The Song of Phaid the Gambler

by Mick Farren

  Pearl who seemed to have attached herself to Phaid also disentangled herself from the mess of people and crawled to the side. She peered down at Phaid.

  'Wha' the fuck do you think you're doing?'

  'I got off.'

  'Damn well get back on again.'

  'I'm going to see Abrella-Lu. She lives on the Yard Prospect and this is the Yard Prospect.'

  It was a memory that had been triggered by the street sign. Pearl's eyes narrowed.

  'Who the hell is Abrella-Lu.'

  'She lives on this street.'

  'You already said that.'

  'I got to say goodbye to her.'

  'You're too drunk to walk.'

  'I can make it.'

  'You want me to go with you and help you?'

  'I don't think Abrella-Lu would be too pleased to see you. I'm not too sure she's going to be pleased to see me, for that matter, but I'm going anyway. I want to say goodbye to her.'

  Saying goodbye to Abrella-Lu was rapidly becoming an alcoholic obsession.

  'Are you telling me that you're dumping me for some chippy with a hyphen in her name?'

  Phaid climbed to his feet with extreme difficulty. He held up a warning hand.

  'Listen, don't take it that way.'

  Pearl was drunkenly getting off the transport.

  'I don't have to take this kind of shit from you, you bastard.'

  She collapsed in a heap on the roadway. The other revellers started to get restless.

  'What the fuck's going on? What are we hanging about here for?'

  'Hey, Grom, let's get this thing moving.'

  Grom the driver seemed to respond to any instruction that was thrown at him. He slammed the transport bed into full drive and it bucked away down the street, lurching and swaying. Phaid and Pearl were left alone in the empty street. Pearl was furious.

  'Now look what you've done. We're fucking stranded.'

  Phaid started bemusedly down the street in the direc­tion of which the transport bed had vanished.

  'I'm going to see Abrella-Lu.'

  Pearl was sitting in the road looking distraught.

  'What's she got that I haven't?'

  Phaid noticed how one of her breasts was threatening to pop out of the top of her dress.

  'Nothing, in fact, to tell the truth, in some ways she has quite a lot less.'

  'Didn't I suck your cock for you? Huh? I sucked your cock when I hardly knew you and now you want to go off with this high-class bitch. Is that any way to treat a lady?'

  Phaid slowly raised a finger to his lips.

  'Ssh! You'll wake up the whole neighbourhood.'

  'I don't give a damn. I'm not just some cocksucker you can use and discard. I got my needs too.'

  Phaid decided that he had better placate her.

  'Listen, I'll tell you what I'll do.'

  'What?'

  'I'll take you with me. Abrella-Lu might even find you kind of amusing.'

  'I don't want to be amusing. I want a drink and then I want to get fucked.'

  'That too.'

  'I don't want to go.'

  'Now you're being awkward.'

  'I'm drunk and you're trying to dump me so you can go with this court whore.'

  'I'm not trying to dump you. I told you, I'm going to take you with me.'

  'Honest?'

  'Honest.'

  'Then help me up, damn you.'

  Arm in arm, they staggered down the street in the direction of Abrella-Lu's building. Pearl's skirt was ripped clear up to the thigh and Phaid had to stop once to throw up. Eventually, however, they made it to the courtier's doorway.

  At first there was no response from the entry unit. After repeated calling, however, the doors slid back and they were admitted to a small foyer. An android with the name Max-1 stencilled on its chest was waiting. It seemed determined not to let them go any further.

  'My-mistress-has-retired. You-will-not-be-admitted.'

  Phaid was too drunk to take no for an answer.

  'I want to see her.'

  'That-is-impossible. I-suggest-you-come-back-tomorrow.'

  'I don't want to come back tomorrow.'

  'You-will-not-be-admitted-tonight.'

  'I'm not leaving unless I see her.'

  The argument went round and round and got nowhere. Phaid wrangled, the android was implacable and Pearl had started to get exceedingly restless, then a hidden speaker suddenly cut in.

  'You better let them come up. They're so drunk that if we turn them out on the street they're liable to do damage to themselves.'

