USE OF WEAPONS (CULTURE 3) (PB)

The man known as Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks or military action. The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and aided his stratospheric rise. The drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw thought it knew both of these people. It had once saved the woman's life and it believed the man to be a burnt-out wreck - but not even its superlative machine-intelligence could see the horrors in his past.