JULIEN
II
Chapter 60
Felix coniunctio
“We're going to have to do something about those two.”
“What, Ambar and Yülien? What do you mean, Subadar?”
“Can't you see?”
“It's too hot to play riddles. What can't I see?”
“They were born to be a Nyingtchik, a two-in-one.”
“Ah – like you and Yol, you mean?”
“That's it.”
“Are you sure?”
“I'd be extremely surprised if I'm wrong.”
“Well I suppose they do seem to spend a lot of time together – in fact Yülien would sleep in our bed if I let him!”
“I think you should.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Absolutely. He needs it. I know that Yol's happy to look after him, but Yol's the one who pointed out to me that the kid needs something more. That's why I raised the subject in the first place.”
“If Ugo is part of this conspiracy, who am I to stand in the way? So what do you want me to do?”
“First, keep them together as much as possible. Ambar can stay with Yülien during his training, and in fact he can join in, too. And if Yülien wants to sit at Ambar's feet while our mathematical prodigy is discussing combinatorial topology with the big brains of the High Commission I'm sure it won't do any harm.”
“Is that all?”
“Almost, but it's actually quite a lot. You need to start seeing them as a single entity. Their bond is already very strong, and it's going to get stronger. When they're ready they'll come to you and ask you to make them Nyingtchik.”
“And how do I do that?”
“I'll give you the details when the time comes, but to them it'll seem a bit like what you did with the Neh-kyong Tchiwa Ri Kor.”
“It means they'll become blood-brothers – and spirit-brothers too – won't it?”
“Yes.”
“Powers of the R'hinz, as Niil would say: an exceptionally gifted Guide and a mathematical genius. Talk about hitting the jackpot!”
“That's the good news.”
“What's the bad news?”
“Just wait until Yülien hits puberty!”
oo0oo
Yülien wasn't that close to puberty just yet, but Julien already found his insatiable curiosity exasperating at times.
“Ambar,” he said, “if that little brat doesn't get out of this bed right now you'll end up sleeping on your own.”
“I can't see why it bothers you,” said Ambar. “It's not like he's even touching you.”
“Do you think I'm stupid? I know perfectly well that the little pervert isn't simply licking your toes – he's inside your head too!”
“He's just curious. I can't see what's wrong with that.”
“I'm his Akou – that's what's wrong!”
“So what?”
“It's... it's not normal. It's incest!”
“Don't be so stupid. That's a complete violation of logic – you can't have incest without biological family ties.”
“I'll violate something else if you don't stop quibbling, Mister Know-it-all!”
“Promises, promises!”
“Anyway, he's far too young.”
“Oh, come on! Technically he's older than Dillik and he'll catch up with me pretty soon. It's not our fault if Guides grow up faster than humans. Things level out eventually, of course...”
“I didn't ask for a lecture on comparative biology! Not at this time of night, anyway. I'd just like a bit of privacy, that's all.”
“You're changing the subject. Yülien is definitely not too young.”
Julien sighed.
“All right,” he conceded, “he's not too young. But I'd still prefer him to disconnect from you for a bit. Please could you do that for me?”
“Well, if you absolutely insist...”
“Thank you.”
“But it'll make him sad. He'll feel rejected. And of course it'll affect me, too, knowing he's unhappy...”
“You're winding me up, aren't you?”
“Yes.”
oo0oo
Akou, asked Yülien, do you love me as much as Ambar?
It's not the same. I hope you're not jealous!
No... but... you don't mind if Ambar loves me?
No, I don't mind. I'm happy he loves you the way he does. Actually I'm very happy for both of you. It's just going to take a bit of getting used to, that's all.
Do you think we can be Nyingtchik one day?
That's up to you, isn't it?
Of course, but what do you think?
I think that if I go on scratching your head long enough you'll be able to persuade me to love you as much as I love Ambar.
No, I'm being serious!
Seriously? I think you were born to be together. Like Master Subadar and Master Yol.
Akou Ugo has been telling me stories about when you were little. Is it really true that you knew he understood you when you spoke to him?
Yes, it's true. The grown-ups kept telling me that it was impossible, but I was sure he could understand me – even when he tried to put people off the scent by acting the fool.
What do you mean, 'put people off the scent'?
