Chapter 10
Alabama City was an amber smear on the otherwise dark horizon. Mathias stared at the faint, unnatural glow. 'How do they...?'
'The city is lit by electric power,' said Sukui. 'Each block has a bio-converter which is used as a supplement to the solar collector-storage units. The main cause of light spillage is the street illumination around the Capitol. The Lord Andric plans to install more such lighting throughout the city. This was one of the Project's earliest successes.
'Tell me, Sukui-san. What's my part in your Project? What does it do?'
Sukui shifted in his wooden seat. 'You would be wise to remember that it is not my Project. It is but a small part of the Lord Andric's grand design.
'"Project" is a misleading label. It is a co-operative of scientifically disciplined workers. We strive to develop a better understanding of our world. There is a team searching the archives and piecing together a detailed history. There are a number of teams restoring the technologies. There is a natural sciences team studying Expatria, and another studying the patterns of our society. Look around, Hanrahan: the world is ordered. Everything has a pattern; our function is to find such patterns and study their application. That is the divine purpose of our kind.'
'So why am I here?'
'You show promise. We find it easier to train people who have already attained a certain understanding of science.'
He had said as much before. 'And...?' prompted Mathias.
Sukui stared at him in the darkness, and then continued. 'You are trouble, Hanrahan. Wherever you pass you leave a wake of destruction. It is as much a pattern of life as the ripples left on a sandy beach by the sea. You must be aware of the disputes between the Hanrahan and Andricci borderlands. Orlyons, being situated on an island, is neutral.' Sukui stood and walked over to lean on the edge of the barge, staring out at the sea; it looked as if he was counting the waves. 'Your presence was upsetting the equilibrium. You had to be removed. Prime Hanrahan wanted to remove you, and he was prepared to upset the status quo to do so. I identified what was happening and removed you first. I have despatched Lucilla Ngota with a message, reminding her Prime of Orlyons's special status; she is a determined woman; you have been lucky.'
Sukui returned to his seat and closed his eyes. Sitting upright, he was instantly asleep; earlier, when Sukui had slept in this manner, Mathias had not believed it possible but now he thought that, for Sukui at least, it was probably the most natural position.
~
They disembarked as the sky started to lighten, MidNight drawing to an end. There could be no MidNight in Alabama City for already the people were hurrying, serious-faced, through the wide thoroughfares. The buildings were tall and square, some looming over the streets, others set back, surrounded by high stone walls. Powerful, twin-headed lights on tall pillars lit the city—they were clearly near to the Capitol.
Away from the docks, the street-lighting disappeared and the buildings became more dense, the roads more narrow. The people, too, were more tightly packed, and they were less grim-faced about their business. Sukui led Mathias along a street lined with Harrod stores and Wimpy-Washes, Hitachi cafeterias and Happy Hobo Clubs. 'I thought entertainments were limited by Primal edict,' said Mathias, hurrying after Sukui.
'Entertainments?' said Sukui, looking around innocently. 'These are places of work, not fun-houses.' They passed a tall placard that told them of Gino's Pretty Boy Dance Pack (supported by Bernie and the Blue Rodettes), playing twice nightly. 'The Prime approves wholeheartedly of the people's devotion to their work.'
They walked on, Mathias beginning to get a feel for the city. He had not thought much about his future since accepting Sukui's offer of refuge. He had been too worried by what was happening, too confused by thoughts of Mono and how she would react. Now, walking through Alabama City, he began to think about what was ahead of him; the alien environment of the city had finally made him realise that he was making another entirely new start.
The city did not appear as dull a place as Mathias had expected and, more than anything, Sukui's talk of the Project had ignited something in him. All his life he had been made to suffer because, where others rejected or at best ignorantly accepted, he had wanted to know how things worked, how they fitted into the world, how they could be improved. Now, at last, he had the opportunity to live among like-minded individuals, people who wanted to rediscover the ancient technologies. As he walked through the streets, tagging after Kasimir Sukui, Mathias's head began to whirl. There was so much to take in. He hoped they would let him settle for a day or two, before expecting anything major from him.
~
He soon grew accustomed to the long working day. He would begin two hours before dawn and he was rarely finished before twelve-thirty; then he had three hours before his next shift was due to start. He quickly learnt to make the most of those three hours. Within days he could sleep as soon as his body hit the thin mattress they gave him as a bed. Between sleep and work there was no time for anything else.
He would not have minded so much if his job had been interesting. He spent each eleven-hour shift in a basement laboratory in the Soho district where he also had his quarters. When Sukui had described the Project, Mathias had envisaged a purpose-built research centre, perhaps on the outskirts of Alabama City; the idea came from a terran book he had once read. Instead, the Project was spread throughout the city, squeezed into any spare space, hidden away in basements and tenements and the back-rooms of great square buildings. Alabama was clearly not as progressive as Sukui had implied.
