Mirror Space - Marianne de Pierres [36]
Godhead?
Yes.
Commander Farr is at your door.
Tekton’s heart fluttered. Had the villain come to negotiate with him, or kill him? Does he have a weapon?
Not that I can detect, Godhead.
That means little enough, said logic-mind. His spit is most likely poisonous.
Let him in, you can out-think him, free-mind bolstered his ego.
As if he could be stopped, sniffed logic-mind and sank itself into design inventory.
Tekton returned to his sitting room. Grant him entry, moud.
Farr entered without fanfare, closing the door gently and making his way to sit on one end of the plush lounge suite. He appraised Fenralia’s statue through eyes hooded, Tekton guessed, from habitual sleeplessness. ‘You purchased it?’
‘Fenralia is eminently collectable. As am I.’
Farr gave a short laugh. ‘You amuse me, Tekton. Such shameless vanity is rare.’
‘The notion of “shame” springs from beliefs that seek to control society. I graduated from such limitations when I began to chew, Commander Farr. I would have imagined the same of you.’
‘You would not begin to imagine what I am capable of, archiTect, with or without shame.’
Tekton grew hard at the man’s bald statement. It was not a new thing for him to find eroticism in power - but danger? Perhaps academia had become too predictable, too familiar to stimulate him anymore. ‘And yet you’ve come to tell me that your hands are tied. OLOSS has surrounded all the stations that will allow shift to Araldis. The balance of things is delicate. And that even the enticement of details about the creator of the virus cannot persuade you to help me.’
‘You have a keen mind, Tekton. But what you don’t grasp is my role in this. Sentient creatures have a history of war and genocide. Balance is more important now than it has ever been and I am the only one who can maintain it. Balance is vital?
Vital? ‘I’m all for balance, Commander. But you intrigue me. How do you envisage keeping the peace without a superior force at your disposal? Surely you could not hope to reiterate your success as a peacemaker in the Stain Wars? Such things do not bear repeating.’
Farr lifted his hooded eyes. Something about them reminded Tekton of his cousin Ra. Self-belief. Not the kind that Tekton was imbued with, but the extreme, psychotic kind.
‘My skills are outside your comprehension,’ said Farr.
Tekton’s erection softened a little. Psychosis was not as attractive as either power or danger; and the edge in Farr’s voice strayed towards it. Did the man believe he was God?
Of course he does. It’s as plain as the necrosis on the young scholar’s face, volunteered free-mind.
God-deluders aren‘t anything new. Logic-mind shot up from underneath a weight of cost calculations.
But this man, thought Tekton, this man is no fool.
His erection came back then, harder, more convulsed, than any he could remember. If Lasper Farr thought he was as powerful as a god then maybe he had something to back his conviction. An edge? A source?
The notion settled firmly upon Tekton.
I must know what it is, he affirmed to himselves. I must know what gives him such confidence. But how? How do I get deeper into such a man?
Then inspiration struck him.
‘Do you worship, Commander Farr?’
The man’s grey eyes widened for a split second. ‘It is a long time since anyone was brave or foolish enough to ask me about my religion.’
‘In my experience, the most clever and powerful people are often the strongest believers.’
‘I detect barely disguised flattery, Tekton. What are you trying to extract from me?’
‘Flattery? Now who is showing their vanity?’
Farr ignored the mild barb. ‘I will assume from your question that you are ambivalent about the notion that the Sole Entity is a God.’
Tekton gave a fake yawn. ‘“God” can be such a confusing noun, Commander.’
‘Yet you’ve adopted the title Godhead?’
‘And ... it can be useful - if you get my meaning. Frankly, I am undecided on the nature of God, but I have a regular and personal dialogue with him. I find it clears my mind.’
‘Him?’
‘We are humanesque, Commander. Our pronouns are limited.’
Farr narrowed his