Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks Page A

chance. Some people would have zapped me and thrown me out.’
    ‘It crossed my mind,’ Kraiklyn said, toying with the flask he held, ‘but I sensed you weren’t totally full of crap. Can’t say I believed you about this ageing drug and the Idirans, at the time, but I thought you might make a fight of it. Mind you, you were lucky, right?’ He smiled at Horza, who smiled back. Kraiklyn looked up at the books on the far wall. ‘Anyway, Zallin was sort of dead weight; know what I mean?’ He looked back at Horza. ‘Kid hardly knew which end of his rifle to point. I was thinking of dropping him from the team next place we hit.’ He took another gulp of the fumes.
    ‘Like I say - thanks.’ Horza was deciding that his first impression of Kraiklyn - that the Man was a shit - was more or less correct. If he had been going to drop Zallin anyway there was no reason for the fight to be to the death. Horza could have bunked down in the shuttle or the hangar, or Zallin could have. One more person wouldn’t have made the CAT any more roomy for the time it took to get to Marjoin, but it wouldn’t have been for all that long, and they weren’t going to start using up all the air or anything. Kraiklyn had just wanted a show. ‘I’m grateful to you,’ Horza said, and raised the flask towards the captain briefly before inhaling again. He studied Kraiklyn’s face carefully.
    ‘So, tell me what it’s like working for these guys with the three legs,’ Kraiklyn said, smiling and resting one arm on a shelf at the side of the couch bed. He raised his eyebrows. ‘Hmm?’
    Ah-hah, thought Horza. He said, ‘I didn’t have much time to find out. Fifty days ago I was still a captain in the marines on Sladden. Don’t suppose you’ve heard of it?’ Kraiklyn shook his head. Horza had been working on his story for the past two days, and knew that if Kraiklyn did check up he would find there was such a planet, its inhabitants were mostly humanoid and it had recently fallen under Idiran suzerainty. ‘Well, the Idirans were going to execute us because we fought on after the surrender, but then I was hauled out and told I’d live if I did a job for them. They said I looked a lot like this old guy they wanted on their side; if they removed him, would I pretend to be him? I thought, what the hell. What have I got to lose? So I ended up on this Sorpen place with this ageing drug, impersonating a government minister. I was doing all right, too, until this Culture woman shows, blows my whole bloody act and nearly gets me killed. They were just about to bump me off when this Idiran cruiser came in to snatch her. They rescued me and captured her and they were making their way back to the fleet when they got jumped by a GCU. I got stuffed into that suit and thrown overboard to wait for the fleet.’ Horza hoped his story didn’t sound too rehearsed. Kraiklyn stared into the flask he held, frowning.
    ‘I’ve been wondering about that.’ He looked at Horza. ‘Why should a cruiser go in by itself when the fleet was just behind it?’
    Horza shrugged. ‘Don’t really know, myself. They hardly had time to debrief me before the GCU showed up. I guess they must have wanted that Culture woman pretty badly, and thought if they waited for the fleet to show, the GCU would have spotted it, picked up the woman and made a run for it.’
    Kraiklyn nodded, looking thoughtful.
    ‘Hmm. They must have wanted her awful bad. Did you see her?’
    ‘Oh, I saw her all right. Before she dropped me in it, and afterwards.’
    ‘What was she like?’ Kraiklyn furrowed his brows and played with the flask again.
    ‘Tall, thin, sort of good looking, but off-putting as well. Too damn smart for my liking. I don’t know . . . Not much different from any Culture woman I’ve seen. I mean, they all look different and so on, but she wouldn’t have stood out.’
    ‘They say they’re pretty special, some of these Culture agents. Supposed to be able to . . . do