Ugo knew exactly what he had to do to send me back to Nüngen, and he needed us to be alone for it to work. The best way to stop people asking questions was to act like an ordinary dog, and it worked perfectly.
You like Akou Ugo a lot, don't you? Do you think that he could have been your Chenn-da?
No, because he was already Master Subadar's Chenn-da. You can't have more than one Chenn-da.
And that's why you have to be sure that you're choosing the right one, isn't it?
Do you really think it's a question of choosing?
You're right: you don't choose, it just happens. So did you ever have a Chenn-da?
I don't know, Yülien. There are so many things I can't remember.
Still, I think you would remember it if you had had a Chenn-da. It's the sort of thing that stays with you always. I don't think I could ever forget Ambar.
I'm sure you're right.
And I'll never forget you, either.
I'm flattered.
It's true!
And I believe you. So, do you want me to scratch your tummy now? We've got a bit more time before Ambar is due back.
Yes, please!!
Yülien!! I said your tummy!
So? That is my tummy!
That's your... lower belly!
oo0oo
Chapter 61
Missing
“Hey, Subadar,” asked Julien, “are our two geniuses with you?”
“No, they left about a tchoutsö back.”
“It doesn't take that long to walk across a corridor. Do you know where Wenn Hyaï is?”
“He's on Dvârinn with Tannder.”
Julien grabbed the hammer which hung next to a small gong on Subadar's favourite desk and used it, and the gong emitted a piercing note which, after a surprisingly short delay, brought Xarax to the scene.
Do you know where Ambar and Yülien are? Julien asked him.
Wait... I can't sense them any longer!
Are you sure? Sorry, of course you're sure. And if you can't sense them it can only mean that they're not in the Palace.
They're not even on Nüngen!
“Subadar, apparently they're not on Nüngen any longer. It looks as if Yülien has sprouted wings.”
It's my fault, said Xarax. I should have been more careful.
You can't spend your entire life constantly watching over everyone.
“Well, it's all right because Ambar has my personal klirk on a chain round his neck,” said Julien, aloud. “I'm sure he won't have got rid of it. Subadar, I'm going to send for Wenn Hyaï, and when he gets here we'll go after them, the two of us and Xarax. Can you keep an eye on Dillik, please?”
They didn't need to visit every world to search. Once they reached the familiar chaos of the Outside Julien started looking for the characteristic flavour of his own signature as it appeared on the particular target-klirk he had given to Ambar. It should have been fairly straightforward: he had already practised doing this several times, and each time he had located Ambar almost instantly. But this time it wasn't working. Either the klirk had completely disappeared, or...
Or... well, actually, there was no other explanation. If there was one thing that stood out like a beacon in the Outside it was a target-klirk. Time and distance counted for nothing. Some target-klirks were several millennia old and they would still have drawn their owners to them easily if the owners hadn't been dead for thousands of years. Julien could still feel the presence of some of Yulmir's ancient klirks. And it was no simple matter to destroy a klirk: few furnaces are hot enough. To destroy one by accident would be impossible, unless its wearer were to jump into...
They couldn't have jumped into a star, could they?!!
Even that little daredevil Yülien wouldn't be that silly, said Wenn Hyaï. If you're sure you can't sense them, it would be best if we went back to the Palace.
oo0oo
Looks like Subadar was wrong, Wenn Hyaï, said Julien. We didn't have to wait for Yülien to hit puberty for him to get in trouble.
Even if he couldn't remember the klirk for the Palace – which I don't believe, anyway – he should still be able to find his way back using the Table.
That's what worries me.
Should we have another go at locating them?
All right. Xarax is coming with us, mind.
Right, but first you need to compose yourself a bit, because otherwise we're going to get into more trouble. I think you ought to let Xarax help you for the time being.
Now that Xarax was free to tinker with Julien's emotions the boy felt the terrible tension in his body and his mind disappear. He hadn't even been aware of just how tense he was until that tension eased. He took a firm grip on Wenn Hyaï's fur and transported them to the Outside, but although he followed the Master Guide's instructions on searching for his klirk he could find no trace of it. They reluctantly started to consider the possibility that their friends had vanished from the universe.
