The State of the Art (Short Stories of the Culture) by Iain M. Banks

Author:Iain M. Banks
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780748110070
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Published: 1989-01-02T00:00:00+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.

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