City on Fire Walter Jon Williams

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for the rest of her life.
"Another case," looking down at the notes again, "concerned a kind of
extortion ring in Qanibar about two centuries ago. A gang of criminals were
working in league with a hanged man, somehow aiding the creature to possess
the bodies of living people, wealthy victims. It would turn over the victims'
wealth to its human allies in exchange for a few days in a human body, after
which the contact with the hanged man somehow caused the body to fail. But so
many people died in this way that the authorities became suspicious, and
managed to trace the money to the criminals' bank accounts. One of the
extortionists cracked under inter- rogation, and the police were able to
ambush the hanged man when it turned up for a meeting.
"How did they ... dispose of it?
Rohder turns away, fumbles awkwardly for a cigaret, pats his pocket for a
lighter. "Each team developed its own method," Rohder said. "I do not find
either of them entirely satisfactory from an operational point of view both
are based on theories that are in essence unproven, and the only way to prove
either was to risk life and sanity.
"Tell me.
Rohder sighs, looks unhappy. "Both teams operated on the assumption that
hanged men are a kind of living being that exists in the plasm well, a kind of
modulation in plasm itself. They assumed that these creatures will die if
deprived of plasm, or forced to live outside of the plasm well without a human
host.
"In Injido the team managed to locate the hanged man within an office
building it had killed someone there and then shut off the plasm supply to
that building. They then attacked the creature with plasm drawn from
outside they tried to nullify the creature, overwhelm it with masses of
destructive plasm. The mages were told to configure plasm using the focus of
the Great Bull, which is supposed to aid offensive action. They also intended
to compel it to use up all available plasm in the building in repelling their
attacks, in effect to use up its life force in its own defense. Wear it out.
He shrugs. "It was messy. The building was not empty full of workers and
the hanged man rampaged through it. It killed over a dozen people. You don't
want to see the chro-mographs of that, and I didn't bring them. The Great
Bull aside, none of the mages really knew how to configure plasm so as to kill
a hanged man, and it kept slipping away while they improvised their attacks.
Reading the reports, I have the impression that there was a great deal of
chaos within the mage team, perhaps some panic. Finally the target creature
tried to merge with the plasm that was attacking it.. . tried to become the
plasm, to seize control of it from the minds of the mages who were using it.
The mages fought off the thing's attacks, but several were so traumatized by
mind-to-mind contact that they required hospital care, two for extended
stays, and one, as I said, for good. Eventually they killed it, or so the
team believed. In any case, if it got away, it did not return to Injido.
A dozen people killed, several mages hospitalized. Hardly a satisfactory
solution.
"And the Qanibar group?" Aiah asks.
"They had an advantage the extortionist who cooperated with the authorities.
He informed them of the body the creature was occupying, and agreed to lure
the creature to a place where it was vulnerable. All plasm in the area was
used before the creature turned up, and then the host body was attacked and
destroyed. The creature was contained and then killed as it tried to escape
to the nearest plasm source.
"Were there any casualties?" Aiah asks.
"No. But the Qanibar police had advantages given them by good
intelligence knowing where the hanged man was going to be and also by the fact
that Qanibar was at the time a totalitarian state. They opened the action by
killing the hanged man's host, something the authorities certainly cannot do
in any society that values the rights of humans beings and of victims." He
looks troubled. "Nor am I certain that the creature was, properly speaking, a
hanged man or ice man. Perhaps it was a Slaver Mage who had convinced the
extortionists he was a hanged man, or maybe it was a .., vampire. . . ."
His face twists uncomfortably at having to deal with yet another creature out
of superstition. "Perhaps something that has not been categorized," he
continues, "or a delusion. I will continue searching for information, if you
like.
"I wish you would.
"I also found this . . . curiosity." He takes out a sheaf of plastic
flimsies, pushes it across the table to Aiah. "It is mostly speculation, but
I thought you might want to read it, for reasons of historical and personal
interest.
The plastic flimsies smell of developing fluid. "Toward a Psychology of the
Ice Man," Aiah reads, by Constantine of Cheloki.
Aiah's mouth goes dry. "How old is this?" she asks.
"It was published thirty-seven years ago, in a journal of philosophy." An
analytical smile touches Rohder's lips. "There is very little science in it.
Constantine must have met Taikoen by then, Aiah thinks.
She tries for a moment to read the blue eyes, the ruddy skin, the network of
fine lines in the old mage's face, and wonders what it is he knows. She gives
up, looks down at the article, then drops her hand over it.
"I'll look at it later. Can I see the other reports?
Rohder closes the folder and pushes it across the polished table surface. The
soft plastic cover and the flimsies inside flutter in the brief breeze. Aiah
picks up the article by Constantine and slips it into the folder. She feels
the throb of her heart, its acceleration to a higher state of alertness, a
touch of the Adrenaline Monster upon her nerves.... It is as if she is
responding to the notion that the file itself is a threat, and she wonders if
she will ever have the courage to make use of this information, to somehow put
an end to Taikoen, or even to read the article, of historic and personal [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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