The Emperor of All Things - By Paul Witcover Page 0,164

see? I have told you that time is a drug, Mr Quare. I meant it as no mere metaphor! Doppler created time, and then addicted his fellow gods – to use your word, if I may – to that drug. No doubt it began with worship, with prayers and sacrifices. It must have seemed harmless enough! A new diversion amidst the stale pleasures of eternity. But now they are in thrall to it, to him. And, in a sense, to us as well, for we humans are, after all, the ultimate source of the drug. In us, it reaches its greatest potency, perhaps because we, of all mortal beings, possess self-awareness, the knowledge of our own inevitable death. Certainly that must confer an exquisite piquancy to the drug!’

‘But this is sheer speculation,’ Quare protested. ‘Pure fantasy … if not madness!’

‘If you can supply a more cogent explanation for the facts at hand, I should be glad to hear it,’ Longinus answered. ‘You have seen my prosthetic. You have seen the hunter – and experienced for yourself its uncanny power.’

‘I do not dispute any of that,’ Quare said. ‘But you go too far, surely, in your suppositions! What place is there for the Christian God in your system? Indeed, sir, you have turned Christianity upon its head, and made the Almighty into a very devil! I am no Bible-thumper, yet neither do I subscribe to rank atheism … or worse.’

‘Perhaps it is Christianity that has turned things topsy-turvy, not I. Yet some shred of the truth, however distorted, can be discerned in the gilded trappings of that religion, and of other faiths, or so it seems to me. But that is beside the point.’

‘And what is the point, if I may ask?’

Longinus shook his head, a superior smile upon his face. ‘You have a long way to go, Mr Quare. You cling to your illusions.’

‘To my sanity, rather.’

‘That is merely another illusion.’

‘For a man who claims to require my help, you have a strange way of going about it.’

Here Longinus seemed to come to an abrupt conclusion. ‘You asked for proof, Mr Quare. Very well. You shall have it, or as much as lies within my power to give. I had not intended a demonstration. I had hoped to convince you with words, with reason. But now I see that I lack the eloquence to persuade, and you the broad-mindedness to be persuaded, by words alone. I must warn you, however. There is some risk involved.’ He gestured about the room. ‘All these clocks, ticking at their various rates, weave a tangle of time that shields this place and those within it from the attention of Doppler and his kind. That is why I carry so many misaligned watches upon my person – so that I may safely leave this sanctuary, enclosed in a cloud of conflicting time that deflects their scrutiny like the magic ring in Plato’s myth, which cloaked its wearer in invisibility. Make no mistake – Doppler has been searching for me tirelessly in the years since my escape. He has bent every particle of his iron will towards finding me … and taking back the watch that Corinna stole from him and placed into my safekeeping. Now, in order to afford you visible proof that what I say is true, in order, as it were, to speak with actions rather than words, I must weaken the barrier, unlock it, for, just as it keeps Doppler out, so, too, does it trap me within.’

‘I require no more proof,’ Quare protested. ‘I have had too much already.’

‘Proof of my madness, you mean.’ Longinus gave him a wolfish smile. And proceeded to divest himself of the watches he carried upon his person, stopping each one before placing it atop the table that held the decanter of brandy.

Soon quite a pile had accrued there; it would have been comical, thought Quare, were it not so bizarre. It almost seemed to him that he could feel a curious lightening of the room’s atmosphere as Longinus progressed. ‘Er, what did you say would happen if Doppler were to find us?’

‘I didn’t.’ Longinus moved about the room as he answered, stopping each of the clocks in turn. ‘No doubt it would be quite unpleasant. But if we are quick, and quiet, we should not draw his attention. Especially since the watch he seeks has been removed from my protection. The guild hall, with its cacophony of clocks, provides protection of a sort – I

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