[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
'Nope,' Dessous said. He looked around. Our companions had disappeared into
the broad valley beneath. The only moving things we could see were the
fast-receding black dots of the heli-copters, already too far away to hear.
'You want to sit down?'. We sat down in the snow, our skis planted, curved
tips like plastic talons scratching at the blue. Dessous pulled out a leather
cigar case. 'Smoke?'
I shook my head. 'Only after a drink. But don't let me stop you.'
'Well, I got a hip flask, too, but that's normally only for medical
emergencies.'
'I quite agree.'
He prepared and lit a long cigar with some care, then said, 'How you think
you're doing, Telman?'
'I don't know. What's the context?'
'Well, impressing me, I guess.'
'Then I've really no idea. Why don't you tell me?'
'Because I want to know how you think you're doing, dammit.'
'All right. I think you think I'm an opinionated socialist feminist, who's
half American, half European, combines what you would regard as the worst
aspects of both mentalities, has lucked out with some off-
the-wall predictions and doesn't really respect the traditions of the Business
the way I ought.'
Dessous laughed, and coughed. 'Too hard on yourself, Telman.'
'Good. I was hoping so.' This made him chuckle a little too. 'So, what is all
this about, Jeb?'
'Not me who's going to tell you. Sorry.'
'Then who?'
'Maybe nobody, Telman. Maybe Tommy Cholongai. Know him?'
Another Level One: a Chinese-Malay shipping-line owner. I said, 'We've met.'
'Tommy and I have an agreement. Given there ain't much we ever agree on, this
is something of an event in itself. Involves you, Telman. If we both agree,
then& '
'What?'
file:///F|/rah/Iain%20Banks/Iain%20Banks%20-%20The%20Business%20v2.0.html (109
of 290) [8/28/03 1:14:29 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Iain%20Banks/Iain%20Banks%20-%20The%20Business%20v2.0.html
He blew out a cloud of blue-grey smoke. 'Then we might ask you to do
Page 74
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
something.'
'Which would be& ?'
'Can't tell you yet.'
'Why not?'
'Can't tell you that, either.'
I sat and looked at him. He was staring up at the tall summit of the highest
mountain. Cloud Peak, he'd said it was called, on the way up. Thirteen
thousand feet; tallest of the Big Horn range. Custer's last stand had taken
place a hundred klicks due north, in Montana. 'You know,' I said, 'all the
secrecy surrounding this thing you can't tell me about might put me off
whatever it is in the first place, if I ever do get to find out what the hell
it is.'
'Yup. Know that. All the same.' He looked at me and grinned. I hadn't
really inspected his teeth before:
they were uneven, yellow-white, and so probably his own. ' Actually, Telman,
I'd tell you now and get it over with but Tommy wouldn't appreciate that, and
an agreement is an agreement.'
'So now I have to go see Mr Cholongai, would that be right?'
''Fraid so.'
I crossed my arms and looked around for a while. I was waiting for the cold
to seep through my glossy red ski-suit and make my backside numb. 'Jeb,' I
said, 'I'm junior to both you guys, but I am on sabbatical and, anyway, I
thought I'd worked my way up in the company sufficiently not to get& passed
around like this.'
'Better passed around than passed over.' Dessous chuckled.
' "Better looked over than overlooked," ' I quoted. 'Mae West, I believe,' I
added, when he cocked an eye at me.
'Fine-looking woman.'
'Just so.'
file:///F|/rah/Iain%20Banks/Iain%20Banks%20-%20The%20Business%20v2.0.html (110
of 290) [8/28/03 1:14:29 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Iain%20Banks/Iain%20Banks%20-%20The%20Business%20v2.0.html
We skied down to meet the others, were taken back up to more virgin powder and
repeated the process, if not the conversation. Soon it was time for lunch,
which we took in a Vietnamese res-taurant in
Sheridan. Dessous regaled us with his plans to develop the drive-in movie
theatre/shooting gallery, which meant having a whole sequence of stacked
screens ready to be dropped into place, or even a sort of roller system, like
a giant scroll; once you'd shot the blue blazes out of one bit, you'd just
haul it up or drop it down until you had a fresh area.
The conversation became even more ridiculous when Dessous talked about another
project. He'd been taken with the sort of wheeze megalomaniac dictators were
so fond of, involving a stadium full of compliant, well-drilled subjects and
lots of big, coloured boards. The idea was to use the big, coloured boards to
display what looked like a picture of something when seen from far enough away
(the other side of the stadium, usually). I'd seen TV pictures of this sort
of thing. As far as I could see the standard image was a portrait of whatever
power-mad shit-for-brains was in control at the time.