They returned to the 'normal' world. Julien sat down to talk things through with Subadar, while Wenn Hyaï suggested that he should go and talk to the historians of the Major Circle to try to find out if such a thing had ever happened before, even though he was sure it had not. But Julien said that he would only involve the Circle as a last resort, because if they found out what had happened it would give them a solid pretext for demanding more say in Yülien's training. Subadar agreed, and said that he would consult his own archives.
Julien and Xarax didn't need to talk to each other to know what they were going to do themselves: as soon as they left Subadar they would ask Wenn Hyaï to look after Dillik while they went to look into some archives of their own.
oo0oo
As soon as they arrived in the corridor of the Sang Kang Julien thought 'archives' and a door opened, revealing a room not a lot bigger than a fairly basic hotel bedroom, panelled with pale wood and containing only a comfortable-looking armchair. Julien closed the door and sat down, and the light dimmed to a sort of half-level that would be ideal for either rest or contemplation. Xarax had warned him what was going to happen, and so Julien wasn't too startled when a voice spoke to him, asking him politely what he needed to know.
“Do you know anything about the disappearance of a target-klirk?” he asked.
“If by 'disappearance' you mean any attempt to steal a target-klirk, there have been four thousand, three hundred and twenty-eight such attempts since...”
“No, I'm not talking about stealing. Has a target-klirk ever disappeared so completely that nobody could find it?”
“There are a large number of target-klirks that are now lost due to the death of their owners. As Your Lordship is aware, such objects can only be sensed by...”
“I know, thank you. Has it ever happened that a Guide couldn't find one of his own target-klirks?”
“Wayak the Scatty, towards the end of his life, complained about the loss of his klirks, and so did You Wenn the Gaga, and...”
“Stop! Was Yulmir ever unable to find one of his klirks?”
“I can find no record of such an event. Of course that does not mean that it could not have happened without my being informed.”
“Can a target-klirk possibly self-deactivate?”
“The probability of such an event is so small as to be impossible to measure.”
“Is it possible to deactivate a target-klirk?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“By destroying it. Melting is the means usually employed.”
“Are there other ways?”
“Some believe that some Neh-kyongs or Dre Tchenns destroy klirks when they pull a territory into their reality, but nobody knows how they do so, even if they do.”
“Do you think that a target-klirk entering the territory of a Neh-kyong or a Dre Tchenn would become impossible for its owner to sense?”
“Not unless the entity pulled the territory into its own reality.”
“As happened with Tchenn Ril or Tchiwa Ri Kor?”
“I am not aware that Tchiwa Ri Kor has been pulled from this reality.”
“That's true.”
“But it does seem likely that a target-klirk that is now in Tchenn Ril would be impossible to locate. Of course this is only a surmise with a probability of only 92.532864...”
“Thank you, I think that's precise enough.”
“Should I infer from His Lordship's questions that an imperial target-klirk is currently missing?”
“Yes.”
“Could it be the target-klirk permanently assigned to the Noble Brother Ambar of the Ksantiris?”
For a moment Julien wondered just how this bloody machine could be so well-informed, but this didn't seem to be the time to pursue that line of enquiry.
“Yes, it is,” he replied.
“Indeed, my sensors can no longer perceive the presence of the Noble Brother, nor that of the Tsenn kenn Yülien. Their absence started one tchoutsö, forty-eight tikas and twenty-eight ketchiks ago, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one...”
“Thank you.”
oo0oo
Once they got back to the Palace Julien tried to calm Niil down, hiding behind a façade of serenity that he was far from feeling. It had only taken him an hour to try everything he could think of and use all the resources at his command, and he was still no further forward: nobody had been able to suggest a course of action. The two friends had simply vanished, and a klirk that was supposed to help them and which should have been impossible to deactivate had apparently decided to switch itself off.
It was a grim evening: the missing pair's friends gathered in Julien's private lounge, and anyone seeing them would have thought they had just got back from a funeral. Nobody wanted to voice the thought they were all sharing: they were never going to see the missing pair again. It wasn't even as though they had been abducted by an enemy, even a really powerful one: at least in that situation they would have been able to try to plan a response, even if it was a near-suicidal one.
Dillik was sitting on Julien's lap, and although he was doing his best to put on a brave front it was clear that he was close to tears.
oo0oo