped to his thigh was switched on, pushed the pains and tiredness to the back of his mind, then went out of the cabin and up the corridor to the mess.

Yalson and the woman who was Balveda were sitting talking in the long room, at the far end of the table under the screen, which had been turned off. They looked up when he came in. He went over and sat a couple of seats down from Yalson, who looked at his suit and said, 'We going somewhere?'

'Maybe,' Horza said, looking briefly at her, then switching his gaze to the Balveda woman, smiling and saying, 'I'm sorry, Ms Gravant; but I'm afraid, having reconsidered your application, I have to turn you down. I'm sorry, but there's no place for you on the CAT. I hope you understand.' He clasped his hands on the table and grinned again. Balveda — the more he looked the surer he was that it was her — looked crestfallen. Her mouth opened slightly; she looked from Horza to Yalson then back again. Yalson was frowning deeply.

'But-' Balveda began.

'What the hell are you talking about?' Yalson said angrily. 'You can't just-'

'You see,' Horza smiled, 'I've decided that we need to cut down on the numbers on board, and-'

'What?' Yalson exploded, slapping the table with the palm of her hand. 'That's six of us left! What the hell are six of us meant to do…?' Her voice trailed off, then came back lower and slower, her head twisting to one side, her eyes narrowing as she looked at him — '… Or have we just struck lucky in… oh, a game of chance perhaps, and don't want to cut in more directions than absolutely necessary?'

Horza looked briefly at Yalson again, smiled and said, 'No, but you see I've just re-hired one of our ex- members, and that does alter the plans a bit… The place I had intended to slot Ms Gravant into in the ship's company is now filled.'

'You got Jandraligeli to come back, after what you called him?' laughed Yalson, stretching back in her seat.

Horza shook his head.

'No, my dear,' he said. 'As I would have been able to tell you if you hadn't kept interrupting, I just met our friend Mr Gobuchul in Evanauth, and he's keen to rejoin.'

'Horza?' Yalson seemed to shake a little, her voice on an edge of tension, and he could see her trying to control herself. Oh gods, a small voice inside him said, why does this hurt so much? Yalson said, 'Is he alive? Are you sure it was him? Kraiklyn, are you?'

Horza switched his gaze rapidly from one woman to the other. Yalson was leaning forward over the table, her eyes glittering in the mess-room light, her fists clenched. Her lean body seemed tensed, the golden down on her dark skin shining. Balveda looked uncertain and confused. Horza saw her start to bite her lip, then stop.

'I wouldn't kid you about it, Yalson', Horza assured her. 'Horza is alive and well, and not very far away.' Horza looked at the repeater screen on his suit cuff, where the time showed. 'As a matter of fact, I'm meeting him at one of the port reception spheres in… well, just before the GSV takes off. He said he had one or two things to work out in the city first. He said to say… ahhh… he hoped you were still betting on him…' He shrugged. 'Something like that.'

'You're not kidding!' Yalson said, her face creasing with a smile. She shook her head, put a hand through her hair, slapped the table softly a couple of times. 'Oh…' she said, then sat back again in her seat. She looked from the woman to the man and shrugged, silent.

'So you see, Gravant, you just aren't needed right now,' Horza told Balveda. The Culture agent opened her mouth, but it was Yalson who spoke first, coughing quickly and then saying.

'Oh, let her stay, Kraiklyn. What difference does it make?'

'The difference, Yalson,' Horza said carefully, thinking hard about Kraiklyn, 'is that I am captain of this ship.'

Yalson seemed about to say something, but instead she turned to Balveda and spread her hands. She sat back, one hand picking at the edge of the table, her eyes lowered. She was trying not to smile too much.

'Well, Captain,' Balveda said, rising from her seat, 'you do know best. I'll get my gear.' She walked quickly from the mess. Her footsteps merged with others, and Horza and Yalson both heard some muffled words. In a moment, Dorolow, Wubslin and Aviger, gaily dressed and looking flushed and happy, piled into the mess, the older man with his arm around the small, plump woman.