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treasure; we shoot the former and grab the latter. Then we head for the
Vavatch Orbital before the Culture blows it away and we buy something to
replace our bow laser. I guess the prices should be pretty good. If we hang on
long enough people will probably be trying to give the stuff away.'
'What's happening to Vavatch?' Horza asked. This wasn't something he'd heard
about. He knew the big Orbital was in this part of the war zone, but he'd
thought its condominium-style ownership would keep it out of the firing line.
'Didn't your Idiran friends tell you?' Yalson said. She dropped the hand with
the outstretched fingers. 'Well,' she said, when Horza just shrugged, 'as you
probably do know, the Idirans are advancing through the whole inward flank of
the Gulf - the Glittercliff. The Culture seems to be putting up a bit of a
fight for a change, or at least preparing to. It looked like they were going
to come to one of their usual understandings and leave Vavatch as neutral
territory. This religious thing the Idirans have about planets means they
weren't really interested in the O as long as the Culture didn't try to use it
as a base, and they promised they wouldn't. Shit, with these big fucking GSVs
they're building these days they don't need bases on Os or Rings, or planets
or anything else . . . Well, all the various types and weirdos on Vavatch
thought they were going to be just fine, thank you, and probably do very well
out of the galactic fire-fight going on around them . . . Then the Idirans
announced they were going to take Vavatch over after all, though only
nominally; no military presence. The Culture said they weren't having this,
both sides refused to abandon their precious principles, and the Culture said,
"OK, if you won't back down we're going to blow the place away before you get
there." And that's what's happening. Before the Idiran battle fleets arrive
the Culture's going to evacuate the whole damn O and then blast it.'
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'They're going to evacuate an Orbital?' Horza said. This really was the first
he'd heard of any of this. The Idirans had mentioned nothing about Vavatch
Orbital in the briefings they had given him, and even once he was actually
impersonating the outworld minister Egratin, most of what had been coming in
from outside had been rumour. Any idiot could see that the whole volume around
the Sullen Gulf was going to become a battle space hundreds of light-years
across, hundreds tall and decades deep at least, but exactly what was going on
he hadn't been able to find out. The war was shifting up a gear indeed. Still,
only a lunatic would think of trying to move everybody off an Orbital.
Yalson nodded, all the same. 'So they say. Don't ask me where they're going to
pull the ships from for that one, but that's what they say they're going to
do.'
'They're crazy.' Horza shook his head.
'Yeah, well, I think they proved that when they went to war in the first
place.'
'OK. Sorry. Go on,' Horza said, waving one hand.
'I've forgotten what else I was going to say,' Yalson grinned, looking at the
three fingers she had extended as though they would give her a clue. She
looked at Horza. 'I think that about covers it. I'd advise you to keep your
head down and your mouth shut until we get to Marjoin, where this temple is,
and still to keep your head down once we get there, come to think of it.'
She laughed, and Horza found himself laughing with her. She nodded and picked
up her spoon again.
'Assuming you come through OK, people will accept you more once you've been in
a fire-fight with them. For now you're the baby on the ship, no matter what
you've done in the past, and regardless of Zallin.'
Page 32
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Horza looked at her doubtfully, thinking about attacking anywhere - even an
undefended temple -
in a second-hand suit with an unreliable projectile rifle. 'Well,' he sighed,
spooning more food from his plate, 'so long as you don't all start betting on
which way I'll fall again . . . '
Yalson looked at him for a second, then grinned, and went back to her food.
Kraiklyn proved more inquisitive about Horza's past, despite what Yalson had
said. The Man invited
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Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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