Ziller tapped the bowl of his pipe, frowning at it. ‘Really?’ he said. ‘Oh dear. What a shame. I was thinking of embarking on a cruise before then. Deep space. For at least half a year. Perhaps longer. In fact I had quite decided upon it. You will convey my apologies to whatever simpering diplomat or supercilious noble they’re sending. I’m sure they’ll understand.’
The drone dropped its voice. ‘I’m sure they won’t.’
‘Me too. I was being ironic. But I’m serious about the cruise.
‘Ziller,’ the drone said quietly. ‘They want to meet with you. Even if you did leave on a cruise, they would doubtless attempt to follow you and meet up on the cruise ship.’
‘And of course you wouldn’t try to stop them.’
‘How could we?’
Ziller sucked on his pipe for a moment. ‘I suppose they want me to go back. Do they?’
The drone’s gunmetal aura indicated puzzlement. ‘We don’t know.’
‘Really?’
‘Cr Ziller, I am being perfectly open with you.’
‘Really. Well, can you think of another reason for this expedition?’
‘Many, my dear friend, but none of them are especially likely. As I said, we don’t know. However, if I was forced to speculate, I’d tend to agree with you that requesting your return to Chel is probably the main reason for the impending visit.
Ziller chewed on his pipe stem. Kabe wondered if it would break. ‘You can’t force me to go back.’
‘My dear Ziller, we wouldn’t even think of suggesting to you that you do,’ the drone said. ‘This emissary may wish do so, but the decision is entirely yours. You are an honoured and respected guest, Ziller. Culture citizenship, to the extent that such a thing really exists with any degree of formality, would be yours by assumption. Your many admirers, amongst whose number I count myself, would long ago have made it yours by acclamation, if only that would not have seemed presumptuous.’
Ziller nodded thoughtfully. Kabe wondered if this was a natural expression for a Chelgrian, or a learned, translated one. ‘Very flattering,’ Ziller said. Kabe had the impression the creature was genuinely trying to sound gracious. ‘However I am still Chelgrian. Not quite naturalised yet.’
‘Of course. Your presence is trophy enough. To declare this your home would be—’
‘Excessive,’ Ziller said pointedly. The drone’s aura field flushed a sort of muddy cream colour to indicate embarrassment, though a few flecks of red indicated it was hardly acute.
Kabe cleared his throat. The drone turned to him.
‘Tersono,’ the Homomdan said. ‘I’m not entirely sure why I’m here, but may I just ask whether, in all this, you are talking as a representative of Contact?’
‘Of course you may. Yes, I am speaking on behalf of the Contact section. And with the full co-operation of Masaq’ Hub.’
‘I am not without friends, admirers,’ Ziller said suddenly, staring at the drone.
‘Without?’ Tersono said, field glowing a ruddy orange. ‘Why, as I say, you have almost nothing but—’
‘I mean amongst some of your Minds; your ships, Tersono the Contact drone,’ Ziller said coldly. The machine rocked back in its chair. A little melodramatic, thought Kabe. Ziller went on, ‘I might well be able to persuade one of them to accommodate me and provide me with my own private cruise. One which this emissary might find much more difficult to intrude upon.’
The drone’s aura lapsed back to purple. It wobbled minutely in the chair. ‘You are welcome to try, my dear Ziller. However that might be taken as a terrible insult.’
‘Fuck them.’
‘Yes, well. But I meant by us. A terrible insult on our part. An insult so terrible that in the very sad and regrettable circumstances—’
‘Oh, spare me.’ Ziller looked away.
Ah yes, the war, thought Kabe. And the responsibility for it. Contact would regard this as all very delicate.
The drone, misted in purple, went quiet for a moment. Kabe shifted on his cushions. ‘The point is,’ Tersono continued, ‘that even the most wilful and, ah, characterful of ships might not accede to the sort of request you have indicated you might make. In fact I’d wager quite heavily on it that they wouldn’t.’
Ziller chewed some more on his pipe. It had gone out. ‘Which means that Contact has already fixed this, doesn’t it?’
Tersono wobbled again. ‘Let’s just say that the wind has been tested.’