  Rather grudgingly, Max-1 let Phaid and Pearl into the elevator. When it came to a halt and the doors opened, they both picked the exact same moment to fall over. Phaid found himself sprawled at Abrella-Lu's feet. She was wearing a single, flimsy see-through garment. From her face Phaid couldn't tell if she was amused or angry. He made a clumsy gesture towards Pearl, who was lying across his legs making little effort to try and get up. 'This is Pearl. I brought her over to amuse you.'

  'I'm charmed.'

  Chapter 19

  Mercifully it was finally quiet in Abrella-Lu's apart­ment. A cloud of glowing android bees spiraled lazily in the warm, heavily scented air. Their minimal electronic intellect was just sufficient to guide them in slow random patterns, softly shining like tiny dancing stars. The bees were a legacy of a high technology age when cybernetics were even applied to the decorative arts. They were also incredibly valuable.

  The only other light in the room was a single, dull orange glo-bar that cast long shadows over the opulent confusion that was Abrella-Lu's home. It softly picked out the highlights of scattered satin pillows, tangled silk sheets and four sprawled, naked bodies. In one corner of the large, low ceilinged room a small, heated whirlpool and fountain bubbled merrily to itself.

  The entire living area seemed to have been tailor-made for the staging of comfortable orgies. About the only hard object in the place was a kind of central island made out of a block of solid stone. This housed the vu-screens, a highly sophisticated entertainment console, the light and heat controls, a lavishly stocked drink and drug cabinet and the programme centre of the apartment's small basic brain.

  Aside from the single, solid monolith, everything was soft and inviting, a litter of cushions, bolsters, deep pile rugs, pillows and floating drapes. Whole sections of floor could even be inflated to provide a bigger area of comfort­able, yielding surface.

  When Phaid and Pearl had first come bursting in, drunk out of their minds, Abrella-Lu hadn't been exactly pleased to see them. Initially she had resented the intru­sion. She had been in the middle of entertaining a young man. Phaid had blearily noticed that he appeared to be a very young man, little more than a boy.

  Since there was no chance of getting rid of the two drunks, Abrella-Lu had been forced to accept her unex­pected visitors with the best grace that she could muster.

  It wasn't long, however, before her ever active mind began working on ways in which she could turn the situation to her advantage. The result of her thinking was a prolonged bout of fourway sexual athletics. Abrella-Lu had managed to exhaust all three of her guests before she herself finally passed out.

  When Phaid woke some hours later with a splitting headache, he was aware of a small but insistent noise. At first he thought it was either the fountain or the whirlpool, but then he realised that there was a metallic, almost electrical clicking buried in the languid sluicing of the water. He propped himself up on one elbow and tried to clear his throbbing head.

  The clicking was getting louder. Phaid would have been intrigued if he hadn't been feeling sick. He debated sliding quietly into the pool. The water would be marvellous on his aching body, but there was always the chance he'd fall asleep and drown.

  The clicking was now too loud to ignore. The young boy rolled over and made a grumbling noise in his sleep. Phaid wondered what the hell was making the sound. It occurred to him that it could be someone breaking into the apart­ment
and that maybe he should go and investigate. The only problem was that, in the first throes of his hangover, he couldn't quite locate the source of the sound.

  It didn't matter. The clicking suddenly stopped and was replaced by the voice of Max-1.

  'You-are-an-intruder. If-you-do-not-terminate-your-current-course-of-action-I-shall-be-forced-to-bypass-my-programme-blocks-and-do-you-harm.'

  There was a silence. Phaid started to grope around for his clothes. The android's voice came again.

  'This-is-your-final-warning-if-you-do-not-remain-perf ectly-still-I-shall-harm-you.'

  There was the roar of a blaster and a loud explosion.

  'Harm-you . . . harm-you . . . harm . . . you . . . harm . . .'

  The android's voice died away. Phaid was on his feet. The door crashed open. All the lights came on and the room was filled with a rush of cold air. A huge fur clad figure stood in the doorway brandishing a blaster. Pearl, still half asleep, sat bolt upright. The blaster roared and she fell back with a gasp. She was quite dead. Phaid dived for cover, but as he did so he saw the young boy coming up from the couch. Somehow he had got hold of Phaid's fuse tube. The blaster roared yet again and the discharge tore into him, throwing the boy back across the room for some distance. For the first time, Phaid got a good look at the intruder. 'Makartur!'

