Atdtda31: Games and last moves, 873-874

[Paul Nightingale]

The treatment of Theign here recalls that of Webb in 16.7. There, the
section began with "Deuce trying to draw it out, Sloat, closer to the
realities of pain, trying to move it along" (197). Here, Vastroslav is to
the point ("To save everyone trouble ..." etc, 874) but perhaps, to his
brother, self-indulgent: "[Zlatko] would have used the pistol straight off,
and spent the rest of the evening in a bar". For Deuce "this one's a special
job" putting them "in the big time now" (197); Webb isn't, as Sloat says,
"just some of the usual ten-day trash". A career move, then (as Deuce
insists, "Piles of money to be made"); and Webb's status warrants greater
care and attention. For Vastroslav, there is a kind of poetry involved, the
"symmetry of insult" (874); he accuses "you people" of "try[ing] merely to
cripple". So the opening of the current section emphasises a connection
between Theign and Webb, one less obvious perhaps than that linking either
with Vlado. Not least: "It didn't look like these too were fixing to ask him
any questions ..." on 197 prefigures Vastroslav's "To save everyone trouble
..." on 874.

At the bottom of 860 Vlado enters the Arsenale, where "the next world" (861)
awaits him; he appears to know he won't leave alive. The subsequent exchange
between Cyprian and Yashmeen/Reef on 869-870 implicitly acknowledges Vlado's
death, but it is only on 874 that we are given confirmation: "One eye was
missing from Vlado's corpse" ( with Zlatko speaking here? or Vastroslav?).
So Vlado's remains have been, so to speak, published; for Vastroslav the
body signifies an unfinished task. This allusion does refer us directly to
Webb, who also loses one eye, although 16.7 doesn't record this moment ("his
one undamaged one" on 198 gives us the fact of it having happened, just as
the reference to Vlado's corpse gives us the fact of it having happened,
off-stage). Here, Webb's one eye is trying to read Sloat, "looking for a
deal"; although Sloat has given nothing away, "stay[ing] professionally
focused ..." etc (197). 

Three men are tortured and killed to set an example: the
oppositional/popular terrorism of Theign's death is set against the state
terrorism of Webb's and Vlado's deaths. This in turn might help us
understand the non-event, puzzling to the Prince, of the meeting in 60.5.
The Prince has assumed that Cyprian wants revenge on Theign for personal
reasons; on 872 he insists that Cyprian "ha[s] every right to be present",
only to find that Cyprian ("it is best now to step out of the way") has no
interest in being involved further. They have, it seems, nothing to talk
about: "The Prince peered back doubtfully ..." etc. The Prince offers Theign
to Cyprian as a gift; previously a key figure, he has become expendable.
Cyprian's retirement, so to speak, releases him from any debt that might be
accrued. Hence the irony of Theign's reluctance "to let the pale little sod
have the last move" (873).