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Lo
Wescekibold Ram, governing director of the Imperial Monopolies Board. He was
ranked as Level Five Main, which meant he was one of the sixty best
game-players in the Empire.
The following day was Pequil's day off. An imperial aircraft was sent for
Gurgeh and landed beside the module. Gurgeh and Flere-Imsaho - which had been
rather late returning from its estuarial expedition - were taken out over the
city to the palace. They landed on the roof of an impressive set of office
buildings overlooking one of the small parks set within the palace grounds,
and were led down wide, richly carpeted stairs to a high-ceilinged office
where a male servant asked Gurgeh if he wanted anything to eat or drink.
Gurgeh said no, and he and the drone were left alone.
Flere-Imsaho drifted over to the tall windows. Gurgeh looked at some portrait
paintings hanging on the walls. After a short while, a youngish apex entered
the room. He was tall, dressed in a relatively unfussy and businesslike
version of the uniform of the Imperial Bureaucracy.
'Mr Gurgeh; good day. I'm Lo Shav Olos.'
'Hello,' Gurgeh said. They exchanged polite nods, then the apex walked
quickly to a large desk in front of the windows and set a bulky sheaf of
papers down on it before sitting down.
Lo Shav Olos looked round at Flere-Imsaho, buzzing and hissing away near by.
'And this must be your little machine.'
'Its name is Flere-Imsaho. It helps me with your language.'
'Of course.' The apex gestured to an ornate seat on the other side of his
desk. 'Please; sit down.'
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Gurgeh sat, and Flere-Imsaho came to float near him. The male servant
returned with a crystal goblet and placed it on the desk near Olos, who drank
before saying, 'Not that you must need much help, Mr Gurgeh.' The young apex
smiled. 'Your
Eächic is very good.'
'Thank you.'
'Let me add my personal congratulations to those of the Imperial Office, Mr
Gurgeh. You have done far better than many of us expected you to do. I
understand you were learning the game only for about a third of one of our
Great
Years.'
'Yes, but I found Azad so interesting I did little else during that time. And
it does share concepts with other games I've studied in the past.'
'Nevertheless, you've beaten people who've been learning the game all their
lives. The priest Lin Goforiev Tounse was expected to do well in these
games.'
'So I saw,' Gurgeh smiled. 'Perhaps I was lucky.'
The apex gave a little laugh, and sat back in his chair. 'Perhaps you were,
Mr
Gurgeh. I'm sorry to see your luck didn't extend to cover the draw for the
next round. Lo Wescekibold Ram is a formidable player, and many expect him to
better his previous performance.'
'I hope I can give him a good game.'
'So do we all.' The apex drank from his goblet again, then got up and went to
the windows behind him, looking out over the park. He scratched at the thick
glass, as though there was a speck on it. 'While not, strictly speaking, my
province, I
confess I'd be interested if you could tell me a little about your plans for
the registration of Premises.' He turned and looked at Gurgeh.
'I haven't decided quite how to express them yet,' Gurgeh said. 'I'll
register them tomorrow, probably.'
The apex nodded thoughtfully. He pulled at one sleeve of the imperial
uniform. 'I
wonder if I might advise you to be& somewhat circumspect, Mr Gurgeh?' (Gurgeh
asked the drone to translate 'circumspect'. Olos waited, then continued.) 'Of
course you must register with the Bureau, but as you know, your participation
in these games is in a purely honorary capacity, and so exactly what you say
in your
Premises has only& statistical value, shall we say?'
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Gurgeh asked the drone to translate 'capacity'.
'Garbleness, game-playeroid,' Flere-Imsaho muttered darkly in Marain.
'Twiddly-
dee; you that word capacity beforely usedish Eächic in. Placey-wacey's buggy-
wuggied. Stoppy-toppy deez guys spladdiblledey-dey-da more cluettes on da
lingo offering, righty?'
Gurgeh suppressed a smile. Olos went on. 'As a rule, contestants must be
prepared to defend their views with arguments, should the Bureau find it
necessary to challenge any of them, but I hope you will understand that this
will hardly be likely to happen to you. The Imperial Bureau is not blind to
the fact that the&
values of your society may be quite different from our own. We have no wish
to embarrass you by forcing you to reveal things the press and the majority of
our citizens might find& offensive.' He smiled. 'Personally, off the record,
I would imagine that you could be quite& oh, one might almost say "vague"& and
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nobody would be especially bothered.'
'"Especially"?' Gurgeh said innocently to the humming, crackling drone at his
side.
'More gibberish biltrivnik ner plin ferds, you're quontstipilish trying
nomonomo wertsishi my zozlik zibbidik dik fucking patience, Gurgeh.'
Gurgeh coughed loudly. 'Excuse me,' he said to Olos. 'Yes. I see. I'll
bear that in mind when I draw up my Premises.'
'I'm glad, Mr Gurgeh,' Olos said, coming back to his chair and sitting again.
'What
I've said is my personal view, of course, and I have no links with the
Imperial
Bureau; this office is quite independent of that body. Nevertheless, one of
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