Gris' logic is as follows: Heller has money. But if Heller didn't have money, he couldn't bribe the undisciplined, unreliable Apparatus guards, which means that the Countess wouldn't come over to spend the night with him, which means that Heller would immediately leave for Earth in disgust. If you see any gaps in this, or anything that suggests some mental deficiency on the part of the planner, then congratulations, you've identified the key characteristic of a Hubbard antagonist.
So the subplot taking over the next two to three chapters is an attempt to bankrupt Heller through gambling, and Gris just so happens to have confiscated some loaded twelve-sided dice after their former owner got killed during a disagreement. The d12s are hollow except for a free-rolling lead pellet, and the insides are coated with a mild adhesive. With a firm shake the pellet will stick to one side of the die for a moment, just long enough to get the throw you desire.
Gris rushes back to Camp Kill and finds Commander Snelz in bed looking satisfied while a prostitute fixes him a meal. Both are less than thrilled to see Gris show up, and the whore sneers "Don't break my hand!" as she leaves. Gris explains his grand plan - Snelz will have a friendly, rigged game of dice with Heller and win all eight hundred of his remaining funds. The agent shows off the trick dice and instructs Snelz to simply ensure that he scores above 40 per throw (the max value is 72, so they're throwing six d12s at a time) and he'll win in the long run without attracting suspicion.
Snelz refuses; he likes Heller too much. Gris repeats his command with a hand on his gun. Snelz concedes, but refuses to use his own funds for the scam. He advises Gris to pony up enough cash to match Heller's bank and ensure a good, long game - five thousand credits, just to be safe. So off Gris goes to bribe a clerk to do a routine paycheck advance for about a year's pay, bankrupting Gris in his attempt to bankrupt Heller. But since Gris' victory is assured thanks to those magical dice, nothing could possibly go wrong, right?
Why the gambling subplot, Hubbard? Or if it had to be done, why couldn't it happen in - I dunno, Las Vegas? On Earth? Since this series is about a bunch of aliens going to Earth? C'mon, you could have Elvis impersonators and everything! But no, he's created the, uh, rich, interesting world of Voltar, and he's taking his time showing it off to us so we'll miss it when we reach the planet we're more familiar with. Yeah, once we get to Earth we'll be all like "man, I wish we were back on Voltar with the lepertiges and maimed camp prostitutes and blackmailed homosexual politicians."
Back to Chapter Six
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