Iain Banks Culture 04 Use Of Weapons

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long war.
How could Elethiomel do it? Even if he didn't still love her (and the monster
claimed that Livueta was his real desire), how could he use her like another
shell stored in the battleship's cavernous magazines?
And what was he supposed to do in reply? Use Livueta against Elethiomel?
Attempt the same level of cunning cruelty?
Already Livueta blamed him
, not Elethiomel, for all that had happened. What was he supposed to do?
Surrender? Barter sister for sister? Mount some mad, doomed rescue attempt?
Simply attack?
He had tried to explain that only a prolonged siege guaran-teed success, but
argued about it so often now that he was starting to wonder if he was right.
'Sir?'
He turned, looked at the dim figures of the commanders behind him. 'What?' he
snapped.
'Sir,' - it was Swaels - 'Sir, perhaps we should be setting off now, back to
headquarters. The cloud is breaking from the east, and it will be dawn soon...
we shouldn't be caught in range.'
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Iain M. Banks - Use of Weapons
'I know that,' he said. He glanced out at the dark outline of the
Staberinde
, and felt himself flinch a little, as though he expected its huge guns to
belch flame right there and then, straight at him. He drew a metal shutter
across the concrete slit. It was very dark in the bunker for a second, then
some-body switched on the harsh yellow lights and they all stood there,
blinking in the glare.
They left the bunker; the long mass of the armoured staff car waited in the
darkness. Assorted aides and junior officers leapt to attention, straightened
caps, saluted and opened doors. He climbed into the car, sitting on the
fur-covered rear bench, watching as three of the other commanders followed,
sitting in a line opposite him. The armoured door clanged shut; the car
growled and moved, bumping over the uneven ground and back into the forest,
away from the dark shape resting in the night behind.
'Sir,' Swaels said, exchanging looks with the other two commanders. 'The other
commanders and I have discussed -'
'You are going to tell me that we should attack; bomb and shell the
Staberinde until it is a flaming hulk and then storm it with troop hovers,' he
said, holding up one hand, 'I know what you've been discussing and I know
what... decisions you think you've arrived at. They do not interest me.'
'Sir, we all realise the strain you are under because your sister is held on
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the ship, but -'
'That has nothing to do with it, Swaels,' he told the other man. 'You insult
me by implying that I even consider that a reason for holding off. My reasons
are sound military reasons, and foremost of those is that the enemy has
succeeded in creating a fortress that is, at the moment, almost impregnable.
We must wait until the winner floods, when the fleet can nego-tiate the
estuary and the channel, and engage the
Staberinde on equal terms; to send in aircraft or attempt to engage in an
artillery duel would be the height of folly.'
'Sir,' Swaels said. 'Much as we are distressed at having to disagree with you,
we nevertheless -'
'You will be silent, Commander Swaels,' he said icily. The other man
swallowed. 'I
have sufficient matters to worry about without having to concern myself with
the drivel that passes for serious military planning between my senior
officers, or, I
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Iain M. Banks - Use of Weapons might add, with replacing any of those senior
officers.'
For a while there was only the distant grumbling noise of the car engine.
Swaels looked shocked; the other two commanders were staring at the rug floor.
Swaels'
face looked shiny. He swallowed again. The voice of the labouring car seemed
to emphasize the silence in the rear compartment as the four men were jostled
and shaken; then the car found a metalled road, and roared off, pressing him
back in the seat, making the other three sway towards him before sitting back
again.
'Sir, I am ready to lea -'
'Must this go on?' he complained, hoping to stop Swaels. 'Can't you lift even
this small burden from me? All I ask is that you do as you ought. Let there be
no disagreement; let us fight the enemy, not amongst ourselves.'
'... to leave your staff, if you so wish,' Swaels continued.
Now it was as though the noise of the engine did not intrude inside the
passenger cell at all; a frozen silence - held not in the air, but in the
expression of Swaels' face and the still, tensed bodies of the other two
commanders - seemed to settle over the four, like some prescient breath of a
winter that was still half a year away. He wanted to close his eyes, but could
not show such weakness. He kept his gaze fixed on the man directly across from
him.
'Sir, I have to tell you that I disagree with the course you are pursuing, and
I am not alone. Sir, please believe me that I and the other commanders love
you as we love our country; with all our hearts. But because of that love, we
cannot stand by while you throw away everything you stand for and all we
believe in trying to defend a mistaken decision.'
He saw Swaels' hands knit together, as though in supplic-ation. No gentleman
of breeding, he thought, almost dreamily, ought to begin a sentence with the
unfortunate word "but"...
'Sir, believe me I wish that I was wrong. I and the other commanders have done
everything to try to accommodate your views, but we cannot. Sir, if you have
any love for any of your commanders, we beseech you; think again. Remove me if
you feel you must, sir, for having spoken like this; court-martial me, demote
me, execute me, forbid my name, but, sir; recon-sider, while there is still
time.'
They sat still, as the car hummed along the road, swerving occasionally for
corners, jiggling left-right or right-left to avoid craters, and... and we
must all look, he
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Iain M. Banks - Use of Weapons thought, as we sit here, frozen in the weak
yellow light, like the stiffening dead.
'Stop the car,' he heard himself saying. His finger was already depressing the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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