Mathias need not have worried about the Project pushing him too far too soon. His work in the basement laboratory was demanding only in a physical sense. He carried boxes, he swept floors, he fetched drinks for his superiors. For several hours a day he did actually get to do science: classifying, counting, measuring. Mathias had never known boredom like it.
It was a life sciences lab. His room-mate, Siggy Axelmeyer, had explained the work to him. 'There's quantities of seeds left from the first colony,' he had said. 'They're centuries old but they're still viable—we think they were treated with some kind of preservative. Some are labelled, but they still need to be grown and analysed; others are only seeds and we have to see what they produce. It's a major task, there's still decades of labour to see it out.' Siggy had smiled and slapped Mathias on the shoulder. 'Work to do,' he had finished up.
He had tried, but finally he decided that there was nothing for it: he was at war with the system.
He began his own regime of MidNights: sleeping alternate nights and catching occasional naps at the lab; during the time he freed in this manner he became acquainted with the nightlife of Alabama City. He was fortunate that both his quarters and the laboratory were situated in Soho, a district that made him think fondly of the Gentian Quarter. Some of the clubs were licensed and they proclaimed the fact in huge letters over their doors; the majority were illicit, they were places of work, not entertainment, and the customers went merely to create demand for the work that was being done. In theory, at least. In reality, it was a farce, one which irritated Mathias for some reason he could not fathom. He longed for the freedom simply to make music for the love of it, to play it on street corners, to do it in the open and not hiding behind the façade that was Soho.
One night, Mathias returned to his quarters and found Siggy still awake, sitting against the wall and reading a book by candle-light. 'Still up?' he said, by way of greeting.
Siggy looked up and grunted. There was something unsettling about Axelmeyer, a look in his eyes. He would be more bearable if he wasn't so bound up in his own serious world. Suddenly angry, Mathias said, 'Listen, Siggy. Why are you so controlled? It's like you're trying to fill Sukui's shadow or something.'
It broke through Axelmeyer's barriers. His face sagged and his big body slumped. He said, 'I have to, Mathias. Let me explain; I guess nobody tells you anything around here, am I right? You probably don't even realise I'm Salvo Andric's cousin. No? I live like this'—he gestured around himself at their shared room—'because Salvo's made it clear our blood isn't close enough for me to succeed any other way. You may not believe it but I used to be wild, Mathias. I mean really wild. I used to go around town wrecking places and there was nothing anyone could do. Except Salvo. He made me do this, he said Sukui would be a good influence. He told me I needed taming.' Siggy shook his head sadly. 'Now I can see the only way back up is by out-learning everyone else. I have self-control and one day I'm going to be back at the top and then I'll show Salvo what it's like.' Siggy's eyes had finally come alive; the control that Sukui had instilled was wavering, just a little.
Mathias was appalled by his tale. So this was what Sukui's scientific training did to people! He saw himself in a few years'—months'?—time, coldly rational, his spirit confined, restricted. Slightly drunk from his night's entertainments, he remembered his earlier vow: he was at war with the system. 'You mustn't let them take it all away, Siggy,' he said. 'Sukui'll destroy you.'
He drew a cold metal object from his pocket.
He squinted and remembered what it was. He had won a mouth-organ in a side-bet at the Happy Hobo Eaterette. He put it to his mouth and blew, tonguing a few unsteady notes, then he found a tune he knew from Orlyons.
After a minute or two he saw Siggy looking curiously at the instrument. 'Want to play?' Mathias asked. 'You just find a note for yourself and work out what's happening, there's no other way.' It was Slide who had introduced Mathias to the mouth-organ. He had said it was the purest musical instrument ever invented. Nobody could teach you to play, you had to feel your way around; you couldn't watch what you were doing and learn in any rational way. Harmonica music came straight from the heart. Mathias had never been very good—he had not practised enough—but he knew that Slide had been telling the truth.
It made a curious kind of sense to him, watching Siggy Axelmeyer find his first few notes. A bit of music from the heart was the ideal counter to Sukui's indoctrination. Maybe Siggy was salvageable.
Mathias smiled. He recognised the tune Siggy had just played—'Mama Gonna Sell My Soul'—the timing different, the emphasis more upbeat, more aggressive, but still recognisable. Siggy was doing well, he was a natural. Mathias fell asleep to the sound of his room-mate's music.
~
Mathias opened the door and entered the lab. There were trays of seedlings everywhere. The phrase 'decades of labour' kept leaping into the front of his mind. The work would take even longer when someone found more stores of ancient seeds. Decades of labour.
