Embassytown Part 11

"It's not not your your business business. We're taking care taking care of things. Like you begged us to. And you come here and treat us . . . like this . . . do this . . . ?" of things. Like you begged us to. And you come here and treat us . . . like this . . . do this . . . ?"

Beside us the newly woken doppel was rising. I looked at him and felt shame. How could I have mis-seen it? There it was, that thing I'd thought I detected in his brother.

"You thought he was me . . . ?" he said. I saw hurt, and other emotions.

"How could you?" he said. His doppel added: ". . . do do this?" this?"

The raging one stood, sheets puddling on the floor. "Get out," he said. "Leave. You are d.a.m.ned . . . f.u.c.king f.u.c.king lucky we don't pursue this." lucky we don't pursue this."

"I can't believe you did that," said the other quietly.

"This is over," the standing one, Cal or Vin, said, and his doppel, the man I should have woken, looked up at him, looked at me, shook his head, turned away. I left the room having ruined my own plan.

On my way home, through the night, I cursed myself. I pa.s.sed a little tour of Ariekei murmuring in Language as they looked like curators at our lamplit dwellings.

Formerly, 10

AT VARIOUS FAIRS and events in Emba.s.sytown, I'd been asked to tell stories of the immer. I'd shown trids and images of my hours in the out, supposedly for children, though there were always many adults in the audience. The immer was and is full of renegades and refugees. They emerge where they can and do what they can get away with. I'd tell the stories. I had transported most things to most places: jewellery; immer-miserable livestock; payloads of organic garbage to a trash planet-state run by pirates. I'd save the best for the end, a changing display of the pharos that marks the edge of the known always: here, right beside Arieka. I'd show it through various filters, culminating in the tropeware that made it a lighthouse, a beacon in murk. and events in Emba.s.sytown, I'd been asked to tell stories of the immer. I'd shown trids and images of my hours in the out, supposedly for children, though there were always many adults in the audience. The immer was and is full of renegades and refugees. They emerge where they can and do what they can get away with. I'd tell the stories. I had transported most things to most places: jewellery; immer-miserable livestock; payloads of organic garbage to a trash planet-state run by pirates. I'd save the best for the end, a changing display of the pharos that marks the edge of the known always: here, right beside Arieka. I'd show it through various filters, culminating in the tropeware that made it a lighthouse, a beacon in murk.

"See? That's what you see. That's right here. Beyond us there's nothing charted. We live at the end of the light." I was amazed at how addictive the spook and thrill was. My presence wasn't requested this time, for the Licence Party.

"What happened between you and CalVin?" Ehrsul asked me. I didn't tell her, or anyone.

THE MICROCLIMATES over the city and those over Emba.s.sytown were rigged according to a complex algorithm I'd never bothered to decode. I was always vaguely charmed by planets in thrall to their tilt, with seasons that were more or less predictable. In Emba.s.sytown, I noticed particular weathers, of course, but didn't ever expect them. over the city and those over Emba.s.sytown were rigged according to a complex algorithm I'd never bothered to decode. I was always vaguely charmed by planets in thrall to their tilt, with seasons that were more or less predictable. In Emba.s.sytown, I noticed particular weathers, of course, but didn't ever expect them.

It grew warm. It was apparently time for us to have a summer.

I went to the Licence Party alone. When I realised that she was expecting us to go together I had to tell Ehrsul no. From her silence I know I hurt her, or spurred the subroutine of her Turingware that manifested as if that were so. But I couldn't be there with anyone. I wasn't punis.h.i.+ng her-because this had not been Ehrsul's only silence recently-but I needed to be alone for whatever would happen. I knew that something would as certainly as if this was a last chapter.

THERE WERE game rooms, food halls, ma.s.sage houses, places for s.e.x; and there were zones designed for our Hosts. They came in large numbers, informed by their networks, the tech like town criers that we had helped to automate. I'd never seen so many Hosts in Emba.s.sytown. game rooms, food halls, ma.s.sage houses, places for s.e.x; and there were zones designed for our Hosts. They came in large numbers, informed by their networks, the tech like town criers that we had helped to automate. I'd never seen so many Hosts in Emba.s.sytown.

Fortune-tellers and performers were on the streets. Trid caricatures of pa.s.sersby flashed in and out of existence. We came in through security: Terretech detectors of metals and energy flows, and biorigged proscenia that snuffled as we came through, tasting for the telltales of weapon compounds. There were constables in the crowd.