‘Yes, let’s. Of course, this is always assuming that none of your ship Minds were lying.’
‘Oh, they never lie. They dissemble, evade, prevaricate, confound, confuse, distract, obscure, subtly misrepresent and wilfully misunderstand with what often appears to be a positively gleeful relish and are generally perfectly capable of contriving to give one an utterly unambiguous impression of their future course of action while in fact intending to do exactly the opposite, but they never lie. Perish the thought.’
Ziller did a good stare, Kabe decided. He was quite glad that those big, dark eyes were not directed at him. Though, certainly, the drone seemed impervious.
‘I see,’ the composer said. ‘Well then, I suppose I might as well just stay put. I imagine I could just refuse to leave my apartment.’
‘Why, of course. Not very dignified, perhaps, but that would be your prerogative.’
‘Quite. But if I’m given no choice don’t expect me to be welcoming, or even polite.’ He inspected the bowl of his pipe.
‘That is why I asked Kabe to be here.’ The drone turned to the Homomdan. ‘Kabe, we would be so grateful if you’d agree to help play host to our guest Chelgrian when he or she appears. You would be half of a double act with me, possibly with some assistance from Hub, if that’s acceptable. We don’t yet know how much time this will take up on a daily basis, or how long the visit will last, but obviously if it proved to be extended we would make additional arrangements.’ The machine’s body tipped a few degrees to one side in the webwood chair. ‘Would you do this? I know it is a lot to ask and you needn’t give a definitive answer quite yet; sleep on it if you please and ask for any further information you’d like. But you would be doing us a great favour, given Cr Ziller’s perfectly understandable reticence.’
Kabe sat back on his cushions. He blinked a few times. ‘Oh, I can tell you now. I’d be happy to be of help.’ He looked at Ziller.
‘Of course, I wouldn’t want to distress Mahrai Ziller . .
‘I shall remain undistressed, depend on it,’ Ziller told him. ‘If you can distract this bile-purse they’re sending you’ll be doing me a favour, too.’
The drone made a sighing noise, rising and falling fractionally above the seat. ‘Well, that is . . . satisfactory, then. Kabe, can we talk more tomorrow? We’d like to brief you over the next few days. Nothing too intense, but, considering the unfortunate circumstances of our relationship with the Chelgrians over recent years, obviously we don’t want to upset our guest through any lack of knowledge of their affairs and manners.’
Ziller made a noise like a snarled ‘Huh!’
‘Of course,’ Kabe told Tersono. ‘I understand.’ Kabe spread all three of his arms. ‘My time is yours.
‘And our gratitude yours. Now,’ the machine said, rising into the air. ‘I’m afraid I’ve kept us chattering in here for so long we’ve missed Hub’s avatar’s little speech and if we don’t hurry we’ll be late for the main, if rather sad, event of the evening.’
‘That time already?’ Kabe said, rising too. Ziller snapped the cap shut on his pipe and replaced it in his waistcoat. He unfolded himself from the table and the three returned to the main ballroom as the lights were going out and the roof was rumbling and rolling back to reveal a sky of a few thin, ragged clouds, multitudinous stars and the bright thread of the Orbital’s far side. On a small stage at the forward end of the ballroom, the Hub’s avatar — in the shape of a thin, silver-skinned human — stood, head bowed. Cold air flowed in around the assembled humans and varied other guests. All, save for the avatar, gazed up at the sky. Kabe wondered in how many other places within the city, across the Plate and along this whole side of the great bracelet world similar scenes were taking place.
Kabe tilted his massive head and stared up too. He knew roughly where to took; Masaq’ Hub had been quietly persistent in its prepublicity over the last fifty days or so.
Silence.
Then a few people muttered something and a number of tiny chimes sounded from personal terminals distributed throughout the huge, open space.
And a new star blazed in the heavens. There was just the hint of a flicker at first, then the tiny point of light grew brighter and brighter, exactly as though it was a lamp on which somebody was turning up a dimmer switch. Stars nearby began to disappear, their feeble twinklings drowned out by the torrent of radiation pouring from the newcomer. In a few moments the star had settled to a steady, barely wavering grey-blue glare, almost outshining the glowing string of Masaq’s far-side plates.