  'Phaid? I might have known you'd be here.' Phaid looked around helplessly. There was no way he could pretend this wasn't the destiny of his dream. One of them would die. It looked as though it was going to be him, he was sick to his stomach but he still attempted to brazen it out. There was no need for Makartur to know about the dream.

  'What the fuck do you think you're doing? Is this some warped, Day One, revolutionary game? I knew you were weird, but I never had you tagged as insane.' "Makartur walked a few paces into the play area. 'You'd best shut your mouth, manny, or I'll burn you right where you are. Since you're so inquisitive, you may as well know that I have done what I came to do in this city. I have found and killed the whore Abrella-Lu.' The hell you did.'

  At the sound of the voice both Phaid and Makartur slowly turned. Abrella-Lu was standing beside the pool. She was naked apart from the gold wrist and ankle ornaments that she had been wearing earlier during the four-handed romp. She had picked up the fuse tube that the boy had dropped. It was pointed somewhere between the two men. Her expression was venomous.

  'A neat little plot. One on the inside and one on the outside. One makes sure that I'm off guard and ex­hausted, then the other breaks in and kills me. It's lucky that poor bitch got in the way and spoiled your play. I suppose I should be grateful to her.'

  She slowly turned so the fuse tube was pointed directly at Makartur.

  'I hope you clearly understand me, barbarian.'

  'I understand you, whore.'

  Abrella-Lu took a deep breath.

  'I'll ignore that. I know you're going to pay. Throw that blaster on to the cushion in front of you.'

  Makartur hesitated. Abrella-Lu raised the fuse tube to eye level.

  'Now.'

  Reluctantly, Makartur did as he was told.

  'Good. Now take three paces back.'

  Makartur backed off.

  'Now sit!'

  Makartur sat. Abrella-Lu turned her attention to Phaid.

  'You too. You sit down as well. I'm going to see that you suffer worse than he does. He only tried to kill me, you deceived me as well.'

  Phaid's head whirled. He couldn't believe what was going on.

  'You're not putting me in with him, are you? I didn't have anything to do with this. I'm Phaid, remember? The night in my hotel room? The first day of the riots?'

  Phaid took a step towards her but she jerked the fuse tube threateningly.

  'You better stay right where you are if you know what's good for you.'

  'You don't really think I was trying to kill you, do you?' He looked at Makartur.

  'Tell her, will you? Tell her I had nothing to do with this.'

  Makartur laughed grimly.

  'Pleading now, are we, manny? Hoping that I'll get you off the hook?'

  Abrella-Lu was starting to grow impatient. Without taking her eyes off Phaid and Makartur, she carefully squatted down and began feeling around for the comset.

  '1 think I'll let the police sort all this out.'

  Phaid looked from Makartur to Abrella-Lu and back again to Makartur.

  'For the Lords' sake, will you tell her the truth?'

  'I don't believe in your Lords, remember?'

  Phaid was getting desperate.

  'It's a goddamn figure of speech. What do you gain by dragging me down with you?'

  Makartur half smiled.

  'You scoffed when I told you that I had meditated on you. I told you I had passed through the first gate and that my ancestors marked you as my betrayer.'

  'It seems like it's you that's doing all the betraying.'

  The tribesman's face turned hard.

  'There's death between us, Phaid. I'm going to make sure that the death is yours rather than mine.'

  Abrella-Lu paused in her fumblings for the comset.

  'What is all this mumbo jumbo?'

  Phaid could feel himself losing all grip on the situation.

  'He has this beef with me because his ancestors told him that I somehow have something to do with his death. They told him this while he was in a trance. Some of his goddamn ancestors have been dead for hundreds of fucking years, but that doesn't matter. He still wants to stiff me because of it.'

  Abrella-Lu's eyes had widened considerably.

  'You're mad. You're raving mad.'

  Phaid pointed at Makartur.

  'Just ask him. Find out why he's here. Find out the reason he wants to kill you. I don't know what it is, but I'm prepared to bet that it will be an education.'

