Read Online The Gist Hunter by Matthews Hughes - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Matthews Hughes
Tags: Science-Fiction
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matures . . ." He spread his hands in a motion that invited me to imagine the consequences.
"You wish to remain out of circulation until hot blood has cooled," I said.
"The cold-blooded are more easily reasoned with," he confirmed. "But even during the hot-blooded phase that will naturally follow my intended operation, the aggrieved parties will have the sense to hire the best possible aid in locating me."
I saw where he was going. "Ah," I said, touching a palm to my breast.
"Yes," he said, "they might well send you to find me."
"And you wish to conduct a dry run to see if the course of evasion you have planned will defeat my efforts to uncover your lair."
"Only within the period when I am in danger. I am sure that I could not escape you forever."
He was a practiced flatterer, I knew. But he was also correct.
"I cannot be an accomplice to illegality," I said.
His narrow shoulders rose and fell in a languid shrug. "I believe the more appropriate term is immorality."
"Make your distinction clear."
"Let us say that immorality is a world and illegality but one of its continents, albeit a broad one containing many distinct and fascinating landscapes." He half-smiled to himself at some inner conceit. "What I plan to do would fit on an island well offshore."
"Hmm," I said. "I require more detail."
He steepled his fingertips together and thought for a moment, then said, "On behalf of one group of eminent persons I intend to discomfit a member of another group. I can assure you that there will be no loss of life, blood or wealth, though a reputation will be deservedly diminished."
"Indeed," I said again. This had the odor of an affair among Olkney's decadent aristocracy who, possessing every luxury that Old Earth might offer, chose to salt and season their otherwise placid existence by competing against each other for shaved minims of prestige and precedence. Players at these social games would mount the most elaborate conspiracies whose only ends were that the victim would not be asked to Lady Whatsoever's spring cotillion or would be seated one chair farther down from the Duke at dinner.
To keep their fingers unsoiled and unscorched, lordly rivals often hired others to perform the mechanics of the plots. From time to time I received delicate approaches from magnates and aristocrats seeking to enlist me in their schemes. I invariably declined. Creatures like Sajessarian made fortunes by accepting.
"I will take the case," I said. "How long a head start will you require?"
"If you would begin to seek for me three days from now, I will have laid my false trails and blind alleys."
"And how long do you need to remain unfound?"
"Let us say three days for that as well."
"Done," I said.
During the ensuing three days I concluded Ogram Fillanny's business and advanced the progress of three other outstanding cases. I could have achieved more but I will admit that I was distracted by a new pursuit: the being who visited me occasionally from an adjacent dimension had introduced me to a new game which I found fascinating. It irked me slightly that I could not refer to either the game or my visitor by a name, but symbol and being were so inextricably mixed in his continuum that voicing the one materially affected the other. Doing so in my universe would have catastrophic results.
For my own purposes, I had taken to calling the game Will . Its playing pieces were semi-sentient entities that could carry out complex strategies in three dimensions over time if motivated to do so by a focused expenditure of the player's mental energy. The rules were fairly easy to master but the inherent variability of the playing area—one could not call it merely a board—allowed for intricate maneuvers to develop from simple beginnings once one grasped the rhythms by which play ebbed and flowed.
It had taken me a little while, under my opponent's guidance, to develop the faculty of focusing my thoughts on the pieces, especially how to
"You wish to remain out of circulation until hot blood has cooled," I said.
"The cold-blooded are more easily reasoned with," he confirmed. "But even during the hot-blooded phase that will naturally follow my intended operation, the aggrieved parties will have the sense to hire the best possible aid in locating me."
I saw where he was going. "Ah," I said, touching a palm to my breast.
"Yes," he said, "they might well send you to find me."
"And you wish to conduct a dry run to see if the course of evasion you have planned will defeat my efforts to uncover your lair."
"Only within the period when I am in danger. I am sure that I could not escape you forever."
He was a practiced flatterer, I knew. But he was also correct.
"I cannot be an accomplice to illegality," I said.
His narrow shoulders rose and fell in a languid shrug. "I believe the more appropriate term is immorality."
"Make your distinction clear."
"Let us say that immorality is a world and illegality but one of its continents, albeit a broad one containing many distinct and fascinating landscapes." He half-smiled to himself at some inner conceit. "What I plan to do would fit on an island well offshore."
"Hmm," I said. "I require more detail."
He steepled his fingertips together and thought for a moment, then said, "On behalf of one group of eminent persons I intend to discomfit a member of another group. I can assure you that there will be no loss of life, blood or wealth, though a reputation will be deservedly diminished."
"Indeed," I said again. This had the odor of an affair among Olkney's decadent aristocracy who, possessing every luxury that Old Earth might offer, chose to salt and season their otherwise placid existence by competing against each other for shaved minims of prestige and precedence. Players at these social games would mount the most elaborate conspiracies whose only ends were that the victim would not be asked to Lady Whatsoever's spring cotillion or would be seated one chair farther down from the Duke at dinner.
To keep their fingers unsoiled and unscorched, lordly rivals often hired others to perform the mechanics of the plots. From time to time I received delicate approaches from magnates and aristocrats seeking to enlist me in their schemes. I invariably declined. Creatures like Sajessarian made fortunes by accepting.
"I will take the case," I said. "How long a head start will you require?"
"If you would begin to seek for me three days from now, I will have laid my false trails and blind alleys."
"And how long do you need to remain unfound?"
"Let us say three days for that as well."
"Done," I said.
During the ensuing three days I concluded Ogram Fillanny's business and advanced the progress of three other outstanding cases. I could have achieved more but I will admit that I was distracted by a new pursuit: the being who visited me occasionally from an adjacent dimension had introduced me to a new game which I found fascinating. It irked me slightly that I could not refer to either the game or my visitor by a name, but symbol and being were so inextricably mixed in his continuum that voicing the one materially affected the other. Doing so in my universe would have catastrophic results.
For my own purposes, I had taken to calling the game Will . Its playing pieces were semi-sentient entities that could carry out complex strategies in three dimensions over time if motivated to do so by a focused expenditure of the player's mental energy. The rules were fairly easy to master but the inherent variability of the playing area—one could not call it merely a board—allowed for intricate maneuvers to develop from simple beginnings once one grasped the rhythms by which play ebbed and flowed.
It had taken me a little while, under my opponent's guidance, to develop the faculty of focusing my thoughts on the pieces, especially how to
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