The State of the Art(3)

appropriate the thought might have been, it wasn't

much help.

I was standing outside a no-credit gambling club in

Vreccis Low City in the small hours of a wet

weeknight, looking at a pretty, toy-like handgun

while two large people I owed a lot of money to

asked me to do something extremely dangerous and

worse than illegal.I was weighing up the relative

attractions of trying to run away (they'd shoot me),

refusing (they'd beat me up; probably I'd spend the

next few weeks developing a serious medical bill),

and doing what Kaddus and Cruizell asked me to

do, knowing that while there was a chance I'd get

away with it - uninjured, and solvent again - the

most likely outcome was a messy and probably

slow death while assisting the security services

with their enquiries.

Kaddus and Cruizell were offering me all my

markers back, plus - once the thing was done - a

tidy sum on top, just to show there were no hard

feelings.

I suspected they didn't anticipate having to pay the

final instalment of the deal.

So, I knew that logically what I ought to do was

tell them where to shove their fancy designer

pistol, and accept a theoretically painful but

probably not terminal beating.Hell, I could switch

the pain off (having a Culture background does

have some advantages), but what about that

hospital bill?

I was up to my scalp in debt already.

'What's the matter, Wrobik?' Cruizell drawled,

taking a step nearer, under the shelter of the club's

dripping eaves.Me with my back against the warm

wall, the smell of wet pavements in my nose and a

taste like metal in my mouth.Kaddus and Cruizell's

limousine idled at the kerb; I could see the driver

inside, watching us through an open

window.Nobody passed on the street outside the

narrow alley.A police cruiser flew over, high up,

lights flashing through the rain and illuminating the

underside of the rain clouds over the city.Kaddus

looked up briefly, then ignored the passing

craft.Cruizell shoved the gun towards me.I tried to

shrink back.

'Take the gun, Wrobik,' Kaddus said tiredly.I

licked my lips, stared down at the pistol.

'I can't,' I said.I stuck my hands in my coat pockets.

'Sure you can,' Cruizell said.Kaddus shook his

head.

'Wrobik, don't make things difficult for yourself;

take the gun.Just touch it first, see if our

information is correct.Go on; take it.' I stared,

transfixed, at the small pistol. 'Take the gun,

Wrobik.Just remember to point it at the ground, not

at us; the driver's got a laser on you and he might

think you meant to use the gun on us come on; take

it, touch it.'

I couldn't move, I couldn't think.I just stood,

hypnotized.Kaddus took hold of my right wrist and

pulled my hand from my pocket.Cruizell held the

gun up near my nose; Kaddus forced my hand onto

the pistol.My hand closed round the grip like

something lifeless.



The gun came to life; a couple of lights blinked

dully, and the small screen above the grip glowed,

flickering round the edges.Cruizell dropped his

hand, leaving me holding the pistol; Kaddus smiled

thinly.

'There, that wasn't difficult, now was it?' Kaddus

said.I held the gun and tried to imagine using it on

the two men, but I knew I couldn't, whether the

driver had me covered or not.

'Kaddus,' I said, 'I can't do this.Something else; I'll

do anything else, but I'm not a hit-man; I can't -'

'You don't have to be an expert, Wrobik,' Kaddus

said quietly. 'All you have to be is whatever the

hell you are.After that, you just point and squirt:

like you do with your boyfriend.' He grinned and

winked at Cruizell, who bared some teeth.I shook

my head.

'This is crazy, Kaddus.Just because the thing

switches on for me -'

'Yeah; isn't that funny.' Kaddus turned to Cruizell,

looking up to the taller man's face'and smiling.

'Isn't that funny, Wrobik here being an alien?And

him looking just like us.'

'An alien and queer,' Cruizell rumbled, scowling.

'Shit.'

'Look,' I said, staring at the pistol, 'it this thing, it it might not work,' I finished lamely.Kaddus smiled.

'It'll work.A ship's a big target.You won't miss.' He

smiled again.

'But I thought they had protection against -'

'Lasers and kinetics they can deal with, Wrobik;

this is something different.I don't know the

technical details; I just know our radical friends

paid a lot of money for this thing.That's enough for

me.'

Our radical friends.This was funny, coming from

Kaddus.Probably he meant the Bright Path.People

he'd always considered bad for business, just

terrorists.I'd have imagined he'd sell them to the

police on general principles, even if they did offer

him lots of money.Was he starting to hedge his

bets, or just being greedy?They have a saying

here:Crime whispers; money talks.

'But there'll be people on the ship, not just -'