With night the humans and Kedis grew more drunk or drugged. Children ran on frenetic missions. Automa wandered in. I saw a pod of adolescent Shur'asi, a lone Pannegetch casting dice. The Hosts spectated as we played our shovepenny games. They looked with tourist fascination, listened to the songs our singers sung, t.i.tillated by our harmonics. I couldn't find Scile.

I don't think the Ariekei ever empathised with our predilection for symmetry and hinge-points: solstices, noon. But the Licence Party was ours as well as theirs, and the Festival of Lies started at midnight.

The marquee was the size of a cathedral: in places the biorigged skin hadn't finished growing, and decorative gauze or plastic were woven over the holes. There was theatrical seating for Terre around the arena, and standing places for exots and for the Hosts. I saw people I knew. They shouted my name. I saw Ha.s.ser, and he raised his hand. He looked afraid. He was gone too fast for me to reach him. By the main performance s.p.a.ce was a large group of Amba.s.sadors. CalVin was there, and CharLott, JoaQuin and MagDa and JasMin and others, conferring with Staff. Ariekei were near them, one or two I recognised. Pear Tree, and others that perhaps I might call leaders. Beyond them performers waited, Host and Ariekei.

[image]was there, with Spanish Dancer and the others of its entourage. It wasn't hard to recognise.

There was a hush, whispered Terre excitement when the lights went down and a few coloured illuminations fired. In a strong, projected doubled voice, Amba.s.sador CharLott stepped into the centre of the spectators, spoke Language. A translator shouted to us locals theatrically, " 'It's raining in here,' the Amba.s.sador says! 'It's raining liquor on us!' "

It sounded as though they were trying to excite Emba.s.sytowners with these feeble falsities as if we were Host, and I thought it absurd. But, over the delighted noises of the Ariekei looking up to find the rain that wasn't there, came the shrieks of Terre, my neighbours yelling delight at each new untruth from the Amba.s.sador. As if none of them could lie.

I reached the front as CharLott came to the end of their set. Other Amba.s.sadors performed. They were building an arc for the listeners, I realised. For us. Here were lies that were a comic interlude, here a ratcheting-up of tension, here a moving moment.

When after long heady minutes they were done, Hosts stepped up in their place. Each Ariekes spoke only one or two short lies. Most did it by verbal trickery like a whispered final clause. Each success was marked with Terre cheers and Ariekene approval. Many compet.i.tors stumbled and said something true. The Host audience responded with what could have been scorn or could have been pity.

I stand, I don't stand.

This before me is not red.

[image]stepped forward at last, for a scheduled confrontation. Opposite it was an Amba.s.sador, LuCy, moving like pugilists, swinging their arms as if limbering. I realised I was surprised, that when I'd read about this contest I had thought it would be CalVin representing Emba.s.sytown. Amba.s.sador and Host squared. This was some blasphemy, I thought. Who could have allowed this? There was cheering, but I heard a man beside me, as if channelling my opinion, muttering, "This is not right."

Before the humans came we didn't speak so much of certain things,[image] said. said.

The MC was shouting the rules of the stand-off. Before the humans came we didn't speak so much of certain things Before the humans came we didn't speak so much of certain things,[image] said again, and shucked its wings. Whatever alien feelings it was feeling, they looked to us like bravado. The two women of the Amba.s.sador and that intricate big beast the Ariekes stared at each other. The Amba.s.sador opened their mouths. Before they spoke, said again, and shucked its wings. Whatever alien feelings it was feeling, they looked to us like bravado. The two women of the Amba.s.sador and that intricate big beast the Ariekes stared at each other. The Amba.s.sador opened their mouths. Before they spoke,[image] said, said, Before the humans came we didn't speak so much Before the humans came we didn't speak so much.

Ruckus. Before the humans came Before the humans came, the Host went on, and I knew what the lie would be, we didn't speak we didn't speak.

It said it clearly. There was a moment, then the Ariekei stuttered in their ecstasy of reception. Even the Terre knew that we had heard something extraordinary. There was noise everywhere. Some shouted argument. I saw jostling in the crowd.

"Not true!" someone was shouting. "Not true!"

Men and women were got suddenly, violently, out of someone else's way. They screamed and parted. I could see the man coming, and it was Valdik.

