Read Online The Causal Angel (Jean le Flambeur) by Hannu Rajaniemi - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Hannu Rajaniemi
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on Earth, snatched from the jaws of Dragons. A child is one thing, an entire civilisation another. I promised Tawaddud that I would save them. Only promises left. I grit my teeth.
Spinning lies is what you do, brother. We hope you have not forgotten your promise.
I haven’t. You will have your new home, and so will the people of Sirr. But there is something I need to do first.
Something you need to steal.
Yes. I have to leave the vir. So I need you to look after the boy. Distract him. Tell him stories. Keep him occupied.
What are you stealing, this time? Memories? Stories? Souls? Dreams?
That’s none of your business.
How can we be sure you will come back? You left us before.
Because I keep my promises.
They rise in my mind, all of them, the Kraken and the Green Soldier and the Princess, thunderstorms made of thought that wrap tendrils of lightning around my brain.
PROMISES ARE GOOD , they roar. FEAR IS BETTER. WE ARE ALWAYS HERE. WE ARE ALWAYS LISTENING. DO NOT BETRAY US.
I fall to my knees. The Aun leave my mind, and the dusty darkness surrounds me. The sudden silence is deafening. Even in my dreamlike mindshell, I shake all over.
‘You know,’ I say aloud, ‘you are starting to convince me about the whole Flower Prince thing. Family really is the worst.’
The Princess speaks again, softly this time, like rain.
We will weave dreams for our father, as we did once before, long ago. But the time will come when he, too, has to wake up.
‘Yes. But not yet.’
‘His name is not Raoul d’Andrezy,’ Chekhova says, looking at me pointedly. ‘Isn’t that right … Colonel?’
I smile sheepishly.
‘Elder, this is Colonel Sparmiento. From the Teddy Bears’ Picnic Company. A Sirr-employed mercenary group. On Earth. When your volition push came, I was tasked to check his background. It turned out to be fabricated.’
Barbicane says nothing but his eyes widen.
‘So, Colonel,’ Chekhova continues. ‘How about you tell us your story.’ She crosses her arms and looks at me down her nose like a very cross, hot schoolteacher.
I spread my hands.
‘What can I say? You caught me. I was with the Teddy Bears. We were not all ursomorphs, although it helped if you liked honey. My apologies for the charade, but I would prefer if my former employers were kept in the dark regarding my whereabouts. The Bears are many things, but they are not forgiving. And we … parted ways rather suddenly.’
Conning the zoku is a fine art. But if there is one weakness they have, it’s that they always think everything is solvable, that problems are obvious and neat, like in games – and if you make them think they have succeeded, they tend to give up. My identity had another identity concealed within it, a rather more solid one, backed up with the data Mieli collected when she joined the ranks of the Teddy Bears. You can still break Colonel Sparmiento if you poke at him hard enough, but I’m betting that Chekhova won’t. Especially now that she is trying to make an impression on an Elder.
‘So, you are a deserter,’ she says. ‘And how exactly did you come by a Verne cannon bullet that is more than two hundred years old?’
‘As you are no doubt aware, things are a little bit … restless on Earth at the moment.’
‘If by restless , you mean eaten by recursively self-improving non-eudaimonistic agents , then, yes, I am aware. Professional interest.’ There is a hungry look in Chekhova’s eyes.
‘Well, my unit and I started to smell trouble a few weeks ago, before the chens came. We made it out with the bullet and some other goods from the wildcode desert. We may have taken some liberties with following the chain of command, if you take my meaning. But at least we got out. Most of the Teddy Bears were not so fortunate.’
I look at Barbicane. ‘Were you planning on offering us a drink? I’d like to toast to my comrades. Poor bastards: but I was proud to serve with them. And some of them left family behind,
Spinning lies is what you do, brother. We hope you have not forgotten your promise.
I haven’t. You will have your new home, and so will the people of Sirr. But there is something I need to do first.
Something you need to steal.
Yes. I have to leave the vir. So I need you to look after the boy. Distract him. Tell him stories. Keep him occupied.
What are you stealing, this time? Memories? Stories? Souls? Dreams?
That’s none of your business.
How can we be sure you will come back? You left us before.
Because I keep my promises.
They rise in my mind, all of them, the Kraken and the Green Soldier and the Princess, thunderstorms made of thought that wrap tendrils of lightning around my brain.
PROMISES ARE GOOD , they roar. FEAR IS BETTER. WE ARE ALWAYS HERE. WE ARE ALWAYS LISTENING. DO NOT BETRAY US.
I fall to my knees. The Aun leave my mind, and the dusty darkness surrounds me. The sudden silence is deafening. Even in my dreamlike mindshell, I shake all over.
‘You know,’ I say aloud, ‘you are starting to convince me about the whole Flower Prince thing. Family really is the worst.’
The Princess speaks again, softly this time, like rain.
We will weave dreams for our father, as we did once before, long ago. But the time will come when he, too, has to wake up.
‘Yes. But not yet.’
‘His name is not Raoul d’Andrezy,’ Chekhova says, looking at me pointedly. ‘Isn’t that right … Colonel?’
I smile sheepishly.
‘Elder, this is Colonel Sparmiento. From the Teddy Bears’ Picnic Company. A Sirr-employed mercenary group. On Earth. When your volition push came, I was tasked to check his background. It turned out to be fabricated.’
Barbicane says nothing but his eyes widen.
‘So, Colonel,’ Chekhova continues. ‘How about you tell us your story.’ She crosses her arms and looks at me down her nose like a very cross, hot schoolteacher.
I spread my hands.
‘What can I say? You caught me. I was with the Teddy Bears. We were not all ursomorphs, although it helped if you liked honey. My apologies for the charade, but I would prefer if my former employers were kept in the dark regarding my whereabouts. The Bears are many things, but they are not forgiving. And we … parted ways rather suddenly.’
Conning the zoku is a fine art. But if there is one weakness they have, it’s that they always think everything is solvable, that problems are obvious and neat, like in games – and if you make them think they have succeeded, they tend to give up. My identity had another identity concealed within it, a rather more solid one, backed up with the data Mieli collected when she joined the ranks of the Teddy Bears. You can still break Colonel Sparmiento if you poke at him hard enough, but I’m betting that Chekhova won’t. Especially now that she is trying to make an impression on an Elder.
‘So, you are a deserter,’ she says. ‘And how exactly did you come by a Verne cannon bullet that is more than two hundred years old?’
‘As you are no doubt aware, things are a little bit … restless on Earth at the moment.’
‘If by restless , you mean eaten by recursively self-improving non-eudaimonistic agents , then, yes, I am aware. Professional interest.’ There is a hungry look in Chekhova’s eyes.
‘Well, my unit and I started to smell trouble a few weeks ago, before the chens came. We made it out with the bullet and some other goods from the wildcode desert. We may have taken some liberties with following the chain of command, if you take my meaning. But at least we got out. Most of the Teddy Bears were not so fortunate.’
I look at Barbicane. ‘Were you planning on offering us a drink? I’d like to toast to my comrades. Poor bastards: but I was proud to serve with them. And some of them left family behind,
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