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little of the simplest food, allows him no alcohol, keeps him to a strict
regimen of exercise, will not allow him to take part in social activities -
his presence here this evening must mark some sort of special dispensation by
the Emperor - and won't let him copulate. In addition, he has to listen to
sermons by a prison chaplain who visits him for two hours every ten days.'
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'Poor guy. I see he has to stand, as well.'
'Well, one shouldn't try to outsmart the Emperor, I guess,' Flere-Imsaho said.
'But his sentence is almost over.'
'No time off for good behaviour?'
'The Imperial Penal Service does not deal in discounts. They do add time on
if you behave badly, though.'
Gurgeh shook his head, looking at the distant prisoner in his private prison.
'It's a mean old Empire, isn't it, drone?'
'Mean enough& . But if it ever tries to fuck with the Culture it'll find out
what mean really is.'
Gurgeh looked round in surprise at the machine. It floated, buzzing there,
its bulky grey and brown casing looking hard and even sinister against the
dull gleam of the empty suit of armour.
'My, we're in a combative mood this evening.'
'I am. You'd better be.'
'For the games? I'm ready.'
'Are you really going to take part in this piece of propaganda?'
'What piece of propaganda?'
'You know damn well; helping the Bureau to fake your own defeat. Pretending
you've lost; giving interviews and lying.'
'Yes. Why not? It lets me play the game. They might try to stop me
otherwise.'
'Kill you?'
Gurgeh shrugged. 'Disqualify me.'
'Is it worth so much to keep playing?'
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'No,' Gurgeh lied. 'But telling a few white lies isn't much of a price,
either.'
'Huh,' the machine said.
Gurgeh waited for it to say more, but it didn't. They left a little later.
Gurgeh got up out of the chair and walked to the door, only remembering to
turn and bow towards Nicosar after the drone prompted him.
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His first game on Echronedal, the one he was officially to lose no matter what
happened, was another ten game. This time there was no suggestion of anybody
ganging up on him, and he was approached by four of the other players to form
a side which would oppose the rest. This was the traditional way of playing
ten games, though it was the first time Gurgeh had been directly involved,
apart from being on the sharp end of other people's alliances.
So he found himself discussing strategy and tactics with a pair of Fleet
admirals, a star general and an imperial minister in what the Bureau
guaranteed was an electronically and optically sterile room in one wing of the
castle. They spent three days talking over how they would play the game, then
they swore before God, and
Gurgeh gave his word, they would not break the agreement until the other five
players had been defeated or they themselves were brought down. The lesser
games ended with the sides about even. Gurgeh found there were advantages and
disadvantages in playing as part of an ensemble. He did his best to adapt and
play accordingly. More talks followed, then they joined battle on the Board
of Origin.
Gurgeh enjoyed it. It added a lot to the game to play as part of a team; he
felt genuinely warm towards the apices he played alongside. They came to each
other's aid when they were in trouble, they trusted one another during massed
attacks, and generally played as though their individual forces were really a
single side. As people, he didn't find his comrades desperately engaging, but
as playing partners he could not deny the emotion he felt for them, and
experienced a growing sense of sadness - as the game progressed and they
gradually beat back their opponents -
that they would soon all be fighting each other.
When it came to it, and the last of the opposition had surrendered, much of
what
Gurgeh had felt before disappeared. He'd been at least partially tricked;
he'd stuck to what he saw as the spirit of their agreement, while the others
stuck to the letter. Nobody actually attacked until the last of the other
team's pieces had been captured or taken over, but there was some subtle
manoeuvring when it became clear they were going to win, playing for positions
that would become more
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Iain M. Banks - The Player of Games (1988) v1.0 : Scanned by HugHug important
when the team-agreement ended. Gurgeh missed this until it was almost too
late, and when the second part of the game began he was by far the weakest of
the five.
It also became obvious that the two admirals were, not surprisingly,
cooperating unofficially against the others. Jointly the pair were stronger
than the other three.
In a way Gurgeh's very weakness saved him; he played so that it was not worth
taking him for a long time, letting the other four fight it out. Later he
attacked the two admirals when they had grown strong enough to threaten a
complete takeover, but were more vulnerable to his small force than to the
greater powers of the general and the minister.
The game to-ed and fro-ed for a long time, but Gurgeh was gaining steadily,
and eventually, though he was put out first of the five, he'd accumulated
sufficient points to ensure he'd play on the next board. Three of the other
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