"Not true!" he said. He ran and shouted and brought a cudgel down on the ground, and I felt a spasming report. There was energy in his weapon. So much for security. He faced[image] . Valdik shouted that it was not true. He raised his weapon. Eye-corals strained. People were running toward us. Valdik shouted, "f.u.c.king snake!" . Valdik shouted that it was not true. He raised his weapon. Eye-corals strained. People were running toward us. Valdik shouted, "f.u.c.king snake!"[image] watched him, its coral spreading wide as horns. I heard the bark of a weapon and Valdik went down, his club scorching the floor. Constables grabbed him. He was beaten down. watched him, its coral spreading wide as horns. I heard the bark of a weapon and Valdik went down, his club scorching the floor. Constables grabbed him. He was beaten down.

"He went for a Host Host?" people were gasping.

I could hear Valdik still shouting: "The devil! He'll f.u.c.king destroy us! Don't let it lie!"

None of the Ariekei made a sound. The officers hauled Valdik upright finally, blood-smeared and ragged, hardly conscious. They began to drag him, his feet scratching on the floor, out of the grounds. Tens of seconds had pa.s.sed since his attack. In that whole hall, I think I was the only person watching CalVin and their silent colleagues, one of the very few not staring at the battered would-be a.s.sa.s.sin being taken away.

I saw Scile. He was with them, among the Amba.s.sadors and Staff. That was it; that was where to look. They were looking not at Valdik but at[image] , and beyond it at Pear Tree and its group of Ariekei. I was one of very few in that hall who saw what happened then. , and beyond it at Pear Tree and its group of Ariekei. I was one of very few in that hall who saw what happened then.

Pear Tree moved. From behind it stepped Ha.s.ser. He walked quickly. Even[image] was still looking at Valdik. No constables saw Ha.s.ser coming, or were there to intervene. They were busy, suckers to the oldest feint. I moved. was still looking at Valdik. No constables saw Ha.s.ser coming, or were there to intervene. They were busy, suckers to the oldest feint. I moved.

One of[image] 's eyebuds glimpsed something and the whole coral arced backward, to stare. I saw Spanish Dancer, heard it calling, its giftwing moving in alien distress. Ha.s.ser aimed a biorigged thing. A ceramic carapace, a pistolgrip that gripped him back. He fired. No one was there to stop him. 's eyebuds glimpsed something and the whole coral arced backward, to stare. I saw Spanish Dancer, heard it calling, its giftwing moving in alien distress. Ha.s.ser aimed a biorigged thing. A ceramic carapace, a pistolgrip that gripped him back. He fired. No one was there to stop him.

He fired and the gun-animal opened its throat and howled. He blasted[image] across the lying ground, spraying mud-coloured Host blood. across the lying ground, spraying mud-coloured Host blood.

It broke apart as it flew. Ha.s.ser didn't stop firing. The a.s.sault tore[image] 's giftwing from its body. Its legs dyingly scuttled, so insectile it was appalling. It gushed from everywhere. 's giftwing from its body. Its legs dyingly scuttled, so insectile it was appalling. It gushed from everywhere.

Then Ha.s.ser was s.n.a.t.c.hed out of my sight himself by a constable's bullet. By the time screaming started again I was beside him. I trembled. I struggled for breath as if I were beyond the aeoli. Ha.s.ser stared without sight. I heard the rattle of scute from[image] 's posthumous fitting. 's posthumous fitting.

Spanish Dancer traced shapes with its wings. Its colours flushed. I'd never before seen Ariekene grief. I looked at Pear Tree, which looked down at me. I ignored the commotion and all the wails in the room, and watched Pear Tree, and CalVin, and Scile. I remember I moaned every time I exhaled. They were looking at Ha.s.ser's body without expression. They must have seen me.

THAT IS HOW the most virtuoso liar of the Ariekei was murdered. the most virtuoso liar of the Ariekei was murdered.

The days after that were as you'd imagine. Chaos, fear, excitement. No Host had been harmed by an Emba.s.sytowner for hundreds of thousands of hours, for lifetimes. Suddenly we felt we existed on sufferance. Staff imposed a curfew, gave the constabulary and SecStaff extraordinary powers. In the out, I'd spent time in cities and colonies under dictators.h.i.+ps of various forms, and I knew that what we had was a quaint approximation of martial law; but for Emba.s.sytown it was unprecedented.

