Long Sun - Nightside The Long Sun Part 28

do it. When I came in, you said that you weren't a G.o.d. I knew you weren't. We had a gla.s.s in the-in a palaestra I attended."

"Would you like to speak to someone there, sir?" "Not now. But I was privileged to use that gla.s.s once, and it struck me then-I suppose it struck all of us, and I remember some of us talking about it one evening-that the gla.s.s looked a great deal like a Sacred Window. Except for its size, of course; all Sacred Windows are eight cubits by eight. Are you familiar with them?" "No, sir."

Silk righted the stool and sat down. "There's another difference, too. Sacred Windows don't have monitors." "That is unfortunate, sir."

"Indeed." Silk stroked his cheek with two fingers. "I should tell you, then, that the immortal G.o.ds appear at times in the Sacred Windows." "Ah!"

"Yes, my son. I've never seen one, and most people- those who aren't augurs or sibyls, particularly-can't see the G.o.ds at all. Although they frequently hear the voice of the G.o.d, they see only a swirl of color."

The monitor's face flushed brick red. "Like this, sir?" "No. Not at all like that. I was going to say that as I understand it, those people who can see the G.o.ds first see the swirling colors as well. When the theophany begins, the colors are seen. Then the G.o.d appears. And then the colors reappear briefly as the G.o.d vanishes. All this was set down in circ.u.mstantial detail by the Devoted Caddis, nearly two centuries ago. In the course of a long life, he'd witnessed the theophanies of Echidna, Taitaros, and Scylla, and finally that of Pas. He called the colors he'd seen the Holy Hues."

"Fascinating, sir. I fear, however, that it has little to do

with me. May I show you what it is I do, sir? What I do most frequently, I should say. Observe."

The monitor's floating face vanished, replaced by the image of a remarkably handsome man in black. Although the tunic of the man in the gla.s.s was torn and white gauze showed beneath it, Silk did not recognize this man as himself until he moved and saw the image move with him.

"Is that . . . ?" He leaned closer. "No. But. . ."

"Thank you, sir," his image said, and bowed. "Only a first attempt, although I think it a rather successful one. I shall do better next time."

"Take it away, please. I am already too much given to vanity, believe me."

"As you wish, sir," his image replied. "I intended no disrespect. I merely desired to demonstrate to you the way in which I most frequently serve my mistress. Would you care to see her in place of yourself? I can easily display an old likeness."

Silk shook his head. "An old unlikeness, you mean. Please return to your normal appearance."

"As you wish, sir." In the gla.s.s, Silk's face lost its blue eyes and brown cheeks, its neck and shoulders vanished, and its features became flatter and coa.r.s.er.

"We were speaking of the G.o.ds. No doubt I told you a good deal that you already knew."

"No, sir. I know very little about G.o.ds, sir. I would advise you to consult an augur."

"Then let's talk about monitors, my son. You must know more than most about monitors. You're a monitor yourself."

"My task is my joy, sir."

"We're fortunate, then, both of us. When I was at-in the house of a certain man I know, a man who has a gla.s.s like this one, he clapped his hands to summon the monitor. Is that the usual method?"

148Gene Wolfe

"Clapping the hands or tapping on the gla.s.s, sir. All of us much prefer the former, if I may be excused for saying it."

"I see." Silk nodded to himself. "Aren't there any other methods?"

"We actually appear in response to any loud sound, sir, to determine whether there is something amiss. Should a fire be in progress, for example, I would notify my master or his steward, and warn his guests."

"And from time to time," Silk said, "you must look into this room although no one has called you, even when there has been no loud sound. Isn't that so?"

"No, sir."

"You don't simply look in to make certain everything's all right?"

"No, sir. My mistress would consider that an invasion of her privacy, I'm sure."

"When I entered this room," Silk continued, "I did not make any sound that could be called loud-or at least none that I'm aware of. Certainly I didn't clap my hands or tap on this gla.s.s; yet you appeared. There was a swirl of color, then your face appeared in the gla.s.s. Shortly afterward you told me you weren't a G.o.d."

"You closed the door, sir."

"Very gently," Silk said. "I didn't want to disturb your mistress.

"Most considerate, sir."

"Yet the sound of my shutting that door summoned you? I would think that in that case almost any sound would do, however slight."

"I really cannot say what summoned me, sir."

"That's a suggestive choice of words, my son."

"I concede that it may be, sir." The monitor's face appeared to nod. "Such being the case, perhaps I may proffer an additional suggestion? It is that you abandon this line of

NlGHTSIDE THE LONG SuN

149.

inquiry. It will not reward your persistence, sir. Prior to entering the balneum, you inquired about weapons, sir, and places of concealment. One of our wardrobes might do."

"Thank you." Silk looked into the nearest, but it was filled almost to bursting with coats and gowns.

"As to weapons, sir," the monitor continued, "you may discover a useful one in my lowest left drawer, beneath the stockings."

"More useful than this, I hope." Silk closed the wardrobe.

"I am very sorry, sir. There appear to have been many purchases of late of which I have not been apprised."

Silk hardly heard him-there were angry and excited voices in the corridor. He opened the door to the drawing room and listened until they faded away, his hand upon the gla.s.s latchbar of the boudoir door, acutely conscious of the thudding of his bean.

"Are you leaving, sir?"

"The left drawer, I think you said."

"Yes, sir. The lowest of the drawers to your left. I can guarantee nothing, however, sir. My mistress keeps a small needier there, or perhaps I should say she did so not long "ago. It may, however . . ."

Silk had already jerked out the drawer. Groping under what seemed to be at least a hundred pairs of women's hose, his fingers discovered not one but two metal objects.

"My mistress is sometimes careless regarding the safety catch, sir. It may be well to exercise due caution until you have ascertained its condition."

"I don't even know what that is," Silk muttered as he gingerly extracted the first.