The Machinery by Gerrard Cowan

Author:Gerrard Cowan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008103545
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2015-08-07T09:52:32.962000+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

‘You have been gone for some time, General. I was worried for you, very worried.’

Bandles did not seem worried.

‘There was no need for concern.’ Bandles had been mooning around the apartments of late, peering at Brandione from shadowy corners. Was he monitoring the General? No: that was beyond reason. You are paranoid. You’ve spent too much time in the See House.

‘Would you like some Redbarrel, sir?’

The General nodded. Bandles vanished for a moment, returning with a glass of whiskey and a half-empty bottle that he left at Brandione’s feet.

It was well past midnight. Greatgift was darkened, bar the occasional torch that glowed in the window of a marble palace. Few would be awake in the Centre at this time, and the night owls would be drinking in the Far Below or some other benighted place.

‘A great time to be alive, isn’t it?’ asked Bandles, standing awkwardly at Brandione’s side. ‘A whole new Cabinet on its way, and us having conquered all of the Plateau! Ah, to be young again!’ A thought clouded his eyes. ‘I wonder what sort of people it wants now?’

‘There is no way of knowing.’

Bandles chuckled. ‘I don’t mean, what people – I mean, what sort of people? You can always have a good guess at that. Take Brightling. Before she was Selected, the Watchers were a shambles. The Doubters could get away with whatever they wanted, you’d see them out openly in the streets and everything. I remember those days. Well, everyone was crying out for someone strong in the See House, someone who knew the ways of the place and could sort it out once and for all. And then what happens? The Machinery Selects the greatest Watcher of the Overland to rule the Watchers. Well, I don’t mind telling you, it didn’t surprise any of us that she was Selected, not at all.’

‘And what about now, Bandles?’ Brandione doubted very much that Bandles had predicted the coming of Brightling.

‘Well, who knows sir? Let’s see. We’re at a new point in history. It just cannot be denied. Expansion is over. It’s kept us all going ten thousand years, but it’s over. So we’ll need to consolidate. We’ll need someone who knows about peaceful things, about science and suchlike, about developing all the breakthroughs of recent times. And we’ll need to address the problems we have at home.’

‘Domestic enemies.’

Bandles nodded. ‘Yes sir, exactly. We’ll need someone that can root out the Doubters. That won’t be too hard, though. There’s a lot of them around now, crowing about their Prophecy, but you wait: once the 10,000th year passes and we’re all safe and sound and the Machinery is carrying on as usual, well, a lot of the sting will be taken from the Doubters’ tails.’

Brandione sighed. ‘Thank you, Bandles. You may leave now.’

The little servant did not seem surprised by this dismissal. He filled the General’s glass, bowed, and slipped away into the apartments.

Brandione gazed out at the Centre and sipped from his drink. Out there, millions would be playing the same game as Bandles, trying to second-guess the Machinery.

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