Even when he was involved in the science of the laboratory, Mathias's work was menial. He gave the seedlings measured amounts of water, noted down their rates of growth, drew them, described them, fed them to test animals. He never got to see the results of his work. His figures and measurements were taken away and analysed by Siggy or one of the more experienced scientists.
He was first at the laboratory, as usual. That meant he could get the messy tasks like watering out of the way before the others arrived. That was how his superiors liked it.
He went to the basin and a slight movement caught his attention. Standing in one corner of the laboratory, studying a chart, was Kasimir Sukui. 'Salix caprea,' he said, glancing up at Mathias. 'A small tree. It should be decorative in the Capitol's arboretum. You are late. You have kept me waiting.'
Sukui was an occasional visitor to the laboratory—as Mathias guessed he was to most Project facilities—but it was unusual to see him so early.
'Sukui,' said Mathias. 'I'd hoped you might call by. I want to know why you're treating me like this: giving me work more suited to a servant. You said I'd be a part of the Project, that I'd be doing science.'
Sukui was smiling and bowing his head. It was one of his more annoying habits, it made it so difficult to be angry at him. After a pause he said, 'You wish to return to Orlyons? Or Newest Delhi, perhaps? It can be arranged.'
Mathias considered saying yes to Orlyons, if only to test Sukui. The latest news, according to talk in the laboratory, was that Orlyons had become the centre of conflict between Andric and the north; refugees were arriving by the boat-load in Andricci territory. Mathias was worried about Mono. In his heart, he knew she could look after herself better than most, but he would like to have known for sure.
'You're avoiding the topic,' said Mathias, keeping rein on his feelings.
'The topic. Ah, yes. You feel the work is beneath you? Perhaps that a man of your breeding should start from a privileged position? I started as a servant,' said Sukui. 'I worked my way up. Now I know what service is like at every level within the Primal household. I have benefited from the experience. Hanrahan, I have told you that I consider you to be trouble. I have not revised that view. You are impetuous, you have not known hard, menial labour until recently.'
Sukui paused, considering his words. 'You have a talent but you do not have the attitude. Science is the triumph of logic over emotion; it is the rational exploration of the world. All else must be sublimated. You cannot simply leap in and do science, as you put it. When you understand that fact, then you will be ready for the next stage. You will work here until you achieve the requisite discipline.'
'But what about the intelligent guess, the intuitive leap?' said Mathias, feeling frustrated by Sukui's speech. 'What about the great scientists of the past? Verne? Darwin? Redway? They followed hunches...' He was clutching at straws, not sure what he thought any more. Sukui often had that effect on him.
'You claim such greatness?' asked Sukui, his head bowed, smiling gently. 'Science for the mortal is the rigorous pursuit of logic; there is no room for the unquantifiable or the emotive.'
The laboratory door opened and closed and Sukui stepped past Mathias. 'Jan,' he said to Kawabata, the laboratory supervisor. 'Hanrahan is relieved for four hours. Prime Salvo has requested to view him.' He turned back to Mathias. 'Come along. You have kept me overlong—we have little time. The Lord Andric waits for nobody.'
~
The Andricci Capitol was an extravagant building, to say the least. Even in broad daylight electric beacons lit what would otherwise be shady recesses, casting shadows at unnatural angles, burning blobs in Mathias's eyes. Every surface was painted in a jumble of colours that could never have been chosen as part of an overall scheme. Gold clashed with reds and pinks, lime greens with blues and jet black. Everywhere in the Capitol was filled with noise—laughter, shouting, sounds of ancient music; rich scents filled the air, too, so that every room, every corridor, was a bombardment of sensation.
It had still been dark when they arrived and Mathias had wondered why the Prime should wish to see him so early. Sukui had led him in past two precisely saluting guards at a side entrance and then they had spent nearly two hours in preparation. Sukui considered every detail of Mathias's appearance—robes and skullcap of the right shade, a manicure, a hair trim and a fresh shave, new sandals—and, while preparing Mathias's appearance, he had also schooled him in etiquette. 'Never meet the Lord's gaze, unless he speaks to you,' he had said. 'Keep speech to a minimum and, again, only when unavoidable. Stand proud—the Lord Salvo hates weakness—but never too proud. You must present no challenge. The audience will last only a few minutes. Then you must return to the laboratory.'
Sukui was clearly nervous, from his fussing over detail to the rapid, short steps he took as he led the freshly groomed Mathias into the depths of the Andricci palace. 'Remember your lessons, Hanrahan,' he whispered. 'The Lord Salvo is a fair man, but you must know your place. You are nothing. Remember that.'
They entered a long corridor lined with marble pillars. The sounds and gaudiness increased markedly and Mathias guessed they were close to Andric.
Guards stood at one end of the corridor and Sukui swept past them, suddenly a new man, confident and in control. They barely glanced at Mathias but he knew that his features were now fixed in their minds.