I HAD SO MUCH HAD SO MUCH sadness in me. I cried, only when I was alone. I was so sorry for Ha.s.ser, silly secret zealot; and for Valdik who I still believe never knew he'd been a distraction, and whose loyalty to Scile was such that, after that night, he went to his execution denying that anyone else had had any hand in his plan. sadness in me. I cried, only when I was alone. I was so sorry for Ha.s.ser, silly secret zealot; and for Valdik who I still believe never knew he'd been a distraction, and whose loyalty to Scile was such that, after that night, he went to his execution denying that anyone else had had any hand in his plan.

So sorry for[image] . I never knew what emotion would have been appropriate for an Ariekene loss, so I settled for sadness. . I never knew what emotion would have been appropriate for an Ariekene loss, so I settled for sadness.

For a day I turned off my buzz and did not answer when anyone came to my door. The second day I kept the buzz off, but I did answer the knocking. It was an autom I'd never seen before, a whirring anthropoid outline. I blinked and wondered who'd sent this thing and then I saw its face. Its screen was cruder than any I'd seen her rendered on before, but it was Ehrsul.

"Avice," she said. "Can I come in?"

"Ehrsul, why'd you load yourself into . . . ?" I shook my head and stepped back for her to enter.

"The usual one doesn't have these." She swung the thing's arms like deadweight ropes.

"Why do you need them?" I said. And Pharotekton bless her she grabbed hold of me, just as if I'd lost someone. She did not ask me anything. I hugged her right back, for a long time.

I WENT BACK WENT BACK once more to The Cravat. Set my expression, walked a floaker walk. None of the similes were there, nor, I think, did any ever come back. I let my show drop. But the owner, a man whose name I had never bothered to learn, referring to him only by the vernacular slang handle we'd granted him that I now cannot remember, hurried up to me in agitation, as if I could help him. He told me that Ariekei were still coming: Spanish Dancer; one we'd known as Baptist; others of the Professors. They'd been staring at where the similes used to sit. once more to The Cravat. Set my expression, walked a floaker walk. None of the similes were there, nor, I think, did any ever come back. I let my show drop. But the owner, a man whose name I had never bothered to learn, referring to him only by the vernacular slang handle we'd granted him that I now cannot remember, hurried up to me in agitation, as if I could help him. He told me that Ariekei were still coming: Spanish Dancer; one we'd known as Baptist; others of the Professors. They'd been staring at where the similes used to sit.

"Surl Tesh-echer used to come here all the time," I said. "Maybe they're coming to be where their friend used to be."

The owner was terrified the Hosts would commit reprisal for[image] 's death. Most people were. I was not. I'd seen Pear Tree step aside for Ha.s.ser and say something to him on his way. I'd seen CalVin and the others waiting for that. 's death. Most people were. I was not. I'd seen Pear Tree step aside for Ha.s.ser and say something to him on his way. I'd seen CalVin and the others waiting for that.[image] had been murdered but it also had been executed, publicly, by its peers. For heresy, had been murdered but it also had been executed, publicly, by its peers. For heresy,[image] had been sentenced to Death by Human. had been sentenced to Death by Human.

Emba.s.sytown couldn't know, and would not. The situation must be made to look to most people, and did, like a b.l.o.o.d.y mess, rather than the careful juridical moment it also was.

Ariekei traditioners had decided they could not tolerate[image] , would not brook its experiments. A lie was a performance; a simile was rhetoric: their synthesis, though, the first step in their becoming quite another trope, was sedition. I would never a.s.sume I understood the motivations of any exot, and I had grown up knowing the thinking of the Hosts was beyond me. Whatever drove the Ariekene powers to their brutal decision might, might not, be comparable to the calculations that had also gone on behind Emba.s.sy doors. The Ariekene resistance to these innovations might have been ethical, or aesthetic, or random. It might have been religious or a game. Or instrumental, an expression of some cool, cynical calculation, a power-jostling among cliques. , would not brook its experiments. A lie was a performance; a simile was rhetoric: their synthesis, though, the first step in their becoming quite another trope, was sedition. I would never a.s.sume I understood the motivations of any exot, and I had grown up knowing the thinking of the Hosts was beyond me. Whatever drove the Ariekene powers to their brutal decision might, might not, be comparable to the calculations that had also gone on behind Emba.s.sy doors. The Ariekene resistance to these innovations might have been ethical, or aesthetic, or random. It might have been religious or a game. Or instrumental, an expression of some cool, cynical calculation, a power-jostling among cliques.

