State of the Art by Iain M. Banks

Author:Iain M. Banks [Banks, Iain M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Fiction
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

3: Helpless In The Face Of

Your Beauty

3.1:Synchronize Your Dogmas

Now, the Arbitrary wasn't actually insane; it did its job very well, and as far as I know none of its

pranks ever actually hurt anybody, at least not

physically.But you have to be a bit wary of a ship

that collects snowflakes.

Put it down to its upbringing.The Arb was a

product of one of the manufacturies in the Yinang

Orbitals in the Dahass-Khree.I've checked, and

those factories have produced a good percent of

the million or so GCUs there are blatting about the

place.That's quite a few craft [*2*] , and as far as I can see, they're all a bit crazy.It must be the Minds

there I suppose; they seem to like turning out

eccentric ships.Shall I name names?See if you've

heard of any of this lot and their little

escapades:The Cantankerous, Only Slightly Bent,

I Thought He Was With You, Space Monster, A

Series Of Unlikely Explanations, Big Sexy Beast,

Never Talk To Strangers, It'll Be Over By

Christmas [*3*] , Funny, It Worked Last Time Boo!, Ultimate Ship The Second etc etc.Need I say more?

Anyway, true to form, the Arbitrary had a little

surprise for me when I walked into the top hangar

space the next morning.

Dawn was sweeping like an unrolled carpet of

light and shadow over the Northern European Plain

and pinking the snowy peaks of the Alps while I

walked along the main corridor to the Bay,

yawning and checking my passport and other

papers (at least partly to annoy the ship; I knew

damn well it wouldn't have made any mistakes),

and making sure the drone following me had all my

luggage.

I stepped into the hangar and was immediately

confronted by a large red Volvo station wagon.It

sat gleaming in the midst of the collection of

modules, drones and platforms.I wasn't in the

mood to argue, so I let the drone deposit my gear in

the back and went so sit in the driver's seat,

shaking my head.There was nobody else about.I

waved goodbye to the drone as the automobile

lifted gently into the air and made its way to the

rear of the ship over the tops of the other devices

in the Bay.They glittered in the brightness of the

hangar lights as the big estate, wheels sagging, was

pushed above them to the doorfields, and then into

space.

The Bay door started to move back into place as

we dropped beneath it and turned.The door slid

into place, cutting off the light from the Bay; I was

in perfect darkness for a moment, then the ship

switched on the auto's lights.

'Ah, Sma?' the ship said from the stereo.

'What?'

'Seatbelt.'

I remember sighing.I think I shook my head again,

too.

We dropped in blackness, still inside the ship's

inner field.As we finished turning, the Volvo's

headlights picked out the slab-sided length of the

Arbitrary, showing a very dull white inside its

darkfield.Actually it was quite impressive, and

oddly calming.

The ship killed the lights as we left the outer

field.Suddenly I was in real space, the great gulf of

spangled black before me, the planet like some

vast droplet of water beneath, swirled with the

pinpoint lights of Central and South America.I

could make out San José, Panama City, Bogotá and

Quito.I looked back, but even knowing the ship

was there I could see no sign that the stars it

showed on its field skin weren't real.

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