Chaos Space - Marianne de Pierres [29]
Then, finally, when it became apparent no one would come he slid to the floor and crouched in a trembling huddle.
The older man poured a glass of coloured water from a china pitcher and brought it to him.
Embarrassed and angry, Thales ignored him at first, but the man was gently insistent.
‘Please. It will not serve you at all to be wretched. Perhaps a civil discussion might lift your spirits?’
Thales took a sip and held it in his mouth, letting the minerals soothe his throat. He stopped short of gargling for, at first glance, the other man seemed most refined and hence out of place in such an establishment. Not only were his manners and demeanour superior, but his bearded face bore the furrows of a man who thought much and had seen more. Not leathery or worn, but erudite. He did not affect the glamour allusions that many scholars favoured and his aquiline nose was untouched by the sculptor’s rod.
Still, Thales was too upset to be gracious. ‘What do you know of discourse? What do you know of me? Your presumption would suggest.. . very little.’
The older man did not sigh or take umbrage. He sat down and gestured across a small polished table at another plain leather armchair. ‘You are quite right in that. I know very little other than that it will be more comfortable for you to sit here rather than on the floor.’ He took a small sip from his own glass of stained water and waited.
Something about the man’s mildness stung Thales into recognising his own childishness. He glanced down to his bleeding hand. ‘I sh-should wash first.’
The gentleman nodded.
Thales climbed to his feet and found the washing cubicle next to the vacant bedroom. He hastily rinsed his hands and face and patted his hair into some order. It had come loose from its weave of plaits and fell loosely to his shoulders. The swing of it in the mirror reminded him of Rene and he clamped his lips together.
When he had dried himself he took his seat opposite the gentleman and attempted to adopt an air of reasonable composure.
‘I am Thales Berniere, incarcerated by the Sophos for disagreeing with my wife.’
The man smiled sadly. ‘Even in Scolar I would have thought that would be permitted.’
‘Not when your wife is the daughter of a Sophos Pre-Eminent,’ he said bitterly.
‘Your disagreement was ... philosophical in nature?’
Thales blew air from his cheeks. ‘I suppose you could say that, though the nature of it was more encompassing than a simple point of dialogue.’
The man’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. ‘How so, Thales? In a city of such wide and varied philosophy and learning.’
‘Wide and varied Scolar may be, but it is also toothless. Here you may come to learn and preach almost anything but actual decisions are made only by the Sophos Pre-Eminence. And their doctrines are stale and limited. There are no challenges to their practice. Arguments between opposing doctrines are hypocrisy—no more than that.’
‘Would you care to share your own beliefs with me?’
Again, the gentleman’s mildness lulled Thales’s antagonism. He settled back into his chair. Draining his glass, he nursed it against his chest. ‘Currently I am investigating Jainism. I find the upashrayas serene and uncluttered with opulence. They are a fine place to think..’
The gentleman frowned in recall. ‘Jainism? Aaah, yes ... eternal, universal truths, spiritual independence and individual equality ... non-violence: Ahisma, Satya, Asteya, Brahmacharva, Aparigraha.’
Thales blushed. ‘As you can see, I am far from attaining Moksha. I am at the beginning of my journey but I would never, never use violence on another sentient.’
‘What of the lower life-forms?’
Thales reddened, unsure how to answer.
They sat in silence for some time. When they spoke again it was of generalities, the gentleman enquiring at length about Thales’s upbringing and pastimes.
MIRA
The corduroy texture of Insignia’s outward vision showed the Intel Res-shift Station as a ball-and-flute construction, pirouetting midway between the third and fourth planet of the Tantine system.