I remembered Cal or Vin's anxiety, when they'd told me that some of Scile's ideas about[image] made sense. The Amba.s.sadors, as much as its Ariekene judges, had seen in it an approaching danger. I never thought CalVin saw whatever that coming badness was as my husband had, but where there's commitment and dissent there might be change, and perhaps that was enough. There'd been a catastrophe on its way that, together, Ariekei and Terre had staved off. A problem they had solved. made sense. The Amba.s.sadors, as much as its Ariekene judges, had seen in it an approaching danger. I never thought CalVin saw whatever that coming badness was as my husband had, but where there's commitment and dissent there might be change, and perhaps that was enough. There'd been a catastrophe on its way that, together, Ariekei and Terre had staved off. A problem they had solved.

Who could I tell? If I could prove anything, so what? Not everyone would think any of this the slightest crime. And what would I bring on myself? I'd no idea how many of the Amba.s.sadors knew, or if they would disapprove if they did, or what they would do to me if I complained. I can't have been the only one who worked out what had happened. There were enough s.n.a.t.c.hes of information. But Staff a.s.serted horror and shock and stressed to Emba.s.sytowners that they had apologised to our Hosts, and that Ha.s.ser and Valdik had both been brought to justice. They unleashed harsh policing against the remnants of the Druman cult.

Scile moved at last into the Emba.s.sy, became Staff. One day all his possessions were gone from my home. Among his flaws wasn't cowardice. I think he was avoiding me; perhaps he wanted to spare me his rage.

I NEVER STOPPED NEVER STOPPED being appalled by the sentencing I'd seen. But months pa.s.sed-and our months are long-and we were out of the doldrums, and Valdik and Ha.s.ser were long dead. I still wouldn't speak to CalVin or Scile, but though I didn't know which Staff and Amba.s.sadors were complicit in what had happened I couldn't spurn them all forever. I couldn't live in Emba.s.sytown like that. It felt not like compromise but survival. being appalled by the sentencing I'd seen. But months pa.s.sed-and our months are long-and we were out of the doldrums, and Valdik and Ha.s.ser were long dead. I still wouldn't speak to CalVin or Scile, but though I didn't know which Staff and Amba.s.sadors were complicit in what had happened I couldn't spurn them all forever. I couldn't live in Emba.s.sytown like that. It felt not like compromise but survival.

Even CalVin and I came wordlessly to a way of being in the same room, if we so found ourselves. We might, I eventually came to accept, one day even exchange brief cool words.

I remembered those elements in Scile, the little opacities that had always been present, that I'd always been intrigued by, that now seemed to have come to const.i.tute all of him. I didn't know what fears the rest of the complicit Staff had had of[image] , but I thought they must have been political. I was never sure about Scile, though, for all that he was Staff too now, and had for a long time been of their party. For all his consummate manipulation of the credulous simile zealots. He worked as apparatchik, but I wondered if he really was a prophet. , but I thought they must have been political. I was never sure about Scile, though, for all that he was Staff too now, and had for a long time been of their party. For all his consummate manipulation of the credulous simile zealots. He worked as apparatchik, but I wondered if he really was a prophet.

Many months after those horrible events, the first crisis, as Emba.s.sytown geared into a different kind of time, as the arrival of the next s.h.i.+p grew closer, as the time I've called "formerly" ended, the Hosts apparently made Scile a simile. I heard that from Ehrsul.

She couldn't find out exactly what he'd had to do. He was part of Language but I never heard him used and in various, I hoped untraceable, eavesdropping ways, I did try. By contrast the similes Ha.s.ser and Valdik, changed as they were by the events, were invigorated. It's like the boy who was opened and closed again and is dead. It's like the man who swam weekly with the fishes and is dead. It's like the boy who was opened and closed again and is dead. It's like the man who swam weekly with the fishes and is dead. The Ariekei found new uses for these new formulations. The Ariekei found new uses for these new formulations.

Ehrsul was a good friend to me in what was a pretty bleak time, though I wouldn't risk telling her everything that I knew had happened. I told myself that I was just waiting. I was immerser. When the relief came, I'd go into the out, away from this place. Then the miab arrived, with details of what would be arriving next, and news of our impossible Amba.s.sador.

Wasn't I going to stay to see what would happen? Everything after this was latterday, and it's the only story remaining. Wasn't I eager for Emba.s.sytown to change?