Dessous thought this would be a fun thing to do, but he wanted to take it a
step further and have moving
images dis-played. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl aikidobyd.xlx.pl
'Nope,' Dessous said. He looked around. Our companions had disappeared into
the broad valley beneath. The only moving things we could see were the
fast-receding black dots of the heli-copters, already too far away to hear.
'You want to sit down?'. We sat down in the snow, our skis planted, curved
tips like plastic talons scratching at the blue. Dessous pulled out a leather
cigar case. 'Smoke?'
I shook my head. 'Only after a drink. But don't let me stop you.'
'Well, I got a hip flask, too, but that's normally only for medical
emergencies.'
'I quite agree.'
He prepared and lit a long cigar with some care, then said, 'How you think
you're doing, Telman?'
'I don't know. What's the context?'
'Well, impressing me, I guess.'
'Then I've really no idea. Why don't you tell me?'
'Because I want to know how you think you're doing, dammit.'
'All right. I think you think I'm an opinionated socialist feminist, who's
half American, half European, combines what you would regard as the worst
aspects of both mentalities, has lucked out with some off-
the-wall predictions and doesn't really respect the traditions of the Business
the way I ought.'
Dessous laughed, and coughed. 'Too hard on yourself, Telman.'
'Good. I was hoping so.' This made him chuckle a little too. 'So, what is all
this about, Jeb?'
'Not me who's going to tell you. Sorry.'
'Then who?'
'Maybe nobody, Telman. Maybe Tommy Cholongai. Know him?'
Another Level One: a Chinese-Malay shipping-line owner. I said, 'We've met.'
'Tommy and I have an agreement. Given there ain't much we ever agree on, this
is something of an event in itself. Involves you, Telman. If we both agree,
then& '
'What?'
file:///F|/rah/Iain%20Banks/Iain%20Banks%20-%20The%20Business%20v2.0.html (109
of 290) [8/28/03 1:14:29 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Iain%20Banks/Iain%20Banks%20-%20The%20Business%20v2.0.html
He blew out a cloud of blue-grey smoke. 'Then we might ask you to do
Page 74
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
something.'
'Which would be& ?'
'Can't tell you yet.'
'Why not?'
'Can't tell you that, either.'
I sat and looked at him. He was staring up at the tall summit of the highest
mountain. Cloud Peak, he'd said it was called, on the way up. Thirteen
thousand feet; tallest of the Big Horn range. Custer's last stand had taken
place a hundred klicks due north, in Montana. 'You know,' I said, 'all the
secrecy surrounding this thing you can't tell me about might put me off
whatever it is in the first place, if I ever do get to find out what the hell
it is.'
'Yup. Know that. All the same.' He looked at me and grinned. I hadn't
really inspected his teeth before:
they were uneven, yellow-white, and so probably his own. ' Actually, Telman,
I'd tell you now and get it over with but Tommy wouldn't appreciate that, and
an agreement is an agreement.'
'So now I have to go see Mr Cholongai, would that be right?'
''Fraid so.'
I crossed my arms and looked around for a while. I was waiting for the cold
to seep through my glossy red ski-suit and make my backside numb. 'Jeb,' I
said, 'I'm junior to both you guys, but I am on sabbatical and, anyway, I
thought I'd worked my way up in the company sufficiently not to get& passed
around like this.'
'Better passed around than passed over.' Dessous chuckled.
' "Better looked over than overlooked," ' I quoted. 'Mae West, I believe,' I
added, when he cocked an eye at me.
'Fine-looking woman.'
'Just so.'
file:///F|/rah/Iain%20Banks/Iain%20Banks%20-%20The%20Business%20v2.0.html (110
of 290) [8/28/03 1:14:29 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Iain%20Banks/Iain%20Banks%20-%20The%20Business%20v2.0.html
We skied down to meet the others, were taken back up to more virgin powder and
repeated the process, if not the conversation. Soon it was time for lunch,
which we took in a Vietnamese res-taurant in
Sheridan. Dessous regaled us with his plans to develop the drive-in movie
theatre/shooting gallery, which meant having a whole sequence of stacked
screens ready to be dropped into place, or even a sort of roller system, like
a giant scroll; once you'd shot the blue blazes out of one bit, you'd just
haul it up or drop it down until you had a fresh area.
The conversation became even more ridiculous when Dessous talked about another
project. He'd been taken with the sort of wheeze megalomaniac dictators were
so fond of, involving a stadium full of compliant, well-drilled subjects and
lots of big, coloured boards. The idea was to use the big, coloured boards to
display what looked like a picture of something when seen from far enough away
(the other side of the stadium, usually). I'd seen TV pictures of this sort
of thing. As far as I could see the standard image was a portrait of whatever
power-mad shit-for-brains was in control at the time.
Dessous thought this would be a fun thing to do, but he wanted to take it a
step further and have moving
images dis-played. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]