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Converts
Converts
Converts
Ian Watson
An [ e - reads ] Book
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or
mechanical, including photocopy, recording, scanning or any information storage retrieval system,
without explicit permission in writing from the Author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locals or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright 1984 by Ian Watson
First e-reads publication 1999
www.e-reads.com
ISBN 0-7592-0743-7
Author Biography
Born in England in 1943, Ian Watson’s first novel The Embedding appeared in 1973, placing second in
the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and winning the French Prix Apollo, establishing Watson’s
themes of communication and consciousness, altered perceptions, the evolution of mind, and the nature of
alien intelligence (including whales and dolphins). Alchemy, perfumery, costume, cosmology, cake
decoration, the history of lighting, the Renaissance art of memory - all is grist for his thirty-odd novels
and hundred and fifty or so stories. Brought up in 1950s in Tyneside, he read extensively, daydreamed,
and grew cacti because they seemed like the vegetation of an alien planet. He received a degree in English
at Oxford, then lectured in East Africa and Tokyo. Africa awakened him politically to the Third World.
Japan zapped him with Future Shock. In the late 80s he went through a horror phase, culminating in The
Fire Worm (1988), a novel developed from a story (“Jingling Geordie’s Hole”) which Interzone readers
simultaneously voted the best and worst story of the year. He subsequently published Books of Mana
consisting of Lucky’s Harvest (1993) and The Fallen Moon (1994) inspired by Finnish mythology, and
the sf technothrillers Hard Questions (1996) and Oracle (1997).
Other works by Ian Watson also available in e-reads editions
The Fire Worm
To John, Greta, and Anna Power
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Author’s Note
Parts of this novel appeared in different form as a story “Jean Sandwich, the Sponsor and I” in Universe
11 edited by Terry Carr.
Contents
Part One : Geneva
Part Two : Argus
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Part Three : Thelma
Part Four : Robina
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Part Five: Perhaps a Year Later
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PART ONE
Geneva
Chapter 1
‘Jean Sandwich?’
Frank Caldero struck a casual pose in front of the surveillance camera. Mounted over the elevator door,
this was the only camera in the whole lobby. Nor was this the only shortcoming about the security system
of Paradise Apartments. A big black mark must equally be awarded to the tangle of Swiss Cheese plants
choking one wall. Doubtless, these plants helped to maintain the pretence of Paradise; but any human
snake could lurk in ambush there.
These minor observations merely served to confirm what Frank already knew in some detail about the
economic status of the woman he was visiting. She was on the borderline, between Eden and the jungle.
‘Jean Sandwich? Jean Sandra Norwich?’
‘Yes, who is that?’
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The intercom box made the woman’s voice blurred and crackly: defect number three.
‘My name’s Frank Caldero, Miz Sandwich.’ He produced the bundle of money from his inside pocket and
flourished the banknotes at the camera, fanning them. ‘As you can see, I don’t intend to burgle you. Far
from it! I have a proposition of a rather private nature for you.’
Realizing the lewd possibilities of what he had just said, Frank burst out laughing.
‘Oh hell, that sounds completely wrong! What I want, Miz Sandwich, is to pay you — and handsomely,
too: five thousand, to be exact — just to listen to me for half an hour, then neither to say nor write nor
otherwise publicize nor even confide to a friend what I shall propose during the course of that half hour.
The money’s yours, whether you say yes or no to my subsequent proposals.’
‘You sound like a walking legal contract, Mr Caldero … Hey, do my ears deceive me? Five thousand,
just for listening?’
‘That’s the general idea. I’m approaching you on behalf of someone whom we shall refer to between us as
the Sponsor. Though I’d better point out right away that he doesn’t sponsor chat shows or anything like
that.’
‘Why didn’t you phone and tell me you were coming?’
‘Random phone-taps. Key word sampling by our friendly Government computers. This is a very private
affair.’
‘Aren’t you just a little bit scared, standing there in a public place waving all that money about?’ She was
playing him along now, studying him.
‘It is rather public, isn’t it? There are much more private places than this. Agree to my proposal, and
you’ll have the run of the best of them. But I already checked those Swiss Cheeses for any worms hiding
in the holes — and I left a couple of friends sitting outside in an armoured limo.’
Maccoby and McKinnon were … friends?
Actually, the security chief and his bodyguard buddy were very civil fellows, usually. It was just that
Frank never felt particularly comfortable in their presence. Who knew what the Terrible Two had got up
to before Bruno King hired them?
Frank corrected himself: before the Sponsor hired them …
‘Are you a plant lover, Mr Caldero?’
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