Chaos Space - Marianne de Pierres [43]
‘You were seeking comfort, no doubt.’ It was a statement.
Thales flushed. ‘I suppose that I have inadvertently proved your earlier argument with that comment.’
‘I would never denigrate you for seeking comfort, Thales. But I would urge you to remove the root of your need.’
‘It is something I will give thought to, Amaury. But, even so, it does not change the disturbing nature of what I learned ... I joined a group at the base of Exterus. I spoke to one of them, a woman I know, an Eclectic called Magdalen. The Pre-Eminence have injected selected statues with an erosion substance which will cannibalise them within a short time.’
‘Selected statues, Thales?’
‘Yes. From what she said, only the statues of Exterus and Villon. I’m afraid it was then that my rational mind deserted me, Amaury. I became deeply, deeply . . .incensed. When I returned to my wife for consolation she would not even see me. It appears that she already knew of this travesty. Her father, you see, is Sophos Mianos.’
Thales balled a fist into his palm. Recounting the event unbalanced his carefully created equanimity of the last few days. He forced his hands to his sides and waited for Amaury to speak.
But Amaury, for the first time, was neither listening to Thales nor watching him. And why, Thales wondered, was the old man trembling so .. .
Thales sought to distract him. ‘So now, Amaury, tell me more about yourself. We have discussed ideas and values, but you have said little concerning where you were born, or your life.’
But Amaury continued to tremble, as if shocked. ‘Who I am, my life, matters little now. Please excuse me, Thales. I have something for which I must prepare.’
‘Of course. But may I ask for what you need to prepare?’
Amaury rose from the table and took shuffling steps towards his bedroom door. ‘Today I will die and there are things to think about.’ He said it simply and without dramatic pause. A quiet statement that invited no response.
‘D-die?’ Thales sprang up from his chair. ‘And upon what do you found such information? A dream, perhaps? A portent?’
‘I have long known that I would be executed. All the Sophos needed was enough time, and from what you have just told me that time has elapsed. This fare’—he gestured to the meal before them—‘is significant in its splendour.’
Thales glanced across the magnificent silver and the succulent food. ‘You mean a last meal?’
Amaury nodded.
Thales struggled to believe what he was hearing. The old man seemed so sane and rational and yet this was surely a flight of fancy. Had he been alone too long? Perhaps he could banish Amaury’s fears with logic. ‘For what crime would they execute you? What terrible offence could someone as temperate as you have perpetrated? And if it is, as I expect, not a crime at all, then why would they incarcerate us together? I am witness to anything unfair that happens to you,’ said Thales.
Amaury ceased trembling and straightened as though infused with sudden new courage. He rested his hand on the handle of the bedroom door and looked at Thales with compassion in his gentle stare. ‘Indeed.’
A crawling sensation stirred in Thales’s stomach.
Amaury let go of the handle and returned to take Thales’s hand. His skin was papery and cool, the way Thales’s father’s had been in his latter years.
‘The Pre-Eminence seek to frighten you. You’ve spoken of many things these past days. Things that you have observed about our once-dynamic society. And your observations are correct. We have become stale and toothless. Our philosophising is nothing other than a way for us to justify our secure existence. We no longer have an impact on the worlds around us . . . on the future of the sentient species .. . but this malaise that you so accurately perceived is, I fear, not from the innate weakness of the humanesque mind, or lack of endeavour, but something much . . . much more sinister.’
Thales felt a light perspiration break out across his body. This was the longest speech that Amaury had yet made. He leaned closer to the old