The room they entered was tall and wide. A long table occupied the centre, piled high with food of various sorts. Seated around the feast, laughing and talking, were a number of young men and women, all finely dressed and beautiful, with that air of nobility Mathias knew so well. A few years earlier he would have fitted in easily.
A quartet of musicians occupied a recess at the far side of the room. Three were sitting, plainly clothed and staring at the ground. The fourth was standing, foot on a chair, plucking discordantly at a big-bodied guitar and laughing louder than anybody else. Mathias guessed who he was as he handed the guitar back to its grateful owner and turned to face the newcomers. The Prime was a huge man, red beard flowing down over his chest, face ruddy and shining.
'My Lord Salvo,' said Sukui, bowing his head and sounding strong. 'I have brought you Mathias Hanrahan, as your equerry requested.' Sukui stepped back.
Mathias bowed his head and said, 'My lord,' as instructed. So this was the all-seeing and caring Lord Salvo that Sukui kept on about. He didn't quite fit. Mathias had expected a small man, sharp-eyed and gentle, with an air of command but also of understanding.
Andric laughed. Mathias had never heard such a powerful, booming voice. 'So the runaway prince has honoured me with a visit, hah? Come and eat at my table. Sukui, you too.' Mathias sat next to a milky-faced woman who carefully edged away from him. Sukui sat opposite, looking perplexed; his 'few-minute audience' was clearly not going as he had foreseen.
'Go on! Eat, for gods' sakes.' Andric sat down next to Mathias and took a handful of cashew nuts. 'Do you know what I was told yesterday, by my cousin, Siggy Axelmeyer?' He was staring at Mathias. 'He said that Edward Hanrahan's half-brother is in Alabama City. "Alabama City?" I said. Siggy told me that the deposed Prime of Newest Delhi shared his room in Soho, he said that he worked in one of my own laboratories! And do you know what he told me, too?' Andric leaned forward, drawing Mathias and Sukui towards him with a wave of one large hand. 'He told me that my trusted adviser, Kasimir Sukui, had brought Mathias Hanrahan here and had neglected to inform me. Hah! Preposterous. That's what I told him. Preposterous.' Andric turned to glare at Sukui, bringing his face to within centimetres of his adviser's. 'I told him that Kasimir Sukui would be mistaken to do such a thing. If he was not Kasimir Sukui, he would be punished severely for such an error.'
Sukui was white. His gaze fell away from the Prime's and he bowed his head. 'Should I leave now?' he asked.
Andric laughed, and he was joined hesitantly by the people around the table. 'Leave? No, you are my most trusted adviser and I am, as you so often tell me, a generous man.' He turned back to Mathias. 'Tell me, Mathias, what do you think of my city? Glorious, hah? Majestic, hah? You like it lots, I can tell.'
All Mathias had to do was nod.
'Siggy says you are bright, he likes you.' The Prime took another handful of nuts and swallowed them whole. 'I like you, too, Mathias. I have the feeling you may have a great future in my service. Tell me: what is the field that interests you the most? My Project covers them all. Come on, what is it?'
'In the past my works have tended towards electronics and the investigation of ancient artefacts,' said Mathias. 'My interests are broad, but that is where my main strength lies.'
'So be it,' said Andric. 'You hear, Kasimir? Move him immediately or I may not be so forgiving. In fact, Kasimir, I will give you another role. I'm going to appoint you young Hanrahan's guardian. You will look after him, nurture him, guide his progress. In fact, you can take him on your next trip. Orlyons, isn't it?' He turned back to Mathias. 'He goes to these places under the pretext of research, but really he goes for the whores. Hah! But this time he has to work. Things are unsettled in Orlyons, as you undoubtedly know. But it is a good source of artefacts and of people. Like yourself, hah! Before things get any worse, Kasimir must recover what he can and you, Mathias, can help him. You can make sure the whores don't overcharge him, at least.'
Orlyons. Things could not have worked out better. Mathias nodded and said gravely, 'I will look after him, my lord.' Andric laughed louder than ever and Sukui sat quietly, still pale, still avoiding everybody's looks.
'I can see that we will get on well,' said the Prime. 'Just remember, Mathias. You lost your chance to be Prime long ago. Forget any such aspirations and things will be fine.' He leaned closer. 'But if I hear of any ambitions in that direction I will act. I am generous but I am also hard. Work for me, Hanrahan, and you will have a great future; work for your own ends and I will, reluctantly, destroy you.' Andric's eyes were burning through Mathias, the Prime's breath smelt of sulphur and garlic. 'Do you hear me, Mathias Hanrahan?'
Mathias nodded and the Prime of Alabama City laughed and took another handful of nuts. 'These are good,' he said. 'You should try some. You haven't even touched your food.'