The State of the Art(52)

toilet every so often, and I I had it work on my

eyes, too.' He paused.Now it was my turn to keep

looking at my feet, clomping up the steps in my

fancy Italian climbing boots.I didn't think I wanted

to hear this. 'Sort of re-wired so I see like them.Bit

fuzzier, sort of less well, not fewer colours, but

more sort of squashed up.Can't see much at night,

either.Same sort of thing on my ears and nose.But it

well it almost enhances what you do experience,

you know?I'm still glad I had it done.'

'Yeah.' I nodded, not looking at him.

'My immune system isn't perfect anymore, either.I

can get colds, and that sort of thing.I didn't get the

shape of my dick altered; decided it would

pass.Did you know there are considerable

variations in genitalia here already?The Bushmen

of the Kalahari have a permanent erection, and the

women have the Tablier Egyptien ; a small fold of

flesh covering their genitals.' He waved one hand.

'So I'm not that much of a freak.I guess this isn't all

that terrible really, is it?I don't know why I thought

you might be disgusted or anything.'

'Hmm.' I was wondering what had possessed the

ship to do all this to the man.It had agreed to carry

out these I could only think of them as mutilations

and yet it wouldn't accept his terminal.Why had it

done this to him?It said it wanted him to change his

mind, but it changed his body instead, pandering to

his lunatic desire to become more like the locals.

'Can't change sex now, if I wanted to.Things'll still

regrow if they get cut off; ship couldn't alter that,

not quickly; take time; intensive care, and it

wouldn't alter my umm clockspeed, what-d'you-

call-it.So I'll still grow old slowly, and live longer

than them but I think it might relent later, when it

knows I'm sincere.'

All I could think of was that by converting Linter's

physiology to a design closer to the planetary

standard, the ship wanted to show the man what a

nasty life they led.Perhaps it thought rubbing his

nose in the Human Condition would send the man

running back to the manifold delights of the ship,

content with his Cultural lot at last.

'You don't mind, do you?'

'Mind?Why should I mind?' I said, and instantly

felt foolish for sounding like something from a

soap opera.

'Yes, I can see you do,' Linter said. 'You think I'm

crazy, don't you?'

'All right.' I stopped half-way up a flight of steps,

turned to him. 'I do, I think you're crazy to to throw

so much away.It's it's wrong-headed of you, it's

stupid.It's as if you're doing it just to annoy people,

to test the ship.Are you trying to get it mad at you,

or what?'

'Of course not, Sma.' He looked hurt. 'I don't care

that much about the ship, but I was worried I am

concerned about what you might think.' He took my

free hand in both of his.They felt cold. 'You're a

friend.You matter to me.I don't want to offend

anybody; not you, not anybody.But I have to do

what feels right.This is very important to me; more

important than anything else I've ever done before.I

don't want to upset anybody, but look, I'm sorry.'

He let go my hand.

'Yeah, I'm sorry too.But it's like mutilation.Like

infection.'

'Ah, we're the infection, Sma.' He turned and sat

down on the steps, looking back towards the city

and the sea. 'We're the ones who're different, we're

the self-mutilated, the self-mutated.This is the

mainstream; we're just like very smart kids; infants

with a brilliant construction kit.They're real

because they live the way they have to.We aren't

because we live the way we want to.'

'Linter,' I said, sitting beside him. 'This is the

fucking mental home; the land of the midnight

brain.This is the place that gave us Mutual Assured

Destruction; they've thrown people into boiling

water to cure diseases; they use Electro-

Convulsive Therapy; a nation with a law against

cruel and unusual punishments electrocutes people

to death -'

'Go on; mention the death camps,' Linter said,

blinking at the blue distance.

'It was never Eden.It isn't ever going to be, but it

might progress.You're turning your back on every

advance we've made beyond where they are now,

and you're insulting them as well as the Culture.'

'Oh, pardon me.' He rocked forward on his

haunches, hugging himself.

'The only way they can go - and survive - is the

same way we've come, and you're saying that's all

shit.That's refugee mentality, and they wouldn't

thank you for what you're doing. They would say

you're crazy.'

He shook his head, hands in his armpits, still

staring away. 'Maybe they don't have to take the

same route.Maybe they don't need Minds, maybe

they don't need more and more technology.They

might be able to do it by themselves, without wars

and revolutions even just by understanding, by