  Abrella-Lu started casting around for the comset again. Not being prepared to take her eyes off Makartur, she didn't have much success in finding it. Phaid took the chance to press home his point.

  'Go on, go on and ask him. Ask him why he wants to kill you. I though it would have been the uppermost thing in your mind, or are there so many people who hate you?'

  Abrella-Lu's lips curled.

  'I had thought about it. I was wondering who paid him.'

  'So ask him.'

  Abrella-Lu locked eyes with Makartur. The fuse tube was pointed at his not inconsiderable gut.

  'So tell me, who was it who paid you?'

  'Nobody paid me.'

  'Oh, come on. Do you really expect me to believe that you decided to kill me all on your barbaric ownsome? What was it supposed to be, some half-assed political stunt that the Day Oners put you up to?'

  Makartur's eyes narrowed.

  'Political? You think maybe that I'm just some oaf from the hills. You think that I can't tell right from wrong or when a time for change has come? Perhaps it should have been a political act, but it wasn't.'

  'So why try and kill me?'

  'Phaid knows that I have passed the first and second gates. What he does not know is that I have also jour­neyed to the third gate. There my kinsman cries out for vengeance.'

  'What are you talking about?'

  'I'm talking about the dead. I'm telling you that I am here to avenge the death of my kinsman, the death that you caused.'

  Abrella-Lu's mouth was hanging open. Her face was a picture of total incredulity.

  'Phaid's right. You're the one that's insane. This is ridiculous. How could I have even met one of your kinsmen, let alone caused his death? We hardly move in the same circles.'

  Somehow, even though he was still sitting, still with the fuse tube pointed directly at him, Makartur seemed to loom over Abrella-Lu.

  'You knew Mylan.'

  'Mylan?'

  Phaid looked up sharply.

  'Mylan? The Mylan? The wind player? The master?'

  'Mylan.'

  'But he died because of a . . .'

  Phaid's voice faltered. Makartur fi
lled in for him.

  'Because of a woman. Is that the story you've heard, manny?'

  'But how could Mylan be your kin? He was a wind player, the toast of Chrystianaville . . .'

  'Even the toast of Chrystianaville has to be born somewhere.'

  'Are you saying . . .'

  'Aye, I'm saying. His real name was Makmylan and he was born in the same village as myself.' He nodded towards Abrella-Lu. 'Yon witch worked on his mind until he killed himself. He'll not rest until she's dead. You notice how quiet she's become? She knows it's the truth.'

  Abrella-Lu continued to fumble for the comset.

  'The cops can sort it out.'

  'You're not denying it?'

  'What, that I knew Mylan and Mylan killed himself? End of story. I don't see that there was a connection. He screwed up during the games and that was that. Maybe he just wasn't as good as people like to make out.'

  Phaid shook his head.

  'Every story I've heard about Mylan's death places the blame on a woman.'

  'You believe gossip?'

  'In this case I think I do.'

  'So you are part of the plot to kill me.'

  'No I'm not, but . . .'

  Makartur was glowering at both of them.

  'Mylan will not rest until you're dead, woman.'

  'I'm calling the cops.'

  Abrella-Lu finally found the comset. She spoke quickly into it in a low voice. Finally she looked up.

  'They'll be here in fifteen minutes.'

  Phaid made one last attempt to get himself off the hook.

  'Abrella-Lu, can't we discuss this thing? I'm dying here and it just ain't right. I had nothing to do with this bastard here trying to kill you.'

  Abrella-Lu regarded him coldly.

  'I don't want to discuss it. You look stupid sitting there without any clothes on.'

  Phaid looked down at his feet. Near his left foot was a small crystal sphere. There was a moving picture inside it. It seemed to be of a small, pale faced girl in a dark robe trudging through a snowstorm. In her arms, she was carrying some sort of small animal. Phaid couldn't quite make out what it was. He suddenly felt unutterably miserable.

  The conversation seemed to have worn itself out. Phaid could see no way that he'd be able to persuade Abrella-Lu not to hand him over to the cops as a would-be assassin. He stared down into the crystal. The small girl was still trudging through the snow. Phaid tried to imagine what the thing was doing there. Why someone like Abrella-Lu should keep it.