«Fifteen thousand,» Dicko said, completely unperturbed. «Please accept the offer, I urge you as a friend. What I have said is quite true, no matter what motives you assign me. One day you will lose.» He turned to look at me, his expression was almost entreating. «You are the team's fighter, by nature the most practical. How much confidence do you have in your own ability? You are out there in the bouts, you have known moments of doubt when your opponent pulled a clever turn. Surely you do not have the arrogance to believe you are invincible?»

«No, I'm not invincible. What I have is an edge. Didn't it occur to you to wonder how come I always win?»

«It has been the cause of some speculation.»

«Simple enough; although nobody else could ever use it. You see, I won't lose to the Urban Gorgons , not while they have Simon as their fighter.»

«I don't understand, every bout cannot be a grudge match.»

«Oh, but they are. Maybe if the Urban Gorgon team fronted a female fighter I'd think about taking your money. But I'm virtually unique; none of the other teams I know of use a female to boost their beastie.»

«This is your advantage, your legendary edge, women fight better than men?»

«Motivation is the key,» I said. «That's why we use affinity to control the beasts. These creatures we stitch together have no analogue in nature. For instance, you couldn't take a brain out of a lion and splice it into Khanivore. For all its hunter-killer instinct a lion wouldn't be able to make any sense of Khanivore's sensorium, nor would it be able to utilize the limbs. That's why we give beasties bioware processors instead of brains. But processors still don't give us what we need. For their program a fight can never be anything more than a complex series of problems, a three-dimensional chess game. An attack would be broken up into segments for analysis and initiation of appropriate response moves. By which time any halfway sentient opposition has ripped them to shreds. No program can ever instil a sense of urgency, coupled to panic-enhanced instinct. Sheer savagery, if you like. Humans reign supreme when it comes to that. That's why we use the affinity bond. Beastie-baiting is a physical extension of the human mind, our dark side in all its naked horror. That's the appeal your punters have come to worship tonight, Dicko, pure bestiality. Without our proxy beasties us fighters would be out there in the pit ourselves. We'd kill each other, no two ways about it.»

«And you are the most savage of them all?» Dicko asked. He glanced round the team, their stony faces, hunting confirmation.

«I am now,» I said, and for the first time bled a trace of venom into my voice. I saw the girl stiffen slightly, her eyes round with interest.

«A year or so back I got snatched by an estate gang. No reason for it, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Know what they do to girls, Dicko?» I was grinding the words out now, eyes never leaving his face. His mask was cracking, little fissures of emotion showing through.