"I'm most grateful. I shall certainly try to relax; but I was told before I came here that I would be found ugly, even disfigured, by your people. Your kindness overwhelms me, but I would prefer not to inflict myself on somebody who might not be available through choice alone."

"Too modest, again, Jernau Gurgeh," Olos smiled.

Hamin nodded, puffing on his pipe. "You know, Mr Gurgeh, I have heard that in your «Culture» you have no laws. I am sure this is an exaggeration, but there must be a grain of truth in the assertion, and I would guess you must find the number and strictness of our laws… to be a great difference between your society and ours.

"Here we have many rules, and try to live according to the laws of God, Game and Empire. But one of the advantages of having laws is the pleasure one may take in breaking them. We here are not children, Mr Gurgeh." Hamin waved the pipe-stem round the tables of people. "Rules and laws exist only because we take pleasure in doing what they forbid, but as long as most of the people obey such proscriptions most of the time, they have done their job; blind obedience would imply we are — ha!" — Hamin chuckled and pointed at the drone with the pipe "no more than robots!"

Flere-Imsaho buzzed a little louder, but only momentarily.

There was silence. Gurgeh drank from his glass.

Olos and Hamin exchanged looks. "Jernau Gurgeh," Olos said at last, rolling his glass round in his hands. "Let's be frank. You're an embarrassment to us. You've done very much better than we expected; we did not think we could be so easily fooled, but somehow you did it. I congratulate you on whatever ruse it was you used, whether it centred on your drug-glands, your machine there, or simply many more years playing Azad than you admitted to. You have bettered us, and we're impressed. I am only sorry that innocent people, such as those bystanders who were shot instead of you, and Lo Prinest Bermoiya, had to be hurt. As you have no doubt guessed, we would like you to go no further in the game. Now, the Imperial Office has nothing to do with the Games Bureau, so there is little we can do directly. We do have a suggestion though."

"What's that?" Gurgeh sipped his drink.

"As I've been saying" — Hamin pointed the stem of the pipe at Gurgeh — "we have many laws. We therefore have many crimes. Some of these are of a sexual nature, yes?" Gurgeh looked down at his drink. "I need hardly point out," Hamin continued, "that the physiology of our race makes us… unusual, one might almost say gifted, in that respect. Also, in our society, it is possible to control people. It is possible to make somebody, or even several people, do things they might not want to do. We can offer you, here, the sort of experience which by your own admission would be impossible on your own world." The old apex leant closer, dropping his voice. "Can you imagine what it might be like to have several females, and males — even apices, if you like — who will do your every bidding?" Hamin knocked his pipe out on the table leg; the ash drifted over the humming bulk of Flere-Imsaho. The rector of Candsev College smiled in a conspiratorial way and sat back, re-packing his pipe from a small pouch.

Olos leant forward. "This whole island is yours for as long as you want it, Jernau Gurgeh. You may have as many people of whatever sexual mix as you like, for as long as you desire."

"But I pull out of the game."

"You retire, yes," Olos said.

Hamin nodded. "There are precedents."

"The whole island?" Gurgeh made a show of looking around the gently lit roof-garden. A troupe of dancers appeared; the lithe, skimpily-dressed men, women and apices made their way up some steps to a small stage raised behind the musicians.

"Everything." Olos said. "The island, house, servants, dancers; everything and everyone."

Gurgeh nodded but didn't say anything.

Hamin relit his pipe. "Even the band," he said, coughing. He waved at the musicians. "What do you think of their instruments, Mr Gurgeh? Do they not sound sweet?"

"Very pleasant." Gurgeh drank a little, watching the dancers arrange themselves on stage.

"Even there, though," Hamin said, "you are missing something. You see, we gain a great deal of pleasure from knowing at what cost this music is bought. You see the stringed instrument; the one on the left with the eight strings?"

Gurgeh nodded. Hamin said, "I can tell you that each of those steel strings has strangled a man. You see that white pipe at the back, played by the male?"

"The pipe shaped like a bone?"

Hamlin laughed. "A female's femur, removed without anaesthetic."

"Naturally," Gurgeh said, and took a few sweet-tasting nuts from a bowl on the table. "Do they come in matched pairs, or are there a lot of one-legged lady music critics?"

Hamin smiled. "You see?" he said to Olos. "He does appreciate." The old apex gestured back at the band, behind whom the dancers were now arranged, ready to start their performance. "The drums are made from human skin; you can see why each set is called a family. The horizontal percussion instrument is constructed from finger bones, and… well, there are other instruments, but can you understand now why that music sounds so… precious to those of us who know what has gone into the making of it?"

"Oh, yes," Gurgeh said. The dancers began. Fluid, practised, they impressed almost immediately. Some must have worn AG units, floating through the air like huge, diaphanously slow birds.

"Good," Hamin nodded. "You see, Gurgeh, one can be on either side in the Empire. One can be the player, or one can be… played upon." Hamin smiled at what was a play on words in Eächic, and to some extent in Marain too.

Gurgeh watched the dancers for a moment. Without looking away from them, he said. "I'll play, rector; on Echronedal." He tapped one ring on the rim of his glass, in time to the music.

Hamin sighed. "Well, I have to tell you, Jernau Gurgeh, that we are worried." He pulled on the pipe again, studied the glowing bowl. "Worried about the effect your getting any further in the game would have on the morale of our people. So many of them are just simple folk; it is our duty to shield them from the harsh realities, sometimes. And what harsher reality can there be than the realisation that most of one's kin are gullible, cruel and foolish? They would not understand that a stranger, an alien, can come here and do so well at the holy game. We here — those of us in the court and the colleges — might not be so concerned, but we have to keep the ordinary, decent… I would even go as far as to say innocent people in mind, Mr Gurgeh, and what we have to do in that respect, what we sometimes have to take responsibility for, does not always make us happy. But we know our duty, and we will do it; for them, and for our Emperor."

Hamin leant forward again. "We don't intend to kill you, Mr Gurgeh, though I'm told there are factions in the court who'd like nothing better, and — they say — people in the security services easily capable of doing so. No; nothing so gross. But…" The old apex sucked on the thin pipe, producing a gentle papping noise. Gurgeh waited.

Hamin pointed the stem at him again. "I have to tell you, Gurgeh, that no matter how you do in the first game on Echronedal, it will be announced that you have been defeated. We have unequivocal control of the communications — and news-services on the Fire Planet, and as far as the press and the public will be concerned, you will be knocked out in the first round there. We will do whatever has to be done to make it appear that that is exactly what has in fact happened. You are free to tell people I've told you this, and free to claim whatever you want after the event; you will be ridiculed, though, and what I have described will happen anyway. The truth has already been decided."