Later, the scale of the crisis that unfolded made this, retrospectively, a guilty memory, but when first I realised that things were not going quite to plan, the first time I met EzRa at the Arrival Ball, when I sensed that they were spreading some unexpected chaos in Emba.s.sytown, it had made me happy.

Part Four

ADDICT.

9.

PEOPLE WANDERED through streets in a kind of utopian uncertainty, knowing that everything was different but unsure in what sort of place they lived now. Adults were talking and children playing games. "I'm minded to be careful," I heard one man say, and I could have laughed in his face. Minded, are you? I could have said. Minded how? What will you do? How will you be careful? through streets in a kind of utopian uncertainty, knowing that everything was different but unsure in what sort of place they lived now. Adults were talking and children playing games. "I'm minded to be careful," I heard one man say, and I could have laughed in his face. Minded, are you? I could have said. Minded how? What will you do? How will you be careful?

We'd always lived in a ghetto, in a city that didn't belong to us but to beings far more powerful and strange. We'd lived among G.o.ds-little tiny G.o.ds but G.o.ds compared to us, considering what was at their and our disposal-and ignored the fact. Now they'd changed, and we had no way to understand that, and all we could do was wait. Emba.s.sytowners' foolish discussions were as meaningless right then as the sounds of birds.

Our news figures said things to me from screens and tridflats like: "The situation is being closely monitored." We were trying to find language to make sense of a time before whatever came after. I walked through the tiny Kedis district. The ruling troikas there had heard about the killing, knew enough Terre psychology that all our fears were rubbing off on them, and they were very anxious, too.

I couldn't persuade Ehrsul to come to join me in the agitation and rush of Emba.s.sytown main, in the hilltop districts where people ma.s.sed, following rumours that taught them nothing, staring, powerless spectators, into the city moving as opaquely as ever but differently opaquely now. We could all see it. I went to her apartment. Ehrsul was subdued, but then we all were.

She spiked me a coffee with one of the edgers many of us were taking. She moved backwards and forwards on her treads. Her mechanisms were smooth, but inevitably with that repet.i.tion tiny infelicitous noises in the machine of her became audible, then irritations.

"Have you found anything out?" I said.

"About what's going on? Nothing. Nothing."

"What about on the . . . ?"

"I said, nothing." She made her face blink. "There's all kinds of blather all over the nets, but if anyone out there understands what's happened or knows what's about to happen, they're talking about it below what I can tap."

"EzRa?"

"What about them? Do you think I'm just neglecting to tell you important bits? Christ." I was embarra.s.sed at her tone. "I don't know where they are any more than you. I haven't seen them since the party either." I didn't say that I'd seen Ra more recently. "Oh, there's plenty of rumours rumours: they're in the out, they're taking control, they're preparing an invasion, they're dead. Nothing I'd stake a rep on. If your channels to the Emba.s.sy haven't netted anything, why would my pitiful little searchware?" We regarded each other.

"Alright," I said slowly. "Come with me . . ."

"I'm not going anywhere, Avice," she said, and her voice foreclosed argument. I was not, this one time, wholly disappointed at that.

I WENT TO WENT TO the coin wall. The return to anywhere you last visited as a child is difficult, especially when it's a door. Your heart beats harder when you knock. But I knocked, and Bren answered. the coin wall. The return to anywhere you last visited as a child is difficult, especially when it's a door. Your heart beats harder when you knock. But I knocked, and Bren answered.

I was looking down when he opened the door, to give myself a second. I raised my head to him. He looked much older to me, because his hair was grey. That was all, though: he was hardly collapsing. He recognised me. Before I met his eyes, I'm sure.

"Avice," he said. "Benner. Cho."

"Bren," I said. We stared at each other, and eventually he made a sound between a sigh and a laugh, and I smiled if sadly and he stepped aside for me to enter the room I remembered so extraordinarily well, which hadn't changed at all.

He brought me a drink and I joked about the cordial he'd given me the first time I was there. He remembered the chant we'd used when spinning coins, and recited it to me, imperfectly. He said something or other, something that meant you went into the out, you're an immerser you went into the out, you're an immerser! A congratulations. I felt like thanking him. We sat looking at each other. He was still thin, wore what could have been the same smart clothes I remembered.

"So," he said. "You've come here because the world's ending." A muted screen behind him played out the confusion of Emba.s.sytown.