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below the tree and said in a pleasant voice, 'Mr Gurgeh?'
He jumped out of the tree. The herd of feyl started and disappeared, leaping
into the forest in a confusion of green shapes. 'Yes?' he said.
'Good afternoon. My name's Worthil; I'm from Contact. Pleased to meet you.'
'Hello.'
'What a lovely place. Did you have the house built?'
'Yes,' Gurgeh said. Irrelevant small-talk; a nano-second interrogation of
Hub's memories would have told the machine exactly when Ikroh was built, and
by whom.
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'Quite beautiful. I couldn't help noticing the roofs all slope at more or less
the same mean angle as the surrounding mountain slopes. Your idea?'
'A private aesthetic theory,' Gurgeh admitted, a little more impressed; he'd
never mentioned that to anybody. The fieldless machine made a show of looking
around.
'Hmm. Yes, a fine house and an impressive setting. But now: may I come to
the reason for my visit?'
Gurgeh sat down cross-legged by the tree. 'Please do.'
The drone lowered itself to keep level with his face. 'First of all, let me
apologise if we put you off earlier. I think the drone who visited you
previously may have taken its instructions a little too literally, though, to
give it its due, time is rather limited& . Anyway; I'm here to tell you all
you want to know. We have, as you probably suspected, found something we
think might interest you. However& ' The drone turned away from the man, to
look at the house and its garden again. 'I
wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to leave your beautiful home.'
'So it does involve travelling?'
'Yes. For some time.'
'How long?' Gurgeh asked.
The drone seemed to hesitate. 'May I tell you what it is we've found, first?'
'All right.'
'It must be in confidence, I'm afraid,' the drone said apologetically. 'What
I've come to tell you has to remain restricted for the time being. You'll
understand why once I've explained. Can you give me your word you won't let
this go any further?'
'What would happen if I say No?'
'I leave. That's all.'
Gurgeh shrugged, brushed a little bark from the hem of the gathered-up robe he
was wearing. 'All right. In secret, then.'
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Worthil floated upwards a little, turning its front briefly towards Ikroh.
'It'll take a
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time to explain. Might we retire to your house?'
'Of course.' Gurgeh rose to his feet.
Gurgeh sat in the main screen-room of Ikroh. The windows were blanked out and
the wall holoscreen was on; the Contact drone was controlling the room
systems. It put the lights out. The screen went blank, then showed the main
galaxy, in 2-D, from a considerable distance. The two Clouds were nearest
Gurgeh's point of view, the larger Cloud a semi-spiral with a long tail
leading away from the galaxy, and the smaller Cloud vaguely Y-shaped.
'The Greater and Lesser Clouds,' the drone Worthil said. 'Each about one
hundred thousand light years away from where we are now. No doubt you've
admired them from Ikroh in the past; they're quite visible, though you're on
the under-edge of the main galaxy relative to them, and so looking at them
through it. We've found what you might consider a rather interesting game&
here.' A green dot appeared near the centre of the smaller Cloud.
Gurgeh looked at the drone. 'Isn't that,' he said, 'rather far away? I take
it you're suggesting I go there.'
'It is a long way away, and we do suggest just that. The journey will take
nearly two years on the fastest ships, due to the nature of the energy grid;
it's more tenuous out there, between the star-clumps. Inside the galaxy such
a journey would take less than a year.'
'But that means I'd be away four years,' Gurgeh said, staring at the screen.
His mouth had gone dry.
'More like five,' the drone said matter-of-factly.
'That's& a long time.'
'It is, and I'll certainly understand if you decline our invitation. Though
we do think you'll find the game itself interesting. First of all, however, I
have to explain a little about the setting, which is what makes the game
unique.' The green dot expanded, became a rough circle. The screen went
suddenly out-holo, filling the room with stars. The rough green circle of
suns became an even rougher sphere. Gurgeh experienced the momentary swimming
sensation he sometimes felt when surrounded by space or its impression.
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'These stars,' Worthil said - the green-coloured stars, at least a couple of
thousand suns, flashed once - 'are under the control of what one can only
describe as an empire. Now& ' The drone turned to look at him. The little
machine lay in space like some impossibly large ship, stars in front of it as
well as behind it. 'It is unusual for us to discover an imperial power-system
in space. As a rule, such archaic forms of authority wither long before the
relevant species drags itself off the home planet, let alone cracks the
lightspeed problem, which of course one has to do, to rule effectively over
any worthwhile volume.
'Every now and again, however, Contact disturbs some particular ball of rock
and discovers something nasty underneath. On every occasion, there is a
specific and singular reason, some special circumstance which allows the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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