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philosophy.”
    Erik chuckled. “Looks like Griff don't like
the smell of his own shit.”
    “Well?” Hess demanded. “Don't you have
anything to say?”
    “I was bored,” Griff said. “Going after you
was something to occupy the time. I never cared about Ingrid's
reasons. Your misbehavior was an opportunity to do something.”
    Hess leaned forward. “Then I'll have a little
fun at your expense. As someone much smarter than you, let me
educate you a little. Your insightful idea is called nihilism. It's
a concept that depressive personalities routinely invent to justify
their existential grief.”
    “When I mentioned people smarter than me, I
wasn't talking about you, Hess.” Griff's eyes darted to Erik. “You
neither. Both of you run around the worlds obsessed with doing
things. You might as well be people.”
    Greg pointed imperiously at Hess. “This is
not a forum for you to service your grudges. You are being asked to
maintain your decorum for a single week. If civility proves too
difficult for you, then perhaps you should remain silent in these
meetings.”
    “What about me, Greggie?” Erik exposed his
teeth in a smile-like expression. “You wanna read me my rights? Lay
down the law a little? Come on, big boy, pull out your cock so we
can measure how much of a man you are. You had a tiny little pecker
back in Iteration five. You let me play with it before I brought a
cheese grater to bed. Remember that? You cried like a baby while I
ground your nub off again and again.”
    Erik held a hand to his mouth as he chortled.
“I decided I wouldn't stop till you quit with the begging. Itty
bitty Greggie didn't know the rules, so his tiny tinkler got
trimmed for hours. You ever figure out why I did it, shit licker?
Did you ever work out why I quit with the humping and moved on to
the kinky shit?”
    Greg shrank back into his seat, shame and
fear warring on his face.
    “Let me enlighten ya a bit, Greggie. Sex
never did it for me with the people. Didn't do it for me with an
Observer, either. But then I had the idea to make the genital play
interesting. And sure as shit, mutilating your tiddly bits was
great fun. Things only got better when I made the condition of your
release that you had to eat some feces.
    “I convinced you to show so much enthusiasm
for your foray into fecophelia that over the years I found myself
wondering if your convincing act had some basis in reality. I'm
dying to know your thoughts, Greggie. Did I turn you onto a new
food group? Or are you just that fucking terrified of moi ?”
    “Easy now,” Drake said. “There's eleven of us
and only one of you. If things get crazy, you're going down. We
don't have to worry about you coming after us in future
Iterations.”
    “Drake, did you just grow a pair? Should we
throw you a fucking party or something? Or are you just posturing
like a twat because you think you're safe from me?”
    “It's over, Erik,” Drake said.
    “The fuck it is!” Erik shot to his feet. “You
cowards voted to kill us, but at this moment I'm as alive as ever.
And I'm pissed as hell that shitheads like you are dragging me down
with you. The Creator has all of us gathered together under a white
flag and I respect the rules of the Big Boss. But if you break the
truce, you're going to discover a level of violence you can't
conceive. Your imagination can't go to the place I live.”
    “Your scary imagination doesn't matter if we
lock you up.”
    Erik jerked his thumb in the direction of
Hess. “Then my boy breaks me out and we go to work on the lot of
you. Remember, me and Hess are BFF's now – Best Fucking Friends.
And if you try messing with Hess, then the wrath of Elza comes down
on you.”
    A piercing whistle from the other end of the
table interrupted Erik. San pulled her fingers from her mouth.
“Nobody is going to break the peace. So why don't all of you turn
the hostility down a few notches? I think everyone here knows that
nobody would